An extract from The Yoga of the Upanishads
by Hari Prasad Shastri

The time has come when we should communicate with our eternal spiritual home, the time, the remembrance of which, in the form of a deep-seated dissatisfaction, haunts us in all our enterprises and under-takings. The apex of human life is conscious communication with that eternal home, which is just beyond the empirical being or mind of man. There is no other way to peace; there is no other way to unalloyed joy; there is no other way to serve living beings.

Those who make occasional excursions into that great realm, the realm of light and bliss, their infinite home, come back refreshed and are able to face the problems and battles of life with composure and success. They can see the things of the world better. They can interpret the experiences of daily life, whether entailing suffering or joy, in a wise and proper way. They are truly human who make these excursions at least three times a day. Moslems do it five times a day, and there are many others who have this excursion into the infinite within all the time. This is real life.

The one word which expresses these excursions into the Infinite is called Love of God, bhakti, and this word is more expressive than any other word. Let us every day put aside the shoes of our profit and loss, of our friendships, enmities and neutralities. Let us shake off the dust from our feet of all attachment, all friendship with temporary objects, and then create a silence within, and through yogic means pass through the narrow and straight way, the way which is within, into the region of light. A joyous welcome awaits the soul who dares to penetrate from the region of gloom into the region of light. Let them be serious; let them love light; let them show detachment from the region of gloom. He who awaits us in that infinite region in our mind is our loving father, the creator of heaven and earth, and embodiment of knowledge and peace.

Let us learn how to live with our whole being. We are living at present about one-tenth of our life, as long as we live mainly for earthly pleasures. We live in preservation of our material interests and our physical body. We are unaware of the great treasures of our mind and much less of the spiritual realm. When man learns to live entirely, he will be happy, he will be wise, and he will contribute to the happiness of all...