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Each step consists of approximately 10 quotations.
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God
is the lover and the beloved at the same time. He loves the devotee and is the
beloved of the latter. God's love is equally spread over all. It is only
those, who love God, who are aware of the love of God. God is not partial to
any one, but those who pray to Him feel His Grace. It is the sincere prayer
of the devotee that brings about the materialization of the Grace of God.
____Swami Sivananda
Prayer
is surrendering oneself to God completely.
Prayer is making friendship with God.
____Divine Rays
Realize
that He, the infinite power within you, guides you, controls you and actuates
you to do all things, at all times. Rise above conditioned conception of
things that is to say; rise above the Gunas and Dwandwas.
____The Mountain Path
Believe
in the divine possibilities. Completely dedicate yourself to the Lord. Have
full trust in Him. Rest in peace. All cares, worries, anxieties, tribulations
and egoistic efforts will terminate. Imperfection, defects and weakness, even
of a serious kind are no bar to spiritual progress. They can be removed
through the grace of the Lord.
___Swami Sivananda
Worship
God with the flowers of purity, self-restraint, humility, wisdom and devotion.
Let pure thoughts of God become the rosary of your mind.
___Swami
Sivananda
Goodness
makes life a blessing. Goodness will bring sure success and prosperity. To be
good is human. To be good is divine.
____Swami Sivananda
If
the pride of spirituality enters your head, woe unto you. It is the most awful
bondage that ever existed. Neither can wealth nor any other bondage of the
human heart bind the soul so much as this. "I am purer than others",
is the most awful idea that can enter into the human heart. In what sense are
you pure? The God in you is the God in all. If you have not known this, you
have known nothing. How can there be difference? It is all One. Every being is
the temple of the Most High. If you can see that, well, if not, spirituality
has yet to come to you.
____Swami Vivekananda
Life
is a great pilgrimage. Do not stray away. March direct to the goal. That goal
is God-realization. Awake, Arise, Purify and Meditate.
_____Swami Sivananda
THE
DIVINE NAME: No
one obtains liberation without the Name of the Lord. Your highest duty is to
repeat His Name always. Name is the greatest treasure of treasures. The
greatest of sinners can attain God-realization through the blessings of the
Name. Meditate on God's Name with the belief that the Name and the Named (God)
are identical. The Name of God is the most potent, unfailing tonic, sure
panacea and sovereign specific.
____Swami Sivananda
CART
BEFORE THE HORSE:
Selfless service is the greatest purifying force on earth. It is through such
service that, the preparatory purification is wrought, so vitally and
indispensably essential for the experience of a wider consciousness and a
higher life. All endeavor to attain perfection and obtain bliss is bound to be
futile and abortive, if it is not based on the sound foundation of ethical
development and moral stability. These latter are to be acquired mainly
through a period of earnest and whole-hearted service in some form or other.
This forms the melting process to the base ore of the egoistic self in man. It
is a process absolutely necessary for the emergence of the pure gold of
progress, peace and joy in life. To fancy oneself fit for meditation and
seclusion from the start is to put the cart before the horse.
____ Swami
Sivananda
You
won't find God anywhere unless you find Him within. Find Him within, and you
shall find Him without, everywhere. If you find Him in the temple of your
soul, you find Him enshrined in all temples and churches, and in all souls.
___ Self Realization
_____Swami Sivananda
The
Atman is the hidden Self in man. And turning away from the Atman,
man wanders, from unrest to unrest, in hot pursuit of shadow-shapes that come
and go. Man's life on earth is an aimless wandering until he learns to look
within himself and makes the greatest discovery of his life, i.e. the
discovery of the Atman.
____J.P. Vaswani
Purify
your mind. Steady it. Fix the mind on the Supreme Soul. Meditate and realize
your essential divine nature. You will be freed from the wheel of births and
deaths. You will attain eternal bliss and immortality.
_____Swami Sivananda
Remember
God is the inner prompter, who impels you to action. You are only His
instrument. Service of humanity is service of God.
_____Swami Sivananda
Mercy
is the might of the righteous. Viveka is the weapon of the aspirant. Vairagya
is the armor of Mumukshus.
_____Swami Sivananda
Satsanga
is the first pillar in the temple of Self-realization. Therefore seek the
company of sages.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Meditate
on Om. Know this sacred syllable Om. You know every thing. You will attain the
Highest knowledge.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Close
the door of the intellect, shut the windows of the senses, retire to the
chamber of your heart and enjoy the bliss of the eternal.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Be pure. Be devoted. Be faithful. Meditate and break the shell that encloses your
mind, and abide in God.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Cultivate
love in the garden of your heart by removing the weeds of jealousy, hatred,
suspicion, revenge, pride, and selfishness. The power of love is ineffable.
Its depth is unfathomable. Its glory is indescribable. It is Divine.
_____ Swami Sivananda
O
man! Thou art a pilgrim here. Awake, awake. Life is short. Time is fleeting.
Go back to your original home of immortal bliss.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Be
kind. Be compassionate. Be honest. Be bold. Be pure. Be wise. Be virtuous.
Enquire: "Who am I?" Know the Self and be free.
_____ Swami Sivananda
By
discrimination, dispassion and meditation attain the realization of the Atman,
which is illumination, enlightenment and deliverance from death, pain and
sorrow.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Trust
the Divine Grace at every step. Speak to the Lord like a child. Be candid.
Open your heart freely to Him. His Grace will at once descend.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Pray
faithfully like Prahlada. Sing like Radha. Repeat His name like Valmiki,
Tukaram and Tulsidas. Do Kirtana like Gauranga, weep in solitude like Mira Over
the separation from the Lord. You will have Darshan of the Lord.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Karma
yoga is the path of action. It is the path of disinterested service. It is the
way that leads to the attainment of God through selfless work. It is the yoga
of renunciation of the fruits of actions.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Everything
is God; good fortune is God; misfortune is God. Greet Him in everything and
rest peacefully in His Bliss.
_____ Swami Sivananda
The
source of all good and happiness, the basis of all virtue and prosperity, is
the religion of love. This is thy final center of repose and undying peace.
Kindle this light in thy heart, for this is the immediate way to the Kingdom
of God.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Shut
out worldly sights from your mind. Withdraw the senses. Be awake to the Self
within and alive to your spiritual progress. Take repose in the Self. Rejoice
and rest in peace.
_____ Swami Sivananda
Who is
a Saint? He who lives in God or the Eternal, who is free from egoism, likes and dislikes, selfishness, vanity, mine-ness, lust, greed
and anger, who is endowed with equal vision, balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, righteousness and cosmic love, and who has divine knowledge,
is a saint.
_____
Swami Sivananda
LOVE
is a consistent passion to give, and not a meek
persistent hope to receive. The only demand of life is the privilege to love
all.
_____ Swami Chinmayananda
REAL
KNOWLEDGE: The knowledge of
the Self is the real knowledge. All other kinds of knowledge are mere husk.
One may possess the whole wealth of the three worlds and yet he can't enjoy
everlasting peace unless he knows the Self. The root of all human suffering or
the source of troubles, pains and sorrow is the ignorance of the Self. This
dire ignorance can be destroyed only be attaining the knowledge of the Self.
Therefore strive ceaselessly to attain this knowledge.
____ Swami Sivananda
Bhakti is
immortalizing nectar; it transmutes a man into divinity. It makes him perfect.
It bestows on him everlasting peace and bliss.
____ Swami Sivananda
Meditation
opens up all the closed inner gates in the spine and brain that bring power to
your body, mind, and soul. When you meditate your body becomes filled with
electricity or life energy that is ever present in the ether. Most people do
not realize that. Meditation is turning on of the inner switch that fills the
body with the divine current. That is why it is so important to keep your
concentration on the after effects of meditation every minute of one’s
existence. Do not neutralize that peace with the disturbing thoughts. If you
gather concentration in a pail of meditation, and have a leak of restlessness,
your concentration will run out. You must not have any mental leaks.
----- Self-Realization
In
the midst of multifarious activities of the day-to-day life, if we are not
careful enough to continue meditation on our Ishta
Devata then we are
likely to be drawn to the attractions of the empirical world. So those who are
really serious in reaching the Goal Supreme in this life itself should try to
withdraw their minds from all objects of form, smell, taste, touch and sound.
----- Swami Gokulananda
“One
should look upon this world as an illusion and a creation of the mind, open to
perception and evanescent as a dream and most unsteady like a revolving
firebrand. Consciousness, though one, appears as many and this threefold
division wrought by the projection of (three) Gunas is illusory appearance.”
----- Bhagavata (XI-13.34)
The
world would be a much happier place if we all practiced more consideration,
understanding, and forgiveness. These are some of the most wonderful words in
our language.
---- Henry H. Graham
Nivritti
is the fundamental basis of all morality and all religion, and the very
perfection of it is self-abnegation, readiness to sacrifice mind and body and
everything for another being. When a man has reached that state, he has
attained to the perfection of karma yoga. This is the highest result of good
works. Although a man has not studied a single system of philosophy, although
he does not believe in any God, and never has believed, although he has not
prayed even once in his whole life, if the simple power of good actions has
brought him to that state where he is ready to give up his life and all else
for others, he has arrived at the same point to which the religious man will
come through his prayers and the philosopher through his knowledge; and so you
may find that the philosopher, the worker and the devotee, all meet at one
point, that one point being self-abnegation.
---- Swami Vivekananda
Although
you should take care of the body and should follow the right laws of living,
do not allow your efforts in this direction to become a preoccupation that
consumes all your time. Do not make health the ruling factor in your life.
Healing the soul also heals both body and mind. When you have healed your soul
of ignorance you have also heated your mind and your body, for the darkness of
mental in-harmonies and physical disease and no longer exist when the light of
wisdom enters your body temple.
---- Self-Realization
“He
who having totally given up attachments to actions and their fruit, no longer
depends on the world, and is ever satisfied, does nothing at all, though fully
engaged in action. Having subdued his mind and body, and given up all objects
of enjoyment, and free from craving; he who performs sheer bodily actions does
not incur sin.”
--- Gita (IV. 20-21)
This
whole world is like a big factory of God. The main wheel revolves. From it
belts are attached to other wheels and machines. Each small part of machine
does its own allotted work. Man must serve others. He is part of the cycle and
must perform his assigned task like the other parts.
If a man does not follow the wheel of the universe thus revolving, if he leads a sensual life of absolute selfishness, he is simply wasting his life. He is a mere burden on earth. He is committing great sin indeed.
--- Swami Sivananda
By
austerity
a man achieves goodness, and through goodness he takes hold of his
mind. Through the mind he reaches the self, and reaching the self he comes to
rest.
--- Maitreya Upanishad
The
Guru-disciple relationship is the highest expression of friendship, for
it is based on unconditional divine love and wisdom. It is loftiest and most
sacred of all relationships.
--- Self-Realization
Know
that you are not this restless mind, but that you are the immortal, all
blissful, and changeless spirit.
--- The Mountain Path
The end of culture is perfection.
The end of education is Character.
The end of knowledge is love.
That eye alone is the real eye, which sees God in every thing.
--- Swami Sivananda
"Until and unless Self-realization is
attained, Knowledge-Absolute is
gained, there is ever the ebb and flow, the constant see-saw between the
animal and the man in every human being. The beast or the brute is never
completely absent or overcome except through a final Divinization of the
individual."
--- Swami Sivananda