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In many countries
of the world,
reflection on the nature of existence
is a luxury of life.
Sarvepali Radhakrishnan
- There are four Mahavakyas, four Great
Declarations:
- Rig Veda, Aitareya Up. 3.3 declares:
Knowledge is Brahman Eternal.
- Sama Veda, Chhandogya Up. 6.8.7 says:
Thou art That.
- Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Up. 1.4.10
holds: I am Brahman.
- Atharva Veda, Mandukya Up. 1.2 declares: This Self is the Brahman.
- If you desire to renounce anything, renounce
it only after a thorough acquaintance with it. If you desire to embrace anything new,
accept it only after a searching enquiry. (Tantra Shastras)
- What is supremely important is to be free
from contradictions: the goal and the way must not be on different levels. (Nisargadatta
Maharaj)
- The Yogi, desirous of success, should keep
the Hatha Yoga as a great secret. It becomes fruitful while kept secret, revealed it loses
its power. (Shiva Samhita 5, 207)
- The human birth is the most important for it
is then that one becomes awake, aware of one's state of bondage and the necessity of
release and is in a position to take steps for one's liberation from its hold. (Kularnava
Tantra)
It is said in all the Shastras that of the jiva's eighty-four lakhs of births the human
birth is the most fruitful. In no other birth can the jiva acquire knowledge of the Truth.
Human birth is the stepping stone to the path of Liberation. But rare are the meritorious
who come by it. (Vishvasara Tantra)
- The supreme Brahman is the cause of
creation, maintenance, annihilation, concealment and blessing. Without His corroboration
even a blade of grass cannot be split by any individual anywhere. (Shivapurana,
Vidyeshvarasamhita, 6, 30-21)
- There is no muni who has not an opinion of
his own. (Mahabharata)
- The absolute can never become an object of
knowledge, for what is known is finite and relative. (Sarvepali Radhakrishnan)
- Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti, The real is
one, the learned call it by various names. (Rig Veda, 1, 164.46)
- Whatever is limited or transitory is not
real. All becoming is an untenable contradiction. (Bhagavad Gita)
- On account of his dwelling in all bodies, He
is called the Purusha. There is nothing that is not covered by Him, nothing that is not
pervaded by Him. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2, 5, 18)
- Every situation has to be sized up
correctly, on the spot, without prejudging. It is impossible for me to answer questions
like, "If ..., what will or would you... ?" We will have to wait for the
situation to arise. The solution to any problem is brought in by the problem itself, on
its own shoulders. You can't have a solution before the problem is there. But that's what
we are trying all the time with our "ifs" and "buts". We have already
solved all the problems of the world for eternity. Impossible! Absurd! All we can say is,
"When the problem comes, I'll deal with it. Enough unto the day is the evil
thereof." (Swami Venkatasananda)
- To advance we must have faith in ourselves
first and then in God. He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God. (Swami
Vivekananda)
- The test of medicine is that it cures the
disease an at the same time gives rise to no other. (Ayurveda)
The basis of knowing is actual experience. (Tantra Shastras)
- Svamimarshah purusharthah, Self-knowledge is
the aim and end of man. (Kalpasutra)
- Remember, it is you who must travel to the
kingdm of heaven; it will not come to you by special delivery. Each man has to hie his own
way alone. (Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest")
- In fact, all you know is your own private
world, however well you have furnished it with your imaginations and expectations.
(Nisargadatta Maharaj)
- To "explain" the Creator, one
would have to be Creator Himself and then in such a case there would be no need of any
explanation.
- What can be given to any man is only what he
can receive.
- Company has the greatest influence on will.
(Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest")
- He who, while living in this physical body,
does not practise Yoga, is living merely for the sake of sensual enjoyments. (Shiva
Samhita 5, 2182)
- The world you reach after the body is shed
is determined by the level of the consciousness reached while in the body. (Kularnava
Tantra)
- What makes an ascetic great is his holiness
and humility. It is not the capacity to do clever conjurer's tricks or dream hysteric
dreams, but it is to remain pure from lust and resentment, passion and desire. This living
martyrdom is ever so much more difficult than killing oneself. Death is easy. It is life
that is taxing. A true ascetic is not one who gives up home and society to escape the
social bonds; he is not one who becomes a sannyasin because he suffers shipwreck in life.
(Sarvepali Radhakrishnan)
- Every thought projected from every brain
goes on pulsating, as it were, until it meets a fit object that will receive it. (Swami
Vivekananda)
- A sensible person shall not proclaim others'
faults.
An intelligent man shall not speak words wounding the hearts of others. (Shivapurana,
Vidyeshvarasamhita, 13, 79-80)
- Your own self is your ultimate teacher
(sadguru). The outer teacher (guru) is merely a milestone. It is only your inner teacher
that will walk with you to the goal for he is the goal. (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
- As a man becomes more and more spiritual, he
is less and less dependent on externals.
- Holy company acts as medicine. (Kularnava
Tantra)
- That tomorrow will never come. (Swami
Shivananda Saraswati)
- The mind affects the body. Every thought has
a corresponding change in the material substance of the brain.
- You cannot possibly say that you are what
you think yourself to be! Your ideas about yourself change from day to day and from moment
to moment. Your self image is the most changeful thing you have. [...] To know what you
are, you must first investigate what you are not. (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
- There cannot be any such thing as free will;
the very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we
know is within our universe, and everything within our universe is moulded by the
conditions of space, time and causation. That which obeys the laws of causation cannot be
free. (Swami Vivekananda)
- It is indeed the mind that is the cause of
men's bondage and liberation. (Amritabindupanishad 2)
- Bees come of themselves to the full-blown
flower when the breeze wafts its fragrance all around. Ants come of themselves to the spot
where sweets are placed. No one need invite the bee or ant. (Shri Ramakrishna)
- The bee in search of honey sits only on
flowers and never on filthy objects. (Shri Ramakrishna)
- It is to the Asiatic's knack of doing
nothing at all from time to time that humanity is indebted for its greatest spiritual
treasures. (Hans-Ulrich Rieker)
- The window of the soul cannot be forced
open. The aspirant, trying his best year after year, has to wait patiently for grace. The
window must be opened from the inside. (Gopi Krishna)
- Should you not find the pearl after one or
two divings, don't blame the ocean. (Paramahansa Yogananda)
- The source of consciousness cannot be an
object in consciousness. To know the source is to be the source. (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
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