These excerpts are from Swami Turiyananda’s Letters & Talks.
Only the One exists, nothing else. We see Him as men, animals, birds, insects, plants etc. If we only think correctly, we shall find that there is no such differentiation in Him. How we imagine an ego and slave for its gratification! Each has his own world which accompanies him beyond death. It is enjoyment and the desire for it that obstruct true knowledge; freed from them we can have knowledge this moment. Are we no knowledge itself? p.283-4, Spiritual Talks, Swami Turiyananda’s words on 2 Feb, 1921.There is nothing wrong in doing work; otherwise how can one have the purification of the mind? It is when one works that one is tested: How much craving for the result of action does one have? How desireless is the mind? How much selfishness has gone and how much still remains? All this can be known only through the performance of work. When divine love dawns in the heart, one no longer considers work as mere work – it turns into worship. p.36, Spiritual Treasures, Letters of Swami Turiyananda, Swami Turiyananda’s letter to Swami Visuddhananda from Gadamukteshwar, Meerut, U.P on 4 Feb, 1908 All other things may be obtained in the world, but devotion to God is extremely rare. And without devotion, all possessions in life become worthless and serve no real purpose. Everyone knows this fact and understands it. Devotion to God makes life sweet and joyful, otherwise life is merely a burden. p.140, Spiritual Treasures, Letters of Swami Turiyananda, Swami Turiyananda’s letter from Almora on 10 Feb, 1916. The best way to forget the past is not to think of those events again. Better think of Mother if you are to think anything. That way by her grace one may become lost in her thought entirely. 30 p.259, Spiritual Treasures, Letter of Swami Turiyananda from Belur Math on 2 April, 1917.