Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge. Those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not overcrowded with thoughts borrowed from others, and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realize that they know nothing.
So long as one does not become simple like a child, one does not get divine illumination. Forget all the worldly knowledge that you have acquired, and become as a child, and then you will get divine wisdom.
For what is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice. It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.
Common people talk bagfuls of religion, but do not practice even a grain of it. The wise person speaks a little, even though their whole life is religion expressed in action.
Too much study of the scriptures does more harm than good. The important thing is to know the essence of the scriptures. After that, what is the need of books?
One should learn the essence, and then dive deep in order to realize God. So long as the bee is outside the petals of the lily, and has not tasted the sweetness of its honey, it hovers around the flower, emitting the buzzing sound. But when it is inside the flower, it noiselessly drinks the nectar.
So long as a person quarrels and disputes about doctrines and dogmas, they have not tasted the nectar of true faith. When they have tasted it, they become quiet and full of peace.
Spirituality automatically leads to humility. When a flower develops into a fruit, the petals drop off on its own. When one becomes spiritual, the ego vanishes gradually, on its own. A tree laden with fruits always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness. All troubles come to an end, when the ego dies.
You speak of doing good to the world. Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First realize God, see God by means of spiritual discipline. If God impart power, you can do good to others. Otherwise, not.
The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but it cannot do so when the clouds shut out the rays. In the same way, as long as egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon it.
There are three kinds of love. Unselfish, mutual and selfish. The unselfish love is of the highest kind. The lover only minds the welfare of the beloved, and does not care for their own sufferings. In mutual love, the lover not only wants the happiness of their beloved, but has an eye towards their own happiness also — it is middling. The selfish love is the lowest: it only looks towards its own happiness. No matter whether the beloved suffers weal or woe.
The supreme purpose and goal for human life is to cultivate love. You should love everyone, because God dwells in all beings. But although God is in all people, all people are not in God. That is why we suffer. It is on account of the ego that one is not able to see God. In front of the door of God’s mansion lies a stump of ego. One cannot enter the mansion without jumping over the stump.
If you wish to be great, be lowly and meek. For great people have the nature of a child.
But do not be small-minded. Do not pray for gourds and pumpkins from God, when you should be asking for pure love and pure knowledge to dawn within every heart.
One person may read holy scriptures by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light, but the lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked, as well as on the virtuous.
What reality is cannot be described. All things in the world — The Vedas, The Puranas, The Tantras, The Six Systems of Philosophy — have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue. For they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way — and that is the Supreme Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.
Imagine a limitless expanse of water above and below, before and behind, right and left. Everywhere there is water. In that water is placed a jar filled with water. There is water inside the jar and water outside, and the jar is still there. The I is the jar. When the I disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words.
People are like pillow-cases. The color of one may be red, that of another blue, and that of a third black — but all contain the same cotton within. So it is with people: one is beautiful, another is ugly, a third holy, and a fourth wicked — but the divine being dwells in them all.
God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths. But a path is by no means God itself. Indeed one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion. One can eat a cake with icing either straight or sideways. It will taste sweet either way. All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways, but they fall into the sea. They all are one.
Wisdom leads to unity, but ignorance to separation. So long as God seems to be outside, and far away — there is ignorance. But when God is realized within, that is true knowledge. Travel in all the four quarters of the earth: you will find nothing, no true religion anywhere. Whatever there is, is only here, in one’s own heart.
When the divine vision is attained, all appear equal: and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low. One day it was suddenly revealed to me that everything is pure spirit.
If you meditate on your ideal, you will acquire its nature. If you think of the divine day and night, you will acquire the nature of God. The winds of grace are always blowing. But you have to raise the sail. And ocean of bliss may rain down from the heavens, but if you hold up only a thimble, that is all you receive.
Make your meditation a continuous state of mind. A great worship is going on all the time: so nothing should be neglected or excluded from your constant meditative awareness. Those whose spiritual awareness has been awakened never make a false move. They don’t have to avoid evil. They are so replete with love, that whatever they do is a good action. They are fully conscious that they are not the doer of their actions, but only servants of God.
The truth is, you cannot attain God if you have even a trace of desire. Subtle is the way of dharma. If you are trying to thread a needle, you will not succeed if the thread has even a slight fiber sticking out.
But all will surely realize God. All will be liberated. It may be that some get their meal in the morning, some at noon, and some in the evening — but none will go without food. All, without exception, will certainly know their real Self. The magnetic needle always points to the north. And hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction.
So long as the heart is directed towards God, one cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness. A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in the boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within them.
Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name and creature comforts may become less and less every day.
Live in the world like a water fowl: the water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mud-fish, the fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.
It is very pleasant to scratch an itching ring-worm, but the sensation one gets after is very painful and intolerable. In the same way, the pleasures of this world are very attractive in the beginning, but their consequences are terrible to contemplate and hard to endure.
Little children play with dolls in the outer room, just as they like, without any care of fear or restraint. But as soon as their mother comes in, they throw aside their dolls and run to her crying “Mama, Mama…” You too are now playing in this material world, infatuated with the dolls of wealth, honor, fame and so-on. If, however, you once see your divine mother, you will not afterwards find pleasure in all these. Throwing them all aside, you will run to her.