--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about…" description: "\"“ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t for many years. He could remember glimpsing one or two in the past, on the fringes of a fam..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/167/deepak-chopra-63_early-morning_asita-awoke-in-the-forest-thinking-about_991852.jpg" --- # ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t… ![“ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t for many years. He could remember glimpsing one or two in the past, on the fringes of a famine or a battle, wherever bodies were being harvested. He knew the misery they caused, but misery was no longer Asita’s concern. He had been a…” quote by Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/167/deepak-chopra-63_early-morning_asita-awoke-in-the-forest-thinking-about_991852.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/167/deepak-chopra-63_early-morning_asita-awoke-in-the-forest-thinking-about_991852.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/167/deepak-chopra-63_early-morning_asita-awoke-in-the-forest-thinking-about_991852.jpg) > ““ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t for many years. He could remember glimpsing one or two in the past, on the fringes of a famine or a battle, wherever bodies were being harvested. He knew the misery they caused, but misery was no longer Asita’s concern. He had been a forest hermit for fifty years. The affairs of the world had been kept far away, and he passed whole days in a hidden cave when he retreated even from the affairs of animals, much less those of men. Now Asita knelt by a stream and considered. He distinctly saw demons in his mind’s eye. They had first appeared in the dappled sunlight that fell on his eyelids at dawn. Asita slept on boughs strewn over the bare ground, and he liked the play of light and shadow across his eyes in the early morning. His imagination freely saw shapes that reminded him of the market village where he grew up. He could see hawking merchants, women balancing water jugs on their heads, camels and cara-vans—anything, really—on the screen of his closed eyes. But never demons, not before this morning. Asita walked into the nearly freezing mountain stream, his body naked except for a loincloth. As an ascetic, he did not wear clothes, not even the robes of a monastic order. Lately he had felt an impulse to travel very high, nearly in sight of the snowcapped peaks on the north-ern border of the Sakya kingdom. Which put him close to other lokas,worlds apart from Earth. Every mortal is confined to the Earth plane, but like the dense air of the jungle tapering gradually into the thin atmosphere of the mountains, the material world ta-pered off into subtler and subtler worlds. Devas had their own lokas, as did the gods and demons. Ancestors dwelt in a loka set apart for spirits in transition from one lifetime to the next.”” [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. An ascetic reflects on demons as mental projections, recognizing that worldly suffering is separate from inner peace, and contemplates transcending material reality. **In simple terms:** Inner peace comes from seeing beyond mental demons and material concerns. Key Takeaway Seek inner stillness beyond external turmoil. Themes spiritual growth mindfulness transcendence inner peace Mood contemplative peaceful Type philosophical poetic reflective When to use this quote - meditation retreat - mountain solitude - spiritual pilgrimage Key Concepts mental projections asceticism subtle realms detachment Questions to Reflect On - How do you confront personal "demons" in daily life? - What practices help you feel detached from material concerns? 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I am naked without them, with feelings I cannot fkn control… My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cory-tate/i-hide-behind-my-shades-so-that-you-cannot-see-my-soul-i-am-naked/) [Cory Tate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cory-tate/) > [When you feel my heat, look into my eyes; its where my demons hide. Dont get too close; its dark inside. Its where my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imagine-dragons/when-you-feel-my-heat-look-into-my-eyes-its-where-my-demons-hide-dont/) [Imagine Dragons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imagine-dragons/) > [I'd like to say we gave it a try. Maybe we just weren't right, but that's a lie, that's a lie. And we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariana-grande/i-d-like-to-say-we-gave-it-a-try-maybe-we-just-weren-t-right-but-that/) [Ariana Grande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariana-grande/) > [You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain; I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-bai/you-ask-me-why-i-dwell-in-the-green-mountain-i-smile-and-make-no/) [Li Bai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-bai/) > [“Richardson ran on a parallel course beside Adams Street, but despite their proximity, the two streets were worlds apart. Richardson, on its path west…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-berard/richardson-ran-on-a-parallel-course-beside-adams-street-but-despite/) [Adrienne Berard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-berard/) > [“Loretta was stuffing her belongings into her satchel when Hunter stepped into the lodge. He stood in the shadows a moment, watching her. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-anderson/loretta-was-stuffing-her-belongings-into-her-satchel-when-hunter/) [Catherine Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-anderson/) > [“We’re so close but worlds apart, she doesn’t understand my feelings. I want her to know how I feel, what I crave, what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angeliena-cifelli/we-re-so-close-but-worlds-apart-she-doesn-t-understand-my-feelings-i/) [Angeliena Cifelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angeliena-cifelli/) > [There may be little practical difference between a Ford Mondeo and a BMW three series, but in terms of perceptions of who you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-jacques/there-may-be-little-practical-difference-between-a-ford-mondeo-and-a/) [Martin Jacques](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-jacques/) ## More by Deepak Chopra > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“Molecules form and dissolve, returning to the primordial soup of atoms. But consciousness survives the death of the molecules on which it rides. What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/molecules-form-and-dissolve-returning-to-the-primordial-soup-of-atoms/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Unbounded awareness is the reservoir of possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/unbounded-awareness-is-the-reservoir-of-possibilities/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Spiritual awareness is not only one of the keys to the healing process. Spiritual awareness is the only way that healing can occur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/spiritual-awareness-is-not-only-one-of-the-keys-to-the-healing/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [All experiences are either positive for your brain or negative. If you maximize the positive ones, you are shaping the brain you want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/all-experiences-are-either-positive-for-your-brain-or-negative-if-you/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [There are only 2 responses to the world, fear or love. Your life depends on which one you choose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/there-are-only-2-responses-to-the-world-fear-or-love-your-life/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [If you take the the insults of your fellow human beings personally, you will be offended for the rest of your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/if-you-take-the-the-insults-of-your-fellow-human-beings-personally/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [A person desperately searching for love," Merlin said, "reminds me of a fish desperately searching for water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/a-person-desperately-searching-for-love-merlin-said-reminds-me-of-a/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Fighting your ego is a melodrama of the ego.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/fighting-your-ego-is-a-melodrama-of-the-ego/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [The same faint song is heard in everything: "Behold yourself".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/the-same-faint-song-is-heard-in-everything-behold-yourself/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“All creativity is based on quantum leaps and uncertainty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/all-creativity-is-based-on-quantum-leaps-and-uncertainty/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [The soul knows everything. Be who you are and your life will transform forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/the-soul-knows-everything-be-who-you-are-and-your-life-will-transform/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/the-willingness-to-reach-inside-every-part-of-yourself-opens-the-door/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Be willing to redefine yourself every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/be-willing-to-redefine-yourself-every-day/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [To have weakness is not to be flawed--it's to be complete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/to-have-weakness-is-not-to-be-flawed-it-s-to-be-complete/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) [Explore all 1,675 Deepak Chopra quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) ## More Early morning quotes > [“Men with names never truly die. It is only the nameless and faceless who vanish like smoke into the early morning air.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwidge-dandicat/men-with-names-never-truly-die-it-is-only-the-nameless-and-faceless/) [Edwidge Dandicat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwidge-dandicat/) > [Don't wake up your neighbors early in the morning with a shout of Good morning! They will treat like a curse,\* not a blessing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuel-plove/don-t-wake-up-your-neighbors-early-in-the-morning-with-a-shout-of/) [Emmanuel Plove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuel-plove/) > [“If it’s love, those tears are a sign of distress, not an act of defiance.        If it’s love, her bold fashion statement is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-macy-stafford/if-it-s-love-those-tears-are-a-sign-of-distress-not-an-act-of/) [Rachel Macy Stafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-macy-stafford/) > [It is early, early morning. It's that time when it's still dark but you know the day is coming. Blue is bleeding through black.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-zusak/it-is-early-early-morning-it-s-that-time-when-it-s-still-dark-but-you/) [Markus Zusak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-zusak/) > [I like to hit the gym early in the morning. I feel better throughout the day when I get in a workout first thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-jeter/i-like-to-hit-the-gym-early-in-the-morning-i-feel-better-throughout/) [Derek Jeter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-jeter/) > [I just want to stay by you day and night. The best feeling I get is when I see your face early morning and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-just-want-to-stay-by-you-day-and-night-the-best-feeling-i-get-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The shadows in the early morning don't tell much. The shadows rest at that time. So it's useless to gaze very early in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-castaneda/the-shadows-in-the-early-morning-don-t-tell-much-the-shadows-rest-at/) [Carlos Castaneda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-castaneda/) > [Will not the very moment of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome for me becuase it so thoroughly teaches me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/will-not-the-very-moment-of-great-disillusionment-with-my-brother-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [“Revising while you generate text is like drinking decaffeinated coffee in the early morning: noble idea, wrong time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-j-silvia/revising-while-you-generate-text-is-like-drinking-decaffeinated/) [Paul J. 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And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/imagine-a-multidimensiona-l-spider-s-web-in-the-early-morning-covered/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The early morning sunlight warms a patch of linoleum, and she lets her feet bathe in it while the kettle heats on the stove.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-m-smith/the-early-morning-sunlight-warms-a-patch-of-linoleum-and-she-lets-her/) [Alexis M. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-m-smith/) > [Friends and lover are a blessing from almighty God and a faithful friend/lover is worth more than gold. What can be a better time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leodonessiony/friends-and-lover-are-a-blessing-from-almighty-god-and-a-faithful/) [Leodonessiony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leodonessiony/) > [“My studio team and I approached the creation of this series with enthusiasm, wit, sincerity and sometimes more than a dash of humour. Is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/waswo-x-waswo-2/my-studio-team-and-i-approached-the-creation-of-this-series-with/) [Waswo X Waswo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/waswo-x-waswo-2/) [Browse all 495 Early morning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early-morning/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“ASITA AWOKE in the forest thinking about demons. He hadn’t for many years. He could remember glimpsing one or two in the past, on the fringes of a famine or a battle, wherever bodies were being harvested. He knew the misery they caused, but misery was no longer Asita’s concern. He had been a forest hermit for fifty years. The affairs of the world had been kept far away, and he passed whole days in a hidden cave when he retreated even from the affairs of animals, much less those of men. Now Asita knelt by a stream and considered. He distinctly saw demons in his mind’s eye. They had first appeared in the dappled sunlight that fell on his eyelids at dawn. Asita slept on boughs strewn over the bare ground, and he liked the play of light and shadow across his eyes in the early morning. His imagination freely saw shapes that reminded him of the market village where he grew up. He could see hawking merchants, women balancing water jugs on their heads, camels and cara-vans—anything, really—on the screen of his closed eyes. But never demons, not before this morning. Asita walked into the nearly freezing mountain stream, his body naked except for a loincloth. As an ascetic, he did not wear clothes, not even the robes of a monastic order. Lately he had felt an impulse to travel very high, nearly in sight of the snowcapped peaks on the north-ern border of the Sakya kingdom. Which put him close to other lokas,worlds apart from Earth. Every mortal is confined to the Earth plane, but like the dense air of the jungle tapering gradually into the thin atmosphere of the mountains, the material world ta-pered off into subtler and subtler worlds. Devas had their own lokas, as did the gods and demons. 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