Great Throughts Treasury

"Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: "Get away from this ocean of suffering." Be in the world and do your part, but do not be caught up and bound by its delusions, or you will be enslaved."

"Kriya, controlling the mind directly through the life force, is the easiest, most effective, and most scientific avenue of approach to the Infinite. In contrast to the slow, uncertain ‘bullock cart’ theological path to God, Kriya Yoga may justly be called the ‘airplane’ route."

"Let your example be the way to change others’ lives. Reform yourself and you will reform thousands."

"Life by life, each man progresses (at his own pace, be it ever so erratic) toward the goal of his own apotheosis. Death, no interruption in this onward sweep, simply offers man the more congenial environment of an astral world in which to purify his dross. 'Let not your heart be troubled... In my Father's house are many mansions.' It is indeed unlikely that God has exhausted His ingenuity in organising this world, or that, in the next world, He will offer nothing more challenging to our interest than the strumming of harps."

"Learn everything about one thing, and something about everything."

"Learn to stand unshaken midst the crash of breaking worlds."

"Live in the world, but be not of the world."

"Lust applies to the abuse of any or all of the senses in the pursuit of pleasure or gratification. Through the sense of sight man may lust after material objects; through the sense of hearing, he craves the sweet, slow poison of flattery, and vibratory sounds as of voices and music that rouse his material nature; through the lustful pleasure of smell he is enticed toward wrong environments and actions; lust for food and drink causes him to please his taste at the expense of health; through the sense of touch he lusts after inordinate physical comfort and abuses the creative sex impulse. Lust also seeks gratification in wealth, status, power, domination—all that satisfies the "I, me, mine" in the egotistical man. Lustful desire is egotism, the lowest rung of the ladder of human character evolution. By the force of its insatiable passion, karma loves to destroy one's happiness, health, brain power, clarity of thought, memory, and discriminative judgment."

"Life seems such a tangible reality, and yet it is elusive. Every minute is precious. Today you are; tomorrow you are not. I remind myself of this every day. One by one we slip away. Others will come and we shall go. But the body is only a garment. How many times you have changed your clothing in this life, yet because of this you would not say that you have changed. Similarly, when you give up this bodily dress at death you do not change. You are just the same, an immortal soul, a child of God. Reincarnation means merely a change of mortal dress. But your real self will never change. You must concentrate on your real self, not on the body, which is nothing but a garment."

"Man and woman should look upon one another as reflections of the Divine."

"Never abuse the sensory powers by overindulgence, if you would be really happy. ‘Ever fed, never satisfied; never fed, ever satisfied’ is a true axiom about unwholesome sense experiences."

"Never concentrate on your faults. By doing so you identify yourself with them. You are the one who puts the veil of delusion in front of your wisdom’s eyes. Whatsoever you think, that is what you are."

"Man comes here [on Earth] for the sole purpose of learning to break the cords that bind his soul. Disease, failure, negation, greed, jealousy — break these bonds now. You are in a cocoon of your own bad habits, and you must be freed to spread its wings of beautiful divine qualities."

"Love gives without expecting anything in return. I never think of anyone in terms of what he can do for me. And I never profess love to someone because he has done something for me. If I didn’t actually feel love, I wouldn’t pretend to give it; and since I feel it, I give it. Love cannot be had for the asking; it comes only as a gift from the heart of another. Be certain of your feeling before you say to anyone, 'I love you'. Once you give your love, it must be forever. Not because you want to be near that person, but because you want perfection for that soul. To wish for perfection for the loved one, and to feel pure joy in thinking of that soul, is divine love; and that is the love of true friendship."

"Man is like a puppet. The strings of his habits, emotions, passions, and senses make him dance to their bidding. They bind his soul."

"Man's highest faculty is not reason but intuition: apprehension of knowledge derived immediately and spontaneously from the soul, not from the fallible agency of the senses or of reason."

"Material things cannot be owned by anybody, for at death they must be left behind & given to others. We are only allowed the use of things. It shows lack of wisdom to be 'possessed' by material things. Just pray to be given the use of things that you need and to be given the power to create at will what you need. Do not allow your happiness to be conditioned by what you have or do not have."

"Meditation must be practiced every day. Start now! Do not look to the future. Begin this very moment to think of God. In this thought you are a king. Why be a prisoner of mortal moods and habits? To carry out one's resolutions is a constant battle. Never give up your good resolutions."

"Meditation is the science of reuniting the soul with Spirit. The soul, descending from God into flesh, manifests its consciousness and life force through seven chakras, or centres of light, in man's cerebrospinal axis."

"Most people live on the surface of life. But it is by deep-sea diving in the ocean of thought that you receive the pearls of knowledge."

"'One should forgive, under any injury,’ says the Mahabharata. It hath been said that the continuation of species is due to man’s being forgiving. Forgiveness is holiness, by forgiveness the universe is held together. Forgiveness is the might of might; forgiveness is sacrifice; forgiveness is quiet mind. Forgiveness and gentleness are the qualities of Self-possessed. They represent eternal virtue."

"One scriptural description of the Infinite is that He is Sat-Chit-Ananda — ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss. Ever-existing means that He is eternal; ever-conscious means He is always conscious of His eternal existence; and ever-new Bliss means that He is a joy that never grows stale. Every human being is seeking that kind of experience. (Sanskrit term for God is Sat-Chit-Ananda — eternal Being or Truth (Sat), infinite consciousness (Chit), and ever new Bliss (Ananda).)"

"Real love is when you are constantly watching the progress of the soul. As soon as you cater to someone’s physical desires and bad habits you are not loving that soul anymore. You are just pleasing that person to avoid ill will. No matter how unpleasant it is to tell a friend that he is wrong, if you say it with love in your heart and stand firm on it, sometimes that person will respect you if you are right. If you are wrong, even then he will know that you did it with sincerity, out of love."

"Strive ceaselessly; never be impatient. Once the finality is achieved, incarnation of troubles will be over in a second, just as when light is admitted within a room that has been locked for decades, the darkness vanishes instantly."

"Retain evenness of mind under all circumstances. In every situation be calmly active and actively calm."

"Recognize the tendencies that make you unique."

"Real devotion is internal. Day and night devotee thinks of nothing but God, and secretly tells him how dearly he loves Him."

"Self-realization is the knowing – in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing."

"Refuse to be bound by karma; it is an old superstition of the ignorant to believe you cannot change your destiny."

"Soul is individualized Spirit, which is unmanifested, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss. The soul, as Spirit's reflection, has the same qualities as Spirit, but the soul identifies itself with the three bodily sheaths that cover it — the ideation body or consciousness, the astral body or life force, and the physical body of flesh — and their normal and abnormal conditions."

"Success or failure is the just result of what you have done in the past, plus what you do now... You should transfer your attention from failure to success, from worry to calmness, from mental wanderings to concentration, from restlessness to peace, from peace to the divine bliss within."

"Success is hastened or delayed by one’s habits. It is not your passing inspirations or brilliant ideas so much as your everyday mental habits that control your life."

"Suffering is a good teacher to those who are quick and willing to learn from it. But it becomes a tyrant to those who resist and resent."

"The ancient yogic technique convert the breath into mind-stuff. By spiritual advancement one is able to cognize the breath as a mental concept, an act of mind: a dream breath."

"The Hindu scriptures describe the body as a product of Nature, with six defects of delusion: "It is born; it exists; it grows; it changes; it decays; it is annihilated." Most human beings nevertheless expect permanent happiness from this impermanent body. Because of the precedence of the experience of material pleasures, the ego is unwilling and unable to conceive of any higher state of happiness."

"The relationship that exists between friends is the grandest of human loves. Friendly love is pure, because it is without compulsion. One freely chooses to love his friends; he is not bound by instinct. The love that manifests in friendship can exist between man and woman, woman and woman, man and man. But in the love of friendship, there is no sexual attraction. One must practice celibacy and absolutely forget sex if one wants to know divine love through friendship; then friendship nurtures the cultivation of divine love."

"The thoughts that predominate at the time of death can bring you either salvation — if your supreme desire is for God — or rebirth. If you are filled with worldly desires, those thoughts impinge themselves on the subtle body and bring the soul back into another earthly incarnation. The sum total of past actions and unfulfilled desires determines what kind of body you will have, and sets the general pattern of your new incarnation. Just as the form of a huge banyan tree lies hidden in a tiny seed, awaiting favorable conditions for germination; or as the sounds of a record are secreted in its grooves, waiting for the touch of the needle to bring them out, so the past-life tendencies carried in the subtle body become manifested through the medium of a new incarnation."

"The soul always remains unpolluted, like age-long buried gold. All one has to do is wash off the dirt and spiritual rays will shine forth through one's joy."

"Supreme happiness cannot be found in the world; but we need not run away to the jungle to seek Him (God) who is the Giver of all happiness. In this jungle of daily life, we may find Him in the cave of silence. Remember, the only man who is happy is the man who sits in the temple of silence and shuts out all storms or worries. Nothing can challenge the quietness of his soul."

"The treasure of friendship is your richest possession, because it goes with you beyond this life. All the true friends you have made you will meet again in the home of the Father, for real love is never lost."

"The wise do not expect to reap everlasting happiness from friends, beloved family, or dear possessions! The forms of loved ones are snatched away by death. Material objects turn out to be meaningless when one becomes used to them; or when, in old age, the senses grow unappreciative, powerless. Concentrate on the immortal Spirit through meditation and find there a harvest of eternal, ever new peace!"

"The way to freedom is through service to others."

"The wise do not indulge in grief for things that are inevitably changeable and evanescent. Those who always weep and complain that life is filled with bitter things reveal the narrowness of their minds. In God's consciousness, all worldly things are trifles, because they are not eternal."

"The yogi should distill from his diet life-force and energy, not sickness! He should also derive energy from the sun, by exposing his body in its rays to absorb pure oxygen, which is carbon-and-toxin destroying; and by practicing deep inhalations and exhalations."

"They say that all the thoughts of all one’s incarnations are reflected in the eyes. The eyes reveal the whole story of the soul, not only of this life but of past lives."

"The world ends for us when we are free from desires. I enjoy everything, but I have no desire for anything, so there is never any pain or disappointment from unfulfillment. Whatever I do, wherever I go, I enjoy myself."

"There is no way to find God's love other than to surrender to Him."

"This show has a purpose: that you learn how to play the various parts of the life movie without identifying your Self with your role. It is important to avoid identification with pain or anger or any kind of mental or physical suffering that comes. The best way to dissociate yourself from your difficulty is to be mentally detached, as if you were merely a spectator, while at the same time seeking a remedy. Don’t expect to attain unalloyed peace and happiness from earthly life. This should be your attitude: no matter what your experiences are, enjoy them in an objective way, as you would a movie."

"Those who look at the surface of the sea must behold the birth and death of the waves, but those who seek the depths of the ocean behold one indivisible mass of water. Similarly, those who acknowledge "life" and "death" are tossed by sorrow, while those who live in the illimitable superconsciousness behold and feel the One Ineffable Bliss."

"This world is an imperfect place. It is only a school of tests. Through tests we learn life's lessons. Tests are not meant to crush us. They develop our power. They come through the natural law of progress."