Shantananda Saraswati

Shantananda Saraswati (16th July 1913 - 1997) Indian spiritual teacher, Shankaracharya of the Jyotir Math monastery from 1953 to 1980, he was a disciple of Brahmananda Saraswati and succeeded him as Shankaracharya.

Quotes

• If you begin to be what you are, you will realise everything, but to begin to be what you are, you must first come out of what you are not. You are not those thoughts which are turning, turning in your mind. You are not those changing feelings. You are not the different decisions you make and the different wills you have. You are not that separate ego. Well then, what are you? You will find that when you have come out of what you are not, that the ripple on the water is whispering to you “I am That”, that the birds in the trees are singing to you “I am That”, the moon and the stars are shining beacons to you “I am That”. You are in everything in the world and everything in the world is reflected in you. And at the same time you are That—everything.
  • Sri Shantananda Saraswati, Good Company (The Society for the Study of Normal Psychology, 2009)

• The creation is for bliss. It is a play, and the play is only for enjoyment.
  • Good Company. The Study Society. 2009

• Only if men could see that they have nothing to do, nothing to claim, nothing to achieve in this already complete and blissful creation, they would begin to enjoy and also fulfil the purpose.
  • Good Company. The Study Society. 2009

• All troubles which we encounter in our life are due to treating the world as real.
  • Good Company. The Study Society. 2009

• Don’t fight with your desires; don’t try to push them out; don’t try to settle them. But just be carefree about them; get the ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude. Just lose them, neglect them, and they will go away one by one. Don’t struggle with them. I tell you that it is the only way it can be done.
  • Good Company. The Study Society. 2009

• In meditation one is just One. One becomes the Self. The method of meditation is only a process by which this is made possible.
  • Good Company. The Study Society.2009

• The moving mind looks for happiness in getting and experiencing things. These do not suffice, for, when the mind has one thing it immediately rushes after another. The still mind finds happiness in everything.
  • Teaching of His Holiness Shantanand Saraswati, The Study Society 2018

• A man may steal and be punished as a thief, or perform good deeds and be commended, but the power of Consciousness, which remains only a witness, is neither thief nor good man.
  • Teaching of His Holiness Shantanand Saraswati, The Study Society 2018