SWAMI TIRTHA
THE BLACK BOOK
Meditations for Every Day
In life one must be not only clever but wise as well… Wonder – this is the art of wisdom. Growing towards perfection is no escape, not the easier path, for spiritual work is laborious. But inquiry practised with earnest perseverance helps us become better people. This book helps us truly see the essence.
A wisdom for every day – this is a well-known genre. Thoughts and opinions, data and facts, insights and teaching dialogues are ranged along the pages, awaiting the reader. In truth we are not turning the pages of a book at all, but walking a far-branching spiritual labyrinth. In this labyrinth, at every turn, ever new experiences and insights await us. This guide not only explains but helps us experience for ourselves.
Whoever seeks himself and his spiritual peace is in the right place. Whoever seeks practical wisdom for living and far-reaching horizons is in the right place. Whoever seeks within himself the way that leads to others is in the right place, and whoever seeks the lasting rather than the passing is in the right place too. To them this guide will be of use. For whoever digs deep finds water…
‘Many set out, but few arrive. We were not born to be lost, but to find the way home!’
‘Happiness is not a goal but a consequence. Seek that whose consequence is happiness.’
‘If you lack strength, practise self-discipline, and with it you can gain the powers you wish for. The remedy for a lack of knowledge is meditation, that is, not mere intellectual effort but a connection to the highest field of consciousness, from which even supernatural knowledge may be drawn. And if it is love that one lacks, then the method recommended is devout worship, in which a man surrenders with his hands raised and entrusts his fate to the heavens.’
‘What you struggle for is a real achievement.’
‘The storm moves on, and on the shore the playing of the sea pipes remains. However strong the swell that strikes the pipes, they give out only pleasant sounds. The waves of life test you too, now more gently, now with a tempest. What sounds do you give out?’
‘Do good. If even the tiniest bit of knowledge has lodged in you, you are no longer free, you must act rightly.’