Your mind is nirvana. — Bodhidharma (lived during the 5th or 6th century)
Rest in Naked Awareness
Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness. — Tilopa (988-1069)
A Man’s Compass
Conscience is a man’s compass. — Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
Great Minds Have Purposes
Great minds have purposes; others have wishes. — Washington Irving (1783-1859)
The Person Who Loses Their Conscience
The person who loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping. — Izaak Walton (1593-1683)
Create the Universe
The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand. — Sir Laurence Olivier (1907 – 1989)
Your Mind
Your mind is your religion. — Yeshe, Lama Thubten (1935-1984)
I Can’t Control What Happens to Me
I can’t control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it. — Desmond Tutu (1931-)
Be More Careful of Your Conscience
Be more careful of your conscience than of your estate. The latter can be bought and sold; the former never. — Hosea Ballou (1771-1852)
God-identified Soul vs. Body-identified Ego
In simplistic terms, the inner chambers of the palace of King Soul are in the subtle centers of superconsciousness, Christ or Krishna Consciousness (Kutastha Chaitanya, or Universal Consciousness), and Cosmic Consciousness. These centers are, respectively, in the medulla, frontal part of the brain between the eyebrows (seat of the single or spiritual eye), and at the top of the cerebrum (the throne of the soul, in the “thousand-petaled lotus”). In these states of consciousness, King Soul reigns supreme—the pure image of God in man. But when the soul descends into body consciousness, it comes under the influence of maya (cosmic delusion) and avidya (individual delusion or ignorance, which creates ego consciousness). When deluded and tempted by cosmic delusion or psychological Satan, the soul becomes the limited ego, which identifies itself with the body and the body’s relatives and possessions. The soul, as the ego, ascribes to itself all the limitations and circumscriptions of the body. Once so identified, the soul can no longer express its omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. It imagines itself to be limited—just as a rich prince, wandering in a state of amnesia in the slums, might imagine himself to be a pauper. In this state of delusion, King Ego takes command of the bodily kingdom.
from The Bhagavad Gita by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952)
