Great Throughts Treasury

"How can you expect to see the road when you have kept your door shut? Open the door and you will see the road."

"He is the fountain of Peace and the treasure-house of real Happiness."

"His essence is Being, Consciousness and Bliss."

"Householders should emulate the ancient rishis (sages) who were married men living with their families and leading a life dedicated to God."

"I have no sense of pleasure or pain, and I stay as I have always been. Sometimes He draws me outside, and sometimes He takes me inside and I am completely withdrawn. I am nobody, all of my actions are done by him and not by me."

"I say to you that I am a little child and you are my parents. Accept me as such and give me a place in your hearts. By saying Mother, you keep me at a distance. Mothers have to be revered and respected. But a little girl needs to be loved and looked after, and is dear to the heart of everyone. So this is my only request to you: to make a place for me in your hearts!"

"If at all your ‘I’ remains, let it exist only as His servant or as His child and, therefore, the notion that He is far removed will be ruled out."

"How long do you want to stay in the wayside inn? Will you not go to your own Home? How nice to think – you are yourself your home, you are also the pilgrim, and at the same time a foreign visitor!"

"If God is the Lord of the world, He can do with it as he pleases. Suppose you have grown beautiful flowers in your garden, but decide to plant fruit trees in their place, won't you have to remove the flowers? If you have a fine house, but wish to build a larger and better one on the same plot, you demolish the old one. The freedom that is yours in small things, God exercises in great ones. In both is He, in destruction as well as in construction. The history of nations, families and individuals is the great Lila (divine sport) that He stages with Himself."

"If in the midst of the diversity of the world of appearances you make a sustained effort to do all your work as a faithful servant of the Almighty Father of the Universe, love and devotion for Him will awaken in your heart. As the confining prison walls of the ego are broken down, you will become more and more persistent and wholehearted in your pursuit of Reality. Then all the manifold pictures you perceive will merge into one single picture and all your divergent moods and sentiments will be engulfed in the one great ocean of Bliss."

"If you choose to feed upon the objects of the senses, you move towards the realm of death."

"If you do not like to meditate on an image, you are just to sit still and carefully attend to your breathing; you may not do anything else; even this practice will quieter your mind."

"If the Name that appeals most to you is constantly repeated, you will realize that all names are His Names, all forms are His forms."

"In Him is all attainment, the summit of fulfillment."

"In proportion as one loves God, detachment from sense objects ensues. To concentrate on God means to become drawn towards Him. And vairagya (detachment) means becoming disentangled from sense objects. Feeling of attraction towards God and indifference to sense objects occur simultaneously."

"In wealth and property there is certainly no peace."

"In whichever direction you may turn your gaze you will find One Eternal Indivisible Being manifested. Yet it is not at all easy to detect this Presence, because He interpenetrates everything. As a King is known by his majesty, as fire is known by its heat, so the Unmanifest reveals Himself through the world of manifestation. The analysis of the substance of all created things, if carried sufficiently far, will lead to the discovery that what remains is identical and equally present in all creatures: it is He, it is That, which is styled as Pure Consciousness."

"If you just place yourself under the protection of a Guru, then the path which is most suitable for you will by itself open up to you."

"If you live with the conviction that God is in the closest contact with you, you will gradually discover that there is nothing but God."

"Indeed, He is in everything and everything is in Him; there is nothing but Him."

"Invoke Him and be constantly intent on realizing Him."

"It is but the self that calls itself, and none other than the self that realizes itself."

"It is natural for worldly desires to try to take exclusive possession of your mind. These confuse the mind."

"It is by yearning and pining for Him that the One is found. In times of adversity and distress as well as in times of well-beings and good fortunes, try to seek refuge in the One alone. Keep in mind that whatever He does is wholly for the best. He is the fountain of goodness."

"It is of great value to read sacred texts and books of wisdom. Speak the truth. Bear in mind that God’s Name is He Himself in one form; let it be your inseparable companion. Try your utmost never to remain without Him. The more intense and continuous your efforts to dwell in His Presence, the greater will be the likelihood of your growing joyful and serene. When your mind becomes vacant, endeavor to fill it with the awareness of God and His contemplation."

"It is only when you leave everything to Him that there is hope for Peace and Happiness."

"It is the craze for wealth that binds people. To be in bondage means to destroy yourself."

"It is the Will of the Almighty that prevails. By living in harmony with His Will and becoming an instrument in His hands you should try to realize Him."

"It may be asked, why there cannot be one and the same path for all? Because He reveals Himself in infinite ways and forms — verily, The One is all of them."

"Just as a vigraha must not be regarded as a piece of stone, so the Guru must not the regarded as an ordinary human being."

"Just as fire burns away all dross and rubbish, so the three fold suffering purges man's heart from all impurity and results in a growing single mindedness in his search after Truth. When he becomes deeply conscious of his weakness and tormented by the thoughts of his undesirable impulses and distressing characteristics, when afflictions like poverty, bereavement or humiliation make him feel his life is futile, then and then only does he develop real faith and religious fervor, and becomes anxious to surrender himself at the feet of the Supreme Being. Suffering should therefore be welcomed. Never does the soft moonlight appear more soothing than after the scorching heat of a summer day."

"Listen! Do not let your time pass idly. Either keep a rosary with you and do japa; or if this does not suit you, at least go on repeating the Name of the Lord regularly and without interruption like the ticking of a clock. There are no rules or restrictions in this. Invoke Him by the Name that appeals to you most, for as much time as you can–the longer the better. Even if you get tired or lose interest, administer the Name to yourself like a medicine that has to be taken. In this way you will at some auspicious moment discover the rosary of the mind, and then you will continually hear within yourself the praises of the great Master, the Lord of Creation, like the never ceasing music of the boundless ocean; You will hear the land and the sea, the air and the heavens reverberate with the song of His glory. This is called the all–pervading Presence of His Name."

"No attempt is futile; everything serves a purpose. Suppose you are traveling somewhere by railway. In order to catch the train you have to first go by boat, then descend from the boat, get into a horse carriage and then catch a bus which will take you to the station. Although your aim is a journey by train, you cannot say that the boat, horse carriage, bus and so forth are of no use. Similarly you should understand that everything you do in order to realize God is helpful. Nothing at all is waste. By whatever Name you may invoke Him, you effort will be crowned with success. The main thing is to cling to the Name with constancy."

"Man’d bounden duty is to endeavor to awake to his real nature as a human being and to kindle the desire to realize."

"Love and serve you consort and children as Divine manifestations. Perform all works as God’s service."

"Man is no other than the Self; but he wrongly thinks of himself as a separate individual centre on his body and identified by a particular name."

"My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth ‘I was the same’. As a little girl ‘I was the same’… Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me, in the hall of eternity ‘I shall be the same’."

"Once the Guru has accepted a disciple, He will never leave him until the goal has been attained. The question of leaving does not arise at all."

"People have various visions of gods and goddesses (in me) according to their own predilections. What I was before, I am now, and shall be hereafter. I am also whatever you or anybody may think I am……… why don't you look at it this way: the yearnings (of seekers after Truth) have brought about this body. All of you have wanted it and so you have found it. That is all you need to know."

"One is born to experience various kinds of joys and sorrows according to one's desire. For the time being, God comes to you in the disguise of suffering. He is purifying you in this manner. The suffering is for your own best. A mother gives a slap to her beloved child for its own good, in order to keep it on the right path. When a fond mother gives her baby a bath, the child may scream desperately, yet the mother will not let the baby go until she has thoroughly washed and scrubbed him."

"Perfect resignation gives the deepest joy. Accept it as your sole resource."

"People meditate in front of a picture. But what is a mere picture? Just paper! Yet if faith is maintained in meditation, the Lord Himself appears in that picture."

"Precious gems are profoundly buried in the earth and can only be extracted at the expense of great labor."

"Proceed along this road where you will meet many fellow-travelers who will of their own accord enquire about your destination. They will often direct you to the right path, if you have chosen the wrong one."

"Referred to as Brahman, He is no other than God Almighty."

"Prayer never goes in vain. So long as no response is received, prayer must be continued."

"Refuge has to be sought in His Name in order to realize Him Whose Name is invoked."

"Regular prayer purifies the mind and the heart. Set apart at least ten minutes for your daily prayer at a fixed hour. You may even go on doing your usual work during this period, but observe silence and meditate on Him in any way you like. See that throughout your life there should be no slackness in regularity and punctuality."

"Reality is beyond speech and thought. Only that which can be expressed in words is being said. But what cannot be put into language is indeed That which IS."

"Relative happiness, that is to say, happiness depending on the fulfillment of any worldly desire, ends in grief."