Swami Muktananda Quotes

Meditation is a complete path. It not only brings inner experiences, but removes all the worries and tensions of the mind and washes away the sins of countless lifetimes.

When we meditate, we pass even beyond the deep sleep state and enter the state of the Self. That state is the foundation of all the other states, and it alone is permanent and unchanging.

A human being has the freedom to become anything. By his own power he can make his life sublime or wretched. By his own power he can reach the heavens or descend to the depths.

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.

O friend, where are you going? Where have you come from, and what are you supposed to do? You belong to the supreme Truth, but you have forgotten your origin, Now it is time to get back on the main road.

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.

We are all portions of this universe of Consciousness. We are not different from one another, and we are not different from God. If one sows a mango seed one will get a mango, never a lemon. In the same way, that which is born of God can never be other than God.

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.

So how can these inner instruments show you the Self? God cannot be thought about by the mind, because it is God who sets the mind to thinking.

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.

Meditation is a natural sadhana, and it has been recognized bv all the saints and sages as the most direct means of perceiving the Self.

Above all, meditation stills the wandering mind and establishes us forever in a state of peace that remains stable no matter what happens around us.

People talk about innovation and reform, but in the name of these things they have succeeded only in destroying the environment, in wrecking family life, and in increasing selfishness and hostility.

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.

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.