Quotations from Swami Muktananda

[Chandra]

These quotations were provided by Mukunda Stiles

The inner heart of a true yogi
Cares not for pleasure of things of sense:
He is content with whatever comes.
Swami Muktananda. The Nectar of Chanting . Oakland: SYDA Foundation, 1975, "Sri Avadhuta Stotram," sutra 8, pg. 82.


The most important question raised in Vedantic philosophy is this: can you attain what you haven't attained, or do you attain what you already have? If you are going to get something which you didn't have before, what good is it? Because if you didn't have it before and you get it now, there is every possibility that you'll lose it some time . . . the truth is that we get what we already got.
Swami Muktananda. Getting Rid of What you Haven't Got. Quoted in Darshan - In the Company of the Saints. S. Fallsburg, NY: Oct. 1989, pg. 124.

Nothing that you do on your spiritual path ever goes to waste.
Baba Muktananda

To understand the importance of Yoga, one must be aware that there are two different kinds of knowledge. One is the indirect or theoretical knowledge that is obtained by listening to the Guru or studying the scriptures. This is called "paroksha Jnana." The other is the direct knowledge that arises from personal experience. This is "aparoksha Jnana" and it comes from sadhana or spiritual practices.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (IV/114) describes the significance of aparoksha Jnana in the same statement: As long as the prana does not enter the sushumna and reach the brahmarandhra in the sahasrar, as long as the Bindu does not become steady through the practice of kumbhaka, and as long as knowledge of the tattvas does not arise through the practice of meditation, talking about knowledge with words is nothing but hypocrisy and delusion.
Swami Muktananda, Understanding Siddha Yoga, Ganeshpuri, India: SYDA Foundation, 1980, pp. 2-3.