You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
Brihadaranyaka IV.4.5
Even if I can't commit to believing in a divine being, I am completely convinced of the ability of each of us to be divine on our own. That there is a greater consciousness waiting to be woken, and a great peace within us all.
Never in my sarcastic, wasteful, nihilistic youth did I ever imagine that that would be the case. It took me years and countless readings to appreciate the beauty of what is being said in these texts. Though the fact that I was always compelled to revisit them says something for itself.
This is another book that was recommended by a friend. Someone who knows my mind (and it's potential for embracing new ideas) startlingly well given how quickly the friendship formed, and then was stalled by distance.
Every time I re-read this, or even just flip through and visit favorite passages, makes me think of him and smile. That he saw something in me that could love this, and that has come true. Even if I can't always appreciate the sentiment of what is being said, there is still a grace in the rhythm of the words, and for that reason alone it could have become a constant favorite.
When all desires that surge in the heart
Are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal.
When all the knots that strangle the heart
Are loosened, the mortal becomes immortal.
This sums up the teaching of the scriptures.
Kartha II.3.14-15
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