Meditation,etc

Sayings of Swami Vivekananda

2009-01-12T13:57:00.009+05:30

Renunciation
Meditation

Love Love Love

Renunciation

Unselfishness

Atman (the Self), Oneness, Soul, Spirit

THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS JNANA

Truth

2008-11-02T14:05:00.002+05:30

Follow truth wherever it may lead you; carry ideas to their utmost logical conclusions.

We have wept long enough; no more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all around that we want. And here is the test of truth--------------------anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, Truth is all knowledge. Truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating.

Truth always triumphs, and this is true.

Through truth everything is attained.

TEST OF TRUTH

That which is true must be infinite and eternal.

Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

This is the one question I put to every man………………Are you strong? Do you feel strength? For I know it is truth alone that gives strength………………….Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease.

It is truth ALONE that gives strength

This is the one question I put to every man…………………..Are you strong? Do you feel strength? --------------------for I know it is truth alone that gives strength………………..Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease.

Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth can't be sacrificed for anything.

10. It is meditation that brings us nearer to truth than anything else.

11. If one intends to really find truth, one must not cling to comfort.

12. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

13. “Comfort” is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being “comfortable.”

14. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

15. Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky.

16. Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.

17. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself…. Burst your own cocoon and come out as the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.

18. Those who work at a thing heart and soul not only achieve success in it but through their absorption in that they also realize the supreme truth—Brahman. Those who work at a thing with their whole heart receive help from God.

19. Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

20. I have read what you say about the Indian papers and their criticisms, which are natural. Jealousy is the central vice of every enslaved race. And it is jealousy and want of combination which cause and perpetuate slavery. You cannot feel the truth of this remark until you come out of India. The secret of Westerners' success is this power of combination, the basis of which is mutual trust and appreciation. The weaker and more cowardly a nation is, so much the more is this sin visible. . . . But, my son, you ought not to expect anything from a slavish race. The case is almost desperate no doubt, but let me put the case before you all. Can you put life into this dead mass — dead to almost all moral aspiration, dead to all future possibilities — and always ready to spring upon those that would try to do good to them? Can you take the position of a physician who tries to pour medicine down the throat of a kicking and refractory child? . . . An American or a European always supports his countrymen in a foreign country. . . . Let me remind you again, "Thou hast the right to work but not to the fruits thereof." Stand firm like a rock. Truth always triumphs. Let the children of Shri Ramakrishna be true to themselves and everything will be all right. We may not live to see the outcome, but as sure as we live, it will come sooner or later. What India wants is a new electric fire to stir up a fresh vigour in the national veins. This was ever, and always will be, slow work. Be content to work, and, above all, be true to yourself. Be pure, staunch, and sincere to the very backbone, and everything will be all right. If you have marked anything in the disciples of Shri Ramakrishna, it is this — they are sincere to the backbone. My task will be done, and I shall be quite content to die, if I can bring up and launch one hundred such men over India. He, the Lord, knows best. Let ignorant men talk nonsense. We neither seek aid nor avoid it — we are the servants of the Most High. The petty attempts of small men should be beneath our notice. Onward! Upon ages of struggle a character is built. Be not discouraged. One word of truth can never be lost; for ages it may be hidden under rubbish, but it will show itself sooner or later. Truth is indestructible, virtue is indestructible, purity is indestructible. Give me a genuine man; I do not want masses of converts. My son, hold fast! Do not care for anybody to help you. Is not the Lord infinitely greater than all human help? Be holy — trust in the Lord, depend on Him always, and you are on the right track; nothing can prevail against you. . . .

21. This attempt at compromise proceeds from arrant downright cowardice. Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear losing your respect or causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain a heavenly strength in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. People will be convinced of what you will say to them if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without swerving from it. Thus you will confer the greatest blessing on the masses, unshackle their bandages, and uplift the whole nation.

22. Truth, purity, and unselfishness — wherever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.

23. Look not at me, look to yourselves. I am happy to have been the occasion of rousing an enthusiasm. Take advantage of it, float along with it, and everything will come right. Love never fails, my son; today or tomorrow or ages after, truth will conquer. Love shall win the victory. Do you love your fellow men? Where should you go to seek for God — are not all the poor, the miserable, the weak, Gods? Why not worship them first? Why go to dig a well on the shores of the Gangâ? Believe in the omnipotent power of love. Who cares for these tinsel puffs of name? I never keep watch of what the newspapers are saying. Have you love? — You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible. It is character that pays everywhere. It is the Lord who protects His children in the depths of the sea. Your country requires heroes; be heroes! God bless you!

24. Stand up, men and women, in the spirit, dare to believe in the Truth, dare to practise the Truth! The world requires a few hundred bold men and women. Practise that boldness which dares know the Truth, which dares show the Truth in life, which does not quake before death, nay, welcomes death, makes a man know that he is the Spirit, that, in the whole universe, nothing can kill him. Then you will be free.

Let us be brave. KNOW THE TRUTH AND PRACTISE THE TRUTH. THE GOAL MAY BE DISTINCT, BUT AWAKE, ARISE, AND STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED.

TRUTH IS MY GOD.

26. ONLY KNOW THE TRUTH AND REALISE IT.

27. Look not for the truth in any religion; IT IS HERE IN THE HUMAN SOUL, THE MIRACLE OF ALL MIRACLES-------------------------- IN THE HUMAN SOUL, THE EMPORIUM OF ALL KNOWLEDGE, THE MINE OF ALL EXISTENCE------------------------ seek here.

28. You have to realize truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature.

29. Truth can never come to us as long as we are selfish.

30. Be spiritual and realize Truth for yourself.

31. Know truth for yourself.

32. Nothing will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death? -----------------and loving? Then fear not, not even death. Onward, my lads!

33. Let us be brave. Know the truth and practice the truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.

34. This life comes and goes------------wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance!

35. A man must desire nothing else but the truth, and truth for truth’s sake.

36. I shall work incessantly until I die; and even after death I shall work for the good of the world. Truth is infinitely more weighty than untruth; so is goodness. If you possess these, they will make their way by sheer gravity.

37. Truth is the nature of all souls.

38. We are here to know the truth, not for enjoyment.

39. Speak out the truth boldly.

40. Preach the highest truths.

41. You have to realise truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature.

42. Speak out the truth boldly.

43. Truth must triumph.

44. Truth is God.

45. Know truth for yourself.

46. Nothing can resist truth.

47. Bring truth out.

48. Only know the truth and realise it.

49. Truth always triumphs.

50. Stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.

51. Be eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and people at hand.

52. Fearlessness is the test of truth. Unselfishness is the test of religion.

53. Love never fails, today or tomorrow or ages after, truth will conquer! Love shall win the victory.

54. ……………no sincere worker passes out the field of activity without making himself known and catching at least a few rays of light…………….None will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death? And loving? Then fear not, not even death………………Everything will come all right. Truth must triumph………..

55. ……………..Dare to believe in the truth, dare to practise the truth!

56. Truth always triumphs, and this is true.

57. Truth, purity and unselfishness---------------wherever these are present, there is no power, below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.

58. Through truth everything is attained.

59. Whatever is truth will remain for ever; whatever not, none can preserve.

60. It is the patient up building of character, the intense struggle to realise the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.

61. Practise truthfulness. Twelve years of absolute truthfulness in thought, word, and deed gives a man what he wills.

62. You must hold fast and be steady in the search for truth.

63. One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear; only then can truth shine in it.

64. Face the truth as it is.

65. Beware of everything that is untrue; stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.

66. Whatever is truth will remain for ever; whatever not, none can preserve.

67. Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and it sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.

68. Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear of losing your respect or of causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain a heavenly strength, in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. People would be convinced of what you would say to them, if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without swerving from it.

69. What is Salvation

Salvation means knowing the truth.

Man wants truth, wants to experience truth for himself; when he has grasped it, realised it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the Vedas, would all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered and all crookedness be made straight.

71. It is truth ALONE that gives strength

Your country requires heroes; be heroes. Stand firm like a rock. Truth always triumphs. What India wants is a new electric fire to stir up a fresh vigour in the national veins. Be brave, be brave; man dies but once. My disciples must not be cowards. I hate cowardice. Keep the deepest mental poise; take not even the slightest notice of what puerile creatures may be saying against you. Indifference! Indifference! Indifference! Bear in mind the eyes are two in number, and so the ears, but the mouth is but one. All great undertakings are achieved through mighty obstacles. Put forth your manly effort. Wretched people under the grip of lust and gold deserve to be looked upon with indifference.

73. Our good is not dependent on a person, a race, or on an area. Our good is for the mankind. Good has no boundaries. The moment good work is attached with an agenda wanting someone to get converted then the good work lost its importance to conversion and that is no more a good work. Goodness of good work becomes secondary and our other agenda becomes primary. A good work does not have any boundaries. Only with the expectation of results, we create boundaries. When Krishna said ‘don’t think of the results’, he never meant that good results were not going to come. His idea was ‘don’t create a boundary around goodness’. The thing which has no boundary is called as the divine (Ananthata= infinite). This is Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga tells us to do the good activity and not to look at the results.

But there is one more step Krishna wants us to recognize and it will take us one more step ahead.

Despite the fact that there is no visible result that you expected, do not become depressed. The assurance is that the result is going to be there anyway. Then the second objection when we start thinking is: “What a wonderful, good work I’m doing. I am not even expecting results, but I am doing good work.” This doing good work can become our ego. This is the evil about the

good work. A person who does bad work is saved from this evil anyway. A person who does bad work is not egoistic, but a person who does good work can become egoistic. We have to be careful with that. Who are you to do good work? You can never do good work. Good work is always there in this world. You can only become a part of the good work that has been going on. I tell the truth. Truth is always there. Millions of people have been telling truth, and the truth is supporting them. The same way, you are also telling the truth. You can be egoistic of goodness if you start thinking you are doing good work. Subtly seeing you can only join the good forces that are there in this world. Even before the untruth took birth, truth was there. So truth is something which is eternal. The good work is eternal. It is like a river that flows all the time, perennial. Your good work is like taking a dip in that river. Be humble. Be humble that you are given a chance to be good. Good is going on, and you are associated with that. Thank God that you have become part of the good force that is going on. This attitude takes away the ego of goodness, which is much more dangerous.

Open the windows of your hearts to the clean light of truth, and sit like children at the feet of those who knows what they are talking about-------------------the sages of India.

75. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself…. Burst your own cocoon and come out of the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.

76. Practise truthfulness. Twelve years of absolute truthfulness in thought, word and deed gives a man what he wills.

77. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

78. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

79. My hope is to imbue individuals with the teachings to which I have referred, and to encourage them to express these to others in their own way; let them modify them as they will; I do not teach them as dogmas; truth at length must inevitably prevail.

80. ……………no sincere worker passes out the field of activity without making himself known and catching at least a few rays of light…………….None will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death? And Loving? Then fear not, not even death…………….Everything will come alright. Truth must triumph……………….

81. Be not discouraged. One word of truth can never be lost; for ages it may be hidden under rubbish, but it will show itself sooner or later.

82. We have to give up ignorance and all that is false, and then truth will begin to reveal itself to us.

83. Search truth for yourself; realise it yourself. Then if you find it beneficial to one and many, give it to people.

84. Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or after a yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of truth. How much of tempests and waves one had to weather, before one reaches the heaven of peace. The greater a man has become, the firer ordeal he has had to pass through.

85. Let us work without desire for name or fame or rule over the others. Let us be free from the triple bonds of lust, greed of gain, and anger. And the truth is with us!

86. Let us be brave. Know the Truth and practise the Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.

87. Follow truth wherever it may lead you; carry ideas to their utmost logical conclusions.

88. Go on bravely. Do not expect success in a day or a year. Always hold on to the highest. Be steady. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country and you will move the world.

89. The greatest name man ever gave to God is Truth.

90. For those who procrastinate regarding renunciation, saying, "Oh, not so soon! I shall do it when the time comes," Self-realization is very far off. "Let me realize the Truth this moment! In this very life!"--these are the words of a hero.

91. We have to give up ignorance and all that is false, and then truth will begin to reveal itself to us.

92. Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or after a yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of truth. How much of tempests and waves one had to weather, before one reaches the heaven of peace. The greater a man has become, the firer ordeal he has had to pass through.

93. Love is truth, and hatred is false, because hatred makes for multiplicity.

94. Who commits mistakes, the path of truth is attainable by him only.

95. Look not for the truth in any religion; IT IS HERE IN THE HUMAN SOUL, THE MIRACLE OF ALL MIRACLES-------------------------- IN THE HUMAN SOUL, THE EMPORIUM OF ALL KNOWLEDGE, THE MINE OF ALL EXISTENCE------------------------ seek here.

96. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

97. We are here to know the truth, not for enjoyment.

97. You must hold fast and be steady in the search for truth.

98. I shall work incessantly until I die; and even after death I shall work for the good of the world. Truth is infinitely more weighty than untruth; so is goodness. If you possess these, they will make their way by sheer gravity.

99. Divine wisdom is to be got by devotion, meditation, and chastity. "Truth alone triumphs, and not untruth. Through truth alone the way is spread to Brahman" — where alone love and truth are.

100. All truth in the universe will manifest in your heart, if you are sufficiently pure.

Renunciation/Give-up

2008-11-01T22:33:00.001+05:30

There is an ocean of difference between idleness and renunciation.
Renounce the lower so that you may get the higher.
This hideous world is Maya. Renounce and be happy. Give up the idea of sex and possession. There is no other bond.
The test of progress is the amount of renunciation that one has attained.
None but men of great renunciation, none but mighty giants among men, have a right to that Love Divine.
- Highest love for God can never be achieved without renunciation.
"I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done.
How can religion or morality begin without renunciation itself?

There is Only One Real Desire

Give up the world---------------this nonsense of the senses. There is only one real desire: to know what is true, to be spiritual.

Hold your life a sacrifice for the welfare of others; and if you choose the life of renunciation, do not even look at beauty and money and power.
The enjoyment that you are seeking is only in peace; and peace, in the renunciation of physical pleasure.
What can be a greater giver of peace than renunciation?
Make your life a manifestation of will strengthened by renunciation.
Renounce and give up.
Arise, arise once more, for nothing can be done without renunciation.
Can you not see the tide of death and materialism that is rolling over these Western lands? Can you not see the power of lust and unholiness, that is eating into the very vitals of society? Believe me, you will not arrest these things by talk, or by movements of agitation for reform; but by renunciation, by standing up, in the midst of decay and death, as mountains of righteousness. Talk not, but let the power of purity, the power of chastity, the power of renunciation, emanate from every pore of your body. Let it strike those who are struggling day and night for gold, that even in the midst of such a state of things, there can be one to whom wealth counts for nothing. Put away lust and wealth. Sacrifice yourselves.

What is Renunciation?

But who is it that will do this? Not the worn-out or the old, bruised and battered by society, but the Earth’s freshest and best, the strong, the young, the beautiful. Lay down your lives. Make yourselves servants of humanity. Be living sermons. This, and not talk, is renunciation.

The Secret of Spirituality

Men and women of today! If there be among you any pure, fresh flower, let it be laid on the alter of God. If there are among you any who, being young, do not desire to return into the world, let them give up! Let them renounce! This is the one secret of spirituality, renunciation. Dare to do this. Be brave enough to do it. Such great sacrifices are necessary.

Renounce and be happy.
Renounce everything.
As far back as the days of the Upanishads, we have thrown the challenge to the world: ‘Not by progeny, not by wealth, but by renunciation alone immortality is reached’. Race after race has taken the challenge up and tried their utmost to solve the world-riddle on the plane of desire. They have all failed in the past-------------the old ones have become extinct under the weight of wickedness and misery, which lust for power and gold brings in its train, and the new ones are tottering to their fall. The question has yet to be decided whether peace will survive or war; whether patience will survive or non-forbearance; whether goodness will survive or wickedness, whether muscle will survive or brain; whether worldliness will survive or spirituality. We have solved our problem ages ago……………Our solution is unworldliness-------------renunciation.
Our solution is renunciation, and love, these are the fittest to survive.
The will is stronger than anything else……………..And whatever you do sincerely is good for you. Even the least thing well done brings marvelous results; …………….It depends upon you who have no money; because you are poor, therefore you will work. Because you have nothing, therefore you will be sincere. Because you are sincere, you will be ready to renounce all.
For those who procrastinate regarding renunciation, saying, "Oh, not so soon! I shall do it when the time comes," Self-realization is very far off. "Let me realize the Truth this moment! In this very life!"--these are the words of a hero.
Discriminate within yourself between the real and the unreal. Have you not read the Vedanta? Even when you sleep, keep the sword of discrimination at the head of your bed, so that covetousness cannot approach you even in dream. Practicing such strength, renunciation will gradually come, and then you will see the portals of heaven are wide open to you.
It is always for greater joy that you give up the lesser. This is practical religion—the attainment of freedom, renunciation. Renounce the lower so that you may get the higher. Renounce! Renounce! Sacrifice! Give up! Not for zero. Not for nothing, but to get the higher.
Renounce and give up. What did Christ say? "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Again and again did he preach renunciation as the only way to perfection. There comes a time when the mind awakes from this long and dreary dream—the child gives up its play and wants to go back to its mother.
Renunciation is the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and you will always find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will the senses creep into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in the same ratio.
This world is nothing. It is at best only a hideous caricature, a shadow of the Reality. We must go to the Real. Renunciation will take us to It. Renunciation is the very basis of our true life. Every moment of goodness and real life that we enjoy is when we do not think of ourselves.
To realize the spirit as spirit is practical religion. Everything else is good so far as it leads to this one grand idea. That realization is to be attained by renunciation, by meditation—renunciation of all the senses, cutting the knots, the chains that binds us down to matter.

The One Secret of Spirituality

Tremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of spirituality. "Neither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone is immortality to be reached," say the Vedas. "Sell all that thou hast and give to poor, and follow me," says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without renunciation? Renunciation is the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and you will always find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will the senses creep into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in the same ratio.

If you want to be spiritual, you must renounce.
Give up desire.
“GIVE UP”, says the Veda, “GIVE UP”.
As far as we can, we must give up.
“Give up what is evil and give up what is good”.
When a man realises he gives up everything.
Renunciation is of the mind.
Give up, renounce the world. Now we are like dogs strayed into a kitchen and eating a piece of meat, looking round in fear lest at any moment some one may come and drive them out. Instead of that be a king and know you own the world. This never comes until you give up and it ceases to bind. Give up mentally, if you do not physically. Give up from the heart of your hearts. Have Vairagya (renunciation). This is the real sacrifice, and without it, it is impossible to attain spirituality. Do not desire, for what you desire you get, and with it comes terrible bondage.
Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven.
The will is stronger than anything else……………..And whatever you do sincerely is good for you. Even the least thing well done brings marvelous results; …………….It depends upon you who have no money; because you are poor, therefore you will work. Because you have nothing, therefore you will be sincere. Because you are sincere, you will be ready to renounce all.
Give up the idea that by ruling over others you can do any good to them.
Give up your passive attitude.

There is Only One Real Desire

Give up the world---------------this nonsense of the senses. There is only one real desire: to know what is true, to be spiritual.

Is there any sex-distinction in the Atman (Self)? Out with the differentiation between man and woman—all is Atman! Give up the identification with the body, and stand up!
Live in harmony with all. Give up all idea of egoism, and entertain no sectarian views. Useless wrangling is a great sin.
Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the kingdom of heaven. None ever did, none ever will. To give up the world is to forget the ego, to know it not at all------------living in the body, but not of it. This rascal ego must be obliterated. Power to help mankind is with the silent ones who only live and love and withdraws their own personality entirely.
AS FAR AS WE CAN, WE MUST GIVE UP.
Give up for ever the desire for name and fame and power.
Let us be at peace, perfect peace, with ourselves, and give up our whole body and mind and everything as an eternal sacrifice unto the Lord.
Give up all self, as egotism; get out of anger, lust, give all to God. Blame none if evil comes.

Give up all ‘me and mine’.

To him who has nothing in the universe the Lord comes.

When he has controlled the senses, he has renounced.

How can religion or morality begin without renunciation itself?

We are to give up and not to take.

Renounce the lower so that you may get the higher. What is the foundation of society? Morality, ethics, laws. Renounce. Renounce all temptations to take your neighbor’s property, to put your hand on your neighbor, all the pleasure of tyrannising over the weak, all the pleasure of cheating others by telling lies. Is not morality the foundation of society? What is marriage but the renunciation of unchastity? The savage does not marry. Man marries because he renounces. So on and on. Renounce! Renounce! Sacrifice! Give up! Not for zero. Not for nothing. But to get the higher. But who can do this? You can not, until you have got the higher. You may talk. You may struggle. You may try to do many things. But renunciation comes by itself, when you have got the higher. Then lesser falls by itself.

The two great watchwords of every great religion are renunciation and self-sacrifice.

We have to give up ignorance and all that is false, and then truth will begin to reveal itself to us.

Renunciation does not mean simply dispassion for the world. It means dispassion for the world and also longing for God.

Renunciation is the withdrawal of mind from other things and concentrating it on God.

Disciple: If it is so, Swamiji, how is it then that the texts on Bhakti say that too much of renunciation kills the feelings that make for tenderness?

Swamiji: Throw away, I say, texts which teach things like that! Without

renunciation, without burning dispassion for sense-objects, without turning

away from wealth and lust as from filthy abomination — "

— never can one attain salvation even in hundreds of Brahma's cycles". Repeating

the names of the Lord, meditation, worship, offering libations in sacred fire,

penance — all these are for bringing forth renunciation. One who has not

gained renunciation, know his efforts to be like unto those of the man who is

pulling at the oars all the while that the boat is at anchor. "

— Neither by progeny nor by wealth, but by renunciation alone some (rare ones) attained immortality" (Kaivalya Upanishad, 3).

Meditation

2008-11-01T13:52:00.003+05:30

Not even the deepest sleep will give you such a rest as meditation can. The mind goes on jumping even in deepest sleep. Just those few moments in meditation your brain has almost stopped. … You forget the body. … You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.

Whose meditation is real and effective? Who can really surrender to the will of God? Only the person whose mind has been purified by selfless work.

Study, and then meditate on what you have studied.

Do not spend your energy in talking, but meditate in silence; and do not let the rush of the outside world disturb you. WHEN YOUR MIND IS IN THE HIGHEST STATE, YOU ARE UNCONSCIOUS OF IT. Accumulate power in silence and become a dynamo of spirituality.

"I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done.

What is meditation? Meditation is the power which enables us to resist all this. Nature may call us, "Look there is a beautiful thing!" I do not look. Now she says, "There is a beautiful smell; smell it!” I say to my nose, "Do not smell it", and the nose doesn't. "Eyes, do not see!" Nature does such an awful thing - kills one of my children, and says, "Now, rascal, sit down and weep! Go to the depths!" I say, "I don't have to." I jump up. I must be free. Try it sometimes. ... [In meditation], for a moment, you can change this nature. Now, if you had that power in yourself, would not that be heaven, freedom? That is the power of meditation.

The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation (Dhyâna). In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. The touch of the soul can paint the brightest colour even in the dingiest places; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest thing; it can make the wicked divine — and all enmity, all selfishness is effaced. The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us miserable. That is the secret: To think that I am the spirit and not the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as a series of paintings — scenes on a canvas — of which I am the witness.

Meditation has been laid stress upon by all religions. The meditative state of mind is declared by the Yogis to be the highest state in which the mind exists. When the mind is studying the external object, it gets identified with it, loses itself. To use the simile of the old Indian philosopher: the soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the colour of whatever is near it. Whatever the soul touches ... it has to take its colour. That is the difficulty. That constitutes the bondage. The colour is so strong, the crystal forgets itself and identifies itself with the colour. Suppose a red flower is near the crystal and the crystal takes the colour and forgets itself, thinks it is red. We have taken the colour of the body and have forgotten what we are. All the difficulties that follow come from that one dead body. All our fears, all worries, anxieties, troubles, mistakes, weakness, evil, are from that one great blunder — that we are bodies. This is the ordinary person. It is the person taking the colour of the flower near to it. We are no more bodies than the crystal is the red flower.

The practice of meditation is pursued. The crystal knows what it is, takes its own colour. It is meditation that brings us nearer to truth than anything else...................

Work a little harder at meditation and it comes. You do not feel the body or anything else. When you come out of it after the hour, you have had the most beautiful rest you ever had in your life. That is the only way you ever give rest to your system.

Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself.

In real meditation you forget the body. You may be cut to pieces and not feel it at all. You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.

Wait and meditate till I call you.

In order to reach the superconscious state in a scientific manner it is necessary to pass through the various steps of Raja-Yoga I have been teaching. After Pratyâhâra and Dhâranâ, we come to Dhyâna, meditation. When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This state is called Dhyana. When one has so intensified the power of Dhyana as to be able to reject the external part of perception and remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state is called Samadhi. The three — Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi — together, are called Samyama. That is, if the mind can first concentrate upon an object, and then is able to continue in that concentration for a length of time, and then, by continued concentration, to dwell only on the internal part of the perception of which the object was the effect, everything comes under the control of such a mind.

So long as enjoyment is sought, bondage remains. Only imperfection can enjoy, because enjoyment is the fulfilling of desire. The human soul enjoys nature. The underlying reality of nature, soul, and God is Brahman; but It (Brahman) is unseen, until we bring It out. It may be brought out by Pramantha or friction, just as we can produce fire by friction. The body is the lower piece of wood, Om is the pointed piece and Dhyâna (meditation) is the friction. When this is used, that light which is the knowledge of Brahman will burst forth in the soul. Seek it through Tapas. Holding the body upright, sacrifice the organs of sense in the mind. The sense-centres are within, and their organs

without; drive them into the mind and through Dhârâna (concentration) fix the

mind in Dhyana. Brahman is omnipresent in the universe as is butter in milk,

but friction makes It manifest in one place. As churning brings out the butter in

the milk, so Dhyana brings the realisation of Brahman in the soul. All Hindu philosophy declares that there is a sixth sense, the superconscious, and through it comes inspiration.

Divine wisdom is to be got by devotion, meditation, and chastity. "Truth alone triumphs, and not untruth. Through truth alone the way is spread to Brahman" — where alone love and truth are.

16. First, meditation should be of a negative nature. Think away everything. Analyse everything that comes in the mind by the sheer action of the will.

Next, assert what we really are — existence, knowledge and bliss — being, knowing, and loving.

Meditation is the means of unification of the subject and object. Meditate:

Above, it is full of me; below, it is full of me; in the middle, it is full of me. I am in all beings, and all beings are in me. Om Tat Sat, I am It. I am existence above mind. I am the one Spirit of the universe. I am neither pleasure nor pain.

The body drinks, eats, and so on. I am not the body. I am not mind. I am He.

I am the witness. I look on. When health comes I am the witness When disease comes I am the witness.

I am Existence, Knowledge, Bliss.

I am the essence and nectar of knowledge. Through eternity I change not. I am calm, resplendent, and unchanging.

17. And then along with it, there must be meditation. Meditation is the one thing. Meditate! The greatest thing is meditation. It is the nearest approach to spiritual life — the mind meditating. It is the one moment in our daily life that we are not at all material — the Soul thinking of Itself, free from all matter — this marvellous touch of the Soul!

18. Then comes meditation. That is the highest state. ... When [the mind] is doubtful that is not its great state. Its great state is meditation. It looks upon things and sees things, not identifying itself with anything else. As long as I feel pain, I have identified myself with the body. When I feel joy or pleasure, I have identified myself with the body. But the high state will look with the same pleasure or blissfulness upon pleasure or upon pain. ... Every meditation is direct superconsciousness. In perfect concentration the soul becomes actually free from the bonds of the gross body and knows itself as it is. Whatever one wants, that comes to him. Power and knowledge are already there. The soul identifies itself with that which is powerless matter and thus weeps. It identifies itself with mortal shapes. ... But if that free soul wants to exercise any power, it will have it. If it does not, it does not come. He who has known God has become God. There is nothing impossible to such a free soul. No more birth and death for him. He is free for ever.

19. The power of meditation gets us everything. If you want to get power over nature, [you can have it through meditation]. It is through the power of meditation all scientific facts are discovered today. They study the subject and forget everything, their own identity and everything, and then the great fact comes like a flash. Some people think that is inspiration. There is no more inspiration than there is expiration; and never was anything got for nothing.

20. Therein also you see the power of meditation — intensity of thought. These men churn up their own souls. Great truths come to the surface and become manifest. Therefore the practice of meditation is the great scientific method of knowledge. There is no knowledge without the power of meditation. From ignorance, superstition, etc. we can get cured by meditation for the time being and no more. [Suppose] a man has told me that if you drink such a poison you will be killed, and another man comes in the night and says, "Go drink the poison!" and I am not killed, [what happens is this: ] my mind cut out from the meditation the identity between the poison and myself just for the time being. In another case of [drinking] the poison, I will be killed.

If I know the reason and scientifically raise myself up to that [state of

meditation], I can save anyone. That is what the books say; but how far it is

correct you must appraise.

In order to reach the superconscious state in a scientific manner it is necessary to pass through the various steps of Raja-Yoga I have been teaching. After Pratyâhâra and Dhâranâ, we come to Dhyâna, meditation. When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This state is called Dhyana. When one has so intensified the power of Dhyana as to be able to reject the external part of perception and remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state is called Samadhi. The three — Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi — together, are called Samyama. That is, if the mind can first concentrate upon an object, and then is able to continue in that concentration for a length of time, and then, by continued concentration, to dwell only on the internal part of the perception of which the object was the effect, everything comes under the control of such a mind.

This meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful. To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.

22. When, by the previous preparations, it becomes strong and controlled, and has the power of finer perception, the mind should be employed in meditation. This meditation must begin with gross objects and slowly rise to finer and finer, until it becomes objectless. The mind should first be employed in perceiving the external causes of sensations, then the internal motions, and then its own reaction. When it has succeeded in perceiving the external causes of sensations by themselves, the mind will acquire the power of perceiving all fine material existences, all fine bodies and forms. When it can succeed in perceiving the motions inside by themselves, it will gain the control of all mental waves, hi itself or in others, even before they have translated themselves into physical energy; and when he will be able to perceive the mental reaction by itself, the Yogi will acquire the knowledge of everything, as every sensible object, and every thought is the result of this reaction. Then will he have seen the very foundations of his mind, and it will be under his perfect control. Different powers will come to the Yogi, and if he yields to the temptations of any one of these, the road to his further progress will be barred. Such is the evil of running after enjoyments. But if he is strong enough to reject even these miraculous powers, he will attain to the goal of Yoga, the complete suppression of the waves in the ocean of the mind. Then the glory of the soul, undisturbed by the distractions of the mind, or motions of the body, will shine in its full effulgence; and the Yogi will find himself as he is and as he always was, the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-pervading.

23. "This Âtman is first to be heard of." Hear day and night that you are that Soul. Repeat it to yourselves day and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let the whole body be full of that one ideal, "I am the birthless, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul." Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it, and out of that will come work. "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and out of the fullness of the heart the hand worketh also. Action will come. Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory. Would to God no superstitions had been put into your head! Would to God we had not been surrounded from our birth by all these superstitious influences and paralysing ideas of our weakness and vileness! Would to God that mankind had had an easier path through which to attain to the noblest and highest truths! But man had to pass through all this; do not make the path more difficult for those who are coming after you.

24. The meditative state is called always the highest state by the Yogi, when it is neither a passive nor an active state; in it you approach nearest to the Purusha. The soul has neither pleasure nor pain; it is the witness of everything, the eternal witness of all work, but it takes no fruits from any work. As the sun is the cause of sight of every eye, but is not itself affected by any defects in the eye or as when a crystal has red or blue flowers placed before it, the crystal looks red or blue, and yet it is neither; so, the soul is neither passive nor active, it is beyond both. The nearest way of expressing this state of the soul is that it is meditation. This is Sankhya philosophy.

25. When the consciousness rises still higher, when this little puny consciousness is gone for ever, that which is the Reality behind shines, and we see it as the One Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, the one Atman, the Universal. "One that is only Knowledge itself, One that is Bliss itself, beyond all compare, beyond all limit, ever free, never bound, infinite as the sky, unchangeable as the sky. Such a One will manifest Himself in your heart in meditation.”

26. "Meditation again is a constant remembrance (of the thing meditated upon) flowing like an unbroken stream of oil poured out from one vessel to another. When this kind of remembering has been attained (in relation to God) all bandages break. Thus it is spoken of in the scriptures regarding constant remembering as a means to liberation. This remembering again is of the same form as seeing, because it is of the same meaning as in the passage, 'When He who is far and near is seen, the bonds of the heart are broken, all doubts vanish, and all effects of work disappear' He who is near can be seen, but he who is far can only be remembered. Nevertheless the scripture says that he have to see Him who is near as well as Him who, is far, thereby indicating to us that the above kind of remembering is as good as seeing. This remembrance when exalted assumes the same form as seeing. . . . Worship is constant remembering as may be seen from the essential texts of scriptures. Knowing, which is the same as repeated worship, has been described as constant remembering. . . . Thus the memory, which has attained to the height of what is as good as direct perception, is spoken of in the Shruti as a means of liberation. 'This Atman is not to be reached through various sciences, nor by intellect, nor by much study of the Vedas. Whomsoever this Atman desires, by him is the Atman attained, unto him this Atman discovers Himself.' Here, after saying that mere hearing, thinking and meditating are not the means of attaining this Atman, it is said, 'Whom this Atman desires, by him the Atman is attained.' The extremely beloved is desired; by whomsoever this Atman is extremely beloved, he becomes the most beloved of the Atman. So that this beloved may attain the Atman, the Lord Himself helps. For it has been said by the Lord: 'Those who are constantly attached to Me and worship Me with love — I give that direction to their will by which they come to Me.' Therefore it is said that, to whomsoever this remembering, which is of the same form as direct perception, is very dear, because it is dear to the Object of such memory perception, he is desired by the Supreme Atman, by him the Supreme Atman is attained. This constant remembrance is denoted by the word Bhakti." So says Bhagavân Râmânuja in his commentary on the Sutra Athâto Brahma-jijnâsâ (Hence follows a dissertation on Brahman.).

27. Why am I saying all this just now? Until you fix the location, you cannot talk. You fix it up in heaven and all the world ever except in the right place. I am spirit, and therefore the spirit of all spirits must be in my soul. Those who think it anywhere else are ignorant. Therefore it is to be sought here in this heaven; all the heaven that ever existed [is within myself]. There are some sages who, knowing this, turn their eyes inward and find the spirit of all spirits in their own spirit. That is the scope of meditation. Find out the truth about God and about your own soul and thus attain to liberation. ...

28. In the preliminary state, the form of the Guru is to be meditated upon by the disciple. Gradually it is to be merged in the Ishta. By Ishta is meant the object of love and devotion. . . . It is very difficult to superimpose divinity on man, but one is sure to succeed by repeated efforts. God is in every man, whether man knows it or not; your loving devotion is bound to call up the divinity in him.

29. Swami Shuddhananda asked, "What is the real nature of meditation, sir?"

Swamiji: Meditation is the focusing of the mind on some object. If the mind

acquires concentration on one object, it can be so concentrated on any object

whatsoever.

Disciple: Mention is made in the scriptures of two kinds of meditation — one having some object and the other objectless. What is meant by all that, and which of the two is the higher one?

Swamiji: First, the practice of meditation has to proceed with some one object before the mind. Once I used to concentrate my mind on some black point. Ultimately, during those days, I could not see the point any more, nor notice that the point was before me at all — the mind used to be no more — no wave of functioning would rise, as if it were all an ocean without any breath of air. In that state I used to experience glimpses of supersensuous truth. So I think, the practice of meditation even with some trifling external object leads to mental concentration. But it is true that the mind very easily attains calmness when one practices meditation with anything on which one's mind is most apt to settle down. This is the reason why we have in this country so much worship of the images of gods and goddesses. And what wonderful art developed from such worship! But no more of that now. The fact, however, is that the objects of meditation can never be the same in the case of all men. People have proclaimed and preached to others only those external objects to which they held on to become perfected in meditation. Oblivious of the fact, later on, that these objects are aids to the attainment of perfect mental calmness, men have extolled them beyond everything else. They have wholly concerned themselves with the means, getting comparatively unmindful of the end. The real aim is to make the mind functionless, but this cannot be got at unless one becomes absorbed in some object.

Progression in Maya is a circle that brings you back to the starting point; but you start ignorant and come to the end with all knowledge. Worship of God, worship of the holy ones, concentration and meditation, and unselfish work, these are the ways of breaking away from Maya's net; but we must first have the strong desire to get free. The flash of light that will illuminate the darkness for us is in us; it is the knowledge that is our nature — there is no "birthright", we were never born. All that we have to do is to drive away the clouds that cover it.

31. Meditation is a sort of prayer and prayer is meditation. The highest meditation is to think of nothing. If you can remain one moment without thought, great power will come. The whole secret of knowledge is concentration. Soul best develops itself by loving God with all the heart. Soul is the thinking principle in man, of which mind is a function. Soul is only the conduit from Spirit to mind.

=======================================

Meditation has been laid stress upon by all religions. The meditative state of mind is declared by the Yogis to be the highest state in which the mind exists. When the mind is studying the external object, it gets identified with it, loses itself. To use the simile of the old Indian philosopher: the soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the colour of whatever is near it. Whatever the soul touches ... it has to take its colour. That is the difficulty. That constitutes the bondage. The colour is so strong, the crystal forgets itself and identifies itself with the colour. Suppose a red flower is near the crystal and the crystal takes the colour and forgets itself, thinks it is red. We have taken the colour of the body and have forgotten what we are. All the difficulties that follow come from that one dead body. All our fears, all worries, anxieties, troubles, mistakes, weakness, evil, are from that one great blunder — that we are bodies. This is the ordinary person. It is the person taking the colour of the flower near to it. We are no more bodies than the crystal is the red flower.

The practice of meditation is pursued. The crystal knows what it is, takes its own colour. It is meditation that brings us nearer to truth than anything else. ...

In India two persons meet. In English they say, "How do you do?" The Indian greeting is, "Are you upon yourself?" The moment you stand upon something else, you run the risk of being miserable. This is what I mean by meditation — the soul trying to stand upon itself. That state must surely be the healthiest state of the soul, when it is thinking of itself, residing in its own glory. No, all the other methods that we have — by exciting emotions, prayers, and all that — really have that one end in view. In deep emotional excitement the soul tries to stand upon itself. Although the emotion may arise from anything external, thereis concentration of mind.

There are three stages in meditation. The first is what is called [Dhâranâ], concentrating the mind upon an object. I try to concentrate my mind upon this glass, excluding every other object from my mind except this glass. But the mind is wavering . . . When it has become strong and does not waver so much, it is called [Dhyâna], meditation. And then there is a still higher state when the differentiation between the glass and myself is lost — [Samâdhi or absorption]. The mind and the glass are identical. I do not see any difference. All the senses stop and all powers that have been working through other channels of other senses [are focused in the mind]. Then this glass is under the power of the mind entirely. This is to be realised. It is a tremendous play played by the Yogis. ... Take for granted, the external object exists. Then that which is really outside of us is not what we see. The glass that I see is not the external object certainly. That external something which is the glass I do not know and will never know.

Something produces an impression upon me. Immediately I send the reaction towards that, and the glass is the result of the combination of these two. Action from outside — X. Action from inside — Y. The glass is XY. When you look at X, call it external world — at Y, internal world . . . If you try to distinguish which is your mind and which is the world — there is no such distinction. The world is the combination of you and something else. ...

Let us take another example. You are dropping stones upon the smooth surface of a lake. Every stone you drop is followed by a reaction. The stone is covered by the little waves in the lake. Similarly, external things are like the stones dropping into the lake of the mind. So we do not really see the external . . .; we see the wave only. . . .

These waves that rise in the mind have caused many things outside. We are not discussing the [merits of] idealism and realism. We take for granted that things exist outside, but what we see is different from things that exist outside, as we see what exists outside plus ourselves.

Suppose I take my contribution out of the glass. What remains? Almost nothing. The glass will disappear. If I take my contribution from the table, what would remain of the table? Certainly not this table, because it was a mixture of the outside plus my contribution. The poor lake has got to throw the wave towards the stone whenever [the stone] is thrown in it. The mind must create the wave towards any sensation. Suppose . . . we can withhold the mind. At once we are masters. We refuse to contribute our share to all these phenomena.... If I do not contribute my share, it has got to stop.

You are creating this bondage all the time. How? By putting in your share. We are all making our own beds, forging our own chains.... When the identifying ceases between this external object and myself, then I will be able to take my contribution off, and this thing will disappear. Then I will say, "Here is the glass", and then take my mind off, and it disappears.... If you can take away your share, you can walk upon water. Why should it drown you any more? What of poison? No more difficulties. In every phenomenon in nature you contribute at least half, and nature brings half. If your half is taken off, the thing must stop.

... To every action there is equal reaction.... If a man strikes me and wounds me it is that man's actions and my body's reaction. ... Suppose I have so much power over the body that I can resist even that automatic action. Can such power be attained? The books say it can. ... If you stumble on [it], it is a miracle. If you learn it scientifically, it is Yoga.

I have seen people healed by the power of mind. There is the miracle worker. We say he prays and the man is healed. Another man says, "Not at all. It is just the power of the mind. The man is scientific. He knows what he is about."

The power of meditation gets us everything. If you want to get power over nature, [you can have it through meditation]. It is through the power of meditation all scientific facts are discovered today. They study the subject and forget everything, their own identity and everything, and then the great fact comes like a flash. Some people think that is inspiration. There is no more inspiration than there is expiration; and never was anything got for nothing.

The highest so-called inspiration was the work of Jesus. He worked hard for ages in previous births. That was the result of his previous work — hard work. ... It is all nonsense to talk about inspiration. Had it been, it would have fallen like rain. Inspired people in any line of thought only come among nations who have general education and [culture]. There is no inspiration. . . . Whatever passes for inspiration is the result that comes from causes already in the mind. One day, flash comes the result! Their past work was the [cause].

Therein also you see the power of meditation — intensity of thought. These men churn up their own souls. Great truths come to the surface and become manifest. Therefore the practice of meditation is the great scientific method of knowledge. There is no knowledge without the power of meditation. From ignorance, superstition, etc. we can get cured by meditation for the time being and no more. [Suppose] a man has told me that if you drink such a poison you will be killed, and another man comes in the night and says, "Go drink the poison!" and I am not killed, [what happens is this: ] my mind cut out from the meditation the identity between the poison and myself just for the time being. In another case of [drinking] the poison, I will be killed.

If I know the reason and scientifically raise myself up to that [state of meditation], I can save anyone. That is what the books say; but how far it is correct you must appraise.

I am asked, "Why do you Indian people not conquer these things? You claim all the time to be superior to all other people. You practice Yoga and do it quicker than anybody else. You are fitter. Carry it out! If you are a great people, you ought to have a great system. You will have to say good-bye to all the gods. Let them go to sleep as you take up the great philosophers. You are mere babies, as superstitious as the rest of the world. And all your claims are failures. If you have the claims, stand up and be bold, and all the heaven that ever existed is yours. There is the musk deer with fragrance inside, and he does not know where the fragrance [comes from]. Then after days and days he finds it in himself. All these gods and demons are within them. Find out, by the powers of reason, education, and culture that it is all in yourself. No more gods and superstitions. You want to be rational, to be Yogis, really spiritual."

[My reply is: With you too] everything is material What is more material than God sitting on a throne? You look down upon the poor man who is worshipping the image. You are no better. And you, gold worshippers, what are you? The image worshipper worships his god, something that he can see. But you do not even do that. You do not worship the spirit nor something that you can understand. ... Word worshippers! "God is spirit!" God is spirit and should be worshipped in spirit and faith. Where does the spirit reside? On a tree? On a cloud? What do you mean by God being ours? You are the spirit. That is the first fundamental belief you must never give up. I am the spiritual being. It is there. All this skill of Yoga and this system of meditation and everything is just to find Him there.

Why am I saying all this just now? Until you fix the location, you cannot talk. You fix it up in heaven and all the world ever except in the right place. I am spirit, and therefore the spirit of all spirits must be in my soul. Those who think it anywhere else are ignorant. Therefore it is to be sought here in this heaven; all the heaven that ever existed [is within myself]. There are some sages who, knowing this, turn their eyes inward and find the spirit of all spirits in their own spirit. That is the scope of meditation. Find out the truth about God and about your own soul and thus attain to liberation. ...

You are all running after life, and we find that is foolishness. There is something much higher than life even. This life is inferior, material. Why should I live at all? I am something higher than life. Living is always slavery. We always get mixed up. ... Everything is a continuous chain of slavery.

You get something, and no man can teach another. It. is through experience [we learn]. ... That young man cannot be persuaded that there are any difficulties in life. You cannot persuade the old man that life is all smooth. He has had many experiences. That is the difference.

By the power of meditation we have got to control, step by step, all these things. We have seen philosophically that all these differentiations — spirit, mind, matter, etc. — [have no real existences. ... Whatever exists is one. There cannot be many. That is what is meant by science and knowledge. Ignorance sees manifold. Knowledge realises one. ... Reducing the many into one is science. ... The whole of the universe has been demonstrated into one. That science is called the science of Vedanta. The whole universe is one. The one runs through all this seeming variety. ...

We have all these variations now and we see them — what we call the five elements: solid, liquid, gaseous, luminous, ethereal. After that the state of existence is mental and beyond that spiritual. Not that spirit is one and mind is another, ether another, and so on. It is the one existence appearing in all these variations. To go back, the solid must become liquid. The way [the elements evolved] they must go back. The solids will become liquid, etherised. This is the idea of the macrocosm — and universal. There is the external universe and universal spirit, mind, ether, gas, luminosity, liquid, solid.

The same with the mind. I am just exactly the same in the microcosm. I am the spirit; I am mind; I am the ether, solid, liquid, gas. What I want to do is to go back to my spiritual state. It is for the individual to live the life of the universe in one short life. Thus man can be free in this life. He in his own short lifetime shall have the power to live the whole extent of life....

We all struggle. . . . If we cannot reach the Absolute, we will get somewhere, and it will be better than we are now.

Meditation consists in this practice [of dissolving every thing into the ultimate Reality — spirit]. The solid melts into liquid, that into gas, gas into ether, then mind, and mind will melt away. All is spirit.

Some of the Yogis claim that this body will become liquid etc. You will be able to do any thing with it — make it little, or gas pass through this wall — they claim. I do not know. I have never seen anybody do it. But it is in the books. We have no reason to disbelieve the books.

Possibly, some of us will be able to do it in this life. Like a flash it comes, as the result of our past work. Who knows but some here are old Yogis with just a little to do to finish the whole work. Practice!

Meditation, you know, comes by a process imagination. You go through all these processes purification of the elements — making the one melt the other, that into the next higher, that into mind, that into spirit, and then you are spirit.*

Spirit is always free, omnipotent, omniscient. Of course, under God. There cannot be many Gods. These liberated souls are wonderfully powerful, almost omnipotent. [But] none can be as powerful as God. If one [liberated soul] said, "I will make this planet go this way", and another said, "I will make it go that way", [there would be confusion].

Don't you make this mistake! When I say in English, "I am God!" it is because I have no better word. In Sanskrit, God means absolute existence, knowledge, and wisdom, infinite self-luminous consciousness. No person. It is impersonal....

I am never Râma [never one with Ishvara, the personal aspect of God], but I am [one with Brahman, the impersonal, all-pervading existence]. Here is a huge mass of clay. Out of that clay I made a little [mouse] and you made a little [elephant]. Both are clay. Melt both down They are essentially one. "I and my Father are one." [But the clay mouse can never be one with the clay elephant.]

I stop somewhere; I have a little knowledge. You a little more; you stop somewhere. There is one soul which is the greatest of all. This is Ishvara, Lord of Yoga [God as Creator, with attributes]. He is the individual. He is omnipotent. He resides in every heart. There is no body. He does not need a body. All you get by the practice of meditation etc., you can get by meditation upon Ishvara, Lord of Yogis. ...

The same can be attained by meditating upon a great soul; or upon the harmony of life. These are called objective meditations. So you begin to meditate upon certain external things, objective things, either outside or inside. If you take a long sentence, that is no meditation at all. That is simply trying to get the mind collected by repetition. Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the [thought-waves] and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you meditate you will keep your growth. ... Work a little harder, more and more, and meditation comes. You do not feel the body or anything else. When you come out of it after the hour, you have had the most beautiful rest you ever had in your life. That is the only way you ever give rest to your system. Not even the deepest sleep will give you such rest as that. The mind goes on jumping even in deepest sleep. Just those few minutes [in meditation] your brain has almost stopped. Just a little vitality is kept up. You forget the body. You may be cut to pieces and not feel it at all. You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.

Then, meditation upon different objects. There are meditations upon different centres of the spine. [According to the Yogis, there are two nerves in the spinal column, called Idâ and Pingalâ. They are the main channels through which the afferent and efferent currents travel.] The hollow [canal called Sushumnâ] runs through the middle of the spinal column. The Yogis claim this cord is closed, but by the power of meditation it has to be opened. The energy has to be sent down to [the base of the spine], and the Kundalini rises. The world will be changed. ... (See Complete Works, Vol. I)

Thousands of divine beings are standing about you. You do not see them because our world is determined by our senses. We can only see this outside. Let us call it X. We see that X according to our mental state. Let us take the tree standing outside. A thief came and what did he see in the stump? A policeman. The child saw a huge ghost. The young man was waiting for his sweetheart, and what did he see? His sweetheart. But the stump of the tree had not changed. It remained the same. This is God Himself, and with our foolishness we see Him to be man, to be dust, to be dumb, miserable.

Those who are similarly constituted will group together naturally and live in the same world. Otherwise stated, you live in the same place. All the heavens and all the hells are right here. For example: [take planes in the form of] big circles cutting each other at certain points. . . . On this plane in one circle we can be in touch with a certain point in another [circle]. If the mind gets to the centre, you begin to be conscious on all planes. In meditation sometimes you touch another plane, and you see other beings, disembodied spirits, and so on. You get there by the power of meditation. This power is changing our senses, you see, refining our senses. If you begin to practise meditation five days, you will feel the pain from within these centres [of consciousness] and hearing [becomes finer]. ... (See Complete Works, Vol. I). That is why all the Indian gods have three eyes. That is the psychic eye that opens out and shows you spiritual things.

As this power of Kundalini rises from one centre to the other in the spine, it changes the senses and you begin to see this world another. It is heaven. You cannot talk. Then the Kundalini goes down to the lower centres. You are again man until the Kundalini reaches the brain, all the centres have been passed, and the whole vision vanishes and you [perceive] . . . nothing but the one existence. You are God. All heavens you make out of Him, all worlds out of Him. He is the one existence. Nothing else exists.

Purity

2008-09-29T16:24:00.002+05:30

ALL powers and ALL purity and ALL greatness----------------- EVERY THING IS IN THE SOUL.
TALK NOT ABOUT IMPURITY, BUT SAY THAT WE ARE PURE.
Hold fast to the real Self, think only pure thoughts,…………………..
He who chooses perfection becomes pure.
All truth in the universe will manifest in your heart, if you are sufficiently pure.
You are the Pure One; awake and arise, O mighty one, this sleep does not become you.
Ay, forget first the love for gold, and name and fame, for this trumpery world of ours. Then, only then, you will understand the love of……………… (God), too holy to be attained without giving up everything, too sacred to be understood until the soul has become perfectly pure. People with ideas of sex, and of money, and of fame, bubbling up every minute in the heart, daring to criticise.
Can you not see the tide of death and materialism that is rolling over these Western lands? Can you not see the power of lust and unholiness, that is eating into the very vitals of society? Believe me, you will not arrest these things by talk, or by movements of agitation for reform; but by renunciation, by standing up, in the midst of decay and death, as mountains of righteousness. Talk not, but let the power of purity, the power of chastity, the power of renunciation, emanate from every pore of your body. Let it strike those who are struggling day and night for gold, that even in the midst of such a state of things, there can be one to whom wealth counts for nothing. Put away lust and wealth. Sacrifice yourselves.
Hold yourself in readiness, i.e., be pure and holy, and love for love’s sake.
Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere.
Remain pure always.
Whatever others think or do, lower not your standard of purity, morality and love.
Be pure and be good; be pure and love everyone.
Purify yourself, and the world is bound to be purified.
Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself. For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves perfect.
Darkness is less light; evil is less good; impurity is less purity.
Be pure, staunch, and sincere to the very backbone, and everything will be all right.
The soul is by its nature pure and perfect, infinite in power and blessed.
So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail, and blessings will be yours.
Please be careful not to become impure even in thought, as also in speech and action; always try to do good to others as far as in you lies.
Goodness is our nature, perfection is our nature, not imperfection, not impurity.
What power is higher than the power of purity?
Only let me be perfectly pure, perfectly sincere, and perfectly unselfish.
Keep yourself holy and pure.
A pure heart sees beyond the intellect.
Hold fast to the real self, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.
Make yourselves decent men!...................Be chaste and pure!.................There is no other way.
The purer the body and mind, the quicker the desired result will be obtained.
Truth, purity and unselfishness---------------wherever these are present, there is no power, below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.
The man who is pure and who dares, does all things.
Say, day and night, “Come up, my brothers; you are the infinite ocean of purity! Be God! Manifest as God!”
Work hard. Be holy and pure and the fire will come.
Purity, patience, and perseverance overcome all obstacles.
Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.
Be pure first, and you will have power.
Neither numbers nor powers nor wealth nor learning nor eloquence nor anything else will prevail, but purity, living the life, in one word, ANUBHUTI, Realisation.
All men are pure; all men are good.
No body is ugly, no body is impure.
We have wept long enough; no more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all around that we want. And here is the test of truth-anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, Truth is all knowledge. Truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating.
The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego. Hold fast to the Atman, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers.
Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong.
Oh, to live even for a day in the full light of freedom, to breathe the free air of simplicity! Isn’t that the highest purity?
Tremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of spirituality. "Neither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone is immortality to be reached," say the Vedas. "Sell all that thou hast and give to poor, and follow me," says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without renunciation?
Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world.
The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
Purity in thought, speech, and act is absolutely necessary for anyone to be religious. Purity is strength. Spiritual truth is purity.
Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success. And, above all, love.
The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man’s nature changes, these physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will cure them completely. The only solution of this problem is to make mankind pure. Ignorance is the mother of all the evil and all the misery we see. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in the world, not before.
If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man, are equal to the whole world.
The purer the mind, the easier it is to control.
Strength is in goodness, in purity.
Goodness is our nature, purity is our nature, and that nature can never be destroyed.
Perfect purity is the most essential thing, for only “the pure in heart shall see God.”
You must be pure and help any one who comes to you, as much as lies in your power.
Be pure and be good; be pure and love everyone.
Remove the veils of ignorance by purity, then we manifest ourselves as we really are and know that we were never in bondage.
In purity is no bondage.
Buddha set his greatest enemy free because he, by hating him (Buddha) so much, kept constantly thinking of him; that thought purified his mind and he became ready for freedom. Therefore think of God all the time and that will purify you.
Purity in every way is absolutely necessary.
Internal purity is of greater value than external.
If you think yourself pure, pure you will be.

Value of Purity

Purity is the condition of His mercy.

Purity of the mind is the first thing necessary.
The heart must be pure and the pure heart sees only good, never evil.
Keep yourself holy and pure.
A pure heart sees beyond the intellect.
Hold fast to the real self, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.
Make yourselves decent men!...................Be chaste and pure!.................There is no other way.
The purer the body and mind, the quicker the desired result will be obtained.
Truth, purity and unselfishness---------------wherever these are present, there is no power, below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.
The man who is pure and who dares, does all things.

How to realise PURITY………………..

The purity which is the goal of work is realisable only through doing good to others.

No one who is least impure will ever become religious.
If we are pure, we cannot see impurity.
A pure, moral man has control over himself.
Make yourself decent men!..........................Be chaste and pure!.......................There is no other way.
To become pure is the shortest path to freedom.
You must be perfectly pure. Do not think of evil things, such thoughts will surely drag you down.
Perfect purity ensures the most lasting allegiance and confidence.
The pure heart is the best mirror for the reflection of truth, so all these disciplines are for the purification of the heart.
Infinite power will come unto you-----------------never fear. Be pure, have faith; be obedient.
What is “Purity”?

Spiritual truth is purity.

Discipleship And Obedience

2008-09-07T15:12:00.003+05:30

Discipleship

1. Let him who has courage in his mind and love in his heart come with me.

2. Guru-Bhakti is the foundation of all spiritual development.

3. Give me a genuine man; I do not want masses of converts.

4. Once you have pledged your faith to a particular teacher, stick to him with all force.

5. Nothing can be done without a Guru.

6. One’s destiny is in one’s own hands----------------the Guru only makes this much understood.

7. Mind you, the Guru-Bhakta will conquer the world------------this is the one evidence of history.

8. Know it for certain that without steady devotion for the Guru, and unflinching patience and perseverance, nothing is to be achieved.

9. The Guru has to bear the disciple’s burden of sin.

10. The power that can transform life in a moment can be found only in the living illuminated souls, those shinning lights who appear among us from time to time.

11. Find the teacher, serve him as a child, open your heart to his influence, see in him God manifested.

12. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life.

13. Without an unbroken chain of discipleship-------------------Guruparampara---------------------nothing can be done.

14. A mere talker cannot be the Guru.

15. The Guru is the conveyance in which the spiritual influence is brought to you.

16. Nothing, I say, can be done without the chain of discipleship, that is, the power that is transmitted from the Guru to the disciple, and from him to his disciple, and so on.

17. The Guru is the means of realisation.

18. The first thing needed is obedience.

19. The disciple must have great power of endurance. Bear all evil and misery without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance, and that you must acquire.

20. Such is the Guru--------------------“Who has himself crossed the terrible ocean of life; and without any idea of gain to himself, helps others also to cross the ocean.” This is the Guru, and mark that none else can be a Guru.

Obedience

1. The first requisite for organisation is obedience.

2. Even if the order be wrong, first obey and then contradict it.

3. Great enterprise, boundless courage, tremendous energy, and above all, perfect obedience-----------these are the only traits that lead to individual and national regeneration.

4. Learn obedience first.

5. You must be as free as the air, and as obedient as the plant and the dog.

6. He who knows how to obey, knows how to command. Learn obedience first. Everyone can play the role of a master, but it is very difficult to be a servant.

Personal Contact

1. A mass of reading does not make men; those who were real men were made so by personal contact.

2. The Highest way & the only way to………...

It is the life that is the highest and the only way to stir the hearts of people; it carries the personal magnetism.

Take Care

2008-05-29T13:15:00.003+05:30

1. If you have to think, think good thought, great thoughts.

2. Throw away everything, and go and help others.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

buy harry potter soundtracks

Preaching

2008-05-29T13:14:00.001+05:30

· It is the knowledge of the “spirit” of the scriptures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher.

Humour

2008-05-29T13:13:00.000+05:30

· Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.

Giving

2008-05-29T13:12:00.002+05:30

1. Give as the rose gives perfume, because it is its own nature, utterly unconsciousness of giving.

2. Ask, therefore, nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you.

3. When you give life, you will have life.

4. Do not criticize others, for all doctrines and all dogmas are good; but show them by your lives that religion is no matter of books and beliefs, but of spiritual realization.

Only those who have seen it will understand this; but such spirituality can be given to others, even though they be unconscious of the gift.

Only those who have attained to this power are amongst the great teachers of mankind. They are the powers of light.

5. There is no higher virtue than charity. The lowest man is he whose hand draws in receiving; and he is the highest man whose hand goes out in giving. The hand was made to give always. Give the last bit of bread you have, even if you are starving. You will be perfect, you will become God.

6. If you have, then give.

7. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So, give willingly.

8. Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you----------------but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied----------------a thousand fold. But the attention must not be on that. You have the power to give and there it ends.

9. In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.

10. Give to the weak, for there all the gift is needed.

11. In the presence of my Master I found out that man could be perfect, even in this body. Those lips never cursed anyone, those eyes never criticized anyone. Those eyes were beyond the possibility of seeing evil, that mind had lost the power of thinking evil. He saw nothing but good. That tremendous purity, that tremendous renunciation is the one secret of spirituality. "Neither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone, is immortality to be reached," say the Vedas. "Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and follow Me," says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without that renunciation? Renunciation is the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and you will always find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will the senses creep into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in the same ratio.

12. We get caught. How? Not by what we give but by what we expect. We get misery in return for our love; not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return. There is no misery where there is no want.

13. The first of everything should go to the poor; we have only a right to what remains.

14. Giving alone is the one work in this Kali Yuga; of all the gifts, giving spiritual life is the highest gifts possible.

15. Give as the rose gives perfume, because it is its own nature, utterly unconscious of giving.

16. The gift of knowledge is the highest gift in the world.

17. Instead of begging, the religious man should give.

Power is..................

2008-05-29T13:10:00.001+05:30

1. The Secret of Power

Remember, it is the ‘person’, the life, which is the secret of power--------------nothing else.

2. What power is higher than the power of purity?

3. All want power, but few will wait to gain it for themselves.

4. When thought is joined to will, we call it power.

Law

2008-05-29T13:09:00.000+05:30

· More of goodness, less of artificial laws.

Greatness

2008-05-29T13:08:00.001+05:30

1. Both attachment and detachment perfectly developed make a man great and happy.

2. Achieve happiness or achieve greatness.

3. Feel that you are great and you become great.

4. Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith in God - this is the secret of greatness.

5. Throughout the history of mankind, if any motive power has been more potent than another in the lives of all great men and women, it is that of faith in themselves. Born with the consciousness that they were to be great, they became great.

Oneness

2008-05-29T02:37:00.001+05:30

· The nearer we approach God, the more do we begin to see that all things are in Him.

· The more a man advances towards oneness, the more ideas of “I” and “you” subside.

· Oneness is the secret of everything.

· We must not look down with contempt on others. All of us are going towards the same goal. The difference between the weakness and strength is one of degree; the difference between virtue and vice is one of degree; the difference between heaven and hell is one of degree; the difference between life and death is one of degree; all difference in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

· The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already; they can only help to take away the veil that hides the truth from our eyes. The first veil to vanish is ignorance, and when that is gone, sin goes, next desire ceases, selfishness ends and all misery disappears. This cessation of ignorance can only come when I know that God and I are one; in other words, identify yourself with Atman, not with human limitations. Disidentify yourself with the body and all will cease. This is the secret of healing. The universe is a case of hypnotization; dehypnotize yourself and cease to suffer.

· The seeing of many is the great sin of all the world. See all as Self and love all; let all idea of separateness go.

Ignorance

2008-05-29T02:31:00.000+05:30

Misery

2008-05-29T02:28:00.001+05:30

1. Ignorance is the great mother of all misery.

2. All the misery of the world is caused by the slavery to the senses.

3. It is the culture of the heart, really, and not that of the intellect that will lessen the misery of the world.

4. Misery comes because we think we are finite---------------we are little beings.

5. The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us. If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practised, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.

6. The Great Cause of Misery in the World

The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’.

7. Attachment to the unreal will bring misery.

8. The misery that we suffer comes from ignorance, from non-discrimination between the real and the unreal.

9. The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death. There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us until we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them. There may be a million microbes of misery floating about us. Never mind! They dare not approach us; they have no power to get hold on us, until the mind is weakened.

10. The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us miserable. That is the secret: to think that I’m the Spirit and not the body, and that whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as series of paintings, scenes on a canvas, of which I’m the witness.

11. There is no misery where there is no want.

12. What is our real misery : -

Nature is trying all around to suppress us, and the soul wants to express itself. The struggle with nature is going on. Many things will be crushed and broken in this struggle for freedom, That is you real misery. Large masses of dust and dirt must be raised on the battlefield. Nature says, ‘I will conquer’. The soul says, ‘I must be the conqueror’. Nature says, ‘Wait! I will give you a little enjoyment to keep you quite’. The soul enjoys a little, become deluded a moment, but the next moment it cries for freedom again. Have you marked the eternal cry going out through the ages in every breast? We are deceived by poverty. We become wealthy and are deceived by wealth. We are ignorant. We read and learn and are deceived with knowledge. No man is ever satisfied. That is the cause of misery, but it is also a cause of blessing. That is the sure sign. How can you be satisfied with this world?......................THE INFINITE SOUL CAN ONLY BE SATISFIED BUT BY THE INFINITE ITSELF…………………INFINITE DESIRE CAN ONLY BE SATISFIED BY INFINITE KNOWLEDGE------------------------NOTHING SHORT OF THAT.

13. The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man’s nature changes, these physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will cure them completely. THE ONLY SOLUTION OF THIS PROBLEM IS TO MAKE MANKIND PURE. IGNORANCE IS THE MOTHER OF ALL THE EVIL AND ALL THE MISERY WE SEE. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in the world, not before.

Freedom

2008-05-29T02:20:00.002+05:30

1. No action can give you freedom; only knowledge can make you free.

2. Freedom is to lose all illusions.

3. To become pure is the shortest path to freedom.

4. Freedom is the one goal of all nature, sentient or insentient; and consciously or unconsciously, everything is struggling towards that goal.

5. Let us then be brave and sincere: whatever path we follow with devotion, must take us to freedom.

6. No action can give you freedom; only knowledge can make you free. Knowledge is irresistible; the mind cannot take it or reject it. When it comes, the mind has to accept it; so it is not a work of the mind, only, its expression comes in the mind.

7. The greatest goodness is the highest freedom.

8. How freedom is to be attained

The goal of all nature is freedom, and freedom is to be attained only by perfect unselfishness.

9. We have got to work and worship and struggle to be free.

Solution

2008-05-29T01:57:00.006+05:30

1. ………………..let everyone be taught that the divine is within, and everyone will work out his own salvation.

2. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in the world, not before.

3. All healthy social changes are the manifestations of the spiritual forces working within, and if these are strong and well adjusted, society will arrange itself accordingly. Each individual has to work out his own salvation; there is no other way, and so also with nations…………….It is very easy to point out the defects of institutions, all being more or less important, but he is the real benefactor of humanity who helps the individual to overcome his imperfections under whatever institutions he may live. The individuals being raised, the nation and its institution are bound to rise.

4. The ideals of us are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE…………...…….Intensify yourself in these channels, and the rest will take care of itself.

5. Bring forth the power of the spirit, and pour it over the length and breadth of India; and all that is necessary will come of itself.

6. But bold we must be. Hiding facts is not the way to find a remedy.

7. We are to be saved from sin by being saved from ignorance.

8. We must work out our own problem, the prophets only show us how to work.

9. It is the culture of the heart, really, and not that of the intellect that will lessen the misery of the world.

10. Our solution is renunciation, and love, these are the fittest to survive.

11. The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already; they can only help to take away the veil that hides the truth from our eyes. The first veil to vanish is ignorance, and when that is gone, sin goes, next desire ceases, selfishness ends and all misery disappears. This cessation of ignorance can only come when I know that God and I are one; in other words, identify yourself with Atman, not with human limitations. Disidentify yourself with the body and all will cease. This is the secret of healing. The universe is a case of hypnotization; dehypnotize yourself and cease to suffer.

12. Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself. For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. It is an effect, and we are the means. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves perfect.

13. ………………arise, awake, for the time is propitious. Already everything is opening out before us. Be bold and fear not. It is only in our scriptures that this objective is given unto the Lord--------------Abhih, Abhih. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be done. Arise, awake, for your country needs this tremendous sacrifice.

14. When the life-blood is strong and pure, no disease germ can live in that body. Our life-blood is spirituality. If it flows clear, if it flows strong and pure and vigorous, everything is right; political, social, any other material defects, even the poverty of the land, will all be cured if that blood is pure.

15. Give up.

16. Renounce everything.

17. Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it.

18. Every child is a born optimist; he dreams golden dreams. In youth he becomes still more optimistic. It is hard for a young man to believe that there is such a thing as death, such a thing as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into the air, and the man becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from one extreme to another, buffeted by nature……………..not one ideal can be fully attained, not one thirst can be quenched………………and when latter we get kicked about by society like foot balls…………………we sit in a corner and croak and throw cold water on the enthusiasm of others.

But bold we must be. Hiding facts is not the way to find a remedy. As you all know, a hare hunted by dogs puts its head down and thinks itself safe……………….If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeavour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upwards.

19. The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man’s nature changes, these physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will cure them completely. THE ONLY SOLUTION OF THIS PROBLEM IS TO MAKE MANKIND PURE. IGNORANCE IS THE MOTHER OF ALL THE EVIL AND ALL THE MISERY WE SEE. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in the world, not before.

Self-Control

2008-03-12T15:03:00.003+05:30

1. The more you fly from nature, the more she follows you; and if you do not care for her at all. She becomes your slave.

2. Do not let the thoughts grasp you; stand aside, and they will die away.

3. Absolute control of nature, and nothing short of it, must be the goal.

4. Stand as a witness, as a student, and observe the phenomena of nature.

5. That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

6. We must be the masters, and not the slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body’s.

7. Man is born to conquer nature and not to follow it.

8. Purity of the mind must be insisted upon if you would control it.

9. He who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his slave.

10. Nature is conquered by man everyday.

11. Nature must fall at your feet and you must trample on it and be free and glorious by going beyond.

12. The idea that the goal is far off, far beyond nature, attracting us all towards it, has to be brought nearer and nearer, without degrading or degenerating it. The God of heaven becomes the God in nature, and the God in nature becomes the God who is nature, and the God who is nature becomes the God within this temple of the body, and the God dwelling in the temple of the body at last becomes the temple itself, becomes the soul and man--------------and there it reaches the last words it can teach…………………..Nature never has power over you. Like a frightened child you were dreaming that it was throttling you, and the release from this fear is the goal: not only to see it intellectually, but to perceive it, actualize it, much more definitely than we perceive this world. Then we shall know that we are free, and then alone, will all difficulties vanish, then will all the perplexities of heart be smoothed away, all crookedness made straight, then will vanish the delusion of manifoldness and nature; and Maya, instead of being a horrible, hopeless dream, as it is now, will become beautiful, and the earth instead of being a prison-house, will become our play-ground; and even dangers and difficulties, even all sufferings, will become defied and show us their real nature, will show us that behind everything, as the substance of everything He is standing, and that He is the one real Self.

13. Control the mind, cut off the senses, then you are a Yogi; after that, all the rest will come. Refuse to hear, to see, to smell, to taste; take away the mental power from the external organs.

14. To control our passions we have to control them at their very roots; then alone shall we be able to burn out their very seeds.

Heart

2008-03-01T21:02:00.005+05:30

1. I find, as I always thought, that it is through the ‘heart’ and that alone, that the world can be reached.

2. Always cultivate the heart.

3. It is through the heart, and the heart alone, that inspiration comes.

4. Deep as the ocean, broad as the infinite skies, that is the sort of heart we want.

5. Let the heart be opened first, and all else will follow of itself.

6. Within the heart is the ocean of Love.

7. It is the heart, the heart that conquers, not the brain.

8. The more heart you will be able to manifest, the greater will be the victory you achieve.

9. It is the heart that reaches the Goal.

Spirituality

2008-03-01T21:01:00.001+05:30

· Tremendous purity, tremendous renunciation, is the one secret of spirituality. "Neither through wealth, nor through progeny, but through renunciation alone is immortality to be reached," say the Vedas. "Sell all that thou hast and give to poor, and follow me," says the Christ. So all great saints and prophets have expressed it, and have carried it out in their lives. How can great spirituality come without renunciation?

Holiness

2008-03-01T21:00:00.003+05:30

1. Holiness is the highest and divinest power in earth and in heaven.

2. Keep yourself holy, and pure.

3. Light is everywhere visible only in the men of holiness.

4. Light is everywhere visible only in the men of holiness.

5. Perish in the struggle to be holy; a thousand times welcome death.

6. Go on thinking holy thoughts continuously, that is the only way to suppress base impressions.

7. Hold yourself in readiness, i.e., be pure and holy, and love for love’s sake.

8. Keep yourself holy and pure.

9. Work hard. Be holy and pure and the fire will come.

10. It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world --------------- that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you are not understanding it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

11. Poverty is not a synonym for holiness.

12. Holiness is the highest and divinest power in earth and in heaven.