Status Updates From Hinduism

"My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God than Truth. And if every page of these chapters does not proclaim to the reader that the only means for the realization of Truth is non-violence, I shall deem all my labor in writing to have been in vain. And, even though my efforts in this behalf may prove fruitless, let the readers know that the vehicle, not the great principle, is at fault" (233).

"He by whose favour such error is corrected, O Parvati, is that gracious Rama. In Him is no beginning, no end, & the Vedas have tried their best to describe him thus: 'Without feet he walks, without ears he hears, without hands he performs his various deeds...without speech he is the most eloquent, without body he touches...thus his activity is supernatural in all ways and none can describe his greatness'" (221).

"I am a mass of sin; Thou are all purity;
Yet thou must take me as I am
And bear my load for me.

Me Death has all consumed; In thee all power abides.
All else forsaking, at thy feet Thy servant Tuka hides" (212).

"Feed thy fatted rams, thou worldly one,
Take them grain and dainties, and then slay.
Give thy thoughts that reek with 'said and done'
Last-fruits of Knowledge, and cast away.

Then shalt see with Spirit-eyes the Place
Where the dwelling of the Lord shall be;
Then shall pass thy terrors of disgrace;
Then shall Custom lose her hold on thee" (209).

"Those, however, whose good karman enables them to take refuge in God and who, released from the bondage of evil, assume a divine nature, know God to be the origin of all beings, the eternal Lord whose proper form, name and actions are beyond thought and speech and who has descended into human shape to rescue the sadhus, and they worship God with all their minds focused on him alone" (190).

"The attribute most noble of the hand is readiness in giving; of the head, bending before a teacher; of the mouth, veracious speaking; of a victor's arms, undaunted valour; of the inner heart, pureness the most unsullied; of the ears, delight in hearing and receiving truth - these are adornments of high-minded men better than all the majesty of Empire" (186).

"We cannot know a thing without knowing its merits, its qualities. All knowledge or science is based on a form of praise" (174).

"He who lives pure in thought, free from malice, contented, leading a holy life, feeling tenderness for all creatures, speaking wisely and kindly, humble and sincere, has Vasudeva ever present in his heart. As the young Sala-tree, by its beauty, declares the excellence of the juices which it has imbibed from the earth, so, when the eternal has taken up his abode in the bosom of any one, that man is lovely..." (171).

"In scatterings end collections all;
High towering piles at length must fall;
In parting every meeting ends;
To death all life of creatures tends" (160).

"My heart, O Krsna, is naturally attracted towards virtue. The man who wisheth to reap the fruits of virtue is a trader in virtue. His nature is mean and he should never be counted amongst the virtuous, nor doth he ever obtain the fruits of his virtues!" (149).

"When a man puts away all the desires of his mind, O Arjuna, & when his spirit is content in itself, then is he called stable in intelligence. He whose mind is untroubled in the midst of sorrows and is free from eager desire amid pleasures, he from whom passion, fear, & rage have passed away, he is called a sage of settled intelligence. He who is without affection on any side...is firmly set in wisdom" (134).

"Truth is said to be the one unequalled means of purification of the soul. Truth is the ladder by which man ascends to heaven, as a ferry plies from one bank of a river to the other" (129).

"Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife" (120).

"He who knows and follows the sacred law is called a righteous man. He becomes most worthy of praise in this world and after death gains heaven. The sacred law has been settled by the revealed texts and by the tradition of the sages" (112).

"Man is not to be contented with wealth. Shall we enjoy wealth when we have seen thee [Death]? Shall we live as long as thou are in power? That alone is still the boon chosen by me. Having approached the undecaying immortality, what decaying mortal on this earth below who now knows and meditates on the pleasures of beauty and love, will delight in an over-long life?" (105).

"It is - as a lump of salt cast in water would dissolve right into the water; there would not be any of it to seize forth, as it were, but wherever one may take, it is salty indeed - so, lo, verily, this great Being, infinite, limitless, is just a mass of knowledge" (94).

"Henceforward no one shall be immortal with the body: only when thou shalt have taken the body as thy share, he who is to become immortal either through knowledge, or through holy work, shall become immortal after separating from the body" (83).

"The great guardian among these gods sees as if from anear. He that thinketh he is moving stealthily - all this the gods know" (72).

"Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That one thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness, this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of warmth was born that unit" (67).