On Attitude towards Life

"Just like a swan, which extracts only milk from a mixture of milk and water, try to see only the good in everything."

Good Company

"Once, a temple and a liquor shop kept parrots as pets. While the temple parrot chanted Vedic mantras, the parrot in the liquor shop uttered obscenities. Children, ones conduct is determined by the company one keeps."

Look within

"If a piece of sandalwood is left lying in the mud, its outer part will become rotten. But what a wonderful fragrance we can still get from it if we clean it and rub it on a stone! As long as we are immersed in worldly things, we cannot enjoy the fragrance of the inner Self."

Learn from Sorrows

"Children, why lose all your strength by grieving? What good will it do you? Get new enthusiasm and proceed in life."

"There is a black crow in the company of white cranes. Only because black is present can we appreciate the beauty of white. Sorrows can teach us the value of joy."

Detachment

"No one brings anything into this world, nor takes anything with him."

"A person who was very fond of sweet dishes was helping himself to a second serving, when a lizard fell in his plate. He lost all fondness for the sweets and threw it away. Likewise, when one realises the limits of worldly pleasure, attachment to them will wither away."

"Nothing in this material world is everlasting. Everything can go at anytime. Therefore, live in this world keeping the alertness of a bird perched on a dry twig. It knows that at any time the twig can break."

Desire

"Where there is fire, there is smoke. Where there is desire there is sorrow."

"Certain plants won't bear fruit if they have too many leaves; they need to be pruned. We have to get rid of desires for worldly pleasures if we want to reap the fruit of God-experience."

Effort

"You can't learn to swim by sitting on the side of the pool; you have to get into the water."

"When water is leaking into the boat, it is not enough to just sit there praying to God for the hole to be plugged. You have to try to plug the leak yourself."

Body and Soul

"Our body is perishable. Only the Soul is permanent. This is a rented body. We will be asked to leave at any time. Before that, we should look for a place in a permanent abode. Then, when we leave the body we would move to that permanent abode, the eternal house of God."

Death

"When a balloon bursts, it doesn't mean that the air, which was in it, ceases to exist. Death does not bring the end of the Self, but of the instrument called the body."

The Mind

"Don't let your life go to waste by being a slave to your mind! Don't barter away a priceless jewel for a piece of candy."

The Value of Things

"What use are hundreds of rupees in our hands when we are in need of firewood to cook our meal? That's the value of things."