Statues of brass and marble will perish, and statues made in imitation of them are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship print and reprint, crave it in wood, engrave it on stone, use any materials; the thought or idea is eternally and identically the same in every case. Similarly the One Unchangeable “I am” or Absolute Self-consciousness is the same, let the bodies and lives alter, vary and undergo all sorts of transformations. It impresses itself on anything presented to it.
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One who knows how to take care of his life may go throughout the country without providing against the rhinoceros or tiger; he may even go into the thick of a battle without fear of the sword.
The rhinoceros finds no place wherein to drive his horn.
The tiger finds no place to fix his claws.
The sword finds no place wherein to thrust itself.
And why is this?
It is because he has overcome Death.
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People in their undertakings, usually fail on the eve of success.
The difficulty in governing the people is from having too much policy.
He who tries to govern the kingdom by policy, is only a scourge to it; while he who governs without it is a blessing.
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To teach without words and to be useful without action, few among men attain to it.
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Man of possession: His highest rectitude is but crookedness.
His greatest wisdom is but foolishness.
His sweetest eloquence is but stammering.
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He who lightly assents will seldom keep his word.
The chaff from winnowing will blind a man’s eye so that he cannot tell the points of the compass.
* * * *
Mosquitoes will keep a man awake all night with their biting.
And just in the same way this talk of charity and duty to one’s neighbour drives me nearly crazy.
Wherefore this undue energy as though searching for a fugitive with a big drum?
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When the pond dries up and the fish are left upon dry ground to moisten them with the breath or to damp them with a little spittle, is not to be compared with leaving them in the first instance in their native rivers and lakes.
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Whoever makes destroys. Whoever grasps loses.
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The good man confers a blessing upon the world by merely living.
The so-called “Charity and duty to one’s neighbour” of shallow wits is the most pernicious piece of confusion ever preached because Tad does not declare itself. The (virtue) does not go out of its way to express itself.
Perfect courage is not unyielding.
And neither is perfect charity displayed in action.
Virtue consists in being true to oneself and charity in letting alone.
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Not by going out but entering within you are saved.
To act by means of inaction is God.
Hank and precedence which the vulgar prize, the sage stolidly ignores.
It is easy enough to stand still; the difficulty is to walk without touching the ground.
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To place oneself in subjective relation with externals, without consciousness of their objectivity. This is Tad. (Tatvamasi)
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But to wear out one’s intellect in an obstinate adherence to the individuality of things, not recognising the fad; that they are all One,’ this is called Three in the morning.