Kuruvilla Pandikattu
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
- 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.
- Humans are the between before and beyond. Ever elusive and ever tensional
- Between Before and Beyond, p. 7.
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.
- 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.
External links
- More on Prof Pandikattu and his quotes, please see www.kuru.in
- His institutional affiliation, see jdv.edu.in