Swami Muktananda Quotes

Just as when the mind focuses outside it perceives the outer world, when it looks within it sees the inner world. It is as simple as that.

We know only the ordinary states of consciousness in which we live; we do not have complete knowledge of reality. When we are awake, we are totally immersed in our waking world. When we dream, our activities, our world, and our understanding are completely different from when we are awake. When we go into the state of deep sleep, we lose consciousness altogether.

It is certain... that to experience the Self we must follow a spiritual practice. Even to achieve something in daily life we have to work for it. We cannot satisfy our appetite merely by reading a description of a delicious meal.

When the mind becomes entirely free of thoughts, the light of the Self will naturally reveal itself. That is why the scriptures of meditation say that the true meaning of meditation is total stillness of mind.

In the Kena Upanishad there is a statement: "That which is not thought about by the mind but by which the mind thinks-- know that as the Absolute." It takes a very subtle intellect to grasp this but if you understand it you will not have to make an effort to mediate. You will simply be aware of that which is meditation on you.

Within the human heart dwells a shimmering effulgence whose brilliance surpasses even that of the sun. This inner Consciousness is the same as that which creates and animates the entire universe. But we are not aware of this. Even though we have come from this Consciousness, we have changed our understanding about ourselves.

Why does he live with enmity and competition instead of a feeling of brotherhood? He does these things because he lacks true understanding about himself. He does not know the greatness that lies within the human heart.

The human body is a temple within which God dwells in the form of the Self. However, to know this, you must turn within through meditation. In your present state, you have only partial awareness.

Through meditation we become aware of our fundamental unity with all things. We cannot attain that awareness by reading books or listening to lectures. We can attain it only through direct experience. To have that experience we must pass from one state of awareness to another, moving gradually to deeper and deeper levels of our being.

One of the greatest of all techniques is mantra repetition. Mantra and meditation are companions; the mantra is a tremendous help in meditation.

Not everyone is able to still the mind all at once, and therefore the sages have prescribed different techniques of meditation, according to people’s capacities.

Meditation is not some strange technique that we have to learn with great effort and difficulty. There is already a strong element of meditation in our lives, but we are simply not aware of it.

How did we change? Every one of us has become one thing or another, according to our own understanding. We believe ourselves to be men or women, rich people or poor people. We believe that we are teachers, soldiers, psychiatrists. We believe that we are young or old, fat or thin, happy or miserable... Americans or Indians, Russians or Arabs, Hindus or Christians, Muslims or Jews.

We pass from the level from which we have the awareness ‘I am the body” to the level in which we have the experience ‘I am God.

Western scientists are now beginning to discover the truth that the philosophers of India have known for millennia: that the entire universe consists of one energy. Our ancient philosophers, who were scientists of the spirit, called that energy Consciousness, or God. This supreme Consciousness created the entire cosmos out of its own being.