(44) O now, when the Bardo of [taking] Rebirth upon me is dawning! One-pointedly holding fast to a single wish, [May I be able to] continue the course of good deeds through repeated efforts; May the womb-door be closed and the revulsion recollected: The hour hath come when energy and pure love are needed; [May I] cast off jealousy and meditate upon the Guru, the Father-Mother. ['O] procrastinating one, who thinketh not of the coming of death, Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life, Improvident art thou in dissipating thy great opportunity; Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now if thou returnest empty-handed [from this Since the Holy Dharma is known to be thy true need, Wilt thou not devote [thyself] to the Holy Dharma even now?' Thus say the Great Adepts in devotion. If the chosen teaching of the guru be not borne in mind, Wilt thou not [O shishya] be acting even as a traitor to thyself? It is of great importance that these Root Words be known.

(26) Nakiketas said: 'These things last till tomorrow, O Death, for they wear out this vigour of all the senses. Even the whole of life is short. Keep thou thy horses, keep dance and song for thyself.'

(6) Having well ascertained the object of the knowledge of the Vedânta, and having purified their nature by the Yoga of renunciation, all anchorites, enjoying the highest immortality, become free at the time of the great end (death) in the worlds of Brahmâ.

(14) 'When all desires that dwell in his heart cease, then the mortal becomes immortal, and obtains Brahman.'

(15) 'When all the ties of the heart are severed here on earth, then the mortal becomes immortal--here ends the teaching.'

(2) He who forms desires in his mind, is born again through his desires here and there. But to him whose desires are fulfilled and who is conscious of the true Self (within himself) all desires vanish, even here on earth.

(6) Among states of consciousness, that which is born of Contemplation is free from the seed of future sorrow.

(11) But those who practise penance and faith in the forest, tranquil, wise, and living on alms, depart free from passion through the sun to where that immortal Person dwells whose nature is imperishable.

(88) That is, turn thy heart away from temporal pleasure and voluptuousness, from fulness of eating and drinking, from the riches of this world, and think that today is the last day of the end of thy body; turn away from the wantonness of the world, and call earnestly to God, and yield or submit thyself to him.

(2) It may be objected that our will towards living and towards expressive activity is constant, and that each attainment of such expression is an increase in Happiness.

But in the first place, by this reckoning every to-morrow's well-being will be greater than to-day's, every later instalment successively larger that an earlier; at once time supplants moral excellence as the measure of felicity.

Then again the Gods to-day must be happier than of old: and their bliss, too, is not perfect, will never be perfect. Further, when the will attains what it was seeking, it attains something present: the quest is always for something to be actually present until a standing felicity is definitely achieved. The will to life which is will to Existence aims at something present, since Existence must be a stably present thing. Even when the act of the will is directed towards the future, and the furthest future, its object is an actually present having and being: there is no concern about what is passed or to come: the future state a man seeks is to be a now to him; he does not care about the forever: he asks that an actual present be actually present.

(12) Who does not hate any being, who is friendly and compassionate, who is free from attachment and egoism, who is equal-minded in sorrow and happiness, who is forgiving, who is always contented, steady in meditation, who is self-controlled and firm in conviction, who has surrendered his mind and intellect in Me, he (such a devotee) is dear to me.

(2) 'Children follow after outward pleasures, and fall into the snare of wide-spread death. Wise men only, knowing the nature of what is immortal, do not look for anything stable here among things unstable.'

(30) In the meanwhile the loving Reader is to attend to the sense and meaning of the spirit, and then, if he has but any hunger in him, he will not fail to get a little refreshing. Now observe,

(45) Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

(15) Free from pride and delusion, having conquered the evil of attachment, ever devoted to the Supreme Self, with desires completely stilled, liberated from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach that Immutable Goal.

(19) Now that which is lovable leads, to the contemplation of itself, each one who, from love of knowledge, applies himself entirely to contemplation.

(11) Therefore, to the abbots [or discipline -holders], to the doctors, and to those mystics who have failed in their vows, and to all the common people, this Thodol is indispensable. But those who have meditated upon the Great Perfection and the Great Symbol will recognize the Clear Light at the moment of death; and, obtaining the Dharma-Kdya, all of them will be such as not to need the reading of this Thodol. By recognizing the Clear Light at the moment of death, they also will recognize the visions of the Peaceful and the Wrathful during the Chonyid Bardo, and obtain the Sambhoga-Kaya; or, recognizing during the Sidpa Bardo, obtain the Nirmana-Kaya; and, taking birth on the higher planes, will, in the next rebirth, meet with this Doctrine, and then enjoy the continuity of karma.

(9) It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.

(29) “What is meant by not exhausting the mundane (state)? It means not discarding great benevolence; not abandoning great compassion; developing a profound mind set on the quest of all-knowledge (sarvajna or Buddha knowledge) without relaxing for even an instant; relentless teaching and converting living beings; constant practice of the four Bodhisattva winning methods; upholding the right Dharma even at the risk of one’s body and life; unwearied planting of all excellent roots; unceasing application of expedient devices (upaya) and dedication (parinamana); never-ending quest of the Dharma; unsparing preaching of it; diligent worship of all Buddhas; hence fearlessness when entering the stream of birth and death; absence of joy in honour and of sadness in disgrace; refraining from slighting non-practisers of the Dharma; respecting practisers of Dharma as if they were Buddhas; helping those suffering from klesa to develop the right thought; keeping away from (desire and) pleasure with no idea of prizing such a high conduct; no preference for one’s happiness but joy at that of others; regarding one’s experience in the state of samadhi as similar to that in a hell; considering one’s stay in samsara (i.e. state of birth and death) as similar to a stroll in a park; giving rise to the thought of being a good teacher of Dharma when meeting those seeking it; giving away all possessions to realize all-knowledge (sarvajna); giving rise to the thought of salvation when seeing those breaking the precepts; thinking of the (six) perfections (paramitas) as dear as one’s parents; thinking of the (thirty-seven) conditions contributory to enlightenment as if they were one’s helpful relatives; planting all excellent roots without any restrictions; gathering the glorious adornments of all pure lands to set up one’s own Buddha land; unrestricted bestowal of Dharma to win all the excellent physical marks (of the Buddha); wiping out all evils to purify one’s body, mouth and mind; developing undiminished bravery while transmigrating through samsara in countless aeons; untiring determination to listen to (an account of) the Buddha’s countless merits; using the sword of wisdom to destroy the bandit of klesa (temptation) to take living beings out of (the realm of the five) aggregates (skandhas) and (twelve) entrances (ayatana) so as to liberate them for ever; using firm devotion to destroy the army of demons; unceasing search for the thought-free wisdom of reality; content with few desires while not running away from the world in order to continue the Bodhisattva work of salvation; not infringing the rules of respect-inspiring deportment while entering the world )to deliver living beings); use of the transcendental power derived from wisdom to guide and lead all living beings; controlling (dharani) the thinking process in order never to forget the Dharma; being aware of the roots of all living beings in order to cut off their doubts and suspicions (about their underlying nature); use of the power of speech to preach the Dharma without impediment; perfecting the ten good (deeds) to win the blessings of men and devas (in order to be reborn among them to spread the Dharma); practicing the four infinite minds (kindness, pity, joy and indifference) to teach the Brahma heavens; rejoicing at being invited to expound and extol the Dharma in order to win the Buddha’s (skillful) method of preaching; realizing excellence of body, mouth and mind to win the Buddha’s respect-inspiring deportment; profound practice of good Dharma to make one’s deeds unsurpassed; practicing Mahayana to become a Bodhisattva monk; and developing a never-receding mind in order not to miss all excellent merits.

(3) O nobly-born, if thou dost not now recognize thine own thought-forms, whatever of meditation or of devotions thou mayst have performed while in the human world — if thou hast not met with this present teaching — the lights will daunt thee, the sounds will awe thee, and the rays will terrify thee. Shouldst thou not know this all-important key to the teachings — not being able to recognize the sounds, lights, and rays — thou wilt have to wander in the Sangsara.