The Big Questions of Life Quotes

“As they say, a true measure of progress is not how well we perform in comparison to others, but how we are doing compared to our own past.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“If someone doesn’t want to be in your life, let that person go. There’s no wisdom in holding on to a partner, person, employer or a thing. Everything and everyone must ultimately perish. Separation from all that we love is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. It’s inevitable, only a matter of time. Our childhood, adolescence, youth, old age, all phases pass. Those who loved you deeply yesterday may loathe you tomorrow. The memories of the one who you loved deeply once, may only give you grief now. This is samsara – cyclical and transient.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“The wheel of time churns relentlessly. Moments gone will never come back. So, act wisely and mindfully in the living present. The past is dead, it has nothing new for you. And the future is just the present of tomorrow. Now is the only living moment, the only true moment in which life actually exists in its entirety.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“You always draw your energy and inspiration from whoever is the centre of your life. In love, you become the one you love. If it’s a materialistic person, you’ll find yourself becoming increasingly materialistic too. If he or she is a spiritual person, you’ll evolve into a calmer person. If he or she is the restless or narcissistic type, you’ll feel restless and anxious yourself. If the centre of your life is beauty, divinity, compassion, God and such like, you’ll become an embodiment of that. Choose carefully.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“To err is human; we all make mistakes. That, however, can’t be the justification to repeat them. There are only two ways to show that we have realized our mistake: first, by not repeating it, and second, by offering a sincere apology. Let’s focus on the second point, that is, how to apologize. Apologizing correctly is neither an art nor a craft. It’s simply being natural and truthful. When we genuinely regret our action, the right words come out automatically and seeking forgiveness becomes easier.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“Everyone makes mistakes, son,’ she said. ‘Really, we all do. And it’s okay. We are free to make mistakes. But we are also responsible for owning up to our actions and accepting our mistakes with grace.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“There’s only so much the other person can give you. Ultimately, your happiness depends on your selfless karma as well as on how you treat yourself. Doing something for the one you love is not always selfless. If rather than buying a watch for yourself, you buy a bracelet for your wife, it’s certainly thoughtful and caring, but not necessarily selfless, if you see what I mean. You have great emotional investment in such a relationship. Quintessential selflessness is when you do a karma with little or no expectation in return, maybe when you do it with no emotional or any other vested interest of your own. At any rate, my fulfilment in life is my personal responsibility. Who has ever discovered an ocean of happiness by looking up to another person? We must have the courage and wisdom to walk the path of dharma with contentment and gratitude instead of constantly counting on others to fill our cup.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“O King, just as a human being bereft of spiritual knowledge never desires to give up his false sense of proprietorship over many material things, similarly, a person who has not developed detachment never desires to give up the bondage of the material body. Pingala, however, rose above her false sense of existence that day. She experienced great vairagya, detachment, and ananda, bliss. She realized that she was already complete and didn’t need another man to fulfil her. That the one she should have loved, the one for whom she wouldn’t have to wait day and night, the one who would never abandon her, was already inside her – God.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“I can’t help you,’ the Buddha said. ‘No one can. For countless lives you have wept for loved ones. Your tears could fill the four oceans. But no one can be in a secure, hiding place from suffering. Knowing this, a wise person walks the path of awakening.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“And so it is with life. For no direct fault of our own, it seems, sometimes our present turns out to be different than what we envisaged it to be all along, and we think life will give us some indication of how to go about fixing it. But there’s none. One way to get past your past and your regrets is to give your life meaning. Once you discover the meaning, the purpose of your life, you no longer remain the old you. The new you is born in the same body. It becomes a whole lot easier to shed your old tendencies as your newfound meaning becomes your guiding and driving force.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“Pay attention, my spiritual sons,’ the Buddha said and called them closer. ‘Tathagata made the same statement to the entire congregation, but it meant different things to different people. Each one interpreted it according to their understanding, convenience and circumstances. Hence, I say, your liberation depends on you alone.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“Just like our desires and emotions are cyclical, so are the good and bad times in our lives. It is absolutely impossible that each day will turn out the way you expect it to, or that every time only pleasing news will knock on your door. At times, situations are undesirable and unpleasant, but we can’t avoid them. We have to deal with them. As they say, someone’s got to make the trains run on time. Granted, it’s not always feasible to deal with unpleasant situations with a pleasant mood, but it is possible to handle them with patience.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life

“In the larger scheme of things, it’s nothing: to lose one month’s worth of pension when you’ve been earning for more than four decades. But, as is the way of loss, it is rarely about the absolute nature of the loss itself or its magnitude, and more about how victimized we feel.”
― Om Swami, The Big Questions of Life