Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 33

In Bhagavad-gita (6.20-21) the Supreme Personality of Godhead also says:
"The stage of perfection is called trance, or samadhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterised by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth."

In Bhagavad-gita (6.28) the Supreme Personality of Godhead also says:
"Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the supreme consciousness."

In Bhagavad-gita (6.47) the Supreme Personality of Godhead also says:
"And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshipping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all."

In Bhagavad-gita (7.28) the Supreme Personality of Godhead also says:
"Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated, and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination."

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History has shown us that our tendency to colonize and exploit other regions has always backfired. This planet can be made a happier, more peaceful place to live in, but the change will have to come from within the hearts of all of us living here.



Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda


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In Bhagavad-gita (8.28) the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives His final opinion:
"A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austere sacrifices, giving charity, or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. At the end he reaches the supreme abode."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (12.5.11-12) Srila Sukadeva Gosvami gives his final instruction to Maharaja Pariksit:
"You should consider, 'I am non different from the Absolute Truth, the supreme abode, and that Absolute Truth, the supreme destination, is non different from Me'. Thus resigning yourself to the Supreme Soul, who is free from all material misidentifications, you will not even notice the snake-bird Taksaka when he approaches with his poison-filled fangs and bites your foot. Nor will you see your dying body or the material world around you, because you will have realise yourself to be separate from them."

In Bhagavad-gita (18.54) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realises the Supreme Brahma. He never laments nor desires to have anything, He is equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me."

In Bhagavad-gita (12.10-11) the Supreme Personality of Godhead tells Arjuna:
"If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage.
"If however, you are unable to work in this consciousness, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 32

In the next verse the author describes the previously mentioned renunciation aspect of upaya-bhakti.

Sutra 36
From the path of the sense objects one should, employing spiritual knowledge and proper renunciation, gradually turn away the chariot of the body, the charioteer of the mind, and the horses of the senses. To do so is proper renunciation of the world.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The body is here called the chariot because it is controlled by the mind. The mind is called the charioteer, because it controls the senses. The senses are called the horses because they pull the chariot of the body here and there. It is also said:
"The spirit soul is the passenger in the chariot."

In the Upanisads it is said:
"Please know that the spirit soul is the passenger in the chariot."
When a person, using spiritual knowledge and proper detachment, drives the chariot described in these words away from the path of the sense objects that action is called proper renunciation.

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In his book Small Is Beautiful, noted British economist E. F. Schumacher wrote:
Insights of wisdom … enable us to see the hollowness and fundamental unsatisfactoriness of a life devoted primarily to the pursuit of material ends, to the neglect of the spiritual. Such a life necessarily sets man against man and nation against nation, because man’s needs are infinite and infinitude can be achieved only in the spiritual realm, never in the material.*
It is a fact that no matter how much sense gratification a person gets, he will never be satisfied. Material food, material things, material sense gratification cannot satisfy the atma (spirit soul). Just as the body needs material food, so the spirit soul needs spiritual food. To try to satisfy one’s spiritual craving with material things leads to endless consumption, greed, envy, violence, and war. Western people have as much sense gratification as one could ever want, yet they are not satisfied. Why? Because they are spiritually empty.



Siddhaswarupananda - Chris Butler Speaks
* E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 38.


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In Bhagavad-gita (6.26) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"Gradually, step by step, with full conviction, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else."

In the Katha Upanisad (1.3.3,4,6 and 9) it is said:
"The individual is the passenger in the car of the material body, and intelligence is the driver. Mind is the driving instrument, and the senses are the horses. The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the mind and senses. So it is understood by great thinkers."
"A wise person appropriately uses his mind to control his senses. Thus his intelligence is a good charioteer and his senses are good horses."
"In this way, with his intelligence as the charioteer and his mind as the reins, a wise person drives his chariot to the supreme abode of Lord Visnu."

In Bhagavad-gita (5.5, 4.18, 5.2 and 5.6) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also be attained by works in devotional service and who therefore sees that the path of works and the path of renunciation are one, sees things as they are."
"One who sees inaction, in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities."
"The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works."
"Unless one is engaged in devotional service of the Lord, mere renunciation of activities cannot make one happy. The sages, purified by works of devotion, achieve the Supreme without delay."