Quotations by Pūjya Swami Dayananda
"One who is happy with oneself is a wise person who can totally accept himself or herself because the self is acceptable. The self is perfect; it is not imperfect. Perfection means that there is no sense of imperfection whatsoever."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"Another important point is that the Veda does not belong to anyone. No individual or culture can claim it. It is simply a body of knowledge belonging to humanity at large. This knowledge is here, in the world, for all people."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"The more you begin to understand, the more you begin to love the self. The self, Atma, is not other than yourself; therefore, self-love comes. And because the self is absolute, the love for it is absolute."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"You are in charge of your life to an extent, but if you think you are totally in charge, you are mistaken. Everything is given to you-even the ego that thinks it is in charge."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The very existence of the chain is because of the gold. If the chain is, the 'is-ness' is nothing but the 'is-ness' of the gold. Therefore, gold does not exist in chain, whereas the chain exists in gold. One is satya, the other, mithyā. Satya does not exist depending upon mithyā but mithyā cannot exist without satya."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The creation is neither for Paramātmā nor for any other, because there is no other."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The Atma of Īśvara is the Atma of the Jīva, and that is caitanya, which is one, eka, which is non-dual, advitīya, which is Satyam jnānam anantam brahma."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"Vedanta is a pramāṇa, a means of knowledge, and the prameya, what is to be known, is ātman, which is evident as oneself, but not known as it is. In a confused form it is known. In other words, mithyā is understood as satya and satya is not understood at all. What does it mean? It means there is self-confusion."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"But it is not happiness that you want, you want to be a happy person. Happiness is not an object. If there is an object called ‘happiness’ in the world, then we all can make a beeline towards that object, and all of us can get a little bit of happiness. Therefore, you cannot seek happiness. You seek the happy person. You become happy without fulfilling a desire. And you become unhappy even after fulfilling a desire."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"The Guru tells, ‘You are the whole, tat tvam asi.’ When he says, ‘You are the cause of everything, you are the whole,’ then the Guru also must certainly be the whole. Otherwise, he cannot say that you are the whole. The Guru is the same as Parameśvara."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"You can ask, “If I am interested in mokṣa, why should I study Tattvabodha?” Tattvabodha, knowledge of the tattva, which is yourself, is mokṣa."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"There is nothing for you to worry about, no worry for the future. You live for today. Having strong faith in Īśvara, in the order of things, that is the surrender."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"All of the teachings, the upaniṣads, are called Vedānta. No teaching is necessary for a mosquito. The teaching is for the one who says, ‘I am bound, I am limited’."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"When the śāstra talks about creation, the purpose is not to establish creation. It is to reveal that the entire jagat is non-separate from Brahman. Tat tvam asi, that Brahman you are. The teaching of creation is there only to make you understand there is sarvātmā alone, only ātmā."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"In fact, you have no measuring rod to identify a guru. Only one thing is possible; a teacher can prove himself a teacher. For this he has to make you see what you have to see, nothing less will make him a teacher. You can check up whether he is a guru, whether he can teach and dispel the ignorance."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Grace is another name for karma-phala, result of action. Īśvara is the karma-phala-dātā, giver of the results of action. Being the karma-phala-dātā, he gives the result in accordance with the action. Īśvara does not go about distributing some grace to some people on some days; you have to earn it."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Mukti means freedom, freedom from what you do not want. The freedom is always freedom from what you look upon as bondage. Anything that bothers you is bondage. Death bothers you; so it is bondage. Pain bothers you; so it is bondage. But the basic thing that bothers a person is the notion ‘I am small and insignificant.’ This notion separates a person from everything else. That sense of separation is indeed the problem."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"‘I am holier than thou’ attitude does not bless one. If you are free by understanding Vedanta, you will be a blessing to others. You share the knowledge of Vedanta. It is never for propagation."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Being the product of ignorance, bondage is destroyed by nothing other than removing the ignorance. Nirvikalpa-samādhi, etc do not really help you in getting rid of bondage. Samādhi is the capacity to resolve your mind, where you give up everything as in sleep. In sleep there is no ego and you are not conscious of your body, your mind, etc. You have given up all these bondages but you do not come out liberated from the sleep. Similarly, in a samādhi-experience, the subject-object division is for the time being resolved; but it does not dispel the ignorance, the cause of bondage in any way. So samādhi cannot destroy bondage."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Ātmā is the basis for the ignorance and the entire world beginning from ahaṅkāra, ego, but it is not affected by these superimpositions, even as the rope is not affected by the sliminess of the snake."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"In fact, at every level you are connected. At the physical level, you are connected to Virāṭ. At the prāṇa level, you are connected to Sūtrātmā. At mind level you are connected to Hiraṇyagarbha. All are manifestation of Īśvara only. At causal level you are connected to Īśvara directly. So jīva is always connected to Īśvara. The reality is both jīva and Īśvara are essentially one only because īśvaratvam and jīvatvam are mithyā. Both, jīva and Īśvara are satyaṁ jñānam anantaṁ brahma."
Source: Taittirīya Upanishad (commentary)
"A wise person will have experience of pleasure and pain according to the prārabdha. Since he is free, he can afford to have a limited body-mind-sense complex. His body is part of īśvara-sṛṣṭi, and hence it continues to exist till the prārabdha is exhausted. It is how jīvan-mukti is possible. Otherwise, everything will disappear in the wake of knowledge."
Source: Mundakopanisad Text, Transliteration, Word-to-Word Meaning and Detailed Commentary
"The subject matter of Vedanta is the most desirable, hita, for every individual. Analysing the various ends, puruṣārthas, in life such as security-artha; pleasure-kāma; and dharma that is puṇya, for the hereafter, Vedanta presents mokṣa, freedom from limitation, as the most desirable."
Source: Teaching Tradition of Advaita Vedanta
"What is love? It is nothing but compassion which is sympathy and which in turn is understanding."
Source: Discovering Love
"Knowing the truth of I, you are free enough to have a limited body, a limited mind, and limited senses. This is the freedom and it is the nature of the self. It is this self that you love. The love is for the pleased self which it already is."
Source: Discovering Love
"Everyone loves sleep only because of this yearning for fullness. As we analyse our love for sleep, we come to understand the nature and content of our seeking."
Source: Discovering Love
Clay is satyam for pot, but clay is only atoms. Clay molecules are satyam, clay is mithyā. Elemental atoms are satyam, complex molecules are mithyā. The atom provides ‘isness’ to pot and clay. Pot and clay and molecule are mithyā. Atom also is mithyā because the even smaller particle is the basis of the atom and provides ‘isness’ to atom. Existence belongs only to particle. But particle is never seen; it is only a concept; you recognize it only through inferences; it is not seen with the eyes. As a concept, as particle concept, that concept is not separate from consciousness. Ask the physicists. Because every concept is consciousness. Subject and object consciousness are both consciousness. Therefore what is is consciousness. Consciousness provides all ‘isness’ - is all the way.
Source: Vakya Vritti
More information: https://www.avgbooks.org
OM TAT SAT
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"Another important point is that the Veda does not belong to anyone. No individual or culture can claim it. It is simply a body of knowledge belonging to humanity at large. This knowledge is here, in the world, for all people."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"The more you begin to understand, the more you begin to love the self. The self, Atma, is not other than yourself; therefore, self-love comes. And because the self is absolute, the love for it is absolute."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 1
"You are in charge of your life to an extent, but if you think you are totally in charge, you are mistaken. Everything is given to you-even the ego that thinks it is in charge."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The very existence of the chain is because of the gold. If the chain is, the 'is-ness' is nothing but the 'is-ness' of the gold. Therefore, gold does not exist in chain, whereas the chain exists in gold. One is satya, the other, mithyā. Satya does not exist depending upon mithyā but mithyā cannot exist without satya."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The creation is neither for Paramātmā nor for any other, because there is no other."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"The Atma of Īśvara is the Atma of the Jīva, and that is caitanya, which is one, eka, which is non-dual, advitīya, which is Satyam jnānam anantam brahma."
Source: Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course Vol. 2
"Vedanta is a pramāṇa, a means of knowledge, and the prameya, what is to be known, is ātman, which is evident as oneself, but not known as it is. In a confused form it is known. In other words, mithyā is understood as satya and satya is not understood at all. What does it mean? It means there is self-confusion."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"But it is not happiness that you want, you want to be a happy person. Happiness is not an object. If there is an object called ‘happiness’ in the world, then we all can make a beeline towards that object, and all of us can get a little bit of happiness. Therefore, you cannot seek happiness. You seek the happy person. You become happy without fulfilling a desire. And you become unhappy even after fulfilling a desire."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"The Guru tells, ‘You are the whole, tat tvam asi.’ When he says, ‘You are the cause of everything, you are the whole,’ then the Guru also must certainly be the whole. Otherwise, he cannot say that you are the whole. The Guru is the same as Parameśvara."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"You can ask, “If I am interested in mokṣa, why should I study Tattvabodha?” Tattvabodha, knowledge of the tattva, which is yourself, is mokṣa."
Source: Tattvabodhaḥ
"There is nothing for you to worry about, no worry for the future. You live for today. Having strong faith in Īśvara, in the order of things, that is the surrender."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"All of the teachings, the upaniṣads, are called Vedānta. No teaching is necessary for a mosquito. The teaching is for the one who says, ‘I am bound, I am limited’."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"When the śāstra talks about creation, the purpose is not to establish creation. It is to reveal that the entire jagat is non-separate from Brahman. Tat tvam asi, that Brahman you are. The teaching of creation is there only to make you understand there is sarvātmā alone, only ātmā."
Source: Sādhana Pañcakam
"In fact, you have no measuring rod to identify a guru. Only one thing is possible; a teacher can prove himself a teacher. For this he has to make you see what you have to see, nothing less will make him a teacher. You can check up whether he is a guru, whether he can teach and dispel the ignorance."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Grace is another name for karma-phala, result of action. Īśvara is the karma-phala-dātā, giver of the results of action. Being the karma-phala-dātā, he gives the result in accordance with the action. Īśvara does not go about distributing some grace to some people on some days; you have to earn it."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Mukti means freedom, freedom from what you do not want. The freedom is always freedom from what you look upon as bondage. Anything that bothers you is bondage. Death bothers you; so it is bondage. Pain bothers you; so it is bondage. But the basic thing that bothers a person is the notion ‘I am small and insignificant.’ This notion separates a person from everything else. That sense of separation is indeed the problem."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"‘I am holier than thou’ attitude does not bless one. If you are free by understanding Vedanta, you will be a blessing to others. You share the knowledge of Vedanta. It is never for propagation."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Being the product of ignorance, bondage is destroyed by nothing other than removing the ignorance. Nirvikalpa-samādhi, etc do not really help you in getting rid of bondage. Samādhi is the capacity to resolve your mind, where you give up everything as in sleep. In sleep there is no ego and you are not conscious of your body, your mind, etc. You have given up all these bondages but you do not come out liberated from the sleep. Similarly, in a samādhi-experience, the subject-object division is for the time being resolved; but it does not dispel the ignorance, the cause of bondage in any way. So samādhi cannot destroy bondage."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"Ātmā is the basis for the ignorance and the entire world beginning from ahaṅkāra, ego, but it is not affected by these superimpositions, even as the rope is not affected by the sliminess of the snake."
Source: Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Selected Verses)
"In fact, at every level you are connected. At the physical level, you are connected to Virāṭ. At the prāṇa level, you are connected to Sūtrātmā. At mind level you are connected to Hiraṇyagarbha. All are manifestation of Īśvara only. At causal level you are connected to Īśvara directly. So jīva is always connected to Īśvara. The reality is both jīva and Īśvara are essentially one only because īśvaratvam and jīvatvam are mithyā. Both, jīva and Īśvara are satyaṁ jñānam anantaṁ brahma."
Source: Taittirīya Upanishad (commentary)
"A wise person will have experience of pleasure and pain according to the prārabdha. Since he is free, he can afford to have a limited body-mind-sense complex. His body is part of īśvara-sṛṣṭi, and hence it continues to exist till the prārabdha is exhausted. It is how jīvan-mukti is possible. Otherwise, everything will disappear in the wake of knowledge."
Source: Mundakopanisad Text, Transliteration, Word-to-Word Meaning and Detailed Commentary
"The subject matter of Vedanta is the most desirable, hita, for every individual. Analysing the various ends, puruṣārthas, in life such as security-artha; pleasure-kāma; and dharma that is puṇya, for the hereafter, Vedanta presents mokṣa, freedom from limitation, as the most desirable."
Source: Teaching Tradition of Advaita Vedanta
"What is love? It is nothing but compassion which is sympathy and which in turn is understanding."
Source: Discovering Love
"Knowing the truth of I, you are free enough to have a limited body, a limited mind, and limited senses. This is the freedom and it is the nature of the self. It is this self that you love. The love is for the pleased self which it already is."
Source: Discovering Love
"Everyone loves sleep only because of this yearning for fullness. As we analyse our love for sleep, we come to understand the nature and content of our seeking."
Source: Discovering Love
Clay is satyam for pot, but clay is only atoms. Clay molecules are satyam, clay is mithyā. Elemental atoms are satyam, complex molecules are mithyā. The atom provides ‘isness’ to pot and clay. Pot and clay and molecule are mithyā. Atom also is mithyā because the even smaller particle is the basis of the atom and provides ‘isness’ to atom. Existence belongs only to particle. But particle is never seen; it is only a concept; you recognize it only through inferences; it is not seen with the eyes. As a concept, as particle concept, that concept is not separate from consciousness. Ask the physicists. Because every concept is consciousness. Subject and object consciousness are both consciousness. Therefore what is is consciousness. Consciousness provides all ‘isness’ - is all the way.
Source: Vakya Vritti
More information: https://www.avgbooks.org
OM TAT SAT