The essence of the offering is that it be analogous to the sin, and that a man offer to God his desires and passions, for this is more acceptable than all.
Quotations
Scriptures
You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? Make haste to get on the other side, Gautama; be careful all the while!
Devotion to God’s Name is my lamp; In this lamp is poured the oil of suffering. The light of realisation burns away this oil…Vast loads of firewood are reduced to ashes by a tiny spark of fire.
Not knowing the consequence of good and evil karmas, he is afflicted and hurt. Nevertheless, he, due to his egotism, piles up karmas and undergoes births and deaths again and again.
Learning is the greater personality of man; it is his hidden and safely deposited wealth; it is the teacher of teachers; it is a kinsman. Learning promotes an indescribable happiness at all times.
Those who are ignorant of the supreme purpose of life will never be able to attain nirvana (liberation) in spite of their observance of the vratas (vows) and niyamas (rules) of religious conduct and practice of shila (celibacy) and tapas (penance).
The mode of living which is founded upon a total harmlessness towards all creatures upon a minimum of such harm is the highest morality.
Without faith there is no knowledge, without knowledge there is no virtuous conduct, without virtues there is no deliverance, and without deliverance there is no perfection.
This is peace, this is excellent, namely the calm of all impulses, the casting out of all “basis”, the extinction of craving, dispassion, stopping-nirvana.
Perceiving her son endowed with the characteristics of Vishnu, Devaki prayed: You are the Illuminator of all psycho-physical organisms, the indefinable Reality, which the Vedas declare as the unmanifest cause… When the universe is dissolved by force of Time, the gross elements are ultimately merged in ahankara (their cause)…
