“To know the Truth we have to come to grips with the medium of knowing and the identity of the Knower.” – p. 210
“Take the example of the man who has everything: young, healthy, strong, good and cultured, with all the wealth the earth can offer; let us take that as one measure of joy. One hundred times that is the joy of the gandharvas; but no less joy have those who are illumined.” – p. 14
“There is no joy in the finite; there is joy only in the Infinite.” – p. 16
“Truth is One, though the Wise call it by many names.” – p. 18
“The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention over and over again is the very root of judgment, character and will.” – William James, p. 28
“In the end, all achievement is powered by desire.” – p. 33
“The Infinite – free, unbounded, full of joy – is our native state. We have fallen from that state and seek it everywhere; every human activity is an attempt to fill this void. Finite things can never appease an Infinite hunger.” – p. 41
“Treat the Universe with Reverence, for there is nothing in the world that is not God.” – p.43
“All experience is real. Confusion arises only when a dream experience is treated as reality after one awakes – or when Life is viewed as nothing but sensation, without wholeness, meaning, or goal.” – p. 44
“The fifth-century Greek writer we know as Dionysius the Areopagite once said that as he grew older and wiser his books got shorter and shorter.” – p.53
“Spiritual economics begins not from the assumed scarcity of matter but from the verifiable infinitude of consciousness. There is enough in this world for everyone’s need; there is not enough for everyone’s Greed.” – p. 55
“The Right questions are half the battle in Life. Nothing places the question ‘Who am I? in such stark relief as the fact of Death. Are we here merely to be torn away from everyone, and everyone from us? Most social life seems a conspiracy to discourage us from thinking of these questions.” – p. 63
[Answer: No. see Mormon Doctrine: Plan of Salvation: Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going when we leave this “frail existence“? www.lds.org]
“Reject the rudimentary grace of ‘civilized existence’ by not holding your peace in the presence of hypocrisy. Take the demands of Religion seriously when the majority have long since allowed external observance to paper over Truth, making Religion a dead letter that no longer communicates anything about personal struggle.” – p. 65
“When one knows who he really is, all the knots that strangle the heart are loosened.” – p. 66
“In knowing who we are “Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die! Every moment we live, we face a steep choice between what will move us closer to that day and what will only postpone it – that is, between what is good and what is merely pleasant.” – Donne, p. 67
[Trump’s treatment of Zelensky:] “Far from Wise are those who are not hospitable. Treating such a guest they will lose all their hopes.” – p. 70
“All is well for those who choose the joy of the Spirit,
but they miss the goal of Life who prefer the pleasant.
Perennial joy or passing pleasure?
This is the Choice one is to make always.
Those who are wise recognize this, but not
the Ignorant.
The first welcome what leads
to abiding Joy
– though painful at the time.
The latter run,
goaded by their senses,
After what seems immediate pleasures.
Turn your back on the way of the World
That makes mankind forget the goal of Life.” – p. 75
“Far apart are Wisdom and Ignorance.
The first leads one to Self-realization;
The second makes one more and more
Estranged from one’s Real Self.
Ignorant of their ignorance, yet wise
in their own esteem, those deluded men
Proud of their vain learning go round and round
Like the blind leading the blind.
Far beyond their eyes,
Hypnotized by the world of carnal sense.” – p. 75
“Know that earthly treasures are transient,
And never can one reach the Eternal through them.” – p. 77
“The Self cannot be known by anyone
Who desists not from unrighteous ways,
Controls not the senses, stills not the Mind,
And practices not Meditation.” – p. 80
“The ego gropes in darkness,
While the Self lives in Light.” – p. 80
“When a person lacks discrimination
And his Mind is undisciplined, the senses
Run hither and thither like wild horses.
Those who lack discrimination,
with little control over their Thoughts
are far from Pure
And reach not the pure state of Immortality
But wander from death to Death.” – p 81
“The Hidden Self is revealed only to those
who keep their Minds one-pointed
On the Lord of Love and thus develop
A superconscious manner of knowing.
Meditation [prayer] enables them to go
Deeper and deeper into consciousness,
From the world of words to the world of thoughts,
Then beyond thoughts to Wisdom.” – p. 82
“The immature run after sense pleasures
And fall into the widespread net of Death.
But the Wise, knowing themselves as Deathless
Seek not the changeless in the world of change.” – p. 83
“We live not by the breath that flows in
And flows out,
But by Him who causes the breath
to flow in and flow out.” – p.87
Death:
“As a caterpillar having come to the end of one blade of grass,
draws itself together and reaches out for the next, so the Self,
having come to the end of one Life and, dispelled of all
Ignorance, gathers in his faculties and
reaches out from the old body to the new.” – p. 93
“Often it is this anguish of parting – the death of a loved one,
the breaking apart of a deep relationship,
Even the growing up of our children –
that propels us into the Search
for a Reality [Truth] that will never let us down.” – p. 96
“Be self-controlled, give, be compassionate.
This is the Self boiled down to its’ essence.” – p. 97
“No one can buy Immortality with money.” – p.99
“When a person dies,
it is only the physical body that dies.
That person lives on in a non-physical body,
which carries the impressions of his past Life.
It is these impressions that determine
his next Life.” – p. 109
“As a heavily laden cart creaks
as it moves along, the body
groans under its burden
when a person is about to die.
When the body grows weak
through old age or illness,
the Self separates himself
as a mango or fig
frees itself from the stalk,
and returns the way he came.” – p. 113
“When body and mind grow weak,
the Self gathers in all the powers of Life
and descends with them into the heart.
By the Light of the heart
the Self leaves the body
and when he leaves, with it
all the vital powers of the body.
He who is dying
merges in consciousness,
and thus consciousness
accompanies him
when he departs.” – p. 113
“As a person acts, so he becomes in Life.
Those who do good become good;
Those who do harm become bad.
Good deeds make one pure;
Bad deeds make one impure.
You are what your deep,
driving desire is.
As your desire is,
so is your Will.
As your Will is,
So is your deed.
As your deed is,
So is your Destiny.” – p. 114
“Those who realize
who they really are
enter into the Peace that
brings complete self-control
and perfect patience.” – p. 115
“Those who depart from this world
without knowing who they really are
or what they truly desire
have not Freedom here
or hereafter.
But those who leave here
knowing who they are
and what they truly desire
have Freedom everywhere,
both in this world
and in the next.” – p. viii.1.6
“The most significant human action
is the sacrifice of personal gain
for the sake of something
higher and holier.
This awareness leads
to profound Peace.” – p. 122
“Lead me from the unreal to the Real
Lead me from darkness to Light
Lead me from Death to Immortality.” – p. 124
“When death comes and the Self
departs from the body,
the body dies
but the Self dies not.” – p. 135
“It is the Infinite that
is the source of abiding Joy
because it is not subject to change.
Therefore, seek to know
the Infinite.” – p. 139
“In the world people think
they can attain glory by having
cows and horses,
elephants and gold,
family and servants,
fields and mansions.
But I do not call that glory,
for here one thing depends on another.
Utterly independent
is the Infinite.
One who understands the Infinite
lives in Freedom
and is at home wherever he goes.
But those who pursue the Finite
are blind to the Infinite
and live in bondage.” – p. 140
“Control the senses and purify the mind.
In a pure mind there is constant
awareness of who one is
[a literal, spiritual child of God].
Where there is constant awareness
of who one is,
Freedom ends bondage
and Joy ends sorrow.” – p. 141
“Those who depart this world
without knowing who they are
or what they truly desire
have no freedom
here or hereafter.” – p. 142
“Those who believe
that the body alone
is to be saved,
the body alone is
to be adored;
That whoever lives
for indulging the senses
will find joy in this world
and the next,
Those who think Self
is the body
will lose their way
In Life.
Even today
people are called godless
when they lack Faith,
Love, and Charity,
because that is the way
of the godless.” – p. 147
“Those who know
they are not just
the body
pass beyond pleasure
and pain
to live in abiding Joy.” – p.150
“All is change in the world
of the senses,
But changeless is the supreme
Lord of Love.
Know God and all fetters
will pass away.
Know Him to be enshrined
in your heart always
Truly there is nothing more
In Life to know.” – p. 161
“Great is the glory of the Lord of Life!
Infinite, omnipresent, all-Knowing.
He is known by the wise who meditate
And conserve their vital energy.
Hear, O children of Immortal bliss!
Ye are born to be united with the Lord!
Follow the Path of the illumined ones [prophets]
And be united with the Lord of Life!
In meditation
Bring your mind and breath
Under control.
Drink deep of Divine love
And you will attain the unitive state.
Dedicate yourself to the Lord of Life
Who is the cause of the cosmos
He will remove the cause
of all your suffering
And free you from
the bondage of [Life].” – p. 163
