- It is the mind that matters. If the mind is bound, you are bound; if the mind is free, you are free. The mind gets dyed in the colour into which it is dipped.
- If the mind is kept in bad company, it adopts the same style of conversation and thoughts. If you keep it in the company of devotees, and if you meditate on God, then talk about God will follow.
- It is the mind that binds and it is the mind that liberates. I am a free soul, I may live in the household or in the forest, there is no bondage for me. I am a child of the Lord, the son of the King of Kings; who will bind me then?
- The mind is like a fresh white cloth. It takes on the colour it’s dipped in. By keeping the mind in falsehood for any length of time, it will take on the colour of falsehood.
- The mind is like milk. If you keep it in the water of the world, the milk will get mixed with water. You must transform the milk into curds in a lonely corner to take the butter from it, then that butter can easily be kept in the water of the world.
- God cannot be known by the senses or the mind. He can only be known by the pure mind, the mind that has no worldly desires.
- You should say to yourself, There is no one in this world who is my own. Those whom I call mine are so for just two days. Only God is my own. He alone is my all.
- God is not visible to this mind, but to the purified mind! Then this mind disappears. Even one who has the least trace of attachment to sense objects does not succeed. When the mind is purified, you may call it the pure mind, or the pure Atman.
- Afraid am I to speak the word to you; equally afraid am I not to speak it. The fear that arises in my mind is that I may lose you, yes, be robbed of you, my wealth, my treasure! Knowing well your mind, we shall teach you the mantra (holy name) that is to bring you to the Beloved. Now ready yourself to receive that mantra which enabled us on many occasions to steer the ship safely to land. [This is a song]
- He whose mind dwells in God is truly a man – that is, mana-hosha (of awakened mind). He whose spiritual consciousness has been awakened knows clearly that God is eternal and everything else is ephemeral. He is a man with an awakened mind.
- When butter is heated, it makes a crackling sound. But when it is thoroughly boiled, the crackling sound ceases. As a man’s mind is, so is his conception of God.
- Why do you harp on money? You talk so much of your wife and of name and fame. Give all these up and direct your mind to God with full concentration. Enjoy the bliss of God.
- When the mind is united with God, one sees God very near. One sees God within one’s own heart.
- Keeping most of your mind in God, attend to worldly work with the rest of it. A sadhu keeps seventy-five percent of his mind in God and twenty-five percent in worldly work. A sadhu is very alert about words of God. If you step on the tail of a snake, it reacts furiously. It feels more hurt in the tail.
- What can shackles on the feet do? It is the mind that matters. You are bound or freed by the mind.
- It’s better to salute mentally. What is the need to touch the feet with your hand? Besides, mental salutation won’t embarrass anybody.
- What a state Dwija is in! He only sways his body and keeps is eyes focused on my face. Is that a small thing? If his whole mind becomes fixed on me, he will have achieved everything.
- You waste your time joking day and night about ordinary worldly things. Turn your mind towards God. A person who can keep account of salt can also account for sugar candy.
- How much you need to be able to see an object. You need eyes, light, and also the mind – all these are needed. If one of these three is missing, you can’t see an object. As long as the mind is working, how can you say there is no world, that there is no ‘I’?
- When the mind is destroyed, when there is no intention and conceptualization one attains samadhi, one gains the knowledge of Brahman. But in do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti – the seven notes of the scale – one cannot remain for long at ti, the highest musical note.
- There are obstacles to union with God – ‘lust and greed’. When the mind is purified, it attains union with God. The seat of the mind is in the forehead – but attention remains tied to the organs of generation and evacuation – in other words, to ‘lust and greed’. Through spiritual practices, the mind turns upward.
- Among you actors, a person who only plays the role of a woman develops a feminine nature. In the same way, if you meditate on God day and night, you acquire the nature of God. Dip your mind in any colour and it will take on that colour. The mind is like a freshly laundered cloth.
- It is the mind that is all important. It’s like a newly-laundered cloth that takes the colour it’s dipped in. It’s the mind alone that makes a person either a man of knowledge or ignorant. ‘So and so has gone bad’ means that a bad dye has coloured the person’s mind.
- Why shouldn’t it be possible in family life? But, you know, there’s a problem. The mind is not with you. You can only give it to God if it’s with you. And you’ve enslaved it, enslaved it with ‘lust and greed’. So there’s a constant need of holy company.
- It is only when the mind is in your possession that it’s possible to practice spiritual disciplines. Constant company of the guru, service to him, and the company of holy people is essential. Either you think about Him day and night in seclusion, or have the company of the holy.
- When the mind is left alone it gradually dries up. It’s like if you keep water separately in a jug – it will become dry. But if you keep the jug in the water of the Ganges, it won’t dry out.