113 Inspiring Ram Dass Quotes To Live More Consciously
As someone who has always been interested in spirituality and personal growth, I have found that the words of Ram Dass quotes have been a powerful source of inspiration and guidance in my life.
Born Richard Alpert, Ram Dass was a spiritual teacher and author who became known for his work on mindfulness, meditation, and conscious living.
Over the course of his life, Ram Dass shared many insightful quotes and teachings that have resonated with millions of people around the world.
From his emphasis on living in the present moment to his teachings on the power of love and compassion, Ram Dass's words have had a profound impact on those seeking spiritual growth and enlightenment.
One of Ram Dass's most famous quotes is "Be here now."
This simple phrase encapsulates the essence of mindfulness and the importance of being fully present in each moment.
For many people, this quote has served as a reminder to slow down, breathe deeply, and fully experience the richness of life as it unfolds.
Another powerful Ram Dass quote is "The quieter you become, the more you can hear." This quote speaks to the importance of stillness and introspection in our busy and often chaotic world.
By taking the time to quiet our minds and listen to our inner wisdom, we can gain a greater sense of clarity and insight into our lives and our spiritual paths.
Ram Dass also emphasized the importance of love and compassion in our lives, saying "We're all just walking each other home."
This quote speaks to the interconnectedness of all beings and the importance of showing kindness and compassion to others, even in the face of challenges and adversity.
Overall, the quotes and teachings of Ram Dass offer a powerful source of inspiration and guidance for anyone seeking to deepen their spiritual practice and live a more mindful, compassionate, and fulfilling life.
Whether you're new to spirituality or have been on the path for years, Ram Dass's words can serve as a reminder to stay present, cultivate inner stillness, and show love and kindness to yourself and others.
33 Spiritual Quotes
1. "The soul comes to the incarnation to learn something. You learn best to involve yourself in the game; loving watching yourself with humor and love."
2. “When you take off your mask, it’s easier for everyone else to do it. Our culture is so mask-driven. Imagine an office with no mask."
3. "When you begin to realize that suffering is grace, you can’t believe it, you think you’re cheating. See, it doesn’t mean not having any preferences. It means not being attached to your preferences."
4. "You walk down the street and you’re somebody; you dress like somebody; your face looks like somebody. Everybody is reinforcing their structure of the universe over and over again and you meet
5. "Give up the anger. Working it through is making it something. Just give it up."
6. "When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it.
7. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way.
8. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that.
9. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in.
10. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are."
11. "Your entire life is a curriculum. Everything you've got on your plate is where the stuff for your enlightenment is. It’s breathtaking when you see the beauty of this design."
12. "Treat everyone you meet like God in drag."
13. "Anytime you push something away it’s still there."
RELATED: 124 CARING QUOTES TO SHOW COMPASSION TO YOURSELF & OTHERS
14. "The spiritual trip in this moment is not necessarily a cave in the Himalayas, but it's in relation to the technology that's existing, it's in relation to where we're at, it's relation to issues like pollution, political interest and activism. It’s all part of one package now."
15. "You have to have a lot of compassion for the stages people are in. Souls are neither nor evil. Actions are good or evil. Motivation is good or evil.
16. Personalities can be good or evil. But the essence of being is neither good or evil it just is. And it sometimes it has heavy stuff to work out and other times good stuff to work out."
17. "Everybody is playing with their stories; who they think they are. It’s more fun to just witness it all. To be in the environment in which it’s all happening."
18. "Your ‘downs’ turn out to be more interesting than your highs after a while because it’s showing you where you’re aren’t."
19. "How do we know who we are? We might be one breath away from enlightenment or death or who knows? The uncertainty is great. It keeps it wide open."
20. "In our culture we’ve been trained to make individual differences to stand out. You look at each person and think, ‘Brighter, dumber, older, younger, richer, poorer’ and we make all these dimensional distinctions, put them in categories and treat people that way.
21. And we only see others as separate from ourselves. One of the dramatic characteristics of the psychedelic experience is being with another person and suddenly seeing the ways in which they are like you – not different from you."
22. "A rule of the spiritual practice game is learning to trust one’s own intuitive heart; learning to trust another way of knowing outside of the rational, analytical process.
23. That you start to respond to something in you that knows even though who you think you are doesn’t know it knows.
24. It turns out intuition is perhaps where salvation lies and where thinking is where our destruction lies.
25. We thought our way into this peculiar situation where we’re alienated from the Earth and from each other. And caught in greed which is a product of the mind."
26. "The game is to be where you are. Be it honestly and as consciously as you know how."
27. "When the suffering comes down pike you don’t turn away from it because you know that the only reason you’re suffering is to show you the clinging of your own mind. It’s being offered to you as a gift."
28. "Death doesn’t need to be treated as an enemy to delight in life…I encourage to make peace with death.
29. To see it as a culminating adventure of this adventure of life. It is not an error, it is not a failure. It is taking off a tight shoe that you’ve worn well."
30. "When I was born I donned a spacesuit for living on this plane, it was this body, my space suit, and it had a steering mechanism which is my pre-frontal lobe and all the brain that helps with coordinating and stuff.
31. Just like those others who go to the moon and learn to use their space suit…how to grab things and lift things so I learned how to do that.
32. And then you get rewarded with little stars, kisses and all kinds of things when you learn how to use your space suit. You get so good at it that you can't differentiate yourself from your spacesuit."
33. "Life on this plane is like being in the 4th grade. You took birth here because you have certain work to do that involves the suffering you do, the kinds of situations you find yourself in. This is your curriculum. It’s not an error. Where you are now with all your neurosis and your problems; you’re sitting in just the right place. Imagine that."
36 Quotes On Self-Love & Wisdom
34. "Information is just bits of data. Knowledge is putting them together. Wisdom is transcending them."
35. "Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama."
36. "We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another."
37. "We’re all just walking each other home."
38. "The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back."
39. "Our interactions with one another reflect a dance between love and fear."
40. "Knowledge all by itself, without deep wisdom, ends up becoming despair."
41. "We’re here to awaken from the illusion of separateness."
42. "Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."
43. "Once you get to your soul, then every person you look at is a soul."
44. "Compassion refers to the arising in the heart of the desire to relieve the suffering of all beings."
45. "In our relationships, how much can we allow them to become new, and how much do we cling to what they used to be yesterday?"
46. "Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom."
47. "In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight."
48. "You just love until you and the beloved become one."
49. "Don’t compare your path with anybody else’s. Your path is unique to you."
50. "Your problem is you are too busy holding on to your unworthiness."
51. "When your center is firm, when your faith is strong and unwavering, then it will not matter what company you keep."
52. "If you think you’re enlightened go spend a week with your family."
53. "The art of listening comes from a quiet mind and an open heart."
54. "I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion–and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies."
55. "You may protest if you can love the person you are protesting against as much as you love yourself."
56. "It’s very hard to grow because it’s difficult to let go of the models of ourselves in which we’ve invested so heavily."
57. "The game is not about becoming somebody, it’s about becoming nobody."
58. "By acting compassionately, by helping to restore justice and to encourage peace, we are acknowledging that we are all part of one another."
59. "Who you think you are will always be frightened of change. But it doesn’t make any difference to who you truly are."
60. "The soul is not ruled by time and space. The soul is infinite. It blends with the One in infinity."
61. "A relationship starting out as one that awakens love can only remain a living vehicle for love to the extent that it is continually made new or reconsecrated."
62. "Love is the most transformative medicine For Love slowly transforms you Into what psychedelics only get you to glimpse."
RELATED: 106 PREGNANCY AFFIRMATIONS TO CULTIVATE CONFIDENCE & CALMNESS
63. "When someone we love dies, we get so busy mourning what died that we ignore what didn’t."
64. "Look at the people you don’t love and see them as an exercise for you to open your heart."
65. "As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can’t see how it is."
66. "These are planes of consciousness, and I think human beings exist on two planes of consciousness, the soul and the ego."
67. "You are joy, wisdom, peace, compassion, and love."
68. "I can do nothing for you but work on myself…you can do nothing for me but work on yourself!"
69. "If you would truly bring peace to the world, identify with that place within you where you are Peace."
59 Life Quotes
70. "In working with those who are dying, I offer another human being a spacious environment with my mind in which they can die as they need to die.
71. I have no right to define how another person should die. I'm just there to help them transition, however they need to do it."
72. "When I look at relationships, my own and others, I see a wide range of reasons for people to be together and ways in which they are together.
73. I see ways in which a relationship—which means something that exists between two or more people—for the most part reinforces people's separateness as individual entities."
74. "The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it's in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I'm caught in an unstable situation.
75. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me."
76. "We come into relationships often very much identified with our needs. I need this, I need security, I need refuge, I need friendship. And all of relationships are symbiotic in that sense. We come together because we fulfill each others' needs at some level or other."
77. "Everyone should smile. Life really isn't that serious. We make it hard. The sun rises. The sun sets. We just tend to complicate the process."
78. "You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success—none of that matters. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here."
79. "As you dissolve into love, your ego fades. You're not thinking about loving, you're just being love, radiating like the sun."
80. "Be patient. You'll know when it's time for you to wake up and move ahead."
81. "Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying."
82. "The next message you need is always right where you are."
83. "In our Western culture, although death has come out of the closet, it is still not openly experienced or discussed. Allowing dying to be so intensely present enriches both the preciousness of each moment and our detachment from it."
84. "The key to the spiritual journey is not acquiring something outside of yourself. Rather it is shedding the veils to come back to the deepest truth of your being."
RELATED: 104 ENLIGHTENING FAITH QUOTES TO INSPIRE SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
85. "The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
86. "I can resonate with you in the highest place that I am. So: I can do nothing for you but work on myself…you can do nothing for me but work on yourself."
87. "Emotions are like waves. Watch them disappear in the distance on the vast calm ocean."
88. "I was no longer needing to be special, because I was no longer so caught in my puny separateness that had to keep proving I was something. I was part of the universe, like a tree is, or like grass is, or like water is."
89. "The most exquisite paradox…as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible."
90. "The ego is frightened by death, because ego is part of the incarnation and ends with it. That is why we learn to identify with our soul, as the soul continues after death. For the soul, death is just another moment."
91. "Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough."
92. "It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed."
93. "Without remaining open to change, we can not remain open to life."
94. "I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken."
95. "What are you doing planning for the future? Well it's all right now. But later? Forget it baby. That's later. Now is now. Are you going to be here or not?"
96. "The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. Listen to your own truth."
97. "Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It's not "I love you" for this or that reason, not "I love you if you love me". It's love for no reason, love without an objective."
98. "Birth, death, and suffering all bring us to the very edge of what our minds can understand."
99. "Everything in your life is there as a vehicle for your transformation. Use it!"
100. "Let's trade in all our judging for appreciating. Let's lay down our righteousness and just be together."
101. "I hang out with my guru in my heart. And I love everything in the universe. That's all I do all day."
102. "When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru speaking to you. It's right here…always."
103. "As we grow in our consciousness, there will be more compassion and more love, and then the barriers between people, between religions, between nations will begin to fall."
104. "A being whose awareness is totally free, who does not cling to anything, is liberated."
105. "Ask yourself: where am I? Answer: here. Ask yourself: what time is it? Answer: now. Say it until you can hear it."
106. "If you keep examining your mind, you'll come to see that thoughts of who you are and how it all is are creating the reality you're experiencing."
107. "My life is a creative act–like a painting, or a concerto."
108. "Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God."
109. "Souls love. That's what souls do. Ego don't, but souls do. Become a soul, look around, and you'll be amazed-all the beings around you are souls. Be one, see one."
110. "Our journey is about being more deeply involved in life and yet less attached to it."
111. "It’s all real and it’s all illusory: that’s Awareness!"
112. "The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth."
113. "Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery."
114. "The universe is made up of experiences that are designed to burn out your attachment, your clinging, to pleasure, to pain, to fear to all of it. And as long as there is a place where your vulnerable, the universe will find a way to confront you with it."
115. "It’s only when caterpillarness is done that one becomes a butterfly. That again is part of this paradox. You cannot rip away caterpillarness. The whole trip occurs in an unfolding process of which we have no control."
116. "All acts of healing are ultimately ourselves healing our Self."
117. "Spiritual practices help us move from identifying with the ego to identifying with the soul. Old age does that for you too. It spiritualizes people naturally."
118. "When the heart is open, it’s easier for the mind to be turned toward God."
119. "You and I are the force for transformation in the world. We are the consciousness that will define the nature of the reality we are moving into."
120. "All spiritual practices are illusions created by illusionists to escape illusion."
121. "If you think you are enlightened; go home for Thanksgiving."
122. "Cosmic humor, especially about your own predicament, is an important part of your journey."
123. "The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth."
124. "A feeling of aversion or attachment toward something is your clue that there's work to be done."
125. "What you meet in another being is the projection of your own level of evolution."
126. "The game is not about becoming somebody, it's about becoming nobody."
127. "We're all just walking each other home."
128. "Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it."
How Can Reading Ram Dass Quotes Be Helpful?
Reading Ram Dass quotes can be incredibly beneficial in a number of ways.
For one, his teachings can help us cultivate mindfulness, which is the practice of being fully present in the moment.
By reading his quotes and incorporating his teachings into our daily lives, we can become more aware of our thoughts, feelings, and sensations, and learn to appreciate the beauty and richness of each moment.
Ram Dass's teachings can also help us cultivate greater compassion and love for ourselves and others.
Many of his quotes emphasize the importance of kindness, empathy, and understanding, reminding us to approach each interaction with an open heart and a willingness to connect with others on a deeper level.
By embodying these qualities, we can create more fulfilling relationships and live more harmoniously with those around us.
In addition, reading Ram Dass quotes can also help us gain greater insight into our own spiritual paths.
His teachings on mindfulness, compassion, and conscious living can inspire us to explore our own beliefs and practices, and encourage us to seek out new ways to deepen our connection to the divine.
RELATED: 102 POWERFUL MOON QUOTES TO FIND YOUR HIGHER PURPOSE
Next Steps
Implementing Ram Dass quotes into your daily life can be a powerful way to cultivate greater mindfulness, compassion, and self-awareness.
Here are a few ways to incorporate his teachings into your daily routine:
- Start your day with a mindfulness practice: Begin your day with a few minutes of quiet reflection or meditation. As you sit in stillness, focus on your breath and allow any thoughts or sensations to simply pass by without judgment or attachment. As you cultivate greater mindfulness in this way, you'll be better equipped to stay present and centered throughout the day.
- Use his quotes as daily affirmations: Choose a few of your favorite Ram Dass quotes and write them down on index cards or sticky notes. Place these affirmations in places where you'll see them throughout the day, such as on your bathroom mirror or computer monitor. As you read these quotes, allow them to serve as a reminder of your intention to live mindfully, with compassion and kindness towards yourself and others.
- Practice loving-kindness meditation: Ram Dass was a strong advocate for the practice of loving-kindness meditation, which involves sending positive wishes and intentions towards yourself and others. To practice this form of meditation, sit in a comfortable position and focus on sending love and compassion towards yourself, loved ones, and even those with whom you may be in conflict.
- Cultivate gratitude: Ram Dass often spoke about the importance of gratitude as a practice for cultivating joy and contentment in life. Make a conscious effort to focus on the things you're grateful for throughout the day, whether it's the beauty of nature, the kindness of a friend, or the simple pleasures of life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Was Ram Dass And What Was His Philosophy?
Ram Dass was an American spiritual teacher, author, and speaker who was known for his teachings on mindfulness, compassion, and conscious living.
He first rose to prominence in the 1960s as a proponent of the psychedelic movement, but later became a spiritual leader in his own right, traveling the world to share his teachings with others.
His philosophy emphasized the importance of living in the present moment, cultivating mindfulness, and embodying love and compassion in all aspects of life.
What Are Some Of Ram Dass's Most Famous Quotes?
Ram Dass is known for many memorable quotes, but some of his most famous include: "Be here now," "We're all just walking each other home," and "The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
These quotes, along with many others, encapsulate Ram Dass's philosophy of mindfulness, compassion, and spiritual growth.
How Can Ram Dass Quotes Be Applied To Daily Life?
Ram Dass quotes can be applied to daily life in a number of ways.
For example, his teachings on mindfulness can inspire us to live more fully in the present moment, letting go of past regrets and future worries.
His emphasis on compassion and understanding can encourage us to treat others with kindness and empathy, even in challenging situations.
And his focus on spiritual growth can inspire us to explore our own beliefs and practices, seeking out new ways to deepen our connection to the divine.
By incorporating Ram Dass quotes and teachings into our daily lives, we can cultivate greater awareness, compassion, and self-awareness, leading to a more fulfilling and authentic life.