Quote 901

The mind of the man is an infinite reservoir of knowledge, and all knowledge, present, past or future, is within man, manifested or non-manifested, and the object of every system of education should be to help the mind to manifest it.

Quote 902

Religion is a realization, not talk, not doctrines, nor theories, however beautiful all these may be. Religion is being and becoming, not hearing or acknowledging. It is not an intellectual assent; but one's whole nature becoming changed into it. Such is religion. By an intellectual assent we can come to a hundred sort of foolish things, and change the next day, but this being and becoming is what is religion.

Quote 903

This world is a relative world, a shadow of the real; still, being the plane of equipoise where happiness and misery are about evenly balanced, it is the only plane where man can realise his true Self and know that he is Brahman.

Quote 904

That man and God are one is the constant teaching of the Vedas, but only few are able to penetrate behind the veil and reach the realisation of this truth.

Quote 905

Only knowledge can free and save us, but with knowledge must go virtue.

Quote 906

Desire makes slaves of us, it is an insatiable tyrant and gives its victims no rest; but the Jivanmukta has conquered all desire by rising to the knowledge that he is the One and there is nothing left to wish for.

Quote 907

The mind brings before us all our delusions--body, sex, creed, caste, bondage; so we have to tell the truth to the mind incessantly, until it is made to realise it. Our real nature is all bliss, and all the pleasure we know is but a reflection, an atom, of that bliss we get from touching our real nature. That is beyond both pleasure and pain. It is the 'witness' of the universe, the unchanging reader before whom turn the leaves of the book of life.

Quote 908

Through practice comes Yoga, through Yoga comes knowledge, through knowledge love, and through love bliss

Quote 909

While we think of the world, it is only the world for us; but let us come to it with the feeling that the world is God, and we shall have God. This should be our thought towards everyone and everything--parents, children, husbands, wives, friends, and enemies. Think how it would change the whole universe for us if we could consciously fill it with God! See nothing but God! All sorrow, all struggle, all pain would be for ever lost to us!

Quote 910

The soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere, but whose centre is in some body. Death (so-called) is but a change of centre. God is a circle whose circumference is nowhere and whose centre is everywhere, and when we can get out of the narrow centre of body, we shall realise God--our true Self.

Quote 911

As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God, fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes: of what can we be afraid

Quote 912

By sheer force of will the Jnani rises beyond body, beyond mind, making this universe zero. Thus he destroys Avidya and knows his true Self, the Atman. Happiness and misery are only in the senses, they cannot touch our real Self. The soul is beyond time, space, and causality--therefore unlimited, omnipresent.

Quote 913

What can the universe give us more than our own soul? Possessing that, we possess all.

Quote 914

The goal of the universe is to realise oneness with the 'Om' or One Existence.

Quote 915

The more one has been purified and prepared by Yoga and meditation, the clearer are these flashes of realisation.

Quote 916

Comfort is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being 'comfortable'. If one intends to really find truth, one must not cling to comfort. It is hard to let all go, but the Jnani must do it.

Quote 917

To become pure is the shortest path to freedom.

Quote 918

The first step upwards is when we recognise ourselves as the children of God; the last step is when we realise ourselves as the One, the Atman.

Quote 919

Do not pity anyone. Look upon all as your equal, cleanse yourself of the primal sin of inequality. We are all equal and must not think, 'I am good and you are bad, and I am trying to reclaim you.'

Quote 920

Equality is the sign of the free.

Quote 921

See not man, see only the Lord. We manufacture our own heaven and can make a heaven even in hell. Sinners are only to be found in hell, and as long as we see them around us, we are there ourselves.

Quote 922

This life is our teacher, and dying only makes room to begin over again. Body is our schoolmaster, but to commit suicide is folly, it is only killing the 'schoolmaster'. Another will take his place. So until we have learnt to transcend the body, we must have it, and losing one, will get another. Still we must not identify ourselves with the body, but look upon it only as an instrument to be used in reaching perfection.

Quote 923

We should never try to be guardians of mankind, or to stand on a pedestal as saints reforming sinners. Let us rather purify ourselves, and the result must be that in so doing we shall help others.

Quote 924

Time is but the method of our thinking, but we are the eternally present tense.

Quote 925

Hold fast to the real Self, think only pure thoughts, and you will accomplish more than a regiment of mere preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.

Quote 926

Man is the highest being that exists and this is the greatest world, for here can man realise freedom.

Quote 927

Give up all ideas of enjoyment in this world and the next, care only for God and Truth. We are here to know truth, not for enjoyment.

Quote 928

Man is a thinking being and must struggle on until he conquers death, until he sees the light. He must not spend himself in vain talking that bears no fruit.

Quote 929

Intense desire to know Truth and God. Be eager for them, long for them, as a drowning man longs for breath. Want only God, take nothing else, let not 'seeming' cheat you any longer. Turn from all and seek only God.

Quote 930

Persevere through thick and thin, through health and sickness, never miss a day in practice.

Quote 931

All history teaches us that the great seers of all ages were either monks and ascetics or those who had given up married life; only the pure in life can see God.

Quote 932

We have to seize this unstable mind and drag it from its wanderings and fix it on one idea. Over and over again this must be done. By power of will we must get hold of the mind and make it stop and reflect upon the glory of God

Quote 933

Identify yourself with God, never with matter or with the mind.

Quote 934

Inspiration is from within and we have to inspire ourselves by our own higher faculties.

Quote 935

When the breath is flowing through the left nostril, it is the time for rest; when through the right, for work; and when through both, the time to meditate. When we are calm and breathing equally through both nostrils, we are in the right condition for quiet meditation. It is no use trying to concentrate at first. Control of thought will come of itself.

Quote 936

In happiness, in misery, in famine, in pain, in the grave, in heaven, or in hell who never gives me up is my friend. Is such friendship a joke? A man may have salvation through such friendship. That brings salvation if we can love like that.

Quote 937

If you really want the good of others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself in you if you are sincere and really unselfish.

Quote 938

Help whenever you can, but mind what your motive is. If it is selfish, it will neither benefit those you help, nor yourself. If it is unselfish, it will bring blessings upon them to whom it is given, and infinite blessings upon you, sure as you are living.

Quote 939

Suppose you start schools all over India for the poor, still you cannot educate them. How can you? The boy of four years would better go to the plough or to work, than to your school. He cannot go to your school. It is impossible. Self-preservation is the first instinct. But if the mountain does not go to Mohammed, then Mohammed can come to the mountain. Why should not education go from door to door, say I. If a ploughman's boy cannot come to education, why not meet him at the plough, at the factory, just wherever he is? Go along with him, like his shadow.

Quote 940

The ears are the best educators. The best principles in our lives were those which we heard from our mothers through our ears. Books came much later. Book-learning is nothing. Through the ears we get the best formative principles

Quote 941

The one important thing in the attainment of spirituality is the attitude of the pupil. When the right attitude is there, illumination comes easily.

Quote 942

Thou art That. Thou art the Reality. How long does it take to know this? If we are God and always have been so, not to know this is most astonishing. To know this is the only natural thing. It should not take ages to find out what we have always been and what we now are.

Quote 943

The first condition is that the student who wants to know the truth must give up all desires for gain in this world or in the life to come.

Quote 944

Why should the mind think thoughts I do not want it to think? I am as it were a slave to the mind. No spiritual knowledge is possible so long as the mind is restless and out of control. The disciple has to learn to control the mind. Yes, it is the function of the mind to think. But it must not think if the disciple does not want it to; it must stop thinking when he commands it to.

Quote 945

Life seems comfortable; and you find the mind behaves well when everything is going well with you. But if something goes wrong, your mind loses its balance. That is not good. Bear all evil and misery without one murmur of hurt, without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance; and that you must acquire.

Quote 946

Resist not evil. Face it! You are higher than evil.

Quote 947

This craving for health, wealth, long life, and the like--the so-called good--is nothing but an illusion. To devote the mind to them in order to secure them only strengthens the delusion.

Quote 948

When I say 'I', I mean this spirit. Close your eyes and see what picture appears when you think of your 'I'. Is it the picture of your body that comes, or of your mental nature? If so, you have not realised your true 'I' yet. The time will come, however, when as soon as you say 'I' you will see the universe, the Infinite Being. Then you will have realised your true Self and found that you are infinite. That is the truth: you are the spirit, you are not matter.

Quote 949

The relationship with the teacher is the greatest in life. My dearest and nearest relative in life is my Guru; next, my mother; then my father. My first reverence is to the Guru. If my father says, 'Do this', and my Guru says, 'Do not do this', I do not do it. The Guru frees my soul. The father and mother give me this body; but the Guru gives me rebirth in the soul.

Quote 950

The touch of the Guru, the transmittal of spiritual energy, will quicken your heart. Then will begin the growth. That is the real baptism by fire. No more stopping. You go on and go on.

Quote 951

The man in the street cannot claim to be a Guru. The Guru must be a man who has known, has actually realised the Divine truth, has perceived himself as the spirit. A mere talker cannot be the Guru.

Quote 952

The Guru is the bright mask which God wears in order to come to us. As we look steadily on, gradually the mask falls off and God is revealed.

Quote 953

Desire is increased by desire. Knowing all this, people still plunge into it all the time. Life after life they have been going after the objects of desire, suffering extremely in consequence, yet they cannot give up desire. Even religion, which should rescue them from this terrible bondage of desire, they have made a means of satisfying desire. Rarely do they ask God to free them from bondage to the body and senses, from slavery to desires. Instead, they pray to Him for health and prosperity, for long life: 'O God, cure my headache, give me some money or something!'

Quote 954

If you want to be spiritual, you must renounce. This is the real test. Give up the world--this nonsense of the senses.

Quote 955

There is only one thing that is real--God. All the time the mind must be drawn to Him, dedicated to Him. God exists, nothing else exists, everything else comes and goes. Any desire for the world is illusion, because the world is unreal. More and more the mind must become conscious of God alone, until everything else appears as it really is--unreal.

Quote 956

God is spirit and He should be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Does spirit live only in heaven? What is spirit? We are all spirit. Why is it we do not realise it? What makes you different from me? Body and nothing else. Forget the body, and all is spirit

Quote 957

We all cling to the little things of the senses, even if we are ruined thereby: we forget there are much greater things.

Quote 958

There is no help for man. None ever was, none is, and none will be. Why should there be? Are you not men and women? Are the lords of the earth to be helped by others? Are you not ashamed? You will be helped when you are reduced to dust. But you are spirit. Pull yourself out of difficulties by yourself! Save yourself by yourself! There is none to help you--never was. To think that there is, is sweet delusion. It comes to no good. Blessed is he who gets it.

Quote 959

There came a Christian to me once and said, 'You are a terrible sinner.' I answered, 'Yes, I am. Go on.' He was a Christian missionary. That man would not give me any rest. When I see him, I fly. He said, 'I have very good things for you. You are a sinner and you are going to hell.' I replied, 'Very good, what else?' I asked him, 'Where are you going?' 'I am going to heaven', he answered. I said, 'I will go to hell.' That day he gave me up.

Quote 960

The Lord is all blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists, He is the goodness, the truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occasions to cry or weep. The further we are from Him, the more will long faces come. The more we know of Him, the more misery vanishes.

Quote 961

With God every knowledge is sacred. Knowledge is God. Infinite knowledge abides within every one in the fullest measure. You are not really ignorant, though you may appear to be so. You are incarnations of God, all of you. You are incarnations of the Almighty, Omnipresent, Divine Principle. You may laugh at me now, but the time will come when you will understand. You must. Nobody will be left behind.

Quote 962

The chief helps in this liberation are Abhyasa and Vairagya. Vairagya is non-attachment to life, because it is the will to enjoy that brings all this bondage in its train; and Abhyasa is constant practice of any one of the Yogas.

Quote 963

All fear and all desire to enjoy here or hereafter must be banished for ever by the Karma-Yogi. Moreover, this Karma without desire of return will destroy the selfishness, which is the root of all bondage

Quote 964

We are to be saved from sin by being saved from ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of which sin is the result.

Quote 965

This I lay down as the first essential in all I teach: anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet.

Quote 966

The only test of good things is that they make us strong.

Quote 967

The more I live, the more I become convinced every day that every human being is divine. In no man or woman, however vile, does that divinity die. Only he or she does not know how to reach it and is waiting for the Truth.

Quote 968

The highest things are under your feet, because you are Divine Stars; all these things are under your feet. You can swallow the stars by the handful if you want; such is your real nature. Be strong, get beyond all superstitions, and be free.

Quote 969

Better be ready to live in rags with Christ than to live in palaces without him.

Quote 970

'Here' and 'here-after' are words to frighten children. It is all 'here'. To live and move in God--even here, even in this body! All self should go out; all superstition should be banished.

Quote 971

The whole world is full of God and not of sin. Let us help each other. Let us love each other.

Quote 972

Believe first in yourself, then in God. A handful of strong men will move the world.

Quote 973

We need a heart to feel, a brain to conceive, and a strong arm to do the work.

Quote 974

In a conflict between the heart and the brain follow your heart

Quote 975

The greatest force is derived from the power of thought.

 

Quote 976

A straight line projected infinitely becomes a circle. The search for good comes back to Self. I am the whole mystery, God. I am a body, the lower self; and I am the Lord of the universe.

Quote 977

Everything that strengthens the will by revealing the real nature is moral. Everything that does the reverse is immoral.

Quote 978

I do not care what they say. I love my God, my religion, my country, and above all, myself, a poor beggar. I love the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden, I feel for them--the Lord knows how much. He will show me the way.

Quote 979

The only way is love and sympathy. The only worship is love.

Quote 980

Perfect sincerity, holiness, gigantic intellect, and an all-conquering will. Let only a handful of men work with these, and the whole world will be revolutionised.

Quote 981

I am persuaded that a leader is not made in one life. He has to be born for it. For the difficulty is not in organisation and making plans; the test, the real test, of the leader, lies in holding widely different people together along the line of their common sympathies. And this can only be done unconsciously, never by trying.

Quote 982

I am born to organise these young men; nay, hundreds more in every city are ready to join me; and I want to send them rolling like irresistible waves over India, bringing comfort, morality, religion, education to the doors of the meanest and the most downtrodden. And this I will do or die.

Quote 983

I will tell you what is to my taste; I cannot write, and I cannot speak, but I can think deeply, and when I am heated, can speak fire. It should be, however, to a select, a very select--few. Let them, if they will, carry and scatter my ideas broadcast--not I. This is only a just division of labour. The same man never succeeded both in thinking and in scattering his thoughts. A man should be free to think, especially spiritual thoughts.

Quote 984

Sister, there is a God--a Father--a Mother who never leaves His Children, never, never, never. Put uncanny theories aside and becoming children take refuge in Him. I cannot write more--I am weeping like a woman.

Quote 985

I have come to this conclusion that there is only one country in the world which understands religion--it is India; that with all their faults the Hindus are head and shoulders above all other nations in morality and spirituality; and that with proper care and attempt and struggle of all her disinterested sons, by combining some of the active and heroic elements of the West with the calm virtues of the Hindus, there will come a type of men far superior to any that have ever been in this world.

Quote 986

America is a grand country. It is a paradise of the poor and women. There is almost no poor in the country, and nowhere else in the world women are so free, so educated, so cultured. They are everything in society.

Quote 987

A Sannyasin who has no idea of doing good to his fellows is a brute, not a Sannyasin.

Quote 988

It is all right for those who have plenty of money and position to let the world roll on such, but I call him a traitor who, having been educated, nursed in luxury by the heart's blood of the downtrodden millions of toiling poor, never even takes a thought for them.

Quote 989

He who gives up the little self for the world will find the whole universe his.

Quote 990

This world will always be a mixture of good and evil, of happiness and misery; this wheel will ever go up and come down; dissolution and resolution is the inevitable law. Blessed are those who struggle to go beyond.

Quote 991

Desire, ignorance, and inequality--this is the trinity of bondage. Denial of the will to live, knowledge, and same-sightedness is the trinity of liberation.

Quote 992

Freedom is the goal of the universe.

Quote 993

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men can do more in a year than a mob in a century. If there is heat in one body, then those others that come near it must catch it. This is the law. So success is ours, so long as we keep up the heat, the spirit of truth, sincerity, and love

Quote 994

Neither numbers nor powers nor wealth nor learning nor eloquence nor anything else will prevail, but purity, living the life, in one word, anubhuti , realisation. Let there be a dozen such lion-souls in each country, lions who have broken their own bonds, who have touched the Infinite, whose whole soul is gone to Brahman, who care neither for wealth nor power nor fame, and these will be enough to shake the world.

Quote 995

Let us hold on to truth unto death, and from life to life. Let us not pay the least attention to what others say, and if, after a lifetime's effort, one soul, only one, can break the fetters of the world and be free, we have done our work . Hari Om!

Quote 996

There is but one basis of well-being, social, political or spiritual--to know that I and my brother are one . This is true for all countries and all people.

Quote 997

Don't look back--forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience--then alone can great deeds be accomplished. We must set the whole world afire.

Quote 998

I shall have one man only to follow me, but he must be true and faithful unto death. I do not care for success or no success.

Quote 999

The upshot of the whole thing is--I want bold, daring, adventurous spirits to help me. Else I will work alone. I have a mission to fulfil. I will work it out alone. I do not care who comes or who goes.

Quote 1000