God Makes the Rivers to Flow: An Anthology of the World's Sacred Poetry and Prose (Essential Easwaran Library Book 4)

by Eknath Easwaran

THE DHAMMAPADA Cross the River Bravely Cross the river bravely; conquer all your passions. Go beyond the world of fragments and know the deathless ground of life. Cross the river bravely; conquer all your passions. Go beyond your likes and dislikes and all fetters will fall away. Who is a true brahmin? That one I call a brahmin who has neither likes nor dislikes and is free from the chains of fear. Who is a true brahmin? That one I call a brahmin who has trained the mind to be still and reached the supreme goal of life. The sun shines in the day; the moon shines in the night. The warrior shines in battle, the brahmin in meditation. But day and night the Buddha shines in radiance of love for all. That one I call a brahmin who has shed all evil. I call that one a recluse whose mind is serene; a wanderer, whose heart is pure.