Sayings of Adi Shankaracharya

1. There is no liberation for him who is deliberately attached to the body and such things, while there is no self-identification with such things as the body for a liberated man.
    
2. The tangle of words is a great forest which leads the mind off wandering about, so wise men should strive to get to know the truth about their own nature.
    
3. Ignorance is the root of this bondage to what is not one's true nature, a bondage which is called beginningless and endless. It gives rise to the long course of suffering - birth, death, sickness, old age, etc.
    
4. To be free from bondage the wise man must practise discrimination between self and non-self. By that alone he will become full of joy, recognising himself as Being, Consciousness and Bliss.
    
5. Stop thinking about anything which is not your true self, for that is degrading and productive of pain, and instead think about your true nature, which is bliss itself and productive of liberation.
    
6. Direct the mind resolutely towards God, restraining the senses in their various seats, and looking on the state of the body as a matter of indifference. Realise your oneness with God, remaining continually intent on identifying with its nature, and joyfully drink the bliss of God within, for what use is there in other, empty things?
    
7. The world which is full of attachments, aversions, etc., is like a dream. It appears to be real, as long as it continues but appears to be unreal when one is awake (i.e., when true wisdom dawns).
    
8. Even wise men cannot get rid of the sense of doership all of a sudden when it has grown strong, but those who are unwavering in so-called imageless samadhi can, whose desire for this has been developed over countless lives.
    
9. Free from the grasp of feeling oneself the doer, one achieves ones true nature which is, like the moon, pure, consummate, self-illuminating being and bliss.
    
10. "God is the Truth and the world is unreal." It is this realisation that is considered discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent.
     
11. One may have bathed in the holy Ganges or even in the Ganga Sagar; he may have performed many charities and observed many vows; yet unless one has glimpsed the Truth ( God), he will not gain release even after a hundred lives. (note: this is the warning of all the religions)