A collection of teachings of Swami Vijnanananda - a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.
The duty of man is to remember Bhagavan always, whether one is engaged in consciously repeating His name or not. Every breath of ours should be associated with Bhagavan, in our mind. We should consider that we breathe in God to make the inside pure, and we breathe out God to make the outside pure.
God is existence, knowledge and bliss.
God vision is the true aim of human life, for that alone can give us real and lasting satisfaction. Men hankers after the things of the world, wealth, sense enjoyments, honour, etc., in the hope that these can give him happiness in life. But the pursuit of these has only a reverse effect on the mind. Not only do we fail to realize the desired but the restlessness of the mind is even increased, and we are rendered even more unhappy than in the beginning. Through wealth and honor our egotism is bloated up, and there is no greater obstacle in the spiritual path than egotism.
How can we have peace seeing that there is so much conflict and suffering in the country owing to trade depression and political struggles?” asked a devotee. “Why do you make so much of these struggles that are going on in the outside world?” Swami Vijnanananda asked in reply, and he added, “Do you think that they will stop, supposing you gain your immediate end and the present phase of the struggle passes away? Certainly they will not. Restlessness arises not from these external struggles, but from our own internal hankering and our clinging to the things of the world. Even if God were to appear before us to bring peace unto our souls, we would refuse to recognize Him. For when He comes, He takes away our worldly possessions, and few of us arc ready to make this sacrifice.
You are the master of your mind, and you have to keep it pure. Your responsibility ends there; the rest is God's business.