You are not given the light by anyone—not even by a spiritual teacher. You are that light. Swami Satchidananda More Quotes by Swami Satchidananda More Quotes From 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) Swami Satchidananda daily-activitiescookingbook Yoga is not only learning to stand on your head but also learning to stand on your feet. Swami Satchidananda yogafeet Begin with little things daily and one day you will be doing things that months back you would have thought impossible. Swami Satchidananda one-daymonthslittles One truth, many paths. Swami Satchidananda many-pathstruthpath Mere philosophy will not satisfy us. We cannot reach the goal by mere words alone. Without practice, nothing can be achieved. (3) Swami Satchidananda goalpracticephilosophy Yoga says instinct is a trace of an old experience that has been repeated many times and the impressions have sunk down to the bottom of the mental lake. Although they go down, they aren’t completely erased. Don’t think you ever forget anything. All experiences are stored in the chittam; and, when the proper atmosphere is created, they come to the surface again. When we do something several times it forms a habit. Continue with that habit for a long time, and it becomes your character. Continue with that character and eventually, perhaps in another life, it comes up as instinct. Swami Satchidananda yogacharacterthinking 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) Swami Satchidananda obscurequestsdecision [T]he period between four and six in the morning is called the Brahmamuhurta, the Brahmic time, or divine period, and is a very sacred time to meditate. (140) Swami Satchidananda fourmeditationmorning Every pain has a gain behind it Swami Satchidananda gainsbehindspain The five points of yama, together with the five points of niyama, remind us of the Ten Commandments of the Christtian and Jewish faiths, as well as of the ten virtues of Buddhism. In fact, there is no religion without these moral or ethical codes. All spiritual life should be based on these things. They are the foundation stones without which we can never build anything lasting. (127) Swami Satchidananda buddhismspiritualtogether [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) Swami Satchidananda selfwhitebeauty We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Swami Satchidananda calamitymidstserenity 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) Swami Satchidananda prayermindpeople Yoga believes in transforming the individual before transforming the world. Swami Satchidananda yogabelieveworld Yoga began with the first person wanting to be healthy and happy all the time. Swami Satchidananda healthyyogameditation 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) Swami Satchidananda encountersrockseffort 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) Swami Satchidananda meditationpracticemind If we only look within, we will see he Light as if we were seeing our own image in a mirror. (122) Swami Satchidananda lightmirrorslooks [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) Swami Satchidananda yogastrongjesus 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) Swami Satchidananda progresssufferingprayer
&media=https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-5867d9a3b2cc22a0107f686d78f02ea7.jpg){kind=link}