Action, Wisdom and True Knowledge - Some Quotes

[Guest guest]

These are excerpt quotations from various issues of Times of India and they

are presented here for discussion. Your comments and discussions are welcome,

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

 

What is Action?

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By 'detachment' I mean that you must not worry whether the desired result

follows from your action or not, so long as your motive is pure, your means

correct.

 

Really, it means that things will come right in the end if you take care of

means and leave the rest to Him. - Mahatma Gandhi

 

All the work you do is done for your own salvation, is done for your own

benefit. God has not

fallen into a ditch for you and me to help Him out by building a hospital or

the like. He allows you to work not in order to help Him but that you may help

yourself. Do you think even an ant will die for want of your help? Most arrant

blasphemy! The world does not need you at all . . . Cut out the world help

from your mind. You cannot help; it is blasphemy. You worship.

When you give a morsel of food to a dog, you worship the dog as God. He is

all and is in all.

- Swami Vivekananda

 

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to

the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of

your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

 

Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success

or failure. Such quanimity is called yoga. - Bhagavad Gita

 

One should aspire to live 100 years performing actions without desire. There

is no other path for you to be free of evil deeds as long as you are involved

in

your human life. - Ishvasyopanishad

 

A person does not gain the state of perfection by abstaining from action to

free himself from reaction, nor by mere renunciation. - Bhagavad Gita

 

He who restrains his organs of action but sits thinking of the objects of the

senses is called a

hypocrite. - Bhagavad Gita

 

He who controls the senses with his mind while engaging in action without

attachment performs harma- yoga. He excels. - Bhagavad Gita

 

Perform your obligatory duties for action is superior to inaction. Even the

maintenance of the body would not be possible through inactivity. - Bhagavad

Gita

 

In the beginning, having created humanity together with sacrifice, the

Creator said, 'By this sacrifice you shall propagate. Let this be the milch

cow of your desires.' - Bhagavad Gita

 

 

What is Wisdom or True Knowledge?

===================

 

The eye cannot go there, nor speech, nor mind. We do not know it. We do not

know how to teach it. - Kenopanishad

 

. . . Of the knowers I am knowledge. - Bhagavad Geetaa

 

(Krshn said:) I will declare this knowledge and wisdom entirely, which

knowing, nothing more remains to be known. - Bhagavad Geetaa

 

Aum.

May He protect us both.

May He cause us both to enjoy.

May we both exert together.

May our study illumine us.

May we not hate each other.

Aum. Peace, peace, peace. - Kenopanishad

 

Liberation is not possible without knowledge.

- Hiranyakeshiya Shakr Shruti

 

The practice of knowledge thoroughly purifies the ignorance-stained self and

the knowledge itself disappears as kataka-nut powder in water. - Aatmabodh

 

Making the individual Self the lower firestick and the Aum (Supreme Self)

the upper piece of wood and by repeated kindling of the flame of knowledge,

the wise man burns the bond of ignorance. - Kaivalyopanishad

 

. . . Of arguments I am logic. - Bhagavad Geetaa

 

A prudent man is like a pin; hit head prevents him from going too far. -

Raam Teerth

 

The right and also study and teaching;

the true and also study and teaching;

austerities and also study and teaching,

self- control and also study and teaching;

the first of sacrifice and also study and teaching;

the sacrifices and also study and teaching;

guests and also study and teaching;

offspring and also study and teaching;

procreation and also study and teaching;

propagation of the race and also study and teaching. - Taittiryopanishad