Features for Self-Culture

Swami Sivananda Saraswati

1. Culture is the blossoming of the spiritual Consciousness.
2. Culture is that which is related to the Good, which springs from the good and also promotes the good.
3. Goodness of being and doing constitutes the rock bottom of one’s life.
4. The gospel of life is a gospel of non-attachment, of the immortality of the soul, of the ultimate liberation of the soul.
5. Truth is the basic law of life. Truth is a means and the goal ultimate.
6. Truth is justice, fair play and adherence to the fundamental laws of ethics of right conduct.
7. Truth is the law of life; falsehood is the law of death.
8. Practice of truth is the greatest penance.
9. Truth is the law of unselfish love for the individual and the world alike.
10. Truth and love do not clash with each other.
11. Love is the greatest healing power in the world.
12. Love is the law of life.
13. Love can hope where reason would despair.
14. Love thinks of no evil, asks nothing for itself in return, imputes no motive and sees only the bright side.
15. Love is selfless service, mercy, compassion, fellowship, helpfulness, understanding, tolerance and goodwill.
16. Self-sacrifice, charity and asceticism are the very bases of well being.
17. The foundation of yoga is self-control.
18. Aspire. Sit alone. Meditate. Be vigilant.
19. Inertia is your worst enemy.
20. Intolerance is the bane of religion.
21. Unselfishness and inward peace are the distinct features of self-culture.