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 2. A soul without reflection, like a pile Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.

 3. Abandon the crowd of distractions and confusions, and rest in the boundless state without grasping or disturbance; firm in two practices: visualization and complete, at this time of meditation, one-pointed, free from activity. Fall not into the power of confused emotions.

 4. Adoration is an activity of the loving, but still separate, individuality. Contemplation is the state of union with the divine Ground of all being. The highest prayer is the most passive... For the less there is of self, the more there is of God.

 5. As a grass-blade, if badly grasped, cuts the arm, badly-practised asceticism leads to hell.

 6. As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind. As rain does not break thorough a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.

 7. By all means use some time to be alone.

 8. By meditation upon light and upon radiance, knowledge of the spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved.

 9. Contemplate thy powers, contemplate thy wants and thy connections; so shalt thou discover the duties of life, and be directed in all thy ways.

10. Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of the genius.

11. Eagles we see fly alone; and they are but sheep which always herd together.

12. Far in a wild, unknown to public view, From youth to age a reverend hermit grew; The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell, His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well, Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days; Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.

13. Forget not on every occasion to ask thyself, is this not one of the unnecessary things?

14. Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.

15. Hardly one man in ten knows himself.

16. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

17. I love tranquil solitude And such society As is quiet, wise, and good.

18. I study myself more than any other subject; it is my metaphysic, and my physic.

19. I used to spend whole days without food and whole nights without sleep in order to meditate. But I made no progress. Study, I found, was better.

20. If an eye never falls asleep, All dreams will by themselves cease: If the mind retains its absoluteness, The ten thousand things are of one suchness.

21. If from society we learn to live, it is solitude should teach us how to die.

22. If the thoughts are absolutely tranquil the heavenly heart can be seen. The heavenly heart lies between sun and moon (i.e. between the two eyes). It is the home of the inner light. To make light circulate is the deepest and most wonderful secret. The light is easy to move, but difficult to fix. If it is made to circulate long enough, then it crystallizes itself; that is the natural spirit body...

23. In solitude, be a multitude to thyself.

24. In solitude, where we are least alone.

25. It is a matter of incorporating higher dimensions of awareness into a total picture without blacking out the lower levels.

26. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion - it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

27. It is not good that the man should be alone.

28. Leisure and solitude are the best effect of riches, because the mother of thought. Both are avoided by most rich men, who seek company and business, which are signs of being weary of themselves.

29. Let no sleep fall upon thy eyes till thou hast thrice re- viewed the transactions of the past day. Where have I turned aside from rectitude? What have I been doing? What have I left undone, which I ought to have done? Begin thus from the first act, and proceed; and, in conclusion, at the ill which thou hast done, be troubled, and rejoice for the good.

30. Listen within yourself and look into the infinitude of Space and Time. There can be heard the songs of the Constellations, the voices of the Numbers, and the harmonies of the Spheres.

31. Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.

32. Make no violent effort to control the mind, but rather allow it to run along for a while, and exhaust its efforts. It will take advantage of the opportunity and will jump around like an unchained monkey at first, until it gradually slows down and looks to you for orders. It may take some time to tame the mind, but each time you try it will come round to you in a shorter time.

33. Man, know thyself.

34. Meditation consists in conducting consciousness beyond the point where it is the consciousness of a finite body or a finite mind, transferring the focus from level to level without losing its continuity or form.

35. Meditation has been defined as "the cessation of active eternal thought."

36. Meditation is in truth higher than thought. The earth seems to rest in silent meditation; and the waters and the mountains and the sky and the heavens seem all to be in meditation. Whenever a man attains greatness on this earth, he has his reward according to his meditation.

37. Meditation is not for him who eats too much, nor for him who eats not at all; not for him who is overmuch addicted to sleep, nor for him who is always awake.

38. Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.

39. Meditation is the life of the soul; action is the soul of meditation; honour is the reward of action: so meditate, that thou mayst do; so do, that thou mayst purchase honour; for which purchase, give God the glory.

40. Meditation is the soul's perspective glass...

41. Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.

42. O sacred solitude! divine retreat! Choice of the prudent! envy of the great! By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade, We court fair wisdom, that celestial maid.

43. O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.

44. One can acquire everything in solitude but character.

45. One self-approving hour whole years out-weighs Of stupid starers of loud huzzas.

46. Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; but revelry is the same flower, when rank and running to seed.

47. Seated in a desert place, exempt from passion, master of his senses, let man represent to himself this spirit, one and infinite, without allowing his thoughts to stray elsewhere. Considering the visible universe as annihilated in spirit, let a man, pure through intelligence, constantly contemplate the One Spirit, as he might contemplate luminous ether.

48. She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love.

49. Solitude excludes pleasure, and does not always secure peace.

50. Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

51. Solitude is sometimes best society, and short retirement urges sweet return.

52. Solitude is the beginning of all freedom.

53. Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom.

54. Solitude is the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men.

55. Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone.

56. Taking as a bow the great weapon of this Scripture, One should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation. Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That, Penetrate the Imperishable as the mark, my friend.

57. That he was never less at leisure than when at leisure; nor that he was never less alone than when alone.

58. That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated, happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart.

59. The attachment to solitude is the surest preservative from the ills of life.

60. The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires.

61. The life that is unexamined is not worth living.

62. The method used by the ancients for escaping from the world consisted in melting out completely the slag of darkness in order to return to the purely creative. This is nothing more than a reduction of the anima (consciousness) and a completion of the animus (spirit). And the circulation of the inner light is the magical means of reducing the dark, and gaining mastery over the anima (consciousness).

63. The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate, and very strong. To subdue it is more difficult than controlling the wind, but it is possible by constant practice and attachment. He who strives by right means is assured of success.

64. The point of the teachings is to control your own mind. Restrain your mind from greed, and you will keep your body right, your mind pure and your words faithful. Always thinking of the transiency of your life, you will be able to desist from greed and anger and will be able to avoid all evils.

65. The quiet and solitary man apprehends the inscrutable. He seeks nothing, holds to the mean, and remains free from entanglements.

66. The reflections on a day well spent furnish us with joys more pleasing than ten thousand triumphs.

67. The sage, who is living outside the routine of the world, contemplates his own character, not as an isolated ego manifestation, but in relation to the laws of life. He judges freedom from blame to be the highest good.

68. The soul who meditates on the Self is content to serve the Self and rests satisfied within the Self; there remains nothing more for him to accomplish.

69. The sun makes the day bright, the moon makes the night beautiful, as armament adds to the dignity of a soldier; so the quiet meditation distinguishes the seeker for Enlightenment.

70. The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.

71. The wind blows over the earth: The image of CONTEMPLATION. Thus the kings of old visited the regions of the world, Contemplated the people, And gave them instruction.

72. There is one art of which man should be master, the art of reflection.

73. They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude.

74. They only babble who practise not reflection. I shall think; and thought is silence.

75. Those who are interested in self-realization, in terms of mind and sense control, offer the functions of all the senses, as well as the vital force (breath), as obligations into the fire of the controlled mind.

76. Thou hast to reach that fixity of mind in which no breeze, however strong, can waft an earthly thought within. "Ere the gold flame can burn with steady light, the lamp must stand well guarded in a spot free from all wind. "Exposed to shifting breeze, the jet will flicker and the quivering flame cast shades deceptive, dark and ever changing, on the Soul's white shrine.

77. Though one sits in meditation in a particular place, the Self in him can exercise its influence far away. Though still, it moves everywhere... The Self cannot be known by anyone who desists not from unrighteous ways, controls not his senses, stills not his mind, and practices not meditation.

78. Thrice happy he, who by some shady grove, Far from the clamorous world, doth live his own; Though solitary, who is not alone, But doth converse with that eternal love.

79. 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours; And ask them what report they bore to heaven: And how they might have borne more welcome news.

80. To concentrate the seed flower (spiritual embryo formed by light) of the human body above in the eyes, that is the great key of the human body. Children take heed! If for a day you do not practice meditation, this light streams out, who knows wither? If you only meditate for a quarter of an hour, by it you can do away with the ten thousand eons and a thousand births. All methods end in quietness. This marvelous magic cannot be fathomed.

81. Wake up with one mind, my friends, and kindle the fire, you many who share the same nest. Make your thoughts harmonious; stretch them on the loom; make a ship whose oars will carry us across...

82. We must certainly acknowledge that solitude is a fine thing; but it is a pleasure to have some one who can answer, and to whom we can say, from time to time, that solitude is a fine thing.

83. We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.

84. When he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the One - the inner sound which kills the outer.

85. When holy and devout religious men Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence; So sweet is zealous contemplation.

86. When the mind is silent, beyond weakness or non-concentration, then it can enter into a world which is far beyond the mind: the highest End.

87. Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.