The Chidakasha Gita: Teachings of Paramahansa Nityananda – Part Three

Peace

Peace of mind, for attainment, does not cost us anything, like charity and dharma. When one is filled with peace, those who are near him are also infected with peace. It is enough if one person is filled with peace. Out of a thousand, if one has peace a fraction of peace is enjoyed by all those who are around him. A sadhu when he enters a crowd of worldly people should have that peace which a hunter has when he approaches a tiger. A sadhu, to be in the world, should have immense peace and patience. Peace is very useful to move among thousands of worldly people.

Various kinds of articles are brought to a fair. Similarly, peace should be practiced in various ways.

Peace is the food for the practicer.

Purification

If gold is melted in fire, it shines with lustre; so also, one should purify oneself, killing desire and anger internally. By introspection, he should move internally.

Consider the physical eye. A blind man may have a light in his hand but the light is of no use to him. Those who have eaten a bellyful do not require food any more. Suppose the cooking is over; you are not satisfied by simply smelling the food. Your hunger is appeased only if you eat the food cooked. If you hold a piece of gold in your hand, it is of no use. It should be melted in the fire; its dross should be removed; then only it shines brilliantly. Similarly, the dross of the soul are desire and anger; these should be destroyed.

Unless the intellect is purified, contentment does not spring. Unless the intellect is purified, chitta does not become steady. Unless chitta is purified, a man cannot free himself from verbal delusion.

Just as Brahmins (Bhats) wait eagerly for plantain leaves to be spread and meals served, so must a man wait for mental purification and mukti.

Raja Yoga

Destruction of the world means transforming it into vayu (air). Raja Yoga is the place of indivisible monism. If you enter the One, you lose sight of the many.

Holding the nose with the hand, with eyes turned upwards and holding the breath in tight as if winding a clock spring with a key are similar to circus feats or a cinema show–these are not what is called samadhi.

Rama

The repetition of “Rama” is true delight; it is the eternal atma delight; eternal true delight; internal atma delight; kundalini grandeur delight. The lord of mind is Rama.

Rama means atman. That which governs the ten indriyas (five karmendriyas and five jnanendriyas) is Rama. Ravana means all the wicked qualities in us. Sita means chitta. Lakshmana means attention (thought control). Krishna means introspection. This introspection is the eternal atma delight.

Reality

On a tree grow numberless flowers. The flowers all perish, but the tree does not perish for a long time. The visible is like flowers, the invisible is like the tree.

Renunciation

If a man goes to a forest and there lives in a cave, it is just like a beast in a cave. Even the milestones are better than such a man because by the milestones we can count the distance in miles. Such people are of no use whatsoever. A thoughtful man should gradually go on renouncing the world. When a man eats food, it is for his own benefit. Others are not benefited by it. It is not enough if we leave darkness. We must always live in the light. If we have a light on a dark path, we have no fear. There is fear in walking in darkness.

Same-sightedness

“Same-sightedness” is the “urdhvashvasa” (gasping upwards) at the time of death. Same-sightedness is the indivisible one. This is supreme bliss. This is the “subtle.” This is the “eternal.”

The supreme light is the universal light. O mind! Abolish the idea of “otherness.” Have the idea of “sameness.”

Samsara

Even a child five years old knows that there is God; but the child does not know where God is. The sun sees all; but very few, one in a lakh or two, look at the sun. In this world, three-fourths of the people are fond of sexual pleasures like beasts. Even those who have reached the middle state are less than one fourth of the people. Good deeds are very few in this world. Evil deeds are many.

Almost all fruits have their seed inside, but the cashew apple has its seed outside. Our mind, like the seed of the cashew apple, must be outside samsara.

Before you die, leave the forest path and follow the royal road. When you are on your death-bed, you may suffer the agonies of hell, your prana being obstructed by the three humors (vatha, pitha, and kapha).

No one is not mad in this world.

When you were born, you were born with breath. When you leave this world, you leave breath only. This body of earth, you never made it nor can you take it along with you. That which Shiva gave us is the same in all beings, both mobile and immobile. All seeds have the same power in them. The subtle in seeds is one. There is difference in their behavior only. The delusion of the mind is not permanent but transient. What can be seen and heard is all transient.

Sannyasi (Swami)

Without knowing the secret, if we simply decorate the exterior skin, our karma will not leave us. One cannot be a sannyasi by external signs if he is internally a hypocrite. What you think, you must speak; what you speak, you must show by your acts. Do what you say; say what you do. Such a man is a jnani; he is a paramahansa; he is a yogi; he is a sannyasi. One who has conquered desire is a true sannyasi. Only a desireless man is fit to be a spiritual teacher.

Swami is he who has united the Chit with Sat. Upadhi means the tree of peace. We must take shelter under this tree of peace.

Those who are always one with Brahman are the brahmacharis. Such a man may even belong to a pariah caste. One does not become a “swami” by simply holding an ascetic’s staff (danda) in hand or by holding a copy of the Bhagavad Gita; nor by putting on red clothes; nor by discussing God with whomsoever he meets.

He is a real sannyasi who has burnt desire to ashes. He is the universal teacher. The universe is in those who have renounced desire. Mat is akasha (space) is sannyasa. The same is light; the same is consciousness. The same is divine light. The same is fire, internal, and external. The same is the fire of discrimination. This power of discrimination is in the universe.

Self-knowledge

A man must know himself; he who has conquered the mind is a man; he is an ascetic; he is a yogi; he sees the one atman in all. Suppose you come into a dark room after wandering in the sun. What do you see? Look at the sun for five minutes and come into a dark room; you see nothing; this is as it ought to be. One must see with the inner (spiritual) eye.

When a man has become a graduate in law, he receives a university gown. This gown covers the body from head to foot. It has four hands (two hands and two legs). When Sat and Chit become united, we have Ananda, Brahmananda, Paramananda, Sri Satchidananda, Sri Yogananda. When we discard worldly pleasures, we enjoy divine pleasures, when we realize the truth about the jiva, we enjoy ananda.

Realize your atman. When you see another and yourself as different, it is delusion. Identify yourself with another. Realize the secret which is in yourself. It is not enough if you talk of this identity but you must act according to it. What you see with the external eye is of no use. The feeling of distinction will be the cause of trouble at the time of death.

The real sunrise is to be seen in the sky of consciousness. This is the most excellent sunrise. The whole universe is to be seen in the heart-space in one’s self just as the sun is reflected in the water placed in a small mud vessel. When we travel by a cart, the whole world seems to be moving. Likewise, the whole universe can be known in yourself.

One’s hunger is not appeased by simply smelling the food cooked. One must take the food himself to satisfy his hunger. So also the experience is the only accomplishment. There is nobody to oppose you when you have experienced Truth. By simply holding sugar in your hand you cannot experience its sweetness. Sugar must be placed in the mouth to taste its sweetness. This is experience. Book knowledge gives room for doubts and discussion. But self experience does not. Experience for oneself is like the command of the king to the subjects. Experience is like the king’s command; book knowledge is the subjects’.

Shabda

As we go on practicing yoga, the bindu-sound is heard in the head. This sound is one, indivisible.

A lifeless thing is soundless. It is gross. A living thing has Shabda-Brahman (can produce sound). The universe is nothing but consciousness. When you build a house, you must first lay a foundation and afterwards raise the walls. So also, there is no effect without a cause.

Shabda (sound) is generated in akasha (space). That which is generated in space is life energy. What is called akasha is in the head. Akasha is heart-space. Life energy is one only.

Is sound generated from the world or is the world generated from sound? Is the effect from the cause or the cause from the effect? The world is generated from sound. From sound is generated form, and the world which has form.

Shakti

It is not the work of shakti when a man dances an oracular dance; this dance is a trick. Trickery’s course is downwards. Shakti follows a middle course. Trickery belongs to the body; shakti is atmic; trickery is powerless before the fire of shakti.

Silence

What is called “silence” refers to the mind, not the tongue. What is done when the buddhi and jnana are in communion with the atman, is not “karma.” Silence is the real locality of the mind; not of the tongue. It is by silence that yoga is accomplished. He is a yogi who has united into one both buddhi and jnana. One who subjects the manas to buddhi and makes buddhi control manas is a yogi. What is called the vow of silence is another name for the sushumna which is the junction of the ida and pingala. The three important nadis of the body are the ida and the pingala and the sushumna. Sushumna is the seat of the kundalini.

Spiritual experience

In the beginning, before perfect peace is attained, the power of Maya (delusion) in us will be greatly manifested. Wherever you turn your eyes, you see serpents. In the beginning, when you sit for practice the heaviness of a mountain is experienced. At times, you feel as if you leave off the ground; you feel as if you are sitting in the sea; you feel as if hot water is poured on you. At another time, you feel as if you are sitting in a grand upper story. Sometime you feel like a needle. At another time, you feel like a leaf. Sometime you do not feel whether you are walking or sitting or talking. At another time all feeling comes to a standstill. Sometime the body becomes quite motionless like a coconut tree. At another time, human beings appear like actors in a dramatic performance. At one time you see black faces. In perfect peace, one indivisible whiteness is visible. Light is in darkness; darkness is in light. The whole universe is in darkness. In the universe is light. At one time all this appears like a bioscopic performance; at another time, like Sat Chit Ananda. At one time questions arise: “Why have men come into this world? Whither are they going?” They do not know what their main duty is. Coming down is not permanent. Going up and up is permanent. To those who have gone step by step to the upper story and look around, what is heard, what appears, what is done, all is like a net that cannot be cut through.

Spiritual practice (Abhyasa)

A seed kept in a closed box never sprouts. Such a seed never yields fruits. If it is sown in earth (and watered), it will sprout and yield fruits. Hence we must practice and get experience. It is you yourself who is responsible either for happiness or misery.

We do not get experience from books; first is experience, and from that experience books are written. The tree is in the seed; the seed is not in the tree. Man is not in the world; the world is in man. The world is subject to man. We express in words what we think in our minds. The heart should be free from hypocrisy, the heart of man should be perfectly pure. What the heart thinks, the tongue should talk. What one thinks, one must talk. You should deceive no one; you should hate no one. You must not mix with others. Your mind must always be one-pointed. When you have a deceptive heart it is like the sun in the mid-summer; a star comes out of the clouds and shines with glory. After a few seconds it is hidden again by the clouds. So also is the mind of man. Sometimes it appears to be pure, but again in five minutes it is clouded over by passions. The egotistic mind melts in the atman like a star which falls down from the sky. Akasha is not visible to the physical eye. Akasha is that which is visible to the divine eye. By discrimination we can experience discrimination. Sound is known by sound. Mind is perceptible to mind only.

Suffering

Adversity given by Shiva is no adversity. Sorrow given by Shiva is no sorrow. It is your mental delusion. At the time of our birth on this earth, there is some difficulty. So also at the end. When men come out of their mother’s womb, tears trickle down their eyes.

Pain of death given by Shiva is no pain. All sorrow is mental delusion.

Truthfulness–Honesty

Say what you do and do what you say.

All is Shiva. Justice and its opposite both are Shiva. O mind! Leave off injustice and be one with justice.

Vairagya

A man should be quite indifferent to honor and dishonor. He should not have the least love for his body. Such a man will see the Supreme Being in everything and everywhere.

Bhakti is prema (love). Giving to eat or eating is not bhakti. It is the delusion of the mind. It is pertaining to the body. There should be subtle eating and drinking. One should drink the water of discrimination. Peace is water. Yogananda is sitting on the water of peace. O mind! Leave off worldly pleasures and enjoy eternal bliss! O mind! Leave off worldly joy and enjoy eternal joy! Enter into the eternal, O mind! Run into the heart; the real enjoyment is in the heart; enjoy that pleasure which is called mukti. Live in it. Enter into the internal, leaving off the external. O mind! Open the third (divine) eye. Do not be thinking of anything else. See the world with same-sightedness.

In this world, those who are indifferent to honor and dishonor have attained the goal. Such people only have attained peace.

From one coconut many coconuts are produced. If you cut the trunk of the coconut tree at the bottom, the production of coconuts ceases. Vasana which is like the trunk should be cut at the root by the axe of discrimination. Then comes peace. The characteristics of sadhuguna, sattwaguna, and peace and all such qualities come from non-attachment. When buddhi becomes steady it is called sattwaguna. Sat (truth) is like letters engraved in stone. The talk of the worldly is like letters engraved on a chalk slab.

Those who have come to buy milk should not ask what the price of the cow is. Similarly those who hanker after atma should not bother themselves about the body. The man who has attained the atman is like the dry kernel within the coconut, i. e., he has no attachment to the body. When the rope is burnt to ashes, it cannot be made into a rope again.

Sadhana (practice) is necessary for vairagya to be steady. For vairagya to be permanent we must have practice. Vairagya is not related to the body.

The steamer is in the sea. To the looker-on, it appears to touch the sea water, but the steamer is quite different from the sea water. There is no relation between the two. So must a man be in the affairs of the world. He must not have any attachment to worldly things.

Vairagya should be like fire burning a cloth. When vairagya is highly developed, the interior (atmic) splendor will be visible.

A certain man is a lord of scores of money. All cannot be millionaires at the same time. It depends on their past karmas. Everyone is rewarded according to his due. There is plenty of water in the sea. But the quantity of water one fetches depends on the size of the vessel one takes to fetch water. The fruit depends upon the vasanas of one’s karmas. It is because of the vasanas of former births that a man has a hankering after hearing the teachings of a sadhu. It is because of these vasanas that one feels no happiness in worldly pleasures. Those who are guided by the vasanas of former births do not require separate vasanas. Vairagya itself is the result of the vasanas of former births. For such men it is the time to tread the path to mukti.

A traveller after being in the sun for a long time and is tired, goes for shelter to the shade of a tree on a hillside and there forgets his fatigue. So too, those whose minds are absorbed in the search of God forget all their worldly anxieties. Just as in the shade the sun’s heat is forgotten, “mineness” is forgotten by the absorption in God. When we are inside a house we do not want an umbrella; we are in need of an umbrella only when we go outside the house. Just as you do not want an umbrella inside the house, so also when you are in the Great House called God, you feel no necessity of worldly enjoyment (found in human houses).

O jiva! Perform tapasya by sacrificing all your qualities: sattwa, rajas, and tamas. By the disinterested path, drink the nectar every moment. Drink that nectar without doubts. When you have realized the truth, you have no fear of death. After realizing the truth, “I” and “mine” are as if they are dead.

Vasanas

This desire is under man’s control. Those who have the power of discrimination, have no fear of birth and death. Since mind is controlled by desire, you give room to enjoyment and difficulties. If the desire is subdued by man, he is no longer under the sway of pleasure and pain. Because mind is subdued by desire, man requires external help to satisfy his desires. When a man becomes a slave to certain habits, this is the cause of lower birth. All habits must be under the control of man. A man must be indifferent to habits. For this you want a firm will. The work depending on fancy is not permanent; the work done by the power of discrimination lasts till the body lasts. Sankalpa is not always permanent. Sankalpa is far inferior to buddhi. Sankalpa is like the little finger. Buddhi is like the middle finger. Vasana is the great love for a certain thing. This vasana is the cause of birth. Vasanas which are related to the body come and go now and then like bubbles which appear and disappear in water. Body is all nature. Because of the great love for a special thing, which is called vasana, we have to take another birth.

The vasana has a special form; that form reflects the internal. It appears in the form of a body in a special family. The man having such a vasana, whatever work he may be engaged in, his body only is working; his vasana stands apart and there a body is created according to the vasana. It is impossible for the body to satisfy the vasana. Hence, the body suffers from some disease, and the outgoing prana, after death, assumes a particular body. This body is gone and a fresh body is generated. The birth is for the fulfillment of that special vasana. The birth is of the same nature as the vasana. For instance, when one is walking, can he lift up both feet at the same time from the earth? Lifting up the feet alternately, one must walk. Similarly is the vasana of former birth.

Veda-Vedanta

Vedanta means prana (breath). To be entirely merged in prana is Vedanta. Vedanta is one, indivisible. It is unbreakable. What is called Veda recitation is not from the tongue. Veda recitation should be from the throat. Those who know this secret are Brahmins. Veda is the one letter Om. It is the fire of inspiration. Vedanta is formless and changeless; indivisible. Light is caused by Veda. What is called dharana in yoga is the real recitation of Veda.

Viveka

A selfish mind is not steady (firm). A subtle discrimination is steady. What is creation is peace. What is creation is “witnesshood.” What is creation is subtle discrimination. Subtle discrimination gives us health-giving contentment. Subtle discrimination is the seed of mukti. Trickery (yukti) is not superior to shakti. Trickery is subject to shakti. Trickery is the delusion of the mind. Shakti is from the atman. Subtle discrimination is the real buddhi. Shakti truly so called is subtle discrimination.

Reality is the prana in man. He is a man who thinks (ruminates) rightly. This correct thinking (right discrimination) is the real goal of man. Everything is attainable by practice. By practice, everything becomes known.

The power of discrimination (buddhi) is the key to self-knowledge, and that key must always be in the hand. Just as a man possessing a treasure box must be very careful about the key of the box, so also buddhi must be concentrated in the brain.

Just as gold is burnished after being repeatedly put into fire, so by repeated exercise of discrimination the subtle should be enlightened. You must see the world in you. Our intelligence is only a means of moksha. What is called dharana is nothing but clear understanding of the subject. By this clear understanding we come nearer to the atman.

Yoga

What is called Hatha Yoga is selfishness. In Hatha Yoga a man seeks his own goodness. He seeks fame; he can stop the sunrise of tomorrow; he can create a mountain of gold.

Hatha Yoga is duality. The most excellent is Raja Yoga.

Gas light has no lustre before the midday sunlight. Light is of use only when it is dark. When a man is hungry, he does not consider the difference of castes. Similarly, in sound sleep there is no hunger. Then, manas is absent. Just so, a man must sleep the sleep of yoga. Only such men are jnanis.

O beggar! Burn the delusion of the mind in the fire of yoga! Those who have not realized Brahman do not know the truth. They do not experience real joy. Egotistic tendencies are not destroyed. Be always immersed in ananda. Bury your desire in the depth of your manas. Desire is fruitless. Destroy it internally.

Babies are Raja Yogis till the sixth month. After the brain is developed, the same baby is a Hatha Yogi. The mind in such babies is very fickle. Because the discriminating power is less in them, babies cannot distinguish between a lump of sugar and a lump of earth. Hence such babies regard earth and sugar as the same.

Yoga nadis

There are three nadis (subtle energy channels) in the body: the sun or the sushumna, the moon or the ida, the star or the pingala. The first is red in color, the second, blue, and the third, green. Where these three nadis meet, is the heart-space [in the head].

Yoga Nidra

We should leave off the gross sleep and sleep the subtle sleep. We should enjoy the sleep obtained from the practice of pranayama.

Leave the gross pleasures and enjoy the subtle pleasures. Leave off the physical sleep and enjoy the subtle sleep. Enjoy that sleep which is eternal. This sleep is enjoyed only in our subtle state. Burn to ashes the delusion of the mind.

The nadi of the third eye is the seat of jnana. In this nadi is jnana. In this nadi is sleep–sushupti. In sleep there is no wakefulness. Enjoy this sleep. Harmonizing both prana and apana, enjoy the subtle sleep.

Those who are born deaf have not the least idea of sound. They have no desires. They have subtle discrimination. Those who are always in yoga sleep, have no difference between day and night, between sun and moon. To the subtle discrimination, all is one. Those who have annihilated the mind are men. Lower animals are so called, because they are in a lower stage of development. Sensual life is beastly life. The upward breath is the goal of man. The same is Gayatri, accomplished; the same is yoga-bliss.

Those who have no subtle discrimination are not worth the name “men.” A man is not an animal. The gross is the body idea. The subtle is the thought of atman. Jivatma is the gross. Paramatma is the subtle. Without the gross, the subtle cannot be realized. Without a foundation, a house cannot be erected. Thought power is what is called Shivashakti. The union of jivatma and Paramatma is called Shivashakti. When this power is intensified, man becomes “superman.” A superman is a happy man; he is a Brahmin, a knower of Brahman. Vedantic conduct or behavior is the true character formation.

Yogi

A yogi is one who thinks the whole universe to be a yogi. He should regard all as himself.

Miscellaneous

Just as we see the sky reflected in the water in an earthen pot, so also, to the internal vision, the sky of consciousness becomes visible.

To a good man, every man is good; everything is good. A man can be good by his own exertion.

If you keep a seed safe in a box, it will not yield plenty. If you sow it in the earth and cultivate it, one seed yields thousands. From one lamp, you can light a thousand lamps.

One tree produces thousands of flowers. Flower is the downward state. The tree is the upward state.

Whitewashing is required for the inside of the wall more than the outside. The outer cleaning is to show to others, but the inward cleanliness is for one’s own benefit.

Those who are not free from bondage have no peace.

What is called “good action” is the downward path.

What is called jivanmukti is one’s true home, the aim and end of yoga. This is the thing to be attained.

The dwelling in the cave is the thing to be accomplished in life. The cave is the buddhi; when jivatma learns to dwell in the buddhi the aim of life is realized. The heart-space which is the place of dwelling (cave) of the atman is the place of the third eye.

Gold does not make a man great.

Through science the bondage of karma is not cut through.

He is a Brahmin who has experienced Brahmananda.

One who has destroyed the manas has destroyed maya.

A cow cannot run like a horse. He whose mind is merged in the atman is like the horse. He whose mind is in the world is like the cow.

Brahmananda is not empty talk but solid experience. This is the same as Satchidananda. This is acquired by unceasing practice. All is Brahmananda to one who has realized.

The nature of the child is according to the thought entertained by the parents when they are in union. If the parents entertain devotion, mischief, wrath, activity, desire, etc. at the time of union, the child born to them will imbibe the same qualities. Creation is caused by vayu’s entrance in the womb. If the parents at the time of union have worldly or celestial inclination, the child born will have the same inclination. When the child has the latter inclination, it will soon be enlightened. The first essential is desirelessness, after birth. The destruction of the seed of birth and death comes next.

What is called apana vayu is the destruction of creation. Apana vayu and the prana vayu must be merged in the atman. When these two are united, all conditions are annihilated. Before the expiration of prana one must attain mukti. Then it becomes one, indivisible, losing its duality.

Upanayana is the goal of life. “Upa” means “dwelling near.” Jivatma must be merged in the Paramatma. Upanayana is internal. Upanayana is the subtle. What is called upadhi is the “third eye.” The object to be attained is to be near God. What is upanayana is not the body idea. It is the thought of the atman. In this world, he who has performed such upadhi is a Brahmin. Upadhi is the sushumna nadi. It is the Brahma Nadi where gods and goddesses dwell.

Just as there is difference between a river and the sea, so also there is difference between jivatman and Paramatman. It is one of degree, not of kind.

One must not think as “I” and “mine.” This is the cause of another birth. That man is of little intelligence who thinks in terms of “I” and “mine.” By so thinking he descends into lower birth.

To a blind man there is no difference between day and night. To him external light is of no use. In him the light of jnana is strong. To the blind, their bodily form is of no use. As their physical eyes do not see, their spiritual eye must be very effective.

A lie is a lie. If you believe the lie, you will have to tell the lie. If you believe the truth, you must tell the truth. Those who utter falsehood have no truth about them; there is no falsehood separate from them, but it is one with them. What is the cause of falsehood? Their mind becomes habituated to falsehood and they do not feel it to be false. They do not feel falsehood as a separate thing. If they knew it (falsehood) to be evil, their mind would not be inclined to falsehood. Then they will feel that there is a separate thing called truth. Then they will attain the good. Then they will know the correct path.

The seed is not from the tree. The seed is the beginning. A seed falls down from a tree and that seed grows into a small plant which grows into a tree. Again and again trees grow from seeds. Similarly is creation. In the seed is the beginning but there is no ending. Wherever you may see, you see the same seed.

When the life energy moves in an outward direction desire is generated for sense objects. It manifests as mind and it is divided and subdivided into two, three, and six. Thus what is called “world” comes into being. From this world all qualities (good and bad) come into being. Five organs of action are related to the earth. Five chief senses are related to space. Organs of action are said to belong to Sat-guna. He who conquers the senses is the free man. To such a man, fulfillment comes from himself.

No man can do evil to another man. A man will be good or evil according to his own thinking. When we say some other man is the cause, it has a subtle meaning.

Suppose the feet are dirty with mud. In order to wash off the mud we must go to a place where there is water. If you fear to touch the water, how can the mud be washed away?

What is called akasha is in the upward direction.

What is called “male” is a subtle state. What is called “female” is nature.

Purposelessness is felt only in the subtle.

Discrimination is the manas becoming one with buddhi.

What is called samadhi is seeing the one in all.

By practice one must conquer the six enemies of the atman in the body; i.e., desire, anger, etc.

A sadhaka, i.e., a beginner in God realization, should not talk ill of others. If he does so, his progress will be retarded like that of a sprout on which a heavy stone is placed.

A sadhaka must not relax his practice even for a ghatika (twenty-four minutes). The mind should be ceaselessly engaged in practice.

The form of gold images is the creation of the mind.

When a man is photographed, the picture is according to the posture of the sitter; the virtues and the opposites in the photographer are not seen in the picture.

The heat of fire is only felt by those who sit near the fire but never by those who sit in water.

Peace is cool like water.

Before you are hungry, the food must be prepared. So also, before you become a householder you must know the duty of a householder. A householder should have his exterior and interior equally pure. He should distinguish clearly between cause and effect.

A man may run after a horse in vain for any length of time; let him ride the horse. Let him bind the legs of a horse and get on its back quickly. So also, worldly men must keep their mind free from attachment to sense objects.

Just as water slips off from an umbrella of palmyra leaves, so also, a man must be free from the idea “I am the doer.”

A householder must be like a calf offered to a temple. All should be offered to Brahman.

If you keep a light before a thousand people, it reaches all without making any distinction. Anyone may take it.

Where there is light there is no darkness. In the darkness there is no light. There can only be one thing (either light or darkness), not two at the same time.

One’s nature should be like the sun; one’s chitta must be cool like the moon.

For attaining jnana and mukti, age is no consideration. This very moment is the time for the attainment of jnana and mukti.

As soon as a man is hungry, it is the time for taking his meals. Those who are not hungry should wait for meals until they are hungry. One should have a keen hunger after bhakti.

The greater the heat of fire, the greater the boiling of water. Shraddha is the heat.

Peace is like the ice in the brain. It fills the inside and manifests outside. Such a man becomes contented in all respects and his mind becomes pure.

When we are in the midst of thousands of people we should have a firm will.

When you think (wrongly) that you are in the midst of thousands, the idea of duality arises in you.

Just as an airplane moves without the help of the earth, so also one must learn to act without the help of the body. The crown of firm belief: “I am not this body,” should be firmly planted in the heart.

When a man shuts the door of a house, he sees only things which are inside the house. Let him open the doors and come out; then he will see what is outside. Similarly, you must learn how to shut the doors of the five senses and how to open them. When the doors of a warehouse are locked, buying and selling ceases. When doors of the senses are shut, the difference between the external world and the “I” will vanish. You must always be careful about the senses. Like a horse being controlled by the help of reins, you must control your senses by the help of discrimination. Your attention on the senses should be fixed like a nail in a wall.

When one does a thing which is not palatable to the other, one takes the other to be a madman. When both are interested in doing the same thing, one does not take the other to be a madman. When both are equally interested in doing the same thing, there is nothing strange in doing that thing.

Those whose minds are merged in samadhi are not deluded by the external jugglery. They are quite fearless. Siddhas (God-realized souls) are not afraid of the world. A tiger or a cobra, when they see such a person, become calm, forgetting their ferocity. Similarly, all animals become calm at their sight. Even enemies forget their enmity and become friendly. As soon as they see a sadhu, they become stone-still. What is the cause of this? It is because of their doubting nature. At the sight of a sadhu, there is no darkness. Mind gets purified, realizing the sattwa quality.

If we look at the rails and the carriages, both appear to be closely connected. But really the rails and the wheels are separate. The rails are the gross passage; the train’s motion is caused by the energy of steam. Similar is the connection between the body and the soul. It should be shaken [off?] by the subtle intelligence and the eternal peace should be attained. Just as the carriages of the train are connected by chains, so also, let the jiva and Paramatma be united. The bodily qualities should be cut asunder by equal-sightedness. Let the jiva attain mukti, his eternal home.