Satish Kumar
That was my childhood. I grew up with the monks, studying Sanskrit and meditating for hours in the morning and hours in the evening, and going once a day to beg for food.Collection: Morning
One was a book I read by Mahatma Gandhi. In it was a passage where he said that religion, the pursuing of the inner journey, should not be separated from the pursuing of the outer and social journey, because we are not isolated beings.Collection: Religion
If you can kill animals, the same attitude can kill human beings. The mentality is the same which exploits nature and which creates wars.Collection: Attitude
We have to shift our attitude of ownership of nature to relationship with nature. The moment you change from ownership to relationship, you create a sense of the sacred.Collection: Attitude
Sometimes I come across a tree which seems like Buddha or Jesus: loving, compassionate, still, unambitious, enlightened, in eternal meditation, giving pleasure to a pilgrim, shade to a cow, berries to a bird, beauty to its surroundings, health to its neighbors, branches for the fire, leaves for the soil, asking nothing in return, in total harmony with the wind and the rain. How much can I learn from a tree? The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer.Collection: Love
The way to healthy living is to shift from quantitative economic growth to quality of life, food, water and air - to shift from craving to contentment and from greed to gratitudeCollection: Gratitude
We are dependent on each other. Therefore, replenishing the soil, replenishing society and being part of one continuum - that's the new story.Collection: Stories
Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell people who call me 'unrealistic' to show me what their realism has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly exaggerated concept.Collection: War
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace; Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universeCollection: Peace
The great work of social transformation begins with the first small step of stopping, calming, relaxing, reflecting and acting in a beneficial way.Collection: Acting
Instead of seeking success we should look for fulfillment. And fulfillment is giving total attention to the process of living.Collection: Giving
Happiness is possible only when we are kind to others and contented within.Collection: Kind
All the big problems of the world today are routed in the philosophy of separateness and dualism.Collection: Philosophy
If individuals start to walk on the path of spirit and feel a sense of the sacred connectedness, then social, economic and political problems will also begin to get resolved.Collection: Political
We depend on the gifts of nature, but these gifts must be received with gratitude and not exploited or abusedCollection: Gratitude
If we had adhered to the concept of connectedness, then we would not have created nuclear weapons, huge armies and global warming.Collection: Army
Without the land, the rivers, the oceans, the forests, the sunshine, the minerals and thousands of natural resources we would have no economy whatsoeverCollection: Nature
"Pursuit of happiness" implies that we're running after happiness and happiness is running away from us. It also implies that happiness is somewhere out there, in material goods, which we have to pursue, whereas I believe that it is an illusion happiness is not out there, it is within us.Collection: Running
The force and the strength for peace will come from people. And that will happen when people start to realize that all the diversity and differences we see of nationalities, of religions, of cultures, of languages, are all beautiful diversities, for they are only on the surface. And deep down we share the same humanity, the global humanity.Collection: Strength
We need to learn to live in the here and now; this moment is the best moment. Live it fully.Collection: Needs
Economy without ecology means managing the human nature relationship without knowing the delicate balance between humankind and the natural worldCollection: Nature
Our relationship with Nature... best way of forging this relationship... be a pilgrim and not a tourist on Planet EarthCollection: Nature
Human happiness, true prosperity and joyful living can only emerge from a life of elegant simplicity, embedded in the arts and crafts.Collection: Art
We live under the power of Modern Consciousness, which means that we are obsessed with progress. Wherever you are is not good enough. We always want to achieve something, rather than experience something. The opposite of this is Spiritual Consciousness. By that I mean you find enchantment in every action you do, rather in just the results of your action. Spiritual Consciousness is not a particular religion but a way of being.Collection: Spiritual
How much I can learn from a tree! The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer.Collection: Prayer
If happiness was in money or power, then America should be the happiest country in the world, but it is not.Collection: Country
What we call 'economic growth' is in fact a growth in waste and a decline in the health of natural habitatCollection: Nature
Your children are not your children. They are lives longing for itself. They come here with their own destiny. Give them your love. They will find their own way.Collection: Children
Because the Western civilization is dominated by dualistic thinking, holistic scientists and philosophers don't get the recognition they deserve.Collection: Thinking
Large numbers of young people are waking up. And they are saying, "We are not here just to work for multinational corporations and make money for them. We are here to live. We have to find the meaning of life."Collection: Numbers
The old story is a story of measurement. And the New Story is to bring measurement and meaning together. You cannot measure meaning.Collection: Together
So, at the age of nine, I became a monk, and from then on I was there practicing that kind of nonviolence.Collection: Age
People are increasingly becoming disappointed and disillusioned with politics and business, and especially with the market economy. They are meeting the physical needs of human beings, maybe. They are providing food. But not good and healthy food.Collection: People
Nature is out there, and we can do what we like to it. We can cut down the rain forest. We can put animals in factory farms and slaughter them as we like. We can over-fish the oceans. We can pollute the rivers. We can pollute the water and change climate. We are somehow superior to nature. We are somehow rulers of nature.Collection: Rain
When you come to the spiritual needs, the emotional needs, the needs of our inner life, then politics and business and technology are completely impotent. They are completely unable to meet and address the needs of human beings.Collection: Spiritual
I was pursuing the inner path at the expense of the rest of my being and the rest of the world.Collection: World
You have no skills in your hands. You have no education of understanding the meaning and the purpose and the compassion and the relationship. You have just a profession.Collection: Compassion
In spite of nuclear weapons, large numbers of American citizens feel totally insecure. And in spite of so much wealth, industry and technology, many Americans are living under deprivation and anxiety. So happiness is not in accumulation of material goods, it's in sharing and caring.Collection: Insecure
Of course, we all need to have basic necessities met, such as good health care, good food, good education and good housing. But what is good? Having too much is bad, as having too little is also bad.Collection: Needs
It became extremely important that we go and see the four heads of the governments, and the message was delivered, with the tea packets, to all these heads.Collection: Government
We then came to the Soviet Union. One day we were walking and carrying our banner and distributing a few leaflets in Russian to people, and we met two women on the road.Collection: Two
We need to develop a sense of sufficiency to be happy.Collection: Needs
We change by changing our consciousness and by saying, money should not be a commodity. Money should be a means to an end.Collection: Mean
Quality and perfection are achieved with time. You do not create a perfect painting or a perfect poem by hurrying. Time is always coming.Collection: Perfect
Our modern world of old story is completely failing humanity. This is the reason that increasing numbers of people have become and are becoming disillusioned from politics. People don't like voting. Whoever you vote, government gets in. Whatever they promise, they never fulfill.Collection: Government
I want New Story education to be skilling human beings and young people to provide basic human needs. Technology and all other things are icing on the cake.Collection: Technology
Education provides you a profession. But not vocation. You do it only because you need to work to earn money to buy your food, buy your clothes, pay the bills. Our life has a greater meaning, and a greater purpose.Collection: Clothes
People are are moving away from the fossil fuel-based economy, to a more renewable economy. That is what is called the 'transition town' movement. There are three hundred towns in Britain that are making this transition. Taking energy from solar power, from wind power, from water power.Collection: Moving
I and a friend of mine called Mannon talked together, and we both decided to walk this journey.Collection: Journey
Monks will have three begging bowls for their food: one for water, one for liquid food, one for dry food.Collection: Water