Robert Adams was an Advaita Vedanta teacher who lived from January 21 1928, to March 2, 1997. He was a disciple of Ramana Maharshi and held satsangs later on in his life in California which were recorded and transcribed. The best parts of the satsangs were compiled into a book ‘Silence of the Heart’ which was published in 1999. Here are some of his best quotes to enlighten you on your spiritual path to Self-Realization-
“All of the solutions, all of the wisdom, all of the happiness and bliss you’ve been searching for, it’s within you.”
“As far as other are concerned, there are no others. There is only the source. I can no longer be deceived. There is no thing that has ever transpired in my life that can hurt me. I forgive everyone and everything, and especially myself. I am the power, and the presence, and the glory. If I am that so is everybody else, so is everything else. All is well.“
“As you observe the thoughts they disappear, but more come, more come, and even when you’re finished with them from this life, they’ll come to you from a previous life. It never stops. So you have to keep asking the question, ‘To whom do they come? To whom do they come?’ And keep observing and following the I thought, and doing nothing, and one day it will all be gone, and you’ll be free. But you have to have patience and persistence. Remember, it took us so many years to be the way we are, screwy, crazy, insane. So now it’s going to take a little time, perhaps, to get over it.”
“Begin to spend more time diving within yourself, watching, witnessing. When thoughts pop up, simply ask yourself, ‘To whom do these thoughts come? To me. I think them. Who am I? What is the source of the I?’ As you do this, my friends, I can assure you a marvelous change will take place in your life, sooner or later, and you will become free.”
“Dive into your heart centre. Sit in the silence. Everything will take care of itself.”
“Do not attach yourself to what your body is going through. Keep your mind above it, keep your head in heaven and your feet on the ground.”
“Every position that you find yourself in, every situation that you find yourself in, with whomever you find yourself with, the positions that you have or don’t have, wherever you may be in this world, is your right place at this moment. Bless this. Love it.”
“Everything that is happening, is happening now. Not tomorrow or yesterday. It’s all happening in the moment. So where is there to go?”
“Forget about your problems. There is a power that knows how to take care of everything for you– if you allow it to. You have to allow it to. You have to surrender your ego, your pride, your concepts, your opinions, your questions, your answer. Everything has to be surrendered.” (12th August 1990 Satsang) (24:10)
“How do you become happy? By not thinking”
“I don’t have to see peace where it’s peaceful. I feel and see peace in every situation. Whatever there appears to be going on, there is peace. Just as in the center of a hurricane there is a peaceful circle, total stillness at the center of a hurricane. The same is true in the center of a tornado, in the cyclone. There is a center of peace. We are all that center. The true peace is you.”
“If you have Jnana, you are at peace with yourself and the world, for all the happiness that exists, all the joy that exists, all the peace that exists, all the love that exists, is another name for Jnana. Therefore to the extent that you awaken, to that extent do you find that all is well, wherever you are.”
“In the ultimate reality there’s nothing as we know it, as we conceive it. As long as you’re able to voice it, it’s false. As long as you able to think about it, it does not exist. Reality is silence, not words.”
“It is the ego that keeps you in bondage. It is the ego that makes you believe you are what you are. It is the ego that causes all the problems to come into your life. The ego is your worst enemy. Therefore you have to do everything in life that you can do to annihilate the ego. The ego must be annihilated, totally removed, totally destroyed.”
“Leave your body alone. Take just enough care of it. Exercise it a little, feed it right foods, but don’t think about it too much. Keep your mind on reality. Merge your mind with reality, and you will experience reality. You will live in a world without problems.“
“Love everything because it’s all part of the Self”
“Once you catch a glimpse of self-realization, you’ll never go back again. There’s no turning back.”
“Really the only thing you have to do is quiet your mind”
“Sitting in the silence is more potent than any words you can ever hear.”
“The enlightened being knows only happiness”
“The Jnani is all-pervading, and the whole universe and the Jnani are simultaneously the same. There is no difference between the moon, the stars, the earth, the universe, God, and the Jnani.”
“The reality in the back of the universe is pure awareness. It has no problems. And you are that.”
“The secret is to quiet the mind. Your real nature is self-realization. When the mind is stilled, you just return to your real nature, to what you always were.“
“The turmoil, the chaos that appears to be in this world, is not the truth. It is not reality. It is something that comes and goes. This too shall pass. But your center is God, consciousness, absolute reality, Brahman. That is the peace that exists.”
“The Universe is your friend. It’s on your side there’s nothing against you. The only thing against you are your thoughts. If you learn to quiet your mind you’ll have no problems.”
“There is just nobody home. There never was a body, there is no body, and there never will be a body. There is only consciousness and you are that.”
“This (Spiritual practises) doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go anywhere or do something else. You can watch TV, you can go to a movie, you can go swimming, you can go play golf, you can go bowling but never forget who you are, that’s all. Always remember who you really are.”
“This whole world is like that dream. Everything appears so real. We go through different experiences all of our lives and it appears so real. But I tell you the day will come when you will awaken. And you will realize that you are I-am-that-I-am. You will realize that you are absolute pure awareness. You are the self.”
“To feel God’s grace means you have to surrender completely, have a lot of humility.”
“To awaken to our true nature, which is pure awareness. This is the only reason we’re here. Do not concern yourself with your health or with your finances or with the world or with politics. Everything will unfold as it should without your help, strange but true. You will appear to do certain things in this world yet in reality you are doing absolutely nothing. There is no one to do anything. It’s as if you were hypnotized and you can’t get out of it. You believe in a world that you see. People, places and things appear very real to us. We are not that! We have absolutely nothing to do with that. Yet it appears as if these things are real.”
“We become so enmeshed in the world. We think things are real. Everything bothers us. We become angry. We become upset. But the truth is you are not maya. You are absolute reality. You are total awareness. You are the Self. Know who you are and wake up. Awaken and be free.”
“What are you feeling? Try to let go of all your emotions, your preconceived ideas, all of your dogmatic beliefs, all about your body or about others. Allow your mind to remain empty. Feel that I am it, pure awareness.”
“When the mind is still and quiet, everything will take care of itself.”
“When the mind is subdued there is only eternal peace”
“When you awaken, you appear the same as you are right now, only you’re totally free. That’s all. You’re completely, totally free. Your people will still see you the same way you are now. They will not see any difference. If they stay with you twenty-four hours a day, they will notice you do not react to things any longer. They will notice you’ve become an embodiment of peace, that you’re always happy, nothing disturbs you. There’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of. It’s a wonderful experience.”
“When you take refuge in your Self you become happy. When you take refuge in your Self you have peace. When you take refuge in your Self you have harmony, you have joy.”
“Whenever you think you stop the reality from flowing, by your thoughts. Whenever your mind is quiescent, calm, still like a motionless lake, then you reflect your own divinity. And you become pure and happy and all your problems melt away.“
“When your mind is quiet, you find bliss”
“You as you exist now are complete emptiness. You are Pure intelligence, Pure Awareness, Absolute Reality, Nirvana, just the way you are- right now. Do not think about it. If you think about it, you spoil it.”
“You cannot change the condition. Change yourself… and the condition will change.” -6 Jan 1991 Satsang
“Your job is to relax, to take it easy, to be peaceful.”