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The largest website for English phrases and quotes

Category: Swami Satchidananda

Swami Satchidananda

[O]ur own bodies are changing every second. Yet we take the body to be our Self; and, speaking in terms of it, we say, “I am hungry” or “I am lame”; “I am black” or “I am white.” These are all just the conditions of the body. We touch the truth when we say, “My body aches,” implying the body belongs to us and that therefore we are not that. (87)

body, self, self-awareness

Swami Satchidananda

[C]ontinence is a very important part of yoga. If a handful of people come forward with strong wills, nothing is impossible. One Buddha changed half the globe; one Jesus, three quarters of the world. We all have that capacity. (140)

buddha, change-the-world, continence, jesus

Swami Satchidananda

It’s very simple. Keep your body as clean as possible, your mind as clear as possible. That’s all you need. And do it in anyway you can, in your own way. It doesn’t matter. That’s why I say ‘peaceful body, peaceful mind’. And then you’ll be useful. You don’t have to become a useful person. You will be useful.

peace, purity, purpose, yoga

Swami Satchidananda

At various points in our lives, or on a quest, and for reasons that often remain obscure, we are driven to make decisions which prove with hindsight to be loaded with meaning. (225)

decisions, life, synchronicity

Swami Satchidananda

If we only look within, we will see he Light as if we were seeing our own image in a mirror. (122)

Swami Satchidananda

When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always. (151)

meditation, mindfulness, tranquility, virtue

Swami Satchidananda

Temples and churches have become social centers. They have lost their original purpose because the minds of the people are more attracted to worldly things than to prayer. The lips repeat the prayer mechanically like a phonograph record, but the mind wanders to other places. (23-24)

churches, prayer, purpose-of-prayer, temples

Swami Satchidananda

Devotion gradually progresses to higher levels. . . . One type goes to God and asks Him to remove his suffering. Another one will ask for money or material things. A third will request liberation or release from his bondage. And the fourth will not ask for anything. He will just enjoy praying and praising his Lord. That is the highest form of prayer. (Beyond Word, 119)

blessing, devotion, prayer, suffering

Swami Satchidananda

There’s no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. Even if you encounter a rock, use dynamite and keep going down. If you leave that to dig another well, all the first effort is wasted and there is no proof you won’t hit rock again. (52)

depth, spirituality

Swami Satchidananda

. . . I feel we don’t really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can’t learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures? (233)

learning, living, mindfulness, scriptures

Swami Satchidananda

The purification of the mind is very necessary. (72)

mind, purification, purity

Swami Satchidananda

What is it that dies? A log of wood dies to become a few planks. The planks die to become a chair. The chair dies to become a piece of firewood, and the firewood dies to become ash. You give different names to the different shapes the wood takes, but the basic substance is there always. If we could always remember this, we would never worry about the loss of anything. We never lose anything; we never gain anything. By such discrimination we put an end to unhappiness. (118-119)

death, death-and-dying, unhappiness