The Reflections

The Reflections

Nochur SSri ri Venkataraman

Publishers Rishi Prakasana Sabha Thiruvananthapuram

English The Reflections by Nochur SSri ri Venkataraman

First Edition 1997 Cover Design G. Santhosh Kumar LOTUS Media, Thiruvananthapuram - 14 Phone: 0471-3208478, 09447036991 Published by Rishi Prakasana Sabha T.C. 38/351, VYASA : 196 Valiachalai Street, Thiruvananthapuram Pin - 695036. Phone: 0471-2479457

P r eface

The Reflections of a Recluse A seeker of Truth is an entirely different person from the common folk. His mind always wanders in the garden of Meditation. Silence is his staple food, Love is the sweet dish, he drinks the water of Purity, and the impact is the Spiritual Health. He becomes wholesome through renunciation. He recognises the deathless infinite Self in his bosom. In his garden are the divinely fragrant flowers in the form of realised saints and sages. His fellow seekers or devotees also buzz around as the inebriated bee addicted to the honey of God experience. Such is the garden of reflection and contemplation in which a Saint lives and moves about. Such is the nature of this booklet. The author's scribblings from his earliest diaries are published in these forthcoming pages.

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OM! The criterion for the depth of faith in the Supreme can be determined by the power you have to live calmly ever in uncertainty.

Everything is uncertain; so be resigned. Everything is predestined; then also be resigned. To be resigned means to be surrendered. Once you surrender to the Supreme, ‘That’ will swallow ‘you’. After that God alone is, No ‘I’.

Will power is not the power of the ego, but the power against the ego. It is the power to disobey the orders and wishes of this little puny ‘I’ within us. It is the power to be the witness of our mind and not to identify with it. It is the power to watch the dance of the ego without identifying with it. Watchfulness is the third eye of Siva which will burn the ego to ashes.

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You are free to be free; but if you refuse to be free, nobody can make you free.

Information when reflected ripens into Knowledge. Knowledge when practised ripens into Wisdom.

Let every moment’s experience die with the moment. Close your account every moment. Then you will be free from the tyranny of the mind.

Do not waste your life learning many things. Learn the art of meditation. Learn the art of forgetting all learning. Your puny ego is a product of much non-essential knowledge. Drop it, and you have done the job. Free you are, calm, cool, serene OM!

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Let the world go to dustbin; do not pay much heed to it. The world itself is a dustbin. Keep yourself unsullied in the supreme glory of Godhead.

Do not degrade yourself by thinking yourself as a man or woman. It is a sin to do so. You are verily God, the Supreme!

Whatever comes, accept it. In this way and only in this way can you put yourself under the safe care of Nature.

Perseverance, patience and indifference to repeated failures, are the three factors that are most important in our spiritual quest.

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When the sun of the SELF dawns in the horizon of your consciousness, when you feel yourself as one with God, to such an extent that you verily breathe God, eat God, drink God and walk as God, when your heart is brimful with that divine liquor and when it overflows through your eyes and face, HO! verily at that time the very existence will rejoice, rejoice and rejoice to have you as a part of her, nay as her own soul.

99% of the spiritual maturity comes through Karma itself. It is the last phase that we see “blasting out” in meditation. In fact, that 1% comes on its own accord; no effort is necessary for that. It comes only when all efforts end. Every effort will ultimately swallow itself giving place to the power of the True SELF to reveal itself.

The power to put into practice any spiritual ideal instantaneously is the greatest gift of grace.

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You listen to something; the next moment you are that. No procrastination at all.

The same Supreme Truth, the infinite reality is within you, within me and within everybody. It is in the same proportion within you, me, God and devil. So don’t keep your centre outside yourself. Any personality however big will have some black mark (atleast in the vision of an onlooker). So always turn your focus towards that Supreme source which is within you, the ‘I am’ which is pure awareness. This ‘I am’ is the key for the treasure house of wisdom.

When your heart is filled with infinite peace, it will percolate through your words, through your eyes. Your very being will radiate immense peace and silence. This is the way and the only way you can propagate peace.

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Even the silence (external) of a worldly man is harmful. By his very being he will spread worldliness. Contact with him will throw the mind into a whirlpool of confusion and impurity.

Free thinking is not freedom of thinking. It means freedom from thinking. i.e., freedom from thoughts. To go beyond thoughts and abide as the uncontaminated ‘I am’ is freedom.

Real Sanyasa is the Sanyasa (renunciation or giving up) of the ‘ego’ which is the root for the whole mind. Renouncing the possessor is more important than giving up possessions. Ego disappears only through Self-Knowledge.

Before thinking of Sanyasa we should know what it is. It is not to make others believe that you

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are a Sanyasi. Sanyasa should blossom within you spontaneously. You can’t create it. It happens naturally by the dawn of Jnana.

‘Name and fame’ are such terrible tools of Maya that they make you believe that there is nothing wrong in taking birth again. Relishing fame (reputation) is an inner drug.

To imitate is hypocrisy. When you imitate, you behave like somebody else, you have an ideal and you try to express yourself in that way. You always look at yourself through other’s eyes. This is acting, hypocrisy. Drop this ego ‘BE YOURSELF. BEHAVE AS GOD’. Don’t behave as body; don’t pretend to be the mind or intellect. To be God is to be ego-less i.e., to stay as the pure ‘I am’ ness.

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When everybody praise and flatter you, you may think that you are not affected, neither elated. You do not know the subtle elation, that is the arising of ego inside your subconscious mind. You will know it only when somebody reproaches you, when somebody provokes you. In this way those who provoke you are really your spiritual helpers. They help you to know yourself.

The thoughts that are flowing in the mind sea are evaporated in the radiant heat of Vichara Sun (Jnana Surya). They are transformed as the clouds of bhakti in the Heart Sky, (Chidakasa). When they are saturated, there begins a heavy down pour of joy, which will flood the entire being with inundation.

When some terrible scene is seen in a dream you suddenly get jolted and wake up from sleep.

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Even so, unbearable sorrow shakes you up, from this ‘world-dream’.

Inner blooming may change the external appearance. But the reverse is not true. External apparel can never change the heart. No amount of external dressing without the real inner quest will reveal the Truth.

Hope is the tong with which nature holds man and with the hammer of sorrow, she gives good blows to shape him according to her wish.

From peace the whole universe emerges, it resides therein, and unto peace it merges back. That peace, thou art OM! This is Vedanta ; there is nothing more to know.

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God is sleeping and seeing a long dreadful dream i.e., this world. When He wakes up neither you exist nor I exist nor this pluralistic world. Only He, the Supreme one, Parameswara, OM! OM!! OM!!!

Some say that real boldness lies in living amidst sensual objects and keeping oneself above them. But beware of this argument. The tendency to live amidst sensual objects is by itself a weakness. This tendencey is a subtle mental trap to drag you down slowly.

Walk alone in the remote villages. See nature enlivened by God consciousness. See the little birds and squirrels jumping here and there. Ho! How agile they are! They live in tune with nature and Mother Nature feeds them with the inebriating liquor of God consciousness. They sing with joy OM! OM!! OM!!!

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The five sensual children (senses) are slowly turning back to the womb of their mother, mind. She slowly recedes to her inner apartment, intellect. The Sakti becomes one with Siva and He the Lord has entered into the Supreme primordial silence, Samadhi . OM! OM!! OM!!! The goal is reached but alas! the winner is lost in the goal OM! Blessed is the man who leaves aside all other works and contemplates on God in solitude. He verily rejoices and attains Supreme Peace. The rest merely blabber and waste their life in extroversion. Real work is that which is done by a free soul. Others are not working, but they are being made to work by their mind i.e., desires. The mind ghost has possessed them and is dragging them hither and thither. They are not free enough to keep quiet and enjoy the peace of stillness.

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An aeroplane has wheels and also two wings. But for what use are they? They simply help the plane in its takeoff. That’s all. They are not the main instruments for flying. The wheel will help in the takeoff and the wings in balancing. But the real engine without which the aeroplane cannot fly at all is within and is not seen by us. Even so our mind and intellect are only instruments that can give a good start to our spiritual flight. The real instrument is the ‘heart centre’ that is within, and only when it opens the spiritual flowering starts. If words can give knowledge, practical living or demonstration through life can radiate wisdom. Only when we are surcharged with the power of spirit can we talk Vedanta, otherwise not. Inspiration should lead to continuous meditation. Inspiration, contemplation, meditation, realisation and then inspiring the very earth on which you stand and move about. This is real Vedanta.

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Strict routine is the tapas for the body, chanting the Nama is the tapas for the lips and Vichara is the tapas for the mind. If these three are there, what else is needed? Thrice blessed is that life.

Dependence is death, dependence is weakness. Be independent in all respects. Begin your life in freedom, walk in freedom and end in freedom, and above all allow others to live in freedom.

The process of ‘I’ looking at itself, not jumping to ‘me’ or ‘my’ or ‘I am so and so’, is called Atma Nishta. This self attention is the way shown by Bhagavan Ramana. Here pure ‘I am’ - ness shines forth.

A real seer is not a seer of anything. He is verily the seer (witness) of everything; both within and

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without. Ultimately He alone is; nothing else remains to be seen.

Strength, Strength, Strength, says Vivekananda. But what is strength? Is it mere brutal physical strength? No, he himself defines, ‘Purity is Strength’. Real purity is SELF. So self realisation alone can give us real strength. Jnana is strength.

One who finds joy in his own SELF, who verily swims in the bliss of Atman, has nothing to do in this world. His supreme laziness itself is a great reforming force.

Service means ‘serve with ease’ i.e., serve with a calm mind. A mind which has no ‘I’ and ‘mine’ will be at ease, at rest always. Never, never can such a realised soul get disturbed. Then all his

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work will be a service. Otherwise, each work that he does will add one more link to the chain of Karma to bind him.

Even the strongest storm cannot do anything against the Himalayas. Be a spiritual Himalaya. Stand steady like a mountain and even the greatest storm of passion will pass away. Do not get disturbed; be steady and bold.

Getting attracted is weakness. If you get attracted by anything, you are weak. That object is overpowering you. A person who is centred in his real self, will be attracted by nothing.

Real adventure is only in spiritual life, in selfdiscipline. Greater power is needed to conquer one’s own mind, than to conquer the peak of

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Everest. Slowly and steadily watch yourself and find out all your weaknesses and adopt means to conquer them. If you meditate on yourself, the means will be taught by your pure mind itself. Pure mind is the best Guru.

Even for a Vedantin, Namajapa is a very powerful aid to Vichara. Doing japa with the lips and pondering over the Truth proclaimed in the Upanishads is the way to realisation. The vocal japa will hush the thought waves in the surface mind and the deep level of the heart will be available to feel the tender feelings of the Rishis throbbing in the mantras of the Upanishads. Otherwise the surface mind which is always in contact with the world will disturb the contemplation. So do japa and ponder, muse, meditate and realise.

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Read and enjoy the biographies of Saints. Feel that they are the ideals for you. You will get atleast one divine quality from a saint. Adopt it, grind, digest and assimilate whatever good qualities you can get from all the Mahatmas of the world. If you find anything dubious or illogical with any of them, please avoid that part and accept their good qualities alone. Thus, you will always be mentally living amidst a galaxy of saints. O what a joy! Feel that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is with you; feel that Bhagavan Ramana is with you; feel that Swami Vivekananda is with you, feel that all saints of the past and the present are with you. Talk to them, converse with them, discuss with them nay even gossip with them. Blessed you are! Blessed you are! But please don’t engage in talking about ordinary individuals. Stop all personal talks and be impersonal. Saints are not personalities. They are hollow and so holy.

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What is the sign of spiritual Maturity? Spiritual ripeness of a soul can be determined by the knowledge that he has about his own Prarabdha Karma. When the soul becomes very deep, all the mysteries about the complex network of karma will be made an open book to him.

Open the eyes, open your ears; more than all, open your heart and look. Just look into the heart of all. Deep into the heart of man, woman, trees and animals. You will not fail to see a spark, atleast a spark of that divine spirit OM!

Surrender the body, and mind to God. Once you have surrendered, you have no right to be concerned about them. It is no more yours. Whatever happens to the body, whatever

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feelings arise in the mind, be detached and chant Namah Sivaya....OM.

All problems are mental. It is only the mind that creates problems. There is no permanent solution for mental problems through external aids and mental imagination. All problems end when the mind merges in the source. That source can be reached by tracing the ‘I’ thought to its source.

There is an eternal law which guides us. It is a mystery to the gross minded men. If our mind becomes pure, it will gain enough subtlety to get itself tuned to its vibration. Happy will be the man who can tune himself to the frequency of that eternal wave of the Karma secret. Nobody or no book can give us the key to open this secret principle behind the mind, nay beyond the mind of man. It is what the Vedas call the ‘Rhythm’ of the universe. This is a sagely

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secret which even if revealed cannot be understood by men in the shackles of karma.

In some places Vedas picture God or Truth as a very angry dictator with his thunder weapon lofted, to frighten the souls (egos) ‘Mahadbhayam vajramudyatam’. Is he so cruel? Yes he has no mercy towards the ‘egos’ of men. His thunder is the thunder of jnana which will kill the ego of man. A soul who has understood the secret of this thunder weapon will simply obey him and be happy to get his blows in the form of sorrows, insults and all sorts of natural forces which come in the life. One who gets attached to the seemingly real things of this world is sure to get a good blow from Him. So let us pray to that Lord along with the Vedic Sage, ‘ Namaste Rudra Manyave utota Ishave Namah’. O Rudra! Salutations to your anger and also to your weapon.

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When you find any fault with others, you are looking at it from your point of view, drop this view and look at it from his point of view and you will find him right.

Slavery to God is freedom from all entanglements and desires of this world.

A man who is unconcerned about the fruit of his work alone could be fearless. One who is always concerned about the result will always be in fear and worries. Be fearless. Do not be a beggar at the threshold of nature. Work only to exhaust the vasanas within you. As far as the fruits do not come to you, bless all - you are safe, let it go anywhere.

Real Atmavichara is possible only when thoughts naturally, without any conscious effort, move

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towards the centre within us. Only when the mind gets fascinated towards the pulsation of ‘I’ in the heart, the thought will become centripetal. Thus the settling of the mind in the centre of our personality is the way of Vichara.

One who leads a meditative life should treat his mind like a patient. Meditation is called ‘Chittachikitsa’. So when dirty thoughts gush out of the bosom, he should not curse himself, but should clean it then and there with the powerful tool of ENQUIRY. Let any sort of thought come, question ‘to whom this thought has come?’. The answer will be ‘to me’, question ‘who am I?’. The ‘I’ will sink to the source. Thus always probe within and investigate the root of your personality.

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Non co-operation with the mind is power . Let it crave, ask, request, tempt; be like a rock and watch all its prattlings. Don’t identify with it. That is what they picture as the Sakti’s dance before Siva. When Siva is simply a witness, there is no creation. When Siva identifies with Sakti, there is creation.

Everybody will have his own spiritual path, the path arranged by his own karma. So nobody need imitate anyone else. Let him light the inner lamp and walk in its light. The inner-Guru alone can guide you correctly.

One who has a well established foundation of character need not fear anybody. So first of all, atleast take a step to reform your habits. Habits are the bricks of the character structure. “Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.... Every moment is

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a new chance” says Swami Vivekananda.

Instead of chewing the cuds of past and tasting the ‘maybe’ sweet future in dreams, ask yourself ‘Who am I?’. Solve this problem and everything else will take care of itself. ‘Seek ye the kingdom of heaven first and everything else will be added unto you;’ ‘The kingdom of heaven is within you’. “Be still and know that ‘I am’ God”.

Those who are experts in catching snakes know well how to bring out the snake that hides inside its hole. They will whistle or play some peculiar tune by some instrument and the snake is stimulated to come out. Then they catch hold of it. Even so intelligent seekers must take every tempting object or provoking incident as a help to bring the hidden vasanas to the conscious mind. Only when somebody abuses or provokes you, the viper in your heart, ‘Mr. Ego’ will show

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his head outside. This is the time to probe.... ‘Who am I?’.

If somebody insults you, do not leave the place. Stay there, receive all the insults and reproach that he or she can give you. This is the best way to erase the ego. Only by the grace of Siva do we get insults and blames. It is Siva’s grace coming through their words. But we fail to recognize it.

Suffer for the sake of God, endure all difficulties. Even these will become ecstasy. Endure, endure and endure. Thus you will gain depth. Then and only then the heart will blossom. This is what Tapasya means. ‘Titikshaswa Bharata’ is one of the glorious message that Gita gives. Here ‘Bharata’ means ‘one who revels in light’, i.e., an enlightened being. Bhagawan says, ‘O! enlightened Man, endure all difficulties with a pleasant face’. These are only momentary. Every sorrow comes to our life with hidden

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spiritual wealth. If we welcome them with a pleasant face, they will give us much more joy and depth than any other spiritual discipline. Even misery becomes joy when we accept it.

Meditation, japa and self enquiry gets firmly rooted only through slow and steady practice. It cannot give us peace if we do in fits and starts. If we are always anxious of some results even of realisation, nothing can help us in attaining peace. It should be done regularly, patiently and devoutedly. It should slowly percolate within us. It is something which gradually 'soaks in’. We should never overstrain our mind and intellect. Do not be too anxious to attain something soon. Be not in a hurry. Let spirituality soak within you ‘drop by drop’. Let it be slow and steady. Let the doors of insight open again and again. After some years when you look into yourself you’ll find, “Ha! the old person is no more!”.

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You may fall a thousand times. So what? Get up and walk again. Nobody has any right to criticize you in your fall. You are responsible to none. Your realisation is in your hand. Determine to become absolutely free.

What is spirituality? It is ‘SpiritActuality’, ‘Brahma Satyam’, i.e., realising that the spirit, Brahman alone is actual or real; everything else is only a fleeting vision superimposed on that spirit.

Sages live in heart. All their actions are spontaneous. They do not philosophise or think about the good or bad of their actions. They just act as their heart dictates. Feeling and action will take place anon without any moment of thought.

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When the morning Sun with his golden hue dawns in the eastern horizon, nature is thrilled by his touch, with his golden rays. See how wonderful! Mother Earth is really enthralled. All these trees and plants are the hairs in her body standing erect showing the current of deep feeling going within her. O! Joy! Joy!! All these little birds are simply mad with ecstasy! They warble melodiously, putting back all artificial songs and tunes. O Divine Orchestra! They are all verily mad with joy tasting the divine ecstasy fed by our Mother Nature. Alas man alone locked in his house leads a jelly fish life taken away from all divine joy, O! searching for a future God, while verily divinity itself reveals before him with full beauty, Om! This beauty of nature is really the beauty of the SELF which is seen through nature’s transparent garb. Om!, The one Supreme Atman is the base for all beauty; Sivam, Sundaram! Birds, trees, bees, butterflies, animals, men and women are all beautiful because of the Self. That true divine self, ‘I am’ - contemplate on this truth. Meditate

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with full feeling, all beauty ‘I am’! ‘I am’ that immaculately pure SELF Om! Om!! Om!!! Be mad with this ecstasy. Forget, clean, clean all dualities. ‘I am’ that pure self Om! Om!! Om!!!

When an ecstatical mood comes, enjoy it. But do not crave for it again, when it is gone. Let it come and go, it is transient. It is just a taste of the infinite joy that lies deep within us. The mind just kisses its beloved Self and is thrilled. To remain ever rooted in that source is realisation.

Desire for fame is the fuel with which many people (majority) drive their spiritual vehicle. This will end only in a spiritual accident. Always be vigilant not to get trapped in this net.

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As long as you have a mind, you have to use it, otherwise it will use you. The best use of it is to turn it towards its source. The source is nothing but the Divine SELF.

We need not try to acquire faith. Faith should possess us! We should be forced to believe out of conviction, direct experience. The faith nurtured and cultivated artificially will perish very soon.

If the cause for our difficulties lies in things outside us, we can never solve it. But the root cause for all difficulties is within us. So we can solve the problem. A man who always finds the cause for his difficulties in others, can never find peace. Solve the problem within you; the greatest riddle-know thyself-and the whole world will

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become your play court where you will play with the ball of life.

Let life itself become our university and each experience, a teacher. Our mind is the taught and contemplation, the learning. Illumination is the highest degree conferred.

There is ecstasy hidden even in pain and suffering. Find joy in all adverse conditions. Blessed is the man who is neglected by the society for his heart will blossom soon.

Nobody is fully bad. If we persist we can find a flash of goodness even in the most beastly man. Some express the goodness in them while others express the bad side of their mind. But even

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the latter is potentially good and will express the good in the conducive environment. Both good and bad are relative. Beyond both is the True Self who is none other than God. Transcend both good and bad and look at God.

It is not by adjusting and concentrating the mind that we realise the Truth. The Truth, Siva, is always shining behind all this mad vagaries of the mind. The only thing the mind can do is to subside and allow that light Supreme, to shine in its full splendour.

We must become so perfect that not even a single weakness is left within us. Not even unawaringly the emotion should take a short circuit. Let us give up, give up and give up and struggle, struggle and struggle. What can books teach? They can only procrastinate our progress. Let every moment be filled with God and nothing

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else. The moment we touch our innermost core, the screen in which the film of the body and the world are seen, we will recognise perfection as our real nature, our deepest Self, our beingness.

As in the story in which a lion took itself as a mere sheep although it was evidently a lion, you are here and now, nothing but the pure, immaculate mass of Godliness, the infinite Atman. The only thing you have to do is just to shed aside the wrong notion and roar as the Lion. Nothing else is needed. Here and now claim your divine SELF. Let the body work, let the mind run according to the past vasanas; don’t allow yourself to be taken away by them. Refuse to believe their pranks. The mirage water can never make a deluge.

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Don’t get attached with anybody. Mingle with all, but don’t get attached. Attachment is sin. It will suck all our spiritual energy. It will bind us with a thousand iron chains.

We should be able to live with a demon and should be able to love him in spite of all his devilish way of life. If we can’t, it is not the demon’s mistake, but it shows our lack of love. Even the demon will be a means for us to develop our love. There is no use in criticizing the demon, because it is the demon’s nature to be demonic. It can’t be otherwise. Only we can change our attitude.

When some worldly thought or passion possess our mind, we suffer intensely. Still we crave for worldly enjoyment. Such is the power of the habit over us. With Will, change the habit and you have the fruit of joy in your palm.

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Our mental makeup has a higher stage which is called Satvika. The will power which works in the lower level is ego and in the higher level is discipline. This sort of will is ‘Satvika’. Love in the lower level is passion and in the purest form is ecstatical devotion, Prema Bhakthi.

When we study an object before us our whole energy should be focused on it and we should be able to forget that object completely when it has gone out of our hand. Such detachment has groomed great and powerful men.

See God everywhere. What does it mean? Seeing goodness everywhere is seeing God everywhere. Light the lamp of pure love in your heart and you’ll see God everywhere.

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Real freedom is freedom from the grip of the mind, freedom from the grip of the intellect, freedom from the clutches of the senses and the body. It is not the freedom of these, but the freedom from these.

Soak the heart with bhakti and heat it in the fire of jnana, you’ll cook the nectar of divine experience.

Happy is the man who is desireless. Desirelessness is our real nature, our own Self.

We don’t deserve anything; everything is a gift. If we can have this attitude, life will be peaceful; a grand thanks giving ceremony.

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God realisation is not something to be attained in the future. It can be experienced even now. Stop all craving, desiring and you are at the destination Om!

Krishna was stealing butter. What sort of butter was he stealing? It was not any ordinary butter. It was the heart of devotees which was melting like butter. That is why he is called Hari, one who steals the melting heart.

Criticize yourself more than others who criticize you. Let it be creative, not destructive.

What we usually call as self respect is only ego respect. Real self respect or SELF reliance is to respect that SELF which is in all; to take

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everything as coming from God, the supreme SELF.

We act in the waking state and the mind reacts in the dream state. Control and purify the mind when you are awake and you’ll find the dream also slowly gaining purity. If you fill the waking state with Self-Knowledge your dream also will be radiant with the light of Self-Knowledge.

Mind is another name for misery. It is the only cause for all sorrows. Do not fight with it. Mind is born out of ignorance of the Self. Knowledge of the Self alone will kill it.

Spirituality without real Vairagya (intelligent dispassion) will end in mere philanthropy.

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Where science ends, philosophy begins. Where philosophy ends, spirituality begins. All problems are problems only till we approach them. The moment we fearlessly face them they melt away like snow before sun. It is our mind that frightens us. After all, what will happen? Death? Failure? They are nothing. Death and failure are mere sounds without stuff. The stuff that you are, your centre is immortal conscious reality. That thought which is pregnant with emotion goes deep to the unconscious level of the mind. ‘If you fear the ghost, it will catch hold of you’say the old villagers. How true! If you fear the tempting objects, at that very moment they will conquer you. Your very fear will keep a deep under current of the thought of the object which you want to avoid. The mind that has found the Truth will be at ease always.

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The seemingly self contradictory terms in Vedantic scriptures and in the sayings of the sages provide mental nuts to crack in the silent hours of deep contemplation. You go on thinking, go on probing into the nooks and corners of your mind and at last the blazing light of Truth flashes forth from the divine chamber of the Heart.

OM is the symbolic language of Truth; it is in expression eloquent SILENCE! Deep poise. Rocks and trees also know that language. Silence is the language of nature. Nature when contemplated pours silence into your heart and you verily become transfigured as a sublime, divine, natural, silent being... OM! Meditate on the language of rocks and trees.... OM!

Our mind is like a radio which is not well tuned. You tune to one station and you hear other stations in the background. In this way there

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are many layers and backgrounds in our mind through which we hear many things. When the mind is well cultured, you hear only one station at a time and when you don’t need it you just switch it off and there is perfect SILENCE.

Why have we taken this body? Due to prarabdha, nothing else. So we have to finish that and should not accumulate anymore. This understanding is the secret of Karma. Be aware! Don’t get into the shackles of Karma again. It is a Padmavyuha. You will be unable to come out once you get inside.

While simply sitting, you are getting bored. But why don’t you get bored when you are simply sleeping; even for 10 hours? Doing nothing, no entertainment, nothing to talk, nothing to think. So even this boredom is a mysterious phenomenon. Even this shows our innate divinity. Somewhere in the deep level of the

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personality lies the knowledge, that we are beyond time and space. So when we are limited by time we get frustrated and we want somehow to consume the time. That is why we get bored. But we don’t know the technique to eat the timespace stuff and be finished with it. We do it regularly in sleep. Are we conscious of time or space in sleep? No! Even so we can swallow time and space, name and form, the very universe and it will be the most relishing food. Never will we feel hungry again. All other foods will only satisfy us temporarily. But when we eat this food in Samadhi , we become ever satisfied, 'Aptakama', Om! We have no tension, no boredom or no other nonsense in deep sleep. Why? Because there we strip off the mind and stay nakedly as the pure self. There we do not identify ourself with the mind. So to get rid of all problems there is only one way, that is “Be still and know that I am God” i.e., still the mind and behold the divine self.

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The words of sages are unique, not only because they are unworldly but also because they are non-worldly. There will be a subtle fragrance of the unreality of this world in every utterance. They never talk anything by giving reality to the world. To them God alone is real.

Selection of Mantra: You can select any mantra. Even if the mantra you select is not the right one for your mind, if you are earnest and practise diligently, that mantra itself will lead you to the right mantra.

Our own problems are to be solved by ourselves. Nobody else can help us in solving our inner problems. We have to work within our own bosom with the given light of conscience. So ‘struggle’ is the watch word. Struggle, Struggle, Struggle.

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Come on flare up! Kindle the fire of renunciation and jnana. Do not be a miserly fool. Siva! Siva! Hara Hara Mahadeva! Exploit all the potential power in you. OM! Observe, reflect, contemplate and explode as the volcano of power and peace! OM!

Awakening : One fine day it happens suddenly! Many had that experience. At one moment in a flash they get connected with a new stream of conviction and are no more the same. After this awakening their attitude towards life will be completely changed. They take a momentous decision not to accumulate anymore karma and to finish the existing. This is grace.

All prophets and Sages came to make us unconditionally free. What are we doing? We in their name boost our ego and smuggle name,

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fame and money. This is sin. These great men don’t want to enslave us. Be free by putting into practice what they said. Throw away, cast aside all names and forms. Be impersonal and hollow.... OM!

To live spontaneously means to live in insecurity. Insecurity has a lightness. Children live this life of insecurity. They simply trust their parents. This faith in parents is absolute and they have no thought of tomorrow. It is the old, the experienced fools who have drunk to the full this intoxicating liquor of maya who teach the kids how to be secure, how to be worried about the future. Stupidity indeed!

“That, the sun illumines not, nor the moon, nor fire, that is My supreme abode, abiding in which you return not to the world” (Bhagavad Gita). A man in a pitch dark room does not see

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his body but he retains the experience, ‘I am’. Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire is required for him to point out his awareness, ‘I am’. It is self evident and self sufficient. It is the eternal factor in man. While seeming to be sullied, or while playing hide and seek, it is actually ever itself. This awareness as pure consciousness is Supreme. It is infinite and immovable. It neither dies nor is it born. It is unaffected by time, space and causation. This ‘I am’ is something which is beyond mind. Seek it by tracing the ‘I’ thought to its source. In the place of the ego establish pure attention focused on this I amness. Stay purely as ‘I am’. This is the end of the journey. Attention focused on this ‘I amness’ loses its foothold and becomes one with the effulgent light of Brahman OM!

“Happy is the man who is desireless. Desirelessness is our real nature, our own Self.”