- What Brahman is cannot be expressed in words, nor can He be said to be a person.
- He who is Brahman is Himself the Atman and also God. He is the Brahman of the Brahmajnani, the Paramatman of the yogi, and the Lord of the devotee.
- Brahman and Shakti are inseparable. Belief in one implies belief in the other – like fire and its burning power.
- What Brahman is cannot be expressed in words. He who attains Brahman cannot give information about Him. There is a saying, ‘A ship never returns once it reaches the black waters.’
- If you once taste the bliss of Brahman, your mind will not run after sense pleasures, wealth, and honour. If a moth sees light once, it doesn’t go into darkness again.
- The eternal, ever-pure Consciousness – the Essence. How can I make it clear to you? If somebody asks you how ghee tastes, how can you explain it? At the most you can say, ‘What is ghee like? It’s just like ghee.’
- When Giriraj (the Lord of the mountains, Himalaya) had seen Bhagavati in many forms, He said to Her, ‘Mother, may I now have the vision of Brahman mentioned in the Vedas?’ Bhagavati replied, ‘Father, if you want to see Brahman, you must have the company of holy people.’
- What Brahman is cannot be explained in words. Someone said, ‘Everything has been made impure by the tongue, but Brahman has never been defiled.’
- The Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, and other scriptures may be said to have been defiled because they are recited by the tongues of men. But what Brahman is, nobody has yet been able to express in speech. So Brahman has not yet been defiled. One cannot describe in words the play and communion with Sat-chit-ananda. Only he knows who has experienced it.
- The Anahata Shabda goes on continuously by itself – it is the sound of Om. It originates in the Supreme Brahman. Only yogis can hear it, not those who are attached to the sense world. Yogis know that this sound rises from the navel and that it also originates in the Supreme Brahman, resting on the Ocean of Milk.
- Brahman and Shakti are not separate from each other. They are like water and its wetness, or fire and its power to burn. God is present in the form of Vibhu, though there is greater manifestation of His Shakti in some, less in others.
- Ordinary beings lead lives of worldly pleasure. But unless one is completely rid of the attachment to the senses, one cannot attain the bliss of Brahman. On the one hand, you have the joy of money, the joy of the senses, and on the other, there is the bliss of God-realization. Can these two ever be the same? The rishis enjoyed the bliss of Brahman.
- Brahman is beyond vidya and avidya. He transcends maya.
- There are both vidya maya and avidya maya in the world. There are jnana and bhakti – as well as ‘lust and greed’. There is righteousness, and there is unrighteousness; there is good as well as evil. But Brahman is not concerned with all these. Good and bad belong to embodied beings, as does righteousness and unrighteousness. God is not affected by them.
- What Brahman is cannot be described. Everything – the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras and the six systems of philosophy – has been defiled, like the leavings of food. For when one reads the scriptures, one must use the vocal organs and this causes them to be in touch with the mouth, so to speak. Thus they have all been defiled, like the leavings of food.
- Man thinks that he has known God. An ant came to a mountain of sugar. It ate one particle of sugar and was filled. It took another particle and, as it went its way, it thought that the next time it would take the whole mountain home. Such, alas, is the condition of insignificant man. Men don’t know that Brahman is beyond mind and speech.
- Brahman and His Power are inseparable. Example, fire and its burning power. Mention fire, and its power to burn comes to mind. Mention the power to burn, and fire comes to mind. When you accept one, you have accepted the other as well.
- Brahman is like akasa, without any modification. It is like fire, which has no colour. Only by His Power has He taken up various forms. Sattva, rajas and tamas are the three qualities of God’s Power. If you put something white in fire, it appears white; if you put something red, it appears red; if black, the fire appears black.
- Brahman is beyond the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas. What He is cannot be expressed in words – He is beyond speech. What remains when you continue the practice of saying, ‘Not this, not this’ is the essence of Bliss, is Brahman.
- There is no end to God – no limit. Everything is possible for God. However high kites and vultures fly, they cannot touch the top of the sky. If you ask what Brahman is like, well, it is not possible to describe in words. Even if one has realized Brahman, one cannot explain. If someone were to ask what clarified butter is like, the only answer to is, ‘Clarified butter is like clarified butter.’ The only analogy of Brahman is Brahman; nothing else.
- Do you know what Brahman is like? He is like the air. There are smells, both good and bad, in the air. The air, however, is not affected by them.
Knower of Brahman
- The rishis attained Brahmajnana. But if you have the slightest desire for worldly things, you cannot attain the knowledge of Brahman. What an effort the rishis made! They would leave their ashram in the morning to meditate and contemplate on God alone throughout the day.
- After one attains knowledge of the Absolute, God permits a little ego to remain. This ego is the ‘I of the devotee,’ or the ‘I of knowledge’. It is with this ‘I’ that one enjoys His infinite play. That is why the vijnani keeps the ‘I of devotion’ or the ‘I of knowledge’, to enjoy the Bliss of God and to teach mankind.
- God retains the ‘I of knowledge,’ or the ‘I of a devotee’ in many people, even after they attain the knowledge of the Absolute. Hanuman had the attitude of a servant of God, of a devotee, after having the direct vision of both aspects of God, Personal and Impersonal. He said to Ramachandra, ‘Rama, at times I think of You as the whole and myself as a part of You. Sometimes I say to myself that I am Your servant and You the Master. And then, Rama, when I attain the Highest Knowledge, I see that You indeed are I and I am You.’
- An unripe betel nut and an unripe almond cannot be separated from their shells. But when they are mature, the betel nut and the almond are separate from their shells. When ripe, the juice is dried up. Similarly, on realizing Brahman, the water of worldliness dries up.
- In God there is both knowledge and ignorance. Vidya maya takes one toward the Lord, avidya maya takes one away from Him. Spiritual knowledge, love and devotion for God, compassion and dispassion belong to the realm of vidya. By resorting to them, one draws near to God. And if one takes a step up, one reaches Him – attains the knowledge of Brahman.
- Is it easy to attain the knowledge of Brahman? It is not possible until the mind is completely annihilated. A guru said to his disciple, ‘Give me your mind and I will give you divine knowledge.’ The Naked One (Totapuri) used to say, ‘Don’t let your mind scatter.’
- You know that medicine works only when it mixes with the blood. Similarly, in the state of the knowledge of Brahman, one sees God both within and without. One sees that He has become the body, the mind, the vital breath and the soul.
- One attains the state of Brahmajnana when the mind is annihilated. When the mind vanishes, one’s ego is wiped out – that which goes on repeating ‘I,’ ‘I’. One reaches this state through the path of love and devotion for God as well as through the path of divine knowledge, that is to say the path of discrimination.
- There are some signs by which one recognizes a person who has attained the knowledge of Brahman. The Srimad Bhagavata talks of four states of a man of spiritual knowledge: He appears like (1) a child, (2) an inert object, (3) a crazy man, and (4) a ghoul. Sometimes he acts like a five-year-old child. And sometimes he acts like a mad man. At times he lives like an inert object. In this state he cannot attend to work – all work drops off.