Within there is the lion—the eternally pure, illumined and ever-free Atman;

and directly one realizes It through meditation and concentration, this world of Maya vanishes.

 It is equally present in all, and the more one practices, the quicker does the Kundalini awaken in one. When this power reaches the head, one’s vision is unobstructed—one realizes the Atman.

*          *          *          *

This truth about the soul is first to be heard. If you have heard it, think about it.

 Once you have done that, meditate upon it. No more vain arguments! Satisfy yourself once

 that you are the infinite spirit. If that is true, it must be nonsense that you are the body. You are the Self,  and that must be realized. Spirit must see itself as spirit. Now the spirit is seeing itself as the body.  That must stop. The moment you begin to realize that, you are released.

 *          *          *          *

 The Background, the Reality, of everyone, is That same Eternal, Ever Blessed, Ever Pure,

 and Ever Perfect One. It is the Atman, the Soul, in the saint and the sinner, in the happy and the miserable,  in the beautiful and the ugly, in men and in animals; it is the same throughout. It is the Shining One.

 *          *          *          *

After long searches here and there, in temples and churches, in earths and in heavens,

 at last you come back, completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul, and find that He, for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds,  is nearest of the near, is your own Self, the reality of your life, body and soul.

~ Swami Vivekananda~