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  2. Wisdom

Wisdom

Verses & Teachings

63 passages from the Vedantic and Yogic tradition — the Sanskrit where it exists, a plain translation, what the verse points to in practice, and something to do with it when you sit.

Bhagavad Gita16 passages

Classical Vedanta · part of the Mahabharata

  • Bhagavad Gita 2.48Equanimity in success and failure is itself yogaPractice
  • Bhagavad Gita 2.70Desires enter the still mind as rivers enter the oceanStillness
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.5The mind is both your closest ally and your worst adversarySelf
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.19A lamp in a windless place — the classic image of a steady mindStillness
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.20When the mind quietens, the Self is satisfied in itselfBliss
  • Bhagavad Gita 2.71Peace comes to one who moves without "mine" and without egoSurrender
  • Bhagavad Gita 4.38Nothing purifies like knowledge — and it ripens in its own timeAwareness
  • Bhagavad Gita 5.24The yogi whose happiness, delight, and light are all withinBliss
  • Bhagavad Gita 10.20The Self seated in the heart of all beingsSelf
  • Bhagavad Gita 13.33One sun lights the whole world; one Self lights the whole fieldAwareness
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.29Seeing the same Self everywhere, in all beingsAwareness
  • Bhagavad Gita 18.66The final instruction — abandon all else and take refugeSurrender
  • Bhagavad Gita 9.22What you lack is carried; what you have is preservedSurrender
  • Bhagavad Gita 12.12A ladder ending in the release of resultsPractice
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.35Arjuna admits the mind is harder to hold than the windPractice
  • Bhagavad Gita 6.36Difficult for the uncontrolled, attainable by the right meansPractice

Yoga Sutras11 passages

Classical Yoga · compiled by Patanjali

  • Yoga Sutras 1.2The definition the whole text rests onStillness
  • Yoga Sutras 1.3Then the Seer rests in its own natureSelf
  • Yoga Sutras 1.12Practice and non-attachment — the two wingsPractice
  • Yoga Sutras 1.14Long time, without break, with earnestnessPractice
  • Yoga Sutras 1.33Four attitudes that keep the mind clearStillness
  • Yoga Sutras 2.1Kriya yoga: discipline, self-study, surrenderSurrender
  • Yoga Sutras 2.46Sthira sukham asanam — steady and comfortablePractice
  • Yoga Sutras 1.36Concentration on the inner light, beyond sorrowAwareness
  • Yoga Sutras 2.28Impurity wanes and the light of wisdom dawnsAwareness
  • Yoga Sutras 3.55When clarity equals the Seer, there is freedomBliss
  • Yoga Sutras 1.41The mind as a transparent crystalStillness

Nirvana Shatakam6 passages

Advaita Vedanta · attributed to Shankaracharya

  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 1Not mind, not intellect, not ego, not the elementsSelf
  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 2Not breath, not the sheaths, not the organs of actionSelf
  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 3Neither attachment nor aversion, neither pride nor envyBliss
  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 4No merit, no sin, no mantra, no pilgrimageSurrender
  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 5No death, no doubt, no birth, no teacher, no studentSelf
  • Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 6Beyond form and thought; neither bound nor liberatedBliss

Nisargadatta Maharaj4 passages

Advaita Vedanta · 1897–1981

  • Nisargadatta on the all-pervading SelfThat in whom all beings reside, and who resides in allSelf
  • Nisargadatta: between nothing and everythingWisdom says I am nothing; love says I am everythingBliss
  • Nisargadatta: the mind creates the abyssThe heart crosses what the mind manufacturesAwareness
  • Nisargadatta on neti netiFind what you are not; what remains is the SelfSelf

Ramana Maharshi3 passages

Advaita Vedanta · 1879–1950

  • Ramana Maharshi on Self-realization as serviceThe greatest service you can render is your own realizationSelf
  • Ramana Maharshi on silenceThe scriptures all fizzle out in silenceStillness
  • Ramana Maharshi on the source of the egoEnquire into the source of the ego and it vanishesSelf

Vivekachudamani3 passages

Advaita Vedanta · attributed to Shankaracharya

  • Vivekachudamani on the dream-like worldReal in its own time; unreal on wakingAwareness
  • Vivekachudamani 3Three rare things: human birth, the wish for freedom, a true teacherPractice
  • Vivekachudamani on direct experienceNot by recitation, ritual, or scholarshipAwareness

Ashtavakra Gita3 passages

Advaita Vedanta · dialogue with King Janaka

  • Ashtavakra Gita 1.4You are the eternal witness — live happilySelf
  • Ashtavakra Gita 2.1The universe rises and subsides like a wave in meAwareness
  • Ashtavakra Gita 1.3Your only bondage is mistaking the witness for something elseSelf

Katha Upanishad2 passages

Principal Upanishad · Krishna Yajurveda

  • Katha Upanishad 2.20Smaller than the small, greater than the greatSelf
  • Katha Upanishad 2.23Not by study, intellect, or much learningSurrender

Shiva Sutras2 passages

Kashmir Shaivism · revealed to Vasugupta

  • Shiva Sutras 1.1Chaitanyam atma — consciousness is the SelfSelf
  • Shiva Sutras 1.5Udyamo bhairavah — the creative pulse is the divineAwareness

Isha Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Shukla Yajurveda

  • Isha Upanishad 1Enjoy through renunciation; covet nothingSurrender

Mandukya Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Atharvaveda

  • Mandukya Upanishad 7Turiya — the fourth, described entirely by negationSelf

Kena Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Samaveda

  • Kena Upanishad 1.3Eye, speech, and mind cannot reach itAwareness

Chandogya Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Samaveda

  • Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7Tat tvam asi — thou art thatSelf

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Shukla Yajurveda

  • Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28From the unreal to the real, darkness to lightAwareness

Taittiriya Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Krishna Yajurveda

  • Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1Truth, knowledge, infinity — BrahmanBliss

Mundaka Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Atharvaveda

  • Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9The knower of Brahman becomes BrahmanSelf

Shvetashvatara Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Krishna Yajurveda

  • Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.11The one witness, hidden in all beingsAwareness

Aitareya Upanishad1 passage

Principal Upanishad · Rigveda

  • Aitareya Upanishad 3.3Prajnanam Brahma — consciousness is BrahmanAwareness

Adi Shankaracharya1 passage

Advaita Vedanta · 8th century CE

  • Shankaracharya: Brahman is real, the world is appearanceThe individual self is none other than BrahmanSelf

Swami Vivekananda1 passage

Advaita Vedanta · 1863–1902

  • Vivekananda: Arise, awake, stop notHis rendering of a line from the Katha UpanishadPractice

Swami Vivekananda1 passage

Advaita Vedanta · 1863–1902

  • Vivekananda on self-imposed limitationWe cover our own eyes and complain of the darkAwareness

Shunyananda1 passage

Contemplative teaching

  • On where peace is not foundThe world gives pain and pleasure, but not peaceStillness
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