Just as a thirsty man in the desert under the hot sun values water more than a heap of pearls and diamonds placed before him, so also, a true lover of God wants him alone, and considers every other object as a trifle before him.

The real lover desires no name, fame or money, but his beloved. He who does not possess such an attribute is a man full of self-interest.

Meher Baba
25 April 1924, Meherabad, RD p318

To think, “I am a sinner, oh Father, save me,” is a defective approach! You should say, “I am your son, I am your daughter, oh Father, take me on your lap, I am your child.” This will be the approach. You should forget what you do not want.

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no fear.

Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no grief.

How can the multiplicity of life
Delude the one who sees its unity?

– Isha Upanishad

Love is the divine gift given by the Sadgurus. Even if the whole world wants to, it can never bestow such a gift. And once it is granted, not even all of humanity can snatch it away, no matter how hard it strives to do so.

Love is the divine gift. Once you know how to love, there is no trouble. Once you have adapted yourselves to the way, your hardships disappear.

Meher Baba
11 October 1927,
Toka,
to the boys of the Prem Ashram,

A tavern-keeper first receives cash from a customer before handing him the wine glass. He checks the coin to ascertain whether it is genuine or counterfeit. Similarly, the Sadguru also demands his price – not in money, but in love, before giving you the gift of love. You can deceive a wine-seller by passing him counterfeit coins, but never a Sadguru. He has no use for false coins – the show of love…

But love entails pain – the pain of the pangs and thirst of separation while constantly burning. This gradually minimises the strength of the ego, and eventually destroys it, because love never thinks of or cares for itself. It just burns its victim in love for its beloved. This burning gradually diminishes the ego, and thus it is eventually totally annihilated. In this fire, love makes its victim realise the self.

Meher Baba
30 March 1930,
Nasik,

People pray to me to solve their difficulties, saying that they love me. But there is a vast difference between love and prayer. In Persian to pray means to beg, to want, to desire something, even the blessings of God.

But when a person really loves, he gives himself over to his beloved completely. This is true love. In that there is no begging, no wanting, and no room for desires. Only the longing to unite with the beloved remains.

Love means the renunciation of the self. Prayer means selfishness, no matter how high the prayer may be. So there is a vast difference between when one prays and when one loves.

Meher Baba
July 1931,
Karachi,

Each one should ask himself the question: spiritually realized persons were also persons like me; they were also embodied beings. When they could attain perfection, can I also not succeed if I follow their method? What profits me if I spend time in discovering the faults and weakness of others? Therefore the first Sadhana (spiritual endeavour) is to search for the faults and weaknesses within yourself and strive to correct them and become perfect.

– Sai Baba

Liberated from suffering and search I have tied myself to the skirt of God.
If I fly, I look at the summits I ascend.
If I go around in circle I observe the axis on which I revolve.
If I am dragged by a burden, I know where I go.
For I am the moon, and the sun is my guide.

– Rumi

All men to me are god-like Gods!
My eyes no longer see
vice or fault.

Life on this suffering earth
is now endless delight;
the heart at rest, full,
overflowing.

In the mirror, the face and its reflection —
they watch each other;
different, but one.

And, when the stream pours into the ocean…
no more stream!

Sant Tukaram

Argue no more about it,
Man’s crude and foolish mind, and that alone,
Hath taught this tale of many gods:

It is a lie:

For God is One,
One only:

And unto Him,
The One,
My soul shall sing her praise.

Sant Tukaram

Can water drink itself?
Can a tree taste its own fruit?
The worshiper of God must
remain distinct from Him.

Only thus will he come to
know God’s joyful love.
But if he were to say that God
and he are one,
that joy and love would
vanish instantly.

Sant Tukaram
_________________________________
This is part of the eternal ‘Dwait’ and ‘Adwait’ Debate

Mind is the chief factor governing the body. One
should always avoid suggesting to the mind thoughts
of human limitations such as sickness, old age, and
death. Rather, the mind should constantly be told
this truth: “I am the infinite, which has become the
body. The body, as a manifestation of Spirit, is the
ever-youthful Spirit.”

–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons

We’re sorry!
We have no manners!
But …
We’re your children and you’re our Mom!

Send us food on golden platters.
Give us love
amidst life’s storms.

If our faith is
less-than-perfect,
do not notice;
We are yours!

Errant children,
dressed in tatters,
Tuka says,
You can’t ignore.

Sant Tukaram

The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Would you become a pilgrim on the road of love?
The first condition is that you make yourself humble as dust and ashes”

– Rumi

Blame does not disturb him, Nor does praise delight him.
He neither rejoices in life, Nor fears death. His mind is calm.
Never seeking the solitude of the forest, Nor running from the crowd.
Always and everywhere, He is one and the same.

– Ashtavakra Gita 18:99-100

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

– Reinhold Niebuhr

Grief, clouds thought and reason, and, harms both the soul and the body. So you should repel it, or reduce it, as much as possible. This can be done in two ways: you can strive to prevent grief from occurring; and you can banish grief when it does occur.

– Razi, “Kitab al-Muluki”

Freedom

The soul is bound to the body by a chain of desires, temptations, troubles and worries, and it is trying to free itself. If you keep tugging at that chain which is holding you to mortal consciousness, some day an invisible Divine Hand will intervene and snap it apart, and you will be free.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

Grief, clouds thought and reason, and, harms both the soul and the body. So you should repel it, or reduce it, as much as possible. This can be done in two ways: you can strive to prevent grief from occurring; and you can banish grief when it does occur.

– Razi, “Kitab al-Muluki”

Freedom

The soul is bound to the body by a chain of desires, temptations, troubles and worries, and it is trying to free itself. If you keep tugging at that chain which is holding you to mortal consciousness, some day an invisible Divine Hand will intervene and snap it apart, and you will be free.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

You are what your deep, driving desire is
As your desire is, so is your will
As your will is, so is your deed
As your deed is, so is your destiny

Kaama maya evayam purusha iti
Sa Yatha kaamo bhavati tat kratur bhavati
Yat kratur bhavati tat karma kurute
Yat karma kurte tad abhisam padyate

काममया एवायं पुरुष इति
सा यथाकामो भवति तत्क्रतुर भवति
यात्क्रतुर भवति तत कर्म कुरुते
यत कर्म कुरुते तद अभिसम पद्यते

-B R I H A D A R A N Y A K A UPANISHAD (4, 4.5)

Freedom

To be able to do whatever one pleases is not the
real meaning of freedom of action. You should under-
stand to what degree you are free, and how much
you are influenced by bad habits. To be good just
because it has become a habit to be good is not free-
dom, either. To be tempted is not sinfulness, but to be
able to resist and overcome temptation is greatness;
this is freedom, for you are acting by free will and
free choice only.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons

The way to freedom is through service to others.
The way to happiness is through meditation and being
in tune with God…. Break the barriers of your ego;
shed selfishness; free yourself from the consciousness
of the body; forget yourself; do away with this prison
house of incarnations; melt your heart in all, be one
with all creation.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons




If you always meditate on sin, “I am a sinner, I am a sinner,” actually you will become a sinner. The psychological approach is, you should forget it – even if you are a sinner, you should think, “I am the son of a Great Father, I am the daughter of a Great Father.” Thus you are meditating on the Great Father, and a day is sure to come when you will become one with your Great Father.

Shri Shri Anandamurti




Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred

– Thich Nhat Hanh

When we are ignorant we live in His prison;
when we become prudent we live in His palace;
when we fall asleep we become intoxicated;
when we are awakened we are in His hands.

– Rumi

In the sight of Love, fear isn’t even as great as a single hair:
in the law of Love, everything is offered as a sacrifice.

– Rumi

Just as the purpose of eating is to satisfy hunger, not greed, so the sex instinct is designed for the propagation of the species according to natural law, never for the kindling of insatiable longings.Destroy wrong desires now; otherwise they will follow you after the astral body is torn from its physical casing. Even when the flesh is weak, the mind should be constantly resistant. If temptation assails you with cruel force, overcome it by impersonal analysis and indomitable will. Every natural passion can be mastered. Conserve your powers. Be like the capacious ocean, absorbing within all the tributary rivers of the senses. Small yearnings are openings in the reservoir of your inner peace, permitting healing waters to be wasted in the desert soil of materialism. The forceful activating impulse of wrong desire is the greatest enemy to the happiness of man. Roam in the world as a lion of self-control; see that the frogs of weakness don’t kick you around.

Yukteshwar Giri
(Yesterday was Paramhansa Yogananda’s Guru, Yukteshwar Giri’s Birthday)

Mother’s Day

In India we like to speak of God as Mother Divine,
because a true mother is more tender and forgiving
than a father. The mother is an expression of the
unconditional love of God. Mothers were created by
God to show us that He loves us with or without
cause. Every woman is to me a representative of the
Mother. I see the Cosmic Mother in all. That which I
find most admirable in woman is her mother love.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

The man who is praised by others is regarded as worthy though he may be really void of all merit. But the man who sings his own praises becomes disgraced though he should be Indra, the possessor of all excellencies.

CHANAKYA, Vridda-Chanakya

It is better to have only one son endowed with good qualities than a hundred devoid of them. For the moon though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, do not.

CHANAKYA, Vridda-Chanakya

Your good habits help you in ordinary and familiar
situations but may not suffice to guide you when a new
problem arises. Then discrimination is necessary. Man
is not an automaton, and therefore cannot always live
wisely by simply following set rules and rigid moral
precepts. In the great variety of daily problems and
events, we find scope for the development of good
judgment.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Sayings of Yogananda”




Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth… This is the real message of love

– Thich Nhat Hanh

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change

– Thich Nhat Hanh




Compassion

Every day, try to help uplift, as you would help
yourself or your family, whoever in your environment
may be physically, mentally, or spiritually sick, then
no matter what your part is on the stage of life, you
will know that you have been playing it rightly,
directed by the Stage Manager of all destinies.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons

There is no shortage of those who preach and teach.
kathnaa kathee na aavai tot.

Millions upon millions offer millions of sermons and stories.
kath kath kathee kotee kot kot.

The Great Giver keeps on giving, while those who receive grow weary of receiving.
daydaa day laiday thak paahi.

Throughout the ages, consumers consume.
jugaa jugantar khaahee khaahi.

The Commander, by His Command, leads us to walk on the Path.
hukmee hukam chalaa-ay raahu.

O Nanak, He blossoms forth, Carefree and Untroubled. ||3||
naanak vigsai vayparvaahu. ||3||

– The Holy Granth Sahib

Dear Readers, I always try to send you short quotes so that it does not take you long to read it and you can make the Spiritual diary your daily habit without disturbing your busy schedule. This time on an experimental basis I am sending you a longer message, because it was difficult to truncate it. Let me know your reactions.
_________________________________________________________

The spiritual experience is of the interior world, and science is the exploration of the exterior. But both are wings of the same existence — the inwardness and the outwardness — they always have similar points.

Scientists have come to a strange conclusion in this century, that a few stars suddenly disappear… and stars are not small things; they are not so small as they look to you. They look small because they are so far away, millions of light years away, but they are huge. Our sun is a star, but of a mediocre size, medium size. In comparison to the earth it is vast, but in comparison to other stars it is a small, medium-sized star. There are stars which are a thousand times bigger than the sun.

And in this century, for the first time we had the instruments of observation and we were very much puzzled: suddenly a star disappears, not even leaving a trace behind of where it has gone. Such a huge phenomenon, and not even footprints — in what direction has it gone? It has just moved simply into nothingness. This was happening continually. It took almost twenty years to figure out this new phenomenon: that in existence there are black holes. You cannot see them, but they have tremendous gravitation. Even the biggest star, if it comes within their radius of magnetism, will be pulled in. And once it is pulled into a black hole, it disappears. It is the ultimate eath. We can only see the effect; we cannot see the black hole, we only see that one star is disappearing.

After the black hole was almost an established theory, scientists started thinking that there must be something like a white hole — there has to be. If it is possible that in a certain gravitation, magnetic force, a big star simply disappears out of existence…. We have been aware that every day stars are born. From where are they coming? — nobody has asked it before. In fact, birth we always take for granted; nobody asks from where the babies are coming. Death we never accept, because we are so much afraid of it. There is not a single philosophy in the whole history of man which thinks about where the babies come from, but there are philosophies and philosophies thinking about what is dead, where people go on disappearing to, what happens after death. In my whole life I have come across millions of people, and not a single person has asked what happens before birth — and thousands have asked what happens after death. I have always been thinking, why is birth taken without any question? Why is death not taken in the same way?

We were aware for centuries, almost three centuries, that stars are being born every day — big stars, huge stars — and nobody raised the question, “From where are these stars coming?” But when we came to know about the black holes and we saw the stars disappearing, then the second question became almost an absolute necessity. If black holes can take stars into nothingness, then there must be something like white holes where things… stars come out of nothingness.

– Osho

Have faith in God the Omnipotent, the Eternal, the First and the Last, who grants life and determines death. He bestows bounty, and only He can restore crushed hopes. Have faith, do not lose hope, wait patiently.
He indeed will create a way to deliver you from your hardships.

– Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani

__________________________________________________________
Recently I asked you if I can occasionally send you longer messages. So far I have received positive responses to this, I reproduce some. I am also grateful to some readers who often write to me with their reactions. This helps me to serve you better, and more scientifically.- manohar
—————————————————–

This is wonderful! Manohar.

The loger message is much more useful in agitating minds to think more deep, and might hlp the realization (whatever one wants to interprete as to wahat that Realisation could be!)

Thank you!

M. G
—————————————————-
I personally enjoy the long ones as it gives an opportunity to think & reflect

R.A

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.

Thich Nhat Hanh

________________________________________
The man Martin Luther King Jr. called “an apostle of peace and nonviolence” has been a teacher, writer and vocal opponent of war. The Most Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây), founded the Unified Buddhist Church (Eglise Bouddhique Unifieé) in France in 1969, during the Vietnam war.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, a poet, a scholar, and a peace activist. His life long efforts to generate peace and reconciliation moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967




Compassion

Seek to do brave and lovely things that are left
undone by the majority of people. Give gifts of love
and peace to those whom others pass by.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lesson

Compassion

Let the ugliness of unkindness in others impel
me to make myself beautiful with loving-kindness.
May harsh speech from my companions remind
me to use sweet words always. If stones from evil
minds are cast at me, let me send in return only
missiles of goodwill.
As a jasmine vine sheds its flowers over the hands
delivering ax blows at its roots, so, on all who act
inimically toward me may I shower the blossoms of
forgiveness.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Whispers from Eternity”

Know, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God

Romans 8:37-39

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

Compassion

Thy divine light is hidden in even the most
vicious and gloom-shrouded man, waiting to shine
forth under the proper conditions: the keeping of
good company, and ardent desires for self-betterment.

We thank Thee that no sin is unforgivable, no evil
insuperable; for the world of relativity does not
contain absolutes.

Direct me, O Heavenly Father, that I awaken Thy
bewildered ones to the consciousness of their native
purity, immortality, and celestial sonhood.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Whispers from Eternity”




Man always seeks happiness by trying to satisfy his desires. If a desire is fulfilled, he feels joyous and when it is not, he feels disheartened.

But the trouble is, desire is a bonfire that burns with greater fury asking for more fuel every time. One desire leads to ten more; and man exhausts Himself in trying to fulfill his desires.

He has to turn back from this path of never-ending desire, to the path of inner contentment and joy.

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba

From this moment start remembering that God is watching. Just become full of the remembrance that God is watching and you Will see changes start happening of their own accord. Things that you have never done, you will start doing. Thoughts that have never occurred to you will start occurring. Silences, pauses, intervals, will come automatically. You will start entering into new spaces, unknown to you, never even dreamed about. Use this device — this is one of the most important Sufi devices.

– Osho

Identifying yourself with the body, you become the body. Then you are a mortal. Then there is fear of death. Non-identifying with the body, you are just a watcher, you are just a pure consciousness, a no-mind. And there is no death and there is no disease and there is no old age. As far as your witnessing is concerned, it is eternal and it is always fresh and young and the same.

– Osho (Acharya Rajneesh)

Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

– Sankara

Prayer

More than in any other relationship, we may
rightfully and naturally demand a reply from Spirit
in Its aspect as the Divine Mother. God is constrained
to answer such an appeal; for the essence of a mother
is love and forgiveness, no matter how great a sinner
her child may be. It is the closest and most beautiful
of all the relationships that the Lord has given us.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “How You Can Talk With God”

Prayer

When God does not respond to your prayers, it is
because you are not in earnest. If you offer Him dry
imitation prayers, you cannot expect to claim the
Heavenly Father’s attention. The only way to reach
God through prayer is by persistence, regularity,
and depth of earnestness. Cleanse your mind of all
negation, such as fear, worry, anger; then fill it with
thoughts of love, service, and joyous expectation. In
the sanctum of your heart there must be enshrined
one power, one joy, one peace–God.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Where There Is Light”




Who has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God’s residence is next to mine,
His furniture is love.

– Emily Dickinson

Colour me Now, before You leave me
Colour me with Your Song.
Colour me in Your secret Melody
Colour me in the Light of Your Laughter
Colour me with the Kindness of Your tears
May Your Colours, Colour my very Soul.

– – Rabindranath Tagore
_____________________________________
Wishing all the readers of Spiritual Diary a happy Holi

Follow this procedure to purge yourself of weaknesses:
Imagine your Deity or your Master before you. Worship him repeatedly and surrender flowers of different colours of your choice at His feet. Each of the colours represent different propensities such as; anger, conceit, lust, greed, hatred, attachment and arrogance. By Offering those flowers you will purge yourself of the propensities that those colours represent. This is equivalent to playing ‘Holi’ with the Lord

Will Power

Remember, in your will lies the almighty power
of God. When a host of difficulties comes and you
refuse to give up in spite of all obstacles; when your
mind becomes “set,” then you will find God responding
to you.

— Paramahansa Yogananda, “How You Can Talk With God”

Unless you deposit an amount in the Bank, how will the Bank honour a cheque you issue? So too, ask yourself: `Have I deposited enough devotion to the Lord, service to my fellow-beings and faith in my spiritual practices?’ If you do, then you will most certainly draw the Grace of the Lord. Always remember and be sure that you will get as much Grace, in proportion to your perseverance to attain the Lord. The Supreme Divine has and will yield many benefits to you, that you cannot deny. I bless you that you may grow more and more in devotion to the Lord, in whatever Name and Form you choose and I wish you earn the Lord’s Grace to a very large extent.

– Satha Sai Baab
Divine Discourse, Mar 13 1964

When you do things from your
soul, you feel a river moving in
you, a JOY.

Rumi…

Habits

Habits of thought are mental magnets that draw to
you certain things, people, and conditions. Weaken a
bad habit by avoiding everything that occasioned it or
stimulated it, without concentrating upon it in your
zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good
habit and steadily cultivate it until it becomes a
dependable part of you.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “The Law of Success”

Habits

It is not your passing inspirations or brilliant
ideas so much as your everyday mental habits that
control your life.

— Paramahansa Yogananda, “The Law of Success”

A man without desires is a lion. When the senses see him, it is they who take flight! They run away like elephants, as quietly as they can. As if they cannot escape, they serve him like slaves.

– Ashtavakra Gita 18:46

God is the basis of everything. He is omnipotent, omniscient and pervades all creation. Who can say that only this is Brahman (God) and that is not. The only eternal, existent entity is Brahman. The rest is all evanescent. Just as without cotton, there can be no cloth, similarly, there can be no world without God. Do not mistake this Deha (physical body) as real. It is the Dehi (indwelling Divinity) that is the true reality. This Divinity is beyond birth and death, the one without any beginning or end, and is the eternal witness. Recognise this truth.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Laugh when troubles come your way. There is nothing better to conquer calamity. A flood of troubles will vanish the moment The mind of a wise man collects itself to face them.

– Tirukkural 63: 621-622




Meditation will help you to find your bonds, loosen them, untie them and cast your moorings. When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.

– Neem Karoli Baba

If, thinking to gain praise, honour, or respect, or to achieve a good
rebirth or to win salvation, or to escape pain, a man sins against earth
or causes or permits others to do so he will not gain joy or wisdom

Injury to the earth is equivalent to striking, cutting, maiming, or killing a blind man.
Knowing this, man should not sin against earth or cause or permit others to
do so. He who understands the nature of sin against earth is called a true sage
who understands karma. . . – Angas (Jain Quote)
______________________________________________
Angas
(sanskrit) The eight limbs of yoga. These are yama (abstinences), niyama
(observances), asana (postures for meditation), pranayama (breath control for
meditation), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration),
dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (contemplation).

Make four resolutions about your life hereafter and live in joy.

1. Practise Purity – Desist from wicked thoughts, bad habits and mean activities that weaken your self-respect.

2. Do Service – Serve others, for they are the reflections of the same entity of which you yourself are another reflection. No one of you has any authenticity on your own, except with reference to your Creator, the Lord.

3. See Mutuality – Feel always the kinship with all creation. See the same current flowing through all objects in the Universe.

4. Live in Truth – Do not deceive yourself or others by distorting your experience.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Guru-Disciple Relationship

God does not talk directly to you. He manifests
Himself to you through the channel of a guru and the
guru’s teachings. Disciples are those who allow
themselves to be fully disciplined by the channel.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”

Divine Love

Develop the love of God so that I see in your eyes
that you are drunk with God and not asking, “When
will I have God?” When you ask that, you are not a
devotee. The devotee says: “I have Him, He is listening
to me; my Beloved is always with me. He is moving my
hands; He is digesting my food; He is gazing at me
through the stars.”

–Paramahansa Yogananda, Lecture

All my questions have been answered, not through
man but through God. He is, He is. It is His spirit that
talks to you through me. It is His love that I speak of.
Thrill after thrill! Like gentle zephyrs His love comes
over the soul. Day and night, week after week, year
after year, it goes on increasing–you don’t know where
the end is. And that is what you are seeking, every one
of you. You think you want human love and prosperity,
but behind these it is your Father who is calling you. If
you realize He is greater than all His gifts, you will find
Him.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “The Divine Romance”

The Divine is present in man like the unseen thread which holds a garland together. The entire cosmos is permeated by the Divine and is the visible manifestation of the Divine. Consider yourselves the children of one mother and belonging to the family of humanity. Do not give room for differences of race, creed and nationality. Believe firmly that all belong to the caste of humanity, follow the religion of love and speak the language of the heart. Water is called by different names in different languages. Likewise God is one, whatever name you call Him by, be it Allah, Jesus, Buddha or Rama – have that faith. Develop this universal outlook and don’t criticize any religion.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba




We completed 601 inspiring quotes yesterday. Today I sent you the 602nd quote. None of the quotes were repeated. They were all different. Sometimes it is also good to re-look at the quotes and pick out the ones you didn’t understand, or the ones you want to re absorb. I suggest you go to the spiritual diary page and browse through the Masters, their quotes and their pictures. Make it an occasional habit to visit the page. Sometimes a second look reveals something new you might not have noticed earlier. Also try to contemplate in silence on the quotes that affected you. You will discover a new dimension of experience.

I hope you enjoyed reading the quotes, as much as I did while curating them for you and for myself. So please click on this URL and Go Man Go!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spiritual_Diary/

As you already know Spiritual Diary is now on facebook as well. There it’s called mystic trail. You can click on this URL and take part in the spiritual discussions if you want to.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mystic-Trail/232177050129199