The secret meaning of the Vedas is truth; of truth, self-control; of self-control, freedom from all limitations. This is the sum of all the scriptures.

Purity of conduct is the greatest purity. To think of God continuously, to worship Him, to chant His name and sing His praises – this is the best way of attaining the highest good.

The Mahabharata

Make me so pure and strong

Lord make me so pure and strong
That all creatures may look upon me
With friendship.
And may I also look upon all creatures
with friendship.

Yajur Veda

Truth is one; sages call it by various names

Truth is one; sages call it by various names.
There is one God, one absolute Truth, and one Existence.

People of different countries worship the one God under various names and in different forms.

Each of these names and forms is a face of the Infinite, and is one with the Infinite.

-Srimad Bhagavatam

Home of the spirit

Even as river springs from different sources,
yet mingle in the ocean,

So all the Vedas, all scriptures, all truth,
though of diverse origin, come home to Thee.

-Srimad Bhagavatam

May we be united in heart

May we be united in heart
May we be united in speech
May we be united in mind
May we be united in duties
As did the wise men of old

May we be united in prayer
May we be united in goal
May we be united in resolve
May we be united in understanding

May we be united in offering
May we be united in hearts
May we be united in thoughts
May there be perfect unity amongst us.

-Rig Veda

Study and teaching of the Vedas

Pleasant indeed are the study and teaching of the Vedas!
He who engages in these things attains to concentration of mind,
And is no longer a slave to his passions;
Devout, self-controlled, cultivated in spirit,
He rises to fame and is a blessing to mankind.

-Satapatha Brahmana

The Infinite

As rivers flow into the sea and in doing so lose name and form,
even so the wise man, freed from name and form, attains the Supreme Being,
the Self-luminous, the Infinite

-Mundaka Upanishad

May my speech be one

May my speech be one with my mind,
and may my mind be one with my speech.

O thou self-luminous Brahman,
remove the veil of ignorance from before me,
that I may behold thy light.
Do thou reveal to me the spirit of the scriptures.

May the truth of the scriptures be ever present to me.
May I seek day and night to realize what I learn from the sages.

May I speak the truth of Brahman.
May I speak the truth.
May it protect me.
May it protect my teacher.

Om.. peace –peace – peace

-Aitareya Upanishad

None beholds Him with eyes

None beholds Him with the eyes,
for He is without visible form.
Yet in the heart is He revealed
through self-control and meditation.
Those who know Him become immortal.

When all the senses are stilled,when the mind is at rest,
when the intellect wavers not-then is known, say the wise, the highest state.
The calm of the senses and the mind has been defined as Yoga.
He who attains it is freed from delusion.
-Katha Upanishad

The good and the pleasant

The good is one thing; the pleasant is another.
These two, differing in their ends, both prompt to action.
Blessed are they that choose the good; they that choose the pleasant miss the goal.

Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to men.
The wise, having examined both, distinguish the one from the other.
The wise prefer the good to the pleasant;
the foolish, driven by desires of the flesh,
prefer the pleasant to the good.

-Katha Upanishad

City of Brahman

Within the city of Brahman, which is the body, there is the heart,
and within the heart there is a little house.

This house has the shape of a lotus, and within it dwells that which
is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized.

What then is that which, dwelling within this little house, this lotus
of the heart, is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized?

As large as the universe outside, even so large
is the universe within the lotus of the heart.

Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, the moon,
the lightning, and all the stars.

What is in the macrocosm is in this microcosm.

All things that exist, all beings and all desires,
are in the city of Brahman;
what then becomes of them when old age approaches
and the body dissolves in death?

Though old age comes to the body,
the lotus of the heart does not grow old.
At death of the body, it does not die.

The lotus of the heart, where Brahman exists in all His glory –
that and not the body, is the true city of Brahman.

Brahman, dwelling therein, is untouched by any deed,
ageless, deathless, free from grief,
free from hunger and from thirst.
His desires are right desires,
and His desires are fulfilled.

As here on earth all the wealth that one earns is but transitory,
so likewise, transitory are the heavenly enjoyments
acquired by the performance of sacrifices.
Therefore, those who die without having realized the Self
and its right desires find no permanent happiness
in any world to which they go;
while those who have realized the Self and its right desires
find permanent happiness everywhere.

-Chandogya Upanishad

That which is good

Om
With our ears may we hear what is good.
With our eyes may we behold thy righteousness.
Tranquil in body, may we who worship thee find rest.
Om… Hail to the Supreme Self!

-Mundaka Upanishad

Sri Krishna to Uddhava
He indeed is rich who is rich in virtues

Calmness is a steady flow of the mind toward God.
Self-restraint is control of the organs of sense.
Patience is bearing the burden of life cheerfully.
Steadiness is overcoming the palate and the impulse of sex.

The highest charity is refraining from violence.
Austerity is the giving up of desire.
Valour is the conquest of one’s own self.
To know the truth is to see the oneness of the Self with God.

Truthfulness is true and agreeable speech
as exemplified by the sages
Purity is nonattachment to work.
Renunciation is overcoming the world.
Virtue is the treasure that men covet.
I, the Supreme Lord, am the sacrifice.

The greatest gift is the gift of knowledge.
The greatest strength is the control of prana.
Fortunate is he who meditates on My divine powers.
The highest profit is in devotion to Me.

Wisdom is removing false ideas of multiplicity
and realizing the unity of the Self.
Modesty is abhorrence of evil deeds.
Excellence of character arises from disregard of worldly considerations.
Happiness is the transcending of both pleasure and pain.
Misery is hankering after pleasures of sense.

Learned is he who discriminates between bondage and freedom.
Ignorant is he who identifies himself with the body.
The right path is that which leads to Me.
The wrong path is that which causes restlessness of the mind.

Heaven is the domination of sattva in the mind.
Hell is the predominance of tamas.
The teacher who has realised his oneness with Me is the true friend./pr>

He indeed is rich who is rich in virtues.
Poor is he who is discontented.
Mean is he who is not master of his senses.
Godly is he who is not attached to objects of sense.
Divine is he who has overcome both good and evil.

-Srimad Bhagavatam