Sayings of Saints Universal (One)

A selection of sayings translated by Hari Prasad Shastri, from the Hindi original compiled by his friend and fellow devotee, Hanuman Prasad Poddar (1892-1971). The original brings together 2,500 prose sayings or short teachings, under the title Sant Vānī—‘speech of the Santas’, a Santa being a person of any faith, country or tradition who is established in a life of truth, goodness, selfless service and inner communion with the invisible, all-pervading reality, realized as the essence of one’s own being and referred to in the text by such words as God, Hari, Rama, etc.

The sayings are presented anonymously with no ordering under themes or religions. They are part of the spiritual heritage of mankind, and in his introduction, H P Poddar tells us they are drawn from several sources, including Hindu, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, Parsi and others.

In these pages we reproduce part of Dr Shastri’s selection. Some of the sayings may seem to counsel a perfection beyond our reach; but their aim is to awaken a potentiality that already exists within us, and should be approached in the spirit of the Bhagavad Gita verse: ‘Even a little practice of this teaching brings immense benefit.’

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Let not the defects of the mind, its restlessness and attachment to objects, make you despair. Remember, by the power of worship all such defects are removed.