Seek refuge in the Self

Seek refuge in the Supreme Lord alone with loving devotion, O Arjuna. By His grace you shall attain supreme peace and the Eternal Abode. (18.62)


तमेव शरणं गच्छ सर्वभावेन भारत ।
तत्प्रसादात्परां शान्तिं स्थानं प्राप्स्यसि शाश्वतम् ॥१८- ६२॥

as near to God as we are ...

Pope John Paul II declared in a public audience
in 1990 that "also the animals possess a soul and
men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren".


He said, too, that they are the "fruit of the creative
action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect," and are
as near to God as men are."


The Pope went on to say that, "animals have the breath of life and were given it by God. In this respect, man created by the hand of God is identical with all living creatures. ... The existence therefore of all living creatures depends on the living spirit/breath of God that not only creates but also sustains and renews the face of the earth."

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

Lao Tzu

Do not grieve, Arjuna

The self does not kill, nor is it killed. For the self is never born and never dies, nor may it ever become non-existent. This unborn, everlasting, abiding self is not slain when the body is slain. Knowing the self to be unborn, imperishable, everlasting, changeless, Arjuna, how can a man slay anyone or be slain?

As a man gets rid of worn out clothes and puts on new ones, so the self puts away worn-out bodies and puts on others that are new. Weapons do not cut up the self, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, the wind does not dry it. Not capable of being cut, burned, wet, or dried, the self is everlasting, present in all things, unchangeable, unmoveable, for ever the same.

Knowing that the soul is immaterial and unalterable, you should not grieve, Arjuna.

Changeless Being

I have always existed, you too have always existed, and those princes have always existed. The time shall never come when we shall all cease to exist.


What is not there cannot exist; what is there cannot be anything but existent. The distinction between these states has been recognized by those who study truth. That which pervades this universe is imperishable; no one can destroy that changeless being. It is these bodies that house the everlasting, imperishable, incomprehensible self that have an end

Eyes cannot see him

Eye cannot see him, nor words reveal him;
by the senses, austerity, or works he is not known. When the mind is cleansed by the grace of wisdom, he is seen by contemplation--the One without parts. 
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.8




He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities. 
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11