Deluded, the musk deer searches everywhere for the origin of the fragrance, without realizing it lies within himself. This is the way it is for those who go on pilgrimages and follow religious observances. If you wish to find your home, look within. If you wish to find the Lord, seek Him within yourselves. This is true wisdom.
DARIYA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
If you wish to find what you are looking for, remove that which hides your heart.
KABIR, SUFI
If you wish to obtain true knowledge, then grasp the oneness that dwells within yourself. The cleansed mirror waits within—waiting for you.
HADEWIJCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC
If you want the treasure, don't look for it outside of yourself. You already carry it within, so why not use it without restraint?
MA-TSU TAO I, CHAN BUDDHIST
The flower contains the fragrance within itself. Just so, the Lord resides in you. You need not look elsewhere.
GURU NANAK, VEDANTA (HINDU)
Your teacher will introduce your true teacher to you—the one that lies within your own consciousness.
SWAMI RAMA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
The Kingdom is within you, and whoever knows oneself will find it. All those who find the kingdom will know that they are heirs of the Father. Know that you are in God, and God is in you.
JESUS, PAPYRUS OXYRHYNCHUS I
All the scriptures tell us the same thing: “Know thyself” If you have known yourself, you have known everything else. The Bible says, “Seek that kingdom within you.” It is not outside. Once you have found That, then all other things will be added to you.
SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
To find a Buddha, all you have to do is see your own nature.
BODHIDHARMA, ZEN BUDDHIST
Our soul was created to be the dwelling place of God, and that indwelling is God.
JULIANA OF NORWICH, ROMAN CATHOLIC
The seeker becomes the knower because the thing to be known is already there. There is nothing else to know. And there are not two things, because the seeker is both the knower and the known.
RAMANA MAHARSHI, VEDANTA (HINDU)
He is a scoundrel, that yogi. For him, there is no earth or sky—no form of any kind. He sets up shop in a marketplace that does not exist. He weighs things and manages accounts. But he has no deed, no yogic powers, no religion, not even a bowl to go begging with. I am you and you are me, and I'm inside of you.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
God plants a seed deep inside of you, and that seed is Himself. If you are a bright and hard working fellow, the seed will grow, and become a full blooming plant, which is God. With the right conditions and constant nurturing, the seed of every plant grows up to be that plant. God seeds grow up to be the One who planted the seed.
MEISTER ECKHART, ROMAN CATHOLIC
Do not judge, simply be a witness. Focus on yourself, not others. Don't listen to the crowd, listen to what your own heart tells you.
MA-TSU, ZEN BUDDHIST
The One who created all things, holds all things within Himself. He also has a special dwelling place, and that dwelling place is within your own heart.
EDITH STEIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC
If God could be found by ritual cleansing, then frogs and fish can find Him. If God could be found deep in the forest or in the fields, then cows would have found him by now. But God is found by those who have a pure heart.
BULLEH SHAH, SUFI
The center of divine knowledge exists within every human being. When one finds that center, one naturally becomes a poet without ever having studied the art of poetry.
SWAMI MUKTANANDA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
People can sit still on a cushion for many years without ever finding ultimate Truth. If you are looking for the supreme Tao, look inside yourself—because it has always been there.
LU TUNG-PIN, TAOIST
Fish don't get thirsty because water exists in them, so why do people say they cannot find the answer when it already resides within them? Travel to one holy city after another if you wish, but you will never discover that which is real.
KABIR, SUFI
The body is the house in which the spirit resides.
JELALUDDIN RUMI, SUFI
Those people who search for the Buddha outside of their own mind, will never find him.
BODHIDHARMA, ZEN BUDDHIST
The moment I have truly realized God sitting in the temple of every human heart, the moment I revere every human being as God—that is the moment when I am set free from bondage.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
You can travel to the four corners of the earth, but you will not find anything anywhere. Whatever is there, is already here.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA, VEDANTA (HINDU)
When you are already in Detroit, you don't have to take a bus to get there.
RAM DASS, VEDANTA (HINDU)
I am rich because I have nothing. Can I say that I am thirsty when water surrounds me on all sides? How do I grasp the One I see every day, when he is within me—yet invisible and beyond all worlds?
SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN, EASTERN ORTHODOX
The only true mosque is the one that is built in the hearts of saints. This is the place for worship, because this is where God dwells.
JELALUDDIN RUMI, SUFI
There is no difference between God, Guru and the Self.
RAMANA MAHARSHI, VEDANTA (HINDU)
To one who realizes God, there is no difference between the Spirit and the senses. God is seen, but He is also heard, tasted, felt and smelled.
ANGELUS SILESIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC
Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts . . . if we can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way.
RAM DASS, VEDANTA (HINDU)
The only really valuable thing is intuition.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Direct your eye inward, and you'll find a thousand regions of your mind yet undiscovered.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Working at my desk, my mind calm as a lake without wind, I was suddenly struck with something akin to a crash of thunder. Immediately my inner vision was released and I saw my ordinary self.
LAYMAN SEIKEN, ZEN BUDDHIST
There is nothing wrong with seeking happiness. It is our birthright. The problem is where we look for it: outside of us instead of inside.
RAMANA MAHARSHI, VEDANTA (HINDU)
All can hear the still small voice within. Be still and know that I Am within you as God, the Beloved. Listen, and live by it.
EILEEN CADDY
Within this container of flesh lies forests and groves, and within those, God dwells. Within this container of flesh also lies the seven seas and countless stars. And within them dwells God. Truly, my Beloved lies within.
KABIR, SUFI