Quotes by Swami Brahmananda (an enlightened disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and a Gurubhai/brother-disciple of Swami Vivekananda)

These quotes have been collected from the book “Spiritual teachings of Swami Brahmananda” published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras in 1933. I bought this book from amazon.com.

1. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “He who has totally given up carnal enjoyments for the sake of God has already covered three-fourths of his journey.” Is it easy to renounce all enjoyments? Only if a man has God’s grace and has done severe tapas (spiritual discipline) in his past life, can he acquire the strength required for renunciation. Purify your mind in such a way that vile thoughts may not rise in it at all.
2. Our shastras (religious scriptures) say that by observing brahmacharya for twelve years very strictly, God becomes easy to realise. This is very difficult. I can tell you from my own experience I have learned that no true meditation is possible without real brahmacharya. It is very difficult to get control over the sukshma vasanas (subtle passions), so the rules for sannyasins are very strict. The sannyasin should not even look at a woman. By seeing one, a picture is formed in the mind. When we see anything beautiful to the senses, our natural instinct is to enjoy it. So we unconsciously enjoy in our mind. This is very injurious. If a sadhu sees a woman in a dream or gets night pollution, he has to make prayaschittam (repentance). He has to take little food the next day or no food at all and he has to make penance by making japam for thousands of times. Without brahmacharya the mind will not gain the power to meditate. The mind will be thinking of this or that and will not think of His feet. You will not get the correct imagination. When you develop brahmacharya you will see everything in a different light. Everything will look fresh to you. By observing brahmacharya, ojas is aroused in you. Science also says the same thing.
3. Renunciation being the vital factor in attaining peace and happiness, everything should be given up for the sake of God. Unbroken brahmacharya (continence) is also requisite for one seeking the Lord. A man without continence is no better than an animal. Discrimination is the trait which distinguishes man from the brute. Man can realise God if he strives for it, but the brute cannot, being a complete slave of the senses.
4. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “He who has denied himself for the sake of God has a strong and undisputed claim on Him.” … Oh, how inexpressible that joy! How boundless that bliss! He alone knows it who has had that supreme experience. Compared to it, worldly pleasures, so dear to most people, become insipid and worthless.
5. First of all, be firm in your devotion to the practice of brahmacharya (continence). Everything else will come by itself. Perfection in continence cannot be attained without sadhana (spiritual practices); and without perfect continence, realisation of God is impossible. Unless God is realised, real bliss cannot be had, and without real bliss, human life will be spent in vain. You are all young boys – with pure minds and noble aspirations. I beg of you, my dear ones, do a little sadhana and you will see how shraddha (faith) and bhakti (devotion) will be roused within you. You will become heirs of immortal bliss; you will be blessed with the vision of your ishtam (chosen ideal), with the vision of God. You will then attain to the ultimate goal of human life.
6. All worldly pleasures become insipid to him who gets a taste of Divine bliss. What is there in the world? Be it name or fame, wealth or children – nothing can bring peace to man. These only add to his misery and anxiety. Why have you come here, leaving your family and home? Is it to increase your burden or to lessen it? All the objects of enjoyment that you see before you vanish the moment you breathe your last. To speak the truth, they only tend to take you into greater and greater darkness. Do you want to tread the path of darkness or light? When you have once got a glimpse of the light, you should not turn your face from it. Do not look at the things of the world. If you do so, you will get lost in them. So great is the influence of desires that if they once leave an impression on your mind, they will drag you down lower and lower; yet they will not let you feel your downward course. The only way to be saved from these dangers is to offer yourself solely to God.
7. Without strict brahmacharya, it is not possible for anyone to hold fast to great ideals. To secure the full development and vitality of body, brain and mind, brahmacharya is essential. Those who observe strict brahmacharya develop a strong memory and a remarkable capacity for understanding. By means of brahmacharya, a special nerve is developed which brings about these wonderful powers. Do you know why our great teachers have laid so much emphasis on brahmacharya? It is because they knew that if a man fails in this respect, everything is lost. The strict brahmacharin does not lose his vitality. He may not look like a pahalwan (a great athlete) but the development of his brain is so fine that his capacity for grasping supersensuous things is remarkable.
8. There are certain rules which a brahmacharin must observe. He must avoid exciting food, over-sleep, over-exercise, laziness, bad company and evil conversation. If you indulge in idle talk your brain gets excited, you cannot control your thoughts, and you suffer from sleeplessness and other troubles.
9. The control of appetite is also essential for brahmacharya practice. Otherwise you will be subject to many troubles. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “Keep your bhudi (stomach) and mudi (brain) cool.” It means you can do effective work only if your head and stomach remain calm and cool. The glutton who has no control over his appetite brings ruin on his body and mind. Eating too much of such foods as garlic, onion, or chilli, excites the system, and one finds it extremely hard to control the mind. I believe that those who want to lead a spiritual life should pay special attention to what they eat and drink. It is desirable to take only nutritious and easily digestible food. There is no good in overloading the stomach.
10. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “You may eat as much as you like during the day, but you must eat only sparingly at night.”
11. Great strength can be acquired through the practice of brahmacharya (continence). A true brahmacharin can do the work of twenty-five men.
12. Unless one spends some time in solitude, one cannot understand the workings of the mind and realise the Truth. It is very difficult to grow spiritually along any particular line in the midst of tumult and confusion.
13. One great thing to be considered is kripa (divine grace). The breeze of His grace is always blowing. Only unfurl your sails and you will have it. How can you catch the breeze if you keep your sails furled? Hoist them now and do not delay any longer. Give up your desires for worldly enjoyments, your hankering for name and fame, and fully resign yourself to the Lord. It is quite impossible to enjoy worldly pleasures and at the same time realise God. You cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time. If you want to realise God, you must renounce worldly pleasures. If, on the other hand, you desire to enjoy temporal pleasures, you will have to give up God. Do not keep your feet in two boats, as they say. If you do, you will only make yourself miserable. You must have a clear conception of your life’s ideal. Decide now what life you want to lead. Should it be this fleeting life of transient pleasures or the everlasting life of eternal bliss?
14. When once you get established in meditation, you will come to know how sweet is the bliss of it. Days and nights pass away unnoticed. You feel that you are floating in an ocean of infinite bliss. Do not speak about your experiences to everybody, least of all to those of a contrary nature. It may hinder your growth. But if you exchange your experiences with one of a like nature with yours and in harmony with your temperament, you may be helped in your progress. Both of you are travellers on the same path. Perhaps your companion has already walked along it and is aware of its dangers and difficulties. Benefitted by his experiences, you may be able to avoid those dangers and difficulties.
15. Unless you can fix your mind on God, you will find it very difficult to keep yourself pure in this world. Mahamaya (The Divine Mother) sports in diverse ways and it is not easy to withstand the innumerable temptations created by Her. Lust, anger, greed are almost invincible; to conquer them is no child’s play. Through the strength of the Lord alone, not by any other means, can you cut the meshes of Maya and make yourself free.
16. You must have a routine for spiritual practices. Nistha (steadfastness) is a very important factor; without it no great achievement is possible. Your steadfastness should be of such a nature that, wherever and under whatever circumstances you may be, the rules that you have laid down for yourself must be observed at any cost. For your meditation, your study, your reflection, your sleep, you must have certain definite hours. If you lead an irregular life, you cannot succeed in anything. Whether it is physical or mental development, the only way to attain is through a strictly regular life.
17. So long as your mind is not controlled there is great need to observe certain definite rules. Without them you can never get mastery over your mind. The natural tendency of the mind is to shirk work; but when you have made a routine, you must tell your mind, “You are subject to this rule now; whether you like it or not, you must observe it.” In this way, you should try to bring the mind under control. When you have succeeded in this, you need not observe any more rules. They will fall off of their own accord.
18. Life is fast flowing away like a stream. The day that is once gone can never be recalled. So make the best use of your time. Crying out, “Alas! Alas!!” at the last moment will be of no avail. Therefore be up and doing. Make up your mind to realise your goal or die in the attempt. Death is certain. It may come today or tomorrow. If you lose your life in trying to attain God, it is no loss, but a positive gain.
19. Try to fix your mind on the Lord and firmly resolve to realise Him. What happiness is there in this world? It is all nothing but sorrow and misery. Treat it as worthless. You must go beyond all sorrow and misery. If you get a glimpse of God, you will have Infinite Bliss; and sensuous pleasures will lose all charm for you. When you once come to the Lord, there will be no room for fear or anxiety. Give up all things of the world and dwell on Him and Him alone.
20. The Lord has given man both Vidya(knowledge) and Avidya (ignorance). Vidya means discrimination and renunciation. With it man may attain the grace of the Lord; while avidya, which means lust, anger, greed, egoism and envy, degrades man to the level of the brute. The culture of vidya destroys avidya and makes man fit for Supreme Bliss; but the growth of avidya strengthens the idea of “I” and “mine”, and binds him more and more to the world. He is taken further and further away from God, and has to bear many sorrows and difficulties. Man possesses not only vidya and avidya, but also the power to discriminate between the two. On the nature of his choice depends the success or failure of his life.
21. As you think, so you become. With the help of discrimination and renunciation, realise God, and become heir to Infinite Bliss. If you run after worldly things, you may no doubt enjoy sensuous pleasures for a time; but you may be sure your future will be dark and gloomy and you will have to pass through endless suffering. The world is so constituted that, if you want pleasure, you must undergo pain. Whether you like it or not, you cannot have the one without the other.
22. An aspirant should not feel dejected in spirit, brooding on his failures and mistakes. However great a sin a man may have committed, it is a sin only to the limited vision of man; from the absolute standpoint, from the standpoint of God, it is nothing at all. A single glance of the Lord sets at nought all the sins of millions of births. The heavy punishments prescribed for sin in the Scriptures are merely to maintain social order and to make people refrain from the evil ways of life. God, our Father, is ever merciful to us. He is ever loving to His children. His Name removes all evils. Therefore, there is no cause for dejection if we call upon Him sincerely.
23. For various reasons brahmacharya is most essential. If you have the desire to turn your mind to God and realise Him, perform spiritual practices based on brahmacharya.
24. Do you know what Nag Mahashaya used to say? “It is easier to earn fame than to renounce it. He who can renounce it is a really great man.” He also said: “An anchored boat does not move forward.” He meant, a man whose mind is deep-rooted in lust and gold cannot move Godward unless he can free himself from their deluding influence through austere sadhana. God and pleasure-seeking cannot go together. If you want the one you have to banish the other.
25. It is good to remain unmarried. Those who keep brahmacharya gain extraordinary powers. Only through such men do supernatural or divine powers manifest themselves.
26. DEVOTEE – These ideas about brahmacharya are known only among brahmin boys. As young boys they are called brahmacharis, but now it has become a mere farce. Maharajji, cannot these ideas be made known to all castes? THE SWAMI – Yes, but brahmacharya should be accompanied by sadhana (spiritual practice). Otherwise brahmacharya cannot stand.
27. What Sri Ramakrishna has taught us by His own life is that there is no other path to attain God by through tyaga (renunciation). By running after sense enjoyments, man becomes degraded to the level of the brute. If you want to be a man, practise renunciation; love and realise Him. Renouncing momentary pleasures fits you for Supreme Happiness. By renunciation is meant giving up all sense pleasures of this life. Take shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord; become mad with love and devotion for Him. Look at the life of Sri Ramakrishna and be a man in the best sense of the term.
28. There is nothing without, everything is within. The music without is trivial compared with the music within. Oh, the charm of it, the sweetness!
29. You are young boys, innocent and guileless. Worldliness has not yet left its impress on your mind. If you will be up and doing now, you can escape from the clutches of the trials and tribulations of worldly life. See that your principles are fixed even now. If it is not done now, it will never be done. Mere skipping on the surface will be of no avail. Hold to your ideal; hold fast, and never loosen your grip. To the man who has accepted God as the be-all and end-all of life, who has forsaken all desires and cravings for sensual enjoyments – to him God is very near. Such a man binds God with the ties of his love as Yasoda and the Gopis did.
30. You are all brahmacharins (unmarried). You will not marry, you have pledged your life to God, sacrificing pleasures, enjoyments and all for His sake. But bear in mind that it is very hard to lead a pure and unsullied life. It is not so easy as you young boys take it to be. Do you know what it is like? It is like walking on the edge of a drawn sword. Every moment there is the chance of a fall, of being sliced to pieces. Perfect continence is the only condition of success in this life. And it is difficult, nay impossible, to practise absolute purity without love and faith in God. You have to live in a world full of passions and enjoyments. Every day you have to see before you more than ninety-nine per cent of people running mad after sensual pleasures; there is constant risk of your mind being contaminated with evil thoughts. If your mind becomes tainted by them, there is no hope for you. Those who want to lead a life of brahmacharya (continence) should always engage their minds in thinking good thoughts, studying good books and in discussing elevating subjects. They must spend their time in worship of God, service of holy men, in the company of pious people, and in the practice of meditation and other kinds of spiritual discipline. This is the only way to mould one’s character.
31. Hear me, my boys. You are all born of good families and are well educated. You have had enough of study, argument and discussion; why care for more? Now compose your mind and fix it on God. Say to your mind: “Plunge into the ocean of God.” You have given up the world. If again you remain busy with trash and do not dedicate yourself to God, you will lose both this world and the next. Through the grace of the Lord you have got noble thoughts and aspirations. Make the best use of this Divine grace. Do not sacrifice the infinite bliss of God for the sake of the ephemeral pleasures of the world. Pray to the Lord, “Grant me, O Lord! the necessary strength to overcome all the obstacles that stand in my way to You.”
32. Do you know the object of satsang (company of holy men)? The experiences of holy men are a great help to a sadhaka. When you visit a new place, if you have the help of a good guide, you will be able to see within a short time all that is worth seeing there; also you will be saved from the dangers and difficulties into which strangers are likely to fall. Similarly, from the company of advanced sadhaks you will be able to gather many valuable hints, and your spiritual struggle will be very much simplified. The intelligence of an ordinary person does not go very far. Life is short and many things have to be done. So you must find out the best way of doing your work within as short a time as possible. Hence the need of holy company.
33. It is a great mistake to hold God responsible for your sufferings. You chose a path according to your own will and pleasure, and now enjoy the consequence of your choice. How can you blame God? For a moment’s pleasure you forgot everything else; you did not pause to consider right and wrong. If you put your hand into the fire it will naturally get burned. Is it the fault of the fire? No. You alone are responsible for it. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: “A lamp is burning. Some may read Bhagavatam (Sacred Scriptures) by its light, while others may forge a document or do some other mischief. The lamp is not to blame for it.” The Lord has placed before man the two paths – good and evil. Choose as you please.
34. Without tormenting yourself, work hard, my boy, then you will find joy. In the beginning you are to drudge on as if you were learning the alphabet. Do not worry, do not complain, gradually peace will come. Do you know how I behave with those who always complain that they are not finding peace or joy? For the first two or three years after their initiation I give no reply, nor do I pay heed to them. After that, when they meet me, they tell me that they are making some progress and also finding some joy and peace. A man must try steadily for some time before he can expect a peaceful state of mind. Therefore I ask you to struggle for a period of at least three years without any break; then you can have a claim to joy and not earlier. You will not do anything and yet you want to succeed. Is it not absurd? Nothing great can be achieved by trickery or idleness. If you really want peace, if you truly desire to realise God, then work steadily and wait. Spiritual realisation is a question of time.Yours is to struggle and to wait. The mother bird knows well when to open the egg. So the Divine Mother reveals Herself to the devotee when the time is ripe. Work and wait.
35. In this period of struggle and sadhana the aspirant must always be alert. He must follow certain fixed rules of conduct and never deviate from them. He must observe perfect continence and eat only such foods as have a soothing effect on his body. He will have to be under the direct guidance of one who understands. He must not exert his brain too much in meditation. Otherwise he is sure to suffer; his brain will become heated; he will feel giddy, and other brain troubles will follow. Meditation in the primary stage being regular warfare with the mind – the mind constantly going outward and the sadhaka trying to drag it back to the feet of the Lord – there is every possibility of the brain becoming overheated. The aspirant should prevent this. In the beginning of his sadhana he should apply himself to pranayama (control of breath) and other hatha-yoga exercises. He should proceed slowly and steadily in the spiritual path. Then these preliminary struggles will disappear one by one until finally he will attain to the state of real meditation. Then even though he meditates for long hours at a stretch, he will feel as refreshed both in body and mind as after deep sleep. He will also feel great joy within.
36. A beginner should sit beside holy men and listen to them with profound attention and retain their words of counsel in his memory. But it must not end there. He must try to realise what he learns from them. Bear in mind that neither talking, nor learning, nor study, will lead you to realisation, unless you practise what you hear and learn. Practice in life is not at all possible without brahmacharya or absolute continence. Hence brahmacharya is very necessary. Many attempt to realise God by studying the Scriptures; but they do not know that without brahmacharya no one can catch the spirit of the scriptures, much less realise God.
37. DISCIPLE – As to the best way of directing the mind inward to God, Sri Ramakrishna has prescribed occasional retirement into solitude – for a day or a month or for a year, as opportunity may permit; you prescribe the company of the holy. Now which of the two are we to follow – holy company or solitude? THE SWAMI – Both are true and both are to be followed. In the primary stage a man should not suddenly retire into solitude. To do so involves great danger. Many in their effort to cut off human associations have gone mad; hence great caution is necessary. It is only when a man has made some progress in the spiritual path that he can retire into solitude without danger. True solitude can be found nowhere in this world. Time, space and causation are too small to give it. It is beyond mind, beyond intellect. It can be felt only in samadhi (super-consciousness). It is identical with the Most Tranquil.
38. Another thing: as regards karma (work), you must never give it up wholly. Without it your very existence would be impossible. It can also lead you, in the end, to God-realisation. Man does not know when karma began, but he knows where it ends. Verify, with God-realisation all the shackles of karma fall off; then, no more work remains to be done. But until that state is reached you are within the bounds of karma and you have to work. By doing your karma for the sake of karma you will attain to the greatest Good.
39. You can develop your mind and make it steady in either of two ways – by retiring to a solitary retreat and making the mind absolutely unsusceptible to any change through concentration and meditation or by continually thinking good thoughts and developing love and attachment toward God. The mind is like a milch (milk) cow which gives a larger supply when fed well. Give the mind more food and you will find it giving you better service in return. And what constitutes the food of the mind? Meditation and concentration, prayer and worship, and all such practices.
40. There is a class of sadhakas who let loose their mind and keep a strong watch over its movements. The mind, after roaming here and there, nowhere finds lasting peace, consequently returns back to God and takes refuge in Him. The fact is, if you look after the mind, the mind will look after you. This being the case, it behoves you to keep a vigilant eye on the movements of the mind and analyse them with the utmost care and scrutiny. For this mental analysis no place is more suitable than a solitary retirement. It is for this purpose that the Rishis of old always selected the Himalayan retreats or the bank of the Ganges to carry on their spiritual practices. The mind has to be purged of all attachment; it must be made transparent or it will not be able to catch the reflection of God. True renunciation consists in giving up all attachment for worldy objects to which the mind is bound. When the mind is once freed from this shackle it will not be affected in the least, even though it is placed in the midst of numberless objects of sense. Hence the value of struggle. A man who has no struggle in his life is lifeless. But he who bravely faces any obstacle that comes in his way will have the reward of everlasting peace.
41. The most favourable time for meditation is the time of samyama, the hour when the day closes and night commences, and when the night closes and day breaks. At these hours Nature is calm and at rest. This is the reason why early rising forms an essential factor in the religous life of a man. At this time the sushumna nadi (the central nerve within the spinal cord) sets to work and as a result the breath passes through both nostrils – the usual course which is generally through one only, either the ida or the pingala disturbing the mind. Certain yogins always watch for the time when the sushumna starts to function and when it is actually at work, at once they will sit for meditation, leaving aside whatever they may be engaged in.
42. DISCIPLE – How shall I steady the mind, Sir? THE SWAMI – By regular daily practice you can make the mind firm and steady. And for this practice early morning is the best time. Before meditation reading from any of the holy Scriptures will make concentration easier. After meditation half an hour’s silent rest is necessary; for at the time of meditation you may not derive the desired effect; it may come a little later. Therefore it is said that if immediately after meditation you divert your attention abruptly to secular affairs, it will not only do you great harm in general, but also it will deter the growth of your mind towards spiritual realisation in particular.
43. Japam and meditation, these are the food of the mind; and their practice is what constitutes the first and foremost necessity of man. If, in the beginning, you are not able to carry on your japam and meditation in the right way, even then you must not give up the practice altogether. By practice alone you can gain a good deal. Daily two hours’ japam and meditation and then half-and-hour’s rest is what is required of everybody. Solitary retirement is also a great help to the spiritual aspirant. Simply by sitting silently in the secluded nook of a garden or on the solitary bank of a river, or on the lonely outskirt of a vast, open field, or shut up within your own closet, you can profit much. You must make a routine before you commence your spiritual practices. And you must not take upon yourself any work which may stand in the way of following the routine.
44. Engage yourself heart and soul in sadhana. Plunge into your spiritual practices. Oh, the joy of it! If you once have a taste of that joy, all else will lose its savour for you. Then, wherever and in whatever circumstances you may be placed by Providence, you will not relish anything except sadhana. True, in the very beginning you cannot have that joy; but believing in the words of your Guru, if you persist in sadhana for some time, the joy of it will descend upon you unsought.
45. Always perform your sadhana with unswerving steadfastness and do not let a single day pass by without it. Whether you wish or not, sit down on your asanam at the appointed hour every day. If you can carry on your practices for three years with such unerring regularity, I assure you that love and attachment for God will grow in you and you will feel yourself nearer to Him. Then you will be prompted from within to call upon Him and Him alone; you will not be able to turn your mind in any other direction. It is at this stage that the joy of sadhana is felt by an aspirant in his heart.
46. DISCIPLE – Maharaj, I have been trying in various ways to bring my senses under control but all are of no avail; will you tell me how I can succeed in my attempt? THE SWAMI – “I will conquer lust, I will conquer anger, greed” – if you try in this way, you will never conquer them; but if you concentrate your mind on God, the senses will of themselves be curbed without much effort on your part. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, the more you proceed eastwards, the further are you from the west; you have not to spend any energy to accomplish this. Take up this direct method; call upon God and pray to Him; then the senses will lose their venomous sting in no time.
47. Regarding moral conduct, observe these two rules; speak the truth always, and honour and worship all women as mother. Nothing more need you trouble yourself with now. The observance of these two rules will make all other moral rules living through your life.
48. DISCIPLE – Generally we find that the mind, after making some progress along the spiritual path cannot advance further: what makes it stop, venerable Sir? THE SWAMI – The weakness of the mind is solely responsible for this mental torpor. According to its capacity the mind moves on to a certain point, then stops; it cannot advance more. All minds are not of the same capacity, although all can be and must be developed. Sri Ramakrishna has said that through brahmacharya the mind can be strengthened more and more; and a strong mind never wavers even when overtaken by lust and anger. To such a mind these passions are trifles. It is firmly convinced that these can do it no harm.
49. DISCIPLE – What is the distinction between the true vision of God and hallucination? How to distinguish them, Sir? THE SWAMI – From the true vision of God results a lasting bliss; one’s own mind knows it instinctively.
50. THE SWAMI – (Seeing a small broken bottle) That bottle has been broken. This shows a bad habit of mind. You work with an unsettled mind. I fear you think of a hundred other things while engaged in work. But secular or sacred, nothing great can be achieved with an unsteady mind. Whether it is a lofty undertaking or a humble one, it must be done with the utmost care and attention. Let me tell you, those who are steady in secular work are also steady in their spiritual exercises.
51. If you desire to do work in the right manner, you must hold these two great principles in view. In the first place you  must possess a profound regard for the work undertaken, and secondly you must be quite indifferent to the fruits thereof. Then alone can you do work in the proper way. This is called the secret of karma-yoga. And you can avert all disinclination for work if you only consider it as belonging to God. It is when you forget this secret that you become disturbed in mind; with a disturbed mind, you will not succeed either in advancing spiritually or in secular work.
52. Under the impulse of name and fame, it is indeed easier to do a magnificient work, but through such work you cannot appraise the value of a man as he really is. In order to do so, you have to examine his daily actions; for it is the ordinary actions of a man which reveal the real man. Through such actions alone can you know how far the man has developed his character. A true karma-yogin (selfless worker) will lose himself heart and soul in any undertaking, even though it is of a most inferior kind. He is never actuated by the least desire of winning cheap popular applause.
53. Who cannot do a work if it is his own choice? Where then lies the difference between a karma-yogin and an ordinary layman? A karma-yogin must welcome any work that may fall to his share and gradually adjust himself to all requirements. Simply carrying on some work is not sufficient; it must be done disinterestly – in the holy Name of the Lord. A karma-yogin must keep three-fourths of his mind fixed on God, and with the remaining one-fourth he should do whatever he has to do. Follow this rule, then alone can you do your work in proper manner; your mind too will become expanded and you will feel great joy in you. But on the other hand, if you work forgetting God, egotism and pride will easily get the better of you and quarrels and dissensions will ensue, disturbing the equanimity of your mind. Therefore I tell you, whether at work or not, never forget God. To maintain this attitude, you must stick to your sadhana (spiritual discipline) by all means.
54. In the primary stage of your sadhana you should go on increasing your japam and  meditation slowly and steadily, little by little. If today you spend an hour, a few days later, devote still more, and so on. In this way you should lengthen the time of your spiritual practice, more and more every day. But in momentary enthusiasm you must never increase your japam and meditation by leaps and bounds. If you violate this law, I warn you, you will suffer badly: the reaction from the sudden increase will be too severe for you to bear unmoved; consequently you are likely to undergo terrible depression of  mind. Then you will have no more inclination for japam and meditation. It is an arduous task to lift up a depressed mind and turn it back to sadhana once again.
55. In the beginning of your sadhana you must not let yourself be swayed by any desire for enjoyment. For you, now is the time for complete abstinence, for controlling all desires. By the grace of the Lord when you are once well established in this practice, then you will have no more fear of being stained by desires, should they rise in your mind at any time.
56. Again, those who have embraced the life of a monk after giving up their home and all, for them it is most unworthy to be actuated by the desire to exercise authority over others. For a monk such a motive is the root-cause of falling again into bondage. Therefore you must be very careful about this pitfall. Whatever you may do or see, look upon it as belonging to God and upon yourself as an instrument in His hand. Remember the words of the Gita, “Being deluded  by egotism, man calls himself the doer.”
57. Lying is yet another great sin. Even a drunkard or a man who frequents places of ill fame can be trusted, but not the one who lies. It is the blackest of all sins in this world.
58. You must never find fault with others nor criticize them. Such a habit is extremely detrimental to one’s own good. By thinking of the evil qualities of others day and night, they will be impressed upon your own mind; and that, at the cost of the good tendencies that you may possess. So there is no good in fault-finding! Rather, sing His glory and mix heartily with all and rejoice. But who will listen to this advice? It is very bad for sadhus to sit in groups to find fault with others and launch a malicious crusade against them. None but the low-minded takes part in such shameful actions! Always cultivate the habit of looking at the goodness of a man and doing him honour and praising him, even though only a slight trace of goodness is to be found in him. Take it from me, my boy, if you do not show due regard for other’s greatness, your mind will never expand, nor will you ever be called great for others.
59. Man is composed of both good and bad tendencies; so do not slight another because only the evil ones are visible to you; but, considering him as your own counterpart, try to rectify him and by love draw him towards the good. Then only do you deserve to be called a man. What is the use of crying down a fellow-being!
60. DISCIPLE – Maharaj, on some days during my meditation my mind of itself becomes calm and steady, while on others I cannot make it so,, try as I may; it runs about to and fro; how to make it steady, Sir? THE SWAMI – As you see ebb and flow in the tide of the Ganges, my son, even so is the case with everything in this world. Your sadhana too has its ebb and flow. In the beginning, however, this is not to be wondered at. But stick to your sadhana. If you can carry it on for some time, the ebb and flow will stop and your mind will flow in a smooth and unobstructed current. When you are perturbed in mind and do not feel calm, then also you must sit for your usual daily exercises, and try to bring the mind under control through discrimination. The mind does not become steady all at once. You have to struggle and struggle every moment. Through struggle the mind and senses and intellect, all will surely come under control.
61. Remember, my child, since you are a sadhu, you are expected to be calm and gentle and modest and fair-spoken; goodness must flow out through every word you utter, every action you perform, through your behaviour and movements. By their contact with you, others must attain peace of mind and be drawn towards God and goodness.
62. For a year or two you will have to exert your mind to the limit of its power; thereafter meditation will become natural to you. If any day you are hard pressed with work, that day you may sit for meditation only once, or may finish it in a few minutes, say, in ten or fifteen minutes. In the event of greater pressures, fix your mind on God for a moment, then bow down to Him and close your meditation. You can do this in exceptional cases, but not always.
63. Renunciation alone can give you peace. Renounce all for His sake. Make God your own and pray to Him: “Thou art my father, Thou art my mother, Thou art my brother, Thou art my sister, Thou art my all.” Giving up all thoughts of enjoyment in this life, when you are able to pass day and night in constant thought of Him and prayer to Him, you will feel infinite joy and become a man. That joy cannot be conveyed through words. The human heart is too small to hold it. When that state of joy is attained, His grace, His love and His presence will always be felt by you.
64. What is the good of running after fleeting pleasures when you can attain eternal peace and happiness? Renouncing everything, you have taken refuge at His lotus feet with the noble aspiration of realising Him; see therefore that your life is not spent in vain.
65. Like the Buddha one should be bold. Behold, what a mighty renunciation he made! To realise God he gave up all his royal comforts without a thought. What a severe course of discipline he underwent! When, in spite of all, he could not realise God, he took his bath in the sacred Nirajana (a rivulet near Bodha Gaya), sat for the last time with this resolve: “Let this body go; but until I have attained illumination, I will not rise.” And the illumination came!