April 22

To know thyself is to know God.

1

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. If anyone listens to my sayings, and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me, and does not receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

— John 12:44–50

2

The greatest knowledge is the knowledge of your own self: he who knows himself also knows God.

3

The main attribute of a human being—liking some things in various degrees and disliking others—is not the result of spacial or temporal conditions; on the contrary, spacial and temporary conditions act or do not act upon a human being only because a human being, as he enters the world, is already highly conditioned to like some things and dislike others. This is the sole reason why people who had been born and brought up in completely identical spacial and temporal conditions often present the sharpest contrast of their inner selves.

4

What good is the worship of God without purity of soul? What is the point in saying: I go to worship God? How can the one who does evil worship God?

Holiness is not in the forests, not in the sky, not on earth, not in the sacred rivers. Cleanse your body and you will see it. Turn your body into a temple, discard bad thoughts and contemplate God with your inner eye. When we perceive him, we perceive ourselves. Without personal experience, writings alone will not destroy our fears, just as a written description of a flame will not scatter darkness. No matter what your faith and your prayers may be, you will not reach the path of goodness until the truth is within you. The one who perceives the truth is born anew.

The source of the true good is in the heart: the one who searches for it in another place is insane. He is like a shepherd searching for his lamb, when the lamb is right behind his back.

Why are you gathering stones and building great temples? Why are you torturing yourselves like this, when God always dwells within you?

A yard dog is better than a lifeless idol in a house, and the great God of the universe is better than all the half-gods.

The light which, like the morning star, lives in the heart of every human being, this light is our refuge.

— Vamana Purana

5

It is strange to cry to someone who does not know himself that he should move away from himself towards God! It is good to say this to someone who knows himself.

— Pascal

A human being can transfer his self from a sphere that is subordinate, transient and miserable into one that is free, eternal and joyful—into the consciousness of his spiritual, divine nature.