Daily Hindu Wisdom

[Green Gaia]

The individual "I" exists for as long as there is desire for pleasure.

-Maharamayana

 

[Green Gaia]

The disunited mind is far from wise; how can it meditate? How be at peace? When you know no peace, how can you know joy? When you let your mind follow the call of the senses, they carry away your better judgment as storms drive a boat off its charted course on the sea.

-Bhagavad Gita 2:66-67

 

[Green Gaia]

A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response the sage asked the king how he would convey the taste of a mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavor of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?" The sage picked up a mango and handed it to the king saying "This is very sweet. Try eating it!"

-Hindu Teaching Story

 

[Green Gaia]

An intimate of any strength will never listen to faults said of friends;
and on the day a friend offends, he is content to keep silent.

The world cherishes faithful men who never forsake
old friendships, worn by time but unbroken.


-Tirukkural 81: 808-809

 

[Green Gaia]

This Self who gives rise to all works, all desires, all odors, all tastes, who pervades the universe, who is beyond words, who is joy abiding, who is ever present in my heart, is Brahman indeed. To him I shall attain when my ego dies.

-Chandogya Upanishad

 

[Green Gaia]

Those who aspire to the state of yoga should seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation. With body and mind controlled they should constantly practice one-pointedness, free from expectations and attachment to material possessions.

-Bhagavad Gita 6:10

 

[Green Gaia]

May the Lord of Love, who projects himself
Into this universe of myriad forms,
From whom all beings come and to whom all
Return, grant us the grace of wisdom.

He is fire and the sun, and the moon
And the stars. He is the air and the sea,
And the Creator, Prajapati.
He is this boy, he is that girl, he is
This man, he is that woman, and he is
This old man, too, tottering on his staff.
His face is everywhere.

-Shvetashvatara Upanishad

 

[Green Gaia]

In paradise there is [no such thing as] fear;
Thou art not there, nor shrinks one from old age.
Hunger and thirst, these two transcending,
Sorrow, surpassing, a man makes merry in paradise.

-Katha Upanishad

 

[Green Gaia]

Though unjustly aggrieved, it is best to suffer the suffering
And refrain from unrighteous retaliation.

Let a man conquer by forbearance
Those who in their arrogance have wronged him.

-Tirukkural 16: 158-159

 

[Green Gaia]

Negative feelings, such as violence, are damaging to life, whether we act upon them ourselves, or cause or condone them in others.

They are born of greed, anger, or delusion, and may be slight, moderate, or intense. Their fruit is endless ignorance and suffering.

To remember this is to cultivate the opposite.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2:34
From "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali"

 

[Green Gaia]

Birth ceases when all attachments are severed;
Otherwise, one beholds unceasingly the transitoriness of life.

Attach yourself to Him who is free from all attachments.
Bind yourself to that bond in order that all other bonds may be broken.

-Tirukkural 35: 349-350

 

[Green Gaia]

May the Lord of day grant us peace.
May the Lord of night grant us peace.
May the Lord of sight grant us peace.
May the Lord of might grant us peace.
May the Lord of speech grant us peace.
May the Lord of space grant us peace.
I bow down to Brahman, source of all power.
I will speak the truth and follow the law.
Guard me and my teacher against all harm.
Guard me and my teacher against all harm.

-Taittiriya Upanishad

 

[Green Gaia]

Birth decrees to all men who live a common circumstance.
Diverse actions define their unique specialness.

Lowly men are never high, even when elevated.
High souls are never low, even when downtrodden.

-Tirukkural 98: 972-73

 

[Green Gaia]

The sorrows of duty,
Like the heat of the sun,
Have scorched your heart.

But let stillness fall on you
With its sweet and cooling showers,
And you will find happiness.

-Ashtavakra Gita 18:3

 

[Green Gaia]

The Lord does not partake in the good and evil deeds of any person; judgment is clouded when wisdom is obscured by ignorance. But ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self within.

-Bhagavad Gita 5:15-16

 

[Green Gaia]

OM is the supreme symbol of the Lord.
OM is the whole, OM affirms; OM signals
The chanting of the hymns from the Vedas.
The priest begins with OM; spiritual teachers
And their students commence with OM.
The student who is established in OM
Becomes united with the Lord of Love.

-Taittiriya Upanishad

 

[Green Gaia]

All minds are created by ego--the separative sense of "I."
All these expressions of individuality, however highly developed, are the impulses of the force of evolution.
And of these, only the mind born of meditation is free from the latent impressions that generated desire.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 4:4-6

 

[Green Gaia]

Food, clothing and such are not much different among people,
It is modesty that distingiushes good men from others.
All life clings to a body,
Perfect goodness clings to all that is modest.

-Tirukkural 102:1012-1013

 

[Green Gaia]

Finding freedom in this life,
The seeker takes nothing to heart,
Neither duty nor desire.

He has nothing to do
But to live out his life.
The master lives beyond the boundaries of desire.

Delusion or the world,
Meditation on the truth,
Liberation itself--
What are they to him?

-Ashtavakra Gita 18: 13-14

 

[Green Gaia]

Perennial joy or passing pleasure?
This is the choice one is to make always.
The wise recognize these two, but not
The ignorant. The first welcome what leads
To abiding joy, though painful at the time.
The latter run, goaded by their senses,
After what seems immediate pleasure.

-Katha Upanishad