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Wisdom of Ancient Hindu Teachers

A collection of wisdom of ancient Hindu Teachers.

Total attention to whatsoever you do, that is the secret to success.

He who considers himself the unluckiest is the most foolish person.

Beware of sweet words and empty promises.


We take God’s gifts for granted. Yet we complain at the slightest misfortune.

Let your actions on earth be such that others benefit from them long after you are gone.

SourceThe Balvihar Book of Picture Parables published by Chinmaya Mission.


‘Failures are the pillars of success!’ Knowledge arises through the combination of all our mistakes and errors, our good and bad deeds. … How many thousands and thousands of times you have assumed various bodies, how many good and bad deeds you have performed! You have forgotten all this and, by calculating the insignificant merits and demerits of this one little life, are suffering for no reason. Look at the numberless past lives you have lived; think about your limitless future lives. … You do not belong to your father or mother, to any caste or any person, to any country or any time—you are chaitanya, pure consciousness, beyond time, space, and causation. Don’t worry or have regrets for no reason. —Letters of Swami Premeshananda. 1: 95

You cannot spend the whole day in meditation and japa. Without compromising on them, you have to devote the rest of your energy to work. In this way you can do your work, work for the good of the world. You cannot live without working, so do work that will benefit others.


A revolutionary once fled to Uttarkashi and became a sadhu. But he couldn’t do meditation or japa. The bank of the Ganga, where the sadhus lived, was getting eroded by the current of the river. So he carried boulders every day and built an embankment there. There was another sadhu in the rural area of Mymensingh who was known as ‘Kodaley Baba’ (sadhu with a spade). He used to stay in a village for two years, grow a garden there, and then move on to another village. (Reminiscences of Sargachhi Swami Suhitananda).

If anyone asked for advice, Swami Vijnanananda would say, ‘Practise what you studied in the primary book in your childhood days: Always speak the truth and do not steal or covet others’ things. Follow these two moral principles, and then everything else will take care of itself.’