Central Chinmaya Mission Trust

Sandeepany Sadanalaya, Saki Vihar Road,

Mumbai 400 072
 Swami Tapovanam was a native of Kerala born in
1889 near Palakkad. He, from early days
exhibited a yearning for renunciation and for
leading a spiritual life. He was not only a
profound scholar in Sanskrit and scriptures but
also a practical mystic who spent several years of
contemplation and reflection in the divine solitude of the
Himalayas. Swami Sivananda, Founder-President of Divine
Life Society and also a contemporary of Swami Tapovanam
described him as ‘He is verily Tapovanam, but not wild
Vanamor jungle growth with rough growth of dry austerity and
cynical seclusion. He is rather an Upavanam full of fragrance
of the flowering of Vedanta and filled wih the fruits of his
maure realization.” Swami Chinmayananda, the founder of
Chinmaya Mission studied under the tutelage of Swami
Tapovanam at his abode in Uttarakasi.
 PUBLISHER’S NOTE

We are happy to bring out this book containing invaluable

quotes of Swami Tapovanam. There has been a demand for
such a collection for long time. The students of Sandeepany
spent many hours to cull out these gems from Swami
Tapovanam’s writings. We ardently hope that these quotes
will enhance understanding of spiritual life.
Central Chinmaya Mission Trust
ATTACHMENT

Wonderful indeed is the perversity of illusion! In the world the

wicked ones are created as a touchstone to the good.
ॐ

Attachment and aversion are not altogether different. When

attachment is frustrated, it turns to aversion.
ॐ

It is what gives man the utmost joy that becomes most dear
to him.

BHAKTI

It is in vain to waste one’s time considering which God to

worship. Worship him in any form. It is the sincerity of
devotion that matters.
Give up pride and egotism and devoutly immerse yourself in
the thought of God. Love without faith and sincerity is naught.
ॐ
The first and foremost means of God-realisation is Love – love
of the Lord all unsurpassed. Love of God purifies the mind and
easily leads to mental concentration.
ॐ
Love of God is untouched by sorrow; it is eternal, of the
nature of bliss and so, to the seekers of liberation, it is most
desirable.
ॐ
Worship your chosen ideal with constant thought, repetition of
holy names and meditation.
ॐ
Love (Devotion) and Knowledge help Yoga. Both help to
maintain mental concentration.

CREATION

Everything has its own place in the economy of the Universe.

CUSTOM

We need not follow a loathsome custom simply because it is

ancient. Only after due testing and necessary modification(s)
should one accept a custom. This is the principle to be borne
in mind.
ॐ

Alas! Think how customs get the better of man and enslave
him! Even the intelligent man ought to know that customs are
made for man, not man for customs.

DEATH

When we are born, death is born with us.

DESIRE

Desire is the seed of all fear and sorrow. The root of ‘samsara’
is desire.
 ॐ
Worldly desires are of the nature of bondage, they are also its
cause, tying down a man with no visible chain, he cannot go
beyond the end of tether. Yet he is proud of his freedom.
ॐ
The first thing that true seekers of happiness have to do is to
conquer desire.
ॐ

It is impossible to exhaust desires through enjoyment. So the

only way to overcome them is through right thinking.

DHARMA

That dharma which remains homogenous and unchanging in

all good persons and in all good affairs, irrespective of time
and place, alone is Sanatana Dharma.
ॐ

Dharma is not for the pleasure of the doer, nor is the doer for
the pleasure of Dharma.
Who will not feel happy over what urges him to perform his
Dharma?
ॐ

As qualifications differ, duties too differ.

DISPASSION

If a man does not exercise his God-given intelligence to

discriminate between the ephemeral and the eternal, through
the spirit of dispassion – it can only
serve to torment him.
Fools give up the lion cloth and other externals (signs of
renunciation), but do not reject that whose rejection alone
really matters.
ॐ
No one steeped in sensuous pleasures can ever find abidance
in Brahman just like the lotus would never grow on rocks or
hair on tortoise shells.
ॐ

When the mind gets detached from all worldly trammels, it

becomes easy for that mind to gain the Divine experience,
thereby enjoying the highest state of bliss.

EGO

It is from the ego that the world tree springs up – with

knowledge one should cut off and destroy the might of the
ego.

FAITH

He who has no faith strays away from morality.

ॐ
In the effort to realize the Supreme Truth, it is not the science
which can help you most – it is only faith that can stand you in
good stead.
ॐ
He who believes in God and is devoted to Him, even if he
commits sins, will gradually attain devoutness and Liberation.
ॐ
The existence of God is not to be proved by logic or
reasoning, but it is to be accepted by faith resulting from
previous samsakara-s.
The Divine Principle manifests itself to him who firmly
believes in such existence (of Truth). To him who hugs the
idea of non-existence of God, how can the principle manifest
itself?
ॐ

It is the ardent faith in one’s own Self, God, religion, liberation

and in the words of the sages that is at the root of all virtues.
ॐ
We have to achieve happiness and peace not by renouncing
the world but by remaining fixed in the thought of the
Supreme Self, by possessing unbreakable faith.
ॐ

For people who are firmly convinced that everything is God

and who find joy in Him, what is there to fear, where is fear to
be found?
ॐ

Every calamity tends to our future prosperity.

GOD

All that is, is God.

ॐ

God is Truth; Beauty is Truth.

ॐ
The Vision of God is the most divine of all experiences.
ॐ

Everything happens according to God’s will. What are we to

do, or undo or do otherwise?
ॐ

Every man ought to throw himself on the mercy of God who is

the embodiment of happiness, abandoning desires for the
enjoyment of worldly pleasures.
ॐ
O Lord!, give me, in this very life the capacity to enjoy the
charm of thy matchless beauty as people enjoy he sight of the
lovely moon.
ॐ
Even as the formless liquid in certain countries and climate,
freezes into form, the omnipotent, supreme God, just to
please his devotees, assumes some form at times and in
certain places.
ॐ
The Supreme Self, in truth, is non-doer, yet. He cannot be
neglected as a King, who has laid down his crown and
withdrawn into the bosom of the forest to perform tapas,
cannot be neglected, for He is the savior of all.
 ॐ
God is a great string puller, all moving and non-moving things
are bound together into a garland by Him with the cord of
attachment. The flowers may wither away but the thread
remains intact.

HAPPINESS

Internal renunciation is the secret of lasting happiness.

HOME

The Devotee, who has his mind and senses under control, is
not enslaved by pleasure or pain, for him, his home is as good
as a cavern in the Himalayas.

LIBERATION

There is no object, no goal beyond the ‘Vision of God’ in this

world. If it is attained, nothing more remains to be attained.
ॐ

The Vision of God brings all worldly sorrow to its end.

ॐ
Knowledge of Brahman is the highest knowledge and
Sannyasa is the means to it.
ॐ

Let the Universe be what it is, what is the use of investigating

its nature? On the contrary, we ought to think of that
Supreme Self which is of the nature of Consciousness and joy.
 ॐ

As worldly existence is of the nature of sorrow, everyone in

the world should try his utmost to escape it.

Love

Accept sorrows yourself and rain down happiness on others.

MAHATMA

Of all mankind, he who has realized God is the noblest and

the best.
ॐ

He is a Mahatma who keeps the tongue, word and the mind

perfectly under control and patiently withstands all
provocations.
ॐ
The Sannyasin who finds happiness in Self wastes no thought
over the past or the future, does not rejoice over achievement
or bemoan failure.
ॐ
Let actions be good or bad, let people praise them or revile
them, the Mahatma retains his balance of mind and continues
to perform his duty.
ॐ
A Knower of Truth, who indulges in activities, will be detached
in spirit but externally he gets bound; he loses his freedom.
ॐ
The steadfast man in whose eyes pleasure and pain, friend
and enemy, honour and dishonor are all the same, is a
Knower of Brahman.
ॐ
He, who entertains no thought of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. has no feeling
of pleasure and pain, and is not affected by pleasure and pain
is a Mahatma.
ॐ
He alone sees truly who sees the eternal, unattached, pure,
wise and free Self in every creature and everything.
ॐ

Whether he lives in meditation or engages himself in action, it

is all the same. Since he sees everything homogeneous, he
cannot fall from the state of Supreme Peace.
ॐ
A Sannyasin cannot afford to be idle, his life must serve as an
ideal to all mankind.
ॐ
The true Knowers of Brahman alone do imperishable good to
mankind by teaching them the Supreme Truth that finally
emancipates them from Earthly sorrow.

MEDITATION

The mind must be raised higher and higher to a state where

all thoughts are checked. That state is called Samadhi.
ॐ

When all activities of the mind cease, what remains, what

shines by itself, is the Truth, the Self, the Supreme Self.
 ॐ
It is impossible to explain Samadhi or the Self that is of the
nature of Samadhi, so as to make it intelligible to others.
Experience alone can make any person to understand it.
ॐ

Whether the god of our meditation actually exists or not, it is

certainly possible to meditate and also to secure the fruits of
meditation.

Mother

Mothers are our best and noblest teachers. While they suckle
their babes at their breasts they impart to them the highest
virtues as well.

VEDAS
It is for the annihilation of avidyathat the knowledge of he
Non-Dual Self has been introduced. That is the purpose of
Vedas.

NATURE

The sight of the wonderful landscapes and objects of nature

purifies the soul, as beating improves the quality of gold.
ॐ
Uncommon nature phenomena are a means to withdraw the
mind from external things and to project it Godwards.
ॐ

To appear fresh every second is the true nature of beauty.

PILGRIMMAGE

One who sees God everywhere and in everything, what is

there to gain for him by pilgrimages.

SADHANA

If a person speaks ill of good people, he is a mean and

despicable creature.
ॐ

If the mind is not pure, the man may hear the Truth
expounded a thousand times but the Truth itself will not dawn
upon him.
ॐ
Devote yourself to that eternal Truth.
ॐ

A devil in private, a saint in public; at home a slave of the

senses; outside a yogi; internally a fool, externally a sage – he
is a most despicable creature.
ॐ
Mind control that leads to the acquisition of siddhis, and the
purity of mind that secures the vision of God are different.
ॐ

Repudiate the sinful conduct of he sinner but honour the

sinner like the Supreme Self.
ॐ
What is essential is to understand correctly the principles of
religion and put them into practice with full sincerity.
ॐ
Pranayama, practiced without a spirit of dispassion, is just like
the control of breath practiced by fishermen while diving into
the sea to catch fish.
ॐ

Action is said to be the dynamic operation of cause and

effect, as it matures it naturally produces either pain or
pleasure.
ॐ

Heated debates lead only to breach of peace and can never

lead to the discovery of the Truth.
ॐ
Attachment remains unaffected even when this body shrivels
up or gets destroyed, the trick is to cast off this attachment
once and for all.
ॐ

It is possible to transform every evil into good.

ॐ
The Tamasic nature has its origin in meat eating.
ॐ
The attempt of really good people is to find the good in other
people.
Divine qualities are the means and Godhood is the end.
ॐ

To the worthy aspirants, who approach them in the proper

way the Great guides, in their infinite mercy, impart
instructions on the Truth.
ॐ
All true aspirants, should concentrate their minds upon the
hidden and noble Self and continue their efforts unbroken like
the flow of water.

SAMSARA

Men flock to sensuous enjoyments as crows flock to pick up

crumbs of bread.
ॐ

Path of glory lead but to the grave.

ॐ
So long as a man thinks that this body is the doer and the
enjoyer, action will have its retribution – Samsara will
continue.
ॐ
Samsara is the expansion of ego, the destruction of ego is
what is called Liberation.
ॐ
Action with a desire produces Samsara, desire even without
action produces samsara, but action without desire does not
produce Samsara, it leads to emancipation.
ॐ

Who can escape scalding if he touches fire? Similarly, if one

meddles with sensuous pleasures, how can he escape
pollution?
SANNAYASA

The fourth ashram is noblest as it concentrates itself on the

realization of Truth both by observation and propagation it is
not even accessible to gods.
ॐ
For Sannyasins, the capital is liberty.
ॐ
If by wandering as a mendicant one can become a sannyasin,
all beggars should be sannyasins.
ॐ
The very purpose of the life as a sadhu is the emancipation
from the sorrows of worldly existence.
ॐ
Sannyasa implies realization of Truth and the dissemination of
the way to ensure that Realization.
ॐ
It is the duty of the sadhus, so long as they are in their bodies
to serve the world according to their might.
ॐ
If by studying the scriptures one can become a sannyasin, by
counting the King’s money one must become a millionaire.
ॐ
For Sannyasins, seeking bhiksha in village is a blessing
because it gives them opportunities to build up virtues like
body and mental restraint, patience, modesty, etc.
ॐ
Renunciation is not the last refuge of an idler, it is the state of
having done all that to be done by way of what is good, pure
and propitious.
ॐ
Sannyasin does not forsake his equilibrium of mind even
when oppressed by the wicked or flattered by the good.
SEEKER
He is the true Brahman who abides perpetually in Brahman.
ॐ

In this worthless worldly life, seek for that lordly state.

ॐ

The rue devotee is the one who has no desire other than
God’s. He is of the nature of God himself.
ॐ

He who sees not the boarded gold in his house and goes
about begging for pieces of copper is similar to one who seeks
happiness outside himself, will never find satisfaction.
ॐ
Sorrows assail him who is doing penance in the forest as him
who remains at home attending to his daily duties. Even a
Paramahamsa cannot escape it. To flee before sorrow is
merely a waste of one’s time.

SELF

Even as all water ultimately reaches the ocean, the individual

Self must reach the Supreme Self. Sooner or later, all
creatures will certainly reach that goal. It may take ages and
ages, but it is bound to happen.
Those who sincerely desire to realize the Self will not be side-
tracked by he wish to attain siddhi-s (or wonder-working
powers) described in Yoga Sastra.
ॐ

If, through the spiritual advice of one and his example of a

calm, peaceful life, the peace of the Self becomes attainable
to he world, who does more good to the world than he?
ॐ
As a witness, the eternal Self of the form of Jnana dwells in
this ephemeral and inert body, it is by the Self, that senses
are stimulated to action.

SPIRITUAL WEALTH

There may be countries superior to this State (India) in

material riches, but it still remains unapproached and
unapproachable in spiritual wealth – being the center of
spiritual effulgence and the abode of great rishis from
immemorial times.
ॐ

If India has been able to acquire such a great reputation, it is

not because of her material wealth, but because of the
greatness of her spirituality – that is something unique.
ॐ

TAPAS
Tapas means turning pain into pleasure.
 ॐ

The really poor man is not the one who lacks money but he
who lacks the joy of the heart.
However wealthy a man may be, he cannot eat gold or silver.
Then whey to entertain love for money?
ॐ

What is the purpose of money except for the maintenance of

one’s body?
ॐ

The wise and the wealthy man should give away his wealth in
charity, but that must be done with good intention, without
any expectations of reward.
ॐ
Money should be utilized to further the cause of
righteousness, otherwise it is a heinous sin.
ॐ

The resources placed at your disposal by God should be

utilized for the worship of God.
ॐ

The greatness of material wealth is evanescent, charming at

the start but sorrowful at the end. On the contrary, the
wealth arising out of the realization of Truth is everlasting,
uniformly beautiful and Blissful.
ॐ

For the ignorant, poverty is a source of sorrow, for the

enlightened, it appears as a means to eternal peace and Self-
realization.
ॐ
People inordinately fond of wealth and sensuous pleasures
cannot even practice virtues.
ॐ