"The devotee of God wants to eat sugar, and not become sugar. (All laugh.) Do you know how a lover of God feels? His attitude is: "O God, Thou art the Master, and I am Thy servant. Thou art the Mother, and I Thy child." Or again: 'Thou art my Father and Mother. Thou art the Whole, and I am a part.' He does not like to say, "I am Brahman." They yogi seeks to realize the Paramatman, the Supreme Soul. His ideal is the union of the embodied soul and the Supreme Soul. He withdraws his mind from sense objects and tries to concentrate on the Paramatman. Therefore, during the first stage of his spiritual discipline, he retires into solitude and with undivided attention practices meditation in a fixed posture. But the reality is one and the same; the difference is only in name. He who is Brahman is verily Atman, and again, He is the Bhagavan. He is Brahman to the followers of the path of knowledge, Paramatman to the yogis, and Bhagavan to the lovers of God." (Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna", 1882)
"Even in the world, the yogi who faithfully discharges his responsibilities, without personal motive or attachment, treads the sure path of enlightenment." (Mahavatar Babaj [in Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi", 1946])
"Few mortals know that the kingdom of God includes the kingdom of mundane fulfillments. […] The divine realm extends to the earthly; but the later, illusory in nature, does not contain the essence of Reality." (Mahavatar Babaj [in Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi", 1946])
"For the faults of the many, judge not the whole. Everything on earth is of mixed character, like a mingling of sand and sugar. Be like the wise ant which seizes only the sugar, and leaves the sand untouched." (Mahavatar Babaj [in Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi", 1946])
"When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi by the grace of the Spirit within himself finds fulfillment." (B. K. S. Iyengar, "Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga", 1966)
"God-realization is attained only by great effort on the part of the yogi and by divine grace." (Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest", 1975)
"Without watching ourselves we can't be aware of the tricks the mind plays. So a yogi should be alert all the time." (Baba Hari Dass, "Silence Speaks, from the chalkboard of Baba Hari Dass", 1977)
"A yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body. [...] Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. [...] It is something that we must build up. You have to create within yourself the experience of beauty, liberation, and infinity. This is health." (B K S Iyengar, "Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom", 2006
"A yogi should always maintain awareness on the subject of his Sadhana. Till now people have come into the lap of the Himalayas to do intense penance .Those who are following the Middle Path and staying in societies for carrying out mass welfare like you must do Dhyanasadhana (meditation practice) but apart from the practice of Dhyan, the next aspect which is of utmost importance is to clean the body and mind." (Mahavatar Babaji)
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