It is an illusion to think that we are all seeking God — we are not. We don’t have to search for light. There will be light when there is no darkness and through darkness we cannot find the light. All that we can do is to remove those barriers that create darkness and the removal depends on the intention. If you are removing them in order to see light, then you are not removing anything, you are only substituting the word ‘light’ for darkness. Even to look beyond the darkness is an escape from darkness.
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No amount of meditation, discipline, can make the mind still, in the real sense of the word. Only when the breezes stop does the lake become quiet. You cannot make the lake quiet. Our job is not to pursue the unknowable but to understand the confusion, the turmoil, the misery, in ourselves; and then that thing darkly comes into being, in which there is joy.— J. Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom, p. 235, 236
Are you seeking God?
Do not confuse self-knowledge with supernatural powers
Whether one is a knower of truth or ignorant of it, powers like flying in the air accrue to one who engages himself in some practices . But the sage of self-knowledge has no desire to acquire these. These practices bestow their fruit on anyone, for such is their nature. Poison kills all, wine intoxicates all, even so these practices bring about the ability to fly, etc., but they who have attained the supreme self knowledge are not intenrested in these, O Rāma. They are gained only by those who are full of desires; but the sage is free from the least desire for anything. Self knowledge is the greatest gain; how does the sage of self-knowledge entertain any desire for anything else?
— Sage Vasiṣṭha (The Supreme Yoga, a translation of Yoga Vasishta by Swami Venkatesananda, p. 216)
The weapon of forgiveness
“What can a wicked person do to him, who wields the weapon of forgiveness in his hand? The fire that has fallen in a place where there is no grass, gets extinguished on its own.”
—An Indian saying
Formless God, or God with form?
Question: Sometimes I like to meditate upon formless God and sometimes with form. Which is the right one?
Swami Brahmeshananda: A great saint used to recommend that if you can meditate on the formless aspect, well and good. If you can’t, imagine that there is a formless light all around which has taken the form of your chosen deity. Then, meditate on Him and at the end of meditation, again merge the form into the formless.
(From the July 2009 issue of The Vedanta Kesari)
Think of Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, as a shoreless ocean. Through the cooling influence, as it were, of the bhakta’s love, the water has frozen at places into blocks of ice. In other words, God now and then assumes various forms for His lovers and reveals Himself to them as a Person. But with the rising of the sun of Knowledge, the blocks of ice melt. Then one doesn’t feel any more that God is a Person, nor does one see God’s forms. What He is cannot be described. Who will describe Him? He who would do so disappears. He cannot find his ‘I’ any more.
(The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 148)
Inner light alone is the means
All that I am trying to do is to help you to discern for yourself that there is no salvation outside of yourself, that no Master, no society, can save you; that no church, no ceremony, no prayer can break down your self-created limitations and restrictions; that only through your own strenuous awareness is there the comprehension of the real, the permanent.
— J. Krishnamurti (source)
Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works; it is attained only by means of enquiry inspired by the company of wise and holy men. One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else.
— Yoga Vasishta (tr. by Swami Venkatesananda, p. 147)
Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if you look back upon your lives you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.
— Swami Vivekananda (Complete Works, vol.2, p.324)
Sense pleasures or the bliss of peace?
Weigh in the balance of your wisdom, the sense-pleasures on one side and the bliss of peace on the other. Whatever you determine to be the truth, seek that.
— Yoga Vasishta (tr. by Sw. Venkatesananda, p. 146)
Questioner: How would you cope with an incurable disease?
Krishnamurti: Most of us do not understand ourselves, our various tensions and conflicts, our hopes and fears, which often produce mental and physical disorders.
Of primary importance is psychological understanding and well being of the mind-heart, which then can deal with the accidents of disease. As a tool wears out so does the body, but those who cling to sensory values find this wasting away to be a sorrow beyond measure; they live for sensation and gratification and the fear of death and pain drives them to delusion. As long as thought-feeling is predominantly sensate there will be no end to delusion and fear; the world in its very nature being a distraction it is essential that the problem of delusion and health be approached patiently and wisely.
If we are organically diseased then let us cope with this condition as with all mechanism, in the best way possible. The psychological delusions, tensions, conflicts, maladjustments produce greater misery than organic disease. We try to eradicate symptoms rather than cause; the cause itself may be sensate value. There is no end to the gratification of the senses which only creates greater and greater turmoil, tension, fear and so on; such a living must culminate in mental and physical disorder or in war. Unless there is a radical change in value there will and must be ever increasing disharmony within, and so, without. This radical change in value must be brought about through understanding the psychological being; if you do not change, your delusions and ill health will inevitably increase; you will become unbalanced, depressed, giving continuous employment to physicians. If there is no deep revolution of values then disease and delusion become a distraction, an escape, giving opportunity for self-indulgence. We can unconditionally accept an incurable disease only when thought-feeling is able to transcend the value of time.
The predominance of sensory values cannot bring sanity and health. There must be a cleansing of the mind-heart which cannot be done by any outer agency. There must be self-awareness, a psychological tension. Tension is not necessarily harmful; there must be right exertion of the mind. It is only when tension is not properly utilized that it leads to psychological difficulties and delusions, to ill health and perversions. Tension of the right kind is essential for understanding; to be alertly and passively aware is to give full attention without the conflict of opposition. Only when this tension is not properly understood does it lead to difficulty; living, relationship, thought demand heightened sensitivity, a right tension. We are conscious of this tension and generally misread or avoid it thus preventing the understanding that it would bring. Tension or sensitivity can heal or destroy.
Life is complex and painful, a series of inner and outer conflicts. There must be an awareness of the mental and emotional attitudes which cause outward and physical disturbances. To understand them you must have time for quiet reflection; to be aware of your psychological states there must be periods of quiet solitude, a withdrawal from the noise and bustle of daily life and its routine This active stillness is essential not only for the well being of the mind-heart but for the discovery of the Real without which physical or moral well being is of little significance.
Unfortunately most of us give little time to serious and quiet self-recollectedness. We allow ourselves to become mechanical, thoughtlessly following routine, accepting and being driven by authority; we become mere cogs in the vast machine of the present culture. We have lost creativeness; there is no inward joy. What we are inwardly that we project outwardly. Mere cultivation of the outer does not bring about inward well being; only through constant self-awareness and self-knowledge can there be inward tranquillity. Without the Real, existence is conflict and pain.
Ojai 7th Public Talk 1945 (source)
Celebrating foolishness :)
The greatest problem for us is being a fool. We try not to be fool. All our life we resist and fear arises in us. A fool is one who acts with freedom, who has all freedom, isn’t it? That is how he could be a fool. If somebody has not experienced freedom, he cannot be a fool. Freedom is behind every fool. God loves you being a fool. He doesn’t love wise men so much. He is bored of their theses and philosophies. He is terribly bored by all the books written about him.
Make the whole life a game. A game means there is no purpose, there is nothing. Just take it lightly, easily. Play the game. That is worship, that is celebration. There is nothing that you do that will please God. There is nothing that you will do that will displease God. He is not waiting there with a staff, just waiting for you to do a mistake so He can punish you. … If He doesn’t want you to do something, you can never do it. It is impossible. He has allowed you so much freedom to do anything you like, means He says, “Don’t take anything seriously, it is all a game. It’s all like a dream.”
Whatever has happened till today, till this moment in your life, is like a dream. You cried, laughed, shouted and got angry at somebody, threw the dishes all over your floor, made all sorts of drama, haven’t you? You banged your heads against walls, or banged somebody else’s head. You yelled or made somebody yell at you. To God it is all fun. He is watching, it is all just a game.
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A fool is one who is relaxed, who is free, who is happy. He is not bothered about what he gains, whether material or spiritual or whatever. What have you done with all that you have gained? Where has it led you? Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. By your doing, you are not pleasing or displeasing God. There is a saying in Sanskrit: “My original home is in heaven. I come here to rest.” I have come to the word to rest and play, to watch and to see what is happening here. In this world, you just be aware and alert and watch everything that is happening around you. It is great fun.
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, God Loves Fun
Wishing all a happy fools day. 
