Inquiry Into The Self Quotes

“Experience has demonstrated a direct connection between mental and emotional pain and predominance of rajas and tamas relative to sattva. Meditation and inquiry are only possible in a sattvic mind. Three buckets of water stand in front of a white wall. The sun reflects off the water, producing three reflected suns on the wall. A strong wind roiling the contents of the first bucket produces a dancing image of the sun. The second, filled with muddy water, produces a dull, dark spot. The third, containing clear and still water, generates an accurate reflection of the sun. If the purpose of meditation is Self-realization and the mind is the instrument through which the Self is known, it stands to reason that accurate identification of the Self depends on a clear still mind. When the subtle body is pure, the bliss of the Self uplifts the emotions and awakens subtle devotional feelings. When the subtle body is pure, the Self illumines the intellect, enhancing discrimination and inspiring brilliant thinking. Radiant health results when a sattvic subtle body channels the Self‘s healing energy to the body. (p. 69)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“Spiritual practice doesn‘t attempt to correct the past or change our circumstances, but to change the way we see ourselves and the world. Directing attention to the highest in us cleanses subconscious sources of pain and minimizes the danger of building a suffering-based identity. If the ego is thought to be the self, its negativities will never be eliminated, because its very existence is a negativity based on a fundamental error. (p. 71)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“Loved unconditionally, the world starts loving back! The more love is practiced, the more it flows, like a mountain torrent in springtime, flushing away unforgiving thoughts and feelings. Slowly attention turns within, awakening the devotee to the unlimited power of Love. When our small loves find their infinite Source we are free and are no longer compelled to grovel at the feet of the world. (p. 84)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“Try seeing your body and home as God‘s temple, regarding your spouse and children as God‘s own, considering every spoken word the name of the Lord and every duty as service of God. Bending, lying or kneeling should be considered prostration to God, walking as circumambulation of the deity, all lights as symbols of the Self, sleep as samadhi, rest as meditation and the act of eating as God eating God. In this manner every object and activity loses its secular character and becomes divine through devotional practice. (p. 86)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“A completely spiritual love, the devotee sees God, the innermost Self, as divinely beautiful and lovely, an Adonis or Aphrodite, to be loved with affections verging on the erotic. In this style of love, all conventions, reservations, hesitations and personal views are cast aside and an exclusive, potentially jealous, love cultivated. A gargantuan appetite, craving for the embrace of God, the experience of the Self, is evidenced, the need for spiritual experience replacing the need for physical gratification. Just as lovers locked in the throes of orgasm do not know inside or outside, or which body is which, the devotee in union with the Self sees no distinctions and experiences, only the sweetest bliss. (p. 91)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“The state of devotion to which this verse refers is not a simple love of God inspired by blind belief, but an inner transformation, the rebirth of the soul out of the womb of matter into the realm of pure Spirit. It is a spontaneous awakening to the ultimate state of Being, an ecstatic, expansive, dynamic, openended experience that fills the head with wisdom and the heart with love. Unlike „born again“ experiences, which quickly fade, leaving the devotee caught up in the limitations of the old life, the heart merges completely and permanently into the Self. (p. 96)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“Attaining It one becomes intoxicated, then silent, delighting in the Self“ (Narada Bhakti Sutras) The state of devotion to which this verse refers is not a simple love of God inspired by blind belief, but an inner transformation, the rebirth of the soul out of the womb of matter into the realm of pure Spirit. It is a spontaneous awakening to the ultimate state of Being, an ecstatic, expansive, dynamic, openended experience that fills the head with wisdom and the heart with love. Unlike „born again“ experiences, which quickly fade, leaving the devotee caught up in the limitations of the old life, the heart merges completely and permanently into the Self. (p. 96)”
― James Swartz, Meditation: Inquiry Into the Self

“The mystery of knowledge is that once you know, you won't have anything more to ask. Thus, closing the door to ask more exciting questions.”
― Mwanandeke Kindembo