Swami Satchidananda

The Highest Love, The Highest Realization

What is love? Unfortunately, the word “love” is very much misused. When we see our own Self in others and wish that they would experience the very same happiness, the same joy that we have toward ourselves, then you are experiencing true love. This kind of love is not...

Is There An Enlightenment Drug?

Timothy Leary was more or less the originator of the psychedelic drug movement. When he met me in the late 1960s, he asked if I’d like to try some LSD. So I asked him, “Since you think that your LSD can create yogis, why don’t you create some other drugs that can...

How Responsible Are You for Your Actions?

Those who are realized beings, who have become enlightened, always must act responsibly. But, their only responsibility is to allow things to happen to them because they realize they are instruments of the Divine. As such, they are no longer creating any new karma....

Self-Realization: The Expansion or Contraction of the Ego

The ego should either become nothing or everything. When it comes to the ego, I don’t believe in the proverb that says that something is better than nothing. You should either become nothing or become everything, but not something. Nothing is better than something. We...

What is the Purpose of Life?

Students often ask me questions like, “Why am I here on this earth?“ “What am I to do here?“ and “What is the purpose of life?“ The answer is that we are here to fulfill our part of the work in the great universal mission. There is one universal plan, a cosmic plan,...