You’re your own best friend. If you have a problem, only you
will have a solution to it, and not your friend. To find answers to your
questions, you will have to look within. Seeking suggestions from ten different
people who you call ‘friends’ is not going to help because they have ten
solutions to one problem, whereas your solution is the ultimate answer. Believe
in yourself.
Quotes
From the Bhagavad Gita
Whenever dharma declines and the purpose of life is
forgotten, I manifest myself on earth. I am born in every age to protect the
good, to destroy evil, and to reestablish dharma.
As they approach me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna,
lead to me.
I am the beginning, middle, and end of creation.
Among animals I am the lion; among birds, the eagle Garuda.
I am Prahlada, born among the demons, and of all that measures, I am time.
I am death, which overcomes all, and the source of all
beings still to be born.
Just remember that I am, and that I support the entire
cosmos with only a fragment of my being.
Behold, Arjuna, a million divine forms, with an infinite
variety of color and shape. Behold the gods of the natural world, and many more
wonders never revealed before. Behold the entire cosmos turning within my body,
and the other things you desire to see.
I am time, the destroyer of all; I have come to consume the
world.
That one is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or
away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as
they happen.
Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole
countryside is flooded, scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or
woman, who sees the Lord everywhere.
They alone see truly who see the Lord the same in every
creature, who see the deathless in the hearts of all that die. Seeing the same
Lord everywhere, they do not harm themselves or others. Thus they attain the
supreme goal.
With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all
creatures. Through the moon, the vessel of life-giving fluid, I nourish all
plants. I enter breathing creatures and dwell within as the life-giving breath.
I am the fire in the stomach which digests all food.
There are three gates to this self-destructive hell: lust,
anger, and greed. Renounce these three.
Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it
is bitter as poison in the end.
That which seems like poison at first, but tastes like
nectar in the end – this is the joy of sattva, born of a mind at peace with
itself.
The Lord dwells in the hearts of all creatures and whirls
them round upon the wheel of maya. Run to him for refuge with all your
strength, and peace profound will be yours through his grace.
Whatever you do, make it an offering to me – the food you
eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering.
I am heat; I give and withhold the rain. I am immortality
and I am death; I am what is and what is not.
Those who worship other gods with faith and devotion also
worship me, Arjuna, even if they do not observe the usual forms. I am the
object of all worship, its enjoyer and Lord.
Those who remember me at the time of death will come to me.
Do not doubt this. Whatever occupies the mind at the time of death determines
the destination of the dying; always they will tend toward that state of being.
When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the
flame of a lamp in a windless place.
They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and
break away from the egocage of “I,” “me,” and “mine” to be united with the
Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to
immortality.
They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in
them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense-craving tormenting the
heart.
The meaning of karma is in the intention. The
intention behind action is what matters. Those who are motivated only by desire
for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about
the results of what they do.
You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work.
You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long
for inaction.
Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established
within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat.
For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
At the beginning of time I declared two paths for the pure
heart: jnana yoga, the contemplative path of spiritual wisdom, and karma yoga,
the active path of selfless service. There are the fundamental different
types of yoga.
Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind. It
was by such work that Janaka attained perfection; others too have followed this
path.
There is nothing in the three worlds for me to gain, Arjuna,
nor is there anything I do not have; I continue to act, but I am not driven by
any need of my own.
The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise
work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves.
It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed
in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma,
but competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.
The senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than
the senses; above the mind is the intellect, and above the intellect is the
Atman. Thus, knowing that which is supreme, let the Atman rule the ego. Use
your mighty arms to slay the fierce enemy that is selfish desire.
You and I have passed through many births, Arjuna. You have
forgotten, but I remember them all.
My true being is unborn and changeless. I am the Lord who
dwells in every creature. Through the power of my own maya, I manifest myself
in a finite form.
Those who know me as their own divine Self break through the
belief that they are the body and are not reborn as separate creatures. Such a
one, Arjuna, is united with me.
Bhagavad
Gita Quotes on the Emotions
Delivered from selfish attachment, fear, and anger, filled
with me, surrendering themselves to me, purified in the fire of my being, many
have reached the state of unity in me.
Actions do not cling to me because I am not attached to
their results. Those who understand this and practice it live in freedom.
The wise see that there is action in the midst of inaction
and inaction in the midst of action. Their consciousness is unified, and every
act is done with complete awareness.
The process of offering is Brahman; that which is offered is
Brahman. Brahman offers the sacrifice in the fire of Brahman. Brahman is
attained by those who see Brahman in every action.
The offering of wisdom is better than any material offering,
Arjuna; for the goal of all work is spiritual wisdom.
Approach those who have realized the purpose of life and
question them with reverence and devotion; they will instruct you in this
wisdom.
Even if you were the most sinful of sinners, Arjuna, you
could cross beyond all sin by the raft of spiritual wisdom.
Krishna delivers the Gita to Arjuna.
As the heat of a fire reduces wood to ashes, the fire of
knowledge burns to ashes all karma.
Those who surrender to Brahman all selfish attachments are
like the leaf of a lotus floating clean and dry in water. Sin cannot touch
them.
Those who renounce attachment in all their deeds live
content in the “city of nine gates,” the body, as its master. They are not driven
to act, nor do they involve others in action.
Those who possess this wisdom have equal regard for all.
They see the same Self in a spiritual aspirant and an outcaste, in an elephant,
a cow, and a dog.
Pleasures conceived in the world of the senses have a
beginning and an end and give birth to misery, Arjuna. The wise do not look for
happiness in them. But those who overcome the impulses of lust and anger which
arise in the body are made whole and live in joy. They find their joy, their
rest, and their light completely within themselves. United with the Lord, they
attain nirvana in Brahman.
Free from anger and selfish desire, unified in mind, those
who follow the path of yoga and realize the Self are established forever in
that supreme state.
Knowing me as the friend of all creatures, the Lord of the
universe, the end of all offerings and all spiritual disciplines, they attain
eternal peace.
It is not those who lack energy or refrain from action, but
those who work without expectation of reward who attain the goal of meditation.
Those who cannot renounce attachment to the results of their
work are far from the path.
Reshape yourself through the power of your will; never let
yourself be degraded by self-will. The will is the only friend of the Self, and
the will is the only enemy of the Self.
To those who have conquered themselves, the will is a
friend. But it is the enemy of those who have not found the Self within them.
The supreme Reality stands revealed in the consciousness of
those who have conquered themselves. They live in peace, alike in cold and
heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame.
With all fears dissolved in the peace of the Self and all
actions dedicated to Brahman, controlling the mind and fixing it on me, sit in
meditation with me as your only goal.
Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep
too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are
temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of
sorrow through meditation.
In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self
reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self, an aspirant knows the
joy and peace of complete fulfillment.
Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its
search for satisfaction without, lead it within; train it to rest in the Self.
I am ever present to those who have realized me in every
creature. Seeing all life as my manifestation, they are never separated from
me.
When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as
if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.
No one who does good work will ever come to a bad end,
either here or in the world to come.
Through constant effort over many lifetimes, a person
becomes purified of all selfish desires and attains the supreme goal of life.
Meditation is superior to severe asceticism and the path of
knowledge. It is also superior to selfless service. May you attain the goal of
meditation, Arjuna!
Even among those who meditate, that man or woman who
worships me with perfect faith, completely absorbed in me, is the most firmly
established in yoga.
With your mind intent on me, Arjuna, discipline yourself
with the practice of yoga. Depend on me completely. Listen, and I will dispel
all your doubts; you will come to know me fully and be united with me.
The birth and dissolution of the cosmos itself take place in
me. There is nothing that exists separate from me, Arjuna. The entire universe
is suspended from me as my necklace of jewels.
Arjuna, I am the taste of pure water and the radiance of the
sun and moon. I am the sacred word and the sound heard in air, and the courage
of human beings. I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the radiance of
fire; I am the life in every creature and the striving of the spiritual
aspirant.
My eternal seed, Arjuna, is to be found in every creature. I
am the power of discrimination in those who are intelligent, and the glory of
the noble. In those who are strong, I am strength, free from passion and
selfish attachment. I am desire itself, if that desire is in harmony with the
purpose of life.
Bhagavad
Gita Quotes on Life and Death
The states of sattva, rajas, and tamas come from me, but I
am not in them.
The three gunas make up my divine maya, difficult to
overcome. But they cross over this maya who take refuge in me.
Some come to the spiritual life because of suffering, some
in order to understand life; some come through a desire to achieve life’s
purpose, and some come who are men and women of wisdom. Unwavering in devotion,
always united with me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others.
After many births the wise seek refuge in me, seeing me
everywhere and in everything. Such great souls are very rare.
The world, deluded, does not know that I am without birth
and changeless. I know everything about the past, the present, and the future,
Arjuna; but there is no one who knows me completely.
Delusion arises from the duality of attraction and aversion,
Arjuna; every creature is deluded by these from birth.
Those who see me ruling the cosmos, who see me in the
adhibhuta, the adhidaiva, and the adhiyajna, are conscious of me even at the
time of death.
The Lord is the supreme poet, the first cause, the sovereign
ruler, subtler than the tiniest particle, the support of all, inconceivable,
bright as the sun, beyond darkness.
Remembering me at the time of death, close down the doors of
the senses and place the mind in the heart. Then, while absorbed in meditation,
focus all energy upwards to the head. Repeating in this state the divine name,
the syllable Om that represents the changeless Brahman, you will go forth from
the body and attain the supreme goal.
I am easily attained by the person who always remembers me
and is attached to nothing else. Such a person is a true yogi, Arjuna.
Every creature in the universe is subject to rebirth,
Arjuna, except the one who is united with me.
The six months of the northern path of the sun, the path of
light, of fire, of day, of the bright fortnight, leads knowers of Brahman to
the supreme goal. The six months of the southern path of the sun, the path of
smoke, of night, of the dark fortnight, leads other souls to the light of the
moon and to rebirth.
Under my watchful eye the laws of nature take their course.
Thus is the world set in motion; thus the animate and the inanimate are
created.
I am the ritual and the sacrifice; I am true medicine and
the mantram. I am the offering and the fire which consumes it, and the one to
whom it is offered.
I am the father and mother of this universe, and its
grandfather too; I am its entire support. I am the sum of all knowledge, the
purifier, the syllable Om; I am the sacred scriptures, the Rig, Yajur, and Sama
Vedas.
I am the goal of life, the Lord and support of all, the
inner witness, the abode of all. I am the only refuge, the one true friend; I
am the beginning, the staying, and the end of creation; I am the womb and the
eternal seed.
Those who follow the rituals given in the Vedas, who offer
sacrifices and take soma, free themselves from evil and attain the vast heaven
of the gods, where they enjoy celestial pleasures. When they have enjoyed these
fully, their merit is exhausted and they return to this land of death. Thus
observing Vedic rituals but caught in an endless chain of desires, they come
and go.
Those who worship me and meditate on me constantly, without
any other thought – I will provide for all their needs.
Those who worship the devas will go to the realm of the
devas; those who worship their ancestors will be united with them after death.
Those who worship phantoms will become phantoms; but my devotees will come to
me. Those who worship the devas will go to the realm of the devas; those who
worship their ancestors will be united with them after death. Those who worship
phantoms will become phantoms; but my devotees will come to me.
Fill your mind with me; love me; serve me; worship me always.
Seeking me in your heart, you will at last be united with me.
All the scriptures lead to me; I am their author and their
wisdom.
Bhishma, Drona, Jayadratha, Karna, and many others are
already slain. Kill those whom I have killed. Do not hesitate. Fight in this
battle and you will conquer your enemies.
Not by knowledge of the Vedas, nor sacrifice, nor charity,
nor rituals, nor even by severe asceticism has any other mortal seen what you
have seen, O heroic Arjuna.
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better
than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to
results, because there follows immediate peace
Some realize the Self within them through the practice of
meditation, some by the path of wisdom, and others by selfless service. Others
may not know these paths; but hearing and following the instructions of an
illumined teacher, they too go beyond death.
The brightness of the sun, which lights up the world, the
brightness of the moon and of fire – these are my glory.
Calmness, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and purity:
these are the disciplines of the mind.
To refrain from selfish acts is one kind of renunciation,
called sannyasa; to renounce the fruit of action is another, called tyaga.
By serving me with steadfast love, a man or woman goes
beyond the gunas. Such a one is fit for union with Brahman.
When they see the variety of creation rooted in that unity
and growing out of it, they attain fulfillment in Brahman.
I have shared this profound truth with you, Arjuna. Those
who understand it will attain wisdom; they will have done that which has to be
done.
I give you these precious words of wisdom; reflect on them
and then do as you choose.
