Swami Nityaswarupananda (1899-1992) was a monk of Sri Ramakrishna Order. The quotes are mainly collected from Magazines like Vedanta Kesari and Prabuddha Bharata.
Our life is a mixture of opposites like joy and sorrow, success and failure, good and evil... As long as we consider this world to be real, we cannot escape the pairs of opposites nor eradicate the sense of duty. The only way out of this state of things is to realize the unreality of the world, and renounce our identification with it.
Being in the world but not of it.
The Atman is the only substance of the universe, just as clay is the only substance of a pot. The pot is nothing but clay with name and form superimposed on it. So is this universe nothing but the Self with name and form superimposed on It. Just as waves, foam, and bubbles are nothing but the sea, and are non-different from it, so the universe is nothing but the Self, and is non-different from It.
In reality the Self is ever free. It never enters into a state of bondage. It is our ignorance that we think ourselves bound; and this thought makes our supposed bondage persist and continue. If, however, we constantly think of ourselves as the eternally free Self, we shall realize that we are ever free.
Desiring, grieving, etc, are the modifications of the chitta, the mind-stuff, which may be likened respectively to a lake and its ripples. The depths of the lake are as it were our own true nature Self. We can only catch a glimpse of the depths when the water is calm and clear and there are no waves.
If the water is muddy or agitated, the depths will not be seen. Likewise, as long as there are mental modifications, which are possible only so long as we identify ourselves with them, we cannot see the Self and due to ignorance and bondage.
But when the mind is calm and free from such modifications, we realize our true nature and thus attain liberation.
Swami Nityaswarupananda