If you have done something meritorious, you experience pleasure and happiness; if wrong things, suffering. A happy or unhappy life is your own creation. Nobody else is responsible. If you remember this, you wonโt find fault with anybody. You are your own best friend as well as your worst enemy. (99)
Swami SatchidanandaThe stones of a river start out rough, but with the current continually bumping and polishing them, they end up being beautiful.
Swami SatchidanandaDevotion gradually progresses to higher levels. . . . One type goes to God and asks Him to remove his suffering. Another one will ask for money or material things. A third will request liberation or release from his bondage. And the fourth will not ask for anything. He will just enjoy praying and praising his Lord. That is the highest form of prayer. (Beyond Word, 119)
Swami SatchidanandaNow will never leave. It is always here. Like a clear canvas, it awaits our painting.
Swami SatchidanandaWhat is it that dies? A log of wood dies to become a few planks. The planks die to become a chair. The chair dies to become a piece of firewood, and the firewood dies to become ash. You give different names to the different shapes the wood takes, but the basic substance is there always. If we could always remember this, we would never worry about the loss of anything. We never lose anything; we never gain anything. By such discrimination we put an end to unhappiness. (118-119)
Swami SatchidanandaBegin with little things daily and one day you will be doing things that months back you would have thought impossible.
Swami SatchidanandaIf you do not pour water on your plant, what will happen? It will slowly wither and die. Our habits will also slowly wither and die away if we do not give them an opportunity to manifest. You need not fight to stop a habit. Just donโt give it an opportunity to repeat itself. (67)
Swami Satchidananda