Category: Swami Rama

3:30: With the mind centred on the Self, dedicating all actions to Me, free of expectations and free of the thought “mine,” fight without the fever of fear and anxiety.

He alone who has learned to direct all his energies and the power of his thoughts, emotions, and desires to attain the knowledge of the Self has freedom. The common man remains conscious only of the world of objects, but those who are conscious of the self-existent Reality direct all their energy inward with a one-pointed desire to attain immortality. Ordinary people are ignorant because of their outward desires. The objects of the eternal world constantly lead one to identify with the changing phenomena and to forget the nature of the Self, which is unchanging and everlasting.

Sri Krishna therefore says, “O Arjuna, dedicate all of your actions with a one-pointed mind focused on the highest Self with no expectation or attachment whatsoever. Without fear and anxiety, fight the battle of life.” This verse talks of dedicated action, which actually is prayer inaction. When we pray but cannot dedicate our actions, that prayer is not of much use. Dedicating all of our actions and the fruits we receive therein is higher than the prayer that is uttered by our lips. The poems and hymns we utter are not as profound or as important as dedication of the fruits of our actions. There are two kinds of people: one who praises God all the time, the other remains silent and performs his actions, dedicating all the fruits of his actions to the Lord. It is clear that the latter prayer is superior to the former.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Rama. 1985 edition. The translation of the Sanskrit verse into English was done by Pandit Usharbudh Arya. The commentary is by Swami Rama.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

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Love for God means love for all.

Human love is not perfect. But if you do not have a major transfusion of human compassion, you can never have divine love. Only when you learn to truly love will you understand that love is the Lord of life.

No matter how much sadhana you do, first you have to understand the law of equality of love: the sun shines for all, the moon pales its light for all and the breeze blows for all equally. There is no disparity except when the individual self declares: “This is mine, this is mine; this is not mine.”

In ancient days there were people who could see the face of God. Someone once asked me why people could not see His face anymore. I replied that one must stoop a little to fetch water from the stream; nowadays no one can stoop so low.

Many prophets have come to this earth. The prophets of today can become builders of heaven, music makers or dreamers of discourse, but without love all hopes will finally crumble to dust. Many times they have tried to establish their world over the world created by God and have called it religion. Where are they today? In their shattered state of madness they have quit this world. This is why I call them quitters and not prophets of love. They have merely tangled humanity into various knots. One prophet professes something, another teaches knowledge, still another teaches yoga. They teach this and that philosophy, but only the prophet of love can help to transform the sufferings of humanity. The world is suffering because no one knows what love is, although we all have the same capacity to understand the true meaning of life.

Love for a human being is different than love for God. Love for God means love for all. There is one life force in all human beings, animals and even plants. This is life itself. But you have no time to love life itself because you are too busy loving those things you think are essential for life. Loving things of the world first, without knowing the reality beneath all these different forms and names, is not going to help the human race. The day you are awakened to the highest knowledge you will really start to love. Once you become aware of love itself, that which is eternal and not subject to change, death and decay, you will be able to love all things.

Love for life, love without an object, is the highest of all loves.

We all are like small light bulbs. When a bulb is broken, nothing happens to the electricity. Similarly nothing happens to the life force when we disappear from this earth. You do not want to accept this because you do not want to understand the whole process. Birth is mingled with death; they are one and the same thing. You should accept this fact and live here and now. Enjoy every bit, every moment and every part of life. Your past experiences and future imaginations distract you and have caused you to forget the whole purpose of life. You have forgotten that life is something eternal and you are part of eternity. No matter which culture, religion, or philosophical background you come from, you all have one and the same purpose of life, and that is to attain perennial happiness, everlasting bliss and peace. When the love of the world is changed from a sense experience to a soul experience, it will be founded on the love of God.

There is something beyond religions. Religion is an act that is humanity’s relationship with God. It is essential in the preliminary stage but surely does not allow one to be one with the whole. It is like being a moth that eats Kashmir wool trying to prove to other moths that Kashmir exists. God’s existence in reality does not depend on our proofs. There is something wrong with the philosophers and theologians for they have the curious notion that God is a kind of hypothesis that could be analyzed and discussed. God to me is a real annihilating fire and indescribable grace. I accept both. Everywhere in the realm of religion I have encountered locked doors. If ever one door should chance to open, I was disappointed by what lay behind it.
My religion knows neither hope nor fear. It dwells in the calm of the spiritual universe, which nothing but the human heart can comprehend. When the dew drop in the grass mirrors the heavens, why can’t the human mind and heart?
When one’s whole being is saturated with the idea of love from head to foot, then every pore of the body becomes alive to cosmic consciousness.

Your outer individual shell will remain exactly the same, but your inner light will expand to universal consciousness. That individual flame of love will become a forest conflagration and will burn up the precarious weed of selfishness. In love, you want to give and feel great joy in giving. Truth will automatically come to you if you learn how to love selflessly. The language of love comes from the soul through the heart.

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Editor’ Note

Reprinted from The Ancient Traveler: Writings on Love, by Swami Rama

Some students think that without practicing the preliminary steps of raja yoga they can attain samadhi, but that is not true. No matter which mantra you have, if your technique is defective, if you do not have a philosophy of life behind it, that technique alone will make you a technologist, but not a meditator. Work with yourself gently. As you look after your body, look after your mind. Proper meditation is very useful, and raja yoga teaches that.

Once you start doing meditation, you will come to know that life consists of more than merely learning. You talk of learning. You say, “I want to learn, I want to learn.” But that is not the proper attitude. There is something higher. On the spiritual path un-learning is much more important than so-called learning. What you really need to learn is “un-learning,” but only in meditation will you discover what this means.

I wish you could forget everything. If you could forget all that you have learned, in which language would you talk with yourself? What would be your state of mind? Do you know that when you have unlearned all the languages in which your mind thinks, you attain the state of samadhi? With the help of meditation and through the un-learning process, you will come in touch with your unconscious. Gradual and systematic meditation will enable you to make your mind one-pointed and will give you the power to penetrate the infinite library of intuitive knowledge. Then you will attain the real state of joy and happiness. Joy is realized only by that mind which can fathom the deeper levels of peace. One who has attained such an equilibrium of mind is never disturbed by worldly fetters because he has learned how to remain undisturbed, how to live here and now. He has learned to be here, yet above. If we live only here, we are flattened like a ball of clay and cannot get up, so we should learn to live here and yet remain above.

You know who is in samadhi? He who has no more questions. If you do not have any questions, if all your questions are solved, you are in samadhi, but as long as your mind is busy with dialogues, that is duality. If one part of your mind puts a question and another part answers it, you are not in samadhi. The day you are free from the argumentations of the mind, you are in samadhi. Samadhi is strengthened when you learn to practice your meditation constantly, without any interruption. This final rung of raja yoga has led you to become the most practical of persons, for now you are fully free, in full awareness of reality.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from the chapter “The Path of Raja Yoga” by Swami Rama in the book Inner Paths Compiled by the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1979. Pages 18-20.

The book Inner Paths is out of print, but available at some used bookstores.

For a better understanding of raja yoga, please read the book The Royal Path: Practical Lessons on Yoga by Swami Rama.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

Published works of Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati are also available at other venues.

Guru lives in the world but does not belong to the world.

The guru wants nothing for what he is doing because it is his duty and the purpose of his life. If he guides you, he is not obliging you; he is merely doing his work. He cannot live without doing his duty selflessly, for selfless love is the very basis of enlightenment. Such gurus guide humanity and radiate life and light from the unknown corners of the world. The world is not aware of them, and they do not want recognition. You may try your best to do something for your guru, but you cannot, because he doesn’t need anything. As the sun shines and lives far above, the guru gives spiritual love and remains unattached. This is why you should give your love and respect to your guru. If my guru and the Lord were to both come to me, I would go to my guru first and say, “Thank you very much. You have introduced me to the Lord.” I would not go to the Lord and say, “Thank you very much, Lord. You have given me my guru.”

In addition the guru should have inner strength and compassion. Compassion means that the teacher loves his students and wants them to grow and practise. If compassion is not there, then imparting knowledge is like planting seeds in a barren field in which nothing will grow.

You can feel if someone is phony or genuine when they say they love you. What do you mean by the word love? Love is when someone does things for you and does not expect anything in return. But if a teacher expects money or something else from his students, then that is a labor fee and has nothing to do with teaching. If you ask, “Guruji how much do you love me?” The teacher will reply, “My dear chela, as much as you love me, I love you the same.”

I spent the first forty years of my life going to many teachers. It became like a hobby to me. In vain I was roaming here and there, journeying far and wide, crossing the mountains and seven seas to seek and discover myself. Then finally I realized the teacher is within me. All I could do was laugh at myself and my foolishness. People called me wise, whereas I should have been called stupid for searching for myself outside instead of being still and looking within to become aware of what I already am. Finally I realized that I was the most extravagant vagabond I had ever met for wasting my breath and time searching for myself here, there and everywhere.

I am not condemning teachers, because they help. But if you ignore the teacher within, you will not be able to open the keys of the book of life. Your conscience is the greatest guide within you, but you do not listen to it because you don’t have self-confidence. Once you deserve to tread the inner path, everything will be open for you. And don’t worry about the mistakes; you are bound to commit mistakes when you are learning. In the process of learning, mistakes become the pillars of success, provided you don’t give up.

Guru Purnima

O Beloved Guru
Thou who art my very self
As the full moon reflects the sun’s light
This body should reflect thy glory,
Thy light should shine out from every pore
And thy fire should burn away any obstruction.
Thy will be done.

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Editor’s Note

Reprinted from The Ancient Traveler: Writings on Love, by Swami Rama

Discipline should be practiced on three levels: mind, action, and speech. The human being knows everything that he ought to know about how to live in the world and how to relate to others. He has been taught, for example, the importance of being kind and gentle. But one does not knowhow to put those principles into practice. The emphasis of this commentary is therefore on practice. As our guru deva used to say, “Do not waste your time thinking and planning to follow the path. Decide and just follow.”

Spiritual sadhana requires the discipline of mind, action, and speech. Even preliminary discipline of mind, action, and speech can lead one to the experience of supernatural phenomena not ordinarily experienced by students who collect information but do not practice. Sometimes the great swamis, sages, and yogis who have practiced discipline speak with profound certainty, and whatever they say happens exactly as they said it would. They do not care to debate what the truth is; they simply say that when one practices non-lying, he speaks the truth. We have recorded many instances in which a sage has said something that seems impossible, yet it happens just as he said. By practicing samyama (discipline), one can perform such miracles. A miracle is a miracle only as long as one does not know how it came about; the moment that is known, it is no longer a miracle. If one wastes his power of speech indulging in useless discussions, talking nonsense, lying intentionally, hurting others through his speech, condemning others, or speaking against another’s religion, vakshakti (the power of words) does not find effective expression through his speech. But if one conserves his power of speech and does not lie, his speech will become so powerful that whatever he says will come to pass.

If one also disciplines his actions by not doing what is not to be done, he will find that he is doing his actions more efficiently and more accurately than before. The question may arise: How can one know what is not right? The answer is that one’s conscience already knows what is right and wrong, good and bad, helpful and unhelpful. One simply has to tune into his inner conscience, which guides him all the time. That is called seeking counsel within before performing action. It has already been explained that one already knows – he simply has to practice. In the course of practicing not doing that which is not to be done, one will find that he is being guided from within. Then he can learn to develop a dialogue with his conscience, which is not polluted by the fickleness and feebleness of the mind. Experimenting in this way leads one to understand that the real counselor is within each person.

The first and foremost duty of a true and selfless teacher is to introduce his student to the inner guide which leads one during the waking, dreaming, and sleeping states. When one takes a few moments from his busy life and learns to sit calmly in a quiet place, the inner counselor begins counseling. It would be helpful if modern therapists and psychologists, as well as priests and spiritual teachers, would learn to listen to the inner counselor and then introduce that inner guide to their clients and students.

After practicing disciplined action and speech and studying their marvelous effects, one should learn to understand and practice mental discipline. When one does not allow his mind to think that which is negative and which makes him depressed and sad, his mind begins forming new habits of joy. Slowly he begins discriminating between helpful thoughts and those unhelpful thoughts that consume more human energy than anything else. This introspective (inspecting within) method leads one to the next step: witnessing. Here one learns to witness all that happens, both in external and internal worlds, without being involved with it. While one is still learning, he must be patient and not become disappointed if at times he fails to remain a witness but instead becomes emotionally caught up in what is taking place. In pursuing such a self-training program, one should make a commitment to himself for the sake of his growth that he will practice regularly and faithfully no matter what. This is not the same as following a commandment or a blind injunction. Many people are afraid to make commitments because they believe that by not making commitments they will be free, but lack of commitment is merely irresponsibility and does not bring about true freedom. When one is afraid to make a commitment, it is because he is fearful of accepting responsibility, but real freedom is attained only when one is no longer a slave of his emotions and mental life. To be responsible is to be strong. With the help of mental discipline, one’s internal organization can be arranged in a way that prevents emotional disturbances and physical maladies.

After understanding the importance of the discipline of mind, speech, and action and after practicing that discipline regularly for some time, one experiences certain extraordinary phenomena that are based on those realities that cannot be understood by the conscious mind. In each approach, whether it be prayer, meditation, or contemplation, discipline plays a role, like that of a father who protects his loving child with his tender arms and loving teachings.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Rama contained in the commentary of II:52-53. 1985.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

Published works of Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati are also available at other venues.

The goal of life is not the drama being played, but the lesson that it offers.

Out of the tumult of human life comes the decision to look for lasting peace and joy. Where is one to look for this treasure, and how can it be found? Going back to the story of the angel who was given the job of hiding life’s meaning, this treasure is hidden within. It also might be said that the treasure is buried under layers of ego, desires, emotions, habits, and other embedded thought patterns. Atman, the individual’s real identity, is waiting there. It takes nothing more than realization of this fact to truly know it — just be awake to it, as the Buddha taught. It is as simple as flicking on a light.

Peeling off the layers of ego, emotions, and embedded thought patterns is not so easy. Shankara said that a treasure doesn’t come out when you call it. It must be hunted for and dug up. All that is heaped over the buried treasure must be removed. The decision to look for the treasure is only the beginning of the hunt. The promise that it sits waiting within is taken on faith, but there is also a feeling, a voice calling out from what is at once a great distance and no distance at all. The debris that covers the treasure is identified as maya and the effects of maya. On account of maya, one is not conscious of the real Self. A seeker must start the search in earnest and begin digging.

What separates a human being from his or her true identity? What are the rocks, dirt, and rubble under which the treasure is buried, and how does a person go about removing them? What are the necessary tools to accomplish the same?

This digging is the reason for worldly human existence. Knowing which tools to use and when is the art of life. This work is life, and it is a magnificent adventure with Atman, the treasure, as its goal.

We learn as we gradually dig, scrape, and peel off the layers of what is not our real and permanent nature, until finally the work is done and we know who our true Self is. This is why we come to this world, why we create it, why we compose the dramas that are enacted across the globe.

The goal of life is not the drama being played, but the lesson that it offers. Every human being is the playwright of her or his own drama. Most people forget this. They think the dramas of their lives are created by God, or by others, or by the chance of mathematical probability in an inconceivably vast universe. They also fail to remember that the drama of life is just that, a play that is momentarily being acted out for a desired result. Instead of understanding life as a play, they take life to be the ultimate. Then the lessons promised by the drama are missed and a great deal of pain and sorrow is experienced.

So it is. This is how our individual development is shaped. We create and recreate dramas that we fail to see as such dramas. We mistake them to be the ultimate and get tossed about in the turmoil of pain and pleasure. Finally the day dawns that we turn toward another perspective. We are able to step back and watch the drama from a distance. The pain diminishes and the wisdom and humor of the drama become more apparent.

Each person creates a stage, a laboratory, a drama—however you prefer to understand it—to penetrate the layers of barriers covering the Atman. The day will eventually arrive when we will realize our true identity as both the one who is watching the drama, and that which is being watched. There is only One, as the Upanishads state. Each individual is a wave in the single vast ocean of pure consciousness.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Sacred Journey: Living Purposefully and Dying Gracefully by Swami Rama. Chapter “Digging for the Treasure of Life,” pages 19-21.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

Published works of Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati are also available at other venues.

You are the architect of your life and thus have the capacity to change and shape your destiny. You choose what you want to be. One way to understand this is to think of yourself as an archer. The arrows you have previously shot are the past, and you cannot take them back. They are gone and will not be returned to you. You cannot undo the karma you have performed and you will have to reap the fruits of that karma. Even though you have no control over your past actions, you can have perfect control over the arrows that you have in your quiver and that you are shooting now. These represent the present. The arrows you are holding on your back and intend to shoot toward the target later correspond to the future. The past is gone, but what you do now and in the future is in your hands. The present is the link between the past and the future. If you keep thinking only of the past or imagining the future, you are missing the link of the present.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Sadhana, the Path of Enlightenment: Yoga the Sacred Science, Volume 2, by Swami Rama. Chapter “If the Cause Is Imperfect, the Effect Will Be Imperfect,” page130.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

Published works of Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati are also available at other venues.

The key to healing is selflessness.

When I was young I used to follow my master wherever he went. Once we went to a city called Heta in UP district to visit a railway officer whose only son had very severe smallpox with huge abscesses all over his body. When we were traveling it was customary to go to different households and ask for food. Being young I dashed in front of my master and knocked on the railway officer’s door. When the door opened, I immediately asked, “Mother, could you give me some food?”

She came out and angrily said, “If you are really swamis, you should know that we have only one son and he is dying. Instead you are behaving like a fool and talking of food.”

That really affected me. When my master reached I told him what had happened and he smiled and said, “Let me go inside.”

When he saw the condition of the child he asked the mother what she had said to me. She repeated, “If you are a swami you should have known that my only son is dying. Instead of helping me you are being very selfish in asking for food.”

Then again he smiled and said to me, “Son, I am going to cure him.”

He then removed the bed sheet that was covering the boy and wrapped himself in that. Immediately his whole body became covered with smallpox eruptions, while the boy was completely cured. Both parents fell down at the feet of my master. He said, “Now I am going to transfer this to a tree.”

Later I asked him how it was possible for him to cure that child, so he gave me one example: “Suppose there is a house that is burning, and the family members of that house are crying and screaming outside because their only child is inside that house. They have no strength to go inside and save him. Suddenly a stranger comes and hears about the child. Without hesitation he runs into the burning house and after a few moments brings the child out. How can you awaken such love where you are willing to put yourself in danger to rescue someone else? Love requires sacrifice and courage. Anyone who knows what sacrifice is and what it means to give, is a real lover.”

Above and beyond medicine you can heal others if you have an intense desire to serve others with love. You have that potential, but you have not yet explored it. Human beings are still incomplete in the process of evolution. That completion will be possible when you learn to love others and serve without any selfish motivation.

The key to healing is selflessness, love, dynamic will and undivided devotion to the Lord within. Christ and all the great messengers had the capacity to heal. You also have that same capacity; you simply have to come in touch with it.

When India was ruled and controlled by the Mogul dynasty, one of the rulers, Babur, had only one son, Humayun, who was on his deathbed. So Babur went to different swamis, sages, fakirs and priests, but nobody could help that dying child. Then one of the women sages came forward and said, “You have healing powers. Why do you not heal your child?”

“But I am not a spiritual person. I am not pious and holy.”

She said, “But still you have the power to heal. You can use it if you are prepared to give up your life for the sake of your son.”

“Yes, I have lived for a long time, so I am willing to give up this life. If he doesn’t live, I will have to go through so much sorrow in my old age.”

So the lady said, “Hold this glass of water while walking around the cot four times and repeating: ‘O Lord, give this span of life to my child. I quit, I surrender.’ And then drink this water.”

Having followed her instructions, he abruptly died. And the child was cured and got up from the bed.

Love is the real healer.

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Editor’s Note

Reprinted from The Ancient Traveler: Writings on Love, by Swami Rama

Love bears all things and endures all things.

Nowhere will you find a true definition of love except in yoga science. In yoga science ahimsa means love. “A” means “no,” himsa means “killing, hurting, harming or injuring with mind, action and speech.” If you follow these rules you will be practicing love.

If you initiate the practice of ahimsa at home, the family can be a training center for learning to love others. But if you fail to love your family, you will also fail in other relationships. Husband and wife and other family members should never hurt each other. If married persons were to truly practice ahimsa, they would never quarrel. There should be an understanding in relationships that no matter what happens you will not become violent. You cannot hurt someone and at the same time say I love you.

Love is more powerful than animosity.

When animosity controls your mind, it leads your mind toward negativity. It is the defense mechanism that creates many of the problems in communication. If you are afraid of me and I am afraid of you, there can be no communication between us. Then we both become defensive and we fight. This is what happens between two nations, and that is why the whole world is fighting. You have forgotten that we are all human beings and there is only one source that is supplying the life force to everyone, no matter which community, religion or culture one comes from. We are all the children of one eternity, therefore you have no right to hate or harm anyone. It is not okay to love some people and hate others. If you could learn to love your enemies, they would no longer be enemies to you. Your love should travel toward expansion, not contraction. Mao Tse Dung asked, “If hundreds of varieties of flowers can grow in one garden, why can’t we all flourish together in one universe?”

The practical approach to ahimsa is to practice non-violence in speech, action and thought. Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, was completely nonviolent. He was able to get freedom from alien rule through nonviolence, without the use of guns. He exhibited the power of love to the whole of the nation and to the whole world. Somebody asked him if he believed in God, and if so what type of god did he believe in. He replied, “I believe God is truth. And to know the truth there should be truth in mind, action and speech.”

Violence in speech or in action is almost always preceded by violent thoughts, which have serious repercussions on the mind and body. When you hurt someone or you think about somebody negatively, not only are you wasting time and energy, you are hurting yourself. When you hate others, it is you who suffers, not the rest of the world. All negativity can be washed away and the mind can be purified if you learn to forgive others. You also have many weaknesses and perhaps you are projecting those weaknesses onto others.

I do not understand the law that prompts mortal beings to injure each other. From where does this violence arise? What is that power that instigates people to annihilate each other’s existence? I return back to my silence without any reply and with a simple conclusion that human beings have not yet really found out the art of living harmoniously. The evil that forces one to commit heinous crimes is because of himsa, the absence of love, consideration, kindness and awareness that we all belong to One. By killing others we are cutting the roots of the same tree whose limbs we are. This modern world is creating hell for everyone. You cannot say God is responsible for that.

Thought power is very important. Negative thoughts, emotions and violent behavior come when your reason is not functioning. Never allow your reason to retire or waste your energy on violence and negativity. Violence and anger diminish the power of love and gentleness. It is important to make effort to redirect negativity toward positive thinking. Patanjali, the codifier of yoga science, says constant contemplation on the opposite is the way to get freedom from hatred and violence. For example, if somebody hates you or if you have negative feelings toward someone, try to think of that person in a loving way.

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Editor’s Note

Reprinted from The Ancient Traveler: Writings on Love, by Swami Rama

What beauty and grandeur a flower bestows! The naïve take this lightly and are not sensitive enough to perceive the depth of the colors of the delicate petals.

For a short while the flower blooms, and then the petals drop to the dust without receiving any admiration or touch of love. Do you know, they cry for want of love, and that is why they are shy and drop their blossoms unnoticed in quiet lonely nights.

A flower is a living beauty that blooms only once and vanishes forever. It whispers vainly – for the deaf ears of the cruel human being have no power to listen to that pain. The flower waits to offer its petals to her Beloved before the dust assimilates her beauty and blends it into its grey ugly color.

Who has such an intense feeling of sensitivity to communicate with the blessed flower, which knows mothering but gives unconditionally and without reservation?

One day a priest gripped the stem of a flower, wanting to have it for his altar. While carrying that flower, he stumbled and the flower said, “O priest, are you injured?” Hearing the whispering voice of the flower, the priest wept. He felt as though he had twisted the neck of his own infant and was going to offer it to the dumb, lifeless image that was installed on the altar. Whenever one approaches the altar, the image never speaks or moves. What good is this worship for the tender infant of nature is snatched from its mother and offered to an inert, dumb god? Afflicted by the crying voice of the flower, the priest abandoned worship and from that day lived in solitude, contemplating the formless and limitless Infinity.

Human beings have strange and inauspicious methods of worship that have no purity, sincerity, or validity.

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Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Love Whispers by Swami Rama, 1986 hardback edition, page 49.

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