Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.
If you haven’t wept deeply,
you haven’t begun to meditate.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.
If you haven’t wept deeply,
you haven’t begun to meditate.
There is a silence in you.
It is always here, constant and unmovable.
It is not doing anything.
Be aware of this.
It is simply here but it didn't arrive.
You are not a person here.
In the silence itself, you are without history, name and form.
Recognise that space here now which simply is.
It underlies all activity,
but itself does not participate in any activity.
Notice and confirm this now,
and stay in your beautiful rest.
It is always here, constant and unmovable.
It is not doing anything.
Be aware of this.
It is simply here but it didn't arrive.
You are not a person here.
In the silence itself, you are without history, name and form.
Recognise that space here now which simply is.
It underlies all activity,
but itself does not participate in any activity.
Notice and confirm this now,
and stay in your beautiful rest.
When a person has realized,
a universal life-current takes possession of him
and he becomes an instrument in its hands.
His own separate will is gone.
This is the real Self-surrender.
This is the highest kundalini (the divine cosmic energy),
this is real bhakti (devotion),
this is jnana (knowledge of the Self).
a universal life-current takes possession of him
and he becomes an instrument in its hands.
His own separate will is gone.
This is the real Self-surrender.
This is the highest kundalini (the divine cosmic energy),
this is real bhakti (devotion),
this is jnana (knowledge of the Self).
Relax without laziness
Focus without tension
Perceive without projecting
Witness without judging
Enjoy without craving
Reflect without imagining
Love without condition
Give without demanding
Receive without possessing
Serve without self-seeking
Challenge without dominating
Meditate without identity
Correct without blaming
Overcome without pride
Laugh without cynicism
Cry without pity
Confront without hatred
Guide without superiority
Be without self-defining
Live without arrogance
Enter without self-importance
Depart without regret
Be one with God
Focus without tension
Perceive without projecting
Witness without judging
Enjoy without craving
Reflect without imagining
Love without condition
Give without demanding
Receive without possessing
Serve without self-seeking
Challenge without dominating
Meditate without identity
Correct without blaming
Overcome without pride
Laugh without cynicism
Cry without pity
Confront without hatred
Guide without superiority
Be without self-defining
Live without arrogance
Enter without self-importance
Depart without regret
Be one with God
Love unconditionally. Don’t ask anything in return. Much comes on its own, that’s another thing. Don’t be a beggar. In love be an emperor. Just give it and see what happens. A thousandfold it comes back. But one has to learn it. Otherwise one remains a miser. One gives a little and waits for much to come back, and your waiting, your expectation, destroys the whole beauty of it.
When the mind appears every morning don’t jump to the usual conclusion, “This is me; these thoughts are mine.” Instead, watch these thoughts come and go without identifying with them in any way. If you can resist the impulse to claim each and every thought as your own, you will come to a startling conclusion: you will discover that you are the consciousness in which the thoughts appear and disappear. You are allowed to run free. Like the snake which appears in the rope, you will discover that the mind is only an illusion which appears through ignorance or misperception.
You often say,
“I would give, but only to the deserving.”
The trees in your orchard say not so,
nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give so that they may live,
for to withhold is to perish.
“I would give, but only to the deserving.”
The trees in your orchard say not so,
nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give so that they may live,
for to withhold is to perish.
God, on being worshipped, bestows steadiness in devotion which leads to surrender. On the devotee surrendering, God shows His mercy by manifesting as the Guru. The Guru, otherwise God, guides the devotee, saying that God is in you and He is the Self. This leads to introversion of the mind and finally to realization.
BHAGAVAN'S DIALOGUE WITH AN AMERICAN LADY
The following questions were asked by an aristocratic-looking American lady. Bhagavan's answers are a succinct summary of his practical teachings.
Question: What is the truth that I have to attain? Please explain it and show it to me.
Bhagavan: What we have to attain and what is desired by everyone is endless happiness. Although we seek to attain it in various ways, it is not something to be sought or attained as a new experience.
Our real nature is the 'I' feeling which is experienced by everyone. It is within us and nowhere else.
Although we are always experiencing it, our minds are wandering, always seeking it, thinking in ignorance that it is something apart from us. This is like a person saying with his own tongue that he has no tongue.
Question: If this is so, why did so many sadhanas [spiritual
practices] come to be created?
Bhagavan: The sadhanas came to be formed only to get rid of the thought that it [the Self] is something to be newly attained.
The root of the illusion is the thought which ignores the Self and which thinks instead, 'I am this body'.
After this thought rises it expands in a moment into several thousand thoughts and conceals the Self. The reality of the Self will only shine if all these thoughts are removed. Afterwards, what remains is only Brahmananda [the
bliss of Brahman].
Question: I am now sitting peacefully without the thought 'I am this body'. Is this the state of reality?
Bhagavan: This state must remain as it is without any change.
If it changes after a while you will know that other thoughts have not gone.
LIVING BY THE WORDS OF BHAGAVAN, p. 214, 215
The following questions were asked by an aristocratic-looking American lady. Bhagavan's answers are a succinct summary of his practical teachings.
Question: What is the truth that I have to attain? Please explain it and show it to me.
Bhagavan: What we have to attain and what is desired by everyone is endless happiness. Although we seek to attain it in various ways, it is not something to be sought or attained as a new experience.
Our real nature is the 'I' feeling which is experienced by everyone. It is within us and nowhere else.
Although we are always experiencing it, our minds are wandering, always seeking it, thinking in ignorance that it is something apart from us. This is like a person saying with his own tongue that he has no tongue.
Question: If this is so, why did so many sadhanas [spiritual
practices] come to be created?
Bhagavan: The sadhanas came to be formed only to get rid of the thought that it [the Self] is something to be newly attained.
The root of the illusion is the thought which ignores the Self and which thinks instead, 'I am this body'.
After this thought rises it expands in a moment into several thousand thoughts and conceals the Self. The reality of the Self will only shine if all these thoughts are removed. Afterwards, what remains is only Brahmananda [the
bliss of Brahman].
Question: I am now sitting peacefully without the thought 'I am this body'. Is this the state of reality?
Bhagavan: This state must remain as it is without any change.
If it changes after a while you will know that other thoughts have not gone.
LIVING BY THE WORDS OF BHAGAVAN, p. 214, 215
Even the most exalted states and most exceptional spiritual accomplishments are unimportant if we cannot be happy in the most basic and ordinary ways, if we cannot touch one another and the life we have been given with our hearts.
When we wake up in bed on Monday morning and think of the various hurdles we’ve got to jump that day, immediately we feel sad. Bored and bothered. Whereas actually we’re just lying in bed.
One doesn't become the Truth, one simply discovers the timeless and perfect reality to be the core of one's Being.
To live in this Realization
is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Way is to live without separation,
and in this nonduality you are one with the Way.
is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Way is to live without separation,
and in this nonduality you are one with the Way.
Let go of what has passed.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest.
The scriptures speak of three Holy rivers Within.
These are Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss.
Being beyond thought or effort
they cannot be objectified or subjectified.
They are so dear, so near, behind the retina and before the breath.
You need not see This, you are it.
These are Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss.
Being beyond thought or effort
they cannot be objectified or subjectified.
They are so dear, so near, behind the retina and before the breath.
You need not see This, you are it.
A flower doesn't need instructions on how to bloom. No music teacher taught the nightingale to sing. It is spontaneous. There is no force involved, it happens naturally. Similarly, in the presence
of a great Master, the closed bud of your heart opens up. You become as receptive and innocent as a child, a humble and obedient child of the Master. He doesn't teach you anything. You learn everything without being taught. His presence, his very life, is the greatest teaching of all. There is no control or force involved; everything happens naturally and effortlessly. Only love can create this miracle.
of a great Master, the closed bud of your heart opens up. You become as receptive and innocent as a child, a humble and obedient child of the Master. He doesn't teach you anything. You learn everything without being taught. His presence, his very life, is the greatest teaching of all. There is no control or force involved; everything happens naturally and effortlessly. Only love can create this miracle.
Life is a mystery. You cannot understand it unless you surrender, for your intellect cannot grasp its expansive and infinite nature, its real meaning and fullness. Bow down low and be humble; then you will know life's meaning.
It is when you have tried and failed that you are truly able to surrender. Though you fail time and again, you continue to try until, finally, there comes a point when you accept your failure; you fully
experience and understand your incapacity to move forward. It is at that point that you surrender. So keep trying. That ultimate sense of failure must come to everyone, either today or tomorrow.
experience and understand your incapacity to move forward. It is at that point that you surrender. So keep trying. That ultimate sense of failure must come to everyone, either today or tomorrow.
And you make comparisons. You say, “I like. I don't like. It's good. It's bad.” and so forth. You've got to take control of your mind. You've got to realize your mind and your body are not your friend. They feed you the wrong information. They appear right for a while but then it becomes wrong again. Do not listen to your mind. Stop the thoughts before they get to the edge of your nose. That's all I've got to say.
- A real seeker of truth is only interested in the truth.
- Not in situations, experiences, what happens to the world, but is only interested in the truth.
- The truth being the Self, the pure awareness.
- And if you're really interested in the truth, you would not carry any burdens in your mind, of any kind.
- You learn to let go of them as fast as they come.
- Not in situations, experiences, what happens to the world, but is only interested in the truth.
- The truth being the Self, the pure awareness.
- And if you're really interested in the truth, you would not carry any burdens in your mind, of any kind.
- You learn to let go of them as fast as they come.
You are not determined enough. As the miser loves money, as the lover loves the beloved, so should you love God, then you will find Him, without fail.
In your Light I learn how to Love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
Q: What comes first, being or desire?
M: With being arising in consciousness, the ideas of what you are arise in your mind as well as what you should be. This brings forth desire and action and the process of becoming begins.
Becoming has, apparently, no beginning and no end, for it restarts every moment. With the cessation of imagination and desire, becoming ceases and the being this or that merges into pure being, which is not describable, only experienceable.
The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.
You need not forget; when desire and fear end, bondage also ends. It is the emotional involvement, the pattern of likes and dislikes which we call character and temperament, that create the bondage.
M: With being arising in consciousness, the ideas of what you are arise in your mind as well as what you should be. This brings forth desire and action and the process of becoming begins.
Becoming has, apparently, no beginning and no end, for it restarts every moment. With the cessation of imagination and desire, becoming ceases and the being this or that merges into pure being, which is not describable, only experienceable.
The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.
You need not forget; when desire and fear end, bondage also ends. It is the emotional involvement, the pattern of likes and dislikes which we call character and temperament, that create the bondage.
People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don’t find myself saying, ‘Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner.’ I don’t try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.
Love without attachment is the purest love because it isn’t about what others can give you because you’re empty. It is about what you can give others because you are already full.