Great Throughts Treasury

"Your own heart is your guru."

"When you have succeeded in enshrining God within your heart, you will see Him everywhere."

"Patient and regular practice is the whole secret of spiritual realization. Do not be in a hurry in spiritual life. Do your utmost, and leave the rest to God."

"If anyone speaks ill of you, Praise him always. If anyone injures you, Serve him nicely. If anyone persecutes you, Help him in all possible ways. You will attain immense strength. You will control anger and pride. You will enjoy peace, poise and serenity. You will become divine."

"Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves."

"A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching."

"Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself."

"Desire is poverty. Desire is the greatest impurity of the mind. Desire is the motive force for action. Desire in the mind is the real impurity. Even a spark of desire is a very great evil."

"A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied immediately another comes. In the interval which separates two desires a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love or hate. Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves."

"Always do good to others. Be selfless. Mentally remove everything and be free. This is divine life. This is the direct way to Moksha or salvation."

"Desire nothing, give up all desires and be happy."

"Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future."

"Forget like a child any injury done by somebody immediately. Never keep it in the heart. It kindles hatred."

"Do not love leisure. Waste not a minute. Be bold. Realize the Truth, here and now!"

"Go beyond science, into the region of metaphysics. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived both inwardly and outwardly."

"God is all-full. He is self-contained. He is eternal satisfaction."

"Humility is not cowardice. Meekness is not weakness. Humility and meekness are indeed spiritual powers."

"It is divinity that shapes, not only your ends, but also your acts, your words and thoughts."

"If you do not know the laws of right conduct, you cannot form your character."

"Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods. So let us celebrate the struggle."

"Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination."

"Love rules without a sword and binds without a string."

"Life is short. Time is fleeting. Realize the Self. Purity of the heart is the gateway to God. Aspire. Renounce. Meditate. Be good; do good. Be kind; be compassionate. Inquire, know Thyself."

"Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal Bliss and supreme joy in the end."

"Patient and regular practice is the whole secret of spiritual realization. Do not be in a hurry in spiritual life. Do your utmost, and leave the rest to God."

"Moral values, and a culture and a religion, maintaining these values are far better than laws and regulations."

"Practice meditation regularly. Meditation leads to eternal bliss. Therefore meditate, meditate."

"Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize."

"Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. Your duty is to treat everybody with love as a manifestation of the Lord."

"Terrible is the fight put up by the senses. Fight bravely! Conquer them you must."

"The real spiritual progress of the aspirant is measured by the extent to which he achieves inner tranquility. Your duty is to treat everybody with love as a manifestation of the Lord .Your duty is to treat everybody with love as a manifestation of the Lord ."

"The harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph. Self-realization demands very great struggle."

"Thinking of disease constantly will intensify it. Feel always ‘I am healthily in body and mind’."

"There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment."

"There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient."

"Today is you own. Tomorrow perchance may never come."

"Your duty is to treat everybody with love as a manifestation of the Lord."

"A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching."

"A man may be the greatest philosopher in the world but a child in religion. When a man has developed a high state of spirituality he can understand that the kingdom of heaven is within him."

"A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century."

"A renunciate or monk should not defend himself and use violence even when his life is in jeopardy. To an ordinary man, Ahimsa should be the aim, but he will not fall from this principle if, out of sheer necessity and with no selfish aim, he takes recourse to Himsa occasionally. One should not give leniency to the mind in this respect. If you are lenient, the mind will always take the best advantage of you and goad you to do acts of violence. Give a rogue an inch, he will take an ell: the mind at once adapts this policy, if you give a long rope for its movement."

"A true Brahmachari in thought, word and deed has wonderful thought-power. He can move the world. If you develop strict celibacy, Vichara Sakti and Dharana Sakti will develop. Vichara Sakti is the power of enquiry. Dharan?a Sakti is the power of grasping and holding the Truth. If a man persistently refuses to yield to his lower nature and remains a strict celibate, the sexual energy is deflected upwards to the brain and is stored up as Ojas Sakti. Thereby the power of the intellect is intensified to a remarkable degree. The intellect becomes sharp and clear by continence. Continence increases infinitely the power of retentive memory. The strict celibate has keen and acute memory even in old age. A man who has the power of Brahmacharya can turn out immense mental, physical and intellectual work. He has a magnetic aura around his face. He can influence people by speaking just a few words or even by his very presence. He can control anger and move the whole world. Look at Mahatma Gandhi! He had acquired this power by constant and careful practice of Ahimsa, Satyam and Brahmacharya?non-violence, truth and celibacy. He influenced the world through this power alone. Through Brahmacharya and Brahmacharya alone can you get physical, mental and spiritual advancement in life. It is worth repeating that a true Brahmachari possesses tremendous energy, a clear brain, gigantic will-power, bold understanding, retentive memory and good Vichara Sakti. Swami Dayananda stopped the carriage of a Maharaja. He broke the sword with his hands. This was due to his power of Brahmacharya. Jesus, Sankara, Jnana Deva and Samarth Ramdas were all Brahmacharins.It is worth repeating that a true Brahmachari possesses tremendous energy, a clear brain, gigantic will-power, bold understanding, retentive memory and good Vichara Sakti."

"A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss."

"Above all, beware of compromises. Hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others' 'fads' through the greed of getting supporters. Your Atman is the support of the universe-whose support do you stand in need of?"

"After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains--one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it."

"Absolute Ahimsa is impossible. It is not possible to the most conscientious Sannyasin or monk. To practice that, you must avoid killing countless creatures while walking, sitting, eating, breathing, sleeping and drinking. You cannot find a single non-injurer in the world. You have to destroy life in order to live. It is physically impossible for you to obey the law of non-destruction of life, because the phagocytes of your blood also are destroying millions of dangerous intrusive spirilla, bacteria and germs."

"Ahimsa is never a policy. It is a sublime virtue. It is the fundamental quality of seekers after Truth. No Self-realization is possible without Ahimsa. It is through the practice of Ahimsa alone that you can cognize and reach the Supreme Self or Brahman. Those with whom it is a policy may fail many a time. They will be tempted to do violent acts also. On the contrary, those who strictly adhere to the vow of Ahimsa as a sacred creed or fundamentals cannon of Yoga, can never be duped into violence."

"All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything."

"All is the Self or Brahman. The saint, the sinner, the lamb, the tiger, even the murderer, as far as they have any reality, can be nothing else, because there is nothing else."

"All that you are is the result of what you have thought. It is founded on your thoughts. It is made up of your thoughts."