Great Throughts Treasury

"We dig a well and create a huge pit. The space in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth which was filling the space there. The space was there then and is also there now."

"We identify the 'I' with a body, we regard the Self as having a body, and as having limits, and hence all our trouble. All that we have to do is to give up identifying the Self with the body, with forms and limits, and then we shall know ourselves as the Self that we always are."

"We loosely talk of Self-realization, for lack of a better term. But how can one realize or make real that which alone is real? All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal. All religious practices are meant solely to help us do this. When we stop regarding the unreal as real, then Reality alone will remain, and we will be That."

"We see only the script and not the paper on which the script is written. The paper is there, whether the script is on it or not. To those who look upon the script as real, you have to say that it is unreal--an illusion--since it rests upon paper. The wise person looks upon both paper and script as one."

"What exists in truth is the Self alone. The self is that where there is absolutely no I thought. That is called Silence. The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is I; the Self itself is God."

"What is bliss but your own being? You are not apart from."

"What is fear? It is only a thought. If there is anything besides the Self there is reason to fear. Who sees things separate from the Self? First the ego arises and sees objects as external. If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is nothing external. For anything external to oneself implies the existence of the seer within. Seeking it there will eliminate doubt and fear. Not only fear, all other thoughts centerd round the ego will disappear along with it."

"What is illusion? M.: To whom is the illusion? Find it out. Then illusion will vanish. Generally people want to know about illusion and do not examine to whom it is. It is foolish. Illusion is outside and unknown. But the seeker is considered to be known and is inside. Find out what is immediate, intimate, instead of trying to find out what is distant and unknown."

"What is the ego? Enquire. The body is insentient and cannot say `I'. The Self is pure consciousness and non-dual. It cannot say `I'. No one says `I' in sleep. What is the ego then? It is something intermediate between the inert body and the Self. It has no locus standi. If sought for it vanishes like a ghost."

"What is your real nature? Is it writing, walking or being? The one unalterable reality is being. Until you realize that state of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you are established in it there will be no further worry. No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts arise. So long as you think 'I am walking' or 'I am writing', enquire who does it."

"What message is needed when heart speaks to heart?"

"Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent."

"Whatever is done lovingly, with righteous purity and with peace of mind, is a good action. Everything which is done with the stain of desire and with agitation filling the mind is classified as a bad action."

"Whatever the means, the destruction of the sense ?I? and ?mine? is the goal, and as these are interdependent, the destruction of either of them causes the destruction of the other; therefore in order to achieve that state of Silence which is beyond thought and word, either the path of knowledge which removes the sense of ?I? or the path of devotion which removes the sense of ?mine?, will suffice. So there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same."

"When a pot is broken, the space within it is not, and similarly, when the body dies the Self in it remains eternal.""

"When one daily practices more and more in this manner, the mind will become extremely pure due to the removal of its defects and the practice will become so easy that the purified mind will plunge into the Heart as soon as the enquiry is commenced."

"When one makes the mind stick to one thought, the mind becomes rock-steady and the energy is conserved."

"When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence."

"When the mind is left without anything to cling to, it becomes still."

"When the subtle mind emerges through the brain and the senses, the gross names and forms are cognized. When it remains in the Heart names and forms disappear... If the mind remains in the Heart, the 'I' or the ego which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self, the Real, Eternal 'I' alone will shine. Where there is not the slightest trace of the ego, there is the Self."

"When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation."

"When we see our self, there is no world; and when we lose sight of the self, we get ourselves bound in the world."

"When we turn the mind inwards, God manifests as the inner consciousness."

"When you give up thinking of outward objects and prevent your mind from going outwards by turning it inwards and fixing it in the Self, the Self alone remains."

"When you have found the center, you will find that it encompasses the whole world; if you want, the radius can be extended to your body or to the world. We start with the wrong presumption that the circle is confined to the human form. Locate the center first. To that you always return, and you always remain in it; it is the common center for all humanity when they realize."

"Who is this ?I?? Finding this ?I? to be pure Consciousness beyond action and enjoyment, freedom and happiness are gained."

"Why should we... constantly worry ourselves... as to what should be done and how, and what should not be done and how not? We know that the train carries all loads, so after getting on it why should we carry our small luggage on our head to our discomfort, instead of putting it down in the train and feeling at ease?"

"Why should you trouble yourself about the future? You do not even properly know about the present. Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself."

"Willpower should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity? Success develops arrogance, and the man?s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure, on the other hand, is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore, one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances: that is will-power."

"Without seeing the origin of light, the true form of one's Self, the ordinary man sees by the mind different things and is deluded."

"Yet, if one practices the means for mind-control for some time, peace of mind can be obtained eventually."

"You and I are the same. What I have done is surely possible for all. You are the Self now and can never be anything else. Throw your worries to the wind, turn within and find Peace."

"You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self."

"You are beyond will and fate. Abide as that and you transcend them both. That is the meaning of conquering destiny by will."

"You are eternal and others also will be found to be eternal. Until this is realized there will always be grief due to false values."

"You are neck-deep in water and yet cry for water. It is as good as saying that one neck-deep in water feels thirsty, or that a fish in water feels thirsty, or that water feels thirsty. Grace is always there. 'Dispassion cannot be acquired, nor realization of the truth, nor inherence in the Self, in the absence of Guru's grace'. But practice is also necessary. Staying in the Self by one's efforts is like training a roguish bull confined to his stall by tempting him with luscious grass and preventing him from straying."

"You are now thinking that you are the body and therefore confuse yourself with its birth and death. But you are not the body and you have no birth and death."

"You can never find mind through the mind. Go beyond it, and find it non-existent."

"You have to ask yourself the question 'Who am I ?' This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem and you will solve all other problems."

"You know that you know nothing. Find out that knowledge."

"You may experience anything, but you should never rest content with that. Whether you feel pleasure or fear, ask yourself who feels the pleasure or the fear and so carry on the sadhana until pleasure and fear are both transcended, till all duality ceases and till the reality alone remains."

"You must distinguish between the `I', pure in itself, and the `I'-thought. The latter, being merely a thought, sees subject and object, sleeps, wakes up, eats and thinks, dies and is reborn."

"You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all."

"You need not eliminate the wrong 'I'. How can 'I' eliminate itself ? All that you need do is to find out its origin and abide there."

"You withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and abide there, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self which is the substratum of all experiences, you will find the world of which you are now aware is just as unreal as the world in which you lived in your dream."

"Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?"

"Your own self-realization is the greatest gift you can give the world."