Srila Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa

This site features a collection of the writings of Srila Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa. Because Siddhaswarupananda can present spiritual wisdom in a down to earth, scientific and philosophical manner rather than dogmatically and fanatically, countless people who were previously skeptics now find a genuine spirituality that has real application in their daily lives.

Quotes: Knowledge and Wisdom

Material information gets old. Spiritual knowledge is ever fresh. The more you sincerely hear transcendental knowledge, the deeper your realizations become.

Quotes: Seeking Satisfaction

If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave. But sense gratification does not satisfy. This is further evidence that you are not the body. No matter how much sense pleasure you have, you are still never satisfied within.

Quotes: Who are You?

“Who am I?” Maybe you’ve never even asked yourself this question. You might think you already know who you are. Unfortunately, however, it’s likely that you don’t know who you are at all. And if you don’t know your real identity, you’re in trouble. You’ll spend your life in a kind of dream state—you’ll falsely identify yourself as something or someone you aren’t. Then, on the basis of this false identification, you’ll determine the goals of your life and the purpose of your existence. You use these goals to gauge whether you are making “progress” in life, whether you are a “success.” And you are aided and abetted in this delusion by a complex network of relationships with other dreamers. Of course, at death (and sometimes before), the whole thing turns into a nightmare. So knowing who you are is a very practical necessity. The question “Who am I?” is not a philosophical football meant to be kicked around coffeehouses by pseudo-intellectuals. It’s a real-life question. Nothing is more important and more relevant than to know who you are.

Quotes: Spiritual Hunger

If you believe that you are your body, you will strive endlessly to give your body sensual pleasure. You will struggle to fill up your inner emptiness with fleeting sensual flashes. But no amount of sensual pleasure will satisfy you. No matter how many taste orgasms, sexual orgasms, and other kinds of orgasms you may have, you still won’t be actually satisfied. You’ll always have a never ending desire for more.

Quotes: Self Worth

What are you worth? Your physical body made of various chemicals is not really worth very much. It may be worth $5 or $10, but is that all you are worth? Is that all your wife or your child, or your friend, or your mother, or your father are worth?

Quotes: Living Energy

We may think we are attracted to the beautiful body of a woman, but actually it is the spark of life which attracts us. When Marilyn Monroe “died”, when the life force left the material body, the body was no longer attractive. All that was left was a lump of unattractive matter that was thrown in the dirt. So is it logical to think that material energy is all-attractive? No. Life force or spirit is the attractive element.

Quotes: Three Simple Questions

Let me ask you a few simple questions: Do you exist at this moment? Did you exist five years ago? Are you your body? Most people would answer “yes” to all three questions. But if you identify your body as yourself, and simultaneously accept that you exist now and also existed five years ago, then you have a problem: The body you had five years ago does not exist today. There is a dynamic turnover of atoms and molecules which make up your body. There isn’t a single particle of matter—not one atom—present in your body today that was present five years ago. The body you have today is not the same body you had five years ago. It’s not that the body you had still exists but has now changed somewhat. No. The body you had is gone. That collection of atoms appearing as flesh, bone, blood, hair, and so on no longer exists. Yet you still exist.

Quotes: On Wisdom

The fact is that you know you existed five years ago, and you know you exist today. Although you still exist, you know that the body you had five years ago does not exist today. Therefore, you know that your existence is not dependent on the existence of any one body you may have on at any particular moment—whether it is a “baby” body, an “adolescent” body, an “old” body, or whatever.