If, by the grace of The lord, a man once gains the knowledge that he is not the doer, then he assuredly becomes freed in this very life and transcends all fear."-

- Ramakrushna Paramhansa

    “By surrender we mean – a spontaneous self-giving of all your self to the divine, to a greater Consciousness of which you are a part.

    Surrender will not diminish, but increase; it will not lessen or weaken or destroy your personality, it will fortify and aggrandize it.”

The Mother of Pondichery

“Success or achievement is not the final goal. It is the 'spirit' in which you act that puts the seal of beauty upon your life.

- Swami Chinmayananda

“From satsang comes non-attachment,  From non-attachment comes freedom from delusion (Maya),  Which leads to self-settled ness.  From self-settledness comes Jeevan Mukti (Liberation).”

“As fragrance abides in the flower, as reflection is within the mirror, so does your Lord abide within you. Why search for Him without?”   

        “If we lose our money while traveling, think how frantically we search for it! In the same way, if we are unable to chant* even for a brief moment, we should grieve: ‘Alas, Lord, I have lost so much time!’ "

- Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Ammachi).

“Drinking the cup of desire, the world becomes mad. Day and night never come together, so also desire and The Lord can never come together. Give up desire!”

- Swami Vivekananda

Swami Chinmayananda

(1916-1993) Founder of Chinmaya mission. He met Swami Shivananda at Rishikesh and became very interested in the spiritual path. He studied for 12 years under Swami Tapovan's guidance, leading a very austere and rigorous life. During his forty years of travelling and teaching, He opened numerous centres and ashrams worldwide, he also built many schools, hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. As well as reinvigorating India's rich cultural heritage, Swami Chinmayananda made Vedanta accessible to everybody regardless of age, nationality, or religious background.  

The Mother of Pondicherry

The Mother’, as she fondly came to be known, was born Mirra Alfassa in Paris, France on February 21,1878. Her spiritual potential was evident from an early age itself. She went to Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1906 and 1907 to study Spirituality with Max Theon and his wife Alma. Between 1911 and 1913 she gave a number of talks on Spirituality to various groups of seekers in Paris.

    In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondichery, Southern India, to visit Shri Aurobindo. He accepted Mother as His disciple and guided Her on the spiritual path. Mother had to return to France at the time the First World War started. After four years in Japan, in 1920, Mother rejoined Shri Aurobindo in Pondichery. Six years later, when the Shri Aurobindo Ashram was founded, Shri Aurobindo entrusted it to Mother. Under Mother’s guidance and inspiration (which covers nearly fifty years) the Ashram flowered into a large and multi-faceted spiritual community as it is at present.  She also established a school “Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education” in 1952, and an international township “Auroville” in 1968.

The Mother renounced Her body on November 17, 1973.

Guru Nanak - 

    Guru Nanak was the founder of the Sikh religion. He was born on October 20, 1469, Talwandi, India (today’s Pakistan.) His goal was to unify the Hindus and Muslims. So he studied both religions and founded Sikhism, which combined the principles of both. 'Sikh' means 'disciple'. Guru Nanak taught that one can make spiritual progress only through the grace and guidance of a Guru. Guru Nanak worked incessantly for the spiritual evolution of humanity. He spread the importance of chanting The Lord’s Name. He started the institution of 'Sangat' and 'Pangat' (free kitchen.) 'Sangat' referred to remaining in satsang and 'Pangat’ to the free kitchen, giving opportunities for satseva. In both these institutions, men and women were welcomed irrespective of caste, color or creed. It was a community life. "Dana Pani Guru Ka, Taihal Bhawna Sikhan Ki" was a common saying of the time, which means, "Provisions are made by Providence (God) and service is rendered by the Sikhs." Sikhism has spread not only in North India, but also in America, Singapore and Africa. He renounced His body on September 22, 1539 at Kartarpur Sahib, Punjab (a state in India.)

Adi Shankaracharya

    Shri Adi Shankaracharya was a great philosopher, mystic and poet from India. He was born in year 788 AD and became a Monk at the tender age of 8. Sri Govinda Bhagavatpada was His Guru.

    Shri Adi Shankaracharya renounced His body at the age of 32 years –in year 820 AD. During His short, but spiritually radiant life, He founded the Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) School of thought, established many Mathas (hermitages or ashrams of monks), reformed ritualistic worship (Karmakanda) to focus on progressing to the next step of spiritual practice, namely mental worship (Upasanakanda). His profound spiritual knowledge, attained through actual practice and experience won several scholarly debates on the Scriptures.)

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Ammachi).

    She was born in Kerala, India in 1953 as the daughter of a fisherman. She had schooling only till the age of nine. Her Self-realization and wisdom stems from Her constant remembrance of God.

Her name ‘Mata Amritanandamayi’ translates into ‘Mother of Immortal Bliss’. To millions around the world, she is fondly known as ‘Amma’ (mother) or ‘Ammachi’, which means beloved mother. She is also called ‘the Hugging Saint’, because of the loving embraces she has tirelessly given to thousands everyday.

Ramakrushna Paramhansa   was born on 18.02.1836 in Kamarpukur, Bengal, India. Since His childhood days, he showed great devotion and often went into samadhi states. He was an ardent devotee of Goddess Kalimata. In 1855 he was offered the job as the priest of the Goddess Kali at Dakshineshwar Temple in Bengal, India. Visitors to the temple would crowd to see Ramkrushna perform ritualistic worship, as they wanted to see the love and devotion with which it was performed.  At the age of 23,in May 1859, he married Saradamoni, who served him devotedly as the ideal life companion. Soon after, the urge to find out the truth about life brought Ramakrushna to spiritual instruction under the sage Totapuri, who gave him the sobriquet, Paramhansa.  His quest for truth continued with  Bhairavi Ma and sages in other religion. Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Thus he declared, "As many faiths, so many paths."

Drawn by the magnetism of Shri Ramakrushna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and near - men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians, philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmins, Christians and Muslims, seekers of the truth from all races, creeds and castes. Shri Ramakrushna’s Paramhansa had several disciples, including Swami Vivekananda. Ramakrushna Paramhansa renounced His body in 1886.