Hints on Vedantic Sadhana
by Swami Sivananda
THE NATURE OF TRUTH OR BRAHMAN
1. Truth is simple; it is made
to appear complex by the distractive intellect. The sublimest things are always
the most simple.
2. Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
3. Truth can never be defeated by untruth. Truth shall always win victory over untruth. When the path of Truth is trodden, everything else also is done. When the root is watered, all the branches are automatically watered.
4. The path of Truth is a precipitous one. It is slippery and all that is disagreeable. Hard it is to tread that, difficult a path it is. Giants among spiritual men walk over it to the city of Perfection.
5. The Absolute is All. Truth is Absolute. You are That. This is the essence of spiritual teaching.
6. Truth is utterly public. It cannot be hidden even if one would try to do so. Truth persists and is expressed even in the extreme of untruth. The extreme of Truth is the Absolute. Untruth is a shadow of Truth. The world is untruth and the Absolute is Truth. The world is represented by sex and ego; the Absolute is represented by the Noumenal Gnostic Being.
7. His head shall break who acts against Truth and practises untruth. Truth is Being. Untruth is non-being, a mere naught.
8. Truth is not expressed even by Existence-Consciousness-Joy! It is only the nearest relative of Truth. But Truth is even greater, grander, mightier, truer!
9. All is well with him whose heart is turned towards the Truth. No disease, physical or mental, can assault him.
10. The mover towards the Truth is mighty, lives long, knows everything and is ever delighted, for he is nearing the Almighty Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
11. Even to talk of Truth and think of Truth raises one to the height of immense satisfaction. What could be the experience of Its Realisation!
12. Truth is; untruth is not; hence it is wrong even to say that Truth is One, for Truth is Existence Itself and is neither one nor not-one. Truth is Absoluteness.
13. The Absolute baffles the mind of even the greatest scholar. It eludes the grasp of even the mightiest intellect. It is experienced as Pure Consciousness, where intellect dies, scholarship perishes and the entire being itself is completely lost in it. All is lost, and all is found.
14. Air rushes into where there is vacuum. The Absolute rushes into where there is no ego.
15. No time is necessary for the Absolute to reveal Itself. In the flash of a moment, like a stroke of lightning, the world will merge into Pure Being.
16. When will the Absolute-Experience take place cannot be said. It may be just immediately now or millions of births afterwards. Hence one should be always eagerly waiting for its arrival. It will come unexpected at any time.
17. Truth is immense; Truth cannot be spoken; Truth can only be experienced.
18. Truth is beyond speech. Truth is changeless and speech is change. Everything that changes itself is untruth. Hence Truth is Infinite. Truth alone endures, while everything else perishes. Everyone, right from Brahma down to a blade of grass, moves towards Truth, some consciously, some unconsciously. They differ only in the degree of consciousness or the extent of mental purification or subtlety of condition. Every leaf that flies in the air, every breath that flows from us, in other words, every act of universal life, is a step taken nearer the Truth, for, Truth is the eternal Home of all beings. Into It they all enter and find permanent satisfaction and peace. It is the ego-sense that shuts us off from Infinite Life, and hence, the realisation of Truth is the dissolution of individual consciousness in Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
19. The Absolute is perfectly scientific, logical, symmetrical, balanced, systematic, reasonable, rational. It is not irregular and haphazard. It is not a supra-natural mystery but the natural fact of life. The Infinite and Indivisible nature of existence is not a wonder; it is the actual condition of being even as brilliance is of fire, liquidity of water, weight of lead. It is the Highest Perfection of Eternal, Immortal Real Life.
20. The Highest Reality is Sat-Chit-Ananda where there is not even the slightest tinge of activity. That is why those who go near It become inactive.
21. Reality is the Perfected Embodiment of Existence, Knowledge, Power and Bliss. These four are only the aspects of the One Being which is Indivisible and changeless. These different aspects of Existence cannot be separated even as the Sun's flames, heat and luminosity cannot be distinguished.
22. Truth is Eternity, Infinity, Absoluteness, Intelligence, Consciousness, wisdom, beauty, love and joy. Sringararasa, Madhura-Bhava, or the erotic taste of the world is a shadow of the Supreme Reality of loving beauty and bliss. Aesthetic enjoyment is a reflection of Brahmananda or Absolute Bliss.
23. Infinity, Eternity, Immortality and Absoluteness are the characteristics of the Limitless Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
24. All that appears here as the extensive manifold world is the One Uniform Reality existing in this form. As the bright light of the Sun appears as tantalising mirages, so does the One Light of Consciousness appear as many. To appear like this is the very nature of the Reality. These mountains, these rivers, this earth, this vast ether-all these are nothing but the One Pure Undying Spirit. Just as an uneven mirror presents an ugly and corrugated reflection of the face, so does this One Mass of Eternal Existence appear as many due to wrong imagination. All the things of this world are really the One Whole Indivisible Being. The One Ether of Consciousness appears as the concrete many! All this is One, Partless, Divisionless, Beginningless, Endless, Absolute Brahman. The origin, the growth, the enjoyment and the involution of the world are an entire illusion. The network of the worlds is Brahman! The ten directions are Brahman! Time, space, things, activities, cause, effect, actor, birth, death, existence, all are Brahman Itself appearing in Brahman by the power of Brahman! The world is the dazzling of Consciousness! All that is seen below, here, upwards or crosswords, all that exists in the many creatures or within a straw, is Brahman only! There is nothing but That!
25. The Supreme Truth is Oneness! Separateness is for devotion. Manifoldness is not true. There is only One Infinite, Eternal, Nameless and Formless Essence or Principle, in reality which is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, and That I am!
26. The essence of the Truth or Existence is Beauty, Love and Bliss.
WHAT IS JNANA YOGA?
1. Jnana Yoga is cessation from thinking of particulars, annihilation of the feeling of separateness or individuality, existing as One and united with All.
2. Yoga is the dissolution of thought in Eternal Awareness, Pure Consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in Infinity.
3. Yoga is the transformation of the ego-sense consisting of thinking, feeling, willing, understanding, determining and arrogating, into Infinite Consciousness.
4. Yoga is union or identification with the Essence of Absolute Existence.
5. Yoga is intense affirmation of or profound Meditation on the Absolute Being.
6. Yoga is of four types: (i) Service and self-sacrifice, (ii) devotion and self-surrender, (iii) concentration and meditation and (iv) discrimination and wisdom.
THE PATH OF THE VEDANTIC ASPIRANT
7. Do not imitate the Jivanmuktas; you are still a Sadhaka. Vasishtha had a wife, but he was a born Siddha. Janaka ruled the kingdom after severe Tapas and realisation of Truth. Krishna lived a princely life but He was One with the Infinite. You are not expected to behave like them. You must do Sadhana.
8. Do not think that you are very wise and that you have understood everything; you know nothing, my friend; you are deceived. There is an ocean yet, and you have not tasted even a full drop.
9. Every breath of yours flows towards untruth; you live in the mire of falsehood and repeat "Truth alone triumphs!" Can you deceive Reality? Therefore, be true to yourself.
10. O crooked heart! You think one thing, speak another thing and do a third thing. Do you want God? O, how bold you are to claim the Seat of Bliss! Do not cheat yourself; be straightforward.
11. The so-called active spiritual people of the world who work for material gains and carnal pleasures are the most deluded creatures. They have forgotten their Real Self. Sages pity these people who are engaged in the external play of life.
12. Those who think that they are doing injustice to the world through their Self-realisation, have not yet gone above the credulity of childhood. For, they do not know that the Self which is Absolute includes the whole universe, and is far beyond that.
13. The world can be saved only by those who have already saved themselves. A prisoner cannot liberate other prisoners. Therefore perfect yourself; save yourself.
14. If He begins to give with His Infinite Hands, how much will you be able to receive with your two hands? And if He begins to take away with His Infinite Hands, how much will you hide away from Him with your two hands?
15. If the aspirant takes one step nearer to It, It will come in a hundred leaps and bounds nearer to him. Such is the nature of the Eternal Being. For every bit of action that is done for Its sake, you receive a millionfold in return! This fact is beautifully illustrated in the workings of Bhagavan Sri Krishna for the good of His devotees.
16. Sadhana is practised in order to attain the Goal, the Object or the Ideal. The object is sought because it allays misery and showers peace and bliss. The Absolute or the Brahman, the Infinite Light, the One Goal of all, is Itself Eternal Peace and Immortal Bliss. That is why It is the True Ideal that is to be realised by each and every being. There is nothing else to be achieved either in this life or the other. If That is gained everything is gained; if That is lost, everything is lost. That Supreme Being is Truth, God, Infinite, and everything that you may conceive of. That is what exists and That merely Is.
17. Sadhana is a conscious effort exercised for the achievement of an unattained goal or object. Spiritual Sadhana is a conscious mental effort directed towards the realisation and experience of the Absolute Reality. Such a spiritual effort is called "Yoga" in Sanskrit.
18. How clean you keep your house when you invite the ruler of your State! How much more clean and pure should your heart be, O man, if you wish the Immortal Lord to enter into you!
19. It is not necessary that a spiritual giant should have a muscular body. The greatest Jnani may also be a tubercular patient. There is no contradiction between the two.
20. Gold has to pass through fire before becoming brilliant and lustrous. An aspirant has to pass through untold suffering before becoming the absolutely Great.
21. One has to tend the cow with care by dirtying his body with mud and the refuses of the cow, in order to taste the sweet milk. The aspirant has to undergo extreme pains in order to realise the joy of the Spirit.
22. Fear is non-existent in Being. The spiritual aspirant is bolder than a soldier, bolder than a lion, bolder than a giant! In truth, he is the source of all courage and strength.
23. The spiritual aspirant is never helpless. The entire existence is supporting him in his arduous struggle, for he is searching for something which is true to all. One may dislike a certain thing of the world, but Truth can be hated by none.
24. If all the fourteen worlds were to face him in battle, the spiritual aspirant would count them for a straw. For he is the Immortal Spirit, the ruler of the heaven and earth, and the universes at large.
25. The road to the excellent Bliss is clothed with piercing thorns. The road passes through a lonely dense forest haunted by terrific tigers. It is protected by impregnable forts, and guarded by multihooded diabolic cobras. The road is hard to tread; the Bliss is difficult to attain. The sincere spiritual aspirant is one who has become immune to afflictions and terrors. No weapon that is cast against him shall prosper. No thought directed against him shall ever fare well.
26. The Guru's contradictory statements and insultive words are a challenge and a test for the disciple. The Guru sees whether the disciple is tempted and upset. The intelligent disciple should know how to act under such circumstances.
27. Never try to hide the bitter truth with a sweet lie. Be straightforward even if a sword is to pass through your heart. Cling to the naked Truth. If you try to save your 'little' self by hiding a fact, the 'highest' Self will never be reached. Even if your throat is about to be cut, remember that this sweet world of name and fame is only a shadow, and that Truth is Brahman, and nothing else.
28. Maya will sit in your brain and intellect itself. Beware of her snares. Do not try to protect your ego. For the sake of Truth, you must be prepared even to cast off this body at any time. For what purpose are you here on this earth, if not for drowning yourself in the flood of the Infinite Existence? You must get yourself buried in God. Then only you shall live. You gain by losing. You live by dying.
29. All these fourteen worlds with all their inhabitants and riches, beauty and grandeur, joy and happiness, cannot be an adequate price for the Jewel of Self-realisation.
30. The aspirant has to cast off the sheaths, tear the veils and pierce illusion in order to enter the Absolute. The realisation of the Absolute is the fine delicious fruit existing at the top of a terribly thorny tree.
31. A person who has once tasted even a little of the Bliss of spiritual meditation cannot give it up even for the sake of all heaven and earth put together.
32. O man full of craving! When you intensely desire for anything, try your best to desire for everything and not merely one thing. Do not exclude anything from your object of love. Let All be yours. For yours is this All.
33. "When the mind grapples with a great and intricate problem, it makes it advance, it secures its position step by step, with but little realisation of the gains it has made, until suddenly, with an effect of abrupt illumination, it realises its victory." So is the case with spiritual experience in the practice of Yoga.
34. A dense cave darkened by the thick gloom of ages of sunless nights does not require any time to be lighted up when the sun pierces its innermost parts. It is instantaneously brightened to the fullest extent immediately when the sun's rays enter it in spite of its being dark for ages together. The terrible delusion and the vilest ignorance of man is erased out in toto by a flash of Supreme Intelligence attended with Bliss.
35. Sire! Do you, in your meditation, read others' minds? What do you mean? When we enter into the very root of life and existence, where is the question of reading different minds? In deep profound meditation you exist as the Absolute Essence Itself. Do you think that this foolish mind will persist even there? You go beyond the mental state and live in the Glorious Truth.
36. A thing is only a force whirling in a particular direction. One being is separated from the other due to the difference in the method of whirling of the Universal Force. Man is different from a tree because the two are different processes of the movement of the Eternal Force or Energy. This energy is imperishable, eternal. When two beings have a slightly similar movement of these forces or electrons or atoms, they become friends; when they are identical in movement they merge into one another and form One Being. The whole universe is only a diverse movement of the One Energy. When the whirling of this force behaves in a common way then the whole world collapses into Eternal Existence.
37. The whole universe is a gradual, systematic and progressive process of the Self-realisation of the Absolute. This is one view. The whole universe is a dreamy and illusory misrepresentation of the Indivisible Homogeneous Absolute. This is another view. The former view leads to the more advanced latter view. The former is an intellectual judgment, the latter is the intuitional experience. The first view is the beginning of knowledge, the second one is the end of wisdom.
38. "The whole universe is the Para Brahman"-this is the heart of the Advaita metaphysics. The world itself is not an illusion for the world is Brahman, but the diverse conception of the world is an illusion for diversity is not ultimate.
39. The world is the appearance of Sat or Truth. The world itself is Truth misrepresented.
40. Ignorance makes Existence appear as non-existence (death), Consciousness as unconsciousness (nescience) and Bliss as misery (pain). It makes a phantom appear as the reality, foolishness as knowledge and pain as joy.
41. We better love a scientific explanation than a dogmatic assertion of facts. The former is like feeding a person with the necessary daily dishes and allowing him to grow stronger and wiser; the latter would be like stuffing his belly with tons of foodstuffs at once in order to give him energy. For example, "Everything is Brahman" is a dogmatic assertion and is not intelligible, or, we may say, is even dangerous. A scientific explanation of it will help in divinising humanity and the world.
42. Idealism is of three kinds: Subjective, Objective and Absolute. The first one says that the whole universe is an imagination of the individual mind and subjective consciousness. The second one says that the universe is an imagination of the Cosmic Mind or God, the objective reality. The third one says that the universe is an appearance of the Absolute which includes as well as transcends the subject and the object. Naturally the first theory necessitates self-effort of the individual, the second, grace of God and the third mere automatism or wisdom, which is neither self-effort of the individual nor grace of God. The Karma Yogins will like the first theory, the Bhaktas the second and the Jnanis the third. The third is the view of the extreme Advaita Vedanta.
43. The world is ruled by ideas. Thought is the beginning of practice. Thought begets action.
44. The individual entities of the universe are steps in the ladder of progress towards Brahman-realisation.
45. Rigorous discipline of the mind through Abhyasa and Vairagya constitutes the method of attaining freedom and happiness. Real freedom which man so much hankers after is not derived from the ego-sense. Man's present conception of freedom is a total misconception and an utter wrong. He simply knows that he should be free, but he does not know where lies freedom. He wants to be happy but he does not know where happiness lies. He wants to live for ever, but he does not know how to do so. He wants to know everything but he does not know how to get knowledge. This is the reflection of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, that man wants to live, wants to know, and wants to be happy. Who does not want this? All striving of the world is to live, know and enjoy. But the source of this great gain is life, consciousness and joy. Man is essentially Satchidananda. He impotently struggles to get this without knowing it. His present state is a pitiable fall from the glory of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. If we want to do anything in this world, it is because we cannot live without being the Absolute. We all, nay, even the unconscious beings-are ignorantly striving to attain the Immortal State of Satchidananda, whether we know it or not. Even a dry leaf flies only towards this Infinite. Every breath that flows, every thought that is projected, every word spoken, and even every action done, is towards the installation of ourselves in the state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, for we are That only in reality. This is achieved through spiritual discipline, which is action against the ordinary current of the world, against pleasure and enjoyment, against indulgence and sleep, against attraction for the multifarious, against everything that gives us pleasure here.
46. Do you think that death is an evil? Why do you say that blessed people only escaped death? On the other hand the blessed men would have reached the Eternal quickly, while the deluded mortals are still clinging to their bodies. Death is only a change of Consciousness. It is neither good nor bad. It is a stage in the process of evolution towards Eternity.
47. None can tread the higher path without fulfilling the requirements of the lower. The grosser manifestations have to be complied with their demands before reaching the metaphysical Being.
48. Each higher degree of truth is more concrete and inclusive than the lower one, and therefore Bliss which is Absolute is the most inclusive of all.
49. The head and the heart of man represent the aspects of the eternal realities of Knowledge and Bliss. Knowledge includes Power; wherever Knowledge is, there Power also must be.
50. Male, Purusha, Atman, Brahman, Siva, signify Knowledge. Female, Prakriti, Manas, Maya, Sakti, signify Power. When Knowledge and Power combine together and merge into one another there is the manifestation of Bliss. Power is only the other half and an appearance of Knowledge and as long as these two separate themselves, there is imperfection and pain.
51. Power is a relative necessity. It is not absolute. Hence it is excluded from the conception of the Absolute which is mere Being-Consciousness-Joy.
ANNIHILATION OF THE EGO
52. Negate your ego; deny your separateness; efface yourself; suffer pains and sacrifice pleasures.
53. Deny the wants of thyself; it asks for many a cup of poison. It is a moth that falls into fire thinking it is pleasant. It is a child that walks into the well.
54. Humble thyself, annihilate thyself, if you wish to LIVE.
55. Shame upon the man of mere dry intellect! He cannot avoid crookedness and cunningness. He is a self-deceiver and a husband of everlasting misery. He is far away from the Real. He has married sin.
56. Throw away your learning, O basket of vanity. Give away everything that is dear and behold the Light within.
57. The ego bursts into infinity or sinks into nothingness. These are the two paths by which the ego loses itself in toto.
58. Realisation of the Supreme State can come only if one is sincere and earnest in practical Sadhana. The lesser the connection with the ego and the greater the detachment from objective consciousness, the quicker the Realisation of the Absolute.
59. The more the ego-sense is pressed down, the nearer we are to the Eternal. The annihilated ego is taken place of by the revelation of the Absolute Reality.
INTERNAL SADHANA
60. The more you give up the world, the fuller you become and the nearer you are to absolute freedom.
61. The Self alone is dear. If anything else is dear, it shall quickly perish without doubt.
62. If you wish to see everything, pluck out the eyes of consciousness. If you wish to move everywhere, breaks the legs of consciousness. If you want to seize everything, cut off the hands of consciousness. If you wish to become everything, kill the consciousness. If you wish to become Immortal, murder the consciousness, with the axe of wisdom. When you get the whole, you do not cling to the part.
63. Cling passionately to the Infinite Being; you will be in want of nothing; you shall be filled up to the brim.
64. Shut all the doors of the senses; sit in the room of the heart; meditate on the Glorious Truth. Drown yourself and dissolve yourself in the Ocean of that Truth.
65. The nearer we approach the Truth the happier we become, for the Essential Nature of Truth is Positive, Absolute Bliss.
66. Love for the particular has to be set aside and love for the Infinite Whole has to be cherished. The Joy of the Completeness of Being cannot be partaken of in a semblance of it appearing to reflect in a point of space. Attachment for the particular makes us men bereft of intelligence; love for the Absolute makes us drink the Immortal Essence, after which there is no more sorrow, no more crying.
67. The child will not stop wailing and shedding tears until it sucks its mother's breast. So also, O Joy of my Soul! I cannot stop shedding tears of sorrow in this desert of burning sands, until I taste Thy milk of Immortal Sweetness.
68. Victory is won not by might and prowess but truth, compassion, piety and righteousness.
69. Sattva is light and purity; Rajas is activity and passion; Tamas is darkness and inertia.
70. An exhibition of one's abilities brings physical comforts through objective contact, thickens the ego and strengthens the sense of individuality. These comforts act as a powerful hindrance for the higher aspirations of the soul. Therefore, one should use the wisdom he possesses for the purpose of inner meditation and spiritual attainments and never for external pursuits in the world. Fie upon that wisdom which is used for bringing pleasures to the ego! That is true wisdom which opens the door of Immortal Life!
71. Our ability, our greatness, our name and fame, our different desires and ambitions are to be spread in the world of the Eternal Absolute, not in this world of mortals, not even in the world of gods! Such temptations are to be checked and transformed into a force that reveals the Inner Essence of Life!
72. It is pity to see those people who, before entering into the depths of the Spirit, think that they are born to help the world. They think that they can bring heaven to earth before raising the consciousness to higher states. They have no yearning for Wisdom. They have gone astray.
73. Service that is "self-less" brings men nearer to Unity and the greatest service is the truly "selfless" but "Selfful" unification of the soul into the One Mass of Consciousness.
74. One body can be served by another body. One mind can serve another mind. But one Atman cannot serve another Atman, for Atman is One. If the Atman realises the common Being of all with its Self, that is the greatest service an individual would do. If this soul melts into the universal Soul that is the greatest service this person would do to the world. Self-realisation is service, prayer, worship and all that is good. Nothing else.
75. One has to wear the armour of wisdom while walking through the battle-field of life. He has to protect himself with the shield of discrimination and cut the enemy of ignorance with the sword of experience.
76. The head and the heart must meet together before the Realisation of the Absolute Truth. The whole man has to be transformed, not merely an aspect of him.
77. The greatest insult received before respectable gentlemen is the beginning of perfection. The greatest pain, sorrow and grief is the beginning of saintliness.
78. One must try to get more insults. Even if people think that he is a good man, he should try to make them feel that he is a rogue, and thus get rid of their love for him. The whole world should oppose him. Then only he will prosper. The whole world should desert him and kick him aside. No earthly happiness can bring true Realisation. All should hate him. Then only his soul will be disciplined. There should be no help from the world of the mortals.
79. Let people pour shame upon one's face! But one should stick to the ideal. One should stick to the Highest Vedantic Ideal even on the edge of the doom.
80. The length of time taken by an individual to possess a desired object is proportional to the intensity of the individual's feeling of identification with the Infinite Absolute. The individual which feels that three-fourth of the entire existence is its own self and that one-fourth is not its being realises an object quicker than the individual that feels that only half of the entire existence is its self. People who feel that their own individual bodies are their self and that everything else of the universe is different from them can never live a happy life. The happiest person, thus, is the one who has lost his personality in the realisation of the fact that the entire existence is his own being and that there is nothing second to him. He is the Immortal, the Powerful, the Blissful, the Ocean of True Wisdom.
81. Brahmabhavana is the individual effort on the part of the subjective ego in order to realise the State of Brahmanubhava or Absolute Experience, the dissolution of the self in the Eternal, the Pure, the Perfect, the Omniscient, the Free, the All-knowing, the All-pervading, the All-powerful, the Peaceful, the Blessed, the Non-dual, the Mass of the One Undivided Essence of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, the Absolute which is this All; there is nothing diverse here.
82. Stop, O mind, thy plannings! Enough, enough of thy cravings for the body and for the intellect. Make good of every minute that is at thy disposal. Time is a rat that slowly cuts the thread of life. It may break at any moment. Believe not that you will be living to enjoy the objects of life. Death may lay its icy hands on this body and may shatter it at any time. Cherish not objects of the world. Wish not for glory in life. Plan not to immortalise thy name in the world, lest thou wilt be immortalising it in vacuum. Speak not to people, lest thou wilt be speaking to the skies. Beat not space thinking it is a drum. Stop imagining. Stop scheming.
83. Finite pleasure and Infinite Satisfaction cannot be had at one and the same time. Where one is, the other is not. The mortal and the Immortal are utter contradictions.
84. To say "I am the Infinite" is not Abhimana. To feel "I am the Eternal" is not ego. Such an Abhimana or egoism is necessary for the Highest Realisation.
85. Sire! Can you tell me how to attain Perfect Peace? Shut all the doors and windows and sleep in the innermost chamber!
86. The true philosopher's mind is like a shining crystal. It is able to grasp at once the nature of the Reality. The moment such a person sits for meditation, his mind will fly into the depths of being. He will not experience any tossing of mind or any disturbing factor, for, his mind has been already purified by the fire of philosophical thinking.
87. One should have either a sharp intellect to grasp the metaphysical truths, or intense faith and devotion for the One Reality. If both of these qualities are lacking in a person, he cannot tread the spiritual path.
88. In Jnana-Sadhana (Vedanta or Advaita) there is no such thing as "meditation on an object." There is only intellectual analysis, introspection and positive understanding which has its object in the destruction of the ego and annihilation of the intellect itself. It starts with the intellect and ends with the destruction of the same, which gives way to Experience, immediate and direct, transcending the subject-object-relation. Where there is no such thing as Omkara or anything of the sort in Jnana-Sadhana or Metaphysical Practice, there is no manipulation of word or sound in actual Advaitism. There is only grappling with the Essence of Existence through reason or ratiocination.
89. The pronunciation of the word "OM" includes all the processes of sound-production and word-formation. Hence this word-symbol is said to be the highest form of expression of Sound and is the basis of all speech, even the Vedas! All words and all languages are, thus, produced from the eternal "OM."
2. Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
3. Truth can never be defeated by untruth. Truth shall always win victory over untruth. When the path of Truth is trodden, everything else also is done. When the root is watered, all the branches are automatically watered.
4. The path of Truth is a precipitous one. It is slippery and all that is disagreeable. Hard it is to tread that, difficult a path it is. Giants among spiritual men walk over it to the city of Perfection.
5. The Absolute is All. Truth is Absolute. You are That. This is the essence of spiritual teaching.
6. Truth is utterly public. It cannot be hidden even if one would try to do so. Truth persists and is expressed even in the extreme of untruth. The extreme of Truth is the Absolute. Untruth is a shadow of Truth. The world is untruth and the Absolute is Truth. The world is represented by sex and ego; the Absolute is represented by the Noumenal Gnostic Being.
7. His head shall break who acts against Truth and practises untruth. Truth is Being. Untruth is non-being, a mere naught.
8. Truth is not expressed even by Existence-Consciousness-Joy! It is only the nearest relative of Truth. But Truth is even greater, grander, mightier, truer!
9. All is well with him whose heart is turned towards the Truth. No disease, physical or mental, can assault him.
10. The mover towards the Truth is mighty, lives long, knows everything and is ever delighted, for he is nearing the Almighty Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
11. Even to talk of Truth and think of Truth raises one to the height of immense satisfaction. What could be the experience of Its Realisation!
12. Truth is; untruth is not; hence it is wrong even to say that Truth is One, for Truth is Existence Itself and is neither one nor not-one. Truth is Absoluteness.
13. The Absolute baffles the mind of even the greatest scholar. It eludes the grasp of even the mightiest intellect. It is experienced as Pure Consciousness, where intellect dies, scholarship perishes and the entire being itself is completely lost in it. All is lost, and all is found.
14. Air rushes into where there is vacuum. The Absolute rushes into where there is no ego.
15. No time is necessary for the Absolute to reveal Itself. In the flash of a moment, like a stroke of lightning, the world will merge into Pure Being.
16. When will the Absolute-Experience take place cannot be said. It may be just immediately now or millions of births afterwards. Hence one should be always eagerly waiting for its arrival. It will come unexpected at any time.
17. Truth is immense; Truth cannot be spoken; Truth can only be experienced.
18. Truth is beyond speech. Truth is changeless and speech is change. Everything that changes itself is untruth. Hence Truth is Infinite. Truth alone endures, while everything else perishes. Everyone, right from Brahma down to a blade of grass, moves towards Truth, some consciously, some unconsciously. They differ only in the degree of consciousness or the extent of mental purification or subtlety of condition. Every leaf that flies in the air, every breath that flows from us, in other words, every act of universal life, is a step taken nearer the Truth, for, Truth is the eternal Home of all beings. Into It they all enter and find permanent satisfaction and peace. It is the ego-sense that shuts us off from Infinite Life, and hence, the realisation of Truth is the dissolution of individual consciousness in Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
19. The Absolute is perfectly scientific, logical, symmetrical, balanced, systematic, reasonable, rational. It is not irregular and haphazard. It is not a supra-natural mystery but the natural fact of life. The Infinite and Indivisible nature of existence is not a wonder; it is the actual condition of being even as brilliance is of fire, liquidity of water, weight of lead. It is the Highest Perfection of Eternal, Immortal Real Life.
20. The Highest Reality is Sat-Chit-Ananda where there is not even the slightest tinge of activity. That is why those who go near It become inactive.
21. Reality is the Perfected Embodiment of Existence, Knowledge, Power and Bliss. These four are only the aspects of the One Being which is Indivisible and changeless. These different aspects of Existence cannot be separated even as the Sun's flames, heat and luminosity cannot be distinguished.
22. Truth is Eternity, Infinity, Absoluteness, Intelligence, Consciousness, wisdom, beauty, love and joy. Sringararasa, Madhura-Bhava, or the erotic taste of the world is a shadow of the Supreme Reality of loving beauty and bliss. Aesthetic enjoyment is a reflection of Brahmananda or Absolute Bliss.
23. Infinity, Eternity, Immortality and Absoluteness are the characteristics of the Limitless Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
24. All that appears here as the extensive manifold world is the One Uniform Reality existing in this form. As the bright light of the Sun appears as tantalising mirages, so does the One Light of Consciousness appear as many. To appear like this is the very nature of the Reality. These mountains, these rivers, this earth, this vast ether-all these are nothing but the One Pure Undying Spirit. Just as an uneven mirror presents an ugly and corrugated reflection of the face, so does this One Mass of Eternal Existence appear as many due to wrong imagination. All the things of this world are really the One Whole Indivisible Being. The One Ether of Consciousness appears as the concrete many! All this is One, Partless, Divisionless, Beginningless, Endless, Absolute Brahman. The origin, the growth, the enjoyment and the involution of the world are an entire illusion. The network of the worlds is Brahman! The ten directions are Brahman! Time, space, things, activities, cause, effect, actor, birth, death, existence, all are Brahman Itself appearing in Brahman by the power of Brahman! The world is the dazzling of Consciousness! All that is seen below, here, upwards or crosswords, all that exists in the many creatures or within a straw, is Brahman only! There is nothing but That!
25. The Supreme Truth is Oneness! Separateness is for devotion. Manifoldness is not true. There is only One Infinite, Eternal, Nameless and Formless Essence or Principle, in reality which is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, and That I am!
26. The essence of the Truth or Existence is Beauty, Love and Bliss.
WHAT IS JNANA YOGA?
1. Jnana Yoga is cessation from thinking of particulars, annihilation of the feeling of separateness or individuality, existing as One and united with All.
2. Yoga is the dissolution of thought in Eternal Awareness, Pure Consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in Infinity.
3. Yoga is the transformation of the ego-sense consisting of thinking, feeling, willing, understanding, determining and arrogating, into Infinite Consciousness.
4. Yoga is union or identification with the Essence of Absolute Existence.
5. Yoga is intense affirmation of or profound Meditation on the Absolute Being.
6. Yoga is of four types: (i) Service and self-sacrifice, (ii) devotion and self-surrender, (iii) concentration and meditation and (iv) discrimination and wisdom.
THE PATH OF THE VEDANTIC ASPIRANT
7. Do not imitate the Jivanmuktas; you are still a Sadhaka. Vasishtha had a wife, but he was a born Siddha. Janaka ruled the kingdom after severe Tapas and realisation of Truth. Krishna lived a princely life but He was One with the Infinite. You are not expected to behave like them. You must do Sadhana.
8. Do not think that you are very wise and that you have understood everything; you know nothing, my friend; you are deceived. There is an ocean yet, and you have not tasted even a full drop.
9. Every breath of yours flows towards untruth; you live in the mire of falsehood and repeat "Truth alone triumphs!" Can you deceive Reality? Therefore, be true to yourself.
10. O crooked heart! You think one thing, speak another thing and do a third thing. Do you want God? O, how bold you are to claim the Seat of Bliss! Do not cheat yourself; be straightforward.
11. The so-called active spiritual people of the world who work for material gains and carnal pleasures are the most deluded creatures. They have forgotten their Real Self. Sages pity these people who are engaged in the external play of life.
12. Those who think that they are doing injustice to the world through their Self-realisation, have not yet gone above the credulity of childhood. For, they do not know that the Self which is Absolute includes the whole universe, and is far beyond that.
13. The world can be saved only by those who have already saved themselves. A prisoner cannot liberate other prisoners. Therefore perfect yourself; save yourself.
14. If He begins to give with His Infinite Hands, how much will you be able to receive with your two hands? And if He begins to take away with His Infinite Hands, how much will you hide away from Him with your two hands?
15. If the aspirant takes one step nearer to It, It will come in a hundred leaps and bounds nearer to him. Such is the nature of the Eternal Being. For every bit of action that is done for Its sake, you receive a millionfold in return! This fact is beautifully illustrated in the workings of Bhagavan Sri Krishna for the good of His devotees.
16. Sadhana is practised in order to attain the Goal, the Object or the Ideal. The object is sought because it allays misery and showers peace and bliss. The Absolute or the Brahman, the Infinite Light, the One Goal of all, is Itself Eternal Peace and Immortal Bliss. That is why It is the True Ideal that is to be realised by each and every being. There is nothing else to be achieved either in this life or the other. If That is gained everything is gained; if That is lost, everything is lost. That Supreme Being is Truth, God, Infinite, and everything that you may conceive of. That is what exists and That merely Is.
17. Sadhana is a conscious effort exercised for the achievement of an unattained goal or object. Spiritual Sadhana is a conscious mental effort directed towards the realisation and experience of the Absolute Reality. Such a spiritual effort is called "Yoga" in Sanskrit.
18. How clean you keep your house when you invite the ruler of your State! How much more clean and pure should your heart be, O man, if you wish the Immortal Lord to enter into you!
19. It is not necessary that a spiritual giant should have a muscular body. The greatest Jnani may also be a tubercular patient. There is no contradiction between the two.
20. Gold has to pass through fire before becoming brilliant and lustrous. An aspirant has to pass through untold suffering before becoming the absolutely Great.
21. One has to tend the cow with care by dirtying his body with mud and the refuses of the cow, in order to taste the sweet milk. The aspirant has to undergo extreme pains in order to realise the joy of the Spirit.
22. Fear is non-existent in Being. The spiritual aspirant is bolder than a soldier, bolder than a lion, bolder than a giant! In truth, he is the source of all courage and strength.
23. The spiritual aspirant is never helpless. The entire existence is supporting him in his arduous struggle, for he is searching for something which is true to all. One may dislike a certain thing of the world, but Truth can be hated by none.
24. If all the fourteen worlds were to face him in battle, the spiritual aspirant would count them for a straw. For he is the Immortal Spirit, the ruler of the heaven and earth, and the universes at large.
25. The road to the excellent Bliss is clothed with piercing thorns. The road passes through a lonely dense forest haunted by terrific tigers. It is protected by impregnable forts, and guarded by multihooded diabolic cobras. The road is hard to tread; the Bliss is difficult to attain. The sincere spiritual aspirant is one who has become immune to afflictions and terrors. No weapon that is cast against him shall prosper. No thought directed against him shall ever fare well.
26. The Guru's contradictory statements and insultive words are a challenge and a test for the disciple. The Guru sees whether the disciple is tempted and upset. The intelligent disciple should know how to act under such circumstances.
27. Never try to hide the bitter truth with a sweet lie. Be straightforward even if a sword is to pass through your heart. Cling to the naked Truth. If you try to save your 'little' self by hiding a fact, the 'highest' Self will never be reached. Even if your throat is about to be cut, remember that this sweet world of name and fame is only a shadow, and that Truth is Brahman, and nothing else.
28. Maya will sit in your brain and intellect itself. Beware of her snares. Do not try to protect your ego. For the sake of Truth, you must be prepared even to cast off this body at any time. For what purpose are you here on this earth, if not for drowning yourself in the flood of the Infinite Existence? You must get yourself buried in God. Then only you shall live. You gain by losing. You live by dying.
29. All these fourteen worlds with all their inhabitants and riches, beauty and grandeur, joy and happiness, cannot be an adequate price for the Jewel of Self-realisation.
30. The aspirant has to cast off the sheaths, tear the veils and pierce illusion in order to enter the Absolute. The realisation of the Absolute is the fine delicious fruit existing at the top of a terribly thorny tree.
31. A person who has once tasted even a little of the Bliss of spiritual meditation cannot give it up even for the sake of all heaven and earth put together.
32. O man full of craving! When you intensely desire for anything, try your best to desire for everything and not merely one thing. Do not exclude anything from your object of love. Let All be yours. For yours is this All.
33. "When the mind grapples with a great and intricate problem, it makes it advance, it secures its position step by step, with but little realisation of the gains it has made, until suddenly, with an effect of abrupt illumination, it realises its victory." So is the case with spiritual experience in the practice of Yoga.
34. A dense cave darkened by the thick gloom of ages of sunless nights does not require any time to be lighted up when the sun pierces its innermost parts. It is instantaneously brightened to the fullest extent immediately when the sun's rays enter it in spite of its being dark for ages together. The terrible delusion and the vilest ignorance of man is erased out in toto by a flash of Supreme Intelligence attended with Bliss.
35. Sire! Do you, in your meditation, read others' minds? What do you mean? When we enter into the very root of life and existence, where is the question of reading different minds? In deep profound meditation you exist as the Absolute Essence Itself. Do you think that this foolish mind will persist even there? You go beyond the mental state and live in the Glorious Truth.
36. A thing is only a force whirling in a particular direction. One being is separated from the other due to the difference in the method of whirling of the Universal Force. Man is different from a tree because the two are different processes of the movement of the Eternal Force or Energy. This energy is imperishable, eternal. When two beings have a slightly similar movement of these forces or electrons or atoms, they become friends; when they are identical in movement they merge into one another and form One Being. The whole universe is only a diverse movement of the One Energy. When the whirling of this force behaves in a common way then the whole world collapses into Eternal Existence.
37. The whole universe is a gradual, systematic and progressive process of the Self-realisation of the Absolute. This is one view. The whole universe is a dreamy and illusory misrepresentation of the Indivisible Homogeneous Absolute. This is another view. The former view leads to the more advanced latter view. The former is an intellectual judgment, the latter is the intuitional experience. The first view is the beginning of knowledge, the second one is the end of wisdom.
38. "The whole universe is the Para Brahman"-this is the heart of the Advaita metaphysics. The world itself is not an illusion for the world is Brahman, but the diverse conception of the world is an illusion for diversity is not ultimate.
39. The world is the appearance of Sat or Truth. The world itself is Truth misrepresented.
40. Ignorance makes Existence appear as non-existence (death), Consciousness as unconsciousness (nescience) and Bliss as misery (pain). It makes a phantom appear as the reality, foolishness as knowledge and pain as joy.
41. We better love a scientific explanation than a dogmatic assertion of facts. The former is like feeding a person with the necessary daily dishes and allowing him to grow stronger and wiser; the latter would be like stuffing his belly with tons of foodstuffs at once in order to give him energy. For example, "Everything is Brahman" is a dogmatic assertion and is not intelligible, or, we may say, is even dangerous. A scientific explanation of it will help in divinising humanity and the world.
42. Idealism is of three kinds: Subjective, Objective and Absolute. The first one says that the whole universe is an imagination of the individual mind and subjective consciousness. The second one says that the universe is an imagination of the Cosmic Mind or God, the objective reality. The third one says that the universe is an appearance of the Absolute which includes as well as transcends the subject and the object. Naturally the first theory necessitates self-effort of the individual, the second, grace of God and the third mere automatism or wisdom, which is neither self-effort of the individual nor grace of God. The Karma Yogins will like the first theory, the Bhaktas the second and the Jnanis the third. The third is the view of the extreme Advaita Vedanta.
43. The world is ruled by ideas. Thought is the beginning of practice. Thought begets action.
44. The individual entities of the universe are steps in the ladder of progress towards Brahman-realisation.
45. Rigorous discipline of the mind through Abhyasa and Vairagya constitutes the method of attaining freedom and happiness. Real freedom which man so much hankers after is not derived from the ego-sense. Man's present conception of freedom is a total misconception and an utter wrong. He simply knows that he should be free, but he does not know where lies freedom. He wants to be happy but he does not know where happiness lies. He wants to live for ever, but he does not know how to do so. He wants to know everything but he does not know how to get knowledge. This is the reflection of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, that man wants to live, wants to know, and wants to be happy. Who does not want this? All striving of the world is to live, know and enjoy. But the source of this great gain is life, consciousness and joy. Man is essentially Satchidananda. He impotently struggles to get this without knowing it. His present state is a pitiable fall from the glory of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. If we want to do anything in this world, it is because we cannot live without being the Absolute. We all, nay, even the unconscious beings-are ignorantly striving to attain the Immortal State of Satchidananda, whether we know it or not. Even a dry leaf flies only towards this Infinite. Every breath that flows, every thought that is projected, every word spoken, and even every action done, is towards the installation of ourselves in the state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, for we are That only in reality. This is achieved through spiritual discipline, which is action against the ordinary current of the world, against pleasure and enjoyment, against indulgence and sleep, against attraction for the multifarious, against everything that gives us pleasure here.
46. Do you think that death is an evil? Why do you say that blessed people only escaped death? On the other hand the blessed men would have reached the Eternal quickly, while the deluded mortals are still clinging to their bodies. Death is only a change of Consciousness. It is neither good nor bad. It is a stage in the process of evolution towards Eternity.
47. None can tread the higher path without fulfilling the requirements of the lower. The grosser manifestations have to be complied with their demands before reaching the metaphysical Being.
48. Each higher degree of truth is more concrete and inclusive than the lower one, and therefore Bliss which is Absolute is the most inclusive of all.
49. The head and the heart of man represent the aspects of the eternal realities of Knowledge and Bliss. Knowledge includes Power; wherever Knowledge is, there Power also must be.
50. Male, Purusha, Atman, Brahman, Siva, signify Knowledge. Female, Prakriti, Manas, Maya, Sakti, signify Power. When Knowledge and Power combine together and merge into one another there is the manifestation of Bliss. Power is only the other half and an appearance of Knowledge and as long as these two separate themselves, there is imperfection and pain.
51. Power is a relative necessity. It is not absolute. Hence it is excluded from the conception of the Absolute which is mere Being-Consciousness-Joy.
ANNIHILATION OF THE EGO
52. Negate your ego; deny your separateness; efface yourself; suffer pains and sacrifice pleasures.
53. Deny the wants of thyself; it asks for many a cup of poison. It is a moth that falls into fire thinking it is pleasant. It is a child that walks into the well.
54. Humble thyself, annihilate thyself, if you wish to LIVE.
55. Shame upon the man of mere dry intellect! He cannot avoid crookedness and cunningness. He is a self-deceiver and a husband of everlasting misery. He is far away from the Real. He has married sin.
56. Throw away your learning, O basket of vanity. Give away everything that is dear and behold the Light within.
57. The ego bursts into infinity or sinks into nothingness. These are the two paths by which the ego loses itself in toto.
58. Realisation of the Supreme State can come only if one is sincere and earnest in practical Sadhana. The lesser the connection with the ego and the greater the detachment from objective consciousness, the quicker the Realisation of the Absolute.
59. The more the ego-sense is pressed down, the nearer we are to the Eternal. The annihilated ego is taken place of by the revelation of the Absolute Reality.
INTERNAL SADHANA
60. The more you give up the world, the fuller you become and the nearer you are to absolute freedom.
61. The Self alone is dear. If anything else is dear, it shall quickly perish without doubt.
62. If you wish to see everything, pluck out the eyes of consciousness. If you wish to move everywhere, breaks the legs of consciousness. If you want to seize everything, cut off the hands of consciousness. If you wish to become everything, kill the consciousness. If you wish to become Immortal, murder the consciousness, with the axe of wisdom. When you get the whole, you do not cling to the part.
63. Cling passionately to the Infinite Being; you will be in want of nothing; you shall be filled up to the brim.
64. Shut all the doors of the senses; sit in the room of the heart; meditate on the Glorious Truth. Drown yourself and dissolve yourself in the Ocean of that Truth.
65. The nearer we approach the Truth the happier we become, for the Essential Nature of Truth is Positive, Absolute Bliss.
66. Love for the particular has to be set aside and love for the Infinite Whole has to be cherished. The Joy of the Completeness of Being cannot be partaken of in a semblance of it appearing to reflect in a point of space. Attachment for the particular makes us men bereft of intelligence; love for the Absolute makes us drink the Immortal Essence, after which there is no more sorrow, no more crying.
67. The child will not stop wailing and shedding tears until it sucks its mother's breast. So also, O Joy of my Soul! I cannot stop shedding tears of sorrow in this desert of burning sands, until I taste Thy milk of Immortal Sweetness.
68. Victory is won not by might and prowess but truth, compassion, piety and righteousness.
69. Sattva is light and purity; Rajas is activity and passion; Tamas is darkness and inertia.
70. An exhibition of one's abilities brings physical comforts through objective contact, thickens the ego and strengthens the sense of individuality. These comforts act as a powerful hindrance for the higher aspirations of the soul. Therefore, one should use the wisdom he possesses for the purpose of inner meditation and spiritual attainments and never for external pursuits in the world. Fie upon that wisdom which is used for bringing pleasures to the ego! That is true wisdom which opens the door of Immortal Life!
71. Our ability, our greatness, our name and fame, our different desires and ambitions are to be spread in the world of the Eternal Absolute, not in this world of mortals, not even in the world of gods! Such temptations are to be checked and transformed into a force that reveals the Inner Essence of Life!
72. It is pity to see those people who, before entering into the depths of the Spirit, think that they are born to help the world. They think that they can bring heaven to earth before raising the consciousness to higher states. They have no yearning for Wisdom. They have gone astray.
73. Service that is "self-less" brings men nearer to Unity and the greatest service is the truly "selfless" but "Selfful" unification of the soul into the One Mass of Consciousness.
74. One body can be served by another body. One mind can serve another mind. But one Atman cannot serve another Atman, for Atman is One. If the Atman realises the common Being of all with its Self, that is the greatest service an individual would do. If this soul melts into the universal Soul that is the greatest service this person would do to the world. Self-realisation is service, prayer, worship and all that is good. Nothing else.
75. One has to wear the armour of wisdom while walking through the battle-field of life. He has to protect himself with the shield of discrimination and cut the enemy of ignorance with the sword of experience.
76. The head and the heart must meet together before the Realisation of the Absolute Truth. The whole man has to be transformed, not merely an aspect of him.
77. The greatest insult received before respectable gentlemen is the beginning of perfection. The greatest pain, sorrow and grief is the beginning of saintliness.
78. One must try to get more insults. Even if people think that he is a good man, he should try to make them feel that he is a rogue, and thus get rid of their love for him. The whole world should oppose him. Then only he will prosper. The whole world should desert him and kick him aside. No earthly happiness can bring true Realisation. All should hate him. Then only his soul will be disciplined. There should be no help from the world of the mortals.
79. Let people pour shame upon one's face! But one should stick to the ideal. One should stick to the Highest Vedantic Ideal even on the edge of the doom.
80. The length of time taken by an individual to possess a desired object is proportional to the intensity of the individual's feeling of identification with the Infinite Absolute. The individual which feels that three-fourth of the entire existence is its own self and that one-fourth is not its being realises an object quicker than the individual that feels that only half of the entire existence is its self. People who feel that their own individual bodies are their self and that everything else of the universe is different from them can never live a happy life. The happiest person, thus, is the one who has lost his personality in the realisation of the fact that the entire existence is his own being and that there is nothing second to him. He is the Immortal, the Powerful, the Blissful, the Ocean of True Wisdom.
81. Brahmabhavana is the individual effort on the part of the subjective ego in order to realise the State of Brahmanubhava or Absolute Experience, the dissolution of the self in the Eternal, the Pure, the Perfect, the Omniscient, the Free, the All-knowing, the All-pervading, the All-powerful, the Peaceful, the Blessed, the Non-dual, the Mass of the One Undivided Essence of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, the Absolute which is this All; there is nothing diverse here.
82. Stop, O mind, thy plannings! Enough, enough of thy cravings for the body and for the intellect. Make good of every minute that is at thy disposal. Time is a rat that slowly cuts the thread of life. It may break at any moment. Believe not that you will be living to enjoy the objects of life. Death may lay its icy hands on this body and may shatter it at any time. Cherish not objects of the world. Wish not for glory in life. Plan not to immortalise thy name in the world, lest thou wilt be immortalising it in vacuum. Speak not to people, lest thou wilt be speaking to the skies. Beat not space thinking it is a drum. Stop imagining. Stop scheming.
83. Finite pleasure and Infinite Satisfaction cannot be had at one and the same time. Where one is, the other is not. The mortal and the Immortal are utter contradictions.
84. To say "I am the Infinite" is not Abhimana. To feel "I am the Eternal" is not ego. Such an Abhimana or egoism is necessary for the Highest Realisation.
85. Sire! Can you tell me how to attain Perfect Peace? Shut all the doors and windows and sleep in the innermost chamber!
86. The true philosopher's mind is like a shining crystal. It is able to grasp at once the nature of the Reality. The moment such a person sits for meditation, his mind will fly into the depths of being. He will not experience any tossing of mind or any disturbing factor, for, his mind has been already purified by the fire of philosophical thinking.
87. One should have either a sharp intellect to grasp the metaphysical truths, or intense faith and devotion for the One Reality. If both of these qualities are lacking in a person, he cannot tread the spiritual path.
88. In Jnana-Sadhana (Vedanta or Advaita) there is no such thing as "meditation on an object." There is only intellectual analysis, introspection and positive understanding which has its object in the destruction of the ego and annihilation of the intellect itself. It starts with the intellect and ends with the destruction of the same, which gives way to Experience, immediate and direct, transcending the subject-object-relation. Where there is no such thing as Omkara or anything of the sort in Jnana-Sadhana or Metaphysical Practice, there is no manipulation of word or sound in actual Advaitism. There is only grappling with the Essence of Existence through reason or ratiocination.
89. The pronunciation of the word "OM" includes all the processes of sound-production and word-formation. Hence this word-symbol is said to be the highest form of expression of Sound and is the basis of all speech, even the Vedas! All words and all languages are, thus, produced from the eternal "OM."
90. The highest freedom has
its greatest tax, the fullest experience demands the costliest price for it.
The dearest and the most beautiful of the world has to be surrendered and the
sweetest abandoned for the sake of the joy of the Soul.
91. The most precious object of our love turns to be the price demanded by the Immortal Shop-keeper for our buying the bliss of Eternity and Infinity. Our very self, our very separate existence has to be parted with for obtaining the Joy of the Immortal Spirit!
92. Love is spoiled when it is directed towards an object that is defined by space. Love only the Limitless or the Infinite.
93. Let there be that terrible yearning for Self-Integration, that blazing fire of love for the Bhuma! Then only you are saved!
OBSTACLES IN THE PATH
94. Even a slight tinge of earthliness makes one unfit for the Realisation of the Absolute. No doubt the earth itself is the Absolute, but our attitude towards the earth is not of the nature of the Absolute.
95. Name, power, wealth and sex are the four doors to the fort of self-degeneration and imprisonment. These four are to be carefully abandoned.
96. Passion is the instinctive urge for externalisation through self-preservation and self-multiplication. It is the diversifying power which is directly opposite to the force that moves towards the Integration of Being.
97. There is a sudden revolt of the natural physical consciousness against all endeavour to reach the Absolute Reality. The rebellion is so uncontrollable that realisation seems to be well neigh impossible, for a weak aspirant.
98. People complain of disturbances and failures in meditation due to the impurity and grossness of their minds. A thorough study and understanding of the natural laws and truths of life is absolutely necessary before venturing to start meditation on the Real Essence of Existence. Without such necessary equipments, one is liable to be lost in the dark dungeon of ignorance.
WISDOM AND REALISATION
99. There is but One Immortal bottomless and limitless, surfaceless and shoreless Ocean of Indivisible Consciousness-Bliss-Mass, laughing with the joyous eternal waters of dazzling, brilliant, luminous Light and divine nectarine Sweetness, roaring with the Infinite thundering sound of never-ending Omkara-Nada, ever calm, peaceful, silent, blessed and dashing within Itself with mountain-like waves of unbounded Delight in the majestic grandeur of the Essence of Absolute Existence! There is nothing but That! Thus is the Meditation!
100. Absolute Experience is a state of Self-absorption and not self-expression, for the latter necessitates change and action, which is self-limitation.
101. None is excluded from Absolute-Realisation. One realises today, one tomorrow. But all must realise That one day or other. There is no selection for Liberation. All are the Absolute eternally.
102. There are many wiseacres, but few are wise. He is a man of wisdom who is ever in a state of half-sleep, having drunk deep the wine of the essence of life. Glory be to him! We are his servants.
103. A man of knowledge cannot express all that he knows at one and the same time. He expresses only that part of it which is excited by the contact of an external agent.
104. Many times Jivanmuktas put on a nasty appearance and act like men gone out of their brain. They sometimes behave in a very unpleasant manner which will annoy any man on earth. They will live like fools just to get rid of the love which the world may develop towards them. They hide their real nature and move like intoxicated drunkards. These are the great men of the earth, not those who are clever in social manners and live like kings and emperors. He who is gone to the Truth cannot behave in a manner which is favourable to the fashions of the ignorant world! Such really great men are many on earth, but the world knows them not due to delusion, and considers only those as great who show a few juggler's tricks before its blinded eyes. The real is ever hidden and unseen. Only the unreal appears before us, and alas! we are cheated by it!
105. You cannot judge a Sage by his words or actions. He will be an ordinary loafer outside but a Jadabharata or a Suka-Maharshi inside.
106. For the sage everything is a play! But he never feels anything at heart except that Everything is One!
107. A person of Absolute Consciousness unconsciously attracts that part of Existence where lies his objects of desire. At once, like a flash of lightning, the things needed by him flow to him like rivers into the ocean, for he is their very Self. The man of wisdom does without acting, enjoys without wishing. He need not command anybody, for, he already is the Self of the one whom he may wish to command. He cannot instruct, order, perceive or even be conscious of anything else, for he is the essential being of everything that he may try to deal with. Even the gods cannot obstruct him from doing anything, for, he is the inner reality of even the gods. The mountains should shake and the earth should crumble into thousand fragments if he so wishes, for he is the self of even the mountain and the earth. If he shuts his eyes, the sun will become dark. If he breathes, all beings will live. If he so desires, the whole universe will become non-existent. If he so wills, the rivers shall flow, the fire burns and the trees blossom with flowers. If he so desires the entire universe shall now experience the State of the Eternal and the Immortal. Such is the glory of an embodiment of Wisdom of the Truth.
108. The might of thought and the strength of feeling melt into the glory of Experience-Whole. The finite is dead and the Infinite is born the very same moment. The birth of Day and the death of Night are simultaneous.
109. The greatest men are those who are lost in Self-Consciousness. Such men are too near to God to be able to do any action. Therefore they are unknown to the world.
110. The vision of God is the awareness of the essence of one's own being. God is the essence of even the Satan. He is the source of even the worst evil. He fills Himself inside and outside and there is nothing which He is not.
111. The devotee of the Eternal is lost in the Consciousness of God. He plunges into the Ocean of Bliss. He takes a bath in the sea of Nectar. He drinks deep the essence of Immortality. He attains the Source, the Root of the Universe!
112. O beloved of my heart! Immortal Joy! Where art Thou? How can I live without Thee? It is very long since I left Thee. Come, come! I am very restless without Thee!
113. "I am all"; this is the beginning of Truth-experience. Silent Be-ness is its highest flight.
114. There is no paper on which to write the Nature of Truth. There is no pen which can dare to write It. There is no person living who can express It. It merely is everything that is, and there ends the matter. Every effort to express It's Nature is trying to kill Its Greatness. I am that Great Being! I am here, I am there; Oh! I am this, I am that! I am the Greatest, the Best, and again the Greatest! My glory knows no bounds! I am the most Blessed, the Immortal, the Great!
91. The most precious object of our love turns to be the price demanded by the Immortal Shop-keeper for our buying the bliss of Eternity and Infinity. Our very self, our very separate existence has to be parted with for obtaining the Joy of the Immortal Spirit!
92. Love is spoiled when it is directed towards an object that is defined by space. Love only the Limitless or the Infinite.
93. Let there be that terrible yearning for Self-Integration, that blazing fire of love for the Bhuma! Then only you are saved!
OBSTACLES IN THE PATH
94. Even a slight tinge of earthliness makes one unfit for the Realisation of the Absolute. No doubt the earth itself is the Absolute, but our attitude towards the earth is not of the nature of the Absolute.
95. Name, power, wealth and sex are the four doors to the fort of self-degeneration and imprisonment. These four are to be carefully abandoned.
96. Passion is the instinctive urge for externalisation through self-preservation and self-multiplication. It is the diversifying power which is directly opposite to the force that moves towards the Integration of Being.
97. There is a sudden revolt of the natural physical consciousness against all endeavour to reach the Absolute Reality. The rebellion is so uncontrollable that realisation seems to be well neigh impossible, for a weak aspirant.
98. People complain of disturbances and failures in meditation due to the impurity and grossness of their minds. A thorough study and understanding of the natural laws and truths of life is absolutely necessary before venturing to start meditation on the Real Essence of Existence. Without such necessary equipments, one is liable to be lost in the dark dungeon of ignorance.
WISDOM AND REALISATION
99. There is but One Immortal bottomless and limitless, surfaceless and shoreless Ocean of Indivisible Consciousness-Bliss-Mass, laughing with the joyous eternal waters of dazzling, brilliant, luminous Light and divine nectarine Sweetness, roaring with the Infinite thundering sound of never-ending Omkara-Nada, ever calm, peaceful, silent, blessed and dashing within Itself with mountain-like waves of unbounded Delight in the majestic grandeur of the Essence of Absolute Existence! There is nothing but That! Thus is the Meditation!
100. Absolute Experience is a state of Self-absorption and not self-expression, for the latter necessitates change and action, which is self-limitation.
101. None is excluded from Absolute-Realisation. One realises today, one tomorrow. But all must realise That one day or other. There is no selection for Liberation. All are the Absolute eternally.
102. There are many wiseacres, but few are wise. He is a man of wisdom who is ever in a state of half-sleep, having drunk deep the wine of the essence of life. Glory be to him! We are his servants.
103. A man of knowledge cannot express all that he knows at one and the same time. He expresses only that part of it which is excited by the contact of an external agent.
104. Many times Jivanmuktas put on a nasty appearance and act like men gone out of their brain. They sometimes behave in a very unpleasant manner which will annoy any man on earth. They will live like fools just to get rid of the love which the world may develop towards them. They hide their real nature and move like intoxicated drunkards. These are the great men of the earth, not those who are clever in social manners and live like kings and emperors. He who is gone to the Truth cannot behave in a manner which is favourable to the fashions of the ignorant world! Such really great men are many on earth, but the world knows them not due to delusion, and considers only those as great who show a few juggler's tricks before its blinded eyes. The real is ever hidden and unseen. Only the unreal appears before us, and alas! we are cheated by it!
105. You cannot judge a Sage by his words or actions. He will be an ordinary loafer outside but a Jadabharata or a Suka-Maharshi inside.
106. For the sage everything is a play! But he never feels anything at heart except that Everything is One!
107. A person of Absolute Consciousness unconsciously attracts that part of Existence where lies his objects of desire. At once, like a flash of lightning, the things needed by him flow to him like rivers into the ocean, for he is their very Self. The man of wisdom does without acting, enjoys without wishing. He need not command anybody, for, he already is the Self of the one whom he may wish to command. He cannot instruct, order, perceive or even be conscious of anything else, for he is the essential being of everything that he may try to deal with. Even the gods cannot obstruct him from doing anything, for, he is the inner reality of even the gods. The mountains should shake and the earth should crumble into thousand fragments if he so wishes, for he is the self of even the mountain and the earth. If he shuts his eyes, the sun will become dark. If he breathes, all beings will live. If he so desires, the whole universe will become non-existent. If he so wills, the rivers shall flow, the fire burns and the trees blossom with flowers. If he so desires the entire universe shall now experience the State of the Eternal and the Immortal. Such is the glory of an embodiment of Wisdom of the Truth.
108. The might of thought and the strength of feeling melt into the glory of Experience-Whole. The finite is dead and the Infinite is born the very same moment. The birth of Day and the death of Night are simultaneous.
109. The greatest men are those who are lost in Self-Consciousness. Such men are too near to God to be able to do any action. Therefore they are unknown to the world.
110. The vision of God is the awareness of the essence of one's own being. God is the essence of even the Satan. He is the source of even the worst evil. He fills Himself inside and outside and there is nothing which He is not.
111. The devotee of the Eternal is lost in the Consciousness of God. He plunges into the Ocean of Bliss. He takes a bath in the sea of Nectar. He drinks deep the essence of Immortality. He attains the Source, the Root of the Universe!
112. O beloved of my heart! Immortal Joy! Where art Thou? How can I live without Thee? It is very long since I left Thee. Come, come! I am very restless without Thee!
113. "I am all"; this is the beginning of Truth-experience. Silent Be-ness is its highest flight.
114. There is no paper on which to write the Nature of Truth. There is no pen which can dare to write It. There is no person living who can express It. It merely is everything that is, and there ends the matter. Every effort to express It's Nature is trying to kill Its Greatness. I am that Great Being! I am here, I am there; Oh! I am this, I am that! I am the Greatest, the Best, and again the Greatest! My glory knows no bounds! I am the most Blessed, the Immortal, the Great!
