Swami Amritaswarupananda Quotes

Swami Amritaswarupananda is the foremost disciple of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma). This is a collection of quotes of Swami Amritaswarupananda.

Our fundamental problem is that we personalize our experience. We don’t see it from the point of view of the truth that everything is one. When we see everything from an impersonal point of view, automatically we want nothing. And, therefore, happiness or our natural bliss is there.

When we see things from an impersonal point of view, we see the play of the pairs of opposites and the three gunas. We recognize that we are in a world of experiences. Some are pleasant to the senses, some are not. We know that both are inevitable, and, therefore, we don’t chase one or try to avoid the other. Neither do we want the pleasurable ones, nor do we want to avoid those that are not pleasant. We want nothing. We simply respond to all experiences by doing what is appropriate, our duty at that moment.

Fundamentally we live in a world that is constantly changing. Most of us do not feel integrated with that change. We feel as if we are standing apart from it, in some way isolated from it. To a large extent, we resist it. Resistance means dissatisfaction. 

The Divine is all there is. We are part of That. Indeed, we are That. If through our foolishness, our ego, we stand apart from It, we cannot possibly find the happiness that our hearts seek. Therefore, we must recognize that the secret is in letting go of the separate I. We must move towards an ever greater feeling of universality, of impersonality rather than thinking we are an individual I separate from everyone else. 

We must recognize the error that we are making and have total dispassion for the little I. We must be determined to move away from it. We also need to practise the presence of God or the Universal through selfless service, through devotion to God, through meditation, through enquiry into who we are.