From ‘Oscar Wilde. Epigrams’published by The Peter Pauper Press

The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life.

How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the othe is getting it. The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy!

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.

Woman’s first duty in life is to her dressmaker. What the second duty is no one has yet discovered.

It is always nice to be expected and not to arrive.

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

One should always be in love; that is the reason one should never marry.

After a good dinner one could forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

The one charm of married life is that it makes a life of deception necessary for both parties.

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.

The old believe everything; the middle aged suspect everything; the young know everything

A woman will flirt with anybody in the world as long as other people are looking on.

Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them.

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

Just as the philanthropist is the nuisance of the ethical sphere, so the nuisance of the intellectual sphere is the man who is so occupied in trying to educate others, that he has never had any time to educate himself.

We live in the age of the over-worked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.

How appalling is the ignorance which is the inevitable result of the fatal habit of imparting opinions!

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.

There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.

From ‘Teachings of the Hindu Mystics’Edited by Andrew Harvey

Health, a light body, freedom from cravings,

A glowing skin, sonorous voice, fragrance

Of  body: these signs indicate progress

In the practice of meditation

-          Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Sri Krishna: You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.

Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do. When consciousness is unified, however, all vain anxiety is left behind. There is no cause for worry, whether things go well or ill. Therefore, devote yourself to the disciplines of yoga, for yoga is skill in action.

The wise unify their consciousness and abandon attachment to the fruits of action, which binds a person to continual rebirth. Thus they attain a state beyond all evil.

When your mind has overcome the confusion of duality, you will attain the state of holy indifference to things you hear and things you have heard. When you are unmoved by the confusion of ideas and your mind is completely united in deep Samadhi, you will attain the state of perfect yoga.

-          From the Bhagavad Gita

From ‘Agnostic Khushwant. There is no God!’ by ‘Khushwant Singh with Ashok Chopra’

George Bernard Shaw once wrote that every intelligent man makes his own religion though there are a hundred versions of it.

Masjid ddhaa dey, Mandar ddhaa dey

Ddhaa dey jo kuchh ddhenda.

Ik kisey da dil na ddhavein

Rabb dilaan vicch rehndaa

(Break down the mosque, break down the temple

Break down whatever there is besides;

But never break a human heart

That is where God Himself resides.)

-          Bulleh Shah, a Punjabi Sufi poet

Mai khor, mimbar ba-soz, O aatish andar Kaaba zan

Sakin-e-butkhana baash, O mardam azaari mekun

(Drink wine, tear up the holy book, set fire to the house of God

Go make your house in a temple full of idols;

You may do all these but do not hurt a man.)

-          Hafiz (the fourteenth-century Sufi poet)

Dile badast aavar keh haj-e-akbar ast

az hazaaraan Kaaba, yak-e-dil behtarast

(Go into your hearts, it is the greatest pilgrimage

One heart is better than a thousand Kaabas.)

-          Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (a thirteenth-century Sufi poet)

This above all: To thine own self be true

And it must follow as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man

-          Shakespeare in Hamlet

Caveab homine unius libri: Beware of the man of one book

-          Old Latin saying

From ‘Purana Purusha Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree (A complete biography)’ by Dr.Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee. Translator Joyati Kapur

To practice yoga-action, one must eat less and consume easily digestible food. Consuming excess food impedes yogasadhana. Hot, cold, pungent, spicy, bitter, stale food in their extremities should never be consumed ………. Five to six hours of sleep regularly is a must. Married people should have coitus twice a month. By this the mind is at rest and sadhana is also practiced well.

If a great deal of Kriya is practiced a deep engrossment arises and a sound can be heard within the occiput which is known as Nadabrahma.

After meals, one should lie down on the left side.

…….if anyone wishes to fulfill this human life, he has definitely to bathe in the three sacred streams within his own body. These three sacred streams are the three nerves – Ida, Pingala and Sushumna prevalent in every human being. They are respectively known as the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati.

Religion and irreligion, happiness and sorrow etc. are all functions of the mind, but the Infinite within you is devoid of everything.

……..when regular practice of Pranakarma stills Prana, sleep is not required thereby making a yogi accustomed of being in Samadhi for a long period of time in this manner. He does not require oxygen also. …….when a yogi through yoga action is capable to cease the function of each and every cell of his body, then he can exist without oxygen, exhalation is absent then. In this state thought the cells remain non-functional for a prolonged period they are not destroyed.

It is extremely difficult to be steadfast keeping the eyes in a raised position on the forehead above the nose between the eyebrows, but if one can remain in this manner the state of settlement or Samadhi can be attained.