Be an Ant

Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar.

- Ramakrishna

remember me

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.

- Bhagavad Gita 8:12-13

we have power

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.

- Swami Vivekananda

detachment, wisdom and freedom

O Master, Tell me how to find Detachment, wisdom, and freedom! Child, If you wish to be free, Shun the poison of the senses. Seek the nectar of truth, Of love and forgiveness, Simplicity and happiness.

- Ashtavakra Gita 1:1-2

fortune

Behold the man who shields his family from all suffering. Has not his body become a willing vessel for affliction. Without good men to hold it up, The family house will fall when misfortune descends.

- Tirukkural 103: 1029-1030

one still

The Self looks like the world. But this is just an illusion. The Self is everywhere. One. Still. Free. Perfect. The witness of all things, Awareness Without action, clinging or desire.

- Ashtavakra Gita 1:12

inmost self

If a man considers that he is born, he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body that is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find from where thoughts emerge. Then you will be able to abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.

- Ramana Maharshi