  Given a geometrically finite hyperbolic surface of infinite volume it is a
classical result of Patterson that the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator has
no $L^2$-eigenvalues $\geq 1/4$. In this article we prove a generalization of
this result for the joint $L^2$-eigenvalues of the algebra of commuting
differential operators on Riemannian locally symmetric spaces $\Gamma\backslash
G/K$ of higher rank. We derive dynamical assumptions on the $\Gamma$-action on
the geodesic and the Satake compactifications which imply the absence of the
corresponding principal eigenvalues. A large class of examples fulfilling these
assumptions are the non-compact quotients by Anosov subgroups.
