VII: 28

Chapter 7, Verse 28

"And there are those
Who do what is good
And miss the mark no more.
They act authentically,
Without attachment,
And worship me with all their heart."

Paramahansa Yogananda:

Advanced Yogis do not automatically come under the sway of delusion when they are reborn.  Having performed good actions in past lives, they have quelled the agitating effects of past Karma through self-discipline.  Thus the calm waters of their hearts are free from the ripples of likes and dislikes.

Men and women of good action, absent the misery-making attractions and repulsions to sense objects, find their hearts free from the pairs of opposites.  Wholeheartedly and without distraction, they worship God as the abode of all goodness.

Sri Eknath Easwaran:

There is a rare type of person who from birth instinctively forbears and forgives easily.  He or she is like a freestone peach.  Open them up and the seed of unskillful desire falls out easily.  The vast majority of us, though, are cling-peach types.  With cling-peaches, the seed seems glued to the fruit.  Not only does it not fall out easily, but you have to exert a lot of effort to pry all around it with a knife to get the seed out.

The knife that God gives us to perform this operation is double-edged with patience on one side and suffering on the other.  We have no choice but to use this knife as long as we cling to likes and dislikes.  It is up to us to let go.

We all know from experience how an eyelash in the eye can be so irritating that it becomes impossible to think of anything else.  This is how difficult people affect those around them.  For mystics, though, the lash in the eye is an opportunity to learns the skills in life that matter the most:  patience, forgiveness and freedom from likes and dislikes.  They will go and put an arm around someone who can be a thorn in the flesh and think with gratitude...

Without you, how could I have ever learned to be patient?

How could I have learned to forgive?

Eckhart Tolle:

Do you know people whose main function in life seems to be to make themselves and others miserable?  Forgive them, for they too are part of the awakening of humanity.  The role they play represents an intensification of the nightmare of egoic consciousness.  There is nothing personal in all of this.  It is not who they are.

Swami Shivananda:

By the performance of virtuous deeds, your heart gradually becomes undivided.  Sattva increases, while Rajas and Tamas are getting thinned out.  The mind becomes serene and calm.  The little, self-aggrandizing ego slowly dies.  You grow in Spirit.  The divine flame shines brighter and brighter.

Sri Aurobindo:

Growth in the Sattvic nature brings an increasing capacity for a high quietude, equality and transcendence.  This process of growing into Spirit completes the Yoga.  In the meantime, your devotion also grows, for you not only act out of a large spirit of equality, but as you do, you worship the Source out of which everything arises.

Equality and a unitive vision once gained, a supreme Bhakti, an all-embracing devotion to the Divine, becomes the whole and sole law of your life.  All other rules of conduct merge into that surrender.  You then become firm in this Bhakti and in the vow of self-consecration of all your works.

A friend:

It's important to remember that "there is nothing personal in all of this."  When we remember this, we do what we can without judgment.