success and failure

Success and failure

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When any act has become fruitful, 

do not become proud, thinking 

‘This was achieved by my enterprise’; 

(on the other hand), 

become convinced that God is gracious.

When the desired success is not won, 

it should not be thought that the action has proved unfruitful; 

the fruit (of it) is just the understanding that actions become fruitful (in the usual sense) by the grace of God, 

not by mere human effort.

After doing a wrong action, one should not hide it from self-love; 

one should resolve to act rightly in future, avoiding faults.

Success and failure are due to destiny, 

and not to willpower or the lack of it. 

One should try to gain equipoise of mind under all circumstances. 

That is willpower.

It is better for the seeker to be in a worldly position arousing compassion from other men, than for him to be in a state to be envied by them.

~ Bhagvan Sri Ramana Maharishi

be

"Whatever you get by practice you will lose, but Being will never be lost because you will not get it by any experience or practice. 

It simply is, 

Simply Be."

~ Papaji

13

12

11

Deep exhaustion fills me . . .

Not like something I have known before

It is not of the body . . . nor of the emotions 

It is like something I have been carrying for lifetimes . . .

This seeking . . . of something other than what is

I cannot go on any longer

I am so tired

I give up

Whatever is . . . is

Whatever I am . . . I am

If the mind wants to think . . . that's ok

If the eyes want to cry . . . that's ok

If the body wants to rest . . . that's ok

Whatever is . . . is totally ok with me

I want nothing more than this . . .

To live life . . . each moment . . . whatever it brings

To just be myself . . . 

No more looking for more . . .

whether its enlightenment . . . nirvana . . . bliss . . . freedom

I want nothing

Just to breathe

and not play this game anymore

I am just too tired to go on . . .

Even if a wise man . . . were to come and say . . .

but just listen to me . . . with these words you will be enlightened

I would close my ears . . . and say "thank you" . . . "I love you"

but please . . . no more words!

~ Ma Prem Pratipada

10

9

8

Silence reveals itself only to itself. Only when we enter as nothing and stay as nothing, will silence open its secret. Its secret is itself. 

That's why I say all the words, all the books, all the teachings, and all the teachers can only get you to the door, and perhaps entice you to enter. Once there, you start to feel the presence of silence very powerfully.

When this happens, something spontaneously arises that's willing to enter it without being somebody. That is the sacred invitation. Inside you find that silence is the final and ultimate teacher and the final and ultimate teaching. It's the only teacher that won't speak to you.

Silence is the only teacher and teaching that keeps our humanness on its knees all the time. With any other teaching or teacher, we find we can get up. We can think, "Oh, I heard Adya said dah-dah-dah, and it sounds good," and we find ourselves lifting up off the floor of surrender. We turn away from our most sacred and beautiful humility.

Silence is the ultimate and best teacher because in silence is the never-ending welcoming to do that which our human heart truly desires, which is to always be with our knees on the floor, always be in that sort of devotion to Truth. Silence is the only teaching and the only teacher that is there all the time. Every minute that you are awake, every minute that you are alive, every minute that you breathe, it's right there.

Palo Alto, California: January 12, 2002

7.4

"Don’t challenge yourself to be brave or fearless, 

challenge yourself to be open and to trust in the higher Self, 

challenge yourself to remain inwardly still and centered inside your own Being."

~ Master Mooji

7.3

If you live in the world of becomings - I have become this, I have become that - you invite death to visit you.

Abide as Being, without becoming anything, and nothing will ever be able to touch you.

~ Sri Poonjaji 'Papaji'

7.2

Life will always move in the direction of the best. On the way you may find some rough roads, but they will lead you to a better life. Difficulties give you depth and joy gives you width.🙏🌷Jai Gurudev 🌷🙏

7.1

🌺🌺🌺 Happy Deepawali 🌺🌺🌺

Sri Ramana Maharshi about Deepavali.

The Conquest of Hell (Naraka) The Puranas say that Lord Narayana has killed the demon [of misery], Naraka Asura.

This demon is none other than the one who lives as “I am this body, the source of misery”.

One who seeks Naraka Asura’s [i.e., the ego’s] source,

and thus annihilates him, is truly Lord Narayana Himself.

The Deepavali-bath,

which is taken by all people on the fourteenth moon in remembrance of the conquest of Naraka,

signifies the bath of Jnana,

which is taken after destroying the ego Naraka Asura,

by searching for his source.

The above two verses were summarised in the following verse by Sri Bhagavan:

He who kills Narakasura (the ego)

with the Wheel [i.e.weapon] of Jnana,

by enquiring,“Where is the source of Narakasura

who rules over Narakaloka,

this wretched body, as ‘I’?”, is Lord Narayana;

and that day [of the ego’s destruction]

is the auspicious day of the fourteenth moon.

Deepavali signifies the great Self-Effulgence which shines after destroying the reflected light [i.e. the ego], Narakasura,

who was ruling this filthy body,

which is the form of hell, as ‘I’.

Deepavali signified

the shining of Self after the destruction,

through enquiry,

of the greatest sinner,Naraka [the ego],

who took the abode of this filthy body,

which is the form of hell, as ‘I’.

He is Narakasura (a demon)

who feels attached in the thought

that he is the body.

That attachment to the body itself is a Naraka (hell).

The life of a person who has that attachment,

even if he be a Maharajah,is hellish.

Destroying the attachment to the body,

and the self shining by itself as Self is Deepavali.

He is the king of hell

who says that he is the body

which is hell itself.

He is Narayana who ascertains who Naraka is,

and destroys him with His vision of wisdom, Jnana Drishti.

That is the auspicious day of Narakachathurdasi.

The false belief that

this hell-like house called body is me,

is Naraka himself.

To destroy that false belief and

let the self shine as Self, is Deepavali.

~ Guru Vachaka Kovai

5

As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the enquiry 

‘Who am I?’ is required. 

As thoughts arise they should be destroyed then and there in the very place of their origin through enquiry. 

If one resorts to contemplation of the Self unintermittently, until the Self is gained, that alone  would do. 

As long as there are enemies within the fortress,

they will continue to sally forth; 

if they are destroyed as they  emerge, 

the fortress will fall into our hands.

~ The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Chapter: Who am I?

4

No matter how many thoughts thus occur to you, if you would with acute vigilance enquire immediately as and when each individual thought arises to whom it has occurred, you would find it is to ‘me’. 

If then you enquire ‘Who am I?’ the mind gets introverted and the rising thought also subsides.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

3

You will find that

you do not need

to go anywhere

to get to the 'I'.

Instead all that

you have to do is

STOP all the movement of the mind

and

you are Here.

~ Sri Papaji

2

554. The caterpillar gets itself imprisoned in its own cocoon. 

Even so is the worldly soul caught in the 

meshes of its' own desires. 

But when the caterpillar develops into a bright and beautiful butterfly, it

bursts the Cocoon and flies out freely enjoying the light and air. 

Even so the worldly soul can fly out of 

the meshes of Maya with the wings of discrimination and dispassion for worldly things.

>Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

1

Sometimes, when someone would come to Dipa Ma

with their troubles, she would laugh and laugh.

She couldn't stop laughing. 

Finally, she would: "This problem you are facing is no problem at all. 

It is because you think, 'This is mine.' It is because you think, 'There is something for me to solve.' 

Don't think in this way, and then there will be no trouble."

 

- Dipak Choudhury