The Ramayana, a revered scripture often regarded as a “manual of living,” offers profound insights that resonate across time. Within its pages lie invaluable lessons that have the power to guide humanity towards a path of fulfilment and success. This collection of top Ramayana quotes encapsulates timeless wisdom and life lessons drawn from stories echoing through millennia.
Embarking on a Journey of Wisdom: Top Ramayana Quotes
The Essence of Strength
“Even your pity is like a blast of wind, and the words you speak would strip a tree of its blossoms.” – Ramayana.
“Grief destroys one’s courage. It destroys one’s learning. It destroys one’s everything. There is no enemy greater than grief.”
– Ramayana
“There is no deity more powerful than time.”
– Ramayana
Dharma: The Path of Righteousness
“Those who have knowledge of dharma say that truth is the highest dharma.”
– Ramayana
“There are three all-powerful evils: lust, anger, and greed.”
– Ramayana
“Only the timid and the weak leave things to destiny, but the strong and the self-confident never bank on destiny or luck.”
– Lakshmana to Rama
“Just as people are afraid of serpents, they are afraid of people who utter lies. Truth controls this world, and dharma is rooted in truth.”
– Rama to Maharshi Jabali
Companionship: Bonds That Define
“A Veena cannot exist without its strings. A chariot cannot exist without its wheels. Without her husband, a woman can never live happily, even though she has a hundred sons.”
– Ramayana
“You cannot count on the physical proximity of someone you love all the time. A seed that sprouts at the foot of its parent tree remains stunted until it is transplanted. Rama will be in my care, and he will be quite well. But ultimately, he will leave me too. Every human being, when the time comes, has to depart to seek his fulfilment in his own way.”
– Ramayana
Release and Liberation
“To be happy always is something which is difficult to achieve. That is to say, happiness and sorrow alternate in one’s life, and there cannot be uninterrupted happiness alone.”
– Ramayana
“All the sleepers in a night of delusion beholding so many dreams. In this world of darkness, only those who sever themselves from the material world become absorbed in the contemplation of the supreme. None can be regarded as really woken up from sleep till they have renounced all sensuous delights.”
– Ramayana
“If a person is gifting away his elephant, but his heart is set on the rope used for tying the elephant, of what use is his attachment to the rope when he is giving away the elephant itself.”
– Ramayana
The Power of Karma: Shaping Destiny
“Only a person’s conduct and character proclaim whether he is born in a good family or whether he is boasting about himself or whether he is unblemished (shuchih) or blemished (ashuchih).”
– Ramayana
“He who does not repay a favour is a stigma to humanity.”
– Ramayana
“One who is naughty, who does not know whether what he does is right or wrong, and who has taken the wrong path is to be disciplined even if he is a guru, parent, or an elder in age or learning.”
– Ramayana
Parental Reverence
“Beauty may leave the moon, Himalaya may become bereft of snow, the ocean may transgress its shores, but I will never violate the promise given by my father.”
– Ramayana
“No burden is too heavy for providence, not even death.”
– Ramayana
“It is difficult for the children to repay the debt of what the mother and the father have done to bring them up.”
– Ramayana
Embracing Transition: The Eternal Cycle
“No life is expunged before the appointed hour.”
– Ramayana
The Ramayana stands as a testament to enduring Indian tradition, offering profound guidance on matters of family, friendship, dharma, and karma. Within its verses lies the potential to uncover answers that have intrigued humanity for generations.
