Swami Rama
Swami Rama Quotes about Truth
I know this will disappoint you, but it is the truth: no one outside you can give you salvation. Don’t trust or depend on anyone to do that. The truth is, we have to enlighten ourselves. You have to light your own lamp; nobody else will give you salvation. The simple method to enlightenment is to first know yourself. Learn to work with yourself; don’t give up in that. Give up on anything else, but don’t give up that goal.
Truth is that divine force that dwells in every individual’s heart. It is the all-pervading, eternal reality, uniting all individuals, and finally, linking all of existence in one divine awareness. That divine force is called God.
Once we are determined to search for the truth through purified thoughts, speech, and actions, we are certain to find the way and reach the goal. Truth itself becomes our guide, and without making a mistake we will find ourselves on the right path.
If you prepare yourself to know the higher knowledge, then you will deserve. To deserve means to increase your capacity. You want to put the entire ocean in a bucket. The ocean is there. You can have it, but you do not have the capacity. When you deserve, you will have the capacity. The Lord, the reality, the truth, is always within you. You simply have to become aware. You can make sincere efforts to work with yourself.
It is impossible to understand what exists through reasoning or intellectual debates. Absolute truth cannot be scientifically proven because it cannot be observed, verified, or demonstrated through sensory perceptions. (...) This is why scientists cannot come to any objective conclusion about the immortality of the soul and the afterlife, and in any case, nothing could convince them. (...) The objective world is only half of the universe. What we perceive through our senses is not the world in its entirety. The other half, which includes the mind, thoughts, and emotions, cannot be explained by sensory perceptions of external objects. (...) The soul has not been created. It is essentially consciousness and is perfect. After the dissolution of the gross body, everything remains latent. The soul survives.
Belief in God, and experiencing the presence of God at every moment, are two different things. Before the actual direct experience of the truth, one may believe in the existence of God, but that belief remains imperfect.