Kuruvilla Pandikattu

Life Is Beautiful: Enjoy It Life Is Fragile: Foster It Life Is Relational: Share It.

Kuruvilla Pandikattu (born November 28, 1957) is an Indian priest, physicist and philosopher. Author of 24 books, he has been teaching and lecturing on science-religion dialog, sustainable life-style and contemporary spirituality. He is based in Pune, India.

Quotes

Ethics

• "Ethics is doing the right thing when no one is watching, especially when you think no one ever will."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Honesty is the best policy, not the easiest nor the most popular."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "In the world of ethics, shortcuts often lead to dead ends."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Integrity is a fortress; once breached, it takes a lifetime to rebuild."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "The true test of character is what you do when no one will ever find out."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Moral shortcuts may save time, but they always cost trust."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics is the art of doing what’s right, even when it’s inconvenient and uncomfortable."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "In the garden of ethics, even the smallest weeds can choke out the tallest flowers."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "A lie is a debt to the truth that will always come due."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "The golden rule is valuable currency in the bank of trust."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Your reputation is built on solid ethical choices; one wrong decision can topple the tower."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics: the invisible hand that holds society together."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "True character is holding fast to your principles when everyone else is letting go."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "In the marketplace of ideas, honesty is the most valuable commodity."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics is not just knowing the path; it’s walking it, even when it’s uphill."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "A spotless reputation is worth more than the shiniest trophy."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "The compass of ethics always points true north, even in the darkest times."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Doing what’s right might not make you famous, but it will make you proud."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics is a light that shines brightest in the shadows of temptation."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "A principle isn't truly yours until it's tested in the fire of justice and compassion."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "An ethical dilemma is the crossroads where integrity meets comfort and convenience."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Moral courage is the backbone of a dignified life."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Doing right is rarely easy, but it’s always worth it."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "An ethical life is a series of small, consistent choices for good."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Integrity is the seed from which trust blooms."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "When ethics guides your steps, you are always on the right way."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics is the silent partner in every handshake."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "The cost of integrity is high, but its value is higher."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Trust is earned in drops but lost in buckets."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Ethics is the foundation upon which a truly great character is built."
  • Excellence and Integrity.
• "Moral clarity is the lens that brings the world into sharp focus."
  • Excellence and Integrity.

Business Ethics

• "Business ethics, integrity meets innovation and profit purpose."
  • Business Ethics p. 41.
• "Business ethics, integrity meets innovation and profit purpose."
  • Business Ethics p. 51.
• "Business ethics is not a passing fad, but a timeless commitment to doing what's right, not just what's profitable."
  • Business Ethics p. 46.
• "The road to success is paved with ethical intentions and commitments, not shortcuts."
  • Business Ethics p. 103.
• "Ethical commitment is not sacrifice; but investment in the sustainable future of business and humanity."
  • Business Ethics p. 188.
• "A company's reputation is built on the bricks of ethics, fortified by sand of responsibility and cemented by the mortar of integrity."
  • Business Ethics p. 173.
• "Ethics is not a chapter in the rulebook of the corporate; it's its entire story.”
  • Business Ethics p. 114.
• "Heroic leaders don’t just follow ethical codes; they write them with their deeds."
  • Business Ethics p. 97.
• "In business, as in life, the right path is not the easiest but always the surest.”
  • Business Ethics p. 143.

• "True leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is to serve others, fostering an environment where ethical practices flourish. A leader who serves with a heart full of grace, creates a workplace that's noble."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Compassion in business is not just an ideal but a strategic necessity for sustainable growth and genuine stakeholder engagement. When compassion leads, and empathy grows, the business seeds, and prosperity flows."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Ethical business practices are the backbone of a resilient and responsible economy, driving both trust and long-term success. With ethics as our guide, and integrity in stride, we build a future wide, where trust and profit reside."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Servant leadership transcends the mere pursuit of profit, focusing on the holistic well-being of employees, communities, and the environment. A leader who serves, beyond mere profit curves, nurtures a world that preserves, and community deserves."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "In the corporate world, compassion is the currency that enriches not only the heart but also the bottom line. Compassion in trade, is a gem inlaid, enriching hearts and the bottom line displayed."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "The measure of a company's true success lies in its unwavering commitment to ethical principles and social responsibility. True success, we profess, in ethics and responsibility, we bless, creating a legacy to impress."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Leadership grounded in ethical values creates a ripple effect, inspiring others to act with integrity and purpose. Ethics at the core, creates a ripple to explore, inspiring actions that roar, with purpose evermore.""Businesses that prioritize ethical conduct and servant leadership pave the way for a more just and equitable society. Prioritize the right, with servant leadership in sight, paving ways so bright, for justice and equity's light."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Compassionate leadership involves recognizing and addressing the needs of others, thereby fostering a culture of inclusivity and respect. Compassionate lead, fulfill every need, fostering respect's creed, where inclusivity indeed."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Ethics in business is not a destination but a continuous journey that demands constant reflection, commitment, and action. Business ethics a journey, with reflection as our attorney, constant commitment we learn, in actions we discern."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "A compassionate leader sees beyond the immediate profits, envisioning a future where humanity and business thrive together. Compassionate eyes see beyond profits and rise, envisioning skies where humanity and business ties."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Ethical dilemmas in business are opportunities to reaffirm our commitment to values that transcend short-term gains. Dilemmas we face, in ethics we place, reaffirming our race, to values that grace."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Servant leadership is about empowering others to achieve their full potential while maintaining a steadfast commitment to ethical standards. Empowering others to grow, with ethics in tow, servant leaders bestow, potential's glow."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "The essence of business ethics lies in the unwavering dedication to doing what is right, even when it is difficult or unpopular. Business ethics reside, in dedication's tide, to do what's right inside, even when others deride."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

• "Compassion in leadership is the bridge that connects profitability with purpose, ensuring that businesses contribute positively to the world. Compassion leads the way, bridging profits with purpose each day, ensuring businesses sway, in positive array."
  • Hope in/for Humanity.

Science-Religion Dialog

• Science and religion form the two pillars of our civilization and they need each other for the survival of ourselves.
  • Religion@scientist.com, p. 23.

• Only if we see religion and science as symbols leading to the depth of reality, can we talk of meaningful dialogue between the two.
  • Creative Convergence, p.16.

• Today humanity is confronted with the choice of total elimination or radical enhancement of human beings. This crisis demands that we draw the best from our scientific and religious resources.
  • Creative Convergence, p.20.

• The very survival of our human species needs the creative collaboration between science and religion.
  • Creative Convergence, p.23.

• If we can gratefully experience life, we shall be ready to encounter death gracefully.
  • Creative Convergence, p.28.

• [Today’s challenges] demand a genuine dialogue between science and society, an enriching partnership between the two and trusting critique of one another.
  • Creative Convergence, p. 33.

• Humans are the between before and beyond. Ever elusive and ever tensional.
  • Between Before and Beyond, p. 7.

Pandikattu (2002)

• We are truly a dynamic, ever open between-ness – or better in-betweenness – that goes beyond itself.
  • Creative Convergence, p.30.

Life: Relish It! (2012)

• Life Is Beautiful: Enjoy It/ Life Is Fragile: Foster It/ Life Is Relational: Share It/ Life Is Paradoxical: Encounter It/ Life Is Fascinating: Contemplate It/ Life Is: Be
  • Life: Relish It!

• Fiction is made of life/ Of earth and clay/ Of tears and laughter/ Of blood and sweat/ Hear them, the works of an author or a painter/ The singer and the clown/ Preserve the mystery of life.
  • Life: Relish It!

• So is the song of life being sung/ By us and by all the living beings/ A melodious and harmonious song,/ Where the singer loses her own self/ And absorbs in the wonderful harmony of the song!/ An almost ecstatic experience.
  • Life: Relish It!

• Humans: The only animal who can laugh!/ We can enjoy the lighter side of life/ And we can also laugh at others/ And ridicule others!
  • Life: Relish It!

• To discover meaning is somehow to see the relatedness with everything else,/ However vaguely it may be;./ To find meaning is to see the purpose of things,/ However hazily it may be.
  • Life: Relish It!

• Life is security and daring,/ Life is protection and risk,/ Life is openness and closure,/ It is safety and adventure.
  • Life: Relish It!

• A parable is fascinating/ In its paradoxical invitation/ In the subversion of values/ In the unconditional acceptance of life/In its total affirmation of life/ Without ifs, buts and ...
  • Life: Relish It!

Death: Live It! (2005)

• Death: frightening and inevitable./ It is necessary to give rise to better offspring./ It is necessary to give way to a better life-style/ It is necessary due to the law of nature.
  • Death: Live It! p. 20.

• Death has been the great leveler/ Of all honour, glory and name./ None can take anything with them/ To their tomb! Death! The sobering fact/ Of all our yearnings and longings!/ “What does it profit a man …”/ If he cannot take any of the things/ To his grave.
  • Death: Live It! p. 32.

• To look straight into the eyes of my death/ My non-being/ To face myself as living and dying/ In the bare nakedness of my life and non-life.
  • Death: Live It! p. 49.

• Death stares at me/ Death pushes me forward/ Attracts me onwards/ And carries me on/ And that is my life!
  • Death: Live It! p. 57

• To relish life and to relish death/ And to be grateful for both/ And to be open for more/ In both death and life.
  • Death: Live It! p. 72.

• It is much worse to be dead when we are alive/ Dead by the fear of death, when we are not yet dead!/ The incredible paradox of worrying to avoid death / Being the very cause of death!
  • Death: Live It! p. 80.

• Death is only a step towards .../ In this celebration of love/ Death is a stepping stone/ Towards the fullness/ Towards which all of us/ Consciously and unconsciously long for.
  • Death: Live It! p. 92.

• To be alive is to feel the joy of being./ In spite of the sorrows and joys of life/ The primary joy is that of being./ That of my existence. / That I exist is the most fundamental experience is joy for me!/ I, who do not deserve to, really exist./ I, who need not, do exist!/ I, who may not, do exist.
  • Death: Live It! p. 130.

Joy: Share It! (2018)

• Real genuine joy is borne of sadness and sorrow.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 36.

• Joy emerges from my little, timid life/ of everydayness and temerity.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 42.

• There is a deeper joy in emptying ourselves.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 44.

• The paradox of life is: Joy prepares one for more sadness and the other way around also.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 36.

• After realising the depth of tragedy, we can and need to be joyful in hope.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 54.

• The secret of joy is: To know the world and its evil powers ... and still preserve the hope.
  • Joy: Share it! p.54.

• The reward of joy is joy itself; not for its own sake; but for the sake of others.
  • Joy: Share it! p.134.

• The joy that is everywhere/ Is the true joy of being/ The joy that is life itself!
  • Joy: Share it! p. 140.

• There is a deeper joy in emptying ourselves/ A deeper fulfilment in commitment/ A nobler life in letting ourselves go/ a truer self in not clinging on to my self!
  • Joy: Share it! p. 44.

• As ever approachable and never attainable,/ the journey ventures on and on/ Without limit and borders/ And with full openness toward the infinite possibilities.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 68.

• Calm and peaceful mind/ Prevents us from being a slave to the other/ Ana makde us in charge of/ Our own happiness and fulfilment.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 78.

• To find the joy of living/ Is to experience the joy of dying/ Where the pain of parting/ Lads to still deeper joy of becoming.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 100

• Thus genuine joy is contagious/ Reaching out, especially, to the underprivileged/ And in this sense, enables a circle of compassion/ Involving the larger community of life itself.
  • Joy: Share it! p. 140..

Love: Be It! (2001)

• Love is Human: Own it/ Love is Bodily: Feel it/ Love is Divine: Revere it/ Love is Surrender: Transcend it/ Love is Life: Be!
  • Life: Relish It! Back Cover

• There is a subtle way of dominating you/ By always making you dependent on me./ Love sees through and liberates you/ To stand on your own feet.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 19

• To love implies that I respect you/ Even though I may not like you always./ Love means that I freely revere you/ And leave you free even not to respond to me.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 32

• Love enables the emergence of ecstasy/ That of enchantment with life
  • Life: Relish It! p. 47

• In your presence, dearly beloved,/ I do not need to make up!/ I do not need to adorn myself!/ I can just be myself!/ What a relief!
  • Life: Relish It! p. 67.

• You are a surprise for me./ Every moment./ You are unpredictable in your love./ You cannot be controlled by my love.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 96.

• It [love] conquers nihilism and pessimism/Suicide and self-annihilation./ It conquers its own death. /It is the spark of fire that kindles life forever.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 127.

• By sharing it [love] grows/ By giving it up it nurtures/ By dying it deepens./ By being it becomes.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 137.

• Love is the source of our hope/ Love is the basis of our vision/ Love is the goal of our progress/ Love is our world.
  • Life: Relish It! p. 114.

Freedom: Foster it! (2004)

• My deepest human longing is/ Not to control the world and people/ But to control and realise myself!
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 18.

• To be free is not an ideal/ But a concrete, specific commitment/ Commitment to a person, to a cause to an issue!
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 22.

• Freedom is the expression of my truest self/ The cry of being deepest being!
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 26.

• Freedom makes life not easy/ But noble and worthwhile!
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 30.

• Freedom is the flow of life/ It is to be part of it/ And to let life flow through you.
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 34.

• Freedom is basically a spiritual longing/ That can only be filled by a spiritual power.
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 114.

• The spiritual freedom, once relished and tasted/ Is ready to give up everything.
  • Freedom: Foster It! p. 117.

The Wisest of All Times Is Now! (2021)

• Time is both a mystery and a miracle. A marvel and magic! We live in time and time lives in us.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 7.

• The passing of time brings healing, sets our priorities right and provide us with new sense of meaning and urgency.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 8.

• Time brings everything to light and reveals the true worth and meaning of everyone and everything.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 8.

• “Being is; Time isn’t; time is; being isn’t!
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 12.

• The wisest time of all times is now. Now you are enlightened. Just now.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 24.

• Time (kaal) is the art (kala) of being.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 28.

• This too will pass away. This includes me too.
  • The Wisest of All Times Is Now! p. 28.

References

• Pandikattu, K. (2024). Excellence and Integrity: Fostering the Greater Good as Adding Value to the Business of Life. ISBN 978-9360654801 Written Words. New Delhi.
• Pandikattu, K. (2024). Hope in/for Humanity: Becoming the Best Generation by Addressing Global Challenges Through Ethical Consciousness. JRD Tata Foundation for Business Ethics. Jamshedpur.
• Pandikattu, K. (2023). Business Ethics: Textbook of Concepts and Cases. ISBN 978-93-95457-71-2 Written Words.  Delhi.
• Pandikattu, K. (2021). The Wisest of All Times is NOW: Timeless Quotes on Time. ISBN 978-8188864829 Jnanam. Pune.
• Pandikattu, K. (2017). JOY: Share It! ISBN 978-81-88864-34-8. Jnanam, Pune.
• Pandikattu, K. (2012). LIFE: Relish It! ISBN 9788171087785. Better Yourself Books, St. Paul, Mumbai.
• Pandikattu, K. (2004). FREEDOM: Foster It!ISBN 978-8174951502. Media House, Delhi.

External links

• More on Prof Pandikattu and his life and vision, see www.kuru.in
• His institutional affiliation, see xlri.ac.in
• His professional affiliation, see BusinessEthics