Tag: Quote

The happiness of the drop is to die in the river

Al Ghazali

Core Meanings & Themes

  • Surrender of the Ego: The “drop” represents the individual ego, isolated identity, or the separate “self.” Holding on to a distinct, separate identity creates limitation and suffering.
  • Returning to the Source: When the drop dissolves into the river (or ocean), it does not truly perish; instead, it loses its fragile separation and merges into a vast, eternal expanse.
  • True Fulfillment: Real peace and joy come not from guarding or inflating the individual ego, but from letting go and allowing oneself to flow into something infinitely greater (the Universe, God, or ultimate reality)

The Upward Pull vs the Downward Pull Within Us

There is an upward pull in all of us and there is also a downward pull. And I know that the religions and the societies and so on try to tell you what to do. But you don’t need to be told if you just try to listen and watch your own nature. When you try to hurt somebody, you feel hurt. When you’re jealous or selfish, you feel hurt. When you don’t live according to your own highest expectations of yourself, you’re the one who suffers.

Swami Kriyananda

Srimad Bhagavatham 1.13.47

TEXT 47

ahastāni sahastānām
apadāni catuṣ-padām
phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ
jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

SYNONYMS
ahastāni — those who are devoid of hands;
sa-hastānām — of those who are endowed with hands;
apadāni — those who are devoid of legs;
catuḥ-padām — of those who have four legs;
phalgūni — those who are weak;
tatra — there;
mahatām — of the powerful;
jīvaḥ — the living being;
jīvasya — of the living being;
jīvanam — subsistence.

TRANSLATION

Those without hands, for those with hands;
Those without legs, for four-legged;
The weak, for the strong;
One life form is food for another.