Thought of the Day

Thought of the Day

1. The Lord Himself has given us His commands in the eternal Vedas. We should not disobey our Scriptures. They are His breath and the fountain-head of all right knowledge. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
2. It is our duty to learn the scriptures and follow the commands of our sastras implicitly. Ignorance by itself is certainly no sin but it is a sin when there is a duty to learn. There is no doubt that the man who knows and yet errs is a greater sinner; but there is no satisfaction, much less an excuse for the man who prefers to continue in ignorance and in error. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
3. Scientists have discovered that matter is nothing but a manifestation of cosmic energy. So there exists a single cosmic energy or force which is infinite in capacity and takes on the form of matter under certain conditions. Our holy scriptures also make the same assertion.- Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
4. While all religious systems postulate the existence of one God who is the supreme being, some grant independent existence of matter (i.e., universe) and some grant independent existence of individual souls.It is only in the Advaita system that the matter (i.e., universe) is denied existence independent of God, and the individual soul also is denied existence independent of God. It is only in the Advaita system that there is no second principle independent of God. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
5. It is impossible to teach Advaita, for Advaita is beyond the grasp of the mind and the senses. Advaita cannot be learnt. It has to be experienced. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
6. The number of things in the world that awaken desire is infinite. If a man gets a particular thing, the mental unrest caused by the longing for that thing may cease; but it will be replaced by restlessness caused by desire for another object. This process will go on forever as there is no end to desire.Similarly, the number of things that are undesirable is also infinite. If you get rid of a particular undesirable object, no doubt you get mental peace for the moment; but the next moment you will become restless because another thing will start troubling you. This process will go on indefinitely as the things which gave us trouble in the world are countless.If, therefore, we seek to remove our mental unrest by trying to secure the things which the mind asks for or to get rid of all the things which disturb it, our search for peace will be an endless one and true everlasting peace and happiness will never be attained by us. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
7. You are responsible for what you are today. You are responsible for your pain and suffering and misery. You cannot escape your responsibility by blaming fate, for fate is of your own making, or by blaming God, for he is but divine dispenser of fruits in accordance with the merits of your actions. You have none to blame but yourself for your present state of affairs. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
8. Fate is nothing but the sum total of the results of your past actions. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
9. By exercising your free will in the past you brought on the resultant fate (i.e., present). – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
10. By exercising your free will in the present, wipe out the past record and work for a better future. Whether for acquiring more happiness or for reducing misery, you have to exercise your free will in the present. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
11. Just as we need a doctor to cure us of our illness, a guru is necessary to know what the sastras prescribe and to teach us the particular course of action suited to our qualification. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
12. Surrender yourself entirely to a guru. He will take you by the hand and lead you to the goal. He is not blinded by the enveloping darkness of ignorance and is sure to guide you properly. But you must have true faith in him. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
13. If you wish for a guru in all earnestness, he will be before you in no time. But if you require his presence only to enable you to test his competence of a guru, he will be farther off than before. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
14. Have implicit faith in the words of your guru and earnestly follow his instructions for the realization of God and you shall certainly see God.- Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
15. Cold water is beneficial to a thirsty man but positively harmful to one who has fever. Similarly, what is good for one may not be good for another. So each person must follow that path for which he is best suited.|Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
16. Exert yourself as much as you can, adopt the right course in every effort of yours. Your will must succeed in the end. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
17. There is nothing which is unattainable. A thing may be unattainable to us at the particular stage at which we are, or with the qualification that we possess. However, if we try hard enough there is nothing we cannot attain. Ultimately we must succeed. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
18. Conversions from one religion to another is neither advisable nor desirable. The religion in which a man is born is the best fitted for his spiritual upliftment. The Lord knows which religion is best for us and gives us birth in a country, climate, time and faith for which we are best suited. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
19. No matter how good an artist is, we cannot paint a picture on vacant air, though he may possess the finest paints and brushes. He requires a stable background, be it canvas or a wall. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
20. Similarly a seeker should apply his God given gifts on the stable background of his God chosen faith. So a Hindu should try to become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Buddhist a better Buddhist and a Christian a better Christian. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
21. Who are we to sit in judgement over other religious teachers and religions? Waste not your precious life in judging others. Use it to regulate your life and purify yourself. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
22. There must be perfect equality – each man to his religion – unmolested by anybody and every facility guaranteed to him to practice his own religious pursuit. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
23. Every facility must be given for a Hindu to live the life of a Hindu, a Muslim to live the life of a Muslim, a Christian the life of a Christian, and so on. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
24. No one on earth, howsoever powerful, has any right to compel the people to change or break their religious laws. No one has the right to interfere in the religious matters of another. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
25. Do not be disheartened by the spiritual darkness over-running the world. When the sun sets and the darkness of night envelops the land, we do not stop our work saying that the sun has set. Do we not light a lamp and get on with our normal activities with the aid of that lamp? If we feel that there is an urgency, do we not walk miles together during the darkest of nights guided by the flickering light of a torch? – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
26. If you feel earnestly and keenly the urgency for escaping from the cycle of birth and death, you will ignore the spiritual gloom prevailing in the land and seek out a guiding torch which will dispel the gloom for you. Such a guiding torch is the Guru, your spiritual master, who is waiting to help you. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
27. It is true that in the world of practical life you cannot do without wealth. But do not attach more importance to money than it deserves.Never forget that money is only a means of happiness and not happiness itself. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
28. Happiness is a state of mind and does not depend on the quality or quantity of external possessions. A person may be the lord of all the three worlds and yet be unhappy. Another may be the poorest of beggars and yet be the happiest man in the world. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
29. Wealth and happiness are not related to each other as cause and effect. An attempt to secure happiness by securing wealth is as futile as it is absurd. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
30. All religious conflicts and quarrels arise because a devotee is unable to disassociate his conception of God from a particular name and form. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
31. As long as, by a process of analysis, he does not learn to disassociate the name from the thing, the name is the thing for him, and if you deny that name, he will take it that you deny the thing itself. If you realise that all Gods are one and all paths lead to God, you will never waste your precious life in religious quarrels. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
32. Dharma makes man richer than the richest, stronger than the strongest, happier than the happiest. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
33. Realise the depth of your fall from the true ideal of life and make an honest endeavor to recover it. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
34. Dharma is the cause of happiness. If today we do not have the mental peace and happiness of our ancestors, it is due to our gross neglect of dharma. When the practice of dharma declined, suffering began. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
35. Seek to correct your bad habits. Regulate your life on pure, healthy lines , physical, mental and spiritual. Lead a pure and virtuous life. Only then can you experience true lasting peace and bliss. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
36. The world is an excellent training ground for performing selfless service (or nishkamya karma ) and by the performance of such pure and unselfish action you become free from all impurities and fit for God-realisation. – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal
37. We have the ability to learn. Materials for knowledge are available to us. Teachers are available for teaching us. Yet man willingly prefers to live in darkness of ignorance. Within man exists an ocean of bliss. Yet he willingly prefers to live a life full of misery, pain and suffering. This is the tragedy of human life.  – Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal