1) 

If one clings to his attachments, refusing to let go,

     Sorrows will not let go their grip on him.

     Those who renounce totally reach the highest peak;

     The rest remain ensnared in delusion's net.        

-Tirukkural

2) 


 Yesterday I lived bewildered, in illusion. But now I am awake, flawless and serene, beyond the world. From my light the body and the world arise. So all things are mine, or nothing is.           

-Ashtavakra Gita

3)

  Light illumines the Sun,

But the Sun itself

creates that light.

The glorious Sun and its light

are one and the same.                                
 

– Jnaneshwar

4)

Like a silkworm weaving

her house with love

from her marrow,

and dying

in her body's threads

winding tight, round

and round,

I burn

desiring what the heart desires.                 

–Mahadeviyakka

5)

To see God everywhere you have to have special eyes, otherwise you cannot bear the shock.                                                           

 -Neem Karoli Baba

6)

The same undivided and indivisible space is outside and inside of a thousand pots. Likewise the Self pervades all beings.                                        

 –Maharamayana

7)
   
You're like milk

in water: I cannot tell

what comes before,

what after,

which is the master,

which is the slave;

what's big,

what's small.

O lord white as jasmine

if an ant should love you

and praise you,

will he not grow

to demon powers?

-Mahadeviyakka

8)  

The highest form of grace is silence.

-Swami Chinmayananda

9) 

 Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.

-Sri Ramana Maharshi

10) 

My Guru told me;"Trust me. I tell you; you are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done." I did believe him and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were his words.

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

11)

If you return kindness for injuries received and forget both,

Those who harmed you will be punished by their own shame.

-Tirukkural

12)

 Someone who practices only bhakti yoga is like a blind man who cannot see where to go, and in his enthusiasm wanders off in the wrong direction. Someone who practices only gnana yoga, on the other hand, is like a lame man who can see the distant destination but, because his knowledge remains only theoretical, makes no progress towards it. However, if the love and energy of the bhakta is combined with the wisdom and discrimination of the gnani, seekers are sure to reach their destination.

-Hindu teaching story

13)

 We want to worship a living God. I have not seen anything but God all my life, nor have you. To see this chair you first see God, and then the chair in and through Him. He is everywhere, saying, "I am." The moment you feel "I am," you are conscious of Existence. Where shall we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being?

-Vivekananda

14)

 Lord, I do not want wealth,

nor children, nor learning. If it be Thy will

I will go to a hundred hells, but grant me this,

that I may love Thee without the hope of reward,

unselfishly love for love’s sake.

-Hindu prayer

15)

 Peace be to earth and to airy spaces!

Peace be to heaven, peace be to the waters,

peace to the plants and peace to the trees!

May all the Gods grant to me peace!

By this invocation of peace may be diffused!

-Atharva Veda

16)

Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed: the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogenous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realized, duality ceases.

-Yoga Vasishtha

17)

Student: "How can I become enlightened?"

Neem Karoli Baba: "Feed people."

Can any lock keep love confined within,

When the loving heart's tiny tears escape and confess it?

The unloving belong only to themselves,

But the loving belong to others to their very bones.

-Tirukkural

18)

 Birth decrees to all men who live a common circumstance.

Diverse actions define their unique specialness.

Lowly men are never high, even when elevated.

High souls are never low, even when downtrodden.

-Tirukkural

19)

 In the light of the Sun

there is no difference between day and night.

In the light of the Supreme Truth

there is no difference between Shiva and Shakti.

-Jnaneshwar

20)

Kali is naked reality.

She is the feminine reality.

This simpleminded lover of truth

calls her my Mother, my Mother,

because she is the inexhaustible affection

who never neglects her children,

no matter how heedless or rebellious they may be.

-Ramprasad

21)

High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration,

Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual

uphold the Earth; may she, the ruling Mistress

of what has been and what will come to be,

for us spread wide a limitless domain.

-Rig Veda

22)

 Among the wealthy, compassionate men claim the richest wealth,

For material wealth is possessed by even contemptible men.

Find and follow the good path and be ruled by compassion.

For if the various ways are examined, compassion will prove the means to liberation.

-Tirukkural

23)  

Love is selflessness

—self is lovelessness.

-Sai Baba

24)

Bodies come and go like clothes.

-Sankara

25)

A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response the sage asked the king how he would convey the taste of a mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavour of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?" The sage picked up a mango and handed it to the king saying "This is very sweet. Try eating it!"

-Hindu teaching story

26)

  Behold the man who shields his family from all suffering.

Has not his body become a willing vessel for affliction.

Without good men to hold it up,

The family house will fall when misfortune descends.

-Tirukkural

27)

Brahman creates the game of life by breaking Himself into parts that undergo transformation and extinction.

Yet while he takes on all the roles required by the game, He also always remains free of the game and intact as Brahman.

-Abhinavagupta

28)

All those who walk with God reach their destination.

-Sai Baba

29)

The moon is one, but on agitated water it produces many reflections. Similarly ultimate reality is one, yet it appears to be many in a mind agitated by thoughts.

-Maharamayana

30)

As clouds are blown away by the wind, the thirst for material pleasures will be driven away by the utterance of the Lord's name.

-Sri Sarada Devi

31)  

A learned man's learning shines the brightest

among luminaries capable of critiquing his language.

Speaking to an audience of thinking men

is like watering a bed of growing plants.

-Tirukkural

32)

One who has attained complete discrimination between the subtlest level of mind and the Self has no higher knowledge to acquire.

This is dharma megha samadhi--the state of the Unclouded Truth.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

33)

In the hands of a benevolent man,

Wealth is like a medicinal tree whose healing gifts help all.

-Tirukkural

34)

 Love alone will abide thee.

-Tamil proverb

35)

Charity's merit cannot be measured by gifts given.

It is measured by measuring the receiver's merits.

-Tirukkural

36)

No one can die. None can be degraded forever. Life is but a playground, however gross the play may be. However we may receive blows and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.

-Vivekananda

37)  

No worldly delight is comparable to the delight that will fill your heart when you completely abandon all hopes and desires.

-Maharamayana

38)

The body will be turned by the power of the spiritual consciousness into a true and fit and perfectly responsive instrument of the Spirit.

-Sri Aurobindo

39)

O Krishna,

Charmer of hearts,

Lifter of mountains,

I hear your flute calling me—

Shall I come by the secret path

through the tall grass?

-Mirabai

40)

Adversity and prosperity never cease to exist. The adornment

Of great men's minds is to remain unswervingly just under both.

-Tirukkural

41)

Adversity and prosperity never cease to exist. The adornment

Of great men's minds is to remain unswervingly just under both.

-Tirukkural

42)

As the man and the woman in me

unite in love,

the brilliant beauty

balanced on the two-pedalled lotus

within me

dazzles my eyes.

The rays

outshine the moon

and the jewels

glowing on the hoods of snakes.

My skin and bone

are turned to gold.

I am the reservoir of love

alive as the waves.

A single drop of water

has grown into a sea,

unnavigable.

-Lalan

43)

 By honest conduct one achieves honourable eminence,

While corrupt conduct brings one nothing but blame.

Good conduct is the seed in virtue's field;

Wicked conduct's harvest is never-ending sorrow.

-Tirukkural

44)

All life clings to a body;

perfect goodness clings to all that is modest.

Is not modesty a jewel adorning perfect men?

Without it, is not their strut an awful blemish to behold?

-Tirukkural

45)

 Banishing the folly of rebirth and thus beholding

Perfection's True Being - that is wisdom.

-Tirukkural

46) 

 Inwardly be free of all hopes and desires, but outwardly do what needs to be done. Without hopes in your heart, live as if you were full of hopes. Live with your heart now cool and now warm, just like everyone else. Inwardly give up the idea "I am the doer," yet outwardly engage in all activities. This is how to live in the world, completely free from the least trace of ego.

-Maharamayana

47)

It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony-in the pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The prayers of those who are pure in mind and body will be answered by Shiva, and those who are impure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship, but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail.

-Vivekananda

48)

touched by one's children is a delight to the body,

And listening to them chatter is a joy to the ear.

-Tirukkural

49)

 Liberation is only being rid of the idea that there is anyone who needs liberation.

-Ramesh Balsekar

50)

Among the profuse precious things a man may acquire,

None surpasses a nature free from envy toward all.

-Tirukkural

52)

 By this invocation of peace may peace bring peace!

With this peace the dreadful I now appease,

with this peace the cruel I now appease,

with this peace all evil I now appease,

so that peace may prevail, happiness prevail!

May everything for us be peaceful!

-Athara Veda

53)

 To everyone of us there must come a time when the whole universe will be found to have been a dream, when we find the soul is infinitely better than the surroundings. It is only a question of time, and time is nothing in the infinite.

-Sai Baba

54)

 Love is all important and its own reward.

-Tamil proverb

55)

Knowledge born of the finest discrimination takes us to the farthest shore. It is intuitive, omniscient, and beyond all divisions of time and space.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

56)

Better than a gift given with a joyous heart

Are sweet words spoken with a cheerful smile.

-Tirukkural

57)

The one original transcendent Shakti, the Mother stands above all the worlds and bears in her eternal consciousness the Supreme Divine. Alone, she harbors the absolute Power and the ineffable Presence; containing or calling the Truths that have to be manifested, she brings them down from the Mystery in which they were hidden into the light of her infinite consciousness and gives them a form of force in her omnipotent power and her boundless life and a body in the universe.

-Sri Aurobindo

58)

Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed: the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogenous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realized, duality ceases.

-Yoga Vasishtha

59)

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

-Sai Baba

60)

The mind becomes clear and serene when

the qualities of the heart are cultivated:

friendliness toward the joyful,

compassion toward the suffering,

happiness toward the pure,

and impartiality toward the impure.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

61)

Oh my heart! The Supreme Spirit, the Great Master, is near you. Wake up! Wake up! Run to the feet of your Beloved, for your Lord is here. You have slept for untold ages, this morning will you not awake?

-Kabir

62)

If you want to be a true doer of divine works, your first aim must be to be totally free from all desire and self-regarding ego. All your life must be an offering and a sacrifice to the Supreme; your only object in action shall be to serve, to receive, to fulfill, to become a manifesting instrument of the Divine Shakti in her works. You must grow in the divine consciousness till there is no difference between your will and hers, no motive except her impulsion in you, no action that is not her conscious action in you and through you.

-Sri Aurobindo

63)

Do not disparage men who appear small, for there are those,

Seemingly insignificant, who are like the linchpin of a mighty chariot.

-Tirukkural

64)

God is really all-pervading, above the mind, without features, imperishable, and infinite. How can such a one be worshipped? That is why, out of compassion for his creatures, He takes the form of the guru. The guru is the supreme God enclosed in human skin. He walks the earth, concealed, bestowing grace on his disciples.

-Kularnava Tantra

65)

As a crystal reflects objects that are nearby,

So does the face reflect what is foremost in the heart.

What is more perceptive than the face? For whether the heart

Is angry or glad, it is the face that expresses it first.

-Tirukkural

66)
 
Industriousness comes to men whom Fortune favours,

But laziness approaches those whom Misfortune has chosen.

That destiny which decreases prosperity, increases ignorance.

That destiny which diminishes loss, expands knowledge.

-Tirukkural

67)

If given with love, a handful is sufficient.

-Telugu proverb

68)

If all the land were turned to paper and all the seas turned to ink, and all the forests into pens to write with, they would still not suffice to describe the greatness of the guru.

-Kabir

69)

 If a man considers that he is born, he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body that is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find from where thoughts emerge. Then you will be able to abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.

-Ramana Maharshi

70)

  I met a hundred men on the road to Delhi, and they all were my brothers.

-Indian proverb

71)

The world is a theatre of love.

-Kashmiri proverb

72)

The world goes on because civilized men exist.

Without them it would collapse into mere dust.

Though their minds are as sharp as a rasp,

Men without human decency are as wooden as a tree.

-Tirukkural

73)

My Guru told me; "Trust me. I tell you; you are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done." I did believe him and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were his words.

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

74)

A superior being does not render evil for evil. Never harm the wicked or the good or even criminals meeting death. A noble soul is always compassionate, even toward those who enjoy injuring others or who are actually committing cruel deeds--for who is without fault?

-Ramayana

75)

Amid accumulated millions a man remains poor

If he neither gives nor enjoys his wealth.

Vast wealth can be a wretched curse to one who neither

Gladdens himself in its worth nor gives to the worthy.

-Tirukkural

76)
 
Do not seek the fortune that greed gathers,

For its fruit is bitter in the day of enjoyment.

To protect his own prosperity from decline

One must not crave the property held by others.

-Tirukkural

77) As long as you have not realized the great principle that permeates all, it is essential that speech and action should support each other. Do not hold to the intellectual understanding of others; turn the light of awareness back to the root, and it is not there at all.

-Pao-chih

78)

Be unremitting in the doing of good deeds.

Do them with all your might and by every possible means.

Keep the mind free of impurity. That alone is the practice of virtue.

All else is nothing but empty display.

-Tirukkural

79) My soul cries out, snared by the beauty of the formless one. As I cry by myself, night and day, beauty amassed before my eye surpasses numberless moons and suns. If I look at the clouds in the sky, I see his beauty afloat; and I see him walk on the stars blazing my heart.

-Fikirchand

80) Learn to look with an equal eye upon all things, seeing the one Self in all.

-Srimad Bhagavatam

81) It is better to see God in everything than to try and figure it out.

-Neem Karoli Baba

82) As water changes according to the soil through which it flows,

so a man assimilates the character of his associates.

By knowing his thoughts, a man's mind is discovered.

By knowing his associates, his character is revealed.

-Tirukkural

83) I am the Lord and the Cosmic Soul; I am myself the Cosmic Body. I am Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra, as well as Gauri, Brahmi, and Vaishnavi. I am the sun and the stars and I am the Lord of the stars. I am the various species of beasts and birds; I am also the outcaste and thief. I am the evil doer and the wicked deed; I am the righteous person and the virtuous deed.

-Devi Gita

84) He is the only adorable one to me: I have none other.

My tongue has left off impure words, it sings His glory day and night: Whether I rise or sit down, I can never forget Him; for the rhythm of His music beats in my ears.

Kabir says: "My heart is frenzied, and I disclose in my soul what is hidden. I am immersed in that one great bliss which transcends all pleasure and pain."

-Kabir

85) A man's own envy is foe enough to forge his ruin,

Even though he has no other enemies.

He who begrudges another's bounty

Will behold the death of his naked and starving kindred.

Fortune's Goddess, intolerant of men who cannot tolerate other's success,

Introduces them to her sister Misfortune and goes away.

-Tirukkural

86) Life is uncertain, change causes fear, and latent impressions bring pain--all is indeed suffering to one who has developed discrimination.  But the suffering yet to come should be averted. The cause of suffering is that the unbounded Self is overshadowed by the world.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanj

87) Life is uncertain, change causes fear, and latent impressions bring pain--all is indeed suffering to one who has developed discrimination.

But the suffering yet to come should be averted. The cause of suffering is that the unbounded Self is overshadowed by the world.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

88) In the beginning Love arose,

which was the primal germ cell of the mind.

The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,

discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.

What was described above it, what below?

Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces

thrust from below and forward move above.

-Rig Veda

89) You're like milk

in water: I cannot tell

what comes before,

what after,

which is the master,

which is the slave;

what's big,

what's small.

O lord white as jasmine

if an ant should love you

and praise you,

will he not grow

to demon powers?

-Mahadeviyakka

90) You're like milk

in water: I cannot tell

what comes before,

what after,

which is the master,

which is the slave;

what's big,

what's small.

O lord white as jasmine

if an ant should love you

and praise you,

will he not grow

to demon powers?

-Mahadeviyakka

91) Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed: the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogenous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realized, duality ceases.

-Yoga Vasishtha

92) Prosperity is not for the envious,

Nor is greatness for men of impure conduct.

-Tirukkural

93) Out of Supreme love

they swallow up each other

But separate again

for the joy of being two.

They are not completely the same

but neither are they different.

No one can tell exactly what they are.

-Jnaneshwar

94) Hate hidden in a kinsman's heart will cause

many miseries, and more--it will kill a man.

When hatred arises, dissension destroys unity,

and men fall inescapably toward ever-ready death.

-Tirukkural

95) Talk as much philosophy as you like,

worship as many gods as you please,

observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns,

but liberation will never come, even after a hundred

aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

-Sankara

96) To the heavens be peace, to the sky and the earth,

to the waters be peace, to plants and all trees,

to the Gods be peace, to Brahman be peace,

to all men be peace, again and again

--peace be also to me!

-Atharva Veda

97) Humility and pleasant words are the jewels

That adorn a man; there are none other.

If a man seeks good works while speaking sweet words,

His virtues will wax and his vices wane.

-Tirukkural

98) If a man's kindred cleave to him with unfailing love,

His fortunes will never fail to flourish.

-Tirukkural

99) Laugh when troubles come your way.

There is nothing better to conquer calamity.

A flood of troubles will vanish the moment

The mind of a wise man collects itself to face them.

-Tirukkural

100) Kali is naked reality.

She is the feminine reality.

This simpleminded lover of truth

calls her my Mother, my Mother,

because she is the inexhaustible affection

who never neglects her children,

no matter how heedless or rebellious they may be.

-Ramprasad

101) It is improper to ever forget a kindness,

But good to forget at once an injury received.

The deadliest injury is effaced the moment

The mind recalls a single kindness received from the injurer.

-Tirukkural

102)

Bodies come and go like clothes.

-Sankara

103) When you are with someone you love very much, you can talk and it is pleasant, but the reality is not in the conversation. It is in simply being together. Meditation is the highest form of prayer. In it you are so close to God that you don't need to say a thing--it is just great to be together.

-Swami Chetananda

104) A fortress earns greatness by enabling courageous defenders

to gloriously defeat the enemy at the battle's very onset.

Whatever excellent qualities a fortress may possess,

it will be of no avail without men of excellent action.

-Tirukkural

105) Enlightenment is merely an impersonal happening. We give it the taint of personal achievement. Therefore the question arises, "What is an enlightened being like?" There is no such thing as an enlightened person. Enlightenment is merely another event. There is a flood, a fire, an earthquake; there is enlightenment, just as one happening in the whole process, all part of the phenomenal process.

-Ramesh Balsekar

107) Before advancing against men weaker than yourself,

Ponder when you stood before those more powerful.

-Tirukkural

108) The mind is an object of perception

like the eternal world.

The Atman, the real seer,

remains unknown.

-Pantanjali

109) If sparks fly,

I shall think my thirst and hunger quelled.

If the skies tear down,

I shall think them pouring for my bath.

If a hillside slides on me

I shall think it flower for my hair.

O lord white as jasmine, if my head falls from my shoulders

I shall think it your offering.

-Mahadeviyakka

110) Can any lock keep love confined within,

When the loving heart's tiny tears escape and confess it?

The unloving belong only to themselves,

But the loving belong to others to their very bones.

-Tirukkural

111)

I'm the one who has the body,

you're the one who holds the breath.

You know the secret of my body,

I know the secret of your breath.

That's why your body

is in mine.

You know

and I know, Ramanatha,

the miracle

of your breath

in my body.

-Devara Dasimayya

112) Love can’t be hid by hiding.

-Indian proverb

113) If the chimney is full of smoke, how can the light be seen? If the mind is full of dirt, how can the soul shine?

-Yogaswami of Jaffna

114) How can I accept or reject anything? Is there anything apart or distinct from Brahman? Now, finally and clearly, I know that I am the Atman, whose nature is eternal joy. I see nothing. I hear nothing. I know nothing that is separate from me.

-Sankara

115) Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures, as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret, and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.

-Swami Sivananda

116) Don't think about ideas such as bondage and liberation, simply abandon all craving and through wisdom and dispassion bring about the cessation of the mind. Even if the wish "may I be liberated" arises, the mind will come back to life.

-Maharamayana

117) Comprehending and acquiring self-control

confers upon one the esteem of wise men.

More imposing than a mountain is the greatness of a man who,

steadfast in domestic life, has mastered self-control.

-Tirukkural

118) Everything has to be the way it is and could not possibly be any other way.

-Maharamayana

119) Don't wave lights and incense, or offer flowers and food. He is found effortlessly when worshipped through self-realization alone.

-Maharamayana

120) Between the pillars of spirit and matter the mind has put up a swing.

There swings the bound soul and all the worlds with not even the slightest rest.

The sun and moon also swing, and there is no end to it.

The soul swings through millions of births like the endless circling of sun and moon.

Billions of ages have passed with no sigh of relief.

The earth and sky swing,

Wind and water swing,

Taking a body, God Himself swings.

-Kabir

121) All those who walk with God reach their destination.

-Sai Baba

122) Cling to the feet of a master who can introduce you to yourself.

-Swami Veda Bharati

123) As clouds are blown away by the wind, the thirst for material pleasures will be driven away by the utterance of the Lord's name.

-Sri Sarada Devi

124) The world calls me mad. I am mad. You are mad. The world is mad. Who is not mad? Still these madmen call me mad. Some are mad after name and fame. Some are mad after money. Some are mad after flesh. But blessed is he who is mad after God. Such a madman am I!

-Rang Avadhut

125) Morality is the birthright of high families,

While immoral conduct's legacy is lowly birth.

-Tirukkural

126)

As this world is not for the penniless,

So is that world not for the pitiless!

-Tirukkural

127) The delusion which mistakes the unreal for the Real

Is the genesis of woeful births.

For those of undimmed perception, free from delusion,

Darkness departs and rapture rushes in.

To those who have dispelled all doubt and perceive Truth,

Heaven is nearer than earth.

-Tirukkural

128) Who could ever wish me to leave my loving,

I would rather eat poison than hear such words.

I have explored his beauty and found no shores,

But the god at last is standing by me.

I will fulfill my dream and let the rest go.

-Chandidas

129) The content of worthy speech binds friends more closely,

And its eloquence draws even enemies to listen.

-Tirukkural

130) Truth is no theory, no speculative system of philosophy, no intellectual insight.

Truth is exact correspondence with reality.

For man, truth is the unshakeable knowledge of his real nature, the Self.

-Paramhansa Yogananda

131) The no-mind state is not the vacancy of idiocy but the most supremely alert intelligence, undistracted by extraneous thought.

-Ramesh Balsekar

132) While aid may outwardly seem as puny as a mustard seed,

The knowing will deem it as imposing as a towering palm.

Help rendered another cannot be measured by the extent

Of assistance imparted. Its real measure is the recipient's worthiness.

-Tirukkural

133) This supreme Goddess, Word, inspired by Brahman,

by which the awe-inspiring is created,

through her to us be peace!

-Atharva Veda

134) The individual "I" exists for as long as there is desire for pleasure.

-Maharamayana

135) Three men went into the jungle on different occasions and saw a chameleon. "A chameleon is red," said the first man. "No a chameleon is green," said the second man. "Nonsense, a chameleon is brown," said the third man. Those who disagree about the nature of God are like these three men.

-Hindu Teaching Story

136) Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

-Sankara

137) Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed: the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogenous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realized, duality ceases.

-Yoga Vasishtha

138) They say those who act cruelly by forsaking compassion

Must have forgotten what it means to forsake morality.

-Tirukkural

139) Removing the incurable cancer called hatred

Reveals one's undying, undiminishing radiance.

The destruction of hatred, that sorrow of sorrows,

Yields to man the joy of joys.

-Tirukkural

140) Negative feelings, such as violence, are damaging to life, whether we act upon them ourselves, or cause or condone them in others.

They are born of greed, anger, or delusion, and may be slight, moderate, or intense. Their fruit is endless ignorance and suffering.

To remember this is to cultivate the opposite.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjal

141) If given with love, a handful is sufficient.

-Telugu Proverb

142) Before undertaking a project, ponder what will be gained,

Lost and ultimately achieved.

There is nothing too difficult for a man who, before he acts,

Deliberates with chosen friends and reflects privately.

-Tirukkural

143) Whatever decision we think we are making is actually being made for us, because the decision is the end result of a thought and we have no control over the arising of the thought.

-Ramesh Balsekar

144) What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life,

for killing leads to every other sin.

Of all virtues summed by ancient sages, the foremost are to

share one's food and to protect all living creatures.

-Tirukkural

145) My mind fell like a hailstone

into the vast expanse of Brahman's ocean.

Touching one drop of it.

I melted away and became one with Brahman.

This is wonderful indeed!

Here is the ocean of Brahman,

full of endless joy.

-Sankara

146)

Food, clothing and such are not much different among people,

It is modesty that distingiushes good men from others.

All life clings to a body,

Perfect goodness clings to all that is modest.

-Tirukkural

147) He who bestows life-force and hardy vigor,

Whose ordinances even the Gods obey,

Whose shadow is immortal life—and death—

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

-Rig Veda

148) Behold the man who shields his family from all suffering.

Has not his body become a willing vessel for affliction.

Without good men to hold it up,

The family house will fall when misfortune descends.

-Tirukkural

149) He who loves Me is made pure;

his heart melts in joy.

He rises to transcendental consciousness

by rousing his higher emotions.

Tears of joy flow from his eyes,

his hair stands on end,

his heart melts in love.

-Srimad Bhagavatam

150) Many are the men who piously bathe in purifying waters,

While in their dark hearts impure conduct lies concealed.

Neither shaven head nor long locks are required,

Provided one refrains from conduct condemned by the world.

-Tirukkural

151) The moon is one, but on agitated water it produces many reflections.

Similarly ultimate reality is one, yet it appears to be many in a mind agitated by thoughts.

-Maharamayana

152) Instill in me abundantly that fragrance,

O Mother Earth, which emanates from you

and from your plants and waters, that sweet perfume

that all celestial beings are wont to emit,

and let no enemy ever wish us ill!

-Rig Veda

153) As a flawless crystal absorbs what is placed before it, so the settled mind is transparent to whatever it meets--the seer, the process of seeing, or the object seen.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

154) As the man and the woman in me

Unite in love,

The brilliant beauty

Balanced on the two-petalled lotus

Within me

Dazzles my eyes.

The rays

Outshine the moon

And the jewels

Glowing on the hoods of snakes.

My skin and bone

Are tuned to gold.

I am the reservoir of love

Alive as the waves.

A single drop of water

Has grown into a sea,

Unnavigable.

-Lalan

156) Negative feelings, such as violence, are damaging to life, whether we act upon them ourselves, or cause or condone them in others.

They are born of greed, anger, or delusion, and may be slight, moderate, or intense.

Their fruit is endless ignorance and suffering. To remember this is to cultivate the opposite.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

157) Mother of the Universe,

I have no desire to exercise power.

I would not even care to be an emperor.

Sweet Mother, please grant me

two simple meals each day

and wealth enough to thatch the palm roof

of my clean earthen house,

where I offer dreaming and waking

as red flowers at your feet

-Ramprasad

158)

Om Sarve Bhavanthu Sukhina

Sarve Santhu Nira Maya

Sarve Bhadrani Pashyanthu

Ma Kashchith Dukkha Bhaag Bhaveth

[Oh Lord, may all of mankind be safe,

Let no one experience pain or suffering.]

-Hindu mantra

159) High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration,

Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual

uphold the Earth; may she, the ruling Mistress

of what has been and what will come to be,

for us spread wide a limitless domain.

-Rig Veda

160) I honor the God and the Goddess,

The eternal parents of the universe.

The Lover, out of boundless love,

takes the form of the Beloved.

What Beauty!

Both are made of the same nectar

and share the same food.

-Jnaneshwar

161) Amassing great wealth is gradual, like the gathering of a

theater crowd.

Its dispersal is sudden, like that same crowd departing.

Wealth's nature is to be unenduring.

Upon acquiring it, do that which is enduring right away.

-Tirukkural

162)  Although the limitations of the world disappear for one who knows the Self, they are not destroyed, because they continue to exist for others.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjal

163) When the Self is unknown

The world arises,

Not when it is known.

But you mistake

The rope for the snake.

When you see the rope,

The snake vanishes.

164) If you desire destruction, simply ignore the rules

and provoke those who, if they desire, can destroy you.

For the powerless to wreak harm upon the powerful

is to summon Death with a gesturing hand.

-Tirukkural

165) If you do not cut the noose of your karma while living, what hope is there of liberation when you are dead?

It is a hopeless dream to think that union will come after the soul leaves the body.

-Kabir

166)

Even as rock remains rock, carved or uncarved, consciousness remains consciousness whether the world appears or not. The world-appearance is but an empty expression; its substance is nothing but consciousness.

In fact, even these manifestations and modifications are but Brahman, the cosmic consciousness—though not in the sense of manifestation or modification. Even this distinction—modification in the sense of modification, or any other sense—is meaningless in Brahman. When such expressions are used in relation to Brahman, the meaning is quite different, like water in the mirage.

-From the Yoga Vasishtha

167) A jubilant heart rejoices upon seeing

those who give without scoffing or scorning.

Deprived of beggars, this vast and verdant Earth would

become uncharitable, a ball for the play of wooden puppets.

-Tirukkural

168) An object has a reflection: When looking we see two images, yet there is only one thing. Likewise, this world is a reflection of the Supreme Lord. We may see two, yet only One exists…

-Jnaneshwar

169) An intimate of any strength will never listen to faults said of friends;

and on the day a friend offends, he is content to keep silent.

The world cherishes faithful men who never forsake

old friendships, worn by time but unbroken.

-Tirukkural

170) Virtue yields heaven's honor and earth's wealth.

What is there then that is more fruitful for a man?

There is nothing more rewarding than virtue,

Nor anything more ruinous than its neglect.

-Tirukkural

171) Virtue yields heaven's honor and earth's wealth.

What is there then that is more fruitful for a man?

There is nothing more rewarding than virtue,

Nor anything more ruinous than its neglect.

-Tirukkural

172) When ignorance is destroyed, the Self is liberated from its identification with the world.

This liberation is Enlightenment.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

173)  A man who is advancing (spiritually) will begin to enjoy the deeper beatitude whether he is at work or not. While his hands are in society, he keeps his head cool in solitude.

-Ramana Maharshi

174) Impart to us those vitalizing forces

that come, O Earth, from deep within your body,

your central point, your navel; purify us wholly.

The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth.

The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us

blessings!

-Rig Veda

175)

By a single word of injury

Do all a man's virtues lose their goodness.

The wound caused by fire heals in its time;

The burn inflicted by an inflamed tongue never heals.

-Tirukkural

176) A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response the sage asked the king how he would convey the taste of a mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavor of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?" The sage picked up a mango and handed it to the king saying "This is very sweet. Try eating it!"

-Hindu teaching story

177)

The ultimate Consciousness

is always present everywhere.

It is beyond space and time,

with not before or after.

It is undeniable and obvious.

So what can be said about it?

-Abhinavagupta

178) Wisdom speaks well, conveying each meaning clearly,

And listens for the subtlest sense in others' speech.

Men of wisdom befriend the wise and keep that friendship constant,

Not opening and closing like the petaled lotus.

-Tirukkural

179) Riches retained by generous men

Resemble a fruit tree ripening in the heart of a village.

In the hands of a benevolent man,

Wealth is like a medicinal tree whose healing gifts help all.

-Tirukkural

180) Light illumines the Sun,

But the Sun itself

creates that light.

The glorious Sun and its light

are one and the same.

-Jnaneshwar

181)

By this invocation of peace may peace bring peace!

With this peace the dreadful I now appease,

with this peace the cruel I now appease,

with this peace all evil I now appease,

so that peace may prevail, happiness prevail!

May everything for us be peaceful!

-Athara Veda

182) Birth ceases when all attachments are severed;

Otherwise, one beholds unceasingly the transitoriness of life.

Attach yourself to Him who is free from all attachments.

Bind yourself to that bond in order that all other bonds may be broken.

-Tirukkural

183) Freedom is that triumphant state of consciousness that is beyond the influence of desire. The mind ceases to thirst for anything it has seen or heard of; even what is promised in the scriptures.

And supreme freedom is that complete liberation from the world of change that comes of knowing the unbound Self.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

184) As the intense fire of the furnace

refines gold to brilliancy, so does

The burning suffering of austerity

purify the soul to resplendence.

-Tirukkural

185) Among the wealthy, compassionate men claim the richest wealth,

For material wealth is possessed by even contemptible men.

Find and follow the good path and be ruled by compassion.

For if the various ways are examined, compassion will prove the means to liberation.

-Tirukkural

186) Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

-Sai Baba

187) A learned man's learning shines the brightest

among luminaries capable of critiquing his language.

Speaking to an audience of thinking men

is like watering a bed of growing plants.

-Tirukkura

188) Whatever you are doing, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, or saying, realize your essential nature as pure Consciousness. This is the way to liberation.

-Maharamayanav

189) Banishing the folly of rebirth and thus beholding

Perfection's True Being - that is wisdom.

-Tirukkural

190) To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of Confusion, we bow to Her; we bow to Her; we bow to Her, continually we bow, we bow.

Presiding over the senses of all beings and pervading all existence, to the Omnipresent Goddess who individualizes creation we bow, we bow.

In the form of Consciousness She distinguishes the individual phenomena of the perceivable universe. We bow to Her; we bow to Her; we bow to Her; we bow to Her, continually we bow, we bow.

-Chandi Patha

191) Judge the nature of your listeners and speak accordingly.

There is nothing more virtuous or valuable than this.

-Tirukkural

192) As the man and the woman in me

unite in love,

the brilliant beauty

balanced on the two-petalled lotus

within me

dazzles my eyes.

The rays

outshine the moon

and the jewels

glowing on the hoods of snakes.

My skin and bone

are turned to gold.

I am the reservoir of love

alive as the waves.

A single drop of water

has grown into a sea,

unnavigable.

-Lalan

193)

To everyone of us there must come a time when the whole universe will be found to have been a dream, when we find the soul is infinitely better than the surroundings. It is only a question of time, and time is nothing in the infinite.

-Sai Baba

194) When a man's wealth has disappeared, his kinsmen alone

Will maintain their customary kindness.

If a man's kindred cleave to him with unfailing love,

His fortunes will never fail to flourish.

-Tirukkural

195) Truth is no theory, no speculative system of philosophy, no intellectual insight. Truth is exact correspondence with reality.

-Paramhansa Yogananda

196) Penance is that goodness which refrains from killing.

Perfection is that goodness which refuses to tell others' faults.

Humility is the strength of the strong and the weapon

With which the wise conquer their foes.

-Tirukkural

197) In your striving, be mindful to preserve good conduct.

In your deliberations, discover it is your staunchest ally.

-Tirukkural

198)

Remember the whole thing is just a play and the Lord has assigned you a part. Act your part well; there all your duty ends. He has designed the play and he enjoys it.

199) There is only one state. When corrupted and tainted by self-identification, it is known as an individual. When merely tinted by the sense of presence, of animated consciousness, it is the impersonal witnessing. When it remains in its pristine purity, untainted and untinted in primal repose, it is the Absolute.

-Ramesh Balsekar

200) Worthless are those who injure others vengefully,

While those who stoically endure are like stored gold.

The gratification of the vengeful lasts only for a day,

But the glory of the forbearing lasts until the end of time.

Though unjustly aggrieved, it is best to suffer the suffering

And refrain from unrighteous retaliation.

-Tirukkural

201) The eradication of the craving for personal separateness is Liberation.

-Sankara

202) The supreme truth is established by total silence, not logical discussion and argument. He alone sees the truth who sees the universe without the intervention of the mind, and therefore without the notion of a universe.

-Maharamayana

203) Without love in the heart,

Life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert.

What good is a body perfect in outer ways,

If inwardly it is impaired by lack of love?

With love enshrined in the heart, one lives.

Without it, the body is but bone encased in skin.

-Tirukkural

204) To trust a man who has not been tested and to suspect a man

Who has proven trustworthy lead to endless ills.

-Tirukkural

205) That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion because it embraces all others.

-Sri Aurobindo

206)

For a person

forced on by his thinking,

fierce in his passion,

focused on beauty,

craving grows all the more.

He's the one

who tightens the bond.

But one who delights

in the stilling of thinking,

always mindful

cultivating

a focus on the foul:

He's the one

who will make an end,

the one who will cut Mara's bond.

-Dhammapada

207) Laugh when troubles come your way.

There is nothing better to conquer calamity.

A flood of troubles will vanish the moment

The mind of a wise man collects itself to face them.

-Tirukkural

208) The intense desire for God-realization is itself the way to it.

-Sri Anadamayi MM

209)

When we are firmly established in nonviolence, all beings around us cease to feel hostility. When we are firmly established in truthfulness, action accomplishes its desired end.

When we are firmly established in integrity, all riches present themselves freely. When we are firmly established in chastity, subtle potency is generated. When we are established in nonattachment, the nature and purpose of existence is understood.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

210) What pleasure it is to human beings everywhere

When their children possess knowledge surpassing their own!

When a mother hears her son heralded a good and learned man,

Her joy exceeds that of his joyous birth.

-Tirukkural

211) The moon is one, but on agitated water it produces many reflections. Similarly ultimate reality is one, yet it appears to be many in a mind agitated by thoughts.

-Maharamayana

212) The same undivided and indivisible space is outside and inside of a thousand pots. Likewise the Self pervades all beings.

-Maharamayana

213) The wise never undertake an enterprise

Which rashly risks existing capital to reach for potential profits.

-Tirukkural

214) To trust a stranger without investigation

Invites troubles so endless even descendants must endure.

-Tirukkural

215) What use is a melody in an unmusical song?

What use are eyes which express no kindness?

Other than a facial appearance, what do eyes

With no quality of kindness really do?

A kindly look is the ornament of the eyes.

Without kindness the eyes are two unsightly sores.

-Tirukkural

216)

What pleasure it is to human beings everywhere

When their children possess knowledge surpassing their own!

When a mother hears her son heralded a good and learned man,

Her joy exceeds that of his joyous birth.

-Tirukkural

217) The world with all its wonders

Is nothing.

When you know this,

Desire melts away.

For you are awareness itself.

When you know in your heart

That there is nothing,

You are still.

-Ashtavakra Gita

218) The Atman is the witness of the mind and its workings.

-Sankara

219)

Whatsoever a man has renounced,

From the sorrow born of that he has freed himself.

After a man has renounced, he enjoys the many true things in this

World. Let men desiring that renounce in time.

-Tirukkural

220) Love is selflessness

—self is lovelessness.

-Sai Baba

221) When a man's effort to raise high his family is unremitting,

His work will prosper of itself even if he makes no plans.

The world will surround and wish to befriend the man

Who, without wrongdoing, prospers in life to uplift loved ones.

-Tirukkural

222) Our freedom is not in being saved troubles, but is the freedom to take trouble for our own good, and make the trouble an element in our joy.

-Rabindranath Tagore

223) When help is rendered by weighing the receiver's need

And not the donor's reward, its goodness grows greater than the sea.

-Tirukkural

224) Wisdom is a weapon with which a man may ward off destruction;

It is an inner fortress which no enemy can assail.

Wisdom will harness the mind, diverting it

From wrong and directing it toward right.

-Tirukkural

225) When the learned see that the learning that delights them

Delights the world as well, they love learning even more.

A man's learning is an imperishable and precious wealth.

All other possessions are less golden.

-Tirukkural

226)

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.

-Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

227) Why should those who rejoice when Destiny brings good

Moan when that same Destiny decrees misfortune?

What is there that is mightier than Destiny?

For it is there ahead of us even in the plans we devise to overcome it.

-Tirukkural

228) There exists something that cannot be described.

-Maharamayana

229)

What is old friendship? It is when neither friend objects

To the liberties taken by the other.

-Tirukkural 801

230) The Primordial Vastness is the sky. The Primordial Vastness is the sphere of space. The Primordial Vastness is the mother, the father, the son. The Primordial Vastness is all the Gods, the five sorts of men, all that was born and shall be born.

-Rig Veda

231) There is nothing too difficult for a man who, before he acts,

Deliberates with chosen friends and reflects privately.

-Tirukkural

232) The guru is the formless Self within each one of us. He may appear as a body to guide us, but that is only his disguise.

-Ramana Maharshi

233) Self-knowledge cannot be gained until everything is renounced. When all points of view are abandoned, what remains is the Self. Even in the world you do not get what you desire until all obstacles are removed. This is even more true of self-knowledge.

-Maharamayana

234) Troubles will be troubled before the man who faces them

Like the determined bullock that wades through every difficulty.

Though massed upon him like a mountain,

A man's afflictions will be afflicted by his undaunted will.

-Tirukkural

235)

The impressions of past action, stored deep in the mind, are the seeds of desire.

They ripen into action in seen and unseen ways--if not in this life, then in a future one.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

237) Self-control will place a man among the Gods,

While lack of it will lead him into deepest darkness.

-Tirukkural

238)

The eradication of the craving for personal separateness is Liberation.

-Sankara

239) What is truthfulness? It is the speaking of words

Which are entirely free from harmful effects?

-Tirukkural

240) Those who are free from arrogance, anger, and lust

Will prosper in great dignity.

-Tirukkural

241) Those men who for others' disgrace and their own feel equally ashamed

Are regarded by the world as the abode of modesty.

The great would rather defend themselves with modesty's barricade

Than breach it to acquire the vast world itself.

-Tirukkural

242) Knowledge born of the finest discrimination takes us to the farthest shore. It is intuitive, omniscient, and beyond all divisions of time and space.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

243) Peace be to earth and to airy spaces!

Peace be to heaven, peace be to the waters,

peace to the plants and peace to the trees!

May all the Gods grant to me peace!

By this invocation of peace may be diffused!

-Atharva Veda

244) To those who have dispelled all doubt and perceive Truth,

Heaven is nearer than earth.

-Tirukkural

245) Only the man without desire

Sees without seeing,

Speaks without speaking,

Knows without knowing.

-Ashtavakra Gita

246)

Self-control will place a man among the Gods,

While lack of it will lead him into deepest darkness.

-Tirukkural

247) There is no greater dignity than that of the man who declares,

"I will never cease in laboring to advance my family."

Perseverance and sound understanding--

These two are what exalt a man's family.

When a man declares he will advance his family,

God Himself will wrap His robes and lead the way.

-Tirukkural

248) The Atman is the witness-consciousness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theater, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence.

-Panchadashi

249) Like a silkworm weaving

her house with love

from her marrow,

and dying

in her body's threads

winding tight, round

and round,

I burn

desiring what the heart desires.

-Mahadeviyakka

250) What is stupidity? It is that vanity

Which dares to declare, "I am wise."

He who pretends to knowledge that he does not possess

Raises doubts as to those things that he really knows.

-Tirukkural

251) If men are disposed to spread the faults of friends,

What deadly harm might they do to strangers?

-Tirukkural

252)

To trust a stranger without investigation invites troubles

so endless that even descendants must endure them.

Without investigation, trust no one. Having investigated,

entrust a man with matters for which he is trustworthy.

To trust a man who has not been tested and to suspect a man

who has proven trustworthy lead alike to endless ills.

-Tirukkural

253) Those whose hearts are drawn toward compassion

Will never be drawn into the dark and woeful world.

Evil deeds dreaded by the soul will not afflict

The compassionate who foster and protect all life.

-Tirukkural

254) To commit no wrong, even against one's enemies,

Is said to be supreme wisdom.

Only the forgetful plot another's ruin; others remember

That virtue itself devises a plotter's downfall.

-Tirukkural

255) The states of sattva, rajas, and tamas come from me, but I am not in them. These three gunas deceive the world: people fail to look beyond them to me, supreme and imperishable. The three gunas make up my divine maya, difficult to overcome. But they cross over this maya who take refuge in me. Others are deluded by maya; performing evil deeds, they have no devotion to me. Having lost all discrimination, they follow the way of their lower nature.

256)

Though you speak unkind words to a man's face,

Do not speak words behind his back heedless of consequent harm.

Though every word is full of kindly virtue,

A man's mean back-biting will betray his empty heart.

If a man spreads tales of others' faults,

His own worst faults will be exposed and spread.

-Tirukkural

257) Though you guard it well, what destiny does not decree disappears.

Though you cast it aside, what fate calls yours will not depart.

-Tirukkural

258) There is a benefit even in misfortune, for it is the rod

With which a man can measure the loyalty of friends.

-Tirukkural

259)  Liberation is only being rid of the idea that there is anyone who needs liberation.

-Ramesh Balsekar

260) The benevolent expect no return for their dutiful giving.

How can the world ever repay the rain cloud?

It is to meet the needs of the deserving

That the worthy labor arduously to acquire wealth.

-Tirukkural

261) Speaking to an audience of understanding men

Is like watering a bed of growing plants.

Those who speak good things to good and learned gatherings

Should never say them to ignorant groups, even forgetfully.

Speaking before men of alien mind

Is like pouring sweet nectar down a drain.

-Tirukkural

262) Should the heavens dry up, worship here of the heavenly ones

In festivals and daily rites would wither.

Unless the heavens grant their gifts, neither the giver's generosity

Nor the ascetic's aloofness will grace this wide world.

No life on earth can exist without water,

And the ceaseless flow of that water cannot exist without rain.

-Tirukkural

263) If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you.

-Ramana Maharshi

264) Seek out and befriend those who speak and move you to repent,

Reprove your wrong-doing and teach you the right ways.

-Tirukkural

265) Seek out and befriend those who speak and move you to repent,

Reprove your wrong-doing and teach you the right ways.

-Tirukkural

266) Neglecting valuable advice, an ignorant man

becomes the cause of his own misery.

That soul who neither follows another's orders nor fathoms what to do himself creates nothing but torment until he leaves this life.

-Tirukkural

267) Self-control will place a man among the Gods,

While lack of it will lead him into deepest darkness.

Guard your self-control as a precious treasure,

For there is no greater wealth in life than this.

-Tirukkural

268) Silent about virtue and swift to act wrongly,

one who does not slander others may still be called good.

More vile than violating virtue and committing crime

is slandering a man, then smiling to his face.

269)

He who utters the Name of God while walking

gets the merit of a sacrifice at every step.

His body becomes a place of pilgrimage.

He who repeats God's Name while working

always finds perfect peace.

He who utters the Name of God while eating

gets the merit of a fast

even though he has taken his meals.

-Tukaram

270) There is no baser folly than the infatuation

That looks upon the transient as if it were everlasting.

-Tirukkural

272) Not killing is the first and foremost good.

The virtue of not lying comes next.

-Tirukkural

273) The laws of life are five:

Nonviolence,

Truthfulness,

Integrity,

Chastity,

Nonattachment.

These laws are universal. Unaffected by time, place, birth, or circumstance, together they constitute the "Great Law of Life."

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

274) It is harmful to make a multitude of foes,

But it is ten times worse

To give up the friendship of the worthy.

-Tirukkural

275) Love alone will abide thee.

-Tamil Proverb

276) How swiftly men perish who praise themselves, unappraised of

Their real measure and unable to live peacefully with others.

Load too many of them and even peacock feathers

Would break the cart's axle.

-Tirukkural

277) Destiny's last days may surge with oceanic change,

Yet men deemed perfectly good remain, like the shore, unchanged.

-Tirukkural

278)

Dark One, hear me, I am mad with visions. Eaten up by separation, I wander from place to place covered in ash and clothed in skins. My body is wasting all because of you. Distraught and desperate, I go from forest to forest. Immortal and Unborn One, visit your beggar. Extinguish her pain with your pleasurable touch. Mira says: "End this coming and going. Let me forever embrace your sweet feet."

-Mirabai

279) When you are with someone you love very much, you can talk and it is pleasant, but the reality is not in the conversation. It is in simply being together. Meditation is the highest form of prayer. In it you are so close to God that you don't need to say a thing--it is just great to be together.

-Swami Chetananda

280) Through self-effort and self-knowledge make the mind no-mind. Let infinite Consciousness swallow the finite mind, and then go beyond everything.

-Maharamayana

281) As the earth fares under a rainless sky,

So do a people languish under an unkind king.

Possessions are less pleasant than poverty

To the oppressed living under an unjust king.

If the king acts contrary to justice, contrary seasons will befall

And rain-laden clouds will not come forth.

If the people's protector fails to protect,

Priests will forget the Vedas and cows' milk will dry up.

-Tirukkural

282) Evil deeds dreaded by the soul will not afflict

The compassionate who foster and protect all life.

This wide and wind-swept fertile earth is witness to the truth

That misery is not for men who keep compassion.

-Tirukkural

283) Cultivate modesty in the midst of good fortune,

But in times of adversity preserve your dignity.

-Tirukkural

284) Investigate well, show favor to none, maintain impartiality,

consult the law, then give judgment--that is the way of justice.

-Tirukkural

285) Bodies come and go like clothes.

-Sankara

287) If a man inflicts sorrow on another in the morning,

Sorrow will come to him unbidden in the afternoon.
-Tirukkural

288) But what makes these 'experts' preach their own opinion and call it truth?" asked the inquirer. "Is it an inheritance of humankind to do this, or is it merely something they gain satisfaction from?"

"Apart from consciousness," answered the Buddha, "no absolute truths exist. False reasoning declares one view to be true and another view wrong. It is delight in their dearly held opinions that makes them assert that anyone who disagrees is bound to come to a bad end. But no true seeker becomes embroiled in all this. Pass by peacefully and go a stainless way, free from theories, lusts, and dogmas."

-Majjhima Nikaya

289) Disparaging words pain a man even when uttered in jest.

Therefore, those who know human nature are courteous even to their enemies.

-Tirukkural

290) The highest form of grace is silence.

-Swami Chinmayananda

291) The continuous and unbroken awareness of the indwelling presence, the inner light of consciousness, is the supreme meditation and devotion.

-Maharamayana

292)

A superior being does not render evil for evil. Never harm the wicked or the good or even criminals meeting death. A noble soul is always compassionate, even toward those who enjoy injuring others or who are actually committing cruel deeds--for who is without fault?

-Ramayana

293) You really have to know your own fundamental mind before you can stop and rest.

If you know your mind and arrive at the fundamental, that is like space merging with space.

-Ta-tu

294) All knowledge acquired through the five senses is worthless

To those without knowledge of truth.

In everything of every kind whatsoever,

Wisdom perceives Truth in that thing.

Those who find Divine Truth in this world

Follow a path which never comes back to this world.

Those who think with certitude and ponder well that which is,

Need never think of being born again.

-Tirukkural

295) At all times and to all creatures

The seed of ceaseless births is desire.

If you must desire, desire freedom from birth.

That will only come by desiring desirelessness.

-Tirukkural

296) If one clings to his attachments, refusing to let go,

Sorrows will not let go their grip on him.

Those who renounce totally reach the highest peak;

The rest remain ensnared in delusion's net.

-Tirukkural

297) Birth ceases when all attachments are severed;

Otherwise, one beholds unceasingly the transitoriness of life.

Attach yourself to Him who is free from all attachments.

Bind yourself to that bond in order that all other bonds may be broken.

-Tirukkural

298) Men who conduct themselves virtuously

Are incapable of voicing harmful words, even forgetfully.

-Tirukkural

299) In the light of the Sun

there is no difference between day and night.

In the light of the Supreme Truth

there is no difference between Shiva and Shakti.

-Jnaneshwar

300)  Procrastination, forgetfulness, laziness and sleep--these four

Form the coveted ship which bears men to their destined ruin.

Seldom do men possessed by sloth achieve anything special,

Even when supported by the earth's wealthy proprietors.

The lazy ones, inept in noble exertion,

Invite sharp scoldings and must endure the shame of scornful words.

-Tirukkural

301) Is not modesty the jewel of the great? Without it,

Is not their strut an affliction for the eye to behold?

Those men who for others' disgrace and their own

feel equally ashamed

Are regarded by the world as the abode of modesty.

-Tirukkural

302) Ignorance is the failure to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent, the pure and the impure, bliss and suffering, the Self and the non-Self.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

303) Humility is the strength of the strong and the weapon

With which the wise conquer their foes.
-Tirukkural

304) For fair-faced maidens virtue's modesty brings bashfulness,

But the deeper modesty shies away from wrongful deeds.

-Tirukkural

305) Birth decrees to all men who live a common circumstance.

Diverse actions define their unique specialness.

Lowly men are never high, even when elevated.

High souls are never low, even when downtrodden.
-Tirukkural

306) To be shameless, uninquisitive, loveless and uncaring

Are the fool's four failings.

No fool is more foolish than one who eagerly expounds

His learning to others while failing to follow it himself.

-Tirukkural

307) One who has attained complete discrimination between the subtlest level of mind and the Self has no higher knowledge to acquire.

This is dharma megha samadhi--the state of the Unclouded Truth.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

308) The bonds that good men share, like good bound books,

Reveal new enjoyments at each new encounter.

The object of friendship is not merrymaking

But a stern rebuking when friends go astray.

It is not constant meeting and companionship

But mutual sensibilities that confer the alliance of friendship.

Friendship is not seen on a friendly face,

But felt deep within a friendly heart.

-Tirukkural

309) If a man's kindred cleave to him with unfailing love,

His fortunes will never fail to flourish.

-Tirukkural

310) Don't wave lights and incense, or offer flowers and food. He is found effortlessly when worshipped through self-realization alone.

-Maharamayana

311) Being touched by one's children is a delight to the body,

And listening to them chatter is a joy to the ear.

-Tirukkural

312) The deeper a sand-well is dug the freer is its flow of water.

Even so, the deeper a man's learning the greater is his wisdom.

-Tirukkural

313) If a man considers that he is born, he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body that is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find from where thoughts emerge. Then you will be able to abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.

-Ramana Maharshi

314) The world commends the civility of those

who combine fruitful effort and kindly benevolence.

Disparaging words are painful even when uttered in jest.

Hence, knowers of human nature are courteous even to enemies.

-Tirukkural

315) Those who honorably pursue glory never act ingloriously,

even if glorious fame is to be gained.

Cultivate modesty in the midst of good fortune,

but in times of adversity preserve your dignity.

-Tirukkural

316) Oh my heart! The Supreme Spirit, the Great Master, is near you. Wake up! Wake up! Run to the feet of your Beloved, for your Lord is here. You have slept for untold ages, this morning will you not awake?

-Kabir

317) Virtue is living in such a way that one does not fall into these four:

Envy, anger, greed and unsavory speech.

Don't tell yourself tomorrow you'll be wise enough to practice virtue.

Do it now, for it will be your deathless companion when you die.

-Tirukkural

318) The virtuous householder supports the needs

Of renunciates, ancestors and the poor.

The foremost duty of family life is to duly serve these five:

God, guests, kindred, ancestors and one's self.

-Tirukkural

319) To see God everywhere you have to have special eyes, otherwise you cannot bear the shock.

-Neem Karoli Baba

320) Perseverance generates prosperity,

and the lack of it engenders poverty.

They say the black ogress called Misfortune lurks in laziness,

while Goddess Fortune lingers in the laboring toils of active men.

-Tirukural

321) Those who find Divine Truth in this world

Follow a path which never comes back to this world.

Those who think with certitude and ponder well that which is,

Need never think of being born again.

-Tirukkural

322) No worldly delight is comparable to the delight that will fill your heart when you completely abandon all hopes and desires.

-Maharamayana

323) When family life possesses love and virtue,

That is both its essence and fruition.

Among those who strive for liberation, the foremost are they

Who live the blessed state of family life as it should be lived.

-Tirukkural

324) Not allowing a day to pass without doing some good

is a boulder that will block your passage on the path to rebirth.

Only virtuous deeds abound in true joy.

All other deeds are empty and devoid of distinction.

-Tirukkural

326) Let all thoughts be thoughts of noble progress,

For then even failing cannot be called a failure.

-Tirukkural

327) He who pursues the householder's life well here on earth

Will be placed among the Gods there in heaven.

-Tirukkural

328) Loving kindness and birth to lofty kindred -

These two confer on one a gracious manner.

That their limbs look alike does not render likeness among humans.

Real similarities derive from similarly civil features.

-Tirukkural

329) If all the land were turned to paper and all the seas turned to ink, and all the forests into pens to write with, they would still not suffice to describe the greatness of the guru.

-Kabir

330) The following is a Diwali blessing by Swami Chidanand Saraswati (Muniji):

May the light of love and devotion shine brightly in your hearts.

May the light of understanding shine in your minds.

May the light of harmony glow in your home.

May the light of service shine forth ceaselessly from your hands.

May the light of peace emanate from your being.

May your presence light the lamps of love and peace wherever you go.

May your smile, your words and your actions be as sweet as the sweets of this festive season.

May Maha Laxmi bring you the true wealth of health, happiness, peace and spiritual upliftment.

331) The fairest graciousness, they say, is a kindly look.

Wherever it thrives, the whole world flourishes.

-Tirukkural

331)  Flow with whatever may happen

and let your mind be free;

Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.

This is the ultimate.

-Chuang Tsu

332)  Poverty, the cruelest of demons, deprives a man

Of every joy in this life as well as the next.

-Tirukkural

333) He who does not long for joy in joy

Will not suffer sorrow in sorrow.

He who does not distinguish pain from pleasure

Becomes so distinguished even enemies hope to pay homage.

-Tirukkural

334) Liberation cannot be achieved except through perceiving the identity of the individual spirit with the Universal Spirit. Atman and Brahman are identical. Their essence is pure Consciousness.

-Sankara

335) Dread hatred from within and defend yourself against it.

In calamitous times it will cut deeper than a potter's knife.

-Tirukkural

336) However prosperous it may seem, all wealth gained

By loss of rightness must be relinquished that very day.

-Tirukkural

337) To the heavens be peace, to the sky and the earth,

to the waters be peace, to plants and all trees,

to the Gods be peace, to Brahman be peace,

to all men be peace, again and again

--peace be also to me!

-Atharva Veda

338) Do not disparage men who appear small, for there are those,

Seemingly insignificant, who are like the linchpin of a mighty chariot.

-Tirukkural

339) Pleasant words fall from the lips of virtuous men,

Full of tenderness and free from deceit.

Better than a gift given with a joyous heart

Are sweet words spoken with a cheerful smile?

-Tirukkural

340) Learn to look with an equal eye upon all things, seeing the one Self in all.

-Srimad Bhagavatam

341)

Like a tortoise withdrawing five limbs into its shell, those who

Restrain the five senses in one life, will find safe shelter for seven.

-Tirukkural

342) In a war of words none can defeat an eloquent man

Who never succumbs to fear or confusion.

Upon finding men whose forceful speech is couched

In cogent and enchanting ways, the world swiftly gathers around.

Unaware of the artful use of a few flawless words,

Men become enamored with excessive syllables.

Men who cannot communicate their knowledge to others

Resemble a bouquet of unfragrant flowers in full bloom.

-Tirukkural

343)
 Give to the poor and become praiseworthy.

Life offers no greater reward than this.

Those who expound will always praise

people who bestow alms on the imploring poor.

-Tirukkural

344) If you return kindness for injuries received and forget both,

Those who harmed you will be punished by their own shame.

-Tirukkural

345) He who has not attained the power yet wears the garb of saints

Is like a cow that grazes about wearing a tiger's skin.

He who conceals himself beneath saintly robes and commits sins

Is like the hunter who hides in the bushes to snare unwary birds

-Tirukkural

346) Excessive anger is a great harm, but greater still is

The unmindfulness born of excessive pleasure.

Just as perpetual poverty slowly slays one's knowledge,

So does frequent forgetfulness destroy one's prestige.

-Tirukkural

347) Charity's merit cannot be measured by gifts given.

It is measured by measuring the receiver's merits.

-Tirukkural

348) Greatness is always humble. But pettiness

is self-adorned with words of praise.

Greatness abides in the absence of arrogance.

Smallness proudly parades its haughtiness.

Greatness conceals through silence the weaknesses of others.

But pettiness proclaims such things to all.

-Tirukkural

349) Even though he has no learning, if a man but listens to the learned

That will be his staff of strength in adversity.

Words from the lips of upright men

Are like a steadying staff in a slippery place.

-Tirukkural

350) They say it is to know union with love

That the soul takes union with the body.

Love makes a man affectionate toward all,

And affection affords the priceless treasure of friendship.

They say love's greatness is this: it yields to good families

Worldly happiness here and heavenly bliss there.

-Tirukkural

351) Inwardly be free of all hopes and desires, but outwardly do what needs to be done. Without hopes in your heart, live as if you were full of hopes. Live with your heart now cool and now warm, just like everyone else. Inwardly give up the idea "I am the doer," yet outwardly engage in all activities. This is how to live in the world, completely free from the least trace of ego.

-Maharamayana

352) The most precious wealth is the wealth acquired by the ear

Indeed, of all wealth that wealth is the crown.

Only when no nourishment exists for the ear

Is it time to offer the stomach a morsel.

-Tirukkural

353) Prosperous as his life may appear, unless a man

measures well his wealth, it will disappear without a trace.

How swiftly a generous man's riches dwindle and die,

if he does not evaluate the limits of his means.

-Tirukkural

354) If the chimney is full of smoke, how can the light be seen? If the mind is full of dirt, how can the soul shine?

-Yogaswami of Jaffna

355) Never say in weakness, "This task is too difficult,"

For perseverance will give the ability to accomplish it.

-Tirukkural

356) In the hands of a benevolent man,

Wealth is like a medicinal tree whose healing gifts help all.

-Tirukkural

357) Everything has to be the way it is and could not possibly be any other way.

-Maharamayana

358) He who has amassed great wealth but does not enjoy it

is reckoned as dead, like his unused heap.

Believing wealth is everything, yet giving away nothing,

the miser himself will be possessed by a miserable birth.

-Tirukkural

359) Forget anger toward all who have offended you,

For from anger springs a multitude of wrongs.

The face's smile and the heart's joy are slain by anger.

Does there exist a greater enemy than one's own anger?

-Tirukkural

360)  Can any lock keep love confined within,

When the loving heart's tiny tears escape and confess it?

The unloving belong only to themselves,

But the loving belong to others to their very bones.

-Tirukkural

361) If his countenance is harsh and access to him is hard,

A man's wealth, however vast, might as well belong to a demon.

If he is unkind and speaks cruelly,

A man's lofty wealth cannot last long--it ends right there.

Virulent language and overly severe punishment,

Like a keen file, grind down a king's conquering powers.

-Tirukkural

362) Don't think about ideas such as bondage and liberation, simply abandon all craving and through wisdom and dispassion bring about the cessation of the mind. Even if the wish "may I be liberated" arises, the mind will come back to life.

-Maharamayana