Mind is very treacherous. It will hurl you down into the abyss of ignorance. It will say: “Pltva pltva punar pltva punar janma na vidyate”. (Drink, drink again, there is no rebirth). It will say: “Give up sadhana (spiritual practice), you will not gain anything. There is no bliss beyond the senses. The world is…
There is a beautiful prayer by a South Indian saint that says, “Lord, let my mind be a calm lake without any waves. Let my mind become like the needle of the scale where it is neutral to both clay and gold. Let me learn that neutrality, that equanimity in the midst of duality.” This…
In order to have a better world we must learn to think of the globe as a whole. Our world leaders need to be more selfless and sacrificing. Only by having a universal and spiritual vision can we bring positive change into the political field. A person who is really interested in making positive changes…
The goal of Yoga is “to know thy Self.” Why should people have such a goal? So that they can be happy. But why are they seeking happiness? How do they know that happiness is something worth having? If they have such a desire, that means they must have experienced it before. Otherwise, how would…
Form the habit of deep introspection. Good aspirants who enter into deep meditation also march forward in sleep. Taking food immoderately or at the wrong time will affect your system and render meditation difficult. Lead a life of self-restraint and back it up with meditation, japa (repetition of God’s name), prar:ayama (yoga breathing) and asanas…
The mind is the all in all. Its mastery leads to the renunciation of all. True renunciation is the abnegation of the mind. It consists in renouncing all desires and egoism, not world existence. Through such mental abnegation you will be able to free yourself from pain. Then will come immortality in life – the…
The first thing a spiritual aspirant has to acquire is mastery over the mind. Like a blind man – look at the objects. Like a deaf man – hear sounds. Do not allow the sense experiences to penetrate within. The mind gets fattened on account of its being fed by sense objects. Restrain the senses…
One thing which is sweet and pleasant to you at one moment, produces the very reverse sensation in another moment. Who has not experienced this, in this world of opposites? Objects when longed for are pleasant but are bitter if not longed for. Hence vasanas (tendencies) are the cause of sensual pleasures. Pleasures will stop…
“As you think, so you become.” Think well, you will be well. Think ill, you will be ill. It’s all your thought. Sometimes you might not be thinking ill of yourself, but you are thinking ill of others. That is still thinking ill. Whether it is about you or somebody else, that is what you…
The summum bonum of existence is the attainment of knowledge of the self, the realisation of the one homogeneous self. The knowledge of the self can only dawn when there is extinction of all the vasanas. Vasanas are subtle desires; they are gross in nature. Some philosophers define vasanas as tendencies or inclinations. Others say…
If you can clairvoyantly visualise the inner working of this mental factory you will see that, it is like a big telephone exchange, the messages come from diverse houses and firms into the central exchange. The operator plugs, connects and disconnects the various switches. So too, the mind plugs, connects and disconnects. When you want…
Antahkarana (the inner instrument) is a broad term which includes mind, intellect, memory and egoism (aharikara). The one Antahkarana assumes different names, just as the same man assumes the name of judge when he works as a judge in the law courts, or president when he serves in a society or association, and store-keeper when…