The teaching of the Masters is:

"If you want God, shun ruthlessly all powers, all occult phenomena, as poison. If you want God, do not want anything else but God. For if you have God, you have everything."

Take it from me: If you have God, you have everything.

-Swami Chidananda.

Never turn to a master for security for that is one thing he will never give you. He throws you upon the utter insecurity of life because those who have nothing else find God.

~ Paramhansa Nithyananda

Man is God in disguise who puts on a garb in fun, but quickly forgets his true identity. Desire drags him down. Discrimination lifts him up. God became man. Man will become God again.

~ Swami Sivananda

When an evil thought harasses the mind, the best method of conquering it is by ignoring it. How can we ignore an evil thought? By forgetting it. How can we forget? By not indulging in it again, and also by not brooding over it. How can we prevent the mind from indulging in it again or brooding over it? By thinking of something very interesting, something sublime and inspiring.

Ignoring, Forgetting, Thinking, of something inspiring, - these three constitute the great Sadhana for establishing mastery over evil thoughts.

~Swami Sivananda

Siva said: ‘Man is maintained as an individual through the force of Vasanas which keep the Prana in motion. Vasanas agitate Prana! And Prana maintains the body with its senses. These Vasanas are stored up in the mind from time immemorial. The grossest form of Prana is the breath. Subtler is the elemental Prana. Still more subtle is the Cosmic Prana which is termed Hiranyagarbha. It is from this Cosmic Prana that everything has emanated. ‘Now you have understood the intimate connection between Prana and the mind (Vasanas). One depends for its function on the other.

Therefore, if you learn to control Prana, you can control the mind, through Pranayama.

When you still the Prana and when it ceases to oscillate, Samadhi supervenes. All Vasanas are fried in toto: you achieve Moksha. ‘The Upanishads speak highly about Prana whose subtlest form is Hiranyagarbha. By worshipping Prana as Brahman, they say, you can live a full life of a hundred years. You can do a lot of selfless service and practise much Sadhana if you have thus a long life. The Isavasya Upanishad also exhorts us to live the full span of a hundred years, doing the enjoyed works. OM.’

~Swami Sivananda, 26th June, 1949

~Inspiring Talks of Gurudev Sivananda, Chronicler: Swami Venkatesananda

‘I think soldiers are eminently suited for obtaining Atma-Sakshatkara. The moment they enroll in the Army, they set aside their very life as a mere nothing, and place DUTY as their idea. They are ever-ready to give up their lives. Who will do that? None of these big officers.’ ‘They have courage—one of the foremost qualities a Sadhaka should possess. Lord Krishna, too, has placed this Abhayam first in His list of Daivi Sampath. What can a weakling achieve?

One might pose to be a big Sadhaka: he might repeat ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’ all the twenty-four hours. But, at night, if a rat runs near his bed, he will shiver with fright! What Atma-Sakshatkara will he get?’

Swami Sivananda

~Inspiring Talks of Gurudev Sivananda, Chronicler: Swami Venkatesananda