Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.
Sri AurobindoRead
Indian religion has always felt that since the minds, the temperaments and the intellectual affinities of men are unlimited in their variety, a perfect liberty of thought and of worship must be allowed to the individual in his approach to the Infinite.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of individual freedom in thought and worship regarding spirituality.
Sri Aurobindo highlights the vast diversity of human understanding and approaches to spirituality. He argues that because every individual's mind and temperament are unique, there must be complete freedom for individuals to explore their own interpretations and connections to the Infinite. This perspective values personal experience and expression in matters of faith and knowledge, acknowledging that there is no singular path to the divine.
Themes
FreedomThoughtWorshipInfiniteIndividualitySpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on spirituality, one could quote this to emphasize the value of personal belief systems.
More from Sri Aurobindo
All quotes →To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs.
Sri AurobindoRead
Be conscious first of thyself within, then think and act. All living thought is a world in preparation; all real act is a thought manifested. The material world exists because an idea began to play in divine self–consciousness.
Sri AurobindoRead
Evolution is not finished; reason is not the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature. As man emerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges.
Sri AurobindoRead
Impossibility is only a sum of greater unrealised possibles. It veils an advanced stage and a yet unaccomplished journey.
Sri AurobindoRead
If it be true that spirit is involved in Matter and apparent Nature is secret God, then the manifestation in the divine in himself and the realization of God within and without are the highest and most legitimate aim possible to man on earth.
Sri AurobindoRead
Similar quotes
Modern systematic politics, whether liberal, conservative, radical, or socialist, simply has to be rejected from a standpoint that owes genuine allegiance to the tradition of the virtues; for modern politics itself expresses in its institutional forms a systematic rejection of that tradition
Alasdair MacintyreRead
To find a cause that's larger than yourself and then to give your life to it.
Shimon PeresRead
Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self?
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The struggle is inner: Chicano, indio, American Indian, mojado, mexicano, immigrant Latino, Anglo in power, working class Anglo, Black, Asian--our psyches resemble the bordertowns and are populated by the same people. The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the "real" world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.
Gloria E. AnzaldaRead
You know all the money we spend on nuclear weapons and defence every year? Trillions of dollars? Correct? Trillions. Instead, if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world,which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, not one, we could, as one race, explore outer space together in peace forever
Bill HicksRead
The American dream is a crock. Stop wanting everything. Everyone should wear jeans and have three T-shirts, eat rice and beans.
Bill HicksRead