2nd July 2023- No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a we “know,” should-in strict psychological language-be what we “discover” or “unveil.” What we “learn” is really what we “discover” by taking the cover off our own soul, which is the mirror of infinite knowledge.
4th July 2023- When spiritual forces are transmitted from the teacher to the taught, they can only be conveyed through the medium of love; there is no other medium that can convey them. Any other motive, such as gain or name, would immediately destroy the conveying medium; therefore all must be dome through love.
5th July 2023- Men like Dattatreya, who wrote the Avadhuta Gita, are what keep religion alive. They have actually realized; they care for nothing, feel nothing done to the body, care not for heat and cold or danger or anything. They sit still and enjoy the bliss of Atman, while red-hot coals burn their body, and they feel them not.
7th July 2023- Do not talk of the wickedness of the world and all its sins. Weep that you are bound to see wickedness yet. Weep that you are bound to see sin everywhere, and if you want to help the world, do not condemn it. Do not weaken it more. For what is sin and what is misery, and what are all these, but the results of weakness? The world is made weaker and weaker every day by such teachings.
10th July 2023- A great idea of quiet has come upon me. I am going to retire for good–no more work for me. If possible, I will revert to my old days of begging.
11th July 2023- All the knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind. The falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all the previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation.
12th July 2023- Whenever I drank a few drops of Ganga water, that stream of people, that intense activity of the West, that clash and competition at every step, those seats of luxury and celestial opulence–Paris, London, New York, Berlin, Rome–all would disappear and I used to hear that wonderful sound of “Hara, Hara,” to see that lonely forest on the sides of the Himalayas, and feel the murmuring heavenly river coursing through the heart and brain and every artery of the body and thundering forth, “Hara, Hara, Hara!”
15th July 2023- A person must be made of stone if his heart does not melt at the site of Kashi and its Lord!
We see the world as we are. Suppose there is a baby in a room with a bag of gold on the table and a thief comes and steals the gold. Would the baby know it was stolen? That which we have inside, we see outside. The baby has no thief inside and sees no thief outside.
“To see God everywhere is the Highest worship; meditation is the next best; prayer and repetition of divine names are lower than that; external worship is the lowest. Ordinary people perform worship to escape from the displeasure of God or in expectation of fulfilling some desires. All these are low motives. Real worship is not done until devotion overflows the heart and tears roll down from the eyes for a glimpse of God. A true devotee takes God’s name with every breath, is filled with sincere devotion and offers flowers, leaves and water to God without any selfish motive, saying ‘O Mother Divine, worship and prayer are nothing but opportune moment to call on You.” (This has been quoted by Swami Ramakrishnananda.)
17th July 2023- May all powers come unto you! May Mother herself be your hands and mind! It is immense power-irresistible-that I pray for you, and, if possible, along with it infinite peace …
If there was any truth in Sri Ramakrishna, may he take you into his leading, even as he did me, nay, a thousand times more!
(Letter to Sister Nivedita {Margaret Noble}. Written from Benaras on February 12, 1902. Complete works, 5. 175)
In India there never was any religious persecution by the Hindus, but only that wonderful reverence, which they have all the religions of the world. They sheltered a portion of the Hebrews, when they were driven out of their own country; and the Malabar Jews remain as a result. They received at another time the remnant of the Persians, when they were almost annihilated; and they remain to this day, as a part of us and loved by us, as the modern Parsis of Bombay.
There were Christians who claimed to have come with St.Thomas, the disciple of Jesus Christ; and they were allowed to settle in India and hold their own opinions; and a colony of them is even now in existence in India.
And this spirit of toleration has not died out. It will not and cannot die there.
19th July 2023- All knowledge, secular or spiritual, is in the human mind. In many cases it is not discovered but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say, “We are learning.” The advance of knowledge is made by the advance of this process of uncovering. The person from whom this veil is being lifted is the knowing person, the person upon whom it lies thick is ignorant, and the one from whom it has entirely gone is all-knowing, omniscient. There have been omniscient people and, I believe, there will be yet, and there will be myriads of them in the c…
20th July 2023- With the teacher our relationship is that of ancestor and descendent; the teacher is the spiritual ancestor, and the disciple is the spiritual descendant. It is all very well to talk of liberty and independence, but without humility, submission, veneration, and faith, there will not be any religion. It is a significant fact that where this relation still exists between the teacher and the taught, there alone gigantic spiritual souls grow; but in those who have thrown it off, religion is made into a diversion.
22nd July 2023- Say to your own minds, so’ham, “I am He. I am He.” Let it ring day and night in your minds like a song, and at the point of death declare, “I am He.” That is the Truth; the infinite strength of the world is yours. Drive out the superstition that has covered your minds. Let us be brave. Know the Truth and practice the Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.
24th July 2023- When a person has reached the highest, when he sees neither man nor woman, neither sect nor creed, nor color, nor birth, nor any of these differentiations, but goes beyond and finds that divinity which is the real being behind every human being-then alone that person has reached the universal brotherhood, and that person alone is a Vedantist.
25th July 2023- Place, time causation are all delusions. It is your disease that you think you are bound and will be free. You are the Unchangeable. Talk not. Sit down and let all things melt away, they are but dreams. There is no differentiation, no distinction, it is all superstition; therefore be silent and know who you are.
26th July 2023- People are taught from childhood that they are weak and sinners. Teach them that they are all glorious children of immortality, even those who are the weakest in manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralyzing ones.
28th July 2023- It is very true, and I have also found it so very often, that one has to suffer at times for holding in one’s brain novel views of all sorts.
31st July 2023- The more opposition there is, the better? Does a river acquire velocity unless there is resistance? The newer and better a thing is, the more opposition it will meet with at the outset. It is opposition which foretells success. Where there is no opposition, there is no success either.