Vigilance Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality (or Nir vana). Negligence is the way that leads to death. Those who are vigilant do not die. Those who are negligent are dead already.  In these texts the word Nirvana is not used in the sense of annihilation, as you see, but in the sense of an eternal existence in opposition to life and death, as we know them in the present earthly existence, and which are contrary to each other: life contrary to death, death contrary to life. It is not    that   life which is spoken of, but the eternal existence which is beyond life and death – the true existence. Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one's guard

The Sage We should seek the company of the sage who shows us our faults, as if he were showing us a hidden trea- sure; it is best to cultivate relations with such a man because he cannot be harmful to us. He will bring us only good. One who exhorts us to good and dissuades us from doing evil is appreciated, esteemed by the just man and hated by the unjust. Do not seek the company or friendship of men of base character, but let us consort with men of worth and let us seek friendship with the best among men. He who drinks directly from the source of the Teach- ing lives happy in serenity of mind. The sage deli

The Path The best of all paths is the Eightfold Path; the best of all truths is the Fourfold Truth; the best of all states is freedom from attachment; the best among men is the One who sees, the Buddha. Truly, this is the Path; there is no other which leads to purification of vision. Follow this Path and Mara will be confounded. By following this Path, you put an end to suffering. This Path I have made known, since I learned to re- move the thorns (of life). The effort must come from oneself. The Tathagatas only point out the Path. Those who meditate and tread this Path are delivered from the bondage of M

The Just Man     A man is not just if he judges arbitrarily. The wise man is one who distinguishes the just from the unjust, who judges others in full knowledge according to law and equity; this guardian of the Law is called a just man. The sage is not the man who speaks most. The man who is compassionate, friendly, fearless, is called a sage. It is not by much speaking that the Doctrine is up- held; but he who has studied the Doctrine, even a little, and mentally realised it, he alone upholds it. He does not neglect it. A man is not a Thera¹ because his hair is grey. He is ripe in years but he has aged

 4 August 1929 Is not surrender the same as sacrifice? In our Yoga there is no room for sacrifice. But everything depends on the meaning you put on the word. In its pure sense it means a consecrated giving, a making sacred to the Divine. But in the significance that it now bears, sacrifice is something that works for destruction; it carries about it an atmosphere of negation. This kind of sacrifice is not fulfilment; it is a deprivation, a self-immolation. It is your possibilities that you sacrifice, the possibilities and realisations of your personality from the most material to the highest spiritual range. Sacrifice diminishes your being. If physically you sacrifice

 Power of Right Attitude Is it really the best that always happens?… It is clear that all that has happened had to happen: it could not be otherwise--by the universal determinism it had to happen. But we can say so only after it has happened, not before. For the problem of the very best that can happen is an individual problem, whether the individual be a nation or a single human being; and all depends upon the personal attitude. If, in the presence of circumstances that are about to take place, you can take the highest attitude possible that is, if you put your consciousness in contact with the highest consciousness within reach, you can be absolutely sure that in that case

Pleasure              One who gives himself entirely to what is unprofitable, who does not give himself to what is profitable, who sacrifices true knowledge for the sake of pleasure, will envy those who have chosen the path of self-knowledge. Therefore do not seek after pleasure, much less what is unpleasant, for it is painful to be deprived of what is pleasing and equally painful to see what is unplea- sant. Therefore one should hold nothing dear, for the loss of what one loves is painful. No bondage exists for those who have neither love nor hatred. What is pleasing gives rise to grief; what is pleasing give

 Knowledge by Unity with the Divine – The Divine Will in the World   Consciousness is the faculty of becoming aware of anything whatsoever through identification with it. But the divine consciousness is not only aware but knows and effects. For, mere awareness is not knowledge. To become aware of a vibration, for instance, does not mean that you know everything about it. Only when the consciousness participates in the divine consciousness does it get full knowledge by identification with the object. Ordinarily, identification leads to ignorance rather than knowledge, for the consciousness is lost in what it becomes and is unable to envisage proper causes, concomi

 Stepping Back Most of you live on the surface of your being, exposed to the touch of external influences. You live almost projected, as it were, outside your own body, and when you meet some unpleasant being similarly projected you get upset. The whole trouble arises out of your not being accustomed to stepping back. You must always step back into yourself – learn to go deep within – step back and you will be safe. Do not lend yourself to the superficial forces which move in the outside world. Even if you are in a hurry to do something, step back for a while and you will discover to your surprise how much sooner and with what greater success your work can be done. If someone i

The Awakened One (The Buddha)                   He whose victory has never been surpassed nor even equalled – which path can lead to Him, the Pathless, the Awakened One who dwells within the Infinite? One in whom there is neither greed nor desire, how can he be led astray? Which path can lead to Him, the Pathless, the Awakened One who dwells within the Infinite? Even the gods envy the sages given to meditation, the Awakened Ones, the Vigilant who live with delight in renunciation and solitude. It is difficult to attain to human birth. It is difficult to live this mortal life. It is difficult to obtain the goo