Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yes, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice.
For those who may not find happiness to exercise religious faith, it’s okay to remain a radical atheist – it’s absolutely an individual right, but the important thing is with a compassionate heart – then no problem.
Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious. One must practice the virtues taught in such books in order to acquire love of God.
People will ask me: Don’t you believe in God? No, I don’t. I believe in two things above all: Nature and Love. Nature is all-powerful. Love is how I understand the good. It might have been nice to believe in God, often defined as all-powerful and good, but combining the two like that has always posed too much of a contradiction for my poor mind to believe in.
The ornament of the night is the moon, that of the day is the sun. The ornament of the devotee is devotion, that of devotion knowledge. The ornament of knowledge is meditation, and that of meditation is renunciation. The ornament of renunciation, says Tulsi, is pure, unalloyed peace.
