“True independence comes when we cease to force and start to flow. The truly independent person knows and lives with cosmic laws, which release him from cramping human codes.”

“I will explain to you why you’re not happy, why you’re not carefree.
It’s because you’re trying to collect things. You’re a collector, and you think that every time you get one of those objects that you desire so fervently it adds something to you, to your security.
Well, I would guess that if you take paper and pencil and write down all the things you’ve acquired — friends, romances, exciting occasions, physical objects — it would number in the thousands, wouldn’t it, tens of thousands of things you have possessed for a few seconds or maybe several years. Maybe you’ve had that house for 50 years, for example.
How come you’re still worried?”

“Your life belongs to you, not to the demands of others, and when you see this fully, their demands are powerless.”

On a piece of paper write, “What I do when I am scared.” Then list numerically what you do. Keep it simple. Write down everything you remember. This includes all the centers: physical, mental, emotional and the sex center.
For example: 1. I get tense, 2. I get anxious, 3. I get jealous, or 4. I retreat.
The longer the list, the better work you are doing and the more you know about the machine. With that knowledge, something higher than the machine will repair it for you.”

“An awakened man has no enemies; even if he has enemies.”

“You can either think about yourself or you can study yourself. The difference between the two is the difference between chains and liberty.”

“Like a thermometer people’s feelings rise or fall according to the social atmosphere. Never living from themselves, they remain at the mercy of exterior events. Everything outside tells them how to feel inside. They are slaves to bad news, or an angry look, or an unexpected change of plans. And, of course, the more a man is influenced by exterior events, the more he will angrily insist that no one tells him what to do.
It is not necessary to live like a mindless thermometer. Any man can learn to live from himself."

“Few people ever really realize the following fact: Insecurity is a mental condition, not a condition of finances, friendships or sex. The few who do realize this can start the interesting journey that ends beyond ordinary mental conditions, where true security resides.”

“If truth is leading you, it will also make decisions for you. And since these decisions are right, they will also make you feel right.
So what does it mean if you are still using your usual mind to make your own strained decisions? It means you are not yet taking your decisions from the available cosmic compass.
Remember that truth will never lead you into a circumstance without also showing you exactly what to do while within it. It is truth’s very nature to reveal clearly to you your needful actions. It is impossible for truth to abandon you. If you feel abandoned, you should see that you have carelessly led yourself into the circumstance.
This insight allows the cosmic compass to correct your life-direction.”

"You might be in the company of people when something is done or said that irritates you. You alertly watch the irritation as it rises and churns within. By appearing before the power of your awareness, its pseudo-power is weakened."

"There is no one in the entire world who condemns you. You yourself are the only person who condemns you - and pointlessly.
In reality, there is no condemnation whatever, but, as long as you think there is, you ache. Not only that, but a man dwelling with the illusion of self-condemnation is compulsively driven to do things that increase the illusion.
There is no man, nor god, nor past experience to condemn you. You are free and you are free right now. Will you try to see this?"

“Life is love, share it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is game, play it.”

“The body is the cocoon you have spun around yourself by means of your impulses and desires.
Use it to grow wings so that you can escape from it!”

“There is no greater affliction than trying to become what you are not. Although this desire has no end to it and offers no fulfillment whatsoever, the majority of people do succeed in their attempts to appear different from what they are.

“The more attention you give to the past, the more you energise it, and the more likely you are to make a ‘self’ out of it.”

“No-one should ever have blind faith - it makes you blind.”

“The mind creates for us the problems we need to experience for our own growth.”

“When we consider humanity as a whole, patriotism begins to look like selfish enthusiasm.”

“You still believe you are your thoughts and defend them as if they were treasures.”

“Having desires is not a sufficient reason for the fulfilment of those desires. But it is a sufficient reason for the mind to get restless.
There is another possibility that one remains equanimous in all situations and at the same time work with enthusiasm for a cause; for righteousness. One gives one's life a beautiful direction, and remains balanced in whatever the outcome is.”

“In order to remove the illusions of understanding, deep inquiry is a very strong tool. The student first needs to detach himself from the restlessness of his mind and find out the roots of where all his inner noise is coming.”

“A reminder: You are not here on earth to live up to the expectations of others. You are here to develop into a whole and happy human being.”

"Why do you feel so insecure? Because you have so many securities, like friends and activities, which you sense are impermanent. These are mere beliefs about security, not security itself. You are permanently secure when you have no securities, simply because you have nothing to be insecure about."

"Starting now, never again permit hard or disapproving facial expressions to intimidate you."

“Whatever is unnatural is unnecessary. Fear is unnatural and therefore unnecessary.”

"Here is a principle which will keep you standing in the right place. Whenever you do not know what to do about something, simply be aware that you do not know, and do nothing else.
Be aware of your condition, perhaps agitation or displeasure, and stop right there. Never mind if this does not seem like the right response. Never mind if you can't see how this can solve that financial problem or that domestic difficulty.
Unawareness of the whole picture is the only problem, so awareness is the only right action. Prove its rightness for yourself."

"Living from your real nature is the same as doing something worthwhile with your life."

"A man may wonder how his awakened mind will handle the daily events which now bother him.
In an awakened state he will not find himself in many of the usual bothersome situations, for it was his hypnotized mind which attracted the events in the first place. Other events do not become problems because his new mind does not see them as problems.
A free mind has no enemies and therefore nothing to fight. The conscious mind knows the secret of living impersonally. Think about this phrase."

"A businessman was pressured into accepting a role in a play presented by a community drama group. Later, when regretting his weakness in accepting, he politely dropped out. Do not let others cast you in the role they want you to play for their personal benefit. Many who play the roles of protective friends or helpful neighbors wish they had not accepted the script handed them. Be aware of this subtle trick and refuse it. Your life is yours."

"Don't label experiences as being painful. Withdraw the label and you withdraw the pain."

"The whole world is utterly impractical. Millions and millions of human beings chasing around thinking that they're being practical when all their minds are on all day long is making money, winning ego-victories, protecting themselves from a world they fear. Not seeing, by the way, that they're really fearing the world inside of them. And when you get rid of the fear of yourself you don't fear the world out there because they're both the same thing."

“There is never a need for you to feel sad over anything.”