Question: What’s the best way of disciplining oneself to complete a task? Answer: Know that it is God’s task. God wants you to do that and is giving you the interest, the capacity and the knowledge to do it. If you think of yourself as an instrument in the hands of God, you will always…
Meditation is very important if you want to practice any kind of Yoga. You cannot become a good Karma Yogi without proper meditation, nor a good Bhakti Yogi. Meditation is the sustaining force. And don’t say, “Oh, if I come to meditation I can’t fulfill my other obligations.” Or, “I have to stay up late…
Competent disciples are never in want of a competent guru. Realised souls are not rare, but ordinary ignorant persons cannot easily recognise them. Only a few persons, who are pure and embodiments of all virtuous qualities, can understand realised souls, and they only will be benefitted in their company. The number of realised souls may…
Question: Can a little lie told to a person be loving and actually prevent hurt? Answer: Well, I have a philosophy about that. What is a lie? Is a lie something terrible? Is it always bad to lie? If so, why should there even be such a thing as a lie at all in this…
Give until it hurts, but don’t lose your peace. It’s all right not to help others if it will help you in preserving your own peace. If you’re going to lose your peace, then how are you going to help others? When you’re easeful and peaceful, then you can be useful. Otherwise, you may even…
It’s of no use to blame or dislike others. If you don’t like someone, you don’t have to go near that person. But don’t create problems for the person or condemn him or her either. It’s even better to try to find out why you don’t like someone. Analyze it. You may not like certain…
Vedanta does not want you to renounce the world. It wants you to change your mental attitude and give up this false, illusory ‘I-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’. The snake charmer removes only the two poisonous fangs of the cobra. The snake remains the same. In fact, it does everything as before. The snake charmer has changed…
Mere outward giving up of things is nothing. It is not real renunciation. Real tyaga, or sanyas (renunciation), consists in absolute renunciation of all vasanas (tendencies) and the destruction of the heart-knot of ignorance, the cit-jaḍa-granth (confusion between the conscious subject and inert object). What is to be renounced is the bheda buddhi (divisive intellect),…
If you cannot be loving with your parents, you’re not going to be loving with God either. But at the same time, you come across very hard parents who don’t want to understand their children. To such parents I say, “Open up a little. The world has changed. If your child is happy and contented…
You don’t make a friend. You become a friend. Then you automatically will have friends. If you relate to people in a very friendly, affectionate way, by loving and caring, sharing and helping, then naturally they will see you as a good friend. When they see you as a good friend, then they become your…
Question: Can a little lie told to a person be loving and actually prevent hurt? Answer: Well, I have a philosophy about that. What is a lie? Is a lie something terrible? Is it always bad to lie? If so, why should there even be such a thing as a lie at all in this…
Question: I feel a strong desire to be a mother and part of a family unit, yet I haven’t met a man to begin this family with. I sometimes become impatient and anxious, begin to lack faith and trust and feel pressured because of my age. Do you have any suggestions? Answer: God has a…