The greatest obstacle on the path of surrender is ahamkara (egoism) and mamakara (mineness or possessiveness). It is something that has been inhering to your personality since ages, sending its tentacles deeper and deeper with the experience of every succeeding life. It can be removed only by the twin detergents of discrimination and renunciation. Bhakti is the water to wash away this dirt of ages and the soap of Japam, Dhyanam and Yoga (repetition of God s name, meditation and communion) will help to remove it quicker and more effectively. The slow and the steady will surely win this race; walking is the safest method of travel, though it may be condemned as slow. Quicker means of travel mean disaster; the quicker the means, the greater the risk of disaster. You should eat only as much as you feel hunger, for, more will cause disorder. So proceed step by step in Sadhana (spiritual effort); making sure of one step before you take another. Do not slide back two paces when you go one pace forward. But even the first step will be unsteady, if you have no faith. So, cultivate faith. (SSS Vol.1)

Be eager and earnest to know more and more about the art of joyful living, happy unperturbed living. One can advance only step by step and there is the danger of slipping down two steps when you climb one. What matters is the determination to climb, the resistance with which the sliding tendency is met, the yearning to rise to progress, to conquer the lower impulses and instincts. If you have that, the hidden spring of power will surge up within you; the Grace of the Lord will smooth your path. Keep the ideal before you; march on. (SSS Vol.1)

Your heart should be like glass, with the spiritual light inside illuminating the world outside; the world outside reacting on the inner urges and making them lean towards service, sympathy and mutual help. Now, people read and study all kinds of unintelligible Vedantic texts and struggle with commentaries and notes and translations to grasp their sense. It is being poured down their throats; but the portion does not get down to soften the heart. It is not translated into practice. The truths of the Vedanta are put on for public exhibition, as in a drama, where appropriate dresses are worn on the stage but taken off when the actor moves off the stage. They do not adhere to them all the time to derive the Atmananda (Bliss of the Soul) which they can give.

It is chiefly a matter of careful well-timed regulated discipline; it cannot be got by spurts and skips; it has to be climbed step by step, each step being used as a foot-hold for the next. There is no systematic living according to any known principle, now; this is true of the student, the householder, the mistress or the master of the house. The virtues have to be cultivated in the home; each member sharing in the joy with the rest, each one seeking for opportunities for helping others. This attitude has to be stuck to, so that it may stay as character. How can a vessel kept with the mouth downwards get filled with water? It has to open up and receive the good impulses. You have to learn each lesson by systematic study; application and effort alone will give success. (SSS Vol.1)

Step by step, you reach the end of the road. One act followed by another leads to a good habit. Listening, listening, you get prodded into action. Resolve to act, to mix only in good company, to read only elevating books, to form the habit of remembering the Lord s name (Namasmarana) and, then ignorance will vanish automatically. The Divine Bliss that will well up within you by the contemplation of Ananda swarupa (bliss Personified) will drive out all grief, all worry. (SSS Vol.4)

Ponder over your Sthiti (present condition), gati (direction of movement), shakti (capabilities) and mati (inclinations), then enter upon the path of Sadhana step by step, so that you approach the goal faster every day, every hour every minute. (SSS Vol.5, p. 171)

Man has to achieve many objects during this life. The highest and the most valuable of these is winning the mercy and love of God. The love of God will add unto him the great wisdom he needs for attaining unshakeable Shanti or inner peace. Everyone should endeavour to have an understanding of the true nature of Godhead. Of course, man cannot at the beginning of his attempt, grasp the Unmanifest Absolute phenomenon. He has, at first, to impose a form and some attributes to bring it within reach. Then, step by step, he must try to enshrine it in himself, as the descent of Divine Energy (Shaktipata). The person engaged in the pursuit of success in this effort is not mere individual seeker entitled to pursue the goal. He has to cultivate the spirit of service (Seva) and be engaged in good deeds, which will earn him the gratitude of all people. Thus only can he accomplish the task of cleansing his consciousness (citta) and become a fit candidate for achieving spiritual victory. (V Vahini, p.50)

The ladder must be as tall as the height to which you want to climb, is it not? Your spiritual practice to curb the mind must be carried on step by step until Sakshatkaram (Realisation) is gained. The rice in the pot must be well boiled and become soft and sweet. Until that happens, the fire must burn. In the vessel of body , with the water, that is to say, the senses , boil the mind and make it soft. The fire is the Sadhana. Keep it burning bright; the jiva will at last become Deva. (SSS Vol.4)

Do not despair; practice it from now on, step by step; at least see everything as His; offer everything to Him; do everything, as for Him, leave everything to Him. Be an instrument; an instrument has no likes and dislikes; be just a tool; be an efficient tool. (SSS Vol.5)

This land is the Karmakshetra, the land where all activities are sublimated into sadhana (spiritual practice) and the goal of merging in the Absolute is ever held before the particular, individualised man. But, this land has started pursuing the mirage of sensory pleasure and worldly happiness, forgetting that only spiritual success can give peace. Though people discover soon that no one can be happy fully, by getting rich or becoming an expert in any science or master of any art, or building up a healthy physique, still, they seek happiness through these means alone. What has to be done is to develop detachment step by step, dwelling on God and fixing attention on His grace, power and wisdom. (SSS Vol.5)

It is only after you place a morsel on your tongue that you discover whether the salt in it is enough or whether it has not been salted at all. Pappu (dhal) requires uppu (salt); that is to say, the boiled dal must have salt in it for taste. So too, it is only when you have moved in the world and taken a share in its activities according to a moral code, you discover that without the salt of jnana, it does not taste well; take it with a sprinkling of the salt of jnana, the knowledge that you are not the body but the resident of the body, that you are but the witness of the everchanging panorama of Nature and you feel happy and peaceful. Slowly, step by step, confirm yourself in the thought of the Unity of the World in Brahman. Then, even without praying and pleading, everything worthwhile will be added unto you. (SSS Vol.5)

Clean your heart with detergents japa and tapa

Clean the heart with the detergents - japa and tapa (penance) - using the water prema. Detergent alone will not do; water too is essential. Carry on the duties of the position in which you are as if they are the dictates of God. Every act that you dedicate to Me reaches Me. Do not grieve that you are not able to come to Puttaparthi to have Darshan (audience). Offer Me Namaskaram (the homage of prostration) wherever you are; it reaches Me at the same time as it is offered.

Resort to the recitation of the Name when your mind is agitated by fear, anxiety or grief. To make a cup of coffee, it is not enough to have decoction in one cup and milk in another. You have to pour one into the other and mix well. Mix the decoction of Vairagya (sense-control, detachment) with the milk of Bhakti-Shraddha (devotion-steadfastness). And you get the drink that satisfies. Return to your homes with these words enshrined in your hearts, ruminate over them alone and in silence. Then it will be easy for you to put a few of these ideas into daily practice and ascend step by step the heights of spiritual achievement. (SSS Vol.10)

One may raise a question whether it is possible for everyone to realise the goal through the love of God. One may not achieve this instantaneously, but can do so. progressing step by step. By Bhajans and other forms of worship one may advance towards the goal of final emancipation. There is no meaning in saying that one is searching for God. It is God who is searching for a true devotee. This is as true today as it was in the past. God is neglected by people when He is easily attained. What is easily obtained at home is not relished so much as what you get outside, though it is not wholesome. (SSS Vol.27)

In the present context, people must try first to improve themselves and then the society and then their country. If the individual does not improve himself but tries to improve society, the attempt will be a failure. We must first try to set right our home. Then we must try to improve the village; afterward our district; next our province, and next the whole country. We must go step by step like this. But without knowing ourselves first, it will be meaningless attempting to improve society and the whole country. If we want to experience the “Sat-cit-ananda,” we will be able to do so only in society. It is madness to go to the forest and try to experience Sat-cit-ananda instead of improving our home and the society in which we are living. God is all-pervading; He is found in the hearts of all living beings. How can a heart that cannot love living fellow beings love God? People will be, on the one hand, praying to God and on the other, harming other people. This is not proper. (SSB 1972, p.133)

The four Purusharthas namely, dharma, artha, kama, and moksha are comparable to the steps of a ladder. Dharma is firmly planted on the ground, and if we ascend the ladder, step by step, we reach the highest rung, the goal of moksha. So we deem prakriti as dharma. And our destination is moksha or Purusha. Artha and kama are the intermediary stages between Purusha on the one hand and prakriti on the other. (SSB 1972, p.190-191)

First, give up all impure impulses and cultivate the pure ones. Afterwards, try step by step to give up even these and render the mind objectless, Nirvishaya. Shanti thus attained is effulgent, blissful and associated with Wisdom. It is indeed the experience of the Godhead, God Himself. (P.Vah, p.29)