Swami Govindanath Bharati – Shivapuri Baba (1826-1963)

 ”The highest purpose is served by the simple performance of our duties. That is Dharma. This is no easy matter. The duties cannot be recognized and performed properly, unless there is a keen intelligence. Then it is necessary to have a strong mind in order to meditate without wavering upon God. In order to acquire a strong mind there must be moral discipline. Therefore, all three are necessary: duty, discipline and devotion.”

“God has sent Wisdom with you. Wisdom is your friend. Wisdom plays with Desire and by their unlawful contact they gave birth to Mind. This Mind marries a girl named Chapalata or Restlessness and by this he got the five senses. This Mind has got another wife too whose name is Hope and by this second wife he got two sons namely Anger and Greed. Thus a family is set up and they make a home to live in this body. This unlawful playing of Wisdom and Desire is Avidya or Ignorance. And in course of time, as Mind experiences fears and anxieties through the five senses, he becomes much distracted or disturbed, and then turns back to his mother Wisdom and cries for help. Wisdom then comes and consults YOU, meaning Soul, who then tells her to renounce her family and to remain in communion with YOU or Soul. This communion with Soul, is what we call Realization or Bodha.”

Excerpt from; Long Pilgrimage, The life and teaching of The Shivapuri Baba by John G. Bennett

Shivapuri Baba, also known as Swami Govindanath Bharati, was a Hindu saint who reportedly lived from 1826 to 1963, making him 137 years old at the time of his death. He was one of the first spiritual teachers to travel to the West, where he met various European heads of state, including 18 visits to Queen Victoria, as well as U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt,  before returning to India in 1915.