Youth, wealth, reputation, status, authority are all subject to quick ups and downs. When motives are pure, knowledge will be pure, when knowledge is pure, liberation is ensured. (SSS Vol.8, p. 29)
Liberation cannot be won by progeny, or by charity or by riches or by yajna or yoga; what is wanted for liberation is the cleansing of the self. (DV, p. 52)
Brahman is Truth; Jagat is the play, the pantomime, the sport. It is the manifestation of the Will that is latent in Brahman. To recognise the Will behind the play is the attainment of liberation. (SV, pp. 220-221)
Liberation is of two kinds: immediate and gradual. The first is the result of the attainment of wisdom, Jnana. The second is the result of upasana, spiritual study and sadhana jnana is pure unmixed monistic experience. Bhakti or devotion is of the nature of Supreme Love, characterised by the Love for God, for the sake of the Lord only. (SV, p. 221)
Man can liberate himself from the cycle of birth and death through detachment from the senses and attachment to the inquiry into his real nature. You may know of persons who are friends or foes today and who may turn out to be foes of friends tomorrow. But, of this be certain; Kama or ‘desire’ is a perpetual foe. The more we yield to this foe, the more dominant it becomes, the more you are enthralled and enslaved. You should cultivate detachment, develop renunciation and keep desire in check. (SSS Vol.7, p. 315)
Those aspiring for liberation have to subdue the senses. ‘Food for guarding the body, dress to ward off the cold’, says the Uttara Gita. ‘I am born to serve God and to realise my true Self. (Prema Vahini, p. 61)
The smallest act of Krishna was saturated with supreme sweetness. Even the sufferings he inflicted on those He wanted to punish were sweet. His pranks were so heart-warming; they were so inspiring and meaningful. Every act of His is an amazing miracle. Through His Darshan, Sparshan and Sambhashana, one could earn liberation. (Bhag Vahini, p. 185)
Without surrender, there can be no liberation. So long as you cling to the narrow ‘I’ the four prison walls will close in on you. Cross out the ‘I’ and you are free. How to kill the ‘I’? Place it at the feet of the Lord and say ‘You’ not ‘I’ - and you are free of the burden that is crushing you.
Associate always with the niranjana, the vast, the unlimited, the Divine; dream and plan to merge with the Absolute; fill your ears with the call from the Beyond and the Boundless. Transcend the walls, the bars and the bolts, the locks and the chains. You can do so easily by fixing your mind on your own infinity. (SSS Vol.2, p. 20)
When the entire creation in and around him becomes a blissful love and light – emitting experience, then the Sadhaka loses the limited consciousness of his individual entity, transcends the peripheries of personality to experience at all times all his senses the Blissful Immanent Divinity which was always latent in himself. (MBI, p. 90)
There are two types of liberation mentioned in the Upanishads: Sadyo mukti and Karma mukti. Sadyo mukti is also referred to as Kaivalya mukti. For earning this, no one need aspire for any heaven. They get this, on the spot, and not by stages, step by step. Liberation secured thus is a possession for ever. The rest are liable to change. When the effect of the merit acquired wears out, heaven has to be given up, and life on earth starts a new. Such souls know no merging; only those who attain Kaivalya, merge and become One with the Eternal, the Universal. (GV, p. 144)
Whatever learning one may acquire,
Whatever degrees one may flaunt,
Whatever power or position one may weild,
Whatever japa or worship one may perform
One cannot achieve Liberation
Unless one has deep love for God.
(SSS Vol.21, p. 56)
The true purpose of life is to attain liberation. Liberation is God seeing God. (SV90, p. 3)
Every man is in search of liberation (mukti). For whom is this liberation sought? Is it for the body? Is it for the mind or the intellect or the senses? When these questions are examined, the answer is that at the outset, liberation has to be secured for the mind, the intellect and the senses. Man has to liberate himself first from the vagaries of the mind. Freedom from illness is one kind of liberation. Man loses peace of mind on account of various troubles. To get rid of this condition and secure peace of mind is another kind of liberation (mukti). Consuming food to get rid of the pangs of hunger is another kind of liberation. To be rid of the trials and tribulations of daily life is another aspect of liberation. All these types of liberation have to be secured while one is still alive. It is wrong to imagine that liberation is a state that is to be attained after death.
The various kinds of liberation to be secured today relate to the physical. These troubles are bound to exist as long as one is attached to the body. All of them arise from the ‘negative’ thoughts in man.
The liberation men should seek is peace of mind. If peace is got, all else can be got easily. How is peace to be got? By leading a godly life. (SSS Vol.31, p. 40)
The Vedas declare: Liberation will not fall from the sky. Nor is it to be found in the Nether World or on the earth. It can be got only by the elimination of desires, which constitute knots in the heart. To take an illustration from daily life: Bits of paper or pieces of cotton float in the air because they are lighter than air. Man is unable to go up spiritually because he allows himself to be weighed down by the heavy loads of his Mamakara and Ahamkara (possessiveness and pride). Man is becoming heavier every day. His desires are getting insatiable. His selfishness and self-interest are reaching the skies. How can a heavy-loaded mind and over-burdened senses help man to attain liberation? This is impossible.
A man seeking liberation cannot attain it by merely revering elders or practising meditation. These are formal acts. By these artificial means one cannot realise the sacred, subtle and boundless experience of the Divine.
Moksha (Liberation) is not a specific place. Nor is it something that can be got from any preceptor or other person. To realise one’s own true Self is Liberation. Obsessed with the external world, preoccupied with the acquisition of external objects, man’s life is becoming more and more burdensome every day. Only by getting rid of these burdens can one hope to ascend spiritual heights.
Spirituality is associated today with exercises like attending religious discourses, reciting slokas, counting beads and conducting Bhajans. It is imagined that by these means Liberation can be secured. This is not real spirituality. At the outset, the animality in man has to be got rid of. Getting rid of the animal qualities, entering into the human estate, man should embark on the realisation of the Divine. (SSS Vol.26, pp. 110-11)
Seeking liberation, if man worships
A myriad deities, he will not get
Freedom from affliction.
If he destroys the ego in him
He has no need to seek liberation.
He will be liberation iself?
(S S S Vol XXI p.14)