Reincarnation

From The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi

Edited by David Godman

Question:Is reincarnation true?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Reincarnation exists only so long as there is ignorance. There is really no reincarnation at all, either now or before. Nor will there be any hereafter. This is the truth.

[Note: Comments by David Godman: Most religions have constructed elaborate theories which purport to explain what happens to the individual soul after the death of the body. Some claim that the soul goes to heaven or hell while others claim that it is reincarnated in a new body.

Sri Ramana Maharshi taught that all such theories are based on the false assumption that the individual self or soul is real; once this illusion is seen through, the whole superstructure of after-life theories collapses. From the standpoint of the Self, there is no birth or death, no heaven or hell, and no reincarnation.

As a concession to those who were unable to assimilate the implications of this truth, Sri Ramana would sometimes admit that reincarnation existed. In replying to such people he would say that if one imagined that the individual self was real, then that imaginary self would persist after death and that eventually it would identify with a new body and a new life. The whole process, he said, is sustained by the tendency of the mind to identify itself with a body. Once the limiting illusion of mind is transcended, identification with the body ceases, and all theories about death and reincarnation are found to be inapplicable.]

Question: Can a yogi know his past lives?

Maharshi: Do you know the present life that you wish to know the past? Find the present, then the rest will follow. Even with our present limited knowledge, you suffer so much. Why should you burden yourself with more knowledge? Is it to suffer more?

When seen through the sight of the supreme space of Self, the illusion of taking birth in this mirage-like false world is found to be nothing but the egotistical ignorance of identifying a body as "I". Among those whose minds are possessed with forgetfulness of Self, those who are born will die and those who die will be born again. But know that those whose minds are dead, having known the glorious Supreme Reality, will remain only there in that elevated state of reality, devoid of both birth and death. Forgetting Self, mistaking the body for Self, taking innumerable births, and at last knowing Self and being Self is just like waking from a dream of wandering all over the world.

Question: How long does it take a man to be reborn after death? Is it immediately after death or some time later?

Maharshi: You do not know what you were before birth, yet you want to know what you will be after death. Do you know what you are now?

Birth and rebirth pertain to the body. You are identifying the Self with the body. It is a wrong identification. You believe that the body has been born and will die, and confound the phenomena relating to the body with the Self. Know your real being and these questions will not arise.

Births and rebirths are mentioned only to make you investigate the question and find out that there are neither births nor rebirths. They relate to the body and not to the Self. Know the Self and don’t be perturbed by doubts.

Question: Do not one’s actions affect the person in later births?

Maharshi: Are you born now? Why do you think of other births? The fact is that there is neither birth nor death. Let him who is born think of death and palliatives for it.

Question: What happens to a person after death?

Maharshi: Engage yourself in the living present. The future will take care of itself. Do not worry about the future. The state before creation and the process of creation are dealt with in the scriptures in order that you may know the present. Because you say you are born, therefore they say, yes, and add that God created you.

But do you see God or anything else in your sleep? If God is real, why does he not shine forth in your sleep also? You always are, you are the same now as you were in sleep. You are not different from that one in sleep. But why should there be differences in the feelings or experiences of the two states?

Did you ask, while asleep, questions regarding your birth? Did you then ask ‘Where do I go after death?’ Why think of all these questions now in the waking state? Let what is born think of its birth and the remedy, its cause and ultimate results.

Question: What becomes of the Jiva (Individual soul) after death?

Maharshi: The question is not appropriate for a Jiva now living. A dead Jiva may ask me, if he wishes to. In the meantime let the embodied Jiva solve its present problem and find who he is. Then there will be an end to such doubts.

Question: Is the Buddhist view, that there is no continuous entity answering to the ideas of the individual soul, correct or not? Is this consistent with the Hindu notion of a reincarnating ego? Is the soul a continuous entity which reincarnates again and again, according to the Hindu doctrine, or is it a mere mass of mental tendencies- samskaras?

Maharshi: The real Self is continuous and unaffected. The reincarnating ego belongs to the lower plane, namely, thought. It is transcended by Self-realisation.

Reincarnations are due to a spurious offshoot. Therefore they are denied by the Buddhists. The present state of ignorance is due to the identification of consciousness (chit) with the insentient (jada) body.

Question: Do not we go to heaven (svarga) as the result of our actions?

Maharshi: That is as true as the present existence. But if we enquire who we are and discover the Self, what need is there to think of heaven?

 Question: Should I not try to escape rebirth?

Maharshi: Yes. Find out who is born and who now has the trouble of existence. When you are asleep do you think of rebirths or even the present existence? So find out from where the present problem arises and in that place you will find the solution. You will discover that there is no birth, no present trouble or unhappiness. The Self is all and all is bliss. Even now we are free from rebirth so why fret over the misery of it?

Ouestion: Is there rebirth?

Maharshi: Do you know what birth is?

Questioner: Oh yes, I know that I exist now, but I want to know if I’ll exist in the future.

Maharshi: Past!…Present!… Future!….

Questioner: Yes, today is the result of yesterday, the past, and tomorrow. The future, will be the result of today, the present. Am I right?

Maharshi: There is neither past nor future. There is only the present. Yesterday was the present to you when you experienced it, and tomorrow will be also the present when you experience it. Therefore, experience takes place only in the present, and beyond experience nothing exists.

Question: Are the past and future mere imagination?

Maharshi: Yes, even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time is purely mental. Space is similarly mental. Therefore birth and rebirth, which take place in time and space, cannot be other than imagination.

Question: What is the cause of tanha, the thirst for life and the thirst for rebirth?

Maharshi: Real rebirth is dying from the ego into the spirit. This is the significance of the crucifixion of Jesus. Whenever identification with the body exists, a body is always available, whether this or any other one, till the body-sense disappears by merging into the source – the spirit, or Self. The stone which is projected upwards remains in constant motion till it returns to its source, the earth, and rests. Headache continues to give trouble, till the pre-headache state is regained.

Thirst for life is inherent in the very nature of life, which is absolute existence – sat. Although indestructible by nature, by false identification with its destructible instrument, the body consciousness imbibes a false apprehension of its destructibility. Because of that false identification it tries to perpetuate the body, and that results in a succession of rebirths. But however long these bodies may last, they eventually come to an end and yield to the Self, which alone eternally exists.

Questioner: Yes, "Give up thy life if thou wouldst live", says the Voice of the Silence of H.P.Blavatsky.

Maharshi: Give up the false identification and remember, the body cannot exist without the Self, whereas the Self can exist without the body. In fact it is always without it.

Questioner: A doubt has just now arisen in a friend of mine’s mind. She has just heard that a human being may take an animal birth in some other life, which is contrary to what Theosophy has taught her.

Maharshi: Let him who takes birth ask this question. Find out first who it is that is born, and whether there is actual birth and death. You will find that birth pertains to the ego, which is an illusion of the mind.

Question: Is it possible for a man to be reborn as a lower animal?

Maharshi: Yes. It is possible, as illustrated by Jada Bharata – the scriptural anecdote of a royal sage having been reborn as a deer.

Question: Is the individual capable of spiritual progress in an animal body?

Maharshi: Not impossible, though it is exceedingly rare. It is not true that birth as a man is necessarily the highest, and that one must attain realisation only from being a man. Even an animal can attain Self-realisation.

Question: Theosophy speaks of fifty to 10,000 year intervals between death and rebirth. Why is this so?

Maharshi: There is no relation between the standard of measurements of one state of consciousness and another. All such measurements are hypothetical. It is true that some individuals take more time and some less. But it must be distinctly understood that it is no soul which comes and goes, but only the thinking mind of the individual, which makes it appear to do so. On whatever plane the mind happens to act, it creates a body for itself; in the physical world a physical body and in the dream world a dream body which becomes wet with dream rain and sick with dream disease.

After the death of the physical body, the mind remains inactive for some time, as in dreamless sleep when it remains worldless and therefore bodyless. But soon it becomes active again in a new world and a new body – the astral – till it assumes another body in what is called a ‘rebirth’. But the jnani, the Self-realised man, whose mind has already ceased to act, remains unaffected by death. The mind of the jnani has ceased to exist; it has dropped never to rise again to cause births and deaths. The chain of illusions has snapped forever for him.

It should now be clear that there is neither real birth, nor real death. It is the mind which creates and maintains the illusion of reality in this process, till it is destroyed by Self-realisation.

Question: Does not death dissolve the individuality of a person, so that there can be no rebirth, just as the rivers discharged into the ocean lose their individualities?

Maharshi: But when the waters evaporate and return as rain on the hills, they once more flow in the form of rivers and fall into the ocean. So also the individualities during sleep lose their separateness and yet return as individuals according to their samskaras, or past tendencies. It is the same after death – the individuality of the person with samskaras is not lost.

Question: How can that be?

Maharshi: See how a tree whose branches have been cut grows again. So long as the roots of the tree remain unimpaired, the tree will continue to grow. Similarly, the samskaras (past tendencies) which have merely sunk in the Heart on death, but have not perished for that reason, occasion rebirth at the right time. That is how Jivas (individual souls) are reborn.

Question: How could the innumerable Jivas and the wide universe which they produce sprout up from such subtle samskaras sunk in the Heart?

Maharshi: Just as the big banyan tree sprouts from a tiny seed, so do the Jivas and the whole universe with name and form sprout up from the subtle samskaras.

Question: How does the Jiva (individual soul) transfer from one body to another?

Maharshi: When one begins to die, hard breathing sets in; that means that one has become unconscious of the dying body. The mind at once takes hold of another body, and it swings to and fro between the two, until attachment is fully transferred to the new body. Meanwhile there are occasional violent breaths, and that means that the mind swings back to the dying body. The transitional state of the mind is somewhat like a dream.

Question: How long is the interval between one’s death and reincarnation?

Maharshi: It may be long or short. But a jnani (Self-realised man) does not undergo any such changes; he merges into the universal being.

Some say that those who after death pass into the path of light are not reborn, whereas those who after death take the path of darkness are reborn after they have enjoyed the fruits of karma in their subtle bodies.

Some say that if one’s merits and demerits are equal, they are directly reborn here. Merits outweighing demerits, the subtle bodies go to heaven and are then reborn here; demerits outweighing merits, they go to hells and are afterwards reborn here.

A Yogabrashta (one who has slipped from the path of yoga) is said to fare in the same manner. All these are described in the sastras (scriptures). But in fact, there is neither birth nor death. One remains only as what one really is. This is the only truth.

Question: I find this very confusing. Are both births and rebirths ultimately unreal?

Maharshi: If there is birth there must be not only one rebirth but a whole succession of births. Why and how did you get this birth? For the same reason and in the same manner you must have succeeding births. But if you ask who has the birth and whether birth and death are for you or for somebody distinct from you, then you realise the truth and the truth burns up all karmas and frees you from all births. The books graphically describe how all would take countless lives to exhaust, is burnt up by one little spark of jnana (spiritual knowledge), just as a mountain of gunpowder will be blown up by a single spark of fire. It is the ego that is the cause of all the world and of the countless sciences whose researches are so great as to baffle description, and if the ego is dissolved by enquiry all this immediately crumbles and the reality or Self alone remains.

Question: Do you mean to say that I was never even born?

Maharshi: Yes, you are now thinking that you are the body and therefore confuse yourself with its birth and death. But you are not the body and you have no birth and death.

Question: So you do not uphold the theory of rebirth?

Maharshi: No. On the other hand I want to remove your confusion that you will be reborn. It is you who think that you will be reborn.

See for whom the question arises. Unless the questioner is found, such questions can never finally be answered.

By Swami Vivekananda

The foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa

The Real and the Apparent Man

(Quotation)

Birth and death are in nature, not in you. Yet the ignorant are deluded; just as we under delusion think that the sun is moving and not the earth, in exactly the same way we think that we are dying, and not nature. These are all, therefore, hallucinations. Just as it is a hallucination when we think that the fields are moving and not the railway train, exactly in the same manner is the hallucination of birth and death. When men are in a certain frame of mind, they see this very existence as the earth, as the sun, the moon, the stars; and all those who are in the same state of mind see the same things.

Swami Vivekananda wrote about

The natural habits of a new-born soul since they were not obtained in this present life,they must have come down from past lives.

We cannot deny that bodies acquire certain tendencies from heredity, but those tendencies only mean the physical configuration, through which a peculiar mind alone can act in a peculiar way. There are other tendencies peculiar to a soul caused by its past actions. And a soul with a certain tendency would by the laws of affinity take birth in a body, which is the fittest instrument for the display of that tendency. This is in accord with science, for science wants to explain everything by habit, and habit is got through repetitions. So repetitions are necessary to explain the natural habits of a new-born soul. And since they were not obtained in this present life, they must have come down from past lives.

The following text (abridged) is reproduced from Page

Soul and its Destiny

The Soul and Its Destiny

By Swami Nikhilananda

Sri Ramakrishna Centre, New York, USA.

The Vedanta philosophy discusses the

nature of the soul from two standpoints:

1. Absolute or transcendental, and

2. Relative or phenomenal.

From the absolute standpoint, the soul is non-dual, immortal, ever pure, ever free, ever illumined, and one with Brahman. It is untouched by hunger or thirst, good and evil, pain and pleasure, birth and death, and the other pairs of opposites. That is the soul's true nature. The realisation of which is the goal of a man's spiritual aspiration and striving. From this absolute standpoint, the soul is calledParamatma or Supreme Soul.

But from the relative standpoint, the Vedanta philosophy admits the existence of a multitude of individual souls called Jivatmas, and distinguishes them from the Supreme Soul. Attached to the body, the individual soul is a victim of the pairs of the opposites. Entangled in the world, it seeks deliverance from the eternal round of birth and death, and with that end in view, studies the scriptures and practises spiritual disciplines.

The embodied soul is associated with the sense organs, the mind and vital breath (Prana). There are ten sense organs, all subordinate to the mind as the central organ; five organs of perception and five organs of action. The five organs of perception comprise the organ of taste (tongue),smell (nose), vision (eyes), hearing (ear), and touch (skin). The five organs of action are the hands, the feet, the organ of speech, the organs of evacuation and the organ of generation.

The presence of an irrefragable Self or consciousness is assumed in all acts of thinking. The Self or consciousness, which is the true 'seer' or subject, is unchanging intelligence, and can never be imagined to be non-existent. Atman (the Self) in man and Brahman in the universe are completely identical.

The idea of body, senses, and the mind, associated with the non-self, is falsely superimposed upon the Self, and the Self, which is of the nature of pure consciousness, appears as a jiva, or phenomenal being, subject to the various limitations of the physical world.

________________

The Soul

Further explanations by Swami Nikhilananda

The Rishis speak of two souls:

the real soul and the apparent soul.

The real soul is birthless, death less, immortal, and infinite. The same real soul, under the spell of ignorance, appears as the apparent man identified with the body, mind and senses. This apparent man becomes, on account of his attachment to the body, a victim of birth and death, virtue and vice, and the other pairs of opposites.The apparent man is bound to the world, and it is he, again, who strives for liberation.

The enjoyment of material pleasures, and the subsequent satiation and weariness; the consciousness of bondage, and the struggle for freedom; the injunctions of the scriptures, and the practice of moral and spiritual disciplines- all this refers to the apparent man. Again, it is the apparent man who performs virtuous or sinful deeds, goes, after death, to heaven or hell, and assumes different bodies. But it must never be forgotten that rewards and punishments are spoken of only with reference to the reflected, or apparent soul. The real soul is forever free from the characteristics of the relative world.

But the real soul is always free, illumined, and perfect.

The real sun, non-dual and resplendent, shines brilliantly

in the sky, though millions of its reflections are seen to

move with the movement of the waves.

_________________

From the Mahabharata

Santi Parva, Section CCXXXVI

Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Vyasa said: "That has been said to be Manifest which is possessed of these four attributes, viz., birth, growth, decay and death. That which is not posessed of these attributes is said to be Unmenifest. Two souls are mentioned in the Vedas and the sciences that are based upon them. The first (which is called Jivatman; embodied soul) is endued with the four attributes already mentioned, and has a longing for the four objects or purposes (viz., Religion, Wealth, Pleasure and Emancipation). This soul is called Manifest, and it is born of the Unmanifest (Supreme Soul). It is both intelligent and non-intelligent. I have thus told thee about Sattwa (inert matter) and Kshetrajna (immaterial spirit).

Understanding Hinduism : Kosas – Sheaths (Pancha-kosas)

Kosas – Sheaths (Pancha-kosas)

From ‘Vedanta Treatise’

By Sri A. Parthasarthy

Vedanta Life Institute, Mumbai.

The structure of man can be divided into five material layers enveloping Atman (indwelling soul). Atman is the core of your personality. It is represented by the mystic symbol of AUM (pronounced OM). The five layers of matter are like five concentric circles around the symbol. They are called sheaths or KOSAS in Sanskrit. The five sheaths (pancha-kosas) are:

    Food sheath (Anna-maya kosa)

    Vital-Air sheath (Prana-maya kosa)

    Mental sheath (Mana-maya kosa)

    Intellectual sheath (Vignana-maya kosa)

    Bliss sheath (Ananda-maya kosa)

Food sheath

Food sheath is the physical body. The five organs of perception and the five organs of action are a part of it. It is called food sheath because it is caused by food, maintained by food; and finally ends up as food.

Vital-Air sheath

There are five faculties functioning within you. They correspond to the five physiological functions. They are called the five Pranas. Together they constitute the vital-air sheath. They have been given that name because they are related directly to air you breathe.

1. Faculty of perception (prana): is the functioning of the five senses as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching.

2. Faculty of excretion (apana): throws out, evacuates excreta of the body such as faeces, urine, sperms, sputum, perspiration etc.

3. Faculty of digestion (samana): digests food received by the stomach.

4. Faculty of circulation (vyana); distributes digested food to different parts of the body through blood stream.

5. Faculty of thought-absorption (udana): takes in fresh knowledge.

These five faculties (pranas) are sharp and clear when you are young. As you get older the pranas lose their strength and vitality. That explains why a ripe old man can hardly see, hear etc. His faculties of excretion, digestion and circulation become very weak. His capacity to absorb and accept new thoughts and ideas is reduced to the bare minimum.

Vital-Air sheath is subtler than food sheath. It controls the food sheath. When your pranas function properly your physical body remains healthy and strong. And when they slacken and work inefficiently the body is adversely affected.

Mental sheath

The mental sheath is the mind. Mind consists of passions and emotions, feelings and impulses. It is full of likes and dislikes. Mental-sheath controls vital-air and food sheaths. For instance, when the mind is disturbed, the physiological functions (pranas) and the physical body are affected.

Intellectual sheath

Intellectual sheath is the intellect. It functions as thinking, reflecting, reasoning, discriminating, judging, etc. It analyses and distinguishes between pairs of opposites. It controls the above three sheaths.

Bliss sheath

Bliss sheath consists of Vasanas alone. When you are in deep sleep i.e. dreamless sleep you are in bliss sheath. When you cross the bliss sheath and move to other sheaths you experience the dream and waking states of consciousness. Vasanas are therefore unmanifest in deep sleep while they are manifest in the form of thought in the dream and actions in the waking state. Consequently you experience mental agitations, be they great or small, as long as you remain in dream and waking states. When however you enter the state of deep sleep all your mental agitations cease and you experience undisturbed peace and bliss. Hence it is that this sheath is called bliss sheath. But the bliss experienced in deep sleep is relative. It is not to be confused with the absolute bliss of Self-realisation.

The five sheaths enumerated above may also be classified under three different headings viz. gross body, subtle body and causal body. Food sheath and the gross portion of vital-air sheath together constitute the gross body. The subtle portion of vital-air sheath combined with mental and intellectual sheaths form the subtle body. While the gross body is made up of gross matter, the subtle body is constituted of passions, desires, emotions, feelings and thoughts. Bliss sheath is the causal body consisting of Vasanas alone.

Your causal body is the storehouse of all your impressions and latent energies in you, all your Vasanas. When this hidden material in the causal body expresses itself as feelings and thoughts it takes the form of your subtle body. The same material works out as perceptions and actions in the gross body. Let the causal body be instilled with the suggestion of health, the subtle body will entertain thoughts of health and the gross body is bound to be healthy. Let the causal body be saturated with the suggestion of godhead, the subtle body will revel in the thought of godhead, the man is bound to be godly. A man is the architect of his own personality inasmuch as it is his own causal body that is responsible for his behaviour, movements and environments.

The substratum of your causal, subtle and gross bodies is your real Self.

Curious to know what people were wondering about Hindus and Hinduism, I went to Google.com and entered some prompts. For example, I typed “Why do Hindus” and then paused to see what questions would come up. I’m going to be doing a series of answers for Google to help people get their most pressing questions answered. First up…

Why Do Hindus Pierce Their Nose?

Elaborate decoration of Hindu women (well, brides in particular) is a tradition from ancient times. Hindu women often have many beautiful pieces of jewelry. In ancient times and still through modern times for some people, a woman’s wedding jewelry was hers to keep while everything else became her husband’s. A woman’s family would provide her with expensive jewelry as a form of savings account. If times were hard, a woman always had valuable jewelry she could sell if she needed help.

A nose ring is also one of the several symbols of a married woman. In some regions a girl’s nose is pierced once she is “of marriageable age” and marks her as ready for a husband. (Not every region uses nose rings. There are plenty of Hindus who do not have that as a tradition).

There is another reason for the nose ring. As part of Ayurveda, ancient Indian medicine (which is still practiced today), it is believed that a hole in a woman’s left nostril relieves some of the pain in childbirth.

However, the side of the piercing (or if piercing both sides or the center) depends on region and community. I’m told that generally the left side is common in North India and the right side is common in South India.

I’ve often found it amusing that something like a nose piercing could be seen so very differently depending on the culture. In America piercing one’s nose is seen as an act of rebellion against one’s parents. It’s seen as improper and “wild.” In India, nose piercing is a deeply traditional choice and shows a respect to one’s heritage and family. I’ve heard young Hindu American friends talk about their grandmothers being very distraught that they had not pierced their noses. My family was less than thrilled when I pierced mine!

Though Hindus are more likely to have pierced noses, women of other religions can and pierce as well.

Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Divinity

There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion ‘I am God’ cannot be made with regard to the sense-world.

The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength in your mind and words.

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.

Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.

Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind. Therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.

As soon as I think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice at the expense of other bodies; then you and I become separate. First get rid of the delusion ‘I am the body’, then only will we want real knowledge.

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.

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.

The essence of Vedanta is that there is but one Being and that every soul is that Being in full, not a part of that Being.

So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire.

However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.

This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger.

When we let loose our feelings, we waste so much energy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little work.

The less passion there is, the better we work. The calmer we are the better for us and the more the amount of work we can do.

The varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage us to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making a successful appeal to the divine instinct in all of us.

You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute.

We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough.

Don’t look back – forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience. Then alone can great deeds be accomplished.

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

Every individual is a center for the manifestation of a certain force. This force has been stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of us is born with this force at our back.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.

Nature, body, mind go to death, not we. We neither go nor come. The man Vivekananda is in nature, is born and dies. But the Self we see as Vivekananda is never born and never dies. It is the eternal and unchangeable Reality.

It is the duty of every person to contribute in the development and progress of India.

‘Comfort’ is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being ‘comfortable’.

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe.

Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong.

Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.

Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourself weak, weak you will be; if you think yourself strong, strong you will be.

It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.

Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.

This, I have seen in life – those who are overcautious about themselves fall into dangers at every step. Those who are afraid of losing honor and respect, get only disgrace; and those who are always afraid of loss, always lose.

The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

Be a hero. Always say, ‘I have no fear.’ Tell this to everyone – ‘Have no fear.’

To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.

We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise.

Blows are what awaken us & help to break the dream. They show us the insufficiency of this world & make us long to escape, to have freedom.

Who makes us ignorant? We ourselves. We put our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark.

Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.

Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Emotions

If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance. It is the word ‘fearlessness’.

The less passion there is, the better we work. The calmer we are the better for us and the more the amount of work we can do. When we let loose our feelings, we waste so much energy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little work.

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If not, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world which was the ghastly battlefield of maya is now changed into something good and beautiful.

Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.

It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.

Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.

Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work.

That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863 in Calcutta. His parents named him Narendranath Dutta, or Naren for short. As a young man, Vivekananda joined the course in philosophy at the Scottish Churches College of Calcutta (Kolkata), and also became a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a great mystic and devotee of Kali. Ramakrishna was a phenomenal enlightened being, and he saw great potential in Naren. Seeing his capability to percieve, Ramakrishna named him Vivekananda, where Viveka means perception in Sanskrit. Swami Vivekananda went out into the world to spread Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s message. In 1893, he was invited to the World Parliament of Religions, in Chicago. As a representative of Hinduism. he gave several speeches to great acclaim within the Parliament and the world at large. He is credited with playing a big part in bringing an understanding of Hinduism to the Western mindset.

Vivekananda stressed the importance of coming together for the betterment of society and urged Indians to adopt the Indian culture and the path of Karma Yoga, or the yoga of action. According to this, the path to salvation lies through active work in this world in selfless devotion, with bothering about the fruits of one’s actions. The respect that Vivekananda gained in the western part of the world had a great impact on his Indian contemporaries. British ideas of the Hindu way of life had looked at it as a collection of superstitious nonsense and pointless ritualism. Vivekananda’s outspoken defense of the Hindu way of life and his explanation of various facets of Indian culture won him many admirers in the East and the West. He fired the imaganation of Indian youth and became a national hero. His ideals had a big influence on many Independence-era politicians. The great liberal, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and the fervent socialist, Jawaharlal Nehru, both acknowledged their debts to Vivekananda in their later years.

Though Vivekananda praised the nobler ideas of the Hindu spiritual tradition, he was also an inveterate critic of certain discriminatory practices such as untouchability, which he characterized as a social custom not justified by religion. In 1887, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission, as an organisation for the dissemination of Ramakrishna’s spiritual path. Vivekananda’s trips to several Western countries paved the way for the global spread of the Ramakrishna Mission. The Mission has published the eight volumes of his collected works, which contain his books on Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Karma Yoga, as well as his numerous speeches.

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai.

Uniqueness of Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and message

The sayings of Sri Ramakrishna stand on a unique pedestal. Sri Ramakrishna possessed not only a great intellect and an artistic mind, but had the additional qualification that he had ‘seen God face to face; talked with Him’ and shared the Divine life. Hence Sri Ramakrishna’s words on these transcendental themes come with a weight of authority derived from the Supreme Being Himself.

There are more than 1100 sayings and parables of Sri Ramakrishna. The manner and method of his teaching, as well as his relationship with his disciples, were in many respects unique. He never undertook the work of teaching in an egoistic sense. He was the humblest of men, without any sense of ego in him, and he attributed all that he achieved to the Divine Mother of the universe. And it was because of this very fact of his having surrendered his ego completely to the Divine that the Guru Shakti (the redeeming power of the Lord) manifested itself through his body and mind in so remarkable a degree, sanctifying and enlightening all that came within their influence.

Sri Ramakrishna had the strange capacity to make himself interesting and intelligible to people of diverse temperaments and stages of intellectual developments. He could astound learned Pandits like Sasadhar and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar by the profundity of his wisdom, and he could also bring himself to the intellectual level of the ignorant village woman, to have her simple doubts cleared.

Sri Ramakrishna preached no particular dogma, creed or philosophy. What he did was convey to people a spirit that transformed their outlook on life and gave them an insight into the ultimate nature of the world and of human personality. In doing this, he relied not on formal sermons and discourses, but on loving contacts, illustrations drawn from Nature, a life of purity and self-control, and above all the practice of silent Japa and meditation. His instructions, whether on philosophy, devotion or conduct would take the form of witty sayings, striking analogies and illuminating parables.

Question: What is Jnana Yoga?

Sri Ramakrishna: Jnana Yoga is communion with God by means of knowledge. Knowledge (Jnana) varies in degree and kind from person to person. There is first the Jnana or insight of men of the world – ordinary mortals. This knowledge is not sufficiently powerful. It may be compared to the flame of a lamp, which illumines only the interior of a room. The Jnana of a Bhakta (devotee) is a stronger light. It may be compared to the light of the moon which reveals things both inside and outside a room. But the Jnana of the Avatara is still more powerful, and may be likened to the sun. He is the sun of Divine knowledge whose light dispels the accumulated ignorance of ages.

Methods of Jnana Yoga: The Ego:

If a man knows his own self, he knows other beings and God. What is my ego? Ponder deeply, and you will know that there is no such thing as ‘I’. As you peel off the skin of an onion, you find it consists only of skin; you cannot find any kernel in it. So too on analysing the ego, you will find that there is no real entity that you can call ‘I’. Such an analysis of the ego convinces one that the ultimate substance is God alone. When egotism drops away, Divinity manifests Itself.

Bhakti(Devotion) The path of Love

Nothing can be impressed on smooth glass, but when the surface is coated with proper chemicals, pictures can be impressed upon it, as in photography. In the same way, on the human heart coated with the chemicals of Bhakti, the image of Divinity can be impressed.

Unless one screens the eyes of unbroken horses, they will not move a single step. Is it possible to realise God unless one’s passions have already been controlled? In a sense not. But that is true only of Jnana Yoga, the path of Knowledge. The knowing one says, “One must first be pure if one desires to see God. One must first control one’s passions. First self-discipline, then knowledge of God.”There is however, another path leading to God – the path of devotion (Bhakti Yoga). If one man gains love of God, if once the chanting of His holy name begins to thrill the devotee with joy, what effort is needed for the control of passions afterwards? The control comes of itself. Can a man suffering from intense grief be in a mood to enter into a quarrel, or to enjoy a feast, or to give his mind up to the pleasures of the senses? So one absorbed in the love of God cannot think of sense-pleasures.

A poet has compared devotion to God to a tiger. As the tiger devours animals, devotion also swallows up all the ‘arch-enemies’ of man, such as lust, passion and the rest. Once the devotion to God is fully awakened, all evil passions like lust and anger are completely destroyed.

Why does a Bhakta (devotee) forsake everything for the sake of God?

The insect flies from darkness as soon as it sees a light. The ant loses its life in the syrup without leaving it. So does the Bhakta cling to God forever, and leaves all.

The Master: Does the moth seek darkness once it has seen light?

Questioner: It does not - it will rather rush into the flame and perish.

The Master: But such is not the case with the true worshipper of God. The Divine Light to which he is drawn does not burn and cause death. It is like the lustre of a gem, shining yet soft, cool and soothing. It burns not, but illumines the heart with peace and joy.

Worship of Images

While raising a building, the scaffolding is indispensable; but when the work is completed, no one feels the necessity of it. So also image-worship is necessary in the beginning but not afterwards.

Do you believe in a God with form or in a formless God?"

"In the formless aspect," was the reply.

The Master asked: But how can you grasp the formless aspect all at once? When the archers are learning to shoot, they first aim at the plantain tree, then at a thin tree, then at a fruit, then at the leaves, and finally at a flying bird. First meditate on the aspect with form. This will enable you to see the formless later.

As a boy begins to learn writing by drawing big scrawl before he can master a smaller hand, so we must acquire the power of concentration by first fixing the mind on forms; and we have attained success therein, we can easily fix it upon the Formless.

You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heaven during the day? O man, because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

Adopt adequate means for the end you seek to attain. You cannot get butter by crying yourself hoarse, “There is butter in the milk!” If you wish to make butter, you must turn the milk into curds, and churn it well. Then alone you can get butter. So if you long to see God, practise spiritual exercises. What is the use of merely crying, “Lord! Lord?”

Satsang -Company of the holy - Benefits of Pious Company

When going through spiritual exercises do not associate with those who never concern themselves with matters spiritual. Such people scoff at those who worship God and meditate upon Him and they ridicule piety and the pious. Keep yourself aloof from them.

As many people warm themselves in the fire kindled by someone else who has taken the trouble of collecting the firewood and other necessary things, similarly many fix their mind on the Lord by associating with and following the instruction of holy men who have come to know the Lord after many a hard penance.

God is one, but His aspects are many. As the master of a house is father to one, brother to another and husband to a third, and is called by different names by different persons, so the one God is described in various ways according to the particular aspects in which He appears to particular worshippers.

The Destiny of Man

The digit one may be raised to a figure of any value by adding zeros after it; but if that one is omitted, zeroes by themselves have no value. Similarly so long as the jiva (individual soul) does not cling to God, Who is the One, he has no value, for all things here get their value from their connection with God. So long as the Jiva clings to God, Who is the value-giving figure behind the world, and does all his work for Him, he gains more and more thereby; on the contrary, if he overlooks God and adds to his work many grand achievements, all done for his own glorification, he will gain nothing there from.

First gain God, and then gain wealth; but do not try to do the contrary. If, after acquiring spirituality, you lead a worldly life, you will never lose your peace of mind.

Do you talk of social reform? Well, you may do so after realising God. Remember, the Rishis of old gave up the world in order to attain God. This is the one thing needful. All other things shall be added to you, if indeed you care to have them. First see God, and then talk of lectures and social reforms.

A newcomer to a city should first secure a comfortable room for his rest at night, and after keeping his luggage there, he may freely go about the city for sightseeing. Otherwise he may have to suffer much in the darkness of night to get a place for rest. Similarly, after securing his eternal resting place in God, a newcomer to this world can fearlessly move about doing his daily work. Otherwise, when the dark and dreadful night of death comes over him, he will have to encounter great difficulties and sufferings.

Man in Bondage

There are three dolls- the first made of salt, the second made of cloth, and the third of stone. If these dolls are immersed in water, the first doll made of salt will become dissolved and lose its form. The second doll made from cloth will absorb a large quantity of water but retain its form. The third doll, made of stone, will remain impervious to water. The first doll made from salt represents the man who merges his self in the universal and all-pervading Self and becomes one with It. He is the liberated man. The second doll from cloth represents the Bhakta (devotee) or the true lover of God, who is full of Divine bliss and knowledge. And the third doll made of stone, represents the worldly man who will not admit even a particle of true knowledge into his heart.

Death and Reincarnation

When an unbaked pot is broken, the potter can use the mud to make a new one; but when a baked one is broken, he cannot do the same any longer. So when a person dies in a state of ignorance, he is born again but when he becomes well baked in the fire of true knowledge and dies a perfect man, he is not born again.

A grain of boiled paddy does not sprout again when sown. Only unboiled paddy sends forth the shoot. Similarly when one dies after becoming a Siddha, a perfect man, he has not to be born again, but an Asiddha, an imperfect man, has to be born again until he becomes a Siddha.

Perseverance

The hereditary peasant does not give up tilling the soil though it may not rain for twelve years; but a merchant who has recently taken to agriculture is discouraged by one season of drought. The true believer is never discouraged even if he fails to see God in spite of lifelong devotion.

Faith

A stone may remain in water for numberless years; yet the water will never penetrate into it. But clay is soon soaked into mud by the contact of water. So the strong heart of the faithful does not despair in the midst of trials and persecutions, but the man of weak faith is shaken even by the most trifling cause.

Sri Ramakrishna taught more by his life than by words. He never wrote or lectured, but imparted all his teachings in the shape of informal conversations, some of which have been faithfully recorded by his disciples.

20 Quotes from the Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism

1

Most humbly we bow to You, O Supreme Lord.

At Your command moves the mighty wheel of time.

You are eternal, and beyond eternity.

(Artharva Veda)

2

The one who loves all intensely

begins perceiving in all living beings

a part of himself.

He becomes a lover of all,

a part and parcel of the Universal Joy.

He flows with the stream of happiness,

and is enriched by each soul.

(Yajur Veda)

3

The human body is the temple of God.

One who kindles the light of awareness within

gets true light.

The sacred flame of your inner shrine

is constantly bright.

The experience of unity

is the fulfillment of human endeavors.

The mysteries of life are revealed.

(Rig Veda)

4

Sing the song of celestial love, O singer!

May the divine fountain of eternal grace and joy

enter your soul.

May Brahma, (the Divine One),

Pluck the strings of your inner soul

with His celestial fingers,

And feel His own presence within.

Bless us with a divine voice

That we may tune the harp-strings of our life

To sing songs of Love to you.

(Rig Veda)

5

Of everything he is the inmost Self.

He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.

(Chandogya Upanishad)

6

Meditating on the lotus of your heart,

in the center is the untainted;

the exquisitely pure, clear, and sorrowless;

the inconceivable;

the unmanifest,

of infinite form;

blissful, tranquil, immortal;

the womb of Brahma.

(Kaivalyopanishad)

7

Those in whose hearts OM reverberates

Unceasingly are indeed blessed

And deeply loved as one who is the Self.

The all-knowing Self was never born,

Nor will it die. Beyond cause and effect,

This Self is eternal and immutable.

When the body dies, the Self does not die.

(Katha Upanishad)

8

The whole mantram AUM

Indivisible, interdependent,

Goes on reverberating in the mind.

Established in this cosmic vibration,

The sage goes beyond fear, decay, and death

To enter into infinite peace.

(Prashna Upanishad)

9

O Almighty!

You are the infinite; the universe is also infinite!

From infinite the infinite has come out!

Having taken infinite out of the infinite, the infinite remains!

O Almighty! May there be Peace! Peace! Everywhere!

(Ishawashya Upanishad)

10

O seeker, know the true nature of your soul,

and identify yourself with it completely.

O Lord, (may we attain) the everlasting consciousness

of Supreme Light and Joy.

May we resolve to dedicate our life

to the service of humankind,

and uplift them to Divinity.

(Yajur Veda)

11

O Brahma, lead us from the unreal to the real.

O Brahma, lead us from darkness to light.

O Brahma, lead us from death to immortality.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om.

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad)

12

Look to this day,

for it is life, the very breath of life.

In its brief course lie

all the realities of your existence;

the bliss of growth,

the glory of action,

the splendor of beauty.

For yesterday is only a dream,

and tomorrow is but a vision.

But today, well lived,

makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,

and every tomorrow

a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

(Ancient Sanskrit)

13

The highest Self, all endless bliss,

the unconditioned limitless consciousness,

being realized, whether through the great texts,

or through Yoga, in all experience whatever—

let one lose himself in the ecstasy of Realization,

for he has forever lost all touch

with bondage of every description.

(Svarajyasiddhi)

14

A particle of Its bliss

supplies the bliss of the whole universe.

Everything becomes enlightened in Its light.

All else appears worthless after a sight of that essence.

I am indeed of this Supreme Eternal Self.

(Vijnanananka)

15

The knower catches in the ecstasy of his heart

the full light of that Brahman (that Divine Essence)

which is indescribable—all pure bliss, incomparable,

transcending time, ever free, beyond desire.

(Vivekachudamani)

16

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.

Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes

Lives in the Self. He is the source of love

And may be known through love but not through thought

He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!

(Mundaka Upanishad)

17

All is change in the world of the senses,

But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love.

Meditate on him, be absorbed by him,

Wake up from this dream of separateness.

(Shvetashvatara Upanishad)

18

O mysterious and incomprehensible Spirit!

In the depths of my heart, there is only You—You, for all time.

(source unknown)

"The whole of this Universe is pervaded by me in my Unmanifested form (Avyaktamoorti). I am thus the support of all the manifested existences, but I am not supported by them" - this eternal law is the very basis of Indian philosophy and is also the main concept of spiritualism in India.