Veda Vyasa Quotes

It is Nature that causes all movement. Deluded by the ego, the fool harbors the perception that says "I did it".

Left to itself, the mind goes on repeating the same old habitual patterns of personality. By training the mind, however, anyone can learn to step in and change old ways of thinking; that is the central principle of yoga:

... there is more to life than the everyday experience of our senses.

Before creation I alone was, there was no other existence of the nature of cause and effect different from Me. After the creative cycle ends also, I alone exist. For, this universe is also Myself, and when everything is dissolved in its cause in Pralaya, what remains is only Myself.

Reshape yourself through the power of your will; never let yourself be degraded by self-will. The will is the only friend of the Self, and the will is the only enemy of the Self. (6:5)

Each man has to follow truth as he sees it.

It is Nature that causes all movement. Deluded by the ego, mankind harbors the perception that says "I did it" (paraphrased)

Who really knows, and who can swear, How creation came, when or where! Even gods came after creation's day, Who really knows, who can truly say When and how did creation start? Did He will it? Or did He not? Only He, up there, knows, maybe; Or perhaps, not even He

Yet there are always a few who are not content to spend their lives indoors. Simply knowing there is something unknown beyond their reach makes them acutely restless. They have to see what lies outside – if only, as George Mallory said of Everest, “because it’s there.” This is true of adventurers of every kind, but especially of those who seek to explore not mountains or jungles but consciousness itself: whose real drive, we might say, is not so much to know the unknown as to know the knower. Such men and women can be found in every age and every culture. While the rest of us stay put, they quietly slip out to see what lies beyond.

I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds

I am time, the destroyer of all; I have come to consume the world.

Vaasudeva, put all that is in you into the deed which confronts you and perform it with faith in the Great God. That is what your life is for, and that is your empire which no king can filch.

The Self is one, the same in every creature. This is not some peculiar tenet of the Hindu scriptures; it is the testimony of everyone who has undergone these experiments in the depths of consciousness and followed them through to the end. Here is Ruysbroeck, a great mystic of medieval Europe; every word is most carefully chosen: The image of God is found essentially and personally in all mankind. Each possesses it whole, entire and undivided, and all together not more than one alone. In this way we are all one, intimately united in our eternal image, which is the image of God and the source in us of all our life. Maya In the unitive experience, every trace of separateness disappears; life is a seamless whole. But the body cannot remain in this state for long. After a while, awareness of mind and body returns, and then the conventional world of multiplicity rushes in again with such vigor and vividness that the memory of unity, though stamped with reality, seems as distant as a dream. The unitive state has to be entered over and over until a person is established in it. But once established, even in the midst of ordinary life, one sees the One underlying the many, the Eternal beneath the ephemeral.

The Yaksha asked, 'By what, O king, birth, behaviour, study, or learning doth a person become a Brahmana? Tell us with certitude!' Yudhishthira answered,-'Listen, O Yaksha! It is neither birth, nor study, nor learning, that is the cause of Brahmanahood, without doubt, it is behaviour that constitutes it. One's behaviour should always be well-guarded, especially by a Brahmana. He who maintaineth his conduct unimpaired, is never impaired himself. Professors and pupils, in fact, all who study the scriptures, if addicted to wicked habits, are to be regarded as illiterate wretches. He only is learned who performeth his religious duties. He even that hath studied the four Vedas is to be regarded as a wicked wretch scarcely distinguishable from a Sudra (if his conduct be not correct).

Specious, but wrongful deem The speech of those ill-taught ones who extol The letter of their Vedas, saying, "This Is all we have, or need;" being weak at heart With wants, seekers of Heaven: which comes—they say—As "fruit of good deeds done;" promising men Much profit in new births for works of faith; In various rites abounding; following whereon Large merit shall accrue towards wealth and power; Albeit, who wealth and power do most desire Least fixity of soul have such, least hold On heavenly meditation. Much these teach, From Veds, concerning the "three qualities;" But thou, be free of the "three qualities," Free of the "pairs of opposites,"[ FN# 2] and free From that sad righteousness which calculates; Self-ruled, Arjuna! simple, satisfied![ FN# 3] Look! like as when a tank pours water forth To suit all needs, so do these Brahmans draw Text for all wants from tank of Holy Writ. But thou, want not! ask not! Find full reward Of doing right in right! Let right deeds be Thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them. And live in action! Labour! Make thine acts Thy piety, casting all self aside, Contemning gain and merit; equable In good or evil: equability Is Yog, is piety! Yet, the right act Is less, far less, than the right-thinking mind. Seek refuge in thy soul; have there thy heaven! Scorn them that follow virtue for her gifts! The mind of pure devotion—even here—Casts equally aside good deeds and bad, Passing above them. Unto pure devotion Devote thyself: with perfect meditation Comes perfect act, and the right-hearted rise—More certainly because they seek no gain—Forth from the bands of body, step by step, To highest seats of bliss.

Vaishampayana said, “I shall recount the entire history, that which was composed by the great-souled maharshi Vyasa, whose powers are infinite and who is worshipped in all the worlds. This contains 100,000 sacred shlokas, composed by Satyavati’s son, Vyasa, of infinite powers. The learned man who recites it to others and also those who hear its recital attain the world of Brahma and become the equals of the gods. This is equal to the Vedas. It is sacred and supreme. It is the best of all that can be heard. It is a purana worshipped by the rishis. It contains all the useful instructions on artha and kama. This immensely sacred history makes the mind desire to attain salvation. The learned man who recites Krishna’s33 Veda to those who are noble, generous, truthful and faithful, will attain great fortune. Even sins like the killing of embryos in wombs are destroyed. On hearing it, the most evil is freed from the most evil of sins. This history, called jaya, should be heard by those who wish to attain victory. On hearing it, a king can bring the entire world under his subjugation and defeat all his enemies. This is the best way to obtain a son and the great path to ensure welfare. It should be heard several times by heirs apparent and their wives.

In Vyasa’s tale, that which seeks is visualised as male; that which is sought is female. The feeder is male; the food is female. The male creates life outside itself; the female creates life within itself. The being was the feeder, hence male, and the world around was food, hence female.

If you read scriptures completely, at the end you will get no conclusions of right and wrong, no rules to live life. You will become free from all mental structures. Then everything you do will be right because the Supreme Power shall work through you.

वहाँ उन्होंने देखा, राजा श्वेत एकाग्रचित्तसे विशुद्ध ज्ञानस्वरूप, चिन्मय, स्वयंप्रकाश परमात्माका

देवि! यह जीव अज्ञानसे मोहित हो रहा है और इसी कारण इस संसारचक्रमें भटकता रहता है तथा सदा-सर्वदा सर्वत्र सुख और दुःख भोगता रहता है ⁠।⁠।⁠१८⁠।⁠। माताजी! सुख और दुःखको देनेवाला न तो अपना आत्मा है और न कोई दूसरा⁠। जो अज्ञानी हैं, वे ही अपनेको अथवा दूसरेको सुख-दुःखका कर्ता माना करते हैं ⁠।⁠।⁠१९⁠।⁠। यह जगत् सत्त्व, रज आदि गुणोंका स्वाभाविक प्रवाह है⁠। इसमें क्या शाप, क्या अनुग्रह, क्या स्वर्ग, क्या नरक और क्या सुख, क्या दुःख ⁠।⁠।⁠२०⁠।⁠। एकमात्र परिपूर्णतम भगवान् ही बिना किसीकी सहायताके अपनी आत्मस्वरूपिणी मायाके द्वारा समस्त प्राणियोंकी तथा उनके बन्धन, मोक्ष और सुख-दुःखकी रचना करते हैं ⁠।⁠।⁠२१⁠।⁠। माताजी! भगवान् श्रीहरि सबमें सम और माया आदि मलसे रहित हैं⁠। उनका कोई प्रिय-अप्रिय, जाति-बन्धु, अपना-पराया नहीं है⁠। जब उनका सुखमें राग ही नहीं है, तब उनमें रागजन्य क्रोध तो हो ही कैसे सकता है ⁠।⁠।⁠२२⁠।⁠। तथापि उनकी मायाशक्तिके कार्य पाप और पुण्य ही प्राणियोंके सुख-दुःख, हित-अहित, बन्ध-मोक्ष, मृत्यु-जन्म और आवागमनके कारण बनते हैं ⁠।⁠।⁠२३⁠।⁠। पतिप्राणा देवि! मैं शापसे मुक्त होनेके लिये आपको प्रसन्न नहीं कर रहा हूँ⁠। मैं तो यह चाहता हूँ कि आपको मेरी जो बात अनुचित प्रतीत हुई हो, उसके लिये क्षमा करें ⁠।⁠।⁠२४⁠।⁠।

तपो न कल्कोऽध्ययनं न कल्कः स्वाभाविको वेदविधिर्न कल्कः। प्रसह्य वित्ताहरणं न कल्क स्तान्येव भावोपहतानि कल्कः।। Asceticism [...] studying [...] the natural rules of Vedas [...] and exertion to acquire wealth is not a sin. These become sins when they are abused.

With passions under complete control, intelligent, possessing a retentive memory, the practiser of all virtues, the conqueror of his six passions of powerful mind, surpassing all, and fully acquainted with the science of morality and political science, the father had ruled over these subjects for