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Purpose

Across spiritual traditions, purpose refers to a person's reason for being or direction in life. Many traditions converge on the idea that discovering one's purpose is essential to a fulfilling life. However, they diverge on the methods for finding purpose and its relationship to the individual and the world.

6,832 quotes

Across traditions

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Quotes

The sages, united with pure reason, renounce the results of their actions and, liberated from the cycle of birth, they attain a state of bliss.
Swami Sivananda
HinduScriptureAttainmentLiberation
Practice of Karma Yoga, p. 29
United with pure reason, one lets go of both good and bad actions. Therefore, embrace yoga, for yoga is skill in action.
Swami Sivananda
HinduScriptureOnenessPurpose
Practice of Karma Yoga, p. 28
The true objective of life is to return to the source from which we originated.
Swami Sivananda
HinduTeachingPurposeTruth
Bliss Divine, p. 281
Why do you seek outside what is inside you - salvation?
Boethius
ChristianPoetryPurposeVision
Meister Eckhart Sermons, p. 23
Every being harvests what they have sown. They profit from their actions and suffer from them as well. This is the law of Karma, which is the result of our actions and the natural energy that drives us. It gives our existence, nature, character, and actions a meaning that is lacking in other theories of life.
Sri Aurobindo
HinduTeachingKarmaPurpose
The Life Divine, p. 854
One can see God's form when all limitations and reasoning disappear, and a person becomes speechless and enters a state of deep meditation.
Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
HinduTeachingGod RealisationMeditation
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 697
The Mission proclaims that God can be realized while performing daily duties, with the only requirement being to seek the guidance of one who has already known God, the True Master.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji
UniversalTeachingGuruKnowledge
The Choice Today, p. 11
This is why saints always live in God's bliss and constantly praise Him.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji
UniversalTeachingPurposeSaint
The Master Speaks, p. 10
Saint Kabir says: Brother, why fear Maya? One who has realized the Truth can overcome it.
Kabir
UniversalTeachingOnenessPurpose
Living Reality, p. 20
O Goddess, devotion to the Guru is the supreme place of pilgrimage; all other sacred sites are meaningless without it. All places of pilgrimage find their refuge in the big toe of the Guru's foot.
HinduScriptureAttainmentDevotionSanskrit
Guru Gita 174
And don't interfere with forms, meditations, and imaginings, or any kind of reasoning, lest your soul becomes disturbed and loses its contentment and peace, leading to feelings of dislike and aversion.
St. John of the Cross
ChristianTeachingBenevolenceContentment
Ascent of Mount Carmel, p. 172
If we ask why only our actions, whether good or bad, have consequences, it can be said that our thoughts, feelings, and actions all have corresponding outcomes. However, since actions make up the majority of our lives and are a reflection of our values, and because we are not always in control of our thoughts and feelings, we must be held accountable for our actions.
Sri Aurobindo
HinduTeachingMindMorality
The Life Divine, p. 855
To understand the highest is to understand everything, because it's the source and beginning of all things. Everything else is a consequence of it, and its secret explains the secret of everything else. It's the sum and end of all things, and everything else achieves its own meaning by becoming one with it.
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingAttainmentOneness
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 230
Consider the body as a chariot, the soul as its master, reason as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins.
Yama
HinduTeachingGuruMind
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 211
There are two things that affect a person: what is good and what is pleasant. They have different meanings, and the person who chooses what is good will be better off, while the one who chooses what is pleasant will miss out on their life's purpose.
Yama
HinduTeachingBenevolenceDifferences
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 204
The connection with the universe is preserved for the reason that supremely justifies it; it must exist not for personal earthly joy, as with those who are still bound, but to help all creatures.
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingHelpfulnessJoy
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 174
There is a work for the human race, a divine purpose in its creation that exceeds the salvation of the individual soul, because the universal is just as real, or even more real, than the individual
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingDifferencesPurpose
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 172
The human mind is always dependent on the Pranic force, which connects it to the body through which it expresses itself. The mind can only use its own power to the extent that it can utilize this energy for its own purposes.
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingMindPurpose
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 146
The Gods work only by the power that exists before them, living by its life, thinking by its thought, and acting for its purposes.
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingMindPurpose
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 110
What is it inside or outside of us that directs the mind towards its goal? What guides it to its objective?
Vedic Sages
HinduTeachingGuruMind
The Upanishads — Texts, Translations and Commentaries, p. 108