From ‘Shafts of Light. Selected teachings of Swami Ashokananda for spiritual practice’ Compiled and Edited by Sister Gargi and Shelley Brown

“Don’t dig too deeply in the ground lest a cobra come out.”

-          Bengali saying.

In the same way that a few fingers can shut off the sun, the ego can hide the Self.

The senses perceive correctly only when there is no greed behind them.

Spiritual growth is very, very slow. What is needed is continuity of effort.

Insecurity is a very opportune time for spiritual growth. You search for something steady; you try to find resources within yourself.

A religion needs people of spiritual experience. Otherwise, it is just a show.

It is not necessarily the worthy person who advances in spiritual life; it is the determined person.

Until you have actually felt the mind at work within itself, you will not be able to control it.

If the mind is gloomy, why are you gloomy?

You have to be bold and persistent. Cut down the old thoughts again and again as they come to you again and again, and then the roots will die.

When the mind is restless, you know very little of reality. When the mind is quiet, you know all of reality.

In serious spiritual life one of the important things is to know where the mind has gone and to gather its scattered pieces.

Everything is revealed to the mind that is one-pointed.

Meditation should be undertaken with a sense of eternity, not in the atmosphere of time.

Until you perceive the formless reality, you have to take recourse to symbols.