“That is the difference between a yogi and a bhogi. Bhogi, the bogus yogi, he is thinking how I will enjoy by my yoga process, and the actual yogi, he is thinking how the Supreme Lord will enjoy by this yoga process. He has transferred the account of sense gratification to the Lord, and He uses these senses, which are also the property of the Lord, in the service of the Lord’s senses.

“Therefore he’s actually one with God, because his senses are dovetailed in the will of the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; he is one in will with God. Not that he loses his individuality; that’s bogus, that after we get rid of false ego we lose all individuality and we merge and become God — that’s not true, that’s a concoction in the minds of the rascals.”

Srimad-Bhagavatam Class 1.13.16 – Portland, Oregon — 1973

“Brilliant and gorgeous day, bright sun, breeze making all the leaves and high brown grasses shine. Singing of the wind in the cedars. Exultant day in which even a puddle in the pig lot shines like precious silver.

“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself and, if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself. For it is the unaccepted self that stands in my way and will continue to do so as long as it is not accepted.

“When it has been accepted–it is my own stepping stone to what is above me. Because this is the way man has been made by God. Original sin was the effort to surpass oneself by being “like God”–i.e. unlike oneself. But our God-likeness begins at home. We must first become like ourselves and stop living ‘beside ourselves.’ “

Thomas Merton. A Search for Solitude. Edited by Lawrence S. Cunningham (San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 1996): 220-221