15 Laws of Life

What You Need to Keep in Mind

1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It's Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world - that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves! 

4. It's The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God. 

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better. 

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. 

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves! 

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin - to say that you are weak, or others are weak. 

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark. 

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge. 

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything. 

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
-Swami Vivekananda

http://hinduism.about.com/od/vivekananda/a/lawsoflife.htm

The Prophet

On Love
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."

On Marriage
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. 

On Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, 
but seek not to make them like you.

On Giving
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
There are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

On Work
You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

Work is love made visible.

On Houses
Your house is your larger body.

On Buying and Selling
And if there come the singers and the dancers and the flute players, buy of their gifts also.

On Crime and Punishment
I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.

On Freedom
You can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfilment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

On Pain
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen

On Talking
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.
Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear;

For his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered


On Self-Knowledge
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

On Teaching
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.


And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

On Time
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

On Good and Evil
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
You are good when you are one with yourself.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech.
You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.

In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little, "Wherefore are you slow and halting?"

For the truly good ask not the naked, "Where is your garment?" nor the houseless, "What has befallen your house?"

On Prayer
For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?
Let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

"Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.

It is thy desire in us that desireth.
It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."

On Pleasure
Your body is the harp of your soul,

And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

On Beauty
Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

On Religion
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

On Death

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

- The Prophet, Khalil Gibran

http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html

Zero Limits Basic Principles

1. You don’t have a clue what is going on.
It is impossible to be aware of everything happening in and around you, consciously or unconsciously. Your body and mind are regulating themselves right now, without you being aware of it. And numerous invisible signals are in the air, from radio waves to thought forms, which you have no conscious sense of at all.You are indeed co-creating your own reality right now, but it is happening unconsciously, without your conscious knowledge or control. This is why you can think positive thoughts all you like and still be broke. Your conscious mind isn’t the creator.

2. You don’t have control over everything.
Obviously, if you don’t know everything that is happening, you can’t control it all. It’s an ego trip to think you can make the world do your bidding. Since your ego can’t see much of what is going on in the world right now, letting your ego decide what is best for you isn’t wise.You have choice, but you don’t have control.You can use your conscious mind to begin to choose what you would prefer to experience, but you have to let go of whether  you manifest it or not, or how, or when. Surrender is key.

3. You can heal whatever comes your way.
Whatever appears in your life, no matter how it got there, is up for healing simply because it’s now on your radar. The assumption here is that if you can feel it, you can heal it. If you can see it in someone else, and it bothers you, then it’s up for healing. Or as I’m told Oprah once said, “If you can spot it, you’ve got it.”You may have no idea why it’s in your life or how it got there, but you can let it go because you’re now aware of it. The more you heal what comes up, the clearer you are to manifest what you prefer, because you will be freeing stuck energy to use for other matters.

4. You are 100 percent responsible for all you experience.
What happens in your life is not your fault, but it is your responsibility. The concept of personal responsibility goes beyond what you say, do, and think. It includes what others say, do, and think that shows up in your life. If you take complete responsibility for all that appears in your life, then when someone surfaces with a problem, then it is your problem, too.This ties in to principle three, which states you can heal whatever comes your way. In short, you can’t blame anyone or anything for your current reality.All you can do is take responsibility for it, which means accept it, own it, and love it.The more you heal what comes up, the more you get in tune with the source.

5. Your ticket to zero limits is saying the phrase “I love you.”
The pass that gets you peace beyond all understanding, from healing to manifestation, is the simple phrase “I love you.” Saying it to the Divine cleans everything in you so you can experience the miracle of this moment: zero limits. The idea is to love everything. Love the extra fat, the addiction, the problem child or neighbor or spouse; love it all. Love transmutes the stuck energy and frees it. Saying “I love you” is the open sesame to experience the Divine.

6. Inspiration is more important than intention.
Intention is a toy of the mind; inspiration is a directive from the Divine.At some point you’ll surrender and start listening, rather than begging and waiting. Intention is trying to control life based on the limited view of the ego; inspiration is receiving a message from the Divine and then acting on it. Intention works and brings results; inspiration works and brings miracles.Which do you prefer?

Zero Limits The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More - Joe Vitalle
http://www.vitality-living.com/resources/Zero+Limits+-+Joe+Vitale.pdf

Technique:Hara Consciousness

Whenever you have nothing to do, just sit silently and move inside to the place 2 inches below the navel, and remain there.

Becoming aware of this center is going to help you tremendously. So the more you abide there, the better. It will create a great centering in your life energies. You just have to start looking into it and it will start functioning; you will start feeling that the whole of life moves around the center. It is from the hara that life begins, and it is in the hara that life ends. All our body centers are far away; the hara is exactly in the center - that is where we are balanced and rooted. So once one becomes aware of the hara, many things start happening.

For example, there will be less thinking because energy will not move to the head, it will go to the hara.

The more you think of the hara, the more you concentrate there, the more you will find a discipline arising in you. That comes naturally, it has not to be forced.

The more you are aware of the hara, the less you will become afraid of life and death - because that is the center of life and death. Once you become attuned to the hara center, you can live courageously. Courage arises out of it; less thinking, more silence, less uncontrolled moments  natural discipline, courage and rootedness, a groundedness."
- OSHO

http://contemplatingtruth.wordpress.com/blogs/practice/centering/

King Soul Vs King Ego

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=73uEQuTvBMAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Paramahansa+Yogananda%22&hl=de&ei=VNhfTdGnCNC74gavndjeCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Amrita Gita

Adhyaya I: HATHA YOGA

4. The practice of Hatha Yoga awakens the Kundalini Sakti that lies dormant in the Muladhara Chakra.

11. Sushumna Nadi flows through both nostrils. It helps meditation. It is Agni-Nadi.

17. Wait for half an hour after finishing Asanas for taking a bath.

19. Spend half an hour daily in the practice of Asanas and Pranayama. This will give you health, vim, vigour and vitality. This will remove all diseases.

27. Puraka is inhalation of breath; Rechaka is exhalation; Kumbhaka is retention. Kumbhaka gives you longevity and energy.

Adhyaya II: KARMA YOGA

5. See God in every face. Behold the Lord in all creatures.

7. Serve the sick. Serve the poor. Serve your parents. Serve your motherland. Serve humanity in general.

10. Surrender always your actions and their fruits to the Lord.

11. Have equal vision and balanced mind in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, success and failure.

14. Give up Abhimana of all sorts. Kill the Vairagya-abhimana, Seva-abhimana, Tyagi-abhimana, Kartritva-abhimana, male-female-abhimana, and doctor-judge-abhimana.

18. Watch for opportunities for service. Never miss even a single opportunity.

28. Sanchita is the accumulated storehouse of actions of previous births. Prarabdha is that part of Karma which has given rise to your present birth. Agami is current action.

29. Sanchita is destroyed by Brahma-Jnana. You will have to enjoy the Prarabdha. Agami has no binding force as there is no agency or egoism in the sage.

30. Do not be attached to the work itself. You must be able to give it up at any moment.

33. Think you are man; man will you become. Think you are Brahman; Brahman will you become. This is the immutable divine law.

34. If there is no agency, if there is no selfish motive, action becomes an inaction. You are not bound by an action.

36. An egoistic man alone thinks: “I am the doer.” Really it is the Guna or Prakriti or the sense that does the action. Atman is actionless, Akarta, Nishkriya.

Adhyaya III: JAPA YOGA

1. In this Iron Age, Japa Yoga is an easy way for attaining God-realisation.

9. Repetition of Mantra raises vibrations. Vibrations give rise to definite forms. Repetition of Om Namah Sivaya gives rise to the form of Lord Siva in the mind; repetition of Om Namo Narayanaya gives rise to the form of Lord Hari.

11. Japa is of three kinds, viz., Manasic Japa, Upamsu Japa or humming, and Vaikhari Japa, loud and audible Japa.

12. Mental repetition of Japa, Manasic Japa, is more powerful than loud Japa.

13. Get up at 4 a.m. and do the Japa for two hours. Brahmamuhurtha is most favourable for Japa and meditation.

18. Have a steady pose. Have Asana-Jaya or conquest over Asana. You must be able to sit in Padma, Siddha or Sukha Asana for three hours at a stretch.

20. Do not do the Japa in a hurried manner, just as a contractor tries to finish his work in a hurried way. Do it slowly with Bhava, one-pointedness of mind and single-minded devotion.

Adhyaya IV: NADA YOGA

2. Practise Pranayama for one or two months. You will hear the ten sounds (Anahata sounds) clearly and enjoy the music of the soul.

8. The first sound is chini, the second is chin-chini, the third is the sound of a bell, the fourth is like that of a conch.

9. The fifth is like that of a lute. The sixth is like that of a cymbal. The seventh is like that of a flute.

10. The eighth is like that of a drum. The ninth is like that of a Mridanga. The tenth is like that of thunder.

11. Hear the sounds through the right ear. Change your concentration from the gross sound to the subtle. The mind will soon be absorbed in the sound.

12. You will get knowledge of hidden things when you hear the seventh.

13. You will hear Para-Vak when you hear the eighth sound.

14. You will develop the divine eye when you hear the ninth.

15. You will attain Para Brahman when you hear the tenth.

Adhyaya V: BHAKTI YOGA

1. God is love. Love is God. God is nectar. God is Prema.

9. Faith is necessary for attaining God-realisation. Faith can work wonders. Faith can move mountains. Faith can take you to the inner chambers of the Lord, where reason dares not enter.

11. Sattvic food is a help to devotion. Take milk, fruits, etc.

22. Do Anushtan frequently. Live on milk and fruits for a week. Observe Mouna or silence and do Japa and meditate in an intense manner.

26. Feel the presence of the Lord everywhere. He dwells in the chambers of your heart, too. He is in the breath in the nostrils; He glitters in your eyes. He is nearer to you than your jugular vein. Behold Him in every face.

28. A realised Bhakta is free from lust, egoism, mine-ness, hatred, jealousy, greed. He is full of humility, compassion and kindness. He sees God in all beings, in all objects. He has equal vision and a balanced mind.

30. Bhakti is immortalising nectar. It transmutes a man into divinity. It makes him perfect. It bestows on him everlasting peace and bliss.

Adhyaya VI: RAJA YOGA

4. A Raja Yogi starts his Sadhana with the mind. He starts meditation and tries to control the mind.

14. Real Raja Yoga starts from concentration. Concentration merges in meditation. Meditation ends in Samadhi.

15. Retention of breath, Brahmacharya, Sattvic food, seclusion, silence, Satsanga, not mixing much with people are all aids to concentration.

16. Sleep, tossing of mind, attachment to objects, subtle desires and cravings, laziness, lack of Brahmacharya, gluttony are all obstacles in meditation.

17. Reduce your wants. Cultivate dispassion. You will have progress in Yoga. Vairagya thins out the mind.

18. Do not mix much. Do not talk much. Do not walk much. Do not eat much. Do not sleep much. Do not exert much.

20. If evil thoughts enter your mind, do not use your will force in driving them. You will tax your will. You will lose your energy. You will fatigue yourself. The greater the efforts you make, the more the evil thoughts will return with redoubled force. Be indifferent. Become a witness of those thoughts. Substitute divine thoughts. They will pass away.

26. A Raja Yogi practises Samyama or the combined practice of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi at one and the same time and gets detailed knowledge of an object.

30. Concentrate on Trikuti (the space between the two eyebrows) with closed eyes. This is the best spot for concentration. The mind can be easily controlled, as this is the seat for the mind.

32. Tapas, Svadhyaya, Ishvarapranidhana constitute Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga purifies the heart quickly.

33. Meditation on OM with Bhava and its meaning removes obstacles in Sadhana and helps to attain Samadhi.

34. Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism), Raga-Dvesha (likes and dislikes), Abhinivesha (clinging to mundane life) are the five Kleshas or afflictions. Destroy these afflictions. You will attain Samadhi.

Adhyaya VII: JNANA YOGA

2. This Atman is Satchidananda (Existence-Absolute, Consciousness-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute). It exists in the past, present and future. So it is Sat. It is pure or Absolute Consciousness without any thought. So it is Chit. It is absolute Bliss. So it is Ananda.

8. This perishable body will certainly pass away. Indweller can never perish. Thou art the immortal soul. Therefore, over the inevitable thou shalt not grieve.

10. You cannot deny or doubt your existence. You always feel that you exist. This existence is Atman or your own Self. The knower of the doubt or denier always exists. That knower is your own Atman.

15. This Atman is beyond time, space, causation. Time, space, causation are mental creation.

30. Watch the breath. It sings Soham, ‘So’ during inhalation and ‘Ham’, during exhalation. It reminds you ‘I am He’. Meditate on ‘Soham’ and attain Self-realisation.

31. ‘I am body. I act. I enjoy. She is my wife. He is my son. This is mine.’—This is bondage. ‘I am Immortal Soul. I am non-actor, non-enjoyer. She is my soul. Nothing is mine.’—This is freedom.

Adhyaya VIII: ADHYATMA YOGA

2. There is no body before its birth; there is no body after its death. Think and feel that which you see now does not really exist. That which does not exist in the beginning and end does not really exist in the middle also.

4. He who has destroyed desire is really a harmonised, peaceful and happy man.

6. Master first the senses and then slay this desire which abides in the senses, the mind and intellect, ruthlessly through enquiry, discrimination, dispassion, devotion and meditation.

11. If you are balanced in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, sin will not touch thee; you will not be affected by the fruits of your actions.

14. Stand up. Have mastery over the senses. Be devoted to Atman. Destroy all doubts through Satsanga, study, enquiry, meditation and wisdom.

18. Think and feel that Prakriti or Svabhava or Guna does everything. Identify yourself with the Actionless Atman, the Silent Witness and thus free yourself from the bondage of action.

19. Surrender all actions unto the Lord. Fix your mind on Him. Free yourself from egoism, attachment, desire. No action will bind you. Actions are burnt by the fire of Wisdom. Such actions are no longer actions at all. You will attain the Supreme Abode of everlasting bliss and peace.

21. Serve your Guru. Be devoted to your Guru. Obey him. Have implicit faith in his teachings. You will grow in spirituality. The veil will be torn down. You will attain Self-realisation.

25. Behold only the One Atman or the Self in all beings—in the ants, dogs, cows, horses, elephants and outcastes. This is equal vision or Sama Drishti.

28. Cultivate the divine qualities: humility, harmlessness, purity, steadfastness, self-control, dispassion, unostentatiousness, non-attachment, balance of mind, fearlessness, angerlessness, self-restraint, renunciation,straightforwardness,truthfulness, compassion, non-covetousness, steadiness. You will attain Wisdom of the Self or Brahma-Jnana.

37. Control the senses and mind, and sit for meditation. Do not allow the mind to think of sensual objects. Again and again withdraw the mind and fix it on the Lord.

43. Sattvic food helps Yoga Sadhana. Take green gram, spinach, milk, fruits, barley, bread, Lauki, bitter-gourd, plantain stem and flower, and cow’s ghee. These augment vitality, energy, vigour, health, joy and cheerfulness. They are delicious, bland, substantial and agreeable.

44. Give up chillies, sour, overhot, pungent, dry, burning, too much salted things. These are Rajasic substances, which produce pain and sickness. Abandon them.

45. That which is stale, putrid, corrupt, useless leavings of a meal, eggs, fish, etc., are Tamasic foodstuff. Give up these things also.

Adhyaya IX: KUNDALINI YOGA

35. Eventually the Yogi attains Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the state of superconsciousness. He gets intuition. Real knowledge flashes in him.

36. These are the signs that indicate that Kundalini has been awakened—viz., dispassion, fearlessness, joy, ecstasy, peace, unruffled state of mind, Siddhis or powers, contentment.

37. Kundalini can also be awakened by devotion, strong, pure, irresistible, dynamic will, the grace of the Guru and recitation of Mantra.

Adhyaya X: MANTRA YOGA

9. OM, Soham, Sivoham, Aham Brahmasmi are Moksha Mantras. They will help you to attain Self-realisation. Om Sri Ramaya Namah, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya are Saguna Mantras which will enable you to attain Saguna realisation first and then Nirguna realisation in the end.

-Swami Sivananda
http://swamij.com/amrita-gita.htm

Vakya Vritti

3. Scorched by the blazing sun of the three miseries, a student – dejected with the world and restless for release, having cultivated all the means of liberation especially such virtues as self-control etc. – enquires of a noble teacher.

6. Direct knowledge of that total identity between the individual-Self and the Universal-Self, stemming forth from the Vedic statements such as “Thou art that”, etc., is the immediate means to liberation.

12. “Give up the intellectual misconception that the Self is the body, etc., and always meditate upon and think yourself to be the eternal Knowledge-Bliss – the Witness of the intellect – a sheer mass of Pure Knowledge”.

16. “Similarly be sure in yourself that you, the seer of the senses, are not the senses themselves, and ascertain that you are neither the mind, not the intellect, not the vital air (Prana).”

22. “’He am I’, the One Consciousness which is the Changeless Self that is directly cognised, that illumines the three states of waking, dream, and deep-sleep, and that which illumines appearance and disappearance of the intellect and its functions – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”

23. “Know yourself to be the One Self, a homogenous mass of Consciousness, which is the illuminator of the body and therefore quite distinct from it – just as a lamp that illumines a pot is always different from the pot illumined. ‘I am a mass of Consciousness’ (Aham bodhavigraha).”

26. “The Consciousness, the Self, which appears as the Witness, is that which is meant by the word ‘thou’. Being free from all changes even the witnessing is nothing but the illumining-power of the Self.”

30. “Having no greater Bliss than Itself, a pure embodiment of External Consciousness, and having ‘existence’ for its specific definition, is the All-Pervading Being – is the meaning indicated by the term ‘that’; so, the scriptures declare in their songs.”

36. “That which the Upanishads declare as the sole paymaster for all action, and as the very agent (prompter) in all actions, performed by each individualised ego – make sure of that Brahman in your understanding.”

38. “What is meant by the sentence (commandment ‘That thou art’) is not arrived at, either through its ‘sequence-of meaning’ or as ‘qualified-by-something’. An indivisible Being, consisting of Bliss only – this alone is the meaning of the sentence, according to the wise.”

39. “What appears (anjati) as the Witnessing-Consciousness within, (the individual-Self), is of the nature of Bliss, One-without-a-second; and the one that is the Bliss within is none other than the individualised-Self the Witnessing Consciousness within.”

49. “Until the direct personal experience of ‘I am Brahman’ is gained, we must live values of self-control, etc., and practice listening to teachers, or reading scriptures, and doing daily reflection and meditation upon those ideas.”

50. “Through the grace of a spiritual teacher when a seeker gains a clear and direct experience of the Supreme Self as expounded in the scriptures, he, the realised, becomes free from all ‘ignorance’, which is the foundation for the entire experience of this world of plurality.”

51. “No more conditioned by his gross and subtle bodies, free from the embrace of the gross and subtle elements, released from the charm of actions, such a man gets immediately liberated.”

52. “The liberated-in-life, due to the compelling force of those actions that have begun to produce their results (Prarabdha), remains for some time to exhaust them”.

53. “The liberated-in-life comes to gain the State of Absolute Oneness, the never-ending immeasurable Bliss, called the Supreme Abode-of-Vishnu, from wherein there is no return.”

http://swamij.com/shankara-vakya-vritti.htm

The Secret of Success

1-Work
If you wish to succeed, follow the line of action, the constant motion of a river. There is no hope for a man who would waste his wick and oil by preserving it from consumption. Follow the policy of a river, ever progressing, ever assimilating, ever adapting itself to the environments and ever performing work, ever performing work is the first principle of success.

2-Self-Sacrifice
The way to receive it to give. A seed in order that it may bud forth into a tree must perish itself. Fruition is thus the final result of complete self-sacrifice. 

3-Self-Forgetfulness
Forget your little self in work and entirely throw yourself into it, you will succeed. If you are thinking, become thought itself, you shall succeed. If you are working, become work itself, and thus alone you shall succeed.

4-Universal Love
Cooperation is nothing but superficial manifestation of love. A merchant who does not look upon his customers’ interests as his own, cannot succeed. In order to prosper he must love his customers. He is to observe them with his whole heart.

5-Cheerfulness
The very unrest for the future causes failure. The moment you turn your back upon success, the moment you cease to think of the consequences, the moment you concentrate your energy in your present duty, the same instant success is with you, nay, dogging you.

6-Fearlessness
The whole strength comes from fearlessness.

7-Self-Reliance
Hear, O man! Know thyself. True, literally true it is, when you help yourself, God must help you. Heaven is bound to help you. It can be proved, it can be realized that your very Self is God—the Infinite, the Omnipotent. 

http://www.ramatirtha.org/vol1/successjapan.htm

Prognosis And Diagnosis Of Sin

1. Flattery
Vedanta explains it by saying that in every individual, in every person, in everybody, there is the real Self, the real Atman, which is, as a matter of fact, the greatest of the great, the highest of the high. There is in reality something in you which is the highest of the high and that makes its existence felt. When the flatterer comes, and begins to admire us and pay us compliments, we feel elated, we feel cheered. Why? The cause is not that these statements are true, but Vedanta says that the real cause lies in our real Self. There is something behind the scenes, some potent force, something stern and indestructible, the greatest of the great, the highest of the high, which is your real Self and deserves all flattery, all compliments; and no compliments, no flattery, no aggrandizement can be unworthy of the real Self.

2. Vanity
There is in you the Greatest of the great, that is your real Self. You will have to realize that and know that; and when you realize and know the true Self, the Atman, you will no longer stoop down to seek praise for this little body...The true Atman within, the true Self being the Greatest of the great, the Highest of the high, the God of gods, how can it give up its nature? How can this Atman degrade itself, believe itself to be poor, wretched, vermin or worm? How can it degrade itself to that depth of ignorance? It cannot give up its nature; it cannot give up its nature. 

3. Avarice
Vedanta explains it by saying that "there is in you, O man, the reality, the true Self, the real Atman asserting itself; it cannot be crushed." They say that no energy can be destroyed, no force can be annihilated...Through the error, through the ignorance of attributing the glory of the Atman to the body and the worthlessness of the body to the Atman, by this mistake you fall a victim to greed. Eradicate this error, and you are God immortal. Redeem the real Self in you, take a firm stand in the true Self, and realize yourself to be the God of gods, the Holy Of holies, the Master of universe, the Lord of lords, and it becomes impossible for you to seek these outside things and accumulate them round this body."

4. Attachment
What is the cause of attachment, which means that the person subject to this evil wants that the things around him should not change? A man is filled with sorrow and anxiety at the death of a loved one. What does his sorrow or anxiety show? What does it prove? Can we expect conditions to remain as they are; can we expect to keep our loved ones always with us, when we know intellectually that everything in this world is changeful, is in a state of flux? And yet we wish that there should be no change, how is it? Vedanta says, "O man, in you there is something which is really unchangeable, which is the same yesterday, today and for ever, but by mistake, by ignorance, the unchangeable nature of the true Self is ascribed to the circumstances of the body. That is the cause of it. Eradicate ignorance and you stand above worldly attachments."

5. Sloth
According to Vedanta, the cause of the universality of sloth or indolence is that the real Self within each and all is perfect rest, is peace, and the real Self being infinity cannot move, the infinite cannot move. It is the finite only that can move... In the infinity there must be no change. The Atman, the true Self within is infinite; it is all rest; it is all peace. There is no motion there. That being the case, the infinity, the Atman’s peacefulness is through ignorance carried to the body and the body suffers from sloth and has indolence in it. That is the cause of indolence or sloth being universal in the whole world.

6. Rivalry
Vedanta says, "The real cause is that in you, O man, is the true Atman which is one without a second, which is rivalless, matchless; and by ignorance, by mistake, is the oneness and the glory of the Atman being attributed to the body, and there is the tendency to have no rivals of the body."

7. Sensuality
"We are all beauty, the unchangeable Self is all beauty now and for ever" and the realization of this will show us that what we are trying to get for the physical body belongs to, or is the real Self.

8. Anger
It is because of our real Self which is free now and for ever, that we are not satisfied to be limited in any way. It was never born, will never die, remains the same for ever. Free it must be. If it were true that you were bound, you never could be free. 

A man was suffering from two diseases. He had a disease of the eyes and a disease of the stomach. He came to a doctor and asked him to treat him. The doctor gave to this patient two kinds of medicines, two kinds of powders. One of the powders was to be applied to the eyes. It contained antimony or lead sulphide, and if taken internally, it is a poison. It can be applied externally to the eyes and the people in India use this powder for the eyes. So the doctor gave him the powder for the eyes containing antimony or lead sulphide. Another powder he gave him to be taken orally. This powder contained pepper and chillies; chillies which have a very cold name, but which are very hot. He gave him one powder containing chillies to be taken. This man being in a state of confusion just interchanged the two powders. The powder which was to be taken orally he applied to the eyes, and the antimony and other things, which were poisons, he ate. Here were the eyes blinded and the stomach worsted.

That is what is being done by the people, and that is the cause of all the so-called sins in this world. Here is the Atman, the Light of lights within you and here is the body, the stomach, so to say. What is to be done to the body is being done to the Atman, and the respect and honour and glory of the Atman are being paid unto the body; everything mixed up; everything put into a state of confusion. That causes this phenomenon of so-called sins in this world. Get things right and right you are, you prosper materially, you are God of gods spiritually.

"In the beginning was the word; the word was with God". Realize it, realize it. The Heaven of heavens is within you. 
 - Swami Rama Tirtha
http://www.ramatirtha.org/vol1/prognosis.htm

Vipassana Meditation - S.N. Goenka - Day1-11

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