Valmiki Jayanti 2021: Here are some famous quotes by Maharishi Valmiki

Nobody knows when Valmiki, the renowned author of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana and regarded as the ‘first poet’, was born. Nonetheless, his birthday is celebrated every year on the full moon or Purnima in the month of Ashwin, according to the Hindu lunar calendar.

Ashwin usually occurs between the months of October and November. This year, the Halloween ‘Blue Moon’ is set to grace the skies on October 31.

In celebration of Valmiki’s birthday, devotees are provided with free food, prayers are recited in the form of an aarti, and shobha yatras are held. Temples built in Valmiki’s honor are also decorated in a myriad of colors and flowers. The largest is located in Chennai and is estimated to be over 1,300 years old. Legend says that Valmiki rested at this temple after he completed writing down the Ramayana.

This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s likely that most people will stay at home and celebrate with family.

Here are some of the top quotes credited to Valmiki to celebrate Valmiki Jayanti and commemorate the Ramanayana.

Maharishi Valmiki’s famous quotes:

• “There is no deity powerful than time.”
• “Overdoing anything leads to sorrow.”
• “To be happy always is something which is difficult to achieve. That is to say, happiness and sorrow alternate in one’s life and there cannot be uninterrupted happiness alone.”
• “One who is haughty, who does not know whether what he does is right or wrong and who has taken the wrong path is to be disciplined even if he is a guru, parent or an elder in age or learning.”
• “Whatever a man does, good or evil, comes back to him someday. And he pays for everything.”
• “I want you to remember, always, that no man who sits upon a throne likes to hear another man being praised.”
• “A guest, though he be ill mannered, deserves to be welcomed by the discerning.”
• “Only the timid and the weak leave things to destiny (daivam) but the strong and the self-confident never bank on destiny or luck (bhagya)
• “Without danger knocking on the door of one's benefactor, where arises the chance to reciprocate?
• “It is difficult for the children to repay the debt of what the mother and the father have done to bring them up.”
• “Even when you realize that the one before you is an enemy and must be treated sternly, do not hurt with words.”
• “In a world where we are accustomed to rivalries over possession, authority, and borders, and people clashing over the issue, ‘Ours’ or ‘Mine, not yours’ it is rather strange to find two people debating whose the kingdom is not, and asserting: ‘Yours, not mine’.”
• “Truth controls this world and dharma is rooted in truth.”
• “Show no disrespect even when impelled by desire or anger.”
• “People are as repelled by a liar as they are of serpents.”
• “If a person is gifting away his elephant but his heart is set on the rope used for tying the elephant, of what use is his attachment to the rope when he is giving away the elephant itself.”
• “Once Rama gives his word, that is final and it is kept at any cost. There is no question of repetition of the same a second time.”