“Suppose a thorn has pierced a man's foot. He picks another thorn to pull out the first one. After extracting the first thorn with the help of the second, he throws both away. One should use the thorn of knowledge to pull out the thorn of ignorance. Then one throws away both the thorns, knowledge and ignorance, and attains vijnāna. What is vijnāna? It is to know God distinctly by realizing His existence through an intuitive experience and to speak to Him intimately. That is why Sri Krishna said to Arjuna, "Go beyond the three gunas."”
Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942), p. 780
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ramakrishna 142
Indian mystic and religious preacher 1836–1886Related quotes
“Hey Grover! Thorn's kidnapping us! He's a poisonous spike-throwing maniac! Help!”
Source: The Titan's Curse
Smith, The Oxford History of India, 462. Quoted from Spencer, Robert (2018). The history of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS.
“It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.”
Nelly Dean (Ch. X).
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)
Context: She seemed almost over fond of Mr. Linton; and even to his sister she showed plenty of affection. They were both very attentive to her comfort, certainly. It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.
“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.”
Shakespeare once more
Literary Essays, vol. II (1870–1890)
“No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.”
Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Loving
"The Rose" (published c. 1648). Compare: "Flower of all hue, and without thorn the rose", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book iv. line 256.; "Every rose has it's thorn", Poison, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".
Hesperides (1648)
