Great Throughts Treasury

"There are two fundamental cosmic truths: sound and non-sound. The inner sound only receives manifestation in the outer sound. This is therefore the way."

"When [in the world] one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, recognizes nothing else: that is [participation in] the Infinite. But when one sees, hears, and recognizes only otherness: that is smallness. The Infinite is the immortal. That which is small is mortal."

"That [which is beyond every name and form] is comprehended only by the one with no comprehension of it: anyone comprehending, knows it not. Unknown to the knowing, it is the unknowing known."

"He who sees oneness everywhere has surmounted illusion and sorrow."

"When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every movement of mind or body, you attain true freedom. When you realize the truth, and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life."

"There is a bridge between time and eternity; and this bridge is Atman, the spirit of man. Neither day nor night cross that bridge, nor old age, nor death, nor sorrow. It is this spirit that we must find and know: man must find his own soul. He who has found and knows his soul has found all the worlds, has achieved all his desires."

"Let one therefore keep the mind pure, for what a man thinks, that he becomes."

"As rivers flow and disappear at last in ocean’s waters name and form renouncing, so too the sage from name and form is merged in the divine and ultimate existence."

"Arise, awake, and learn by approaching the exalted ones, for that path is sharp as a razor’s edge, impassable, and hard to go by, say the wise. – Katha Upanishad"

"As a spider emits and draws in its thread, As plants arise on the earth, As the hairs of the head and body from a living person, So from The Eternal arises everything here. - Maitri Upanishads"

"As is the human body, So is the cosmic body. As is the human mind, So is the common mind. As is the microcosm, So is the macrocosm. As is the atom, So is the universe. – The Upanishads"

"As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present. - Maitri Upanishads"

"As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the illumined soul, having become freed from name and form, reaches the self-effulgent Supreme Self - Mundaka Upanishad"

"As the Sun shines upon my heart, so may my heart shine upon others! – The Upanishads"

"As one acts and conducts himself, so does he become. The doer of good becomes good. The doer of evil becomes evil. One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action. - Maitreya Upanishad"

"Awareness is the sannyasin’s protection; Compassion is his only play; Bliss is his mala – his bead necklace; The aloneness of the inner cave is his posture; Unwavering joy is his only dialogue. Unplanned are his alms. his world is transitory. One who has taken birth in it, is living as if in a dream, as false as an elephant seen in the clouds. In the same way, your desires and imaginations are the result of the impact of the body and the senses; they are all illusions, like a rope that appears to be a snake. So the aim is to realize the brahman, the ultimate reality. - Nirvana Upanishad"

"He who knows self as the enjoyer of the honey from the flowers of the senses, ever present within, ruler of time, goes beyond fear. For this self is supreme! - Veda Upanishads"

"Being first in a state of changelessness and then thoroughly forgetting (even) that state owing to the cognition of the (true) nature of Brahman (infinite consciousness) – this is called Samadhi. – Tejo-Bindu Upanishad"

"Dissolve the self in the supreme Self as the pot-space is dissolved in infinite space; then, as the Infinite be silent forever, O sage! – Adhyatma Upanishad"

"Bondage is the imagination prompted by the desire for the eight powers. – Niralamba Upanishad"

"It is indeed the mind that is the cause of men’s bondage and liberation. The mind that is attached to sense-objects leads to bondage, while dissociated from sense-objects it tends to lead to liberation. – Amrita-Bindu Upanishad"

"He who perceives all beings in the Self alone, and the Self in all beings, does not entertain any hatred on account of that perception. – Isavasya Upanishad"

"Know the Self as Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, the discriminating intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; selfish desires are the roads they travel. - Katha Upanishad"

"It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand. - Veda Upanishad"

"Just as the sun, which is the eye of the entire world, is not tainted by the external impurities seen by the eyes, so also, the in-dwelling Self of all beings, though one, is not tainted by the sorrows of the world, It being external. – Katha Upanishad"

"In order to realize the Self, renounce everything. Having cast off all (objects), assimilate yourself to that which remains. - Annapurna Upanishad"

"Let a man strive to purify his thoughts. What a man thinketh, that is he this is the eternal mystery. Dwelling within himself with thoughts serene, he will obtain imperishable happiness. - Maitri Upanishads"

"Letting go of fear, attachment, grief and anger is the sannyasin’s renunciation. He savors only the taste of his oneness with the ultimate reality. – Nirvana Upanishad"

"Knowing that great and all-pervading Self by which one sees (the objects) both in the sleep and the waking states, the intelligent man grieves no more. - Katha Upanishad"

"Liberated from the grip of egoism, like the moon (after the eclipse), full, ever blissful, self-luminous, one attains one’s essence. – Adhyatma Upanishad"

"Like the butter hidden in milk, the Pure Consciousness resides in every being. That ought to be constantly churned out by the churning rod of the mind. – Amrita-Bindu Upanishad"

"Living in the midst of ignorance and deeming themselves intelligent and enlightened, the ignorant go round and round staggering in crooked paths, like the blind led by the blind. – Katha Upanishad"

"Man cannot be satisfied with wealth. – Katha Upanishad"

"One who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, hates none. -Isha Upanishad"

"One who thinks he knows does not know; one who knows he does not know, knows. –The Upanishads"

"Man is bound by ‘mine’, but he is released by ‘not mine’. He should abandon all the thoughts relating to externals and so also with references to internals. O Ribhu, having given up all thoughts, you should rest content (in your soul) ever.” – Varaha Upanishad"

"Oneness with the beyond is his message of salvation. The non-duality of eternal bliss is his god. Mastery of the inner senses is his guiding light. – Nirvana Upanishad"

"Mastery of the inner senses is his guiding light. - Nirvana Upanishad"

"One's own thought is one's world. What a person thinks is what he becomes. - Maitri Upanishads"

"Patience is the sannyasin’s carry-bag. Indifference is his loincloth. Conscious thought is his staff. – Nirvana Upanishad"

"That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver of Grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being-I am That. - AmritaBindu Upanishad"

"Shunya, the void, is not just symbolic: it is the existence of the divine. (Brahman) is realized by discrimination (of the real from the unreal) (and) it is beyond the reach of the mind and speech. – Nirvana Upanishad"

"That which is consciousness alone which is all-pervading, which is eternal, which is all-full, which is of the form of bliss and which is indestructible, is the only true Brahman (infinite consciousness). – Varaha Upanishad"

"The one ‘I Am’ at the heart of all creation, Thou art the light of life. -Shvetashvatara Upanishad"

"The Self that is subtler than the subtle and greater than the great is seated in the heart of every creature. One who is free from desire sees the glory of the Self through the tranquillity of the mind and senses and becomes absolved from grief. - Katha Upanishad"

"The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind; the senses cannot reach him: He is ever beyond them. Standing still, he overtakes those who run. To the ocean of his being, the spirit of life leads the streams of action. He moves, and he moves not. He is far, and he is near. He is within all, and he is outside all. Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. When a sage sees this great Unity and his Self has become all beings, what delusion and what sorrow can ever be near him? The Spirit filled all with his radiance. He is incorporeal and invulnerable, pure and untouched by evil. He is the supreme seer and thinker, immanent and transcendent. He places all things in the path of Eternity. Into deep darkness fall those who follow action. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow knowledge. One is the outcome of knowledge, and another is the outcome of action. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us. He who knows both knowledge and action, with action overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow the immanent. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow the transcendent. One is the outcome of the transcendent, and another is the outcome of the immanent. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us. He who knows both the transcendent and the immanent, with the immanent overcomes death and with the transcendent reaches immortality. – Isa Upanishad"

"The honey from the flowers of the senses, Ever present within, ruler of time, Goes beyond fear. For this Self is Supreme. - Maitri Upanishads"

"The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not. – The Upanishads"

"The wise should surrender speech in mind, mind in the knowing self, the knowing self in the Spirit of the universe, and the Spirit of the universe in the Spirit of peace. - Maitri Upanishads"

"The unintelligent go after outward pleasures; they fall into the meshes of wide-spread death. But the intelligent, having known immortality to be constant, never covet here objects that are inconstant. – Katha Upanishad"