A Guide to Spiritual Life - Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda
Swami Chetanananda
Readers of this book will feel that these teachings have come straight from the heart of Swami Brahmananda, the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna. The swami was a spiritual dynamo and he taught with authority.
I have been asked many times, Why do you laugh so much and make so many jokes? I become serious sometimes--when I have a stomachache! The Lord is all blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists. He is the goodness, the truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occasions to cry or weep. The further we are from Him, the more will long faces come. The more we know of Him, the more misery vanishes.
-Swami Vivekananda