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It is our desires that limit the scope of our self-realisation, hinder our extension of consciousness, and give rise to sin, which is the innermost barrier that keeps us apart from our God, setting up disunion and arrogance of exclusiveness. For sin is not one mere action, but it is an attitude of life which takes for granted that our goal is finite, that our self is the ultimate truth, and that we are not all essentially one but exist each for his own separate individual existence.

Rabindranath Tagore#82

UnityEgoGodSin

About this quote

What does it mean?
Selfish desires create sin and separation from God; recognizing our essential unity overcomes this barrier.
In plain terms
Selfishness separates us; recognizing unity removes that barrier.
What can you take from it?
Shift from self-focus to unity.

Where it applies

  • spiritual practice
  • conflict resolution

Putting it to work

  • practice empathy
  • challenge ego

Questions to consider

  • What keeps you separated from others?
  • How do you view your self?

Another view

Individual existence is a tangible reality.

More from Rabindranath Tagore

  1. In the night we stumble over things and become acutely conscious of their separateness, but the day reveals the unity which embraces them. And the man whose in…

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  2. Leave out my name from the gift if it be a burden, but keep my song.

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  3. In the dualism of death and life there is a harmony. We know that the life of a soul, which is finite in its expression and infinite in its principle, must go …

    Permalink to quote #80

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