Week 450
The Saints are really more generous than even a cloud. They fulfil all desires. They turn away the minds of men from empty and insignificant things, and make them worthy of themselves.
(Chapter XI, Page 224, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 449
Ekanatha thinks that it is an extremely lucky event to meet with real saints. One may be able to know the past, the present and the future; one may be able to stop the Sun from setting; one may easily cross the ocean; but it is difficult to meet a real Saint.
(Chapter XI, Page 223-224, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 448
The efficacy of the Guru consists in the revelation to the disciple of the true way to God.
(Chapter XIX, Page 390, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 447
We should never trust people when they say that God will be realised some day during the long evolution of our lives. God must be seen forthwith, and even while the body lasts.
(Chapter XIX, Page 390, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 446
"Leave away everything and follow Him. Then only will you come to realise the secret of life. God has created all happiness, but people forget Him, and hunt after the happiness He has created. God himself has said in the Bhagavadgita : 'Leave away everything and follow Me'; but people turn a deaf ear to what He has said. Hence it is that suffer all kinds of grief.
(Chapter XIX, Page 390, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 445
Call the highest principle the Atman or Brahman as you please, the real business of the spiritual aspirant is to apprehend that principle in actual experience.
(Chapter XIX, Page 386, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 444
......People have vainly looked after the externals and have missed the God who is immanent in them. Indeed by incalculable merit alone can a man know the movements of this God. By meditating on Him, all sin would be at an end. They who have looked inside, have been saved. They who have looked outside, have all gone to perdition (Dasabodha XVIII.1.16-24)
(Chapter XIX, Page 382, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 443
What is the use of mere wandering at random...keep the company with the good; for; in the company of the good, has God been attained by many men (Dasabodha XVIII.8.1-13)
(Chapter XIX, Page 382, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 442
Of all kinds of Bhakti, Atmanivedana or Self-surrender is the best
(Chapter XIX, Page 278, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 441 (on the occasion of Krishna Jayanti)
Where there is happiness, there is energy, Where there is the Sun, there is light......Where Lord Krishna is, there is Lakshmi; and where both of them are, there are all the maidens of Lakshmi, namely, the Powers. Krishna is victory himself, and with the party with which He has sided, victory must ultimately lie. (Epilogue of the Jnaneswari)
(Chapter III, Page 138, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 440
Various Sciences have tried to take the measure of God, says Ekanatha, and yet God has remained immeasurable.
(Chapter XI, Page 227, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 439
Ekanatha tells us that real Sandhya consists merely in making obeisance to all beings with the feeling of non-difference.
(Chapter XI, Page 226, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 438
There is no saviour except Saints when a calamity befalls man; for the gods become weary of the evil- doers, but the Saints accept them also.
(Chapter XI, Page 224, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 437
Bhakti is the root, of which dispassion is the flower, and illumination the fruit.
(Chapter XI, Page 223, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 436
The Name of God gives us divine happiness. It puts an end to all diseases of body and mind. It helps us to preserve equanimity
(Chapter XI, Page 222, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 435
Seeking of wealth is one sure road to ruin. If we were to add to it the seeking of women, we do not know what may come to pass
(Chapter XI, Page 221, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 434
...disbelief is the cause of many vices. It produces egoism, and destroys the spiritual life. One may say that disbelief is the crown of all sins
(Chapter XI, Page 220, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 433
...God Himself serves him who regards his spiritual teacher as identical with God.
(Chapter XI, Page 220 Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 432
Bhanudasa, the great-grandfather of Ekanatha tells us that he knows of no other code of conduct and no other mode of thought than that of uttering the Name of God.
(Chapter XI, Page 218 Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 431
...one's own appointed work, done in the spirit of dedication, leads to heaven.
(Chapter XX Page 314, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 430
Just as a young one of the eagle is safe under the protective wings of the mother-eagle, so also I am secure under the protection afforded by my Guru's teaching. When this infinite support and protection of the Guru is there, my desire for going after different dieties has ceased, says Purandaradasa.
(Chapter XX Page 311, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 429
How very easy it is to find access to this God ! What is wanted is only a sincere uprising of devotion in the heart.
(Chapter XVII Page 264, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 428
'the body leaves you at the appointed time without hesitation.' Therefore it is necessary to know God immediately. Gangadhara urges us to concentrate our attention on the form of God at once without losing a moment.
(Chapter XVI, Page 245, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 427
Further we are told by Mahipati that no man can hope to attain this vastu unless he has got real bhava or devotion. Mere counting of beads or observation of fasts on Ekadasi, eleventh day of a month would be of no use. Of course it will make your mind pure; but it will not lead you to God-realisation. What is wanted is devotion and not mere counting of beads and 'its nature can be understood only by those who have got Bhava,'.
(Chapter XVI, Page 242, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 426
...it is only in the gradual process of the vision of God that we will become more and more sinless. So sinlessness and vision of God are mutually dependent. The two proceed pari passu. Is sinlessness first or the vision of God first? There is a sort of antinomy here. It could be resolved only by their mutual dependence. As you become more and more sinless you get more and more of the vision of God. Sinlessness and vision of God cannot be absolutely cut asunder from one another.
(Chapter XV, Page 235, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 425
...think about God, utter his name, and ultimately...get...released from the miseries of life and ... liberated.
(Chapter XV, Page 225, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 424
Not a single Svasa or breath should go in vain, not a single second, not a single minute without God's remembrance.
(Chapter XV, Page 225, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 423
We are to make our best moral efforts, knowing that mere words will not enable us to reach Reality. When we have exercised our body and mind and have led the life of a saint or a sage and when we have entirely devoted ourselves to God and sacrificed ourselves for Him, then it is possible for us to know something about God. That is the moral criterion according to Mahipati.
(Chapter XV, Page 222, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 422
It is on account of your moral and religious effort that you can attain to Reality. He also tells us like Nijagunasivayogi, that mere words are unable to give us an idea of the Reality, ... 'it cannot be described words, though seen with the eye (of intuition)'. Of course, you can realise some forms of God but you cannot express them by words of mouth. Expression presumes a duality. Experience presupposes a unity. So experience cannot be attained by expression nor can this experience be expressed. That is what Mahipati says.
(Chapter XV, Page 221-222, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 421
...morality...placed even above religion. Intelligence ...really cannot lead us directly to God; so you must exercise your intelligence to some extent, knowing full well that it will not lead you ultimately to the final goal. Devotion is of course necessary. Without that you cannot move forward even a single step...those who have devotion know the secret. It is only the devoted that can attain to the nature of Reality...it is only to him who lives the life of a sage or a saint that it becomes available...it is attained by those who have merit. It is on account of your moral and religious effort that you can attain to Reality.
(Chapter XV, Page 221, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 420
...Mahipati tells us that intelligence, devotion and morality are all required for the realisation of God, but particularly morality.
(Chapter XV, Page 221, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 419
...one who repeats the name of God incessantly, has no fear of death. It is the purifier of the most sinful; it yields the fruit which is equal to the performance of crores of sacrifices and is the only means of securing the highest spiritual experience in life. All the eminent devotees of ancient times stand testimony to this fact.
(Chapter XIII, Page 191-192, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 418
We must take resort to the power of God and know that He does everything for our ultimate good.
(Chapter XIII, Page 189, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 417
When God's name is there, says Purandaradasa to fulfil all the desires of a sincere devotee, where is the necessity of performing sacrifices and rituals, counting beads and doing hard penances? Remember, therefore, Oh man, the name of God with concentrated devotion.
(Chapter XIII, Page 188, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 416
Unless we become sinless we cannot attain to the form of God and unless we attain to the form of God we cannot become sinless. So these things are interdependent. and the path of the seeker just lies on the razor's edge. So sinlessness is the first price that we have got to pay.
(Chapter XIII, Page 189, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 415
God appears to those who surrender themselves to Him.
(Chapter XI, Page 164, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 414
I have been greatly overwhelmed by the grief in the world; I have trodden the wrong path. I have taken to the company of the wicked. Nobody has pointed out to me the way to get out of this difficulty. Kindly therefore, Oh God, point out to me the way to get out of this grief. Ultimately what is impossible for you, O Krisna! You have been a miracle-performer. I might not have come up to the level which you expect of me. But my heart is yours. So have compassion on me and relieve me from this bondage of life.
(Chapter X, Page 146-147, Pathway to God in Kannada literature)
Week 413
...the retinue of the king comes to your help in times of difficulty or it showers praise upon you...when God is pleased. But what will happen when He is displeased? As when an earthen pot full of water is broken to pieces by coming in contact with a stone and the water runs out in a moment, similarly all your aspirations and desires will come to naught if God just becomes displeased with you. God is thus omnipotent.
(Chapter X, Page 144, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 412
God knows everything, no question about that. God is omniscient; but the devotee knows God and therefore, knows the omniscient and therefore, he is more than the omniscient. That is what Basavesvara himself tells us.
(Chapter X, Page 143, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 411
God is both immanent and transcendent, both inside and outside. So when we contemplate upon God in this manner all our sorrows and fears must come to an end.
(Chapter IX, Page 107, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 410
...we must maintain what the Stoics and Epicureans call epoche, the discipline which Mahatma Gandhi observed so often in his life, namely, Mauna. When we do not talk too much or do not talk at all then it is possible for us to fix our mind upon something which is beyond us. So we must not talk too much.
(Chapter VIII, Page 107, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 409
I have been telling you that the saint of Nimbargi was one of the greatest saints of modern times....He exhorts us to hum like a bee on the lotus-feet of our master. What the bee does is to hum round the lotus with a view to finding out and gathering honey. So it is the business of the disciple to hum round the lotus feet of his master and suck as much honey as he can.
(Chapter VIII, Page 106, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 408
...those who want to imbibe the characteristics of an ideal disciple should as far as possible try to imitate these qualities. The disciple is described as born upon earth like Faith incarnate and resplendent Penance; that is the first characteristic. The second is that he is absolutely oblivious and unmindful of his own greatness. It is the duty of such an ideal disciple to sing the glory of his master. He has no other vocation. He might be great in a way; but then he must be wholly forgetful of it. Thirdly, he must become a flute in the hands of his master and act reflexly or automatically and do whatever the teacher directs him to do. Fourthly, he milks the Kamadhenu, the wish- fulfilling cow, and distributes the milk to the society and to the world. Finally, this disciple is more than camphor. We very often burn camphor before God. It is a very pure substance. And this disciple is purer than camphor. What does this camphor do? The piece of camphor burns, shines before the deity, shines to His glory, but ultimately it disappears. Thus a vacuum or non-existence is created; but this ideal disciple is more than camphor, because he is immortal, he lives and makes his teacher live. So while the ordinary camphor exhausts itself, the real spiritual disciple never does. He immortalises both himself and his teacher.
(Chapter VII, Page 100-101, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 407
(Prayer to the Saint of Nimbargi 5 of 5)
Let all my life...be devoted to thy service, Oh, my spiritual teacher.
(Chapter VII, Page 96, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 406
(Prayer to the Saint of Nimbargi 4 of 5)
Let my thoughts and deeds and words shine under the canopy of thy illumination. Let thy light spread all round and let my thoughts and words and deeds shine under that canopy so that they will attain to health and vigour.
(Chapter VII, Page 96, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 405
(Prayer to the Saint of Nimbargi 3 of 5)
...let your mercy and compassion constitute my food, my drink as well as my life-breath. I want to live only on thy mercy and compassion. They will be my life-substance and elements.
(Chapter VII, Page 96, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Weel 404
(Prayer to the Saint of Nimbargi 2 of 5)
...there should only be two occupations...viz. thy contemplation and thy service. If I want to serve I must serve you and your cause.
(Chapter VII, Page 96, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 403
(Prayer to the Saint of Nimbargi 1 of 5)
...let me not be attracted by the greatness and importance of the world; instead, let thy greatness fill the world. God's greatness is the only reality and not worldly greatness.
(Chapter VII, Page 96, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 402
...the effects of spiritual realisation. The first effect is that fear departs from the mind of such a disciple...'when there is a second or another person fear arises'. But when I alone exist and there is no second, there is no fear. Similarly 'One who knows the joy of Brahman never fears.'
(Chapter VI, Page 90, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 401
If you really believe in God, if you lead a spiritual life, God will save you in the midst of temptations.
(Chapter VI, Page 89, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 400
You cannot shift your own responsibility on to others and justify your conduct. You have to censure yourself. It is the principle of freedom which enables you either to do good or to do evil. If you do good, of course it is for you to thank yourself, but if you do evil you have yourself to blame. It is no use justifying the attitude of Duryodhana who disowned responsibility for his own actions.
(Chapter VI, Page 85, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 399
...what is the use of coming to this terrestrial existence if after putting faith in the spiritual teacher we do not become even like unto him who imparted to us spiritual wisdom?...
(Chapter V, Page 64, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 398
Bhavataraka tells us that if we stand in the middle of the ocean of life and if we call upon God even once, God will listen, remember and answer us.
(Chapter V, Page 64, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 397
If one is to pursue God one should not humble oneself before persons who are unworthy of reverence and spread one's hands for begging before everybody whom one meets, unmindful of the full presence of the philosopher's stone in the form of God inside one's own Self
(Chapter IV, Page 60, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 396
A great horticultural metaphor by Sarpabhushana - You have the field of the body with you. Why don't you raise a crop of God in this field, the poet asks us. What you have to do is to go through the seven agricultural operations. First, you have to employ good, silent oxen, not turbulent oxen which will play mischief. Tranquility and self-control should be the the oxen you employ for the first operation upon the field of your body. The plough is your moral consciousness and by means of that you should plough the field.Then there are certain weeds (karike) of egoism which you should clear away and fourthly, you should spread the manure of equanimity and make the field quite level. Unless you have spread out the manure, put it inside the earth and made the ground level, the crop will not come up. So spread the manure of equanimity in order that the whole thing becomes ready for further steps.Sow the seed of your spiritual teacher's instruction. But then mere seeds would not be of much value unless the rain pours down. The rain is your meritorious deeds. If the rain fails, the seed will be scorched away. It is the rain of your meritorious deeds which will help the growth of the seed. And when the crop will grow, there will also be superfluous growth of vicious weeds along with it, 'remove the weed, in the form of evil of tendencies and bad deeds and then the crop becomes plentiful. After you have gone through all these operations, if by God's grace the crop comes up, enjoy the crop and live upon the bliss of God-enjoyment....When you have enjoyed the bliss from this crop of spiritual realisation you will be in a position to push back the famine of worldly existence to its borders. Drive the famine away, do not allow it to enter your territory. In that way you will have grown a great spiritual crop, says Gurusiddha.
(Chapter IV, Page 56-57, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 395
'be silent, O my tongue.'...Some of the greatest blunders which we commit in our life are those that are due to the tongue....But remember, says Nirupadhisaddha, 'you should bid goodbye even to the sense of egoism that you are a great Mauni. '
(Chapter IV, Page 53-54, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 394
Approach your spiritual teacher, he (Saint of Nimbargi) says, and begin your spiritual life in right earnest; do not merely make a show of it.
(Chapter IV, Page 53, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 393
As the great saint Vyasa puts it, people do desire the fruits of holy actions but do not do the actions themselves; they do not desire the fruits of evil actions but do them in all possible ways. So you should be always very careful. When you will be caught up in the grip of death your mind will suffer from qualms of conscience and cry remorsefully, 'O God, I am dying!'. So before you get those pangs you must see that God becomes your friend.
(Chapter IV, Page 53, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 392
What is the use of simply entertaining holy ideas and doing unholy things?
(Chapter IV, Page 53, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 391
'take away the twists of my mind, O God.'...the saint of Nimbargi prays to God to disentangle and straighten the crookedness of his mind. Human mind is very crooked. He requests God to make it straight. The first thing that one does after getting up from the bed, he says, is to talk evil of the good people and to denude the people of their property. Besides these two things a man always flatters the great, the wise, the rich and the powerful. Then again we entertain holy ideas only for a time while we always pursue only the unholy ones.
(Chapter IV, Page 52-53, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 390
Death comes like a hurricane and when people are caught up in the hurricane everything would go up in it and would come to an end. So before this hurricane attacks you, make sure that you will not be encircled by it. How foolishly have you forgotten the Lord of the Yadavas? Money, grains and sons won't protect you on such an occasion. So the question arises: when will you begin to remember God? Purandaradasa says, 'you should not ask the question; begin just now,...,'even now, worship God with one-pointed devotion.' So begin to pray to God with concentrated mind even from the present moment, do not delay.
(Chapter IV, Page 52, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 389
...when messengers of death come and attack you, 'will they wait for a while if you request them to do so?' So, long before they make their appearance one should be prepared spiritually to withstand the attack and make up one's mind to enter on the spiritual path.
(Chapter IV, Page 51, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 388
During youth when one's senses are hale and sound, one should not go mad after women and wealth and waste one's life merely in the enjoyment of sensuous pleasures. It as good as fasting if one fails to taste the ambrosia of God's name which is the main purpose of human life.
(Chapter IV, Page 51, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 387
As a dog or a hog moves from house to house so does a man, from life to life. He foolishly identifies his Self with the body which is constituted by the five material elements. He is deluded by it and fails to realise his identity with God. He fails to understand that the wishfulfilling philosopher's stone in the form of God is inside himself and goes on begging from others. Kudaluresa advises us to realise the identity of God with the Self within.
(Chapter IV, Page 50, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 386
The human body is the field. It should be tilled with the help of the oxen of tranquility and self-control. The weeds of egoism should be removed; the manure of equanimity should be evenly spread over the field and the field completely levelled. Then the seed of the instruction of the spritual teacher should be sown. The rain of meritorious actions should water the field and the superfluous growth of viscious deeds should be weeded out. This will enable one to rear the rich crop of eternal liberation and push away the famine of worldly existence out of borders.
(Chapter IV, Page 50, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 385
Purandaradasa urges us to to begin spiritual practices immediately as it is never too late too mend.
(Chapter IV, Page 49, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 384
(next update scheduled for July 17th, 2008)
Purandaradasa asks us to control our senses and to use them not for worldly pleasure but in the service of God, so that we may taste by the grace of God the ambrosial juice from the name of God. No relative and nothing in the world will protect us from the servants of the god of death when they come to take us away from thus world. We should therefore, have a firm hold on spiritual life before the attack comes.
(Chapter IV, Page 48-49, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
(to mark Gurudeo Punyatithi Saptah, Nimbal Jun 9 to 13)
...quintessence of the mystical experiences of God-realisation in all ages and climes, and particularly as given in the Upanisads. It is only an infinitesimal spark of this experience which the Bhagavadgita has portrayed for us in that one cryptic utterance, "yatra chaivatmanaatmaanam pashyannaatmani tushyati" (VI. 20). Probably there was no occasion for the writer of the Bhagavadgita to expand or expatiate on this theme. The present writer has done the work of that expatiation on behalf of the Bhagavadgita.
(page 234, The Bhagavadgita as a Philosophy of God Realisation, R D Ranade)
Badarayana has told us that a saint who has realised God gets all the powers of God, except the power of creation. But unless at least an iota of that power has descended upon the God-realiser, he may hardly be said to have realised God at all.
(page 238, The Bhagavadgita as a Philosophy of God Realisation, R D Ranade)
Week 381
Whatever you desire, O God, is welcome to me. If we just submit to God in this way He would be gracious to lead us towards Himself.
(Chapter III, Page 43, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 380
...'why are you anxious?....Who is it that maintains without support the canopy of the sky over our heads and who is it that directs the motions of the sun and the moon?' It is God who by means of his motion gives a push to the sun and moon as well as keeps the canopy eternally hanging over our heads. So God is everywhere. God is omnipotent. Let us submit ourselves to God. When our mind has merged itself in God then alone shall we be free from all sorts of anxieties, because everything that happens to us does so by the will and direction of God.
(Chapter III, Page 42, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 379
The whole of biology is an illustration of the working of God just as the whole of physics also is. Science is the demonstration of the power of God.
(Chapter III, Page 41, Pathway to GOD in Kannada literature)
Week 378
...liberation is attained only on the basis of moral and spiritual development and is not dependent upon times, days and seasons.
(Chapter III, Page 32, The Bhagavadgita: as a Philosophy Of God Realisation)
Week 377
Prior to all human will and work, God has already willed that a certain thing shall happen.
(Chapter XIII, Page 142, The Bhagavadgita: as a Philosophy Of God Realisation)
Week 376
What else can a man do than be struck dumb before this inscrutable Being? God is super-powerful. We have only to reconcile ourselves to the Will of this Super-powerful. Let us, therefore, as Otto tells us, find peace in the idea that God is so powerful that we have only to surrender ourselves entirely to His Will.
(Chapter XIII, Page 141, The Bhagavadgita: as a Philosophy Of God Realisation)
Week 375
Various Sciences have tried to take the measure of God, says Ekanatha, and yet God has remained immeasurable (Abg. 150)
(Chapter VIII Page 227, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 374
A man, who has no real devotion, even though learned, looks like a courtesan, who puts on different kinds of ornaments. (Ekanath Abg 48)
(Chapter VIII Page 223, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 373
Is it not wonderful…that the spiritual life, which is sweet in itself, appears sour to the man who has no belief in God…disbelief is the cause of many vices. It produces egoism, and destroys the spiritual life. One may say that disbelief if the crown of all sins. (Ekanath Abg 12,14)
(Chapter VIII Page 220, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 372
There is no use going to places of pilgrimage. If the mind becomes pure, God lives in our very house, and can be seen by the devotee wherever he may be.
(Chapter VIII Page 219, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 371
Harbour no thought of otherness about other beings.
(Chapter VIII Page 219, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 370
There is no other remedy for spiritual knowledge than the utterance of God’s name
(Chapter VIII Page 219, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 369
He who is befriended by God, becomes an object of favour for the whole world. God sees that such a devotee lacks nothing, and He takes on Himself the duty of protecting him in calamities. He does not stay away from His devotee even for a single moment, and on critical occasions, invariably lends His helping hand – (Janabai Abg.30)
(Chapter VIII Page 207, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 368
As a bird may go to roam in the sky and still think of its young one, or as a mother may be engaged in the house-hold duties and yet may think of her child, or as a she-monkey may leap from tree to tree and yet may clasp its young one to her bosom, similarly, says Janabai, we should always think of Vitthala.
(Chapter VIII Page 205, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 367
…unless we take leave of all egoism, God shall not come to our hands (Abg. 4 – Janabai)
(Chapter VIII Page 205, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 366
Janabai…tells us that as a fly in the vanity of pleasure falls upon the flame of a lamp, similarly, people in this life fall upon sensual pleasures in order to kill themselves.
(Chapter VIII Page 205, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 365
Chokha tells us that while we are engaged in the Name of God, we need have no cause for fear, or anxiety.
(Chapter VIII Page 204, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 364
Chokha is convinced that the real Pandhari is his own body, that his soul is the deity Vitthala therein…He tells us that a sugar-cane may be crooked, and yet its juice is not crooked. A bow may be curved, and yet the arrow is not curved. A river may have windings, and yet the water has no windings. Chokha may be untouchable, but his heart is not untouchable.
(Chapter VIII Page 204, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 363
Samvata …by the power of God’s name, one may bid good-bye to all feeling of fear, and deal a blow on the head Death. By the power of God’s name, one can bring God from heaven to earth, and sing and dance in His praise. Samvata thus implores all people to follow the path of Bhakti: for God is surely attained by Bhakti, says Samvata.
(Chapter VIII Page 203, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 362
Our bliss is with ourselves; it does not lie in any external object. If we possess merely discrimination and dispassion, the way is open for us to know God.
(Chapter VIII Page 202, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 361
It would not be possible for any one to meet God until one’s egoism is at an end.
(Chapter VIII Page 202, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 360
He alone, says Namadeva, can be awake who has a determined faith in the words of his teacher. What lamp can we light in order to see our Self? He, who gives light to the sun and the moon, cannot Himself be seen by any other light.
(Chapter VIII Page 201, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 359
Utter now the name of God.
(Chapter VIII Page 200, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 358
There is only one favour that we should ask of God: that we should always think of Him in our heart; that we should always utter His name by our mouth; that we should always see Him with our eyes; that our hands should worship only Him; that our head be placed always at His feet; that our ears should only hear of God’s exploits; that He should show Himself always to our right and to our left, before and after, and at the end of our life. We should ask God of no other favour except this.
(Chapter VIII Page 200, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 357
Namadeva supposes that the faculty of God-realisation is a God-given gift. A cow gives birth to a calf in a forest: who sends the calf, asks Namadeva, to the udders of the cow? Who teaches the young one of a serpent the art of biting? A Mogara flower stands of itself at the top of a creeper: who teaches it to be fragrant? Even if we manure a bitter gourd-creeper with sugar and milk, it makes the fruits of the gourd more bitter still. A sugar-cane shall never leave its sweetness, if it is cut to pieces, or even if it is swallowed. Similarly, says Namadeva, the faculty of realising God is a native faculty, and by that alone will one be able to realise God.
(Chapter VIII Page 199, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 356
He alone is a Saint, says Namadeva, who is able to show God.
(Chapter VIII Page 198, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 355
As trees do not know honour and dishonour, as they are equal to those who worship them and those who cut them, similarly, the saints in their supreme courage look upon honour and dishonour alike.
(Chapter VIII Page 198, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 354
Him alone we may call a saint, says Namadeva, who sees God in all beings; who looks upon gold as a clod of earth; who looks upon a jewel as a mere stone; who has driven out of his heart anger and passion; who harbours peace and forgiveness in his mind; whose speech is given merely to the utterance of God’s name.
(Chapter VIII Page 197-198, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 353
Is it not wonderful, asks Namadeva, that people should give up the animate, and hold the inanimate as superior to it? They pluck a living Tulsi plant, and with it worship an inanimate stone. They pluck the leaves of Bela, and throw them in numbers upon a lingam of Siva….People worship a serpent made of mud, but they take cudgels against a living serpent. All these pursuits are vain, says Namadeva: the only pursuit of value is the utterance of the Name of God.
(Chapter VIII Page 197, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 352
People forget, says Namadeva, that their bodily miseries are due to the sins they have committed. Nobody should expect a sweet fruit when he sows a sour seed….We should not grow wroth with our fate, says Namadeva : we should ask ourselves what we have done.
(Chapter VIII Page 196, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 351
Children send a kite into the sky with a rope in their hands; but their attention is upon the kite, and not upon the rope. A woman from Gujerath goes with pitcher piled upon pitcher, moving her hands freely, but her attention is riveted upon the pitchers…We may carry on any pursuit, says Namadeva, provided we always think of God.
(Chapter VIII Page 196, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 350a
There is neither time nor season for the meditation of God. There is neither a high caste nor low in His meditation. He who is the Ocean of love and pity shall come to the succour of all.
(Chapter VIII Page 194, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 350 (was repeated in 269a)
Mountains of sin shall perish in an instant at the utterance of the name of God.
(Chapter V Page 168, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 349
The spiritual teacher is an invariable protector of his disciple. Like a wish tree he yields all desires to a devotee.
(Chapter V Page 168, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 348
There is no use lashing the body until we have conquered our mind.
(Chapter V Page 168, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 347
Only him should we call our Guru, who is able to show God directly to our sight.
(Chapter V Page 167, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 346
The spiritual aspirant gains the ripe fruit of self-realisation only when he implicitly acts according to the orders of his spiritual teacher.
(Chapter IV Page 162, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 345
…for securing actionlessness in the midst of action, four kinds of help are suggested. The first is the performance of an action as a matter of social duty; the second is its performance without any feeling of attachment; the third is the renunciation of its fruit; the fourth and the last is a more positive help, namely, the offering of all actions to God.
(Chapter III, Page 103, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 344
…equanimity…such a man knows no unevenness of temper. He is equal to his friends and foes. As a lamp does not think that it must produce light for those to whom it belongs, and create darkness for those to whom it does not belong; as the tree gives the same shade to a man who puts his axe at its root as well as to him who rears it up; as a sugarcane is not sweet to the man who has reared it, and sour to the man who presses it; similarly , the man of equanimity is alike to friend and foe, as well as to honour and dishonour. He is not moved by praise, nor is his mind disturbed by words of censure…..
(Chapter III, Page 94, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 343
We must eat food, but take it only in a measured quantity. We must do actions, but in a measured manner. We must speak measured words. We must measure our steps. We may also by measure go to sleep. If we are to keep awake, that also we must do by measure. In this way, when equanimity is produced in the body, great happiness will arise.
(Chapter III, Page 94, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 342
God is not very distant from those who have conquered their hearts, and have stilled their passions. When the dross material in base gold has been driven off, what remains is pure gold itself; similarly, when desire disappears, the Individual Soul becomes Brahman.
(Chapter III, Page 93-94, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 341
A pure man…washes off his bodily sins by good actions, and shines internally by knowledge; in this way, he becomes illuminative on both sides. On the other hand, a man whose mind is not pure, can scarcely be said to be pure even if he does good actions…Such a man is of as little use as an arch-way built in a deserted place…He is like a showy pitcher which contains nothing, even though it may shine externally…It is, therefore, that we may say that a man should have internal knowledge, as well as have pure actions; the one takes away the dirt from the inside, the other from the outside…
(Chapter III, Page 77-78, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 340
The ideal sage is harmless even in speech; his love moves first, and then move the words from his mouth; compassion comes first, and then the words. Is it possible that the words coming from such a man may do injury to any one? He remains silent for fear of breaking the peace of men, for fear of being even so much as the cause of the raising of eyebrows in others; and if, when lovingly requested, he opens his mouth, he is as kind to his hearers as a father and mother; his words sing the mystic sound incarnate……True and soft, measured and sweet, his words are as it were the waves of nectar. They have once for all taken leave of opposition, argument, force, injury to beings, ridicule, persecution, touch to the quick,……greed, doubt and deceit. (Jnanesvari XIII. 261-272)
(Chapter III, Page 74, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 339
An unpretentious man…his merit he never lets fly on a highly-raised banner…size of a plantain tree looks small, and yet it is rich in fruits which are full of sweetness; a cloud looks as if it may be blown by a wind, but it sends down rain in plenty. By these marks must one know a man who takes pride in unpretentiousness.
(Chapter III, Page 72-73, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 338
An humble man …is forgetful of his own greatness, does not judge about the propriety or impropriety of other’s actions, and bows down in modesty when any person whatsoever is mentioned; as water comes down from the top of a mountain and silently moves to the earth, even so, such a man is humble before everybody; as the branches of a tree, which is laden with fruits, are bent down to the earth, even so such a man feels humility before every being. (Jnanesvari IX. 221-227)
(Chapter III, Page 72, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 337
Humility…One should never allow respect to be shown to oneself; one should never so much as be the cause of the praise of one’s own particular greatness. A man must feel mortified when people bow to him…
(Chapter III, Page 72, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 336
The senses are so strong that even those, who are given to the practice of Yoga, and who have acquired all the necessary virtues for the practice of it, those, in fact, who are holding their minds in the hollow of their hands, even these are seduced, as an exorcist is seduced; and when on a higher level of Yoga-practice, new objects of sense are created, and new kinds of power and prosperity open before the practiser of Yoga, these exercise a new charm, and seduce and turn away the mind of the spiritual aspirant, with the result that their practice in Yoga is stopped; such is the great seductive power of the senses (Jnanesvari II. 311-314) !
(Chapter III, Page 71, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 335
…the aspirant…is not elated when people praise him to the skies nor does he feel depressed when they speak ill of him….Jesus Christ has taught us to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to do good to them that hate us and pray for even those who spitefully use us and persecute us.
(Chapter VII, Page 301-302, Pathway to God in Kannada Literature)
Week 334
…unless a man has stopped from doing wrong, unless he has entirely composed himself, it may not be possible for him, however highly-strung his intellect may be, to reach the Self by force of mere intellect.
(Chapter VII, Page 241, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 333
…the river of desire runs between the banks of good and bad, but that, by the effort of our will, we should compel it to move in the direction of the good.
(Chapter VI, Page 230, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 332
…a man can have all his desires fulfilled, and obtain any world he may seek, even if he only waits upon and worships a Mystic who has realised the Self
(Chapter VII, Page 256, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 331
…it is only when the whole moral being is purged of evil that one is able to realise the greatness of God.
(Chapter VII, Page 250, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 330
Arise, Awake and learn from those who are better than ye…
(Chapter VII, Page 242, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 329
…there can be no true mysticism unless it is based upon the sure foundation of morality, so morality to be perfect must end in the mystical attitude…The Upanishadic Sage believes in the possibility of greater or less mystical realisation for every being according to the greater or less worth of his character, belief, and endeavour: he sees Atman in all, and sees the Atman alone.
(Chapter VI, Page 230, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 328
Man in the foolishness of the contemplation of his small success regards himself to be the lord of all he surveys; he believes that he may be the master of any situation in which he may be placed, and that he may compel nature any time to bend to his sovereign will; but events in life prove that these are after all false expectations, and that even though a little freedom may be granted to man in small matters, he is yet not free in the highest sense of the term. Pent up within the goal, he thinks like a prisoner that he is free; but he is free only to drink and eat and not to move about. Like a falcon to whose foot a string is tied, he can only fly in the limited sphere described by the length of the tether, but he is bound beyond that region. Similarly, man may vainly imagine that he is free to do any actions he pleases, but his freedom is the freedom of the tethered falcon.
(Chapter VI, Page 230, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 327
…man is merely a conglomeration of desire, will and action: “as his desire is, so is his will; as is his will, so is the action that he performs; as his action is, so is the fruit that he procures for himself
(Chapter VI, Page 229, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 326
…if a man may tell the Untruth he shall be dried up from the very roots; hence it is…he dare not tell the Untruth. On the other hand…Truth alone becomes victorious in the world, and not a lie; by Truth is paved the path of the gods, by which travel the sages, who have all their desires fulfilled, to where lies the highest Repository of Truth. This is how the practice of Truth as a moral virtue enables one to reach the Absolute.
(Chapter VI, Page 228, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 325
…what were regarded, by the Upanishadic seers, the five chief different kinds of sin. The thief, the drunkard, the adulterer, the Brahmocide, and the man who associates with them, are all worthy of capital punishment.
(Chapter VI, Page 226, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 324
…the three cardinal virtues which are enumerated in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
“Be self-controlled, for otherwise, out of your elation, you might do acts of unkindness”
“Be charitable, and love your fellows”
“Be compassionate. Be kind to those with whom you would be otherwise cruel”
(Chapter VI, Page 226, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 323
…even in the midst of the life of action actionless may be secured, only if attachment to action is annihilated once for all and no calculating desire is entertained for the fruit of action.
(Chapter VI, Page 218, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 322
…there are two different paths, the path of the good and the path of the pleasant, and that these two diverse paths try to seduce a man each to itself. Of these, he who follows the path of the good is ultimately rewarded by the fulfillment of his aim, while he who follows the path of the pleasant loses the goal which he is pursuing. When the good and the pleasant present themselves before a man, he looks about him if he be wise, and decides which of them to choose. The wise man chooses the good before the pleasant, while the fool chooses the pleasant before the good.
(Chapter VI, Page 215, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 321
It is neither the Society, nor the State, nor God, who can give us the essential rule for moral conduct. This must spring entirely from within ourselves.
(Chapter VI, Page 214, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 320
Unless it were possible to know the wishes of God in every particular case affecting moral conduct, unless it were possible even so much as to note what principles in general might be regarded as constituting the wishes of God – if we were not to understand these as identical with the dictates of Conscience which is the candle of the Lord within us – it might not seem very possible to set down in detail the Laws of God as enjoining the performance of certain duties upon us, in preference to, or in cancelment of, other duties.
(Chapter VI, Page 213-214, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 319
…we should always mould our conduct on the pattern of the conduct of those who are better than ourselves and are in a position to give us rules of conduct by their example.
(Chapter VI, Page 213, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 318
Intelligence without the moral backbone might only degenerate into the cleverest forms of chicanery, and a mystic without morality, if such a one were possible, might only be a hideous creature who is a blot on the spiritual evolution of man.
(Chapter VI, Page 211, Constructive Survey Of Upanishadic Philosophy, R D Ranade - 1986 edition)
Week 317
Foolish people say that he alone is a blessed man who meets with a ‘euthanasia’. They falsely imagine that God meets a man at the time of his death. They never turn their life to good account, and they expect to see God !
(Chapter XIX, Page 408, Mysticism in Maharashtra, Indian Mysticism, R D Ranade)
Week 316
…the devotee must pant for God like a fish out of waters…If a man does not possess it (spring of devotion) by birth, he may come to acquire it by a life of prolonged moral travail, and then he may be able to realise God.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 363-364 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 315
…the moral virtues essential for spiritual realisation, we might say that the spiritual seeker must have the following virtues. He must make an active effort for the achievement of his ideal; he must not care for the derision of the world; he should utter the name of God with pleasure or displeasure, faith or misfaith, sloth or even malignity. Finally, he must bid good-bye to all sense of self-importance which is often too subtle even for those who are given to heart searching.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 359 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 314
Love and sense of honour…do not go together. The same scabbard cannot hold two scimitars. Unless, therefore, we bid goodbye to all sense of egoism, we cannot prosper in the spiritual life.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 359 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 313
… the way of egoism is not the way of God…It would be easier for a camel to enter the hole of a needle than for the tall-talker to enter the kingdom of God.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 359 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 312
The … virtue which the seeker must possess is meditation on God in all mental conditions whatsoever. Tulsidas tells us that we should utter the name of God under all circumstances. The seed takes root whether it faces upwards or downwards. We must not mind whether we utter the name of God with pleasure or displeasure, in happiness or in grief.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 358 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 311
…it is only those who seek, to them comes the reward of their effort. The door shall not open unless you knock it.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 357 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 310
As mental concentration is the ‘sine qua non’ of a successful meditation, moral qualities are equally, if not more, necessary. In the first place, the aspirant must make an active search for the Object of his realisation; no inaction would do, no indifference, no mental complacency to allow things to come their own way, and in their own time.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 356-357 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 309
A mental requirement for successful meditation is the occupation of the mind by only one idea and no other. When the eye is full of the vision of the only one object of our love, says Rahim, no other vision is possible. When the mind is filled with one idea, no other idea dare enter. This is the chief aim an aspirant must always keep in view. Analogies for this description…a railway carriage full of passengers not allowing any new passenger to get in, and a cinema-house, which is full of spectators refusing to admit any further spectator The seeker, likewise, must therefore refuse to admit within his mind any idea except that of God. It is only when such a thing takes place, that spiritual concentration becomes fruitful.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 356 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 308
A bad idea occurring to the mind does not necessarily make a man a bad character, says Kabir; but an evil action certainly does.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 355 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 307
…a kumbhakar gives continuous strokes to the pot from the outside, but gives it a constant and unfailing support from within. Similarly, in the midst of the calamities and misfortunes which might fall to the lot of his disciple, the spiritual teacher gives him internal and continuous support, and enables him to face boldly his trials and tribulations. Every misfortune, every calamity, has now a silver lining for him. The Sun of his Guru’s grace shines through the edge of his misfortunes, though these for a while might darken the luminosity of his spiritual life.
(Part II, Chapter IV, Page 337 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 306
Unless we place our fullest reliance upon God, it will not be possible for us to reach the state to which we aspire.
(Part II, Chapter III, Page 330 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 305
…God is not like other masters. His reward precedes service, as in the case of other masters it follows.
(Part II, Chapter III, Page 325 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 304
“Having come into world, we should run to meet and embrace every human being. For, we do not know in what form Narayana may appear.” Tulsidas advises us to believe that the whole world is filled with God, and that all beings are His manifestations.
(Part II, Chapter II, Page 293 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 303
…we should always hold our hand aloft in the position of giving, and never down in the position of receiving. It is better to die, says Tulsidas, than to spread out one’s hand for the sake of begging.
(Part II, Chapter II, Page 290 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 302
…the same drop of water can become either a pearl, red colour, or poison, according as it comes to be lodged in a shell, or in a flower of the Kadali tree, or in the mouth of a serpent……an original constitution is capable of being affected by company and become either of the Sattva, Rajas or Tamas type.
(Part II, Chapter II, Page 284 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
Week 301
We need not deny material welfare even if we pursue spiritual welfare, and a true moral philosopher would be he who would reconcile them in a proper perspective.
(Part II, Chapter II, Page 283 Pathway to God in Hindi Literature R D Ranade)
