- The difference between the natures of
Isvara and jiva is something like that between the meanings of the
words, ‘God’ and ‘dog’. There is no doubt some relation between the two,
and yet what a contrast of characters! In the jiva the character of
Isvara is completely reversed in a topsy-turvy manner, though the relation
between Him and the jiva is, no doubt, there.
- Dharma is that sustaining universal
impulse which conduces to the prosperity of the individual both here and
hereafter. This means that the observance of Dharma does not violate the
laws of the world for the sake of the Spirit or of the Spirit for the sake
of the world. It views existence both in its depth and its width.
- The conclusions of physical science are
as much true as the discovery that all the plays of Shakespeare are only
combinations of the 26 letters of the English alphabet. This is no doubt a
truth which no one can controvert or refute. And yet the heart will revolt
against this conclusion since it apprehends in the Works of Shakespeare
something more than the constituents of the alphabet. This is true in the
case of every other observed phenomenon, also.
- The mind and the body get identified with
each other, like fire and iron in a red hot iron-ball, in such a way that
thought cannot be separated from object. There is always a flow of thought
with perpetual reference to the body, and all human judgment is thus
vitiated by the prejudice that the body is the thinking self. All science
and even philosophy cannot help playing second fiddle to this erroneous
hypothesis, and thus cut the ground from under their own feet.
- Hanuman is said to have told Sri Rama: “From
the point of view of the body, I am Thy servant; from the point of view of
the jiva, I am a part of Thyself; from the point of view of the
Atman, I am Thy own-Self.” These three standpoints correspond to the three
great systems of philosophy propounded by Madhva, Ramanuja and Sankara.
- The thought of God is like the
centripetal cohesive force in a star or a planet, which drives its
constituents to its centre by a pressure of inwardly directed energy, and
is strikes a universally attuned equilibrium of the entire personality in
relation to creation as a whole, provided the thought is deep enough and
is sincerely raised in one’s mind. It produces a thrill beyond words.
- While Maya follows Brahman, the jiva follows Maya. It seems that while Rama was walking in the forest, Sita was
following him and Lakshmana was following her. Maya obstructs the
vision of Brahman by the jiva.
- Forces which constitute the universe
react and interact among one another for effecting a higher integration -
we may call them men and things, and so on in a state of ignorance. These
activities of forces are the history of the universe.
- Hanuman is a combination of strength and
intelligence. He was an akhanda-brahmacharin. His life demonstrates
that the ojas-sakti generated through brahmacharya heightens
both understanding and vitality in a maximum degree.
- The effect of one’s reading and learning
can be seen in one’s behaviour. If the behaviour has not changed, it means
the learning acquired is like water poured over a rock, which gets wet
only on the surface without allowing the water to seep into it.
- The four ashramas of life are not
four different stages with a jump from the preceding to the succeeding.
Each following stage is the flowering of the earlier, a maturing, including
and transcending of the past conditions, like the higher and higher
standards in education superseding the earlier ones.
- Death is the law of life. It is the law
that requires a constant transformation of all composite elements and a
reshuffling of all existent forms. Thus, death cannot be avoided. And it
can take place at any time, though it has its fixed time.
- Just as twenty-five paise are contained
in a quarter rupee coin, the twenty-five manifestations of prakriti are contained in the purusha, though invisibly and intangibly.
Though the variety of manifestation is manifold, it is all inherent in its
cause, like a chair present in wood.
- The ‘Advaita’ of Sankara is not so much
the assertion of oneness as the negation of duality, as the names of his
system suggests. God is not one or two or three, for He is above numerical
affirmation. He is not anything that we can think of, but, however, He
does not involve in any difference; hence He is ‘Advaita’, non-dual. Such
is the cautious name of Sankara’s system of philosophy.
- Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are not three
gods, but the one God performing three functions. There can, thus, be no
superiority or inferiority among them. They are like the three faces of a
crystal where one face reflects the others.
- An individual has as many organs as are
required to fulfil the wishes that are embodied in the prarabdha karma of a given life, and these organs are of such quality and capacity as the
needs of the individual concerned. Nothing more, and nothing less is given
to us in this world.
- Every adversity should stimulate more and
more strength in us, enough to be able to overcome onslaughts of such
types again. Every fall should propel us to a higher aspiration, a longing
which should never be dampened, threatened or vanquished at any time.
- Avidya is the disposition by which one
mistakes the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, the
painful for the pleasant and the not-self for the Self. Avidya is the seed
of egoism, craving, hatred and clinging to one’s body, so hard to
overcome.
- When senses trouble you, remember the
sages Narayana and Nara. They are the supreme masters over the senses,
before whom Indra had to bow his head in shame.
- There are two greater wonders: The starry
heavens above, and the moral law within. Neither of these can be fathomed
to their depths, and they will remain a wonder forever. They are endless
in their extent and no one can study them as ‘external’ objects.
- When Maricha cried out: “O Lakshmana, O
Sita,” Sita mistook it for Rama’s voice. She could not identify Rama’s
voice as different from that of another, though she had lived with Rama
for so long. So is the case with the jiva. It has forgotten its
association with the Absolute and cannot distinguish the call of the
Spirit from the clamours of the senses. This is called delusion.
- Krishna was a person of great enjoyments.
Vasishtha was devoted to rituals. Janaka was a king. Jadabharata was
looking like an idiot. Suka was renowned for his dispassion. Vyasa was
busy in teaching and writing. But all these are regarded as equal in
knowledge. Different forms serve different purposes, but their essential
being is one.
- Man’s conscience in its essentiality is
not an accomplice of harm and injury being done to anyone. It is necessary
for the evil one intending to destroy others to destroy his own conscience
first. The self of the killer is killed much before the act of killing
takes place.
- It is unwise to say that the world is
good or bad, for the world is one of the conditions through which the ‘gunas’
- sattva, rajas and tamas - evolve in the course of
time. All things can be found always in different places and hence our
narrow judgments confined to a limited perception of truth cannot be
correct. How can we say that any part of ‘prakriti’ is good or bad?
- Great men are not those who run fast and
speak much but think deep and live wisely. More than doing it is being
something - a change of outlook and attitude. We are great, not because we
are something to the world but because we are something in ourselves, even
if the whole world is not to exist at all.
- It is impossible to use one’s commonsense
when one is in the grip of intense desire; for passions have no
commonsense. They have neither reason nor logic, like the overwhelming
force of a mighty river in floods, or like a beast caught at bay. Conquest
over the human passions is the same as self-control, for the personality
of man is but a bundle of latent and patent forces which seek expression
in various ways.
- The Ganga destroys sins; the moon destroys
heat; the kalpavriksha destroys poverty. But the company of the
wise ones destroys sin, heat and poverty all at once.
- It is said that when the devotee takes
one stop towards the Lord, he is greeted by the Lord with a hundred steps.
The Bhakti-Sastras state that the love of God for the devotee is more than
man’s love for God. The power of the Whole is intenser than the force of
the part.
- Religion is the reaction of the human
mind to its notion of God.
- Dharma is that sustaining power of
Righteousness by which one acquires here prosperity (adhyudaya) and
attains in the end eternal blessedness (nihsreyasa). It is the law
that maintains the balance of forces in the Universe and dispenses the
retributive justice to the individuals in such a manner as the equilibrium
of creation is never disturbed.
|
