Let
there be peace and love among all beings of the universe. OM
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
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WAMI
Rama
Tirtha was born on 22 October 1873 in a very poor
family in the remote village of Murariwala
[Punjab] now in Pakistan. His mother died
when he was a few days old and he was raised by his
elder brother.
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Braving stark
poverty, even missing meals for days and living on
very little money, Swami Rama Tirtha continued his
studies, undeterred and unabated, until he received
his master's degree in mathematics. He became a
college professor of mathematics in Lahore. A
chance meeting with Swami Vivekananda in 1897 in
Lahore, inspired him to take up the life of a
renunciate by rejecting all worldly attractions.
Having became well known for his speeches on
Krishna and Advaita Vedanta he became a swami in
1899, leaving his wife, his children and his
professorial chair.
Intoxicated in the glory of Self-realisation, he
travelled far and wide, without keeping a single
cent with him and enchanted the people of Japan,
the United States, Egypt and other nations, not so
much by his learning but by feeling and throbbing
as one with them. His oneness with All was his
trait which prevailed all through. He was among the
first notable teachers of Hinduism to lecture in
the United States, travelling there in 1902. He
spoke frequently on the concept of practical
Vedanta.
Though upon his return to India in 1904 large
audiences initially attended his lectures, he
completely withdrew from public life in 1906 and
moved to the foothills of the Himalaya where he
prepared to write a book giving a systematic
presentation of practical Vedanta. It was never
finished. He died on 27 October 1906 at the age of
33. Many believe he did not die but gave up his
body to the Ganges.
Swami Rama Tirtha writings were a great source of
inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi, among many others,
and Ramana Maharshi cited him during talks in
Tiruvannamalai. H.W.L. Poonja, Swami Rama Tirtha's
nephew, often spoke of him and read many of his
poems during talks in Lucknow.
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Realisation is
not a thing to be achieved, you have not to do any
thing to gain God vision, you have simply to undo
what you have already done in the way of forming
dark cocoons of desires around you.
Assert your Godhead, fling into utter oblivion the
little self, as if it had never existed. When the
little bubble bursts, it finds itself the whole
ocean. You are the Whole, the Infinite, the
All.
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Realisation
frees you from outside influences and makes you
stand by yourself.
The only way to escape from all sins, to stand
above all temptations, is to realise the true
Self.
You will never be able to withstand animal
passions, unless you do away with all this
splendour and glory that bewitches you, that
attracts you.
When you realise that you stand above all passions
and at the same time are perfectly free and full of
bliss, that is heaven.
Shine in your pristine glory. For you, O perfect
One! there is no duty, no action, nothing to be
done; all nature waits on you with bated
breath.
If human or rather animal feelings are washed out,
Divine feelings begin to overflow instead.
If you want to realise Vedanta, realise it even in
the midst of all sorts of noise, even in the heat
of all sorts of troubles. In this world you can
never, never get yourself in a state where there
will be no noise or no botheration from
without.
In fact, the harder the circumstances, the more
trying the environments, the stronger are the men
who come out of those circumstances. So welcome all
these outside troubles and anxieties. Live Vedanta
even in these surroundings, and when you live
Vedanta, you will see that the surroundings and
circumstances will succumb to you. They will become
subservient to you and you will become their
master.
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Stand
on your feet whether you are great or small,
whether you are highly placed or very low, care not
a straw for that.
Realise your Divinity, your Godhead. Look at any
thing in the face, shrink not. Look not at yourself
with the eyes of others but within your own Self.
Your own Self will always tell you that you are the
greatest Self in all the world.
Divinity! respect your Self, and everybody will
respect you.
When you rise to that height of Divine love; when
you rise to such a degree that in your father, in
your mother, in everybody, you see nothing but God;
when you see, in the wife no wife, but the beloved
One, God; then, indeed you do become God, then,
indeed are you in the presence of God.
Rise above the body, burn up this personality of
yours, singe it, consume it, burn it up, then and
then only will you see your desires fulfilled. In
other words, "Deny yourself."
All the attractiveness you see in this world is
nothing else but the true Divinity, the same which
appears to you in the body of a beloved one, puts
on a different dress in trees, in mountains and
hills. Realise this, for this is how you can rise
above all worldly passions and desires. This is the
way to make spiritual use of worldly desires and to
make use of them for their own sake.
Realise your Divinity and everything is done.
Live on your own account, not for the opinions of
others. Be free. Try to please the one Lord, the
Self, the One without a second, the real husband,
master, your own inner God. You will not in any
case be able to satisfy the many, the public, the
majority, and you are under no obligations to
satisfy the hydra-headed mob.
Set on fire the meum and tuum [mine and
yours]; cast to the four winds all fear and
hope; eliminate differentiation; let the head be
not distinguished from the foot.
Keeping the body in active struggle and the mind in
rest and love, means salvation from sin and sorrow
here in this life.
Active realisation of atonement
[at-one-ment] with the All allows us a life
of balanced recklessness.
Purity of heart means making yourself free of all
clingings to the objects of the world.
Renunciation, nothing short of it. Purity of heart
means that.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. Gain this purity and you see God.
You may gain realisation this moment. Get rid of
attachment and at the same time shake off all
hatred and jealousy.
What is jealousy, what is hatred? It is inverted
attachment. When we hate somebody, it is because we
are attached to something else.
Have all your attachments severed from every
object, and concentrate yourself on one thing, the
one fact, one Truth, your Divinity. Immediately on
the spot you gain realisation.
Take up your duty or work with no notice or desire
on your part. Do your work, enjoy your work,
because your work by itself is pleasure, because
work is the other name of realisation.
Take to your work because work you have to do. Work
leads you to realisation. Do not take to work on
any other ground.
Be not afraid; come out, rally all your strength
and energies and boldly take possession of your
birthright; I am He. Be not afraid, tremble
not.
Why depress your brains through fears and why raise
up your energies in supplications? Represent your
inner nature; crush not the Truth, come out boldly;
cry fearlessly at the top of your voice "I am God,
I am God." That is your birthright.
All desire is love, and love is God, and that God
you are. Realise your oneness with That and you
stand above everything.
The moments of realisation are those when all
thoughts of worldly relations, worldly connections,
worldly ties, worldly property, worldly desires,
worldly needs are all melted into God, into
Truth.
Thus in order to get the whole Truth, you must get
rid of worldly desires; you must rise above worldly
attachments and hatred; you must bid farewell to
all the ties and bonds enslaving and clinging; you
must rise above all this. This is the price, and
unless you pay the price you cannot realise the
Truth.
You cannot enjoy the world, you cannot enter into
sordid, petty, low, worldly, carnal, sensuous
desires, and at the same time lay claim to Divine
realisation.
Everybody desires to become Christ, everybody wants
to realise the Truth, become a prophet, but very
few, if any, are ready to pay the price.
Here is the jewellery shop, and for this jewel,
this goal, this heaven, you will have to pay at the
cost of your head and your lower nature. If you
cannot pay the price, go away.
If you cannot enjoy that perfect consciousness, the
sole reason is that you do not pay the price; so
pay the price and that moment you realise that
bliss.
Let the body become as if it never existed.
Let your stand point be entirely changed, look at
every thing as God, as Divinity. Your relation to
the world should become the relation of God to the
world; an entire change.
Be yourself and realise that kings and presidents
are simply your servants.
All the noble and desirable ends of life are
reached only when the intellect and along with it
the whole objective world melt into the unknowable
Beyond.
It is through realisation of one's Infinity,
conquering all sense of difference, feeling our
oneness with all, realising the stars, landscapes,
rivers, and all as my own, and through love owning
all, that temptations lose their power over us.
Let God work through you, and there will be no more
duty. Let God shine forth. Let God show himself.
Live God. Eat God. Drink God. Breathe God. Realise
the Truth, and the other things will take care of
themselves.
The whole world is bound to co-work with one who
feels himself one with the whole world.
You cannot enjoy the world and also realise
Truth.
Realisation cannot be obtained at one jump. Time is
necessary. It took millions of years to build this
body up to its present stage of evolution.
According to Vedanta, nobody can realise God unless
his whole being is converted into Universal love;
unless he looks upon the whole universe as his
body.
A child can never reach youth except he passes
through boyhood. A person can never realise his
unity with God, the All, except when unity with the
whole nation throbs in every fibre of his
frame.
If you find yourself led astray by the flesh and
caught in the quagmire of carnality, this is the
occasion to assert and exert strenuously your giant
will to secure and retain God-consciousness.
What is the weakness within? It is the dark pitch
of ignorance which makes you look upon the body,
the senses as you. Get rid of it, discard it, and
then Power Itself you become.
Be not astonished or afraid of the Truth and speak
from the depth of your heart, "I am God."
Any karma kanda [activities for sense
gratification], rooted in the little ego, even
in the old Vedic days, was not calculated to bring
final Emancipation [liberation].
The path to salvation, the way to realisation, is
apparent death, that and nothing else, crucifixion
and nothing else, there is no other way to
inspiration.
Salvation results always from true knowledge
[jnana]. Nor can the present-day karma
kanda of a duty-ridden, hurrying civilised slave of
selfishness save him from sin and sorrow.
They say salvation by acts is prescribed in the
Old Testament, and salvation by faith in the
New Testament. But heaven, the true state of
bliss, is reached by knowledge.
The saying "Through Christ we realise God" means,
that through this state, which is the state of
feeling the Self as one with the whole world, by
passing through, that stage, the Christ stage, you
jump into the indestructible, ineffable Self.
According to Vedanta, the material world as well as
the astral worlds are unreal. You must rise above
both, because rest, true peace, happiness can be
had only when the Reality – the hard cash
– behind the scenes is realised.
The refining of creed or thinning of curtain comes
chiefly through intellect and the lifting of the
veil is effected through feeling.
Body-respect is the opposite pole of virtue and the
shortest cut to perdition.
If man and woman are to cause each other's
downfall, why did the same God, who wrote the
Bible, write such a Bible in the
hearts of man to seek woman?
An unmarried man cannot so easily realise as one
who is, and leads family life in the right way.
If by marriage relation, you are approaching nearer
the Universal love, the Universal light which
permeates the world, then marriage ties are good
for you; if by marriage relation, you are not
approaching nearer the Universal love and light,
oh, then they are poison to you, they are sinful,
then marriage ties are a curse to you.
Instead of the wife being a wide gaping door to
hell, she should be, as it were, the mirror through
which the husband should see God.
In this life the husband should be the Christ of
his wife, and the wife the Christ of her husband,
but as it is going on, every wife is the Judas
Iscariot of her husband, and every husband the
Judas Iscariot of his wife.
In true realisation there is no meum and tuum
[mine and yours], no trace of subject and
object.
Realisation means setting to the new tune all your
old songs. The old songs will remain the same, but
you must set all of them to an entirely new
tune.
Your realisation of God-consciousness, realisation
of Divinity, is not a thing to be accomplished, is
not a thing to be achieved and is not a thing to be
done; it is done already.
When one realises his own Self to be the All, he
cannot desire, but simply enjoys everything as
His.
He who is one with Reality has all his desires
fulfilled. Nobody will ever deceive him. No pain or
trouble will ever come to him.
A man of liberation, a free man, is one who lives
in Divinity, in Godhead, in such a way that his
body was never born.
The frowns and favours, criticisms and suggestions
of the doctors, philosophers and professors fall
flat upon a man of God-realisation and have no
meaning to him.
Happy is he who is drowned in heavenly
intoxication.
A great soul is he whose broad sympathies and the
mother-like heart embraces in a wide sweep, even
the sinners and the low.
Blessed is he who is dead drunk in Divine
madness.
None compasseth Its joy who is not wholly ceased
from sin, who dwells not self-controlled,
self-centred calm Lord of himself! It is not gotten
otherwise.
Vedantic realisation is hard to achieve, because
the vast majority of people in Europe and America
think that they have to change themselves into God,
and that they have to create the Godhead in
them.
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What is Truth?
Tat Tvam Asi [You are Reality], or Love
itself.
Any philosophy which does not explain all the facts
in nature is no philosophy.
Truth need not compromise. Let the whole world turn
round the sun, the sun need not revolve round the
world.
Truth is nobody's property; Truth is not the
property of Jesus; we ought not to preach It in the
name of Jesus. It is not the property of Krishna,
or anybody. It is everybody's property.
Confound not Truth which is defined as "the same
yesterday, today and forever" with a particular
occurrence.
To realise the Truth is to become the master of the
universe.
In order that you may reach the Truth, that you may
realise Divinity, your dearest wants and desires
will be pricked through and through, your wants and
dearest attachments will have to be severed, all
your favourite superstitions will have to be wiped
out, to be torn aside – torn off from your
body.
If for the sake of Truth you have to give up the
body, give it up. This is the last attachment that
must be broken.
Let the Truth become your father, your mother, your
wife, your grandfather. Let the Truth be your
teacher, your everything, your house, your
property.
The right spirit of Truth is to assert the
supremacy of the individual against all the world,
all the universe.
After death, your going to hell or entering heaven
is not the whole Truth.
How seldom it is that we meet a whole man? A whole
man is an inspired man, a whole man is the Truth.
Make yourself whole, get rid of desires and
attachments, get rid of this repulsion and
attraction.
There is in fact only the one Self which we are,
nothing besides It; and since there is nothing
besides the Self, you cannot consistently say that
you are apart. But it must follow that you are the
entire Self. There is no division in Truth. You are
the Truth now.
People and things are dear to us as long as they
serve our interests, our purposes. The very moment
that our interests are at stake, we sacrifice
everything.
Not for the sake of the child is the child dear,
the child is dear for the sake of the self. Not for
the sake of the wife is wife dear, not for the sake
of the husband is husband dear; the wife is dear
for the sake of the self; the husband is dear for
the sake of the self. This is the Truth.
Why should not people have any practical faith in
death, although they have intellectual knowledge of
it? Vedanta explains it this way: "In man there is
the real Self, which is Immortal, there is the real
Self, which is everlasting, unchanging, the same
yesterday, today and forever; in man there is
something which knows no death, which knows no
change."
It is falsehood and atheism to say, "I am a man or
woman" or to call yourself a poor crawling
creature.
That which cannot be perceived by the mind, the
eyes and the other sense organs, but make the mind,
the eyes, etc., speed to their work, is
Reality.
Why fret and worry, you restless infidel? None,
none but your own sweet Self has an exclusive rule
over the universe.
What are you? Infinite and immaculate, Immortal
Self of all, is your Self.
Have you a doubt as to your own Divine Self? You
had better a bullet in your heart than a doubt
there.
God is the Reality. The world, or phenomena, is
illusion.
The body is simply the shadow, and the real Self,
the real Atma, is the Reality.
The real man, the true man, is the Divinity, God,
nothing else but God.
The real Self. the true God, is beyond the reach of
words and mind.
Reality cannot be the object of perception or
thought. Mind and speech turn back from it in
dismay.
There is something in you which is awake even in
that deep sleep-condition. That is your real Self,
that is absolute Will, or absolute
Consciousness.
People ask, are you a part of God? No, no; God
cannot be divided, God cannot be rent asunder. You
are no part of God; if God is infinite, then you
must be the whole God, not a part of God.
We believe in a thing we do not know, and which is
simply forced on us. To believe in God, what does
that mean? What do you know of Him? I know God, I
am He, I am He.
Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else,
understands nothing else, there is Infinity,
because so long as something else is beside you,
you are limited and finite.
The Infinite is bliss. There is no bliss in
anything finite. So long as you are finite, there
is no bliss, no happiness for you. The Infinite is
bliss, the Infinite only is bliss.
Whoever comes to you, receive him as God, and at
the same time do not look down upon yourself. If
you are in jail today, you may be glorified
tomorrow.
Within you is the real happiness, within you is the
mighty ocean of Nectar Divine. Seek It within you,
feel It, feel It, It is here, the Self. It is not
the body, the mind, the intellect, the brain; it is
not the desires or the desiring; it is not the
objects of desire; above all these you are. All
these are simply manifestations. You appear as the
smiling flower, as the twinkling stars. What is
there in the world which can make you desire
anything?
The moment you turn towards these outside matters
and want to grasp them and keep them, they will
elude your grasp, will outrun you. The very moment
you turn your back upon them and face the Light of
lights, your inner Self, that very moment
favourable circumstances will seek you. This is the
Law.
Whenever a man attaches himself to any worldly
object, whenever a person begins to love an object
for his or her own sake, whenever a man tries to
seek happiness in that object, he will be deceived,
he will find himself simply the dupe of the senses.
You cannot find happiness by attaching yourselves
to worldly objects. That is the Law.
Trust not in the mighty dollar, trust in God. Trust
not in this or that object, trust in God. Trust in
your Self.
Be not vain, be not proud. Never feel that anything
belongs to your little self; it is God's, your real
Self's.
Rise above the body. Feel and realise that you are
the Infinite, the Supreme Self, and how can you be
affected by passion or greed?
Live in your Godhead and you are free, your own
master, Ruler of the universe.
The whole universe serves one as his body, when he
feels the Universal Soul as his very Self.
Hunger and thirst are of the body and are felt by
the mind, but the true Self is not pained or
disturbed. He who realises his own Divinity which
is God, is not pained or disturbed by the fatigue,
hunger or thirst of the body.
Cultivate peace of mind, fill your mind with pure
thoughts, and nobody can set himself against you.
That is the Law.
The Law is that a man should be at rest, at peace,
undisturbed, and the body should always be in
motion; the mind to be subjected to the laws of
statics, and the body subjected to the laws of
dynamics; the body at work and the internal Self
always at rest. That is the Law. Be free.
Let us fling aside the vulnerable little "I" which
alone makes "sin" in ourselves and others.
Sinlessness belongs to the real Self, but by
mistake it is attributed in practice to the
body.
Words like the following sound is like a hissing
serpent to the people: Ye are Divinity itself, the
Holy of Holies, the world is no world;You are the
All in All, the Supreme Power, the Power which no
words can describe, no body or mind, ye are the
pure "I am"; That you are.
When shall I be free? When "I" shall cease to
be.
What is God? God is a mystery.
Who is It that faces you, who is It that looks you
straight in the face when you look at a person? It
is God within.
The infinite potentiality, the Infinite Power
latent in the finite form or figure, and the real
meaning of the word "seed", is the infinite within
and not its outside or outward form, not that.
The millionth descendant of the original seed has
got the same infinite capability and potentiality
which the original seed had.
The Infinity within, the Infinite capability or
Power is unchangeable, Immutable. How can the
Infinity die? That never dies.
Through ignorance you call yourself the body; the
body you are not. You are the infinite Power; the
Divinity; the constant, immutable, unchangeable
One. That you are; know that and you find yourself
inhabiting the whole world, inhabiting the whole
universe.
It is the One Infinite that is being reflected
through all these bodies. Ignorant people come like
dogs in this world. Please turn the tables. Come
into this world like the master of the house, of
the looking-glass and mirror-house. Come into the
world not as d-o-g but as g-o-d, and you will be
the master of the mirror-house, you will be the
owner of the whole universe.
Man's true nature is God. If God were not man's own
Self, never could there be the advent of any
prophet or saint in this world.
The whole world is a heaven, and God will never be
deceived.
It is a sin not to say; "I am God."
According to Vedanta, the self-evident Truth is
that you are already God, nothing else but God;
your Godhead is not to be effected, it is simply to
be known and realised or felt.
Vedanta wants you to recognise the Truth that all
pleasure lies in giving, and not in asking or
begging.
According to Vedanta, the possession of any
individual property is a most sacrilegious deed
against one's Atman or inner Self.
What is practical Vedanta?
Pushing, marching Labour and no stagnant
Indolence;
Enjoyment of work as against tedious drudgery;
Peace of mind and no canker of suspicion;
Organisation and no disaggregation;
Appropriate reform and no conservative custom;
Solid real feeling as against flowery talk;
The poetry of facts as against speculative
fiction;
The logic of events as against the authority of
departed authors;
Living Realisation and no mere dead quotations;
Constitute practical Vedanta.
Vedanta, printed in books and placed on shelves to
be eaten up by worms, won't do. You must live
it.
If Vedanta does not remove your chill; if it does
not make you happy; if it does not cast off your
burdens, then kick it aside.
According to Vedanta, all pity is weakness.
Vedanta appeals to the masses simply because it is
the teachings of their Bible, and it appeals
to the educated Hindu because there is not
philosophy worth the name under the sun which does
not support the Vedantic Monism, and no science
which does not uphold and advance the cause of
Vedanta or Truth.
The very best method of spreading the Vedantic
philosophy is to live it, there is no other royal
road.
It is only when you cast yourself in a strange,
indescribable sentiment, which is higher than both
of us, that you find Me. This is what Vedanta tells
you.
If you want to realise an object, if you want to
get anything, do not hunt after the shadow. Touch
your own head. Go within you. Realise this and you
will see that the stars are your handiwork; you
will see that all objects of love, all the
bewitching and fascinating things are simply your
own reflection or shadow.
Heaven is within you; the paradise, the home of
bliss within you, and yet you are searching for
pleasures in the objects in the streets, searching
for that thing outside, outside, in the objects of
the senses. How strange!
You cannot be a slave of the flesh and at the same
time be the master of the universe.
Let all the great lecturers of the age come; let
Christ or God himself come and lecture – but
lectures from others will be of no avail, unless
you are prepared to lecture yourself.
Vedanta wants you to rise above the little self,
the small ego, through intense work.
Vedanta requires you to work for its own sake.
Work in Vedanta always means harmony with the real
Self and atonement with the universe.
What is work? Intense work, according to Vedanta,
is rest. All true work is rest.
Let the inner Self be at rest and the body be
continually at work. The body, subject to the laws
of dynamics, being in action, and the inner Self
always at statical rest.
Let your work be impersonal; let your work be free
from the taint of selfish egotism; let your work be
just like the work of the stars and the sun; let
your work be like that of the moon. Then alone can
your work be successful.
Let the body and mind be continuously at work to
such a degree that the labour may not be felt at
all.
Sacrifice your little self, forget it in the
performance of your work, and success must be
yours. It cannot be otherwise. The desire for
success must die in your work before achieving
success.
Work in the spirit of an unaffected witness, free
from all entanglement. Remain immune.
Wherever you may be, work in the position of a
giver and never in the position of a beggar, so
that your work may be Universal work, and not
personal in the least.
Incessant work, incessant labour is the greatest
Yoga for a man of the world. You are the greatest
worker to the world when to yourself you are no
worker.
In order that you may have success, in order that
you may prosper, you must through your acts, by
your own everyday life, burn your own body and
muscles, cremate them in the fire of use. You must
use them; you must consume your body and mind, put
them in a burning state; crucify your body and
mind; work, work; and then will light shine through
you.
Vedanta wants you to be at rest in your inner
Self.
O happy worker! success must seek you when you
cease to seek success.
It is our selfish restlessness that spoils all our
work.
If you deserve, you need not desire; the objects of
desire will be brought to you, will come to you. If
you make yourself worthy, help must come to
you.
The very moment that you rise above the desire, the
object of desire seeks you, and the very moment
that you assume the craving, seeking, asking,
begging attitude, you will be repulsed; you will
not have, you cannot have the object of desire.
Rise above the thing, stand above it, and it will
seek you. That is the Law.
Realise the heaven within you, and all at once all
the desires are fulfilled, all the misery and
suffering is put an end to.
Acts speak louder than words.
Let your work be for work's sake.
Renounce your desires, rise above them and you find
double peace, immediate rest and eventual fruition
of desires. Remember that your desires will be
realised only when you rise above them into the
Supreme Reality. When you consciously or
unconsciously lose yourself in the Divinity, then
and then only will the time be ripe for the
fulfilment of desires.
In order that your work should be successful, you
should not mind the end, you should not care for
the consequences or the result. Let the means and
the end be brought together, let the very work be
your end.
No, the consequence and the result are nothing to
me, failure and success are nothing to me; I must
work because I love work: I must work for its own
sake. To work is my aim, to keep in activity is my
life, My Self, my real Atma, is energy itself. I
must work.
Worry not about the consequences, expect nothing
from the people, bother not about favourable
reviews of your work or severe criticism
thereon.
Be always a giver, a free worker; never throw your
heart in a begging and expecting attitude. Get rid
of the monopolising habit.
It is only when you let go the desire that it
fructifies. So long as you keep your desire
stretched, or go on desiring, willing, wishing, and
yearning, it will not reach the bosom of the other
party; it is only when you let it go that it
penetrates the soul of the party concerned.
Thought is another name for fate.
The world and your surroundings are exactly what
you think them to be.
Just as you think, you become. Call yourself a
sinner and you must become a sinner; call yourself
a fool and you must become a fool; call yourself
weak and there is no power in this world that can
make you strong. Feel that omnipotence and
omnipotent you are.
Change the feeling in an individual and his whole
method of thinking will be revolutionised.
As an eagle cannot outsoar the atmosphere in which
he floats, so thought cannot transcend the sphere
of limitation.
Thought and language are the same. You cannot think
without language. The infant child knows no
language and has no thought.
Whoever dwells among thoughts, dwells in the region
of delusion and disease; and though he may appear
wise and learned, yet his wisdom and learning are
as hollow as a piece of timber eaten out by white
ants.
True education begins only when a man turns from
all external aids to the Infinity within and
becomes, as it were, a natural source of original
knowledge or a spring of grand new ideas.
The capability of quoting big long texts to show
off our learning, nonsensical hair-splitting to
torture the sense of passages and ancient
scriptures, the study of subjects which we never
have to use in life, is not education.
The entire object of true education is to make
people not merely do the right things but enjoy the
right things, not merely industrious but to love
industry.
If education does not bring me freedom and
independence, fie upon it, away with it I do not
want it. If education keeps me bound, I have no use
for it.
To carry out skilfully an idea into practice is one
thing, but to grasp its fundamental meaning is
quite another thing.
The great difference in man and animal lies in
this, that whereas the puppy or polly has by the
laws of heredity got almost all it requires for its
perfection, the child will or can by education and
adaptation so develop and evolve his inherited
powers as to bring the whole world under his
sway.
Man is supposed to be higher than animals, inasmuch
as his feelings are controlled by reason.
The child has no motives, yet it is one of the most
active beings on the earth.
What is life? A series of interruptions. Yes, it is
so to the people who live on the surface of life,
but not to one who lives as life
[love].
What brought the senses into existence? The
elements. How do you know of these elements?
Through the senses. Is not that reasoning in a
circle? This establishes the illusory nature of the
world in the wakeful state.
As long as the questioner and the object questioned
about remain, the prison-walls of maya are there,
and there can be no rising above the
appearances.
All the philosophy of Europe and America is based
on the experience of the wakeful state and takes
little or no notice of the experience of the
dreaming or deep sleep states. The Hindu says: "You
start with imperfect data. How can your solution of
the problem of the universe be correct?"
All the objects in the world are simply like the
lakes created by a hypnotised man on dry floor, and
being of such nature, the knowledge of those
objects also on which the doctors and professors
pride and take airs of superiority, is nothing more
than hypnotism.
It is more advisable to attend to the matters which
come next to your heart, which concern your
business and bosom first, and the next world, that
world of dreams, will take care of itself.
Spiritual development does not germinate in the
seed sown in the soil of earthly pleasures.
Believe always in the spiritual powers, in the
infinite capacity of those with whom you come in
contact. Give up judging, never form any particular
opinion, never condemn.
The king's very presence on his royal throne
establishes order throughout the durbar, so doth
man's resting on his Godhead, native glory,
establish order and life through the whole
race.
A pair of tongs can catch almost anything else, but
how can it turn back and grasp the very fingers
which hold it? In the same way, the mind or
intellect can in no way be expected to know the
great Unknowable, which is its very source.
The jnana or knowledge portion of the Vedas
is the real Veda, that alone has been
referred to as an inspired revelation by the
writers on the six orthodox systems of Hindu
philosophy, as well as the Jain and Buddhist
writers.
We fall from Eden the moment our bodily weakness
makes itself felt. Hurried are we from heaven the
instant we taste of the tree of distinction and
difference. But we can regain the Paradise
Lost by suffering the flesh to be
crucified.
Imbibe, therefore, the spirit of sacrifice and
reflect unto others all that you receive. Have no
recourse to selfish absorption and you must be
white.
If you explain the laws of karma by saying, "It is
all God's will, it is all His work", that is no
answer. It is simply evading philosophical
questions and declaring your ignorance.
Regard all those deeds and acts which if performed
by you would be harmful or sinful as worst sins;
despise and loathe such acts of the world but hate
not and despise not the doers of those acts or
deeds. You have no right to misjudge them.
There is no rose without a thorn. Unmixed good is
not to be found in this world. The all good is the
only, the Self Supreme.
"It is difficult
to find happiness in oneself", says Schopenhauer,
"but it is impossible to find it anywhere
else."
Iron and gold are good for buying iron and gold,
that is all. Happiness is not of the same kind as
these material objects, and it cannot be
purchased.
Those who believe their happiness depends upon
particular conditions, will find the day of
enjoyment ever recede from them and run away
constantly like will-o-the-wisp.
Like comes to the like. Have joy of God in you
right here and the joy of success must gravitate
towards you.
Very happy is he and blessed is he whose life is a
continuous sacrifice.
Happy is he who turns the whole world into a
heavenly garden, by seeing the same impersonal
Breath of life in the throngs of men and women as
inspires in the rose gardens and oak groves.
If you want to keep up your vitality, to preserve
your health, the weight of life to be borne easily
by the horse of nervous system, you ought to make
the burden of egoistic thought lighter.
Be true to your Self and never mind anything else
in the world.
The great cause of suffering in the world is that
"we do not look within, we do not form our own
opinions, we take matters too much on trust, we
rely on outside forces to do our thinking."
The painful criticism from friends or foes is a
nightmare to wake you up to your true Self,
God.
Heaven is within you. Seek happiness not in the
objects of sense; realise that happiness is within
your Self,
All heaven is within you, the source of all
pleasure is within you. This being the case, how
unreasonable it is to seek happiness elsewhere.
Man is the master of his own destiny.
All the world being but your own creation, your own
idea, why think yourself a low, miserable sinner?
Why not think yourself into a fearless Self-reliant
incarnation of Divinity?
Success comes to you as a result of your unison
with the All. Success is always the result of
goodness in you, the result of your absorption and
immersion in the Divinity. That is always the
case.
The man of freedom is he whose inner illumination
casts a halo of beauty on all around him and from
him radiates nothings but Divine love.
All nature pays homage to the man who is free, the
whole universe bows down before him. I am That! You
are free. Whether this is appreciated today or not,
It remains a stern Reality, and must be realised
sooner or later by all.
You have no responsibility to anybody but to your
Self. You are a heinous criminal to your Self if
you violate this most sacred Law of Cheerfulness
and Peace.
In the mantram OM [A-U-M] the first letter
A stands for this stern Reality, your Self, as
underlying and manifesting the illusory material
world of the wakeful state. U represents the
psychic world. And the last letter M denotes the
Absolute as underlying the chaotic state and
manifesting itself as all the Unknown.
Woe unto science if it goes against the Truth
connected with the efficacy of the sacred syllable
OM.
Happy is he who lives, moves and has his being in
OM. In order to come by these treasures within, or
in order that the kingdom of heaven may be
unlocked, this is the key to be used.
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Love means
practically realising your Oneness and Identity
with your neighbours, with all those who come in
contact with you.
Love is an art as well as a science. Scientific
discoveries are only sparks and scintillations from
the grand Sun, Fire of Love, or the
Oneness-feeling.
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The
only lawful Law is love. To live in love is to live
true to your Self.
True love, like the sun, expands
the Self. Attachment
like the
frost congests and contracts the
Soul.
Confound not love with attachment.
Love is no crying, begging, negative condition. It
is an indescribable
sense of equality, beaming
sweetness and Divine
recklessness. It is
the seeing of All in
all we see. It is seeing your own
Self in where your
eyes fall. It is to realise that All is beauty,
and I am
That. Tat Tvam Asi, or That Thou
Art.
Love divested of all carnality is
spiritual
illumination.
Love, or the feeling of Oneness, when
brought into play
between two persons,
dispels the illusion of division.
What wins in the struggle for existence?
Love.
Love means perception of beauty.
Love is the only Divine Law. Other laws are
organised robbery. Love alone has the right to
break those laws.
Love is misunderstood to such a degree, that the
very mention of the word "love" suggests to the
dear people, the idea of cupidity and stupidity,
instead of the Divine flame.
Love inspires; head expounds. Feeling always
precedes thinking, as the body precedes
clothes.
All desire is love, and love is God, and that God
you are.
There is no great and no small; no low and no high
where love is.
When you are centred in love, all miracles become
possible.
A man who has never loved can never realise God;
that is a fact.
Fear is only congested love. How else could love
conquer fear?
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Feigned love,
false feelings and assumed sentimentalism is an
insult to God.
Deprived of case, afflicted by disease you are when
you stagnate in the slough of separation and
division. You are perfect and whole when you
realise your Self to be the Whole and the All.
What is disease? Contradiction due to lack of love;
shuddering at the flutter of shadows; crying at the
day dreams of danger.
When anything is apparently going wrong, to quarrel
with the surrounding, instead of setting us right
with the Law of Love, is like breaking the
telephone receiver for hearing the bad news from
the friends at the invisible end.
It is true that there is nothing so poisonous as
the company of gossips, believers in appearances,
shameless slaves of shameful "respectability", but
where the Lord Love encamps, no impertinent tramps
can loaf around.
O man! you yourself make all objects attractive by
your looks. Looking at it with those eyes, you
yourself shed your lustre upon the subject, and
then you fall in love with it.
Time is bound to keep pace with love instincts.
First win the heart; then appeal to reason. Love
might hope where reason would despair.
How blessed is he whose property is stolen away!
Thrice blessed is he whose wife runs away, provided
by such means he is brought in direct touch with
the All love. Take my life and let it be
consecrated to Thee.
I am the origin and end
Of all the changeful universe.
There is, O mankind, naught beyond;
For all is strung on One alone.
As are the beads upon the thread.
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Work minus desire
is a synonym for the highest renunciation or
worship.
Slowly and resolutely as a fly cleans its legs of
the honey in which it had been caught, so remove we
must every particle of attachment to forms and
personalities.
One after another the connections must be cut, the
ties must snap, till the final concession in the
form of death crowns all unwilling
renunciation.
Mercilessly rolls on the wheel of Law. He who lives
the Law, rides the Law. He who sets up his will
against God's will [the Law] must be
crushed and suffer Promethean tortures.
This renunciation is described by the Hindus as
jnana, which means knowledge, that is renunciation
and knowledge are one and the same thing.
The knowledge which is synonymous with renunciation
is the knowledge of the Truth, the knowledge of the
real Self, the knowledge of what you are. This
knowledge is renunciation. Get that knowledge and
you are a man of renunciation.
Renunciation has nothing to do with your place,
position, or your bodily work; it has nothing to do
with that.
Renunciation simply places you at your best, places
you on your vantage ground.
Renunciation simply enhances your powers,
multiplies your energies, strengthens your force,
and makes a God of you. It takes away all your
anxiety and fear. You become fearless and
happy.
Work is done only when we get rid of the little
selfish ego. The moment you assert the selfish ego,
your work is spoiled. The best work is the work
that is done impersonally. Renunciation means
getting rid of this little personal, selfish ego,
getting rid of this false idea of self.
Renunciation does not mean asceticism.
Renunciation means making everything holy.
Renouncing the child does not mean giving up all
connection with the child, but thinking the child,
the grandson, to be God.
Realising the Divinity in each and all, this is
renunciation according to Vedanta.
Renouncing the selfish, personal ties, see the
Godliness in each and All; see the Divinity in each
and all.
Practical renunciation means throwing off and
casting overboard all anxiety, fear, worry, hurry,
trouble of mind by continually keeping before your
mental vision the Allness of your real Self.
You have no duties to discharge, are responsible to
nobody, you have no debt to pay, you are bound to
none, assert your individuality against all society
and all nations and everything. That is the
Vedantic renunciation.
You are everything. The ghosts and spirits, the
gods and angels, the sinners and saints, all ye
are. Know that, feel that, realise that you are
free. This is the path of renunciation.
Renunciation is giving up egoistic life. Verily,
verily, everlasting life lies in losing the
congested life of personality.
Renunciation alone leads to Immortality.
Vedantic renunciation is standing firmly upon your
vantage ground, while giving yourself up entirely
to any work that presents itself. You will not be
tired, you will be equal to any duty.
Renunciation ought to begin with things nearest and
dearest. It is the false ego which I must give up
– the idea that "I am doing this, I am the
agent, I am the enjoyer" – the idea which
engenders in me this false personality.
Retiring to the forests is simply a means to an
end, it is like going to university.
There is no necessity of your retiring into the
forests and pursuing abnormal practice to realise
Vedantic Yoga. You are the father of Shiva himself,
when you are lost in activity or merged in
work.
Renunciation does not require you to go into the
deepest forests of the Himalaya; renunciation does
not demand of you to strip yourself of all
clothing; renunciation does not require you to walk
barefoot and bareheaded.
Renunciation should not be identified with passive
helplessness and resigning weakness; nor should it
be confounded with haughty asceticism. It is no
renunciation to let the sacred temple of God, your
body, be devoured up by cruel carnivorous wolves
without resistance.
To keep thyself as something different and separate
from Truth and then begin to renounce in the name
of religion, implies appropriating what is not
yours, it is embezzlement.
The civilised man without renunciation through love
is only a more experienced and wiser savage.
There is no real enjoyment except in renunciation;
there is no inspiration, there is no prayer except
in renunciation.
Godhead and renunciation are synonymous. Culture
and character are its outward manifestations.
Beauty is renunciation; giving up of egoistic
life.
Off you go, theological debates and philosophical
discussions: I know It. Beauty is love and love is
beauty. And both are renunciation.
Parity of heart means making yourself free of all
clingings to objects of the world. Renunciation,
nothing short of it.
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Just sing, just
chant OM, and while chanting it, put your whole
heart into it, put all your energies into it, put
your whole soul into it, put all your strength in
realising it.
The meaning of this syllable OM is "I am He", "I
and He are One", OM. "The Same am I." OM, OM.
While chanting, be conjuring up, if possible,
before your mind all your weaknesses and all your
temptations. Trample them under your feet, crush
them out, rise above them and come out
victorious.
Give up all claim upon the body, give up all
selfishness, all selfish connections, all thoughts
of mine and thine; rise above it.
Yearning for the Truth, craving after a taste of
the Supreme Reality of Self, putting yourself in
that state of mind, is applying the flute to the
Divine lips.
In this state of mind, in this peace of heart, with
such a pure soul begin to chant the mantram OM;
begin to sing the sacred syllable OM.
This is putting the breath of music into the flute.
Make your whole life a flute. Make your whole body
a flute. Empty it of selfishness and fill it with
Divine breath.
Chant OM; and while doing it, begin that search
within the lake of your mind. Search out the
poisonous snake with its many tongues. These heads,
tongues, and fangs of the poisonous snake are the
innumerable wants, the worldly tendencies, and the
selfish propensities. Crush them one by one,
trample them under your feet, single them out,
overcome them and destroy them while singing the
syllable OM.
Feel yourself above the body and its environments,
above the mind and its motives, above thought of
success or fear.
Feel yourself to be the all-pervading Power
Supreme, the Sun of suns, above causation, above
phenomena, and one with all the mighty worlds, the
all bliss, the free Self.
Chant OM and sing OM to any tune or tunes that
naturally or spontaneously occur to you.
For one moment cast overboard all desires; chant
OM; no attachment, no repulsion, perfect poise, and
there your whole being is light personified. Banish
all worldly motives of work. Cast off, exorcise the
demons of desires. Make all your work sacred. Rid
yourself of the disease of attachment or clinging.
Attachment to one object detaches you from the
All.
Purify the heart, sing the syllable OM, pick out
all points of weakness and eradicate them. Come out
victorious, having formed a beautiful
character.
When the dragon of passion is destroyed, you will
find the objects of
desire worshipping you just as the
wives of the dragon
under the river paid
homage unto Krishna after he had
killed the snake.
Rise above the body. Feel and realise
that you are the Infinite, the Supreme
Self; and how can you be affected by passion or
greed?
Society, custom, convention, laws,
rules, regulations,
criticisms, and reviews can
never touch your real Self . Feel
that, throw it off, renounce it, that you are not.
Give this meaning to
OM and chant OM on all occasions
of fatigue.
Feel that you are all happiness,
happiness,
happiness.
Every day and night meditate upon
the Truth that all the opinions and
society of the world is simply your
own idea and that
you are the real Power
whose breath or mere shadow the
whole world is.
With every morsel of food that goes
into your mouth, you have to, contemplate
on the idea that this morsel
is a representation of the outside earth and here
am I incorporating into
me the whole universe.
Before falling asleep—when the
eyes begin to
close— every night or at noon,
make a firm resolve in your mind
to find yourself an embodiment of
Vedantic Truth on waking up.
If that body which you call "mine"
is sick, leave it
aside, do not think of it,
feel that you are health itself,
perfect health is
yours. Feel that. The
body will become healthy of its own
accord immediately.
Early in the morning when you chant
OM, make firm and strong resolutions
to live it, to practise it. In every act you
undertake, before beginning to
do it, be on your guard.
Inhale the air fully through the
mouth and exhale it
through the nostrils; this process should be
practised rigorously,
and you will see how wonderfully
it will cheer you up.
Rama suggests to you the most natural
breath control [pranayama]. Breathe,
breathe, breathe.
In deep breathing the air will
fill the lower part of the stomach
and will also pass
through the entire canal
within. This way you will be at
once released of depression, and
your energies will
be put to the best advantage.
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Depend not on
associations or congregations, it is the business
of each and everyone to be strong within
himself.
Never do a thing with the object of pleasing
others. He is brave who can say "No". Your strength
of character and bravery are manifested by your
capacity of saying "No".
Desire is a disease; it keeps you in a state of
suspense.
Two important points to be brought to your special
attention:
1. Denial of little self.
2. Positive assertion of real Self.
The secret of perfect health and vigorous activity
lies in keeping your mind always buoyant and
cheerful, never worried, never hurried, never borne
down by any fear, thought or anxiety.
Is it not laziness to keep floundering in the
quagmire of conventionality and letting oneself
flow down the current of custom and fashion,
sinking like a dead weight in the well of
appearances and being caught in the pond of
possession and spending the time, which should be
God's, in making gold and calling it "doing
good"?
When viewed from the standpoint of God-Self, the
whole world becomes an effusion of beauty, an
expression of joy, outpouring of bliss.
Let anybody in his heart believe in anything
whatsoever as Real, i.e., fit object of trust, and
inevitably he must be forsaken or betrayed by that
object. This is a Law more stern than the Law of
Gravitation.
Blessed are those who do not read newspapers, for
they shall see Nature and through Nature, God.
Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you,
for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Life is but the fluttering of the eagle's wings,
encaged in this body.
When you feel in a state of depression, give up
your laziness, throw aside your book, be on your
feet, walk out in the open air and walk
rapidly.
The friendships where hearts do not unite prove
worse than detonating mixtures, resulting in loud
disruption.
If you know anything unworthy of a friend, forget
it; if you know anything pleasant about the person,
tell it.
God is no respecter of persons, nor is fortune
geographical.
The taking in of knowledge which we cannot give out
in practice, is spiritual constipation, or mental
dyspepsia.
True education means learning to look at things
through the eyes of God.
Criticism is the pruning process of Providence,
helping us to grow more beautiful.
Remember it always that when sending out thoughts
of jealousy and envy, of criticism, of fault
finding, or thoughts smacking of jealousy and
hatred, you are courting the very same thoughts
yourself. Whenever you are discovering the mote in
your brother's eye, you are putting the beam in
your own eye.
When visited by the scissors of criticism, just
retrospect what is passing within you.
The best criticism is to make people feel from
within what you wish to make them realise from
without.
Observing in a friend tiny flaws in a particular
line, oh! what a strong tendency have we to sweep
off all regard for his good traits!
The energy we waste in judging others is just what
is needed to make us live up to our own ideals.
If your reasoning does not slavishly glorify the
freaks and fancies and sayings of the dead, damned
are you, everybody will turn right against you.
The moment we stand up as reformers of the world,
we become deformers of the world.
The habit of looking at ourselves through the eyes
of others is called vanity,
self-aggrandisement.
People have lost their real Self under the weight
of rules and orders, and fancy themselves to be
merest names and forms.
Wander not outside your Self. Keep your own
centre.
Do not place your centre outside your Self; this
will make you fall. Place all your confidence in
your Self, remain in your centre, nothing will
shake you.
Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. The
eternal years of God are hers.
Christ spoke to but eleven, but those words were
stored up by the atmosphere, were gathered up by
the skies, and are today being read by millions of
people.
Evil thoughts, worldly desires, are things
concerning the false body and the false mind, and
are things of darkness.
Worldly wisdom is only an excuse of ignorance.
The child is father to the father.
There is no master more masterly than your own
experience.
A poet is inspired when he is above the idea of
little self or ego, when he has no thought of "I am
writing poetry."
Live in God, all is right; make others live in God,
and all shall be well. Believe this Truth, you will
be saved; rebel against it, you will be
troubled.
Life and death are like inhaling and exhaling.
Everything you meet in this world should be a
stepping stone instead of a stumbling block.
Convert your stumbling block into a stepping
stone.
He who suffers willing crucifixion, to him the
world is a garden of Eden. To all else, it is a
Paradise Lost.
Man is talked of just as they speak of corn and
wheat; prices falling and rising. Rise above it.
Nothing can set a price on you.
"Heart" is the entrance to the Jubilee Hall of
Inspiration; "head" is the exit.
Shake! Shake off delusion,
Wake! Wake up! Be free.
Liberty! Liberty!! Liberty!!!
OM!!!
WANTED.
Reformers,
Not of others
But of themselves.
Who have won
Not university distinctions,
But victory over the local self.
Age: the youth of Divine joy.
Salary: Godhead.
Apply sharp
With no begging solicitations
But commanding decision
To the Director of the universe,
Your Own Self.
OM! OM!! OM!!!
When a thinker, philosopher, poet, scientist, or
worker attunes himself to a state of abstraction
and rises to the heights of resignation to such a
degree that no trace of personality is left in him,
and Vedanta is practically realised, then and then
only does God, the master musician, take up in His
own hands, the organ or instrument of His body and
mind, and send forth grand vibrations, sweet notes,
exquisite symphonies out of Him.
Peace Immortal falls as raindrops,
Nectar is pouring in musical rain;
Drizzle! Drizzle!! Drizzle!!!
My clouds of glory, they march so gaily!
The worlds as diamonds drop from them.
Drizzle! Drizzle!! Drizzle!!!
My balmy breath, the breeze of Law,
Blows beautiful! Beautiful!
Drizzle! Drizzle!! Drizzle!!!
Some objects swing and sway like twigs
And others like the dewdrops fall;
Drizzle! Drizzle!! Drizzle!!!
My graceful Light, a sea of white,
An ocean of milk, it undulates.
It ripples, softly, softly, softly;
And then it beats out worlds of spray.
I shower forth the stars as spray.
Drizzle! Drizzle!! Drizzle!!!
Are you afraid? Afraid of what?
Of God? Nonsense!
Of man? Cowardice!
Of the elements? Dare them!
Of yourself? Know thyself!
Say, "I am God!"
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Before God was, I
am.
Before ever land was,
Before ever the sea,
Or the soft hair of the grass,
Or the fair limbs of the tree,
Or the freshly-coloured fruit of my branches,
I was, and thy Soul was in Me.
To whom shall I give thanks,
To whom shall I turn and look up
When bliss absolute,
When light immeasurable
Is manifest even in Me.
There is but one Reality and that
Reality is Me, my Self. OM! OM!! OM!!!
I am the Truth, I will not suffer suicide for the
sake of having the form [body] exalted.
All the universe is but my idea.
The universe is my body; air and earth are my dress
and shoes.
My cup is the hemisphere of heavens. And the
sparkling light my wine.
The universe, being an embodiment of my own Self is
sweetness incarnate. What shall I blame? What shall
I criticise? O Joy! it is all I.
The world is my body and he who can say the whole
universe is my body is free from
transmigration.
Playing the part of an apostle or prophet is below
my dignity. I am God itself and so are you. The
body is my vehicle.
I desire nothing, I have no needs, no fear, no
expectation, no responsibility.
I do not want to produce any converts and gather
any followers, I simply live the Truth.
Not to produce millions of followers like Buddha,
Mohammed, Christ and other prophets or incarnations
but to produce, evoke, or express Rama himself in
every man, woman and child, is Rama's mission.
Trample over the body; eat up this personality;
grind, digest, and assimilate me; then and then
alone you do justice to Rama.
Be you an Englishman, be you an American, be you a
Mohammedan, a Buddhist, or a Hindu, or whatever you
may be, you are Rama's Self. You are the Self of
self to him.
My system is not for promulgation, it is to serve
me "to live by".
If anybody orders me to give my philosophy in one
word, I would say, "Self-reliance", the "knowledge
of Self."
The wide world is my home and to do good my
religion.
The essential and fundamental doctrines of my
religion can be put in the words of Goethe:
"I tell you what's man's supreme vocation. Before
me was no world; it is my creation. It was I who
raised the sun from out the sea. The moon began her
changeful course with me."
I am simply the witness of the phenomena, never
entangled in them, always above them. All these
phenomena are simply harmonic vibrations, the
upward and downward motion of the wheel, the
raising and bringing down of the step.
The Truth is that there is nothing to be afraid of.
All around, in all future, in all distance, there
is but One Self Supreme existent, and that is my
own Self. Of whom shall I be afraid?
I fret not when fever would pay a
visit. I receive it as a friend and spiritual
truths flash which could never
otherwise be disclosed.
Rage wild and surge and storm, O
ocean of Ecstasy!, and level you
down the earth and
heavens. Drown deep
and shatter and scatter all thoughts
and care. Oh! what have I to
do with these?
Away, ye thoughts, ye desires which
concern the transient, evanescent
fame or riches of
this world. Whatever
be the state of this body, it
concerns Me not; all bodies are mine.
I am determined to thunder out in
your bosom my
Godhead, your Godhead, and proclaim it through
every deed
and movement.
I am Emperor Rama, whoso throne is
your own hearts. When I preached
in the Vedas,
when I taught at Karukshetra, Jerusalem
and Mecca, I was misunderstood.
I raise my voice again. My
voice is your voice, "Thou Art That." Thou art all
thou seest.
No power can prevent it, no kings,
devils, or gods can withstand it.
Inevitable is
Truth's order. Faint not, My
head is your head, cut it if you
please but a
thousand others will grow in
its place.
Beating in thy breast, seeing in
thy eyes, throbbing
in thy pulse, smiling
in the flowers, laughing in the lightning,
roaring in the rivers, and silent
in the mountains is Rama.
Fling aside Brahmanhood, burn up
Swamiship, throw overboard the alienating
titles and honours, Rama is
one with you, darling! Whoever you
be, learned or ignorant, rich or
poor, man or woman,
saint or sinner, Christ
or Judas, Krishna or Gopi, Rama
is your own Self.
Christians, Hindus, Parsis, Arya-Samajists, Sikhs,
Mohammedans, and all those whose muscles, bones
and brain are
made by eating the grain and
salt of my beloved Ishta Devi, the
Bharat Bhumi, are my
brothers, nay my
very Self. Tell them I am theirs.
I embrace all. I
exclude none. I am love.
Love like light robes everything
and all with
splendours of light. Verily,
verily, I am nothing but flood
of glory of love. I love all equally.
Himalayan snows, your master orders
you to keep fast to your purity and
faithfnlness to Truth. Never
shall ye send waters impregnated
with dualism to the
plains.
I am the lowest; I am the highest.
There is no lowest,
no highest with Me.
Wherever human eyes fall, there I
am. In Jesus I appeared. In Mohammad
I revealed myself. The most
famous people in the world I am,
and the most
disreputable, ignominious, the
most fallen I am, I am the All,
the All.
Oh, how beautiful I am! I shine in
the lightning; I roar in the thunder; I
flutter in leaves; I
hiss in winds; I roll
in the surging seas. The friends
I am; the foes I am.
Oh, what wonder of wonders that
it is one Infinite Power that shows
Itself in all
bodies, in all the apparent personalities,
in all the apparent figures.
Oh, it is the I, the I, the Infinite
One that is manifesting Itself
in the bodies of the greatest orators,
in the bodies of the greatest men,
in the bodies of the most wretched
creatures! Oh, what joy! I
am the Infinite One and not this
body.
There is not a diamond, there is
not a sun or star
which shines, but to me
is due its lustre. To me is due the
glory of all the
heavenly bodies. To me is due all the attractive
nature, all
the charms of the things desired.
It would be beneath my dignity, it
would be degrading
on my part, first, to
lend glory and charm to these objects,
and then go about seeking them,
to go begging at the door of worldly
riches, to go begging at the door
of flesh and animal desires to receive
pleasures, happiness. It is below
my dignity. I can never stoop to
that level. No I can never go begging
at their doors.
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
I am the Monarch of monarchs.
It is I that appear as all the kings
in this world.
In Me does the whole world live,
move and have its
being.
Everywhere it is My will that is
being done.
The bodies are numerous, Self is One,
That Self Supreme is none but I.
I am the worker, witness, judge,
The snarling critic, applauder.
Free, free is everyone to me,
No bondage, limit, fault I see.
Free, free am I and others free,
God, God I am and you and he.
No debt, no duty, fraud or fear,
I am the One, the Now, the Here.
Where is the sword that can kill
me? Where is the
weapon that can wound
me? Where is the calamity that
can mar my cheerfulness? Where is
the sorrow that can tamper with my
happiness? Everlasting, the same
yesterday, today, and forever, pure,
and holy of holies, the master of
the universe, That I am, That I am.
I cannot die, though for ever death.
Weave back and fro in the warp of
me?
I was never born, yet my births of
breath,
Are as many as waves on the sleepless
sea.
No sin, no grief, no pain,
Safe in my happy Self.
My fears are fled, my doubts are
slain.
My day of triumph come,
My Self to me my kingdom is
Such perfect joy therein I find.
No worldly wave my mind can toss.
To me no gain, to me no loss.
I fear no foe, I scorn no friend.
I dread no death, I fear no end.
Oh, thief! Oh, slanderer, robber
dear!!
Come, welcome, quick! Oh, don't you
fear.
Myself is thine, thine is mine.
Yes, if you, never mind, please take
away these
Things you think are mine.
Yes, if you think it fit,
Kill this body at one blow, or slay
it, bit by bit.
Take off the body, and what you may!
Be off with name and fame. Away!
Take off, away.
Yet, if you look, just turning round,
Tis I alone, am safe and sound.
Good day! Oh, dear! Good day.
O Death! Take away this body, if
you please. I care not, I have enough
bodies to use, I can wear those
Divine silver threads, the beams
of moon, and live. I can roam as
Divine minstrel, putting on the guise
of hilly streams and mountain brooks,
I can dance in the waves of sea, I am the breeze
that proudly walks
and I am the wind inebriated. My
all these shapes are wandering forms
of change. T came down from
yonder hills, raised the dead, awakened
the sleeping, unveiled the
fair faces of some and wiped the
tears of a few weeping ones. The
nightingale and the rose both
I saw and I comforted them. I touched
this, I touched that, I doff my
hat and off I am. Here I go and there
I go, none can find Me. I keep nothing
with Me.
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