work

There is no harm in doing work after the attainment of bhakti. But it is very hard. One needs intense tapasya.

It is God who does everything. We are His instruments. Some Sikhs said to me in front of the Kali temple, 'God is compassionate.' I said, 'To whom is He compassionate?' 'Why, revered sir, to all of us', said the Sikhs. I said: 'We are His children. Does compassion to one's own children mean much? A father must look after his children; or do you expect the people of the neighbourhood to bring them up?' Well, won't those who say that God is compassionate ever understand that we are God's children and not someone else's?

Narendra

Sri Ramakrishna Dev's Humor 😀 

Sri Ramakrishna to Narendra (Later Swami Vivekananda) : Sing a little.

Narendra : I must go home, I have many things to do.

Sri Ramakrishna : Yes, yes, My child, Why should you listen to us ?

The words of those who have gold on their body are valuable, no one listens to him who has not even a rag around the waist ( All laugh).

You frequent the garden house of Guhas, I always hear about it. Whenever I ask, 'Where is Narendra today ?' I am told, 'Oh, he has gone to the Guhas'

I should not have said all these things, but you have wrung them out of me.

self

Questioner: Why is the world so wrapped up in ignorance?

🌺 Ramana Maharshi 🌺

Take care of yourself. 

Let the world take care of itself. 

See your Self. 

If you are the body 

there is the gross world also. 

If you are spirit all is spirit alone.

🕉

longing realization

"If the longing is there, Realization will be forced on you even if you do not want it...sadhanas [spiritual practices] are needed so long as one has not realized it. They are for putting an end to obstacles. Finally, there comes a stage when a person feels helpless notwithstanding the sadhanas. He is unable to pursue the much-cherished sadhana, also. It is then that God's Power is realized. The Self reveals itself."

~ Maharishi Raman.

self

You are looking for satisfaction in the outside world because you think that all these objects you see in front of you are real. 

They are not. The Reality is the substratum in which they all appear. This is what you should be seeking, instead of looking for external gods in different pilgrimage places. 

An elephant is made out of wood. If we see it as wood, it is wood. But if we get caught up in the name and form, we will see only an elephant and forget that its underlying nature is wood. 

All is your own Self. This form is different; that form is different. This is more powerful; this is worse. These are all judgments you make when you see separate objects instead of having the true vision that all is an undifferentiated oneness. 

There may be different varieties of light bulbs, but the current that activates and sustains them is the same. You must learn to become one with this activating current, the unmanifest Self, and not get caught up in all the names and forms that appear in IT.

ANNAMALAI SWAMI – FINAL TALKS

FT-79

purpose of life is realise self

ego

TALK 28

Ego’s perfection is suddenly broken at a point and a want is felt giving rise to a desire to get something or do something. When that want is cured by the fulfilment of that desire, the ego is happy and the original perfection is restored. Therefore happiness may be said to be our natural condition or nature. Pleasure and pain are relative and refer to our finite state, with progress by satisfaction of want. If relative progress is stopped and the soul merges into Brahman - of the nature of perfect peace - that soul ceases to have relative, temporary pleasure and enjoys perfect peace - Bliss. Hence Self-Realisation is Bliss; it is realizing the Self as the limitless spiritual eye (jnana dristi) and not clairvoyance; it is the highest self-surrender. Samsara (the world-cycle) is sorrow.