It is hard to find a man who has desire for what he has not tasted, or who tastes the world and is untouched. Here in the world some crave pleasure, some seek freedom but it is hard to find a man who wants neither. It is hard to find a man who has an open mind, who neither seeks nor shuns wealth or pleasure, duty or liberation, life or death…He does not want the world to end. He does not mind if it lasts. Whatever befalls him, He lives in happiness.
If we only practice compassion at the mind level, we run a great risk of our compassion being just talk. As we know, talk is cheap. To develop true compassion we have to put our money where our mouth is.
Power invariably elects to go into the hands of the strong. Strength may be physical, or of the heart or, if we do not fight shy of the word, of the spirit. Strength of the heart connotes soul-force. Let it be remembered that physical force is transitory. But the power of spirit is permanent even as the spirit is everlasting.
Without faith there is no knowledge, without knowledge there is no virtuous conduct, without virtues there is no deliverance, and without deliverance there is no perfection.
Scholars who incessantly contemplate on acquiring strength and knowledge should also consider it their moral duty to impart knowledge to the ignorant, so that they can develop their mental faculties. This would automatically lead to the latter’s self-development and spiritual progress.
If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments.
The mind is the instrument, the flywheel, and the thickest comrade of man. Through it, one can ruin oneself or save oneself. Regulated and controlled, channeled properly it can liberate; wayward and let loose, it can entangle and bind fast.
