Index

Publishers ‘Note

Contents

Chapter-1 -Human Life- Its Glorious Destiny

Chapter-2- The Art of Living

Chapter-3- Spiritual Life

Chapter-4- Riddle Of The Universe

Chapter-5- Mind And Man

Chapter-6- Satsanga And Upadesa

Chapter-7- Voice Of Wisdom

Chapter-8- Immortal Teachings

Chapter-9- True Goal Of Your Life

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

His Holiness Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj did not write text books as such. The books he wrote were the outpourings of wisdom from his own direct realisation of the truth.

From his books you will derive not only the benefit of his wisdom and knowledge of both practical and esoteric matters pertaining to Yoga, but also the power of his spiritual force.

Swamiji had a unique style—simple, direct and compelling. His books are not dull treatises on Yoga and philosophy, rather his enthusiasm and eagerness to help all is evident in every page, lifting the reader to new heights of understanding. His message is addressed particularly and directly to the people living in the busy world of today. To them his books are a boon. In simple words set in simple sentences, Swamiji gives grand truths in a gentle way.

Here is another gem from the Diadem of Divine Life. It radiates the light of Divine Life that been Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has been shedding from the past many years.

THE ANALECTS deals with the fundamental

Problems of life and gives in a succinct, clear and inspiring language the essentials of a divine life.

We are confident that this book will receive at the hands of the public the same warm welcome that the previous books in this series enjoyed.

-The Divine Life Society

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

HUMAN LIFE-ITS GLORIOUS DESTINY

Chapter 2

THE ART LIVING

Chapter 3

SPIRITUAL LIFE

Chapter 4

RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE

Chapter 5

MIND AND MAN

Chapter 6

SATSANGA AND UPADESA

Chapter 7

VOICE OF WISDOM

Chapter 8

IMMORTAL TEACHINGS

Chapter 9

TRUE GOAD OF YOUR LIFE

Chapter 1

HUMAN LIFE-ITS GLORIOUS DESTINY

1. Treasure of Treasures.

2. Science of the Supreme.

3. The Great path.

4. Mysterious Divine Essence.

5. Brahmic Realisation Bestows Release.

(I)Treasure of Treasures

1. Knowledge of Atman or the Self is the greatest wealth.

2. Knowledge of Atman is the property for man.

3. The gift of Brahma-Jnana or Wisdom of the Self exceeds all other gifts.

4. He who wants to pass from error to truth must realise the Atman or the Self and enjoy peace and bliss as his own self forever.

5. When you realise the Atman. Sorrow and attachment take to their heels.

6. Limitless peace and eternal bliss in this very life.

7. He who knows the Atman or the Self goes beyond sorrow and pain.

8. Just as all fear caused by the appearance of the illusory snake ends when the rope is known, so also all the pains and sorrows of the world terminate when Brahman is realised.

9. He who has realised the bliss of the Eternal has no fear from any quarter.

10. Know Brahman, the Infinite, who is self-luminous and beyond darkness and delusion. Knowing Him alone, one can be saved from death. There is no other way to Immortality.

11. The Jnana-bliss which arises out of the commingling of the knower and the known is of Atma-Jnana. It is this Atma-Jnana-bliss that should be longed for.

12. The root of all suffering is cut off by the vision of the Atman.

13. He who has knowledge of Brahman is to be worshipped in the three worlds.

14. Attain that Supreme State of Eternal Bliss through meditation on Atman, where the mind ceases to function and the mouth closes in silence. 15. Realise the timeless essence of time and live in the Eternal.

16. Blessed is he who - attains the supreme wisdom of Brahman in this very life; if he does not, his life is in vain.

(ii) Science of the Supreme

17. The knowledge of Atman or the Supreme Self is the real knowledge. All other kinds of knowledge are mere semblance of knowledge.

18. That which is worth knowing is the Supreme Absolute, which is beyond pain and pleasure, beyond virtue and vice, going where wise people attain Immortality and do not come to grief

19. Salvation cannot be attained by bodily torture. Knowledge of Atman alone can give emancipation.

20. Knowledge of Atman is a means for emancipation.

21. The flame of a lamp, though small, destroys immense darkness. Even so, knowledge of the Atman destroys the great ignorance.

22. One may rule over the whole world, yet he cannot attain peace unless he knows the Self.

23. Ignorance of the Self is the source of all troubles and the knowledge of the Self is that of undecaying bliss and peace.

24. Ignorance or Avidya is a principle and beginningless but which disappears when one attains divine wisdom-

25. Whole world is a product of ignorance. It vanishes when one gets Brahma-Jnana, when true knowledge dawns.

26. If ignorance were real, all practice of righteousness, devotion and meditation would be useless. How can we account for the desire of a man to be free from all limitations?

27. As on the perception of the rope the illusory snake disappears entirely, so when the substratum of the world (Brahman) is known, the whole world disappears.

28. Brahman is all. It is ignorance which gives man an idea of separateness.

29. Egoism is born as a result of the ignorance of Brahman, and from egoism arises the whole psychic equipment of men and the world as well.

30. When truth is known, duality vanishes.

(iii) The Great Path

31. Vedanta is the ancient road that leads from death to Immortality. It is a real road to knowledge of Brahman or the Absolute.

32. Vedanta philosophy is much talked about but so little understood and practised.

34. Vedanta is neither an abstract doctrine nor a bundle of dogmas. It is a philosophy of life which aims at the realisation by man of the ineffable splendour of his real essential divine nature.

35. The teachings of the Upanishads are based on experiences essentially transcendent& in their nature.

36. Vedas are inspiring. They are the breath of God. They are eternal.

37. Emancipation lies in the annihilation of ego or the little self-arrogating self. This is the central teaching of the Vedanta.

38. Practice of Advaita Vedanta destroys the feeling of duality.

39. It is by deep meditation and Vairagya (dispassion, detachment) that the unity of the Self is intuitively realised.

40. Study is helpful and so is devotion; but the final essence of the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta is the feeling of non-duality.

41. Vedanta is not pessimistic. It is the highest pinnacle of optimism.

42. Vedanta elevates you. Vedanta inspires you. Vedanta transforms you. Vedanta fills you with wisdom, peace, Joy bliss, energy and strength.

43. Practice of Vedanta leads to practical living realisation of truth.

44. Vedanta must be lived daily. It is not meant only for the theoretical discussion.

45. Try to understand correctly the true purpose of the Upanishads. This is Sravana or hearing of the Srutis.

46. Strengthen your conviction as stated in the Upanishads by reflection. This is Manana.

47. Realise the Truth or Brahman by Nididhyasana (constantand profound meditation).

48. Only through the Atmic Enquiry one can attain quiescence of mind and Atma-Jnana (Wisdom of the Self)

49. You can attain perfection and freedom if you transcend your narrow individuality and identify yourself with the Whole or Brahman.

50. Realise the Infinite Brahman to be your own self. Then alone you will be liberated from all bonds.

(iv) Mysterious Divine Essence

51. Practice of Vedanta leads to realisation of Supreme Brahman.

52. The Ultimate Reality or Para Brahman can never be realised by words or logical reasoning or by mind.

53. The Intuitive Wisdom alone can help to attain Self-realisation.

54. The Ultimate Reality can best be described only in terms of contradictions: "Smaller than the small, greater than the great is the Atman or the Supreme Self; seated Himself, He travels far, lying He goes in all directions."

55. Know Brahman, the Infinite, who is self-effulgent and beyond all darkness and delusion. Then alone you can attain Immortality.

56. Para Brahman is hidden in the recesses of the heart. He is vast, wonderful incomprehensible and subtler than the subtle. He is far off beyond the far and nearer than the nearest.

57. Brahman or the Eternal is unthinkable, immutable. He is the good and the peaceful. He is without beginning, middle and end.

58. Brahman is the origin of the world. He is the only one, all pervading Consciousness-Bliss. He is formless and wonderful.

59. Brahman transcends the whole world and also manifests Himself as the whole world. This is a mystery.

60. Brahman is the eternal Being. He is the support of all. He is the remover of evil and dispeller of darkness of ignorance. The existence of the whole world depends on him.

61. Brahman is the Governor of the world, He is the Supreme Self. He is the Lord. He is changeless. He is the Cosmic Being. He is the Self of the universe. He is the Great Goal of knowledge, He is the Supreme Refuge.

62. Brahman is hidden in all these names and forms. He is the indwelling Self of all. He is the Witness.

63. Brahman is unmanifested, unlimited. fathomless and inexhaustible.

64. Brahman or the Absolute is eternal, pure, flawless, omnipresent non-dual bliss.

65. From Brahman comes the unmanifest; from the unmanifest, the Great (Mahat); from the Mahat, egoism, from egoism, the five subtle elements (Tanmatras); from the five subtle elements, the five great elements; from the five great elements, the entire world.

66. Brahman exists eternally. He is the Eternal Source for everything.

67. Even when the manifest phenomena become unmanifest due to dissolution, it exists in the Brahman.

68. According to Vedanta, nothing exists except Brahman and all that appears to exist is mere illusion.

69. Brahman alone is real. He is the Soul of all beings and the enjoyer of the universe. He pervades the entire world. He enjoys all the different elements in various ways.

70. None can perceive Brahman with the eyes and the other senses. He is revealed by intuition. He who knows Him becomes Immortal.

71. Brahman is unseen, unrelated, inconceivable, uninferable, unimaginable, indescribable.

72. Brahman is absolute fullness because He is infinite and everything in essence.

73. Understand the mystery of the self-division of the indivisible, the individualisation of the universe.

74. Brahman is the Spirit knowing itself by Itself and for Itself.

75. Brahman is bliss. Brahman is peace. Brahman is non-duality.

76. The Bliss of Brahman or the Absolute exceeds all other kinds of happiness.

77. The taste of Brahmic Bliss exceeds all other tastes.

(v) Brahmic Realisation Bestows Release

78. Moksha is release from the bonodage to the senses and to the individual, the narrow and the finite.

79. Moksha is freedom, release, emancipation.

80. In Moksha or emancipation Brahman alone shines forth in Its unique glory and all the rest vanishes as illusory nothing.

81. Freedom is perfection. Freedom is Self-realisation. Freedom is eternal bliss. Freedom is perennial joy.

82. Moksha is spiritual realisation. It is self-emancipation which gives ultimate satisfaction and eternal bliss.

83. Freedom is the essence of Brahman or the Absolute.

84. Knowledge-Bliss is the essence of Brahman.

85. Goodness is the essence of God or Brahman.

86. Goodness is the mastery over the forces of darkness and ignorance.

87. Nirvana is not utter extinction. Nirvana is utter extinction of all that is base in man, all that is vicious in him, all that is corruptible in him.

88. Krama Mukti is liberation by stages. Sadyo Mukti is sudden and entire liberation.

89. Perfection is the realisation of the Self Atma-Sakshatkara.

90. Self-realisation heals the wounds of the world. It is a potent, divine balm.

91. In Self-realisation there is the dawn of divine wisdom, there is the spiritual awakening, there is the divine awareness.

92. Self-realisation is the sweetest of sweet things.

Chapter 2

THE ART OF LIVING

(i) What Is Life?
(ii) Your Main Task.
(iii) Secret of Happiness.
(iv) Path of Joy.

(i) What Is Life?

1. What is the meaning of life? Who is man? Who, whence, whether, why, what? These are some important problems that affect all humanity.

2. Life is a voyage to reach the Goal, the other shore of fearlessness and immortality.

3. Life is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Eternal Wisdom. Life is a journey to the Kingdom of Immortal Bliss.

4. Life is a song. Life is a poem. Life is a drama. Life is divine music.

5. The life-stream of man flows as long as it is propelled by the force of Karma, one’s actions.

6. Live for God and for Him alone.

7. Life in reality is a great moment towards the attainment of God-realisation.

8. The highest goal of man is the knowledge of Brahman or the knowledge of one’s own self.

9. The aim is one, and many are the angles of vision. The goal is one and many are the ways leading thereto.

10. O Man! Brief is the life like a bubble, like the lightning. Make thy life beautiful through meditation and selfless service.

11. This human body is a boat. Guru is its pilot. God is the favourable wind that pushes the boat on.

12. O Man! You fritter away the precious life in indulging in vain projects of various kinds and are never able to realise your true goal.

13. O Ye, wanderer in darkness of ignorance and who art weary! Come out of the darkness into light—the light of the other shore where wisdom shines and peace abides.

(ii) Your Main Task

14. This is a world of pain and death, change, disease and decay—all inseparable attributes of things here.

15. To worry yourself about its why and whereof is futile. But to strive calmly yet earnestly by all means to serve and to help everyone is indeed noble.

16. Live with a definite programme for your everyday life.

17. Lead a life in tune with nature and all fellow creatures.

18. O Man! Make such a preparation here that when the last hour strikes, you can accept it with perfect joy, serenity, peace, cheerfulness and radiant smile.

19. O students of the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy! Preach ye the Life Divine, a life of holiness, purity, sacrifice, selfless service, renunciation and cosmic love.

20. Even the gods envy those who are virtuous, who practise meditation, who are dispassionate and discriminative, who are wise and illumined.

21. Come, disciples! Lead the Life Divine. Cultivate virtues. Meditate seriously. Attain illumination now and here.

22. Always be intent on bringing about the good and the happiness of others. Your life is blessed.

23. Live for others. Love all creatures and animals.

24. Be aware of your real nature. You are blissful immortal Atman.

25. Root yourself in Brahman or Atman and live the Divine Life.

26. Seek out the way. Reach the goal now and here. Rest peacefully for ever.

27. In this new year let your vision be new. Let your thoughts be new. Let your feelings be new. Let your reactions to surroundings be new. Let you see everyone as a manifestation of God.

28. Be tolerant. Be pure. Be simple. Be humble. This is the way of a New Life. This is the way of Spiritual Life.

(iii) Secret of Happiness

29. Lack of the knowledge of God is the root of all sorrows in life and misery in the world.

30. You can find strength, solace, eternal bliss, everlasting peace and immortality in God alone.

31. All will pass away. So be not vain of thy body, intellect and wealth, O deluded man!

32. Know that whatever the external condition may be, you are Satchidananda Atman. Thy real nature is peace and bliss.

33. There is a heaven of eternal bliss within the reach of every man.

34. There is an intense longing in all for eternal happiness and for freedom and perfection.

35. Man is God in disguise, who puts on a garb of fun, but quickly forgets his true identity.

36. He aspires for Immortality, eternal bliss, perennial peace; he longs for eternal existence; he thirsts for infinite knowledge; he hankers for eternal happiness.

37. He is the Immortal Soul whose essential nature is Sat-chit-ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute).

38. Desire drags him down; discrimination lifts him up.

39. On the wings of purity and dispassion the aspirant sours high to the realm of Infinite Bliss.

40. Essentially man is a spiritual being.

41. Wake up and recognise your true self. You are an embodiment of energy, strength, wisdom, peace and bliss.

42. You are Atman. You are devoid of evils and passions. You are ever pure.

43. In essence you are purest of the pure.

44. You are self-contained, Paripoorna. Therefore desires cannot find any place in you.

45. In silence, confidence and meditation shall be your strength.

(iv) Path of Joy

46. Happy is the man who attains right understanding, discrimination and wisdom.

47. Combine love with understanding, with joy and with strength.

48. Cultivate an understanding heart. Exchange with man not a bullet, but a warm heart.

49. Develop the strength of spirit through meditation and moral discipline.

50. Value spiritual good above personal good.

51. Do your duty. Speak the truth. Meditate. Control the senses. Control the mind. Be hospitable. Be humane. Serve. Never neglect your spiritual welfare.

52. The heart must be beautiful. Dresses and ornaments are not necessary.

53. Be beautiful within. Give up ornaments and silks.

54. Face the storm and triumph over it. Shrink not from the battle of life but fight it and come out victorious. Face abuse, insult, dishonor, disgrace and malice with a smile on your face.

55. Be calm and serene. Take up all events in life as though you are a silent witness, never being perturbed at all.

56. This life is but a continuation from where you had begun.

57. Remain calm and serene in spite of the storms of life. Discipline the mind. Meditate.

58. Real life is living in God. Life is unfoldment.

59. Be still. Be calm. Meditate. Contact steadily with Brahman, or the Absolute, the Eternal Source of life, power, wisdom, peace and strength.

60. Resolve, "I will not get irritated under any situation." Your life will be characterised by unruffled serenity.

61. Be calm in actions, be calm in speech, be calm in mind, be well composed. You will attain eternal peace.

62. Love all. Lead a life of self-restraint. Practise regularly meditation. You will soon attain bliss immortal.

63. Be contented. Serve the saints. Withdraw from worldly enjoyments. Introspect. Meditate on the Atman. This is the way to supreme felicity.

64. Practise truth and austerity. Be compassionate. Be pure. Discriminate. Cultivate endurance. This is the way to supreme blessedness.

65. Control the mind and senses. Practise non-violence and Brahmacharya. Practise Japa, Kirtan. Be contented. Serve the saints. This is the way to supreme peace.

66. Conquer the senses. Give up all possessions. Be calm and contented. Discard pride, arrogance and vanity. This is the way to peace and blessedness.

67. Self-control, inner purification, meditation, this is the way to complete living or Life Divine.

68. The Supreme Intelligence guides and directs these life movements whether one is conscious of it or not.

69. Happiness is ensured when the Truth is realised, when the individual surrenders on to this and accepts its law. This is truly the Divine Life. This is the way to perennial bliss.

Chapter 3

SPIRITUAL LIFE

(i) The Seeker's Path.

(ii) Discrimination Is Most Important.

(iii) Cultivate Dispassion.

(iv) Beware of Attachment.

(v) Slay Desires.

(vi) Cultivate Virtues.

(vii) Sadhana Is Indispensable.

(viii) Follow the Master.

(ix) Words of Light.

(1) The Seeker's Path

1 An aspirant should possess courage forgiveness, fortitude, purity, cosmic love and. humility.

2 Follow the guidance of the inner light Follow the prompting of the inner voice.

3. The spiritual Path is not a rosy path. It is strewn with problems, tests and trails.

4 The earnest aspirant receives guidance and help in the path from an unseen guide and teacher.

5. O aspirant! Be steadfast on the way. Be courageous. Be faithful. March direct to the goal.

6. As the birds fly in the air, as the fish swim in the water, leaving no traces behind, even so is the pathway to God traversed by the seeker.

7. The spiritual path is beset with trials. The aspirant must possess patience, zeal, courage, strong will and perseverance.

8. A beginner in the spiritual path should spend quarter of his time to the study of religious books, one quarter to the worship and service of his Gum, one quarter to meditation, and the remaining quarter to selfless service.

9. Spiritual Sadhana is the technique of extending one's life beyond the narrow limits of One's egoistic feeling and personal vanity, a process of growing into higher and loftier states of existence.

10. Do Japa. Keep yourself engaged in the remembrance of the Lord. Merge Yourself Completely in God. This alone is the process; this alone is the path to the Eternal Bliss.

(ii) Discrimination Is Most Important

11. Lack of discrimination is the cause for pain and misery.

12. Through attachment to the body rises the feeling of violence, harsh words, even as the feeling of I-ness' and `mine-ness'.

13. Discrimination, dispassion renunciation are the foundations of spiritual life.

14. Cultivate a habit of discrimination and dispassion by carefully observing the passing show of life and the transitory nature of earthly objects, however valuable they may appear to be for the time being.

15. An intellect that is sharpened by discrimination attains Self-realisation.

16. Discrimination is the best remedy for the chronic ailment of worldly existence.

17. Discrimination destroys the very root of all troubles and ignorance.

18. This world is a world of pain, disease, death, troubles and ignorance. Discrimination alone is the means of gaining victory over it.

19. Moksha is attainable through discrimination.

20 All the misery of the world is due to lack of discrimination.

21. Discrimination alone is the means of gaining victory over death and trouble.

22. Acceptance of good through rejection of evil, practice of virtue and rejection of vice become possible through discrimination.

23. Strength, intellect, power, energy and effort attain success through discrimination.

24. Discrimination is the same as divine light. One attains God-realisation and supreme bliss through discrimination.

25. Discrimination is God's presence in man.

(iii) Cultivate Dispassion

26. Renunciation is a step towards the knowledge of Brahman.

27. On any day you feel non-attachment to the world (Vairagya or dispassion), on that very day you can renounce.

28. Renunciation is the path of immortality. Worldliness is the path that leads to death.

29. He who is dispassionate does not die. He who is passionate is as if dead already though living.

30. Neither nakedness, or matted hair can bestow immortality o one who has not n annihilated cravings, desires, egoism, lust and greed. 31. Treat the world as ephemeral. Do not this world form any attachment for anything in this world under the false notion that it has a permanent existence.

32. All objects are coated with the varnish of destruction.

33. Happiness is not to be found in external objects alone, in wealth and children, in power and position, in going from shop to shop or by receiving present after present; but real happiness is to be found in one's own Immortal Blissful Atman alone by practising purity, dispassion and meditation.

34. He, who in spite of his knowledge of the non-existence of happiness in the objects of this world, does yet entangle himself in them with his thoughts clinging to them, deserves the appellation of a donkey.

35. There are many who think more of food, clothing, wrist watch, car, rings, house, etc. They fall down into the deserted well.

36. Real and lasting happiness can be had only from God or Atman which shines in the chambers of your heart.

37. Happiness, which is the driving motive of all human endeavours, is not in the perishable objects of the world, but is within one's pleasure’s own self.

38. Even the very little momentary pleasure you get from sensual enjoyments is but a reflection of Atmic Bliss only.

39. This mortal body is under sentence of death; nevertheless it is the house or temple of the immortal.

40. This body is but a lump made up of bones, flesh and blood. Give up regarding it as the I. Give up also the feeling of `Meum' in regard to wife and children.

41. Impermanence are youth, beauty, life, possessions of riches, lordship and company with the dear ones. Covet not these things. Realise the All-Blissful, eternal Atman.

42. This external physical show with its meaningless hurry-burry is a passing one.

43. Fix you heart on dispassion and dispassion alone. engage yourself in the practice of devotion to God.

(iv) Beware of Attachment

44. All sorrows have attachment as their root.

45. All fears are born of attachment.

46. Delusion arises out of blind attachment to worldly objects and sense-enjoyment and Prevents man from discerning the truth.

47. Grief originates from attachment.

48. From affection comes imagination and through affection deep attachment is developed towards the objects of the world.

49. Attachment is against the ultimate good,

50. Attachment burns up all virtues.

51. He who sees defect in contact with sense-objects and thus acquires dispassion is a man of real renunciation.

52. Attachment does not arise in one who is self-controlled and who is dispassionate.

53. He who is full of attachment is dragged by passion. He develops desire and then craving takes a strong root in him.

54. The one source of bondage in this word is desire.

55. Craving is a disease which persists till the end of life. You can hope to get eternal happiness only by removing it.

56. Desire is the root of all sorrow and pain Slay this desire, enemy of peace, devotion and wisdom through discrimination, dispassion and meditation.

57. Do not develop desire for anything. If you wish to live a righteous life, then renounce all love for wealth and sensual pleasure.

58. Even if you wish to amass wealth for the sake of righteous deeds, it is better for you to, develop more dispassion. Instead of washing the hands after touching the filth, it is better not to touch it at all.

59. Through Vasanas bondage is caused; with the disappearance of Vasanas, bondage also vanishes.

60. The extinction of desires overcomes all griefs and pains.

(v) Slay Desires

61. Conquest of desire is liberation.

62. Should one aspire for Self-realisation, he should previously have killed out all desires in his mind.

63. When all the desires are destroyed, when all the knots of the heart are rent asunder, then you will attain immortality.

64. There is no way to liberation excepting the denial of the self.

65. When all longings for the fruits of actions cease and the mind looks upon all equally, then Brahmic bliss arises and the Jnana-vision is developed.

66. A man can attain, in short time, the highest bliss and be released from the bondage of birth and death for ever, if he has conquered his self, maintains equanimity in all circumstances and if his mind is not disturbed at all the sight of the most beautiful women.

67. Fight the Mara or Satan with the sword of knowledge.

68. "Oppose, substitute, sublimate." Oppose a desire. Substitute it by aspiration. Sublime it by meditation.

69. Everything goes to him who wants nothing.

70. He who causes fear to none, nor is himself afraid of anything, he who neither seeks anything nor hates anything, attains Self-realisation.

71. When one looks upon praise and blame, gold and iron, pleasure and pain, heat and cold, fortune and misfortune, kindness and unkindness, and life and death with an equal eye, it is then he attains Self-realisation.

72. Through the control of desires Atmic enquiry is induced. This Atmic enquiry causes again renunciation of desires.

73. Desire only that which is within you, the. Immortal Satchidananda Atman or the Supreme Self.

(vi) Cultivate Virtues

74. Harmlessness, mercy, character control over senses, peace, courage, and humility are the virtues which a seeker of Truth should possess.

75. Poverty due to lack of wealth is not poverty; but lack of virtuous qualities is indeed real poverty.

76. Not in owning bungalows or lands a man is rich. It is the contented heart that makes a man rich.

77. When you are endowed with discrimination, dispassion, compassion, truthfulness, the vision of God is not far to seek.

78. The aspirant should possess kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and intense aspiration.

79. Cultivate love, utter selflessness and intense aspiration.

80. Wide open is the gate of immortality for those who are endowed with faith, courage, discrimination, dispassion, devotion, self-restraint, aspiration and concentration.

81. When you qualify yourself by the cultivation of high aspirations virtuous qualities, Gods or Gurus grace is vouchsafed to you without any hindrance.

82. Grace is not partially shown to anyone whom God prefers. Grace is the outcome and fruition of your own inner, persistent desire and devotion to your higher ideal of perfection and liberation.

83. Quality yourself to obtain divine grace through strenuous self-effort, self-purification and self-discipline.

84. Sincerity and earnestness are the main things indeed in spiritual Sadhana.

85. Those who are pure in heart reach the goal even through the study of scriptures and a little meditation.

86. Those who are of impure heart stand in need of continual meditation on the Supreme and the practice of Yoga.

87. Self-confidence is the first requisite to success in everything.

88. O aspirant! Pray. Meditate. Sing. Do some good service always.

89. By love, selfless service, by sacrifice, renunciation and meditation, the soul is roused, exalted, elevated and transformed into Divinity.

90. Become not such an ascetic-cold, blunt and indifferent to life. Serve all, love all embrace all with love.

91. Hate none. Love all. Serve all. Go, preach peace and love to all persons.

92. Mingle with the poor. Be a servant of the poor. Share what you have with the poor.

93. There is something eternal which alone can give you peace. Seek Atman, the Eternal. You will realise everlasting peace.

94. To look for the God without, relinquishing the God within is like going in quest of broken glass pieces after giving up the diamond on hand.

95. Look not for the truth outside. It is here in the soul, the miracle of miracles, the emporium of all knowledge, the mine of all existence.

96. God lives in the hollow of the heart, filling it with immortality, light and intelligence.

97. The Light of lights is within you. If you are not able to perceive it within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.

98. An aspirant mistakes imagination, reverie, Manorajya (building castles in the air), day-dreaming for intuition.

99. One without full even-mindedness will never be able to go into Samadhi, even though he sits in Padmasana for several hours.

100. The very essence of the discipline of the seeker is to fight those aspects of the lower mind which create selfishness and egoism.

101. When the lower nature is overcome, the soul rediscovers its past glory of true inborn knowledge in a disembodied state.

102. There is a vast magazine of Knowledge and power within you. You have only to discover and realise it (through deep meditation).

103. Eradicate the seen and the visual with their Vasanas and contemplate upon the Atman, the Ultimate Reality which is the Primeval Light.

104. The senses can be controlled by dispassion or non-attachment, Pratyahara (abstraction or withdrawal of the senses), Dama or self-restraint, control of the mind and Bragna-vichara.

105. The serpents of senses which are hissing again and again should be slain by the rod of firm discrimination.

106. For a seeker of eternal peace, the mastery over the senses is indispensable.

107. Ceaselessly strive to strengthen your spiritual Samskaras or spiritual force through aspiration, dispassion, discrimination, Satsanga or association with saints and meditation, and weaken the resistance of instincts and senses.

108. You can attain Self-realisation through hard self-discipline, by truth, by thoroughness of knowledge, and by chastity.

109. The best means of developing Viveka, Vichara and Vairagya is constant remembrance of God.

110. Not a moment should pass without constant remembrance of God.

(viii) Follow the Master

111. Be loyal to thy Gum. Thou wilt be blessed.

112. Guru is the visible manifestation and spokesman of God.

113. When the disciple is ready, the Guru is ready also.

114. If you strictly follow the path laid down by your Guru, delusion will wear away from you, little by little, and you will attain Self-realisation.

115. You must have intense child-like faith and an intense longing that a child feels to see its mother. You will attain God-realisation, if you are endowed with such a burning yearning or aspiration.

116. Devotion energises and sanctifies the heart. Wisdom purifies and enlightens the mind.

117. Great patience and dispassion, devotion and keen aspiration are absolutely necessary for successful spiritual life.

118. Grow in silence. Learn in silence. Learn to free yourself from attachment, pride, egoism and lust.

119. Listen to silence and live in silence.Silence is God.

120. In quietness, silence, confidence, truth, Purity and meditation shall be your strength.

121. He who is thoughtless, whose mind is not disciplined, whose senses are turbulent, cannot attain the goal of eternal bliss, supreme abode of Brahman.

122. He who is wicked, who is not serene who is restless, who is unmeditative can never attain the Self or the Atman.

123. When you understand, feel and realise the indivisible whole, you will be one with God.

(ix) Words of Light

124. Atman shines in the cave of the heart. He who has purified his heart through renunciation attains this immortal Atman and is liberated.

125. Combine knowledge with self-control.

126. Pleasure is pain in another form. Prosperity is misery in another form.

127. Pleasures are harbingers of pain. Life here is meant only for death.

128. Every man wishes always to be happy for ever. Everyone has the greatest love for oneself. This is solely due to the fact that happiness is one's real nature.

129. He alone is a learned man who has renounced his all.

130. Do not in the least contemplate upon such realities of distinctions as friend or foe, praise or censure, honour or dishonour, ‘you’, ‘I’ or ‘he’.

131. Everybody must pass through for himself from the world of appearances into the world of Reality.

132. Wealth generates pride, haughtiness, fear and anger.

133. The true fountain of eternal life and bliss is within you. Wander not aimlessly here and there to search this Immortal fountain. Gaze within and dive deep into the holy fountain and drink the nectar of Immortality.

134. Man has an urge for perfection, freedom, eternal bliss and immortality.

135. Discrimination, enquiry, dispassion, aspiration, faith, self-restraint and meditation create out of mortal man, the immortal elixir, the eternal wisdom.

136. It is only when the mind, being divested all its desires, is indifferent to pleasures or pains and is not attracted by any objects that it will be rendered pure, free from the grip of the great delusion..

137. There will be the illumination of the true Jnana or wisdom of the Self in one who has cut asunder all Vasanas through discrimination, enquiry and dispassion, who is engaged ceaseless enquiry of the Atman.

138. There will be spiritual enlightenment in one who is free from the base thoughts of the mind, who has known the true nature of Satchidananda which destroys the unreality, inertness and pains of the visible objects.

Chapter 4

RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE

1. Unreal and the Real.

2. Web of Illusion.

3. The Light of Lights.

4. Strive After the Truth.

5. Truth Transcendental.

(i) Unreal and the Real

1. The phenomenal world is a reflection of Reality, or a shadow cast by it on the empirical plane.

2. Brahman appears as the world when cognised through the mind and the senses.

3. Ignorance is neither real nor unreal.

4. If ignorance is real, it will continue forever and there can be no possibility of attaining release from its bonds or limitations.

5. Maya means erroneous cognition.

6. If appearances are to be taken real, then why do they change? Why do they give satisfaction today but not tomorrow? Why do various people have various views about them?

7. “I and mine” constitute that initial illusion which is responsible for the phenomenon of individuality and man’s feeling of separation from God.

8. Each of the three states contradicts the other two. This proves unreality of waking dreaming and deep sleep states.

9. Sometimes it is said that names and forms are unreal and at other times it is said that all is Brahman. Is it not a contradiction? No. Names and forms are not real. They are not Brahman. The substratum alone is Brahman. Name and forms are Maya.

10. The rings, chains and bangles made of. Gold are all gold, though the names given to the modifications of gold are unreal. The modifications of gold should not be taken as independent of gold and real. Brahman alone is real. The names and forms which are modifications should not be taken independent of Brahman and real.

11. Para Brahman is the Substratum for this world. He is the silent witness.

12. The relation between Brahman and objects of the world is itself illusion, because there ‘cannot be a real relation between a real and an illusory thing.

13. The objects have no reality of their Own' they appear on the real Brahman.

14. Brahman is transcendent. He is in no way implicated in the changes and impurities of the changing objects as He is Spirit.

15. The stream of our mental experiences is itself witnessed and illumined by a self-revealing principle of pure consciousness or Para Brahman.

16. Truth (Satyam) is Reality. An object is fit to be called real when that object is found to be unchanging at all places and under all circumstances.

17. Truth is the deepest consciousness in us, a reality to be experienced.

18. Truth must be something universal, something which can be applied in all cases and all places. Truth must be always the same. Truth is permanent.

19. That alone is truth which makes it possible to free a man from pain and sorrow.

20. Truth is universal. Truth is eternal. Truth knows no age. Thou art truth. Abide in this truth.

21. When the truth is known, duality disappears.

(ii) Web of Illusion,

22. The Jiva becomes tinged with Ahamkara (egoism). This Ahamkara manifests itself as Buddhi (intellect). This Buddhi becomes the mind.

23. This mind becomes gradually the organs, (Indriyas).

24. It is these ten Indriyas that are termed-this body of flesh.

25. The Jiva gradually debases himself. through egoism, desires and Sankalpas (thoughts) and gets enmeshed in the snare of pains.

26. The delusion of rebirth will be enveloping you like a mesh so long as there is no firm enquiry. about the nature of the universe and of the 'I' in man.

27. When the Atman identifies itself with the sheaths, it appears as Jiva, in individual man.

28. Pain, sorrow and sin are the results feeling of duality.

29. Fear arises from identification of the Atman or Self with the body.

30. Identification of the Atman with the body is caused by the Lord's Maya or illusion.

31. Maya has no strength of its own, but is energised by God.

32. Objects are mere appearances. They have Brahman or pure consciousness for their substratum.

33. Pure consciousness or Brahman is transcendent, changeless, self-existent, self-luminous and self-contained.

34. Mind, senses and body as the instruments of knowledge are only cognised objects. They cannot therefore be the subject or the witness. So there must be a separate entity, the Atman which is the eternal witness, the eternal subject.

35. Creation is a joyous self-expression of the One.

36. Destroy Ajnana (ignorance), the seed of this Samsara.

(iii) The Light of Lights

37. The indwelling Atman is the Light of lights. It illumines the whole universe and dispels darkness of the mind.

38. Through ignorance the rope appears as a snake. Through ignorance you have becomes a Jiva. Bring a lamp. the illusion of rope vanishes. Attain knowledge of the Atman. Jivahood disappears.

39. More radiant than sun, more subtle than the ether, is the innermost self, the Atman. That Atman thou art, Tat Tvam Asi'.

40. In the body, the temple of God, in the Lotus of the heart, Brahman or the Supreme Being is always manifesting Himself as Pure Consciousness or Intelligence. So the Lotus or the heart is called Brahma-Puri r the city of Brahman.

41. There is one life which exists, one Spirit, one Truth, one Reality. That is Para Brahman or the Absolute.

42. Vedantins call the Truth as Brahman; Plato as the Good; Spinoza as ‘Substance; Spencer as the unknown and the unknowable; Kant as the transcendental thing-in itself; Schopenhauer as sufficient reason; Emerson as ‘Oversoul’.

43. Para Brahman is transcendent, changeless, unlimited in time and space. It is one and the same in all intellects.

44. Brahman cannot be known as an object by ordinary introspection. You cannot know ti knower of knowing.

45. You can become aware of your 'identity with Para Brahman through intuitional experience in deep meditation.

46. The witness-consciousness is distinct from the mental experiences and is not implicated either in their changes, their changes, there impurities or their limitations.

47. Brahman or the Absolute is one, whole, complete, Perfect indivisible, timeless, shapeless, ageless, without face form or figure.

48. Brahman or the Absolute is the immutable, the supreme, the self-luminous.

(iv) Strive After the Truth

49. There is a way out of pain, sorrow and delusion. That way is the way of four means.

50. The Supreme Principle should be attained through firm enquiry and meditation.

51. The Atman can be attained only by those who have destroyed completely all desires.

52. Know Brahman by faith, devotion and meditation and attain Life Eternal.

53. By truth, by hard self-discipline, by thoroughness of knowledge, by chastity, Para Brahman or the Absolute can be attained.

54. Meditate, "I am the Divine Being. I am none but He. I am the all-pervading Atman free from grief. I am existence-knowledge-bliss Absolute, eternally free by nature". This is wisdom.

55. Hear the song that is sung in your heart. it is the music of the Soul. It is the song of Pranava (OM).

56. OM is Brahman, Atman, Chaitanya, Purushottama, Svarupa or the Supreme Self.

57. OM is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit or Brahman, the emblem of the most highest, Every kind or trinity is represented by OM-Being, non-being and becoming, Prakriti, Jivatman and Paramatman, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

58. The Atman is single but the body is a compound. The Atman is self-effulgent but the body is inert. It is clear that the Atman is distinct from the body.

59. The Atman is the ruler and the inner dweller; the body is external and subject to control. To take the body as the Atman what ignorance can be greater than this?

60. What is this world? Who am I? What is my relation with the world? This is Vichara or enquiry.

61. Knowledge is necessary to tread the path of righteousness. Inner wisdom is required to realise the Atman.

62. The Eternal Being dwells in te hearts of all. By realising Him alone your can be free from fear and death.

63. “I am not the body which is unreal. I am Brahman, ever the same and most peaceful, by nature Reality, Consciousness and Bliss.” This is Jnana or wisdom.

64. “I am all purity. I am heir to the immortal kingdom of God. I am Light of lights. I am Satchidananda Atman.” This is wisdom.

65. I alone exist and none else.

66. All being the one self, whom shall we hate, whom shall we consider as strange?

67. Freedom consists in realising the unity, the oneness of the individual with the Absolute or the Supreme Self.

68. He who knows Brahman becomes self-controlled, calm, withdrawn into himself, enduring and concentrated. He sees the self in his own body. He beholds all as the Self.

69. He who endowed with wisdom of the self, truth and courage does not grieve when passing away.

70. Love, hate, etc., will not affect those in whom Jnana or wisdom of Atman has arisen through Atmic enquiry, after annihilation of Ajnana, just as persons clad in armour are proof against arrows.

(v) Truth Transcendental

71. Brahman, the ultimate principle, is unlimited and undifferentiated. It is the warp and weft of creation in its innumerable forms.

72. From Brahman proceeds the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe.

73. Brahman, the ultimate principle, the uncaused cause, beginningless and endless, is the cause, off all manifest phenomena.

74. Brahman or Atman is all-pervading, Immortal, infinite, Eternal and unchanging.

75. Brahman is the supreme refuge. It is knowledge independent of the mind.

76. There is neither thinker nor thought nor the thinkable in Brahman. It is homogeneous mass of wisdom.

77. Brahman is All Supreme. There is nothing supreme to It. It is higher than the highest, unthinkable. It is free from the experiences of the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states.

78. Brahman is beyond number and notion, beyond one and many.

79. As Brahman is infinite, it cannot have anything to support it.

80. Brahman is formless, changeless and unconditioned.

81. Brahman is bliss itself. it is birthless, immutable, eternal, constant and imperishable.

82. Brahman is bliss itself. Therefore nothing external can impart bliss to It.

83. Brahman or the Absolute is vast, wonderful, incomprehensible, subtler than the subtle, far off beyond the far and here at hand.

84. Brahman or the Absolute is invisible, intangible, motionless and fathomless.

85. Brahman stands alone. It never changes and pervades everywhere.

86. Brahman is ever inactive, yet there is nothing that it does not do.

87. Brahman is the dweller in the heart. He is granter of desires. He is the revealer of Himself.

88. Atman or Brahman is He from whom all words turn back unable to attain Him.

89. Akasa can be compared to Akasa only. Ocean can be compared to ocean only. Even so, Brahman (Absolute) can be compared to Brahman only.

90. Drik is the Atma and Drik is the seer. Drisya (seen) is intellect, senses and the visible objects of the universe.

91. The existence of the Atman or the Supreme Soul is self-evident as it is the Eternal Witness, the Eternal Subject, the unchangeable Reality in man.

92. Motion or change can be known only in relation to something that be that is static.

93. There must be something absolutely beyond all motion and change. that is Atman or the Supreme Soul.

94. Body, mind, everything we experience a series of changes.

95. There must be something beyond body and mind which does not change.

96. The subject or the witness cannot be an object seen or cognised.

97. Just as one man alone becomes many in dream, so also the one God exists as many.

98. Just as the butter pervades the milk, just as the sugarcane juice pervades the whole sugar cane, so also this Atman pervades the whole universe.

99. When the sleeper awakes, the dream disappears completely. Even so, the Prarabdha, being unreal, ceases to exist on the rise of Self-knowledge or Brahma-jnana.

100. Unity is not uniformity. Unity is oneness of consciousness.

101. In cosmic consciousness the whole world becomes on abode and all mankind one's family.

102. In all that is mutable and changeable, enveloping all residing within all, there is found the immutable.

103. Within the many, there is found one, the Reality, cause of all things.

104. Steadiness is rooting oneself in the Eternal or Para Brahman.

105. Atman or the Supreme Soul is beyond sorrow, confusion, hunger, thirst, old age and death.

106. Atman is relationless. It has nothing to do with activity or change or thought.

107. Atman is extremely subtle. It cannot be grasped by the mind which is not purified and concentrated.

108. The Atman is ever pure and does not require purification.

109. Atman or the Supreme Self is the eternal, indivisible, non-dual, consciousness, the Witness of the intellect. It is the immediate Reality. 110. Living silence lives in silence. This Atman is silence. Realise this silence through silent meditation.

111. Atman or the Supreme Being is hidden in all these names and forms. He who realises the Atman is soon freed from impurities and birth and death.

112. The timeless Atman is the basic Reality. Transcend time and rest peacefully forever in this timeless spirit, thy own innermost self.

Chapter 5

MIND AND MAN

1. Root of Illustion.

2. The Higher Mind.

3. Mind As Ego.

4. Secret of Supreme Attainment.

5. Blissful Illumination.

(i) Root of Illusion

1. The universe is nothing but a mode of the mind. The mind manifests itself as the external world. Time is but a mode of the mind.

2. This mischievous mind dances in the theatre of this universe to the music of the organs.

3. The mind constitutes the root of te tree of Samsara or Ajnana which ramifies in all directions with branches full of flowers, tendrils, fruits, etc.

4. All that you are now is the result of what you have thought.

5. You build your own future by the thoughts you think. Entertain divine thoughts. You will attain God-realisation.

6. Conquest of mind means conquest of the world.

7. You may overcome a thousand men in battle, but he who conquers his mind is the greatest victor.

8. Mind-control is the indispensable discipline for those who seek to obtain the knowledge of Atman or the Supreme Self.

9. Illusion is the vibration (Vritti) of the mind under an imagination which makes one thing appears as another thing.

10. Mind is the cause for the appearance of Aham (i) and Idam (this).

11. One cannot attain everlasting peace without the extinction of mind (Manonasa).

12. The seed of Ajnana or ignorance is no other than the sprout of Sankalpa or thought.

13. With the checking of all thoughts, your mind will perish.

14. Do not for a moment think of the universe.

15. Do not think of walking in the path of Sankalpa or thought.

16. Cut asunder the bond of desires through the destruction of Sankalpa (thought imagination).

(ii) The Higher Mind

17. If your mind is free from cravings, desires and attachment, you will not be born again. You will attain freedom and perfection.

18. Mind is an instrument of the Self. If it is disciplined, stilled and purified, it is your useful servant; but if it is left unbridled and undisciplined, it brings misery and sorrow.

19. If you allow your lower mind to get pampered with earthly things, then true Jnana (wisdom) will recede to a great distance from you.

20. As long as there is the centering of affection in the body which is not the Atman and te mistaken identification of it with the Atman, so long will the mind grow fatter and fatter in its association with the Samsara of wife, children, etc.

21. A stainless mind without attractions, though engaged in worldly acts, will never be bound thereby.

22. A mind with attractions, though engaged in innumerable Tapas will ever be in bondage.

23. Mind coloured by desire drives man to search for personal satisfaction.

24. Man is the creature of thought. Whatever he thinks that he becomes.

25. As the mind itself, which thinks, feels and wills, is a modification of ignorance, it cannot know Brahman or the Absolute.

26. Cogitation emotion and volition are the three aspects of the human mind.

27. Watch the mind. Restrain it. Have a well-directed mind which confers very great benefit.

28. Make straight the mind. Restrain the mind. A subjugated mind is conducive to happiness.

29. Focus the entire mind at its source. The source of the mind is the Atman. The mind will be absorbed in the Atman. The Atman alone will shine in all its splendour.

30. The regular practice of Japa with Bhava and concentration will ultimately remove all fickleness of mind and make it steady and calm.

31. Carry on the Abhyasa or Yoga practice continuously.

32. It is Abhyasa that overcomes all Vikshepa or mental oscillation and steadies the mind.

33. The mind may run about little in the beginning due to previous habit but the repetition of the Divine Name is the magic wand to subdue the turbulent and irregular mind.

34. He who has controlled the mind is awake in that which is night to all beings.

35. When the mind is serene, the body also becomes healthy.

36. Let the outward and the inward man be at one.

37. He who has controlled his mind and subdued the senses, is the greatest hero.

38. be steadfast; you will control the mind.

39. Wake up, O man! Conquer you mind and then conquer the entire universe with your spirituality and divine force.

40. A mind devoid of pains, which has developed an equal vision over all, through quiescence will attain Para Brahman or the Eternal which is the Plenum of complete bliss. This is Moksha.

(iii) Mind as Ego

41. The fundamental mode of the mind is Ahamkara or ego. it manifests as the self-arrogating little "I'

42. Egoism is the most inveterate and incurable disease. But there is one sovereign specific to cure this disease. it wisdom of the Atman or the Soul.

43. The whole life of man is centred in the idea of self. Minus self the world is nil. There is then no experience whatsoever.

44. All your relative experiences in this world turn on the pivot of the ego.

45. Without the `I' there is no experience, no life in this world.

46. The self is an experiencing unit which is endowed with the faculties of conception, perception and sensation.

47. The root cause of egoism is ignorance or Avidya. Ego is the false self.

48. After destroying all conceptions of in the hosts of visible objects, it matters not where you live, whether in a house, or a hill or a big city. 49. The abode of a householder who has a calm mind and not tainted with egoism can well be termed a forest.

50. With the annihilation of 'I' (egoism) the body will perish like a tree felled to its root.

51. In the absence of objects, this little I does not exist, or these objects do not exist in the absence of I.

52. Separate yourself from the objects with the idea that the I does not belong to the objects or the objects do not belong to the I.

53. The ego of a devotee is harmless. it is Sattvic. It helps to develop to realise God.

54. The more you annihilate the Ahamkara or egoism, the more will the Brahmic principle dawn in you?

55. The offering of ego in the fire of wisdom is the greatest form of sacrifice.

56. When this little or ego is traced down to its source, viz., the Atman, it will disappear. It will be absorbed in the Atman, like the water in a hot frying pan.

57. The source of egoism or this little I is the Atman or the Supreme Self. Meditate on the Atman. It will be absorbed in the Atman. The little I will vanish. Atman alone will shine in all its glory.

58. When the ego is non-existent, it is liberation; when the ego persists, it is bondage.

59. When the mind is attached to the objects, it is bondage; when the mind is not attached to any object, it is liberation.

60. When the mind desires anything, grieves for anything, rejects anything and accepts anything gets pleased with one and angry with another, it is the state of bondage.

61. When the mind desires nothing, grieves for nothing, rejects nothing, accepts nothing, gets Pleased or angry with none, it has attained liberation. Destroys the ego and bestows the final emancipation.

(vi) Secret of Supreme Attainment

63. Meditation is the true way to unfold the spiritual awareness which is deep in the innermost being of man.

64. In meditation alone lies true knowledge and true happiness in peace of mind only.

65. If you want to get pearls, you will have to dive deep in the ocean. If you want to attain the Atmic pearl, you will have to dive deep into the chambers of your heart through profound meditation.

66. Meditate. You will reach the level of consciousness that is your true and immortal life. You will experience everlasting peace and perennial joy.

67. Discover the Spirit or Atman, the Divine Reality within you through meditation and express it in your daily life.

68. Tapas is deep meditation. Deep meditation is Tapas.

69. Seat yourself in an easy Posture with a pure heart, with the head, neck and body straight. Control all the senses. Bow with devotion to the teacher. Meditate on the Immortal, Satchidananda Atman.

70. In the inner chamber or everyone's being is God. Purify and meditate on God. You will know the divine word and will for every occasion. 71. Meditate. Hear the inner voice. The measure of obedience is the measure of success.

72. The door of your senses is shut when you pray and meditate through Pratyahara.

73. Shut out the influence of the world and turn to the God-presence which is within.

74. Meditate upon that Self-effulgent Atma-jnana, which always calls itself I in all Jivas or individual souls.

75. Ever contemplate upon Atma-jnana, that Eternal Light which illuminates all other lights.

76. During meditation many kinds of desires Will spring to retard your progress. Free yourself from their trammels, make the heart absolutely pure and cognise through your higher mind, your own Reality. Than all illusions will vanish completely and you will attain the immortal bliss of Para Brahman or the Absolute.

77. Be serene. Be calm Silence the mind and commune with the Spirit or contact with the Truth.

78. Meditate on the Eternal Atman and be a master of environments, circumstances and conditions.

79. Meditate. Experience Divine Ecstasy, Divine Rapture. Experience Superconscious State or Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

80. Meditate. Raise above body-consciousness. Become a liberated sage.

81. Come. Meditate. Enter the Divine Garden of Bliss Eternal. Eat the immortal fruit of wisdom. Enjoy and rest peacefully forever.

(v) Blissful Illumination

82. The law of the Transcendence of God gave rise to the precepts of 'Meditate on the Ultimate Reality'.

83. Meditation awakens intuition.

84. Intuition is the key-note to religion.

85. Reason is finite. It cannot penetrate the infinite. Intuition alone can penetrate the infinite' Therefore develop intuition or the third eye of wisdom.

86. Intellect is not sufficient to solve all problems of life. Intuition alone is helpful to solve all problems of life.

87. Intuition always fulfils reason and is in harmony with it. Intuition transcends reason but does not contradict it.

88. It is only after the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi that all Vasanas for objects will cease.

89. With the extinction of the mind, bliss will arise and then Atma-jnana will shine.

90. How can the transcendental happiness arise in you, so long as the seed of desires in your mind along with its strong root is not destroyed?

91. Mental abnegation and control of Prana are the two requisites for the control of the mind, which control leads to its quiescence.

92. Samadhi is not a state of idleness. It means the awareness of the Reality. Samadhi means the highest intuition. Eternal peace is experienced.

93. The state of existence in which there is no agitation of mind, no play of ego, and no duality, is celled Samadhi.

94. Samadhi is intense desirelessness for objects of pleasure.

95. The perfect state of intuition in which there is no idea of what is to be acquired and what is to be avoided, which is free all cares, worries and anxieties, which is full of eternal satisfaction, peace and bliss is called Samadhi.

96. Awareness of God is Samadhi or superconscious state.

97. In the Nirvikalpa Samadhi or superconscious state, you move from time to Eternity.

98. When a Yogi comes out of Samadhi or superconscious state, his whole character is changed, his life is entirely changed. He is illumined.

99. In Self-realisation or illumination there is a clear insight into the essence of all.

100. In illumination the evil is drawn aside. The Yogi discovers the source of thought and sees into the nature of the whole cosmos, its structure, composition and operation.

101. It is impossible to describe the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the transcendental state beyond the reach of mind, in our inadequate language and in terms of the concepts of our limited mind.

102. In the state of Samadhi that is of ecstasy and enlightenment, alone, Truth can be understood and realised.

103. A woman cannot explain the joy she shared with her husband to her daughter, Similarly the bliss of Samadhi cannot be explained to anybody. it should be experienced by the aspirant

104. The sweetness of a fruit can only be enjoyed by eating it. Even so the bliss of Atman can only be realised. It cannot be explained.

105. Ananda or Bliss should be felt and experienced. It cannot be seen by the eyes.

Chapter 6

SATSANGA AND UPADESA

1. Saints’ Company Transforms Life.

2. General Teachings.

3. Ancient Wisdom.

4. Saints and Sages.

5. Vision of the Sage.

6. The Ideal Man.

7. The Fruit of Wisdom.

(i) Saints’ Company Transforms Life

1. Contact with the saints is the highest good.

2. One gains the privilege of Satsanga through the merits of countless births.

3. Man obtains the contact of saints only when the merits earned by him through many births ripen.

4. Wisdom dawns when one is in the company of sages. Wisdom disperses the darkness of infatuation and arrogance which have their root in ignorance.

5. Association with the sages who have realised the truth removes attachment, desires and produces dispassion, discrimination and strong aspiration.

6. Resort t wise sages and there attain true lasting Vairagya (dispassion), through which develop Atmic enquiry. When you are illumined with true Jnana through Atmic enquiry, then you will attain Moksha or emancipation.

7. The sun by its rays removes only the outer darkness during the day, but the saint constantly goes on removing the inner darkness by rays in the form of instructions.

8. Assimilate the spirit of a saint in your daily life. Become a moving picture of a saint.

(ii) General Teachings

9. Solitude is the soul’s best friend

10. Silence is better than argument.

11. He is really blessed who can suit his temper to any circumstances.

12. Soka grief destroys strength, health, intellect and wisdom. Conquer Soka through discrimination, enquiry and meditation on the Atman.

13. Worry is sheer waste. Avoid worry. Pray. Sing. Meditate. Enquire. Cogitate. Discriminate.

14. Worry never did nor ever does good.

15.Dive into the Gita. You will become fearless and rise above all worries.

16. Idleness is the enemy of peace. Idleness is the enemy of the soul.

17. Stop complaining. Be thankful that there is a perfect law of health to which you have access. Obey the law and be happy.

18. Practise Siddhasana, Sarvangasana and Sirshasana. This will enable you to get control over the vital energy.

19. If your mind is cool and your heart is full, then the entire world too will be cool.

20. Replace doubt, despair and hate, by faith, hope and love.

21. Have plenty of commonsense.

22. Think quickly. Carry out your decisions correctly in times of emergency.

23. Friends are like Lucknow cucumber. To find one good cucumber you will have to try fifty cucumbers.

24. Old friends are best. Forsake not old friends.

25. Change indeed is painful, yet ever needful.

26. The world needs Savitris, Sitas and Madalasas. Then alone the future is safe and peace and joy are assured in the world of the future.

27. Women and children constitute the richest wealth of any country at any time.

28. Many talk like philosophers and sages but live like fools.

29. The Almighty God chooses the meek and the innocent to achieve His Will.

30. Veil after veil is to be drawn. The illusions of life are to be torn away before the life divine can be attained.

31. Life is a perpetual dying till you are face to face with God.

32. Man is verily the sacrifice.

33. According to a Vedantin, this world is or illusion. According to a Bhakta, this odd is a Leela or sporting of the Lord.

34. Let the intellects differ, but the hearts should agree.

35. Nature is a ladder on which we climb up to the Lord.

36. The women of Vraja attained God through love; Kamsa through fear; Sisupala through hatred; the Vrishnis through kinship, the pandavas through attachment; the Tapasvins through devotion.

37. Do not have a sad face. You will affect others. You will infect others. Be cheerful always. Rejoice. Radiate joy, cheer, health and light.

38. Let your eyes always shine with the Light of Supreme Love.

39. The reality of love-tears is not the eyes but the heart of love.

(iii) Ancient Wisdom

40. Before evolution, Prakriti was in a state of equilibrium (Samyavastha).

41. Just as the milk flows out of the udders of the cow in the mere presence of her calf, in the same way, the whole world evolves from Prakriti by the mere presence of Purusha.

42. Prakriti evolves the world of objects when it comes in contact with Purusha.

43. The Sankhya believes that there are two ultimate realities, namely, Prakriti and Purusha.

44. Prakriti and Purusha come near each other (Sannidhi) but do not interact.

45. By the mere presence of the Purusha activity starts in Prakriti.

46. Purusha may be compared with a lame person who can see and Prakriti may be compared with a blind person who can walk. Just as the lame and the blind persons cooperate and come out of the forest, in the same way Purusha and Prakriti cooperate to produce the world.

47. According to the Sankhya philosophy, the essential characteristic of Purusha is consciousness and the essential characteristic of Prakriti is activity.

48. The opening of higher consciousness is Yoga.

49. Yoga increases the creative capacity of man in all the spheres of life.

50. Yoga is a instrument for removing the obstacles to Brahma-jnana or knowledge of the Supreme self.

51. Yoga is the key to the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads.

52. Yoga discloses the secret of Eternity.

53. Yoga gives to the Yogi the possibility of direct penetration into the mysteries of the nature.

54. Man’s life is thought. But his transcendental life is thoughtlessness. He is one with pure consciousness.

55. A human being is rational; an animal is instinctive; a sage is intuitive.

56. God is Law. God is the Law giver. Observe the Law and become on with God.

57. God 's Laws are eternal and unalterable and not separable from God Himself.

58. God does not judge.

59. Death came into the mind through transgression of the Law.

60. Death is natural. Death is part of the part of the scheme of life. You progress to better conditions through death.

61. Lord Siva is the remover of the fear of transmigration. He is the one infallible remedy for the afflictions of relative existence.

62. In this world, bitterness will become sweetness, trouble will become a blessing and pain itself will lose its sting. It will become an experience to be profited by.

(iv) Saints and Sages

63. Have perfect faith in the everlasting and undying influence of the eternal teachings of great teachers, saints, prophets and sages.

64. There is an essential unity of the truths underlying the teachings of great sages, saints and prophets.

65. To know a saint is to be a saint.

66. A saint lives and has his being in God.

67. A sage has equal vision towards all beings. He is beyond the pairs of opposites. He is totally egoless.

68. He who has overcome all evils, who is established in morals, who is endowed with self-control, truthfulness and wisdom is truly a saint.

69. A sage is really wealthy. Multimillionaires with cravings and desires are beggars.

70. A saint is superior to an emperor or Indra, the Lord of Heaven.

71. Purity, simplicity, humility, Harmlessness, truthfulness and compassion are the salient characteristics of a saint.

72. There is no difference between a Christian mystic and a Hindu saint. Their sayings never clash.

73. The messages of the saints are essentially the same. They have always been a call to men to discover the wisdom of the Self or Atman.

74. A sage is worthy of worship. He helps the aspirant to cross this ocean of Samsara (births grid deaths) and attain knowledge of the Atman.

75. A sage who identifies himself with the all Pervading Atman obtains whatever he longs for either for himself or for others, because he Is he Atman of all.

76. Let a man who is desirous of prosperity and eternal happiness worship a sage who knows the Atman.

(v) Vision of the Sage

77. For a sage, even in the burial ground is the garden of bliss.

78. To a sage, cities and forests will make no difference.

79. A saint expresses love, patience, kindness, fortitude and good-will to all under any condition.

80. A wise man centred in his own Atman or Absolute consciousness. He is untouched by the changes of the world. No external happening can shake him off his balance.

81. A sage is a youth amongst the youth, aged amongst the aged, brave amongst the brave, a child amongst the children. He feels the pain and suffering among sufferers.

82. A sage performs all actions outwardly, but internally has no desire for anything.

83. A sage does not desire what he has got, nor does he desire what he has not got.

84. A sage is noble and magnanimous He is peaceful in all activities.

85. A sage is like a line out of the cage, free from shackles of caste, creed, professions, tradition and scripture. He transcends the world.

86. A sage has always a cheerful, lustrous face. He is ever joyful, blissful and peaceful.

87. Whether one performs actions or not, a Jnani will never be free from Samadhi state.

88. A Jnani or sage will always be in Samadhi, although engaged in worldly actions.

89. Just as the potter’s wheel goes on revolving even after the pot is taken out of it, even so, though his Karma is destroyed, the liberated soul or sage moves in the world all the while remaining in the state of non-action.

(vi) The Ideal Man

90. He who shows compassion to all creatures, who cherishes enmity towards none, who is totally free from the spirit of retaliation, is a true saint or Sadhu.

91. He who is truthful, pure-hearted, and looks upon all with an equal eye, and who is always engaged in doing good to all, is a true saint or Sadhu.

92.He who is an embodiment of self-restraint, who is mild by nature, who has an intellect unclouded by selfish desires, is a true saint or Sadhu.

93. He who is devoid of possessions, who has an unimpeachable conduct, who is free of desires, who is satisfied with a small quantity of food, is a true saint.

94. He who has tranquility of mind and determinate reason, who always meditates on the Atman, who is forbearing and who never deviates from the path of duty, is a true saint.

95. He who seeks no honour for himself, who has conquered hunger, thirst, sorrow, infatuation, birth and death, is a true saint.

96. He who is always anxious to offer respect to others, who is friendly by nature, who is compassionate and full of wisdom, is a true saint.

97. A saint is free from pride and hypocrisy. He is endowed with harmlessness, forgiveness, straightforwardness, purity and steadfastness.

98. A saint aversion to all objects of enjoyment. He is free from egoism and attachment. He has constant balance of the mind.

99. A saint is sinless and desireless. He has unshakable faith in God. He is pure within and without. He is free from pride, lust and anger. He is a mine of excellent qualities.

100. He who does good to all, does not see defects in others, does not feel jealous of any man, does not crave for anything, is a saint.

101. He who is endowed with harmlessness, truthfulness, self-abnegation, tranquility, compassion, tenderness of heart and sobriety, is a saint.

102. He, in whom truth, charitable nature, forgiveness, good nature, compassion, austerity, mercy abide, is called a saint.

103. The life of a saint is always a life of quiet, of indrawn stillness, of solitude and aloofness.

(vii) The Fruit of Wisdom

104. The fully illumined sage, who possesses the highest holiness and the purest power has attained the wisdom of the Atman.

105. A sage lives in the Eternal. He is rooted in the Infinite or Para Brahman.

106. A sage becomes one with all and lives a life in unity with God.

107. A sage has double consciousness. He is conscious of his own Atman. He is silent and detached witness of the activities of the mind also.

108. The Svapna-Siddhas are who attain perfection by means of dream-inspiration.

109. The Mantra Siddhas are those who attain perfection by means of sacred Mantras.

110. The Nitya Siddhas are those who are ever perfect.

111. He who has destroyed all desires, who has annihilated egoism, who thirsts not for sensual pleasures, who is resting in his own Satchidananda Svarupa, is a sage.

112. A sage is free from attachment, desires, greed, lust and egoism. He lives like an emperor.

113. A sage neither feels attraction towards nor is repulsed from anything.

114. A sage understands others mind, behaves gently and speaks sweetly and softly.

115. He does not harm anybody. He behaves with anybody like a friend.

116. A sage has equal vision. He never thinks of nobility or lowliness. He is above love or hate. He never has action to do or not to do.

117. A sage transcends all dualisms in the world, like virtue and vice, and has cast away every belonging.

118. Evil does not overtake a sage. He transcends all evil. Evil does not trouble him, but he consumes all evil.

119. A sage is sinless, taintless. He is free from doubts. He is a knower of Brahman, the Infinite.

120. Like salt dissolved in water, the soul of a sage loses its separate characteristics and becomes one with the Absolute or Para Brahman.

121. A sage is not easily found. He is not born everywhere.

Chapter 7

VOICE OF WISDOM

1. O Man! Be Wise.

2. Strive for Perfection.

3. How to Live?

4. Reflect, Practise, Realise.

(i) O Man! Be Wise

1. The source of all knowledge is within you.

2. You are your own saviour. No one can save you.

3. Understand your right relations with the environment and act accordingly.

4. Act in accordance with what the situation demands, what your mind determines, what ethics demands and what the great scriptures enjoin upon you.

5. He is not a philosopher but a fool who does not live a balanced active life demanded by the situation in which he is placed.

6. Absorb knowledge whatever possible. Listen to the opinions of those who are more experienced than yourself.

7, Not logic, nor metaphysical enquiry can save man, but only right conduct, virtuous life and meditation on the Atman.

8. Man makes an enquiry into the problem of the Ultimate Reality. He desires to realise the same through proper conduct and ideals, discipline and Sadhana.

9. When you came into the world, your relatives were laughing and you were crying. Attain Self-realisation. When you leave the world, they will be crying and you will be laughing.

10. O man! Be like a cloud that pours water but asks for nothing in return.

11. There is but one Law, the Law of the Supreme Being, Eternal and Unchanging.

12. By accepting this and strict adherence to this Law, one can attain everlasting happiness. Divine Life is but the acceptance and adherence to this Law of the Divine.

13. With the fullness of life alone, of life that does not die, of life eternal, can come, must come, and will come, the consciousness of the Infinite.

14. Attain the life Eternal. The infinite realm of bliss is within you.

(ii) Strive for Perfection

15. Only after cutting and polishing several times, the diamond shines. That is the shape your life has to take.

16. Introspect. Eradicate your defects.

17. Constantly think of courage, humility, tolerance, compassion, dispassion, renunciation, patience, truthfulness, cosmic love, purity and strive to put them into actual practice in the course of your daily activities.

18. Be fearless. Have purity of heart. Cultivate self-sacrifice and straightforwardness.

19. Take to the spiritual life, make it real and vibrant.

20. Failure to attain God-realisation is the greatest loss.

21. There is the greatest gain in truth, righteousness and Self-realisation.

22. Your difficulty often arises, not because you do not know what to do, but because you do not want to do it.

23. Pursue the right. Know unity. Grow in strength.

24. Do not feel diffident in the face of the daily problems of life. Face them calmly and confidently. Get through them boldly with the Divine Name of the Lord in thy heart and on thy lips.

25. Know that whatever the external condition may be, you are Satchidananda. Thy real nature is peace and bliss.

26. Worry is sheer waste. It never did nor will ever do any good.

27. If you reflect and discriminate, you will find out that the world-affairs are just a shadowy drama of short duration.

28. This external physical world-show with its meaningless hurry-burry is fleeting and transitory.

29. The best means of developing Viveka, Vichara and Vairagya is constant repetition of the powerful Divine Name and regular daily Japa and Kirtan. You will become fearless and rise above problems in life.

(iii) How to Live?

30. Be pure. You can see the truth of life.

31. Lead a dedicated life of service, sacrifice. Love renunciation and meditation. This is above all power and statesmanship.

32. Renounce everything. Possess nothing. Let the Lord Take possession of your heart.

33. Poverty is a virtue. Embrace poverty and converse with the Lord. Rejoice in poverty.

34. He who is not doing Japa, Kirtan and meditation, lives in vain. He is a brute only.

35. If you have a heart which shares your best with others and bears the sorrows of the suffering ones, it is the richest divine gift indeed.

36. Kill out all sense of separateness. Live in Unity.

37. Death is easy. It is life that is taxing.

38. Attain Self-realisation. You will know the meaning and mystery of life.

39. Self-control, self-restraint and self-denial are very much needed by a man to become more efficient and to realise greater ends of life.

40. What is true, simple and sincere, is most congenial to your growth and evolution.

41. If you observe Brahmacharya, if you lead a divine life and lead a life of system and regularity, you have nothing to fear.

42. Abstain from injury to living beings. slay anger, lust, greed, hatred, resentment and revenge.

43. Restrain from taking other people's possessions. Develop charity of body and mind. Speak the truth. Do not exploit others.

44. Correct in yourself whatever you dislike in another person.

45. Be polite, kind and considerate to all.

46. Be kind-hearted, unselfish and cheerful.

47. Annihilate the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

48. Root out selfishness, greed, lust. Root yourself in the Atman, thy innermost Self and be happy for ever.

49. He who is full of lust and anger, who is addicted to violence and greed is hurled down from the human status and is born among the beasts.

(iv) Reflect, Practise, Realise

50. In youth you are enveloped with ignorance; in adult age you are entangled in the meshes of woman; in old age, groaning under the burden of Samsara; you die. When will you find time to do virtues and practise meditation?

51. Your life in the world is based oil sense-experiences.

52. The body is a manifestation of the Eternal. It is a temple of God. Keep it pure.

53. This physical body in the world of Phenomenon is only a passing shadow. Be conscious intensely of the ever-present Supreme Eternal Soul that is immanent in all things, and pervades everywhere.

54. Ever remember, feel and strive to realise the Satchidananda Atman.

55. This Immortal, All-Blissful Atman is within you and you live and move and have your being within and through its power.

56. Man’s evil thoughts and actions have brought him inharmonious conditions.

57. Company with Sages and saints is mos profitable.

58. Company with evil men is the worst thin in the world.

59. Religious merit should be daily earned so that it may help you in the other world.

60. Realise the beauty of the soul within Care not for decorating the physical body.

61. Give with faith. Give with courtesy.

62. Pray. Meditate. Discipline the senses and the mind. Spiritualise your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Now look through the eyes of love and beauty. There is no evil or ugliness anywhere in this world.

63. To the pure, all things are pure.

64. Man evolved is God. God involved is Man.

65. God in bondage is Man. and man free from bondage is God.

66 Deluded, ignorant man is worldly. A perfect man is God.

67. Keep up the current of Bhagavat Chintana and Nama Smarana (remembrance of the Lord), as it is the only remedy for all kinds of thoughts.

68. Study sacred books regularly. Get by heart the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, as also the fifteenth.

69. Think always of the birthless, deathless and the immortal Atman.

70. Brahman or God is the storehouse of all strength, radiant health, infinite energy and perfection. Thou art in essence that and no other. Feel this intensely.

71. Practise concentration and meditation. Develop the spirit of service, love, compassion and mental renunciation. You will become a completely changed and new being altogether.

72. Worship of God is your highest duty.

73. Worship God and trample the head of death in contempt.

74. Repeat the Divine Name incessantly. Remember God always. pray systematically and regularly to Him every day.

Chapter 8

IMMORTAL TEACHINGS

1. The Blessed Law.

2. O Man! Be Moral.

3. Be Virtuous, Be Bold.

4. The Ideal of India.

5. Principles of Dharma.

6. India's Message to Mankind —1

7. India's Message to Mankind —2

8. India's Message to Mankind —3

(i) The Blessed Law

1. Sanatana Dharma is the Eternal Law which knows no change. It is the Mother of all Religions, of all moral codes.

2. Only by attuning oneself to this Eternal Law of the Divine Dharma, you can attain lasting peace.

3. Adherence to Dharma or virtue is the sustaining root of Hindu culture.

4. Dharma is the stern law. It reveals right way to blessedness.

5. The practice of Dharma or the stern law needs discipline--the discipline of raising the self by the Self.

6. The essence of Dharma lies in refraining from doing with others what one would not do with oneself.

7. Srutis are contradictory. Sages differ in their views. The road to Dharma is the one trodden by the great sages.

8. Dharma proceeds from Achara (right conduct).

9. Conduct counts by birth.

10. Neither family, nor learning, nor Vedic erudition, but the internal nature alone determines the quality of a man.

11. Not by birth, but by his conduct alone does a man become a low caste or Brahmin?

12. A spiritual-minded Sudra is equal to a Brahmin and a vicious Brahmin is equal to a Sudra.

13. Wherever spiritual splendour abides, he is a Brahmin; wherever there is no spiritual splendour, he is a Sudra.

14. Neither parents, nor children, nor wife, nor kinsmen will stay by you in the other world; Dharma or virtue alone will stand by you.

15. One comes to this world all alone and leaves the world all alone, and alone does he reap the fruits of the good and evil deeds.

16. It is Dharma alone which accompanies a man to the other world.

(ii) O Man! Be Moral

17. Avoid all wicked actions. Perform virtuous deeds. Cultivate a loving, compassionate heart for all creatures.

18. Make the whole world your friend. Do not harbour envy for anyone.

19. The entire universe is your own. The whole world is your body. The entire world is your home.

20. To the wise, this whole world is their inseparable kindred.

21. The evil can be put to an end to, by its opposite good. Overcome impurity by purity, anger by love.

22. Love is the path of immortality, hatred the path of death.

23. He who is pure does not die. He who is impure is as if dead already.

24. Avoid doing all evil deeds. Be virtuous. Do virtuous actions. Control the senses and the mind. Meditate. You will attain illumination and everlasting peace.

25. If you do an evil action, pain will follow you. if you do a good deed, happiness will follow you.

26. A law is a command as well as a rule of conduct.

27. Moral law is the expression of the perfection of God in man.

28. Moral law is nothing but the voice of God in-man.

29. Moral laws can be violated but cannot be changed.

30. Natural laws are constant, all-pervading and inviolable.

31. Morality leads to life everlasting.

32. In essence, morality is ideal.

33. Morality looks at life from the highest standpoint.

34. Moral sense is conscience cum pure intellect and the power of discrimination.

35. Improved morality of human beings is needed through the purification of their hearts.

36. All men should strive for moral perfection through eradication of vices and cultivation of virtues.

37. Stand up! Be kind and compassionate and create a new society for the service of the poor, for the service of broken, bleeding children of this word. This is real Yoga. This is real Yajna or sacrifice.

(iii) Be Virtuous; Be Bold

38. Cultivate the virtues of unselfishness and loving kindness towards all beings.

39. Conquer evil by good and then go beyond both evil and good.

40. Conquer hatred by love then go beyond both hatred and love.

41. Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

42. The evil that you see in others is nothing but the reflection of the evil within yourself.

43. A good man should possess humility, forgiveness, cosmic love and sweet speech.

44. Virtue is bold and goodness is sweet and fragrant.

45. The fragrance of a virtuous man is wafting throughout the three worlds.

46. Sin is anything that separates you from God.

47. A virtuous life makes a man holy and, sublime.. It makes him dear to God.

48. The votary of truth and the doer of Dharma is always to face many an obstacle and difficulty in the beginning.

49. Have the courage to suffer, sacrifice and die.

50. No man suffers for all time. Pleasure and pain go together.

51. Suffering is the condition of progress.

52. Struggle is the law of existence.

53. The more the struggle and sacrifice, the greater are the joy and freedom.

54. Every gain in spirit involves a loss in nature.

55. Suffering is the message of God that reveals to you the imperfection of the world.

56. Resistance strives the soul to put forth with its whole strength and thus forces it to God.

(iv) The Ideal of India

57. The final aim of Indian philosophy is the spiritual one. It is search for the Eternal Self. Immortal Atman, seeking and finding his own self.

58. Know thyself. This is the most difficult lesson in the world.

59. To conquer one's self is the highest knowledge.

60. Every living being is a moving temple of God. Lord dwells in the chambers of his heart.

61. Dualism, qualified monism and non-dualism are the different rungs in the ladder of philosophy.

62. Drik is Advaita. Drishya is Dvaita.

63. The body is the field. The individual soul is the plough-man. Virtue and vice are the two seeds, As you sow, so you reap.

64. O Ram! Walk the Brahman way. Brahman way is walking with God or Brahman. Brahman way is Brahmacharya.

65. Brahmacharya is the very soul of Hindu culture and Hindu civilisation.

66. Look upon no woman with lust. Regard her as mother or Devi. This is Brahmacharya of the eye.

67. Listen not to words of ill-will or hate against any. Hear not lustful talks. Study no romantic novels. This is Brahmacharya of the ear

68. Avoid dainties. Speak not on women. Control your appetites. This is Brahmacharya of the tongue.

69. Entertain not lustful thoughts. This is Brahmacharya of the mind.

70. To love in perfect goodness is to realise one life in all.

(v) Principles of Dharma

71. There is no religion higher than truth because God Himself is Truth.

72. Truth and freedom are the pillars of spirituality.

73. Truth is beauty and beauty is truth.

74. Truth, beauty and goodness are the three supreme values for all human existence.

75. To speak the truth is the surest way to blessedness.

76. By truth the heavenly way is opened out. Therefore speak truth and attain Truth, the eternal and self-effulgent.

77. Truth is the invariable concomitant of goodness.

78. It is only a man of truth that can really be good.

79. Wherever there is goodness, there are truth and bliss.

80. He goes to higher spiritual region who is charitable who speaks sweetly, who speaks the truth and who is devoted to non-injury.

81. Humility is the best ornament. A life without humility is like a garden without flowers.

82. Humility is the secret of every saint. Cultivate humility to the maximum degree.

83. Humility is the flower of humanity. He who is not humble is not human enough.

84. Contentment verily is the best gain. It gives permanent satisfaction and peace.

85. Contentment is the higher blessing. Contentment is the greatest happiness. It is only the man of contentment who attains supreme peace.

86. Craving (Trishna) causes eternal suffering. Craving is the womb of vice. Craving is the dreadful impeller of sin.

87. There is no end for craving. Contentment alone is the best way to happiness.

88. Cultivate contentment by the practice of devotion, by knowledge or by dispassion.

89. Compassion, truthfulness, humility, cosmic love and purity are the five cardinal virtues to be cultivated by an aspirant.

90. An envious mind knows no peace. Cultivate magnanimity and friendship with all. Envy will die.

91. O man! Cultivate fortitude. Fortify with courage and patience. In times of Perils' adversities, wants and pain, it will sustain you.

92. Fortitude is Dhriti. It is mental power of endurance. it is firmness in meeting danger. It is power to resist.

93. Patience, courage, endurance, heroism, resolution and presence of mind are the ingredients of fortitude.

94. He is truly great who loves God, who is humble, who is endowed with dispassion and discrimination.

95. He who entertains kind thoughts can be cheerful and serene.

96. He who has no kindness is devoid of all good.

97. Kindness is a precious ornament of a man.

98. Love, faith, truth, character and aspiration are sacred.

99. Self-restraint is real austerity.

100. He who practises self-control, what need has he to retire to the forest? He who is lax in self-control, what good can he derive from adopting a hermit's life?

101. Wherever a man of restraint lives, it is for him a forest and a hermitage.

102. For a man of self-restraint, the home is as good as a hermitage.

(vi) India’s Message to Mankind-I

103. The world is entangled in the delusions of greed, power and lust. Knowledge of the Atman alone can save people from the clutches of Maya and grant them eternal bliss and everlasting peace.

104. When you have a vision of universal oneness, all delusion and all sorrow will vanish.

105. Men should practise a life of compassion, virtue and meditation to find deliverance or Moksha.

106. The way of compassion, the way of feeling the pain of others as one's own, will lead to the vision of Advaita and the ending of delusion.

107. Realise the oneness of existence and feel that all things have their being in the one all-embracing supreme Reality.

108. Feel the pain of others and shed tears This will lead to the realisation of the oneness of life.

(vii) India's Message to Mankind -2

109. The true strength, vitality and enduring greatness of a nation lies in conscious cultured life with its essential, inevitable ethical and spiritual values.

110. The inner springs of people's prosperity will verily to be found in the moral-cum-spiritual idealism that inspires the people.

111. Belief in and devotion the unseen Higher Power that is the very support and the Inner Ruler of this universe of men should be the firm and unassailable basis of human life.

112. It is their conception of the purer and higher good life that is to be achieved in and through the ordinary work-a-day life, which marks out their distinctive genius.

113. This noble aim forms the common factor knitting together their collective life into one indissoluble unit.

114. This bond cannot be broken by any outside force or power. It is the secret of a nation's ultimate well-being.

115. The different sections of the society are the limbs of the great Self or God.

116. Lust, greed and anger are the three roots of evil that are solely responsible for all the ills of life prevalent in this world.

117. No peace and real happiness can ever be guaranteed unless and until these three roots of evil are removed.

118. Justice and tolerance must prevail in a civilised world. Then alone there will be peace and happiness.

119. The seeds of discord are selfishness and greed.

120. There is discord; there is increasing tension between nations and within nations. This is the cause for unhappiness.

121. All your strength is in union; all your weakness is in discord.

(viii) India's Message to Mankind-3

122. The remedy for all the ills of this world, the cure for hatred, cruelty and jealousy, is pure, unselfish, divine love.

123. He who loves his fellowmen is loving God.

124. It is love and goodness, cooperation and right understanding, not politics and lectures, that will help to rebuild a one world.

125. Man should recognise the undisputed supremacy of the law of love. Then alone war will be stopped.

126. Not to offend any creature on earth is the highest duty of man.

127. He who has conquered anger and who is practising non-violence and treats all creatures like his own self attains beatitude hereafter.

128. The only way by which the world can be saved is by a return to the great principles of Ahimsa and Maitri.

129. The great law of pain and compassion binds all life in a sacred universal bond and holds all beings together. Practise the Yoga of compassion.

130. He who has no compassion is a Rakshasa or Asura (demon).

131. Forgiveness is the highest strength.

132. Keep an attitude of indifference towards sinners.

133. Overcome anger by kindness, evil by good, passion by purity and jealousy by magnanimity.

134. Remove anger by patience and forgiveness; remove inertia by the practice of diligence; remove distraction of mind by intense meditation; remove ignorance by wisdom and remove hatred by love.

135. Has materialism ever produced a man of spiritual illumination, peace and intuition?

136. Those countries which have reached the zenith of material progress are spiritually -bankrupt.

137. Come out of man-made conflicts and manifest the quality of simplicity.

138. Disenthrall yourself think anew. Act anew. Think of the Atman or the Supreme Soul. Act selflessly.

139. Selfishness leads to division, discord d disharmony.

140. Whatever is done with a selfish motive and with a view of gratifying oneself and does not take into consideration others' interest is verily Adharma of unrighteousness.

Chapter 9

TRUE GOAL OF YOUR LIFE

(i) God Is Your Goal.

(ii) God is the Eternal Reality.

(iii) God Pervades Your Life.

(iv) Religion Ennobles Life.

(v) Religion Reveals God.

(vi) Service Begets Devotion.

(vii) Devotion Bestows Divine Realisation.

(viii) Obtain Grace Through Prayer.

(ix) God Is Your Own.

(x) The Holy Life.

(i) God Is Your Goal

1. God is the aim and end of human life.

2. God is Truth. God is Love. God is the source of Light and Life. God is Peace. God is Wisdom.

3. God is the light of the world. The light of God shines in the darkness. The light of God will guide you. Pray, sing meditate.

4. The Lord is the warp and woof of this world.

5. God is unmanifested, unconditioned, limitless, fathomless, inexhaustible. God is the Supreme Reality.

6. God is the silent Presence and Power.

7. God is the awareness in all men.

8. God is life. Life is one and indivisible.

9. God is a circle with centre everywhere and with radius nowhere. He is also a point with no radius.

10. God and God's Will are one.

11. God is nothing but the condensation of everything that is good.

(ii) God is the Eternal Reality

12. God is; God exists. Serve humanity. Love God. Embrace all creatures in love. Give up idle controversies, theological discussions. Be pure in heart.

13. Believe in God and His righteousness.

14. Trust in God fully, completely, about your wholeheartedly. You need not worry daily wants.

15. Know this finally that the supreme state of beatitude is attained only by absolute surrender to the Lord who dwells as the Atman in alone will you attain the heart and by His Grace eternal peace, the Abode Eternal.

16. Surrender yourself totally to the Lord. Terror of death frightens you not. Pain, sorrow. and disease will touch you not.

17. God loves a cheerful giver. He also love a giver of cheerfulness.

18. There is no remedy more lasting and standing the test of time than absolute surrender. to God.

19. God knows better than you can know Resign to His Will and be happy for ever.

20. The Lord alone is the true accomplisher and the only successful architect of success.

21. There is no time or space in God. God is spaceless, shapeless and timeless.

22. God has no problem. He is infinite wisdom.

23. Any man can turn to God and get an answer if he has the right attitude of mind. He should ask with faith and trust.

24. God is the most Beloved.

25. God is your shelter against the storms, your sole Refuge, your Solace and your Resting Place.

(iii) God Pervades Your Life

26. God is equally present in all individuals. He is equality and perfected equilibrium. Therefore love all equally.

27. God is the one light that shines in various forms. He is the one voice that speaks in various languages. He is the one life that pulsates in all creatures.

28. God works through all hands of all living creatures. He thinks through all brains of all living creatures.

29. The sum total of our minds is the mind of God. The whole universe is His body.

30. God is dwelling within you, and yet remains unaffected by your deeds, good or bad.

31. This world is an orderly world, because it is God's mind that is working.

32. There is the ever-watching eye and the controlling hand of Divinity behind every movement, great and small in this world.

33. All virtue, all goodness comes from God. Sing the Glory of the Lord.

34. God is found in the hearts of good people who have transformed their lower nature.

35. God is One, Infinite, the prime Cause, the Pure one, the Supreme Being. he is devoid of differentiations of name, etc.

36. God is the Silence Presence deep in the hearts of all men.

37. The Lord pervades the world breadth wise as well as lengthwise. He is Immortal. He is seated in the hearts of all.

38. Body, mind, intellect, Prana and sense are all projections of God.

39. Candle light, hurricane light, petromax light, electric light, oil lamp, are symbols of Eternal Light.

40. The greatest and the most important thing in all the world is to get right concept of God, because your belief about God governs your entire life.

(iv) Religion Ennobles Life

41. Religion manifests its presence in goodness.

42. Religion manifests itself in three forms, goodness, truth and bliss.

43. Practise the religion of heart, built edifice of love.

44. The objective of every religion is the same-to unite human hearts and bring them into union with the Eternal Truth or Para Brahman.

45. The one purpose of religion is to bind the hearts of human beings, to each other and to God.

46. The essential unity of all religions is not only a pious faith but a spiritual fact.

47. You can get everlasting peace only through religion. Therefore, religious education is the essence of a welfare state.

48. Moral education is not different from religious education.

49. The nectar of moral and religious education is keenly felt by many educationists now.

50. The value of moral and religious education in the formation of character and the integration of the personality of the children and in making them good citizens with high moral ideals is keenly felt by many great thinking men of India.

51. The educational authorities should give positive facilities in schools arid colleges for the religious upbringing of our boy and girls.

52. Religious education in the tender and impressionable period of life is very essential for national progress and prosperity.

53. The essential principles and ultimate aim of religions is fundamentally the same.

54. Purity, patience, humility, self-control, self-sacrifice, self-reliance, fearlessness, kindness, compassion, truthfulness in thoughts, world and deed, moderation and toleration are common truth of all religions.

55. Morality is a necessary part of religion Therefore religion includes morality.

56. Morality is a way of feeling. It is a way of acting too.

57. Make religion a unifying force and builder of nationality.

58. The condition of national greatness is the teaching of religion to the young.

(v) Religion Reveals God

59. To discover and to enter into communion with Brahman or the Absolute is the aim of every religion.

60. All religions teach the same truth and show the same path.

61. Religion is living truth. It transforms our character and makes us sages.

62. Religion is not a creed, nor a cult. It is not a mere formula. But it is direct realisation of Divinity.

63. There is basic unity in the eternal truths taught by different religions.

64. The differences and disputes arise only in regard to the dogmas, rituals, external observances and other non-essentials.

65. Behold the one light in all religions. Bow in reverence to all prophets and saints.

66. Create not wrong feelings in the minds of people that some religions are God-revealed and some man-made.

67. Every religion worth its name is revealed only by God to a man who reached that Godhood.

68. There is no use in conversion. Mere change of label without the heart and conviction is useless.

69. There is real conversion only when the inner spiritual fire is allowed to grow and when the inner spirit is realised.

70. Let Christians become better Christians, the Hindus better Hindus, the Muslims better Muslims.

71. There never was, nor will there ever be, one common religion for all mankind.

72. It is not the number of men for a religion that counts. It is the ideal that counts.

73. If everyone understands his own religion properly and follows it with love and tolerance towards other religions, there cannot be religious war.

74. True religion cannot have conflict with the votaries of any other religion.

75. Peace is the watchword of religion

76. Religion unites mankind. Religion is Light, Love, Virtue and Peace.

77. God-realisation is the end of all religions

78. A comprehensive study of all religions is now an essential pre-requisite for every intelligent and rational person who is a seeker after Truth

79. Real religion is intuitional experience. it is the most vital element in life universal, in life divine.

(vi) Service Begets Devotion

80. The easiest way to reach God is the way of selfless service.

81. Work done with right attitude and full Bhava is entirely Sadhana.

82. The bank of God never fails. The more you give in the service of others, the more you receive. This is the Eternal Law.

83. Worship of man with the consciousness of the divinity in him, which is immanent, is one of the highest Sadhanas that leads enlightenment.

84. If you annihilate egoism, then all works are done by God alone.

85. God is light. Avidya is darkness. Whet' there is God, there is no Avidya.

86. Annihilate egoism. Then alone you will be able to do real selfless service.

87. A selfless man and a sage alone can do real service to the society.

88. Spiritualise politics and business. Spiritualise all your actions by offering them unto the Lord and by doing them without egoism and expectation of fruits.

89. Awaken the spiritual attitude in you, to life and its activities.

90. To one who sincerely and earnestly does his duty sticking to truth and depending upon the Lord's Name, no misfortune will dare approach. I assure you of this.

91. The law of mutual interdependence of man and the universe gave rise to the teaching "serve all".

92. Radiate love. Become a brother of all men. Become a brother of the poor, of lepers and criminals, the forlorn and the destitute.

93. For the attainment of ecstatic union it is not necessary for a Karma Yogi to cease from activity.

94. While the aspirant is in the process of carrying on his Sadhana, he can enjoy the Bliss of ecstatic communion with the Spirit or Atman.

95. A Karma Yogi should continue his activity in the spirit of detachment and self-surrender and seek to be in union with he Spirit through and in the midst of the very activity which he is carrying on. Spirit through and in the midst of the very activity which he is carrying on.

96. You can have an ecstatic experience or Spiritual Anubhava where there is perfect synthesis and a resulting harmony in the activities of every part of a human personality.

97. Let praises inflate thee not, nor censure perturbs thee. Keep a balanced mind in praise and censure.

98. Free yourself from every privilege, every material possession and every honour.

99. Let life around you be one of peace, prosperity and Divine Bliss, giving you ever new vigour and enthusiasm in the service of the Lord

100. Take care of your health so as to be able to dedicate yourself to others.

(vii) Devotion Bestows Divine Realisation

101. Perfect devotion bestows bliss upon the devotee.

102. The Lord is won neither through austerities nor through a study of the Vedas, not even through knowledge nor through action, but through devotion alone.

103. It is after thousands of births that a liking for Bhakti (devotion) develops in the heart of man.

104. Bhakti alone is capable of bestowing Mukti (emancipation).

105. A child in the spiritual life cannot understand the highest ideal of Vedanta or non-dualism.

106. He must practise Bhakti first and purify his heart and then take to Vedanta.

107. Among all the means of salvation pre-eminent is devotion.

108. The quest for one's own Reality, the Atman, is called devotion.

109. The way to Truth or God is Love. Love is the only reality in life.

110. Love and Truth are one and the same.

111. Love is the essence of the Real or God.

112. Blessed is he in whose heart is enshrined exclusive devotion to the Lord.

113. Awake and unfold the heart-centre (Anahata Chakra) by pure divine love.

114. Just as the flower unfolds, so also the heart-centre opens through daily meditation and practise of divine love.

115. The flower of faith grows in the end into the fruit of love divine or Prem.

116. Love creates; Love unites; Love transforms.

(viii) Obtain Grace Through Prayer

117. Life is a void without prayer. He who does not pray lives in vain.

118. Food is indispensable for the body, so is prayer indispensable for the soul. Prayer is the spiritual food.

119. You can live without food for some days but you cannot live truly without prayer even for a day.

120. Prayer is the main-stay of life. You cannot live even for a moment without prayer.

121. An aspirant finds his only solace in life in prayer. Prayer gives peace, inner spiritual strength and illumination.

122. Prayer or meditation is a silent communion with God-presence.

123. Have a living faith and the uttermost reliance on God.

124. Prayer, fasting, sacrifice, Japa, Kirtan, meditation, self-examination and communion are included in the life of devotion.

125. With ripened love, melting heart and profuse tears worship the Lord.

126. Sing the Names and praises of the Lord. Make others to sing.

(ix) God Is Your Own

127. True love is self-effacing and demands consideration.

128. God is nearer to you than anything else. Know the nearness of God to you.

129. God cares for you more than anybody else in the world. If you take one step towards Him, He takes hundred steps towards you.

130. Talk with God. Walk with God. Sleep with God. Eat with God. Drink with God.

131. Through removal of desires, Bhakti is generated.

132. Through growth of devotion, relish for hearing the Name and glory of God, and Kirtan, etc., grows.

133. From relish grows intense attachment to God.

134. From attachment sprouts the love for God. When love intensifies, it is called Prema (Deep Love)

135. Nishtha leads to Bhakti Mature Bhakti becomes Bhava. Intensified Bhava becomes Mahabhava. Prema is the highest Bhakti or culmination of a devotee.

136. The following are the marks of a devotee in whom the seed of divine love has generated-forbearance (not to lose temper under the greatest provocation), dispassion, humility, unbroken happiness in chanting the Divine Name.

137. Just as a person who eats feels satisfied, gets nourishment and experiences relief from hunger, even so, devotion, realisation of the Supreme, and indifference to worldly things, these three are always found together in the devotee.

138. The Kali age is full of many evils; but ) it has one great virtue that during this age one can free himself from all bonds and realise God by mere repetition of the Name of the Lord.

139. Lord's Name is thy armour and thy strength.

140. Teach the unity and love of God to all mankind.

141. Love for all beings erases enmity and hostility from the mind.

142. Love of God is inborn in a man by virtue of his evolution and previous spiritual Samskaras.

143. For a true lover of God, all places should be like heaven.

(x) The Holy Life

144. A devotee is virtuous. His speech is very sweet. He always talks for the good of others.

145. He who is kind, who does good to all creatures, who speaks the truth, who ever chants the Name of the Lord, is a devotee of the Lord.

146. He who is free from Himsa, malice, lust, anger, greed and infatuation, is a devotee of the Lord.

147. He who serves all ascetics and speaks ill of none, who appreciates virtues, who regards all beings as his very self, is a saint.

148. He who feels delighted at the sight of others' prosperity, who is deeply devoted to the Divine Name, and who dances in ecstasy at the very mention of the Divine Name, is a saint.

149. He who is equal to pleasant and unpleasant things, to happiness and sorrow, the past and the future, is a sage.

150. He is a sage who has cut all fetters, who is humble, simple and noble, who is ever peaceful, serene and calm.

151. He is a sage in whom abide truth, virtue, love, harmlessness, self-control, courage, moderation, purity and wisdom.

152. He who endowed with spiritual energy, forgiveness, fortitude of mind, who is from enmity and pride, is a saint.

153. If you want to take Sannyasa, retain nothing for yourself. Give what you have to the poor. Give your pension to the poor and not to your sons and grand children.

154. A true Sannyasi is he who with self-control, wisdom and spiritual vision work the uplift of the humanity.

155. An ideal Sannyasi who leads an exemplary life is indeed a blessing to himself and others.

156. An ideal Sannyasi teaches both by example and by precepts. Within he is pure and without he purifies.

157. I desire not the supreme state of bliss nor the cessation of rebirth. Let me take up the sorrow of all creatures who suffer and enter into them so that they may be made free from grief.

158. The principles and messages contained in this book know no limits of time, space or class,

159. The answer to the challenge of the world is formed in this book.

160. Understand the spirit of the teachings contained in this book, translate it into your life and practise it to the best extent possible.

Thank You