Greetings from Russell's Remnant:

Notes from the works of Sri Swami Satchidananda. (Part Two)

"If something changes, we should let it go - something else will come. All life is a passing show. If we want to hold it, even for a minute, we feel tension.

We are completely in the hands of a higher will. Either we are responsible for everything or God is.

For enlightened people there is nothing that is to be done or not to be done. Just flow. Feel the unseen hand directing you every minute, taking you along from one thing to another. By accepting, we save our minds from falling into hatred. Otherwise we keep on blaming others for everything. Accept changing things.

Sometimes you might try to avoid your nature and do something else temporarily. But if it is your dharma to do something, eventually you will be drawn back to that.

Let nature move you along into different classes. Natural growth is best. Just trust nature's hand. I'm saying: down with your intellect. Allow the unseen hand to work on you. You will be transformed. If something isn't good for you, you won't have to reject it. Something will happen, you will be taken and put somewhere else. The cosmic intelligence takes care of everything - it puts you in places and when you are finished it puts you somewhere else.

Yes you have freedom to do what you want. But when things don't turn out the way you hoped, at least remember that is because some higher force wanted it to be different. Intelligence and free will are fine, but that free will isn't totally free. It is part of that cosmic will. It's like the ocean and the wave. You can jump up high as a wave but you are still within the ocean. An ocean wave probably lasts no more than a minute or two, while this ego wave of human birth lasts for 60-70 years. Still, it's just a wave of that mighty ocean.

The whole world is a hot pot. We're going to be cooked by our experiences. We should accept this until we're roasted well. You are being refined. Once you become well-roasted by the experiences in the world, you'll be unattached and happy like me.

Temporarily keep things but feel you are just a trustee, not an owner.

When we expect joy from outside things we become attached to those things.

It is all right to have anything, as long as you don't let these things bring you anxiety and fear. When they come, they come alone, so allow them to go alone without losing your mind along with the external object.

The more we enjoy, the more we are bound.

Never worry about the loss of anything. We never lose anything; we never gain anything.

Don't reach out to get something. If it just comes, they you say, "Okay, you've come. Fine."

Untie yourself. Every personal attachment is a knot that binds you. You may possess things, but don't let them possess you. If you have too many clothes in the closet, you'll waste hours because you don't know what to wear. If you just have two items, take one and go.

Physical and mental toxins create stiffness and tension. Many toxins come from eating the wrong food, at the wrong times and in the wrong quantities.

A vegetarian diet will make you more calm and relaxed. Vegetarians have much less tension in their bodies.

If you eat once a day, you are a Yogi.

Concentrate on your food and chew your food well, until it becomes liquified in your mouth. You will eat half as much.

When you eat you should think that I am gathering energy to better serve others. Nothing will create mucous in your system if it is well digested. Eat only when you are really hungry, and just to your limit.

What if I ask you to love all fruits as you love the apple - to see the apple in all other fruits? If you don't know what an apple is, you won't be able to see other fruits as an apple. Consequently to love everything as spirit, you should realize your spiritual truth - God in you.

Evil is a thing in the wrong place - like dirt.

The seller should always put himself in the position of the buyer. The buyer should always put himself in the position of the seller.

There should be a gentle Yogic touch with everything - even our spoons, forks and plates.

Love and salute your tools." (over)

Satchidananda: "Day-to-day activities should always be done in a sattvic (tranquil) condition.In sattvic action, you don't want anything. Things just come to you. Wisdom comes from sattva. Sattvic people are always few in number. Be among those few. Sattvic joy will probably begin with a little bitterness. A Tamil proverb - "Advice of the wise is like a ripe gooseberry." When you begin to chew, it's very bitter. You'll feel like spitting it out. Then the more you chew, the more sugary it becomes.

Sensual pleasures are pleasant in the beginning, like scratching an itch. It is better not even to start such "happiness," because once you start, it's both hard to stop and hard to continue. Sattvic happiness seems like poison at first but ends up with joy.

You will know that you are too rajasic if you get into trouble.

Pain, we will even thank people who cause it, since they are giving us the opportunity to steady our minds and burn out impurities. Pain brings a message. The body is telling you that it has had enough.

Learn the lesson from pain. It is a warning about some mistake you made. If there is pain, go to its cause.

If I lose my peace when I see another in pain, then I need somebody to help me also.

All experiences are painful for the person of spiritual discrimination. The same action will hurt the evolved soul more than the unevolved soul. What is real to an enlightened person seems unreal to an ordinary person.

Seminal fluid is our life. When absorbed into the system it gets transformed into prana. It tones the entire personality, builds the nerves, improves brain power and calms the mind.

By conserving much prana, or vital energy, in the liquid form, awareness becomes keener. That's why a spiritual seeker who sincerely wants to develop his awareness should conserve vital energy. The maximum amount of prana is lost in the physical act of sex, but there are many other ways of losing prana.

The vital fluid in the body is most sacred and should be preserved at all costs.

One should learn to regulate and store vitality. The maximum amount wasted is caused by unlimited sex. Your seminal fluid is liquid prana.

Progressive deep relaxation and healing visualization improves health substantially.

Without purity of the body, it's very difficult to purify the mind. Learn to live a natural life. You can't just eat anything you want, then go sit and meditate.

You can heal yourself with fasting and by deep breathing and by directing prana to the affected area.

Develop dispassion, which is detachment from the objects of the senses.

Practice, but mere practice alone is not enough without proper vairagya - dispassion or non-attachment. Months and months of practice, repeating the mantram, going to all the gurus means little if your boat is still tied to the anchor lines of personal attachment. To determine how far away you are from God, write down everything you call "mine." When you achieve dispassion, you are not attached to things. Those who have wisdom are humble and do not hurt others. In the presence of the sense objects they have dispassion. They naturally seek out quiet places away from the hubbub of society.

If you keep on adding drops of an alkaline solution to an acid, at one point the solution becomes alkaline.

Whoever lives by these teachings with faith and without complaining will transcend karma.

An intelligent person will learn something from a mistake, but a fool will make the same mistake again and again.

It's easy to talk about enlightenment, but just to hear or read about the truth is not enough. You don't have to pay to read the menu.

Turning back is almost like trying to eat what you have vomited. You won't get anything new there.

When your part of the work is over, He will not send you any more air."