One of the fundamental problems of religion is its continual attempt to limit God rather than to free its adherents from limitation so they can become one with God.
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Consistency is essential in spiritual life. The inner and the outer must be the same. Mere words and mere deeds are not enough; they must match the interior condition.
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Activating just part of us is not sufficient for genuine spiritual progress. Our total being must be engaged in sadhana according to the dictates of the Upanishads, the Gita and the Yoga Sutras. Otherwise it is little more than fantasy.
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Through his intuition developed by intense and prolonged sadhana the yogi will come to see the hand of God in all that he has undergone in his life.
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In the company of a true sadhu the mind is definitely uplifted. Therefore sadhu-sanga is a wonderful thing if it can be found.
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The conditionings and flaws of the mind are eliminated when the yogi’s consciousness merges with that of God, and it is revealed as spirit itself.
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To know God is the fruit of yoga. It is also the knowledge of time and destiny–to look back at all our incarnations in relative existence and to comprehend them as steps leading to liberation.
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See the world in, through and as God. The inner eye of Consciousness, of Shiva, must be opened through yoga, which should be the central fact and interest of our life. Then the jiva will be revealed as Shiva.
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The greater the degree of spiritual aspiration, the greater will be the aspirant’s spiritual discipline and sadhana, and the greater will be the resulting realization.
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The conviction that God is real and all else is unreal is the faith (shraddha) that fuels our search for God.
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Anybody can believe anything and not have it produce any effect in their life.
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It is evident that jnana yoga, the yoga of wisdom and intelligence, alone culminates in complete liberation.
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We must be intent on the purpose and nature of everything. What a thing really is should determine our reaction to it and the way we handle or relate to it.
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The dynamic power of the universe is accessible to all, and that power eventually makes all equal by lifting them up to spiritual perfection in which there is no longer any difference.
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The impulse to realize God is the fundamental drive of the human being, no matter how deeply buried it may be.
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A person’s religion is worthless if he does not see the divine value of all sentient beings and their divine origin.
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Those people who keep drawing lines of difference everywhere to separate themselves and somehow make themselves superior to others are the real outcastes.
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Being the most subtle, non-dual realization is the rarest; nevertheless it must come to us all.
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Advaita is not a mere philosophical proposition, it is a realization which frees from all rebirth.
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Sometimes the world appears completely unreal, and at other times we realize that we are seeing God manifesting as the world. Both are the experience of the yogi.
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The sole duty or purpose of all sentient beings is the realization of God. So the master yogis have told us.
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We need not die to gain “eternal peace,” but live the yoga life to gain it.
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God is both the cause and the goal of life.
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Those who have no spiritual realization, or even intellectual wisdom, from life to life will be consumed by the fires of this world, attaining nothing but their eventual death.
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Having no freedom, a bound person cannot be at rest or peace because the world to which they are bound is the source of all misery and frustration.
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“Remember that finding God will mean the funeral of all sorrows,” said Swami Sri Yukteswar.
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