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A minute of kindness is more precious than a hundred years of intense austerities.
did not know then that the line between madness and religious ecstasy is extremely thin.
In one temple where the deity was missing, he installed a mirror instead, to demonstrate the Vedantic and Socratic maxim ‘Man, know thyself’.
Avadhoota, an ecstatic saint who had freed himself from all social norms and customs.
Swami Vivekananda’s dictum that service to mankind is service to God.
Avadhoota, a spiritually advanced person, who cared nothing for the niceties of social behaviour,
lead abnormal lives—naked, dirty, behaving in strange ways. In the Hindu tradition, such seemingly insane holy men and women are called Avadhootas, and in the Sufi tradition they are called Masts or Mastans.
‘To be religious is not to be foolish.’
The words of a great spiritual master, who wandered the streets of Jerusalem with no place to lay his head came to mind:
‘The law was made for man, not man for the law.’
‘Begin with perfecting your daily life. That’s the way to perfection.’
The job of a teacher is to guide, not make the student dependent on him eternally.
‘So now, when I say Upanishads, I mean the eleven principal Upanishads which are the earliest: the Isavasya, the Kena, the Chandogya, the Brihadaranyaka, the Mundaka, the Mandukya, the Katha, the
Prashna, the Svetashvatara, the Aitareya and the Taittiríya
‘The word Upanishad comes from the root “upa”, which means “close”. It implies that the Upanishad is understood by those who sit close to the teacher, or who are intimately involved with the teacher in understanding a multi-dimensional reality—an experience which often cannot even be put into words, or described to a mind which normally operates within limited dimensions.
‘The ordinarily wandering mind should learn to “shad”, sit—the last syllable of the word Upa-ni-shad, which means, all unnecessary movement of thought has to cease and in that restful moment of the otherwise constantly agitated mind, that which is beyond the confines of thought, is revealed.
The aim of the eight-limbed yoga is Chitta Vritti Nirodha which means “eliminating the agitations of the mind.”
Himachala, the immovable snow-mountain.
‘Guidance does not depend on the physical body. Also, don’t get attached so much to this body. The aim of all your training is to make you independent. You should stand on your own feet. Even dependence on a guru is an obstacle. Be free.’
“Sri Gurubhyo Namah.”
the ever-expanding Brahman, from the root “Brah”, meaning to expand.
‘As you watch, you will become one with the flow of universal life that has no limits. Don’t imagine anything. Just observe with an open mind, and have no fixed goal. “Let go and rejoice,” as the Isa Upanishad says. Tena Tyaktena Bhunjitha.’
The tantric dictum, “Yogo Bhoga Yathae” is based on the fact that sometimes you cannot get rid of an obsession without indulging
‘Patanjali, who gave the world the Ashtanga Yoga Sutras, was himself a Naga, and is depicted as half-man and half-snake.
The snake on the pharaoh’s head and the snake coiled around the yogi-god Shiva, are all symbolic representations of wisdom and power,
you can meditate perfectly for thirteen years, for thirteen hours a day, but cannot hear the cry of pain of a living being in distress, all your thirteen years of meditation have been wasted. If meditation has not softened your heart, throw it out of the window. It’s of no use.’
‘we are all going to die. You, I, he, all of us are going to die. Death is inescapable, and is our constant companion. So accept it, my child, in tranquility. Make peace with death and it turns into your friend. I shall teach you a simple meditation and breathing technique that will help you keep your pain under control.
The fact is knowledge, by itself, is an obstacle to understanding the Absolute Truth.
You see, when I set out to acquire knowledge of something, what is the process involved? First, I observe, then understand it, and then, store it in my memory,
So, all knowledge is memory, and memory, the very word, means, it is a thing of the past.
“Truth” cannot be something in the past. It is the “eternal present”, and therefore, cannot be stored in the memory, which is a thing of the past, the dead past. “Truth”, on the other hand is in the present, the now, eternally flowing, pulsating with life, and therefore, cannot be touched by knowledge.
“Until I lead every living being to Nirvana, may I be born again and again”
‘It is the sick who need a doctor.’
Adapt your behaviour to suit circumstances, as long as it does not hurt anybody.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’
Swami Vivekananda, believes that service to humanity is the best form of worship.
The idol in Dakshineshwar, Bhadrakali, is the most wrathful aspect of the ten great energies of tantra called Dasa Maha Vidyas. She is black in colour and her eyes look ferocious and angry. Her tongue hangs out of her mouth dripping blood and her thick hair is loose and unruly, blown by the wind. She is naked except for a garland of severed human heads and a skirt made of human hands. She is four armed. One palm is pointed downwards, the other is raised in blessing, a third holds a sword dripping with blood, and the fourth a freshly severed, bleeding, human head.
Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa was the name given to him later by his devotees)
Bhairavi Brahmani,
From Dakshineshwar, we took a boat across the Ganga to Belur Mutt,
the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission.
The deity in the sanctum sanctorum is a life-size, white marble image of Sri Ramakrishna, sitting cross-legged, absorbed in a trance. Under the platform on which the deity is seated lie Sri Ramakrishna’s physical remains: bones and ashes, carried personally by Swami Vivekananda on his head, and installed by him. We then visited the small shrines built along the banks of the river which contain the remains of some of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna including Swami Vivekananda, and the holy mother Sharada Devi.
‘Swamiji was a Raja Yogi inside and outside. He was a king of all that he surveyed. Where great yogis live, and how they conduct themselves, depends upon their life’s mission. The external really does not matter, it is the attitude that counts. Swamiji’s life became comfortable outwardly only after he became famous, and the Belur Mutt was built.
Janaka was the king of Videha and yet, a rishi, a raja rishi. You too will live like a raja rishi.”
Panchkuli has been the final resting place of many great yogis and siddhas,’
Sri Devi, Sri Guru Babaji’s sister,
I was also to go to Kayanchi, between Ranikhet and Almora and see the Avadhoota Maharaj Neem Karoli Baba, and then go to Banaras and stay at the Ramakrishna Seva Ashram, before going to Belur Mutt in Calcutta.
Gopal Da: The Yoga of the Bhagawad Gita
and The Yoga of the Kathopanishad.
‘mind over matter’,
