This ‘Angirasa’ has also been called the God of life. ‘Angirasa’ is closely associated with Brihaspati; ‘Angirasa’ has acquired an alternative name ‘Brihaspati’. Sruti demonstrated that Angirasa and Brihaspati are synonymous. The word Brhati means voice. One who is the master of Brhati or voice is called Brihaspati. (SSB 1974, p. 53)
Whether it is an infinitesimally small living thing or a large type like an elephant, life is something, which is common to both. The word ‘Sama’ has also been establishing this commonness of life. (SSB 1974, p. 222)
Who has given you life? What is the source from which it has manifested? Have you acquired it by some spiritual practice? No! God gives you life and He is the one, who sustains it. He is present in every living being in the form of atma. Everything has originated from the atma. Students study a number of textbooks and acquire high academic qualifications. What is the source of all their knowledge and learning? It is nothing but divinity. But, man due to his delusion is unable to realise this truth. First and foremost, develop firm faith that God exists. When He incarnates in the human form, He conducts Himself like a human being. Only then can man understand divinity and the sacredness of human birth. (SSS Vol.39, p. 5)
Life is an experience meant to train the individual for a higher, deeper and more expanded state of existence, through the experience of the results of actions. The aim of everybody’s life is the attainment of complete perfection in the spiritual absolute. This is the aim of life. (DS, 1979, p. 80)
Life is a march from I to We. (SSS Vol.8, p. 130)
Life is a campaign against foes. It is a battle with obstacles, temptations, hardships, hesitation. These foes are within man and so; the battle has to be incessant and perpetual. Like the virus that thrives on the bloodstream, the vices of lust, greed, hate, malice, pride and envy saps the energy and faith of man and reduces him to ultimately fall. (SSS Vol.5, p. 169)
Life is like a train journey. You, young children have a long way to go; but, the elders have to alight from the train pretty son. You must learn to make your journey comfortable and happy. Do not carry heavy unwanted luggage, with you. That will make the journey miserable. Do not indulge in faultfinding and in picking quarrels with others. Don’t desire to have the best things for yourselves only. Share with others around you the good things you are given. Anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, these are the heavy luggage I asked you to avoid taking with you in the journey.
I must give the elders, the parents who are here in large numbers some advice. Do not set bad examples for these children to follow. If you are truthful, just, be calm under provocation and full of love in all your dealings with others, these children too will grow up in sathya (truth.), dharma (righteousness), shaanthi (peace) and prema (love). If you tell your son, when you are actually at home, to speak through the telephone, when some one is calling, to reply that father is not at home, you are sowing a poisonous seed, which will become a huge tree. (SSS Vol.13)
The wise man is he who keeps his reason sharp and clear, and sees things as they really are. He listens to the advice:
Life is a challenge: meet it
Life is love: share it
Life is a dream: realise it
Life is a game: play it
That is the real pilgrim’s progress. This is the lion’s march across the forest, fearless, masterful and victorious. (SSS Vol.8, p. 131)
Sons, wives and all the rest on whom we lavish our love are all like the lightning flash that illumines the dark clouds for an instant; they come and go. Life is a flash, it does not last. (RKRV Part II, p. 235)
Life is a jungle, where there is a great deal of dry wood which harbours worms and insects. No one cleans the floor of the forest, or cuts away the undergrowth of bush and bramble. To wade through the thorns and the leech-ridden floor of the jungle, one has to wear boots. So too, one has to wear the boots of sense-regulation, if one has to pass through the jungle of life, without harming oneself. This is the lesson I want you to carry home with you today, for pondering over and for practice. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 39)
Man loses his joy, his peace, his freedom by his own cleverness and craving. He devises stratagems in order to escape being entrapped by others but he is trapped, nevertheless, by his own tactics to catch blindfolded in a dark room the black cat which is not there! That is life, for most men. They won’t believe wise men when they warn or convey correct information. (SSS Vol.8, p. 92)
Life sustained by food is short; life sustained by Atman is eternal. Do not lay claim to long life but to Divine Life. Do not pine for more years on earth, but for more virtues in the heart. The Buddha knew and made known to the world the truths: Everything is empty. Everything is brief. Everything is polluted. So the wise man has to do the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence and detachment. (SSS Vol. 10, p. 40)
The heart full of compassion is the altar of God. Nature is the best preacher. Life is the best teacher. (SSS Vol.8, p. 148)
Life is like a flight of steps towards the Godhead. You have your foot on the first step when you are born; each day is a step that must be climbed; so be steady, watchful and earnest... Every step is a victory to be cherished; everyday wasted is a defeat to be ashamed of. (SSS Vol.2, p. 32)
Life is a challenge; fight to the end.
Life is a song; sing it.
Life is divine; realise it.
Life is character. There is one path, complete life.
The expression of life on Earth is upward through the human to Divine. By virtue of human birth, the next step is the full realisation of the Divine. Human life is sacred and must be appreciated as having the highest value. (CWBSSB, p. 157/ 190)
We should know our very life is a Bharatanatyam. The world is the platform for the Bharatanatyam of our life. Each individual is one of the many actors. Maya is the tala. Maya will prompt this life to dance on the platform of the warld. The nartaki, or the actress of maya has got the capacity to attract certain scenes or ‘drishyas’. If maya has not exercised her charm and spell on the minds of the people, man would not have come to such a condition. God is inside our heart but maya distracts our attention with her play and we miss the vision of God. To get over the spell cast on us by the actress of maya, we have to do certain practices and put in some effort. Just as if there are no accompaniments, no dance will have that appeal and beauty, so also when maya is the actress, the song we have to sing as an accompaniment to her should be suitable to the actress. If both of them differ and do not match, there will be disharmony and the dance will not be attractive. This maya can be given the name nartaki, or the actress.
The word Nartaki contains three letters na-rtha-ki. If we read this word in the reverse manner – it becomes ki-rtha-na, and so kirtana will be able to control this actress or maya. We have to ask what kind of kirtana? Whose wealth is this nartaki? She is the property of God. Because of this maya of nartaki is the property of God, the kirtana or the song about God will be very pleasant to her. Bhagavat kirtana or the song about God will certainly give great pleasure to this nartaki. (SSB 1972, pp. 160-161)
Life is just a chance to see for yourself, your beginning and your end.... Be in the world. But let not the world be in you. (Ddd, p. 81)
Life is a market: In life giving and taking, bargaining and speculating, is a part of the game. Life has its ups and downs, its profit and losses, its joys and sorrows, deprecations and appreciations and balance sheets, but the giving of Bhakti exchanging for ‘Mukti’ is the most powerful business for all. (Ddd, p. 96)
Life must have an ideal before it. It must proceed towards a goal; it must be a constant march. Life has as its sole purpose the divinising of man, the transformation of the ‘man’ we profess to be into the God we really are. (SSS Vol.11, p. 120)
Life is most precious. The breath (Prana) which sustains it is even more precious. Nevertheless! It becomes often necessary to give up this precious Prana while attempting to realise some goals. Human nature is such that man is never content with a single achievement. He feels ‘there is always room at the top’. This urges him on and on towards higher and higher goals. He wins many victories and craves for more. He never attains satiety. To be ever discontented that state alone gives him contentment. (SSS Vol.11, p. 152)
Life is a pilgrimage to God. (DG, p. 136)
Life is like a journey in a vehicle between birth and death. The body is the vehicle in which you are motoring to death. The less luggage you carry the better. Why encumber yourself with worldly riches and material comforts, when you may have to change your course or even meet with some dislocation or accident and, in any case, at the end of the journey you will have to leave behind all your possessions except your atma? Would it not be better to attain the immortal spirit rather than waste time which is running out on gaining wealth and securing comforts? This is the logic of spiritualism which I seek to change the attitude of people. (S&M, pp. 250-251)
Life is fraught with vicissitudes, trials and tribulations. The World looks attractive but is the abode of suffering. Life is like a water bubble on a lotus leaf. The lotus is born in the water, grows in water and depends on water for its existence. ‘Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam Brahma’ – Being, Awareness, Eternal – the Omniself. This is the lake of the Eternal Divine Spirit. From this arises a lotus in a subtle form. Thoughts and feelings are the fragrance emanating from this lotus. Maya is the lotus leaf. Life is the water bubble on this leaf of Maya. (SSS Vol.21, p. 61)
Make your life a rose that speaks silently in the language of fragnance. (DM, p. 197)
Life is a bridge over the sea of change. Do not build a house on it. (SV90, p. 241)
All life is one; all men are of one lineage. (FDD, pp. A-15)
Life is a battlefield with continuous struggle for existence and survival at every stage. Life is a bridge which helps the passage from birth to deathlessness and from death to birthlessness. . (FDD, pp. L-4)
Life is a Search, Explore It.
Life is a Challenge, meet It.
Life is a Game, Play It.
Life is a Dream, Realise It.
Life is a Tragedy, It is full of Stress and Strains,
Life itself is a Pendulum between sighs and smiles. (FDD, pp. L-7)
Life a mirage. It comes from no visible rain, it falls into no recognizable sea.
Life is a great Yajna (Vedic ritual sacrifice). Allow the Lord to preside over sacrifice, of union with God and of devoted action.
Life is no unmixed good. No one is happy if he is immersed in worldly life. Man is tossed about on the waves of joy and grief; he is buffeted by fortune, good or bad. He is the target of brickbats or bouquets. The evil around him affects his peace; anxiety robs him of sleep and quiet.... Therefore, man tries to escape from all this, into some thing, some where; he is not sure which or where!
Life is unreal as a dream; do not get attached to it beyond reasonable limits.
Life is a steady march towards a goal; it is not a meaningless term of imprisonment or a stupid kind of picnic.
Life is a campaign against foes; it is a battle with obstacles, temptations, hardships, hesitations. These foes are within man and so, the battle has to be incessant and perpetual. Like the virus that thrives on the bloodstream, the vices of lust, greed, hate, malice, pride and envy sap the energy and faith of man and reduce him to untimely fall...Virtue is strength; vice is weakness.
Life is not a mechanical formula where two plus two makes four. To some, it may be three, to others five. It depends on how each values the two. Moreover, in the spiritual path, each one has to move forward from where he already is, according to his own pace, in the light of the lamp which one holds in his own hand.
Life is a game with fire; one has to derive the warmth without getting burnt. One has to use the senses and the intellect wisely for liberation rather than get entangled in their wiles.
Life is a short and fast-flowing chance. You will have to put every minute to the best use: that is, the discovery of your own Reality, which gives you the highest joy.
Life is a battle; the battle is fought until the victory. The goal of victory is the ‘Crown’ of Atma,’ the ‘Sovereignty’ of the Realm of Liberation.
Life is a long garland of blossoms, fair and faded, fragrant and futile. They are, so to say, the good and bad of life. Man recognizes only the blossoms, happy over some, unhappy over most. He does not see the string on which they are bound together – the Brahma sutra – the lasting fade-less Brahma principle that gives stability to the short-lived flowers.
Life is the car, your heart is the key. God is the chauffeur. Surrender to Him and be rid of further bother. Travel safe and arrive happy.
Life is a series of acceptances and rejections, of attachments and detachments, of joys and griefs, benefits and losses.
Life is a game of football. You are the ball, and you are bound to be thrown and kicked about, this side and that. How long have you to bear this treatment? If air is full in the ball; deflate it; then, no one will kick it again. The air that inflates it is the Ego! When the Ego is out, Bliss comes in.
Life is impossible without breath. Life is also impossible without faith.
Life is like a tank infested with crocodiles. It is difficult to cross it avoiding the crocodiles. But it has to be done.
Life is like a block of ice that is continually melting away. Before it melts completely, the truth has to be realized.
Life itself is a market, a kind of business. There is receiving and giving, buying and selling, bargaining and speculating with their associated ups and downs, profits and losses, joys and sorrows, deprecations and appreciations and balance sheets. But the giving of Bhakti (devotion) in exchange for Mukti (liberation) is the most powerful business of all. (LDL, pp. 95-98)
Life is holy, sacred. Go through it with joy and happiness. Do not carry gloomy, unhappy faces. Happiness is union with God. (LDL, p. 102)
Contemplate on the beginning of things, of nature, of life, of man, of the heart.... all emanating from god and journeying towards god. Dwell on the grandeur of this procession from birth to liberation, through life after life. Become aware that you, Nature and all that is, was and will be, are god. (LDL)
Life is a newspaper. Read it in a casual manner – headlines, a few columns that catch your fancy, and throw it aside. Do not make it more important than that. Tomorrow it is waste paper. So, too, life is worth only a casual perusal. One birth is enough. Let the death coming to you be the last. (L&L, p. 30)
Life is liable to be cut short any moment. The body may fall and release you without notice. So, while you can, you must dedicate the heart to Him who gave it to you... your (spiritual) heart is your witness. Question whether you have obeyed the directive of the Lord.
A thousand persons may swear that you have not, but if your conscience affirms that you have, you need not fear. Life is like a flower that fades by evening. In old age, when physical charm is lost and when you have to depend on others for everything, will soon be upon all.... Whether you like it or not, the length of your life is being clipped day by day of your life.
From the moment of your birth, the march to the cremation ground has started. Some reach the place quicker than others. Some go by round about route and arrive late. That is the only difference between man and man.
You do not know when the cameraman is going to click-death will not give any advance intimation or say ‘ready,’ and wait until you are ready. Therefore, be ready always so that you may produce a good impression with His name on your lips and his form in your clean heart.
At the time of your birth, you were crying loud and all around you were happy and all smiles. It is your turn now. In your last minutes, all around you will be crying and you must learn to be happy. (YG, p. 229)
Life is not a one-way traffic; you should always be prepared to give and take. (Uniq, p. 154)
Life itself is like a limited company. All actions in it should be governed by the limits applicable to each of them. When desires are controlled, genuine happiness is experienced. Even in practising charity, limits should be observed. One’s gifts should not exceed one’s financial capacity. Nor should they be below ones capacity. In the former case, one will face financial troubles. In the latter, one will be withholding from those in need what is due to them. Charity is not limited to money alone. One must share one’s physical, mental and spiritual resources with those in need in society. It is through such sharing and sacrifice that the awareness of the Spirit (Atma jnana) is achieved. Charity should not be indiscriminate. Help should be rendered according to the needs of the case. The hungry must be fed, the naked must be clothed. (SSS Vol.17, pp. 66-67)
‘Life is a dream, realize it’. ‘Yes, of course; I am dream-lion. When a lion appears and roars in your dream, you are sure to wake up out of fear. So too, Swami wakes you up from your dream of ignorance called life’. ‘That I am a dream-lion is only a relative truth. The absolute truth of My Reality is that I am always in the Turiya state of Pure, Supreme Consciousness which provides the backdrop for fleeting phenomena of waking, dreaming and sleeping, while at the same time, transcending those three transient states of ordinary consciousness’. (NNSG Vol.1, p. 132)
Ramayana is limitless ocean, from which any number of canals can be dug and water drawn. The tattvam or Reality of the Lord is ever fresh, ever fragrant, ever charming for, life too is ever fresh. Every life is a new chance, a fresh opportunity for realising the Truth. Yesterday s gone; today is the fresh chance, the new opportunity is now; tomorrow, you cannot be sure of. Every minute is to be welcomed as unique and as valuable, precious, in fact. Do not pine over chunks of time you have wasted; seize the moment that has come within your grasp. (SSS Vol.4, p. 19)
Man s life is like a garland, with birth at one end and death at the other. Between the two ends are strung together flowers of all kinds – troubles, worries, joys, sorrows and dreams. Few men are aware of the string that runs through all the flowers. Without the string there can be no garland. Only the person who recognises the string can become a real man. This string is called Sutra or Brahma Sutra (The Divine String). The Divine Atma principle is the string which is found in all human beings and which is the source of all the potencies in them. (SSS Vol.22)