Your children are not your children ; they are the sons & daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you. And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You are the bows from which your children, as living arrows, are sent forth into the future.

Joel Osteen

Give your life for that cup of divine wisdom.
How can you succeed without endurance and patience?
To wait for the sake of that cup is no hardship.
Show patience, for patience is the key to joy.

– Rumi

Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon’s reflection.
Now I am a lion staring up totally
lost in love with the thing itself.
Don’t ask questions about longing.
Look in my face.
Soul drunk, body ruined, these two
sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it.

RUMİ..

God examines both rich and poor,
not according to their lands and houses,
but according to the riches of their hearts.

– Augustine of Hippo

Pursuit of material pleasures will be like nectar at first, but turns to be poison at the end.

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But, after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it

– Buddha

Ikoankaar Sathnaam Karathaa Purakh Nirabho Niravair Akaal Moorath Ajoonee Saibhan Gurprasaadh||
One Universal Creator God, The Name Is Truth Creative Being Personified No Fear No Hatred Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace~
|| Jap ||
Chant And Meditate:
Aadh Sach Jugaadh Sach ||
True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages.
Hai Bhee Sach Naanak Hosee Bhee Sach ||1||
True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever And Ever True. ||1||

Japji Sahib

Hukamee Hovan Aakaar Hukam N Kehiaa Jaaee ||
By His Command, bodies are created; His Command cannot be described.
Hukamee Hovan Jeea Hukam Milai Vaddiaaee ||
By His Command, souls come into being; by His Command, glory and greatness are obtained.
Hukamee Outham Neech Hukam Likh Dhukh Sukh Paaeeahi ||
By His Command, some are high and some are low; by His Written Command, pain and pleasure are obtained.
Eikanaa Hukamee Bakhasees Eik Hukamee Sadhaa Bhavaaeeahi ||
Some, by His Command, are blessed and forgiven; others, by His Command, wander aimlessly forever.
Hukamai a(n)dhar sabh ko baahar hukam n koe ||
Everyone is subject to His Command; no one is beyond His Command.
Naanak Hukamai Jae Bujhai Th Houmai Kehai N Koe ||2||
O Nanak, one who understands His Command, does not speak in ego. ||2||

Japji Sahib

Sochai Soch N Hovee Jae Sochee Lakh Vaar ||
By thinking, He cannot be reduced to thought, even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.
Chupai Chup N Hovee Jae Laae Rehaa Liv Thaar ||
By remaining silent, inner silence is not obtained, even by remaining lovingly absorbed deep within.
Bhukhiaa Bhukh N Outharee Jae Bannaa Pureeaa Bhaar ||
The hunger of the hungry is not appeased, even by piling up loads of worldly goods.
Sehas Siaanapaa Lakh Hohi Th Eik N Chalai Naal ||
Hundreds of thousands of clever tricks, but not even one of them will go along with you in the end.
Kiv Sachiaaraa Hoeeai Kiv Koorrai Thuttai Paal ||
So how can you become truthful? And how can the veil of illusion be torn away?
Hukam Rajaaee Chalanaa Naanak Likhiaa Naal ||1||
O Nanak, it is written that you shall obey His Command, and walk in the Way of His Will. ||1||

Japji Sahib

Nothing can nourish the soul but light .

~ Rumi

Right Activity

Before embarking on important undertakings, sit quietly, calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “The law of Success”

You have no need to travel anywhere.
Journey within Yourself,
Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of Your Own Light.

Rumi
——
Blessed are the persons who
have recognised their real essence
and thus built for themselves palaces in everlasting beauty.

Rumi, Mathnawi V, 3341
____________________________

Experience life in all possible ways — good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark- light, summer-winter. Experience all the dualities.

Don’t be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have, the more mature you become.

― Osho

If you love a flower, don’t pick it up.

Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love.

So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession.
Love is about appreciation.”

― Osho

Listen to your being. It is continuously giving you hints; it is a still, small voice. It does not shout at you, that is true. And if you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. Be the person you are. Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, that’s what maturity is all about.

― Osho

In the world people think they can attain glory by having cows and horses, elephants and gold, family and servants, fields and mansions.

But I do not call that glory, for here one thing depends on another.
Utterly independent is the Infinite.

– Chandogya Upanishad

To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.

― Osho

Yadá yadá hi dharmasya glánirbhavati Bhárata;
Cábhyutthánamadharmasya tadátmánaḿ srjámyaham.
Paritráńáya sádhúnáḿ vinásháya ca duśkrtám;
Dharmasaḿsthápanártháya sambhavámi yuge yuge.

[At a time when dharma is distorted and adharma is ascendant, I create myself out of my own fundamental factors. I incarnate Myself in this world from age to age for the protection of the virtuous, the destruction of the wicked, and the restoration of dharma.]

That is, whenever there is gláni, or downfall, of dharma, God appears on the scene.

Bhagwat Gita

Those who abide by the dictates of dharma are called sádhus. In the traditional sense, a sádhu means a devotee wearing white clothes, with the word dása suffixed to his name, and after whose death the ceremony of shráddha and bháńd́árá is performed.

(A sannyásii, on the other hand, uses saffron clothes. Sannyásiis have the word ánanda appended to their names. No shráddha ceremony is performed after their deaths.)

But this is only a traditional meaning of sádhu. Sádhu really means “one who abides by dharma”. Lord Krśńa says [in effect]: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” That is, whatever is required by me may also be required by others. This consideration for others is dharma, and one who acts like this is a sádhu.

Anandamurti

Dharma

Dhr means “to [uphold]” or “to support”. Dharma is that which supports life and its properties. Dharma alone stands forward, come what may. The dictates of dharma ought to be heeded. Everything else – wealth, logic, intellect – is secondary.

Dharma is your real friend. So, strengthen dharma when dharma itself starts deteriorating, when life becomes unnatural and [threatens] our destruction; because everything in life has to have its proper place. [When] dharma [is moved from] its place, that is called the gláni of dharma; when dharma gets displaced from its proper position in life, then there is dharma[sya] glánih.

Anandamurti

Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

Eckhart Tolle

Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.

Eckhart Tolle

You can have religion with spirituality. You can also have religion without spirituality.

Eckhart Tolle

What you avoid controls you. What controls you causes fear in you. So, avoiding isn’t the solution. Whatever, face it.”

– Mahatria Ra

What is enquiry into the Truth? It is the firm conviction that the Self is real, and all, other than That, is unreal.

Adi Sankaracharya

Thus one should know oneself to be of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss[Sat-Chit-Ananda].

Adi Sankaracharya

Knowing that I am different from the body, I need not neglect the body. It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world. It is the temple which houses the Pure Self within.

Adi Sankaracharya

Thus one should know oneself to be of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss[Sat-Chit-Ananda].

Adi Sankaracharya

Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world.

~Rumi

Where is That Door of Yours, and where is That Home, in which You sit and take care of all? The Sound-current of the Naad vibrates there for You, and countless musicians play all sorts of instruments there for You. There are so many Ragas and musical harmonies to You; so many minstrels sing hymns of You. Wind, water and fire sing of You. The Righteous Judge of Dharma sings at Your Door. Chitr and Gupt, the angels of the conscious and the subconscious who keep the record of actions, and the Righteous Judge of Dharma who reads this record, sing of You. Shiva, Brahma and the Goddess of Beauty, ever adorned by You, sing of You. Indra, seated on His Throne, sings of You, with the deities at Your Door. The Siddhas in Samaadhi sing of You; the Saadhus sing of You in contemplation.

Granth Sahib

You Yourself vibrate the beat of the breath. Shiva and Shakti, energy and matter You have placed them into the body. By Guru’s Grace, one turns away from the world, and attains the jewel of spiritual wisdom, and the Word of the Shabad. || 2 ||

The Holy Granth Sahib

He Himself created darkness and light.
He alone is pervasive; there is no other at all.
One who realizes his own self by Guru’s Grace,
the lotus of his mind blossoms forth. ||3||

The Holy Granth Sahib

Only He Himself knows His depth and extent. Other people can only listen and hear what is spoken and said. One who is spiritually wise, understands himself as Gurmukh; he praises the True Lord. || 4 ||

The Holy Granth Sahib

Deep within the body is the priceless object.
He Himself opens the doors.
The Gurmukh intuitively brings in the Ambrosial Nectar,
and the fire of desire is quenched.|| 5 ||

The Holy Granth Sahib

According to yoga psychology, mental objects tend to become expressed in the external world. What we think about tends to happen.

If you think you’ll succeed, you’ll succeed. If you think you will fail, you will fail. Either way, you are right.

— Yogananda

In our family life, there are various ways to communicate with one another, such as in the personal relation between a mother and her son. For instance, if the son’s given name is Ram Kumar then naturally the mother does not always like to address her son by his formal or legal name of Ram Kumar. Rather, in the closeness of their day to day living the mother affectionately calls him ‘Ramu’. So the nickname ‘Ramu’ is one loving way for the mother to address her son.

Similar is case in the relation between the bhakta and Parama Purusa. Parama Purusa has countless official names or formal titles– one for each of His infinite attributions. But all along there is one very special & meaningful way for the devotee to call Parama Purusa: That is with one’s Ista Mantra. This is the very personal and intimate way for the bhakta to
call Parama Purusa.

As we all know “Ista” means ‘most loving’, ‘most dear’, ‘most intimate’ etc. So our Ista Mantra is one very loving way for the bhakta to devotionally address Parama Purusa. Thus when we repeat or chant of Ista mantra we are calling Parama Purusa. That is the speciality of our Ista mantra.

Anandamurti , January 1979

When we do any action in this world then we have to remember that Guru is along with us. When we think that Parama Purusa is indeed watching our each and every move, then that itself is Guru Mantra: ‘Parama Purusa is watching me. Wherever I am– I am never alone– constantly He is watching me’. This is the feeling behind Guru Mantra,the practice of which is also known as madhuvidya.

Anandamurti, January 1979

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:1-4
Holy Bible

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little,
who sleep too much or sleep too little,
will not succeed in meditation.
But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation,
will come to the end of sorrow through meditation.
Through constant effort they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish cravings
and absorb it in the Self.
Thus they attain the state of union.”

-Bhagavad Gita 6:16-18
(proposed by Sukh Wani)

I don’t preach revolution. I am utterly against revolution. I say unto you that my word for the future, and for those who are intelligent enough in the present, is rebellion. What is the difference?

Rebellion is individual action; it has nothing to do with the crowd. Rebellion has nothing to do with politics, power, violence. Rebellion has something to do with changing your consciousness, your silence, your being. It is a spiritual metamorphosis.

And each individual passing through a rebellion is not fighting with anybody else, but is only fighting with his own darkness. Swords are not needed, bombs are not needed. What is needed is more alertness, more meditativeness, more love, more prayerfulness, more gratitude. Surrounded by all these qualities you are born anew.

Osho, Satyam Shivam Sundaram: Truth Godliness Beauty, Talk #26

God’s relation with human beings is a family relation. When parents feed the children, they do not give four chapatis to the son who is a Master of Arts and only one to the next son who is only a matriculate. For parents, all their children are equal. Similarly, for God all persons are equal for the spiritual food He will give them. Really, the love of parents is dependent not upon the education of the children but upon the children’s attachment for the parents

Anandamurti (21 January 1971)

The kingdom of my mind is begrimed with ignorance. By steady rains of diligence in self-discipline may I remove from my cities of spiritual carelessness the ancient debris
of delusion.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Whispers from Eternity” (a book of prayers)

Purification

Foresake slavery to the desires of the flesh. Until you have established your spiritual mastery over the body, the body is your enemy. Always remember that! Have no other desire than to spread His name and to think and sing of Him all the time. What joy! Can money give us this joy? No! It comes only from God.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “The Divine Romance”

The Prophet said that God has said,
“I cannot be contained in hallowed places. Heaven and earth cannot hold Me.
But I am contained by true hearts. If you seek Me, search in those hearts.”

– Rumi

Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry.
Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake.
Fortunate the heart that burns for His sake.
Laughter always follows tears.
Blessed are those who understand.
Life blossoms wherever water flows.
Where tears are shed divine mercy is shown.

– Rumi

Healing

“Physicians should carry on their work of healing
through God’s laws as applied to matter,” Sri Yukteswar
said. But he extolled the superiority of mental therapy,
and often repeated: “Wisdom is the greatest cleanser.”

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi”

Guru

Guru — is He whom God appoints to lead you out of darkness into the land of eternal light.

God uses the Guru to attract and guide lost souls back to God. The Guru plays a part in God’s divine plan for each of us.

The Guru extends His hand to act as a personal guide. He holds a light to guide the way, offering encouragement each step of the way.

We may have many teachers, but only one Guru.

We have to take the Guru’s hand and allow Him to guide us. We have to be ready to accept our Guru.

– Sayings of Paramhans Yogananda also known as Prem-Avatar — divine incarnation of love. Prem = love, Avatar = soul who attains union with spirit and returns to earth to help mankind.

________________________________________________________________

Excerpts from a talk at 2010 Convocation of SRF, August 7, 2010

These notes are not from an official publication of SRF. They were taken by the devotees during talks given by the monks and nuns.
Please be aware that there is a degree of human error involved in taking and transcribing notes.

Said Uddalaka to Shvetaketu: “As bees suck nectar from many a flower And make their honey one, so that no drop Can say, ‘I am from this flower or that,’

All creatures, though one, know not they are that One.

There is nothing that does not come from him. Of everything he is the inmost Self.

He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.

You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”

– Chandogya Upanishad

O I will come again and again… if need be a trillion times as long as I know one stray brother is left behind.

– Paramhans Yogananda

When the sun is over your head, there will be no shadow. So, too, when faith is steady in your heart, it will not cast any shadow of doubt. Do not talk ill of others; talk only of the good in them. All are good. If you see bad in them, it is because there is bad in you. If you do not like someone, do not mix with them. Grace is the sunlight which will ripen the fruit; Sadhana (spiritual practice) is the sap which rises from earth. Both are needed by the tree of life in order that it may yield the fruit of liberation.

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Man is both the inner and the outer, and it has been a fallacy, a very ancient fallacy, to condemn one in favor of the other.

In the East, people renounce the outer in favor of the inner. They escape from the world into the caves in the Himalayas so that they can devote their whole life and their whole time and their whole energy to the inner journey — but they don’t understand the dialectics of life.

In the West, just the opposite has been done. They have renounced the inner so that they can put their whole energy into the outer world and the conquest of the outer world.

Both have been wrong, and both have been right. Both have been wrong because both remained halves; one part grew bigger and bigger,
and the other part remained retarded. You can see it.

– Osho

Freedom

Swami Sri Yukteswar to Paramahansa Yogananda:
“Freedom of will does not consist in doing things
according to the dictates of prenatal or postnatal habits
or of mental whims, but in acting according to the
suggestions of wisdom and free choice. If you tune in
your will with mine [the wisdom-guided will of a guru],
you will find freedom.”

–Swami Sri Yukteswar, in SRF Lessons

Silence is the sea, and speech is like the river.
The sea is seeking you: don’t seek the river.
Don’t turn your head away from the signs offered by the sea.

– Rumi

Do not treat people with contempt, nor walk insolently on the earth.
Allah does not love the arrogant or the self-conceited boaster.
Be modest in your bearing and subdue your voice,
for the most unpleasant of voices is the braying of the ass.

– Luqman 31:18-19

Practicing the Presence of God

God is approachable. Talking to Him and listening
to His words in the scriptures, thinking of Him,
feeling His presence in meditation, you will see that
gradually the Unreal becomes real, and this world
which you think is real will be seen as unreal. There
is no joy like that realization.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

Mahavatar Babaji Commemoration Day was on July 25

Mahavatar Babaji has promised to guard and guide
all sincere Kriya Yogis in their path toward the Goal….
“Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name
of Babaji,” Lahiri Mahasaya said, “that devotee
attracts an instant spiritual blessing.”

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi
_________________________________________________
This is the day when Babaji appeared before Paramahansa Yogananda at his Garpar Road home in Kolkata, responding to his prayer for blessing and assurance for his mission in the west.

Babaji told Yogananda:
“You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West. Long ago I met your guru Yukteswar at a Kumbha Mela; I told him then I would send you to him for training.”

Practicing the Presence of God

When your mind wanders in the maze of myriad
worldly thoughts, patiently lead it back to remembrance
of the indwelling Lord. In time you will find Him ever
with you–a God who talks with you in your own
language, a God whose face peeps at you from every
flower and shrub and blade of grass. Then you shall
say: “I am free! I am clothed in the gossamer of Spirit;
I fly from earth to heaven on wings of light.” And what
joy will consume your being!

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Sayings of Paramahansa
Yogananda”

Right Attitude

These three instructions, plus meditation, contain
the only rule of life that any disciple needs:

Detachment;

Realization of God as the Giver; and

Unruffled patience.

As long as we fail in any one of these three, we still have
a serious spiritual defect to overcome.

–Sri Gyanamata, “God Alone: The Life and Letters of a Saint”

Without love in the heart, Life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert. What good is a body perfect in outer ways, If inwardly it is impaired by lack of love? With love enshrined in the heart, one lives.
Without it, the body is but bone encased in skin.

– Tirukkural 8:78-80

Practicing the Presence of God (Madhu Vidya)

Although I am planning and doing things in the
world, it is only to please the Lord. I test myself: even
when I am working I whisper within, “Where are You,
Lord?” and the whole world changes. There is nothing
but a great Light, and I am a little bubble in that
Ocean of Light. Such is the joy of existence in God.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

When you forgive, you in no way change the past –
but you sure do change the future.

~Bernard Meltzer

Japji Sahib:

This bani controls one’s “ji,” one’s soul. When your ji, your being, is endangered, when the radiance of your soul is weak, recite Japji Sahib.
Guru Nanak Ji said that the thirty-eight pauris of Japji would liberate the humanity from the cycles of birth and death.
____________________________
Shabad Hazare:

This is the highest love letter by a disciple, written by Guru Arjan Dev Ji to Guru Ram Dass Ji. Its gift is that it gives the benefits of a thousand shabads, and one’s soul will merge directly with God. It makes the separated ones come home with grace. One who recites this shabad will never be separated from their beloved.
___________________________

◆Jaap Sahib:
The naad of Jaap Sahib rouses the soul and the self of the Being. “Sahib” also means grace. Recite it when your position is endangered, or when your authoritative personality is weak. This bani brings grace and greatness. It will also give you the ability that, whatever people say, you will automatically be able to compute what they are actually saying. Once you are able to recite it correctly, it will give you the power, the siddhi, that whatever you say must happen. Man can direct God, and God can direct man Guru Gobind Singh Ji recited Jaap Sahib so we won’t become beggars at the doors of others.

◆Tavprasad Swaiye:
This baani was spoken by Guru Gobind Singh ji. When you are not getting any satisfaction out of life, this is the bani to recite.
______________________________________________
When we celebrate the 7th Century i.e. when we complete 700 quotes we shall rename the Spiritual Diary as ‘MYSTIC TRAIL’

◆Anand Sahib:
Whoever recites the forty pauris of Anand Sahib will have endless bliss, because the Guru is limitless. In this bani, mind and body are explained in relation to cosmic divinity. Guru Amar Das ji gave us the song of bliss, which is Anand Sahib, to qualify the mind and to understand the depth.For husband and wife to get together, recite it together,alternating sutras (lines).

◆Rehras Sahib:
This bani is recited after one has worked and is tired. It adds energy (raa-hu) to one’s being, to one’s total concept. Also, recite it when your principle worldly wealth is endangered. In naad, reh means live, and raas means commodity, so Rehras means living commodity. Rehras Sahib helps you when you are physically weak, or weak in money, property and earthly goods.

◆Kirtan Sohila:
This bani is done before sleep at night. It is the most harmonious naad ever uttered. It multiplies the aura to the sensitivity of protection That it eliminates any negativity for miles and miles.
When you are endangered by any species of direct or indirect source, and when you want to protect yourself with the surrounding of the entire magnetic field of the earth, recite Kirtan Sohila.

Many of you often come to Puttaparthi or visit other holy places. You hear
scholars expounding the scriptures. You have observed great and noble souls.
What is the benefit? How have you improved by all this? Have you succeeded in at
least recognising your Rajasik (passionate) and Thamasik (dark) habits and
tendencies? Recognizing them as deleterious is the first step in removing them.
Have you become more and more serene and poised (Sathvik) as the years go by, or
are you the same dull or perhaps fiery individual? If you must know the Lord,
you must love the Lord and lead your life with good conduct. Hatred or even
indifference will result only in misunderstanding. Develop close association
with the Lord and He will reveal Himself to you.

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Kaha bhayo jo dou lochan mund kai baith rahio bak dhian lagaeo.
(What happened if one) shut both eyes, sat and meditated? Nothing!

Nhat phirio leeai sat samundran lok gayo parlok gavaio.
(What happened if one) bathed in seven of the holiest oceans? Time is lost on the earth and chances are lost beyond earth.

Bas kio bikhian so baith kai aise hi aise su bais bitaio.
(What happened if one) wasted time in endless arguments over what is right and wrong? Nothing!

Sach kahon sun leho sabai jin prem kio tin hee prabh paio.
I speak the truth, everyone Listen! Only those who love, realize God. (9)

– 9th stanza of Tav-Prasad Savaiye

Following is a poem based on this shabad written by Simer Kaur

Doesn’t matter how long
my shut eye meditates
and howsoever long
my open mind contemplates

How far I rummage
from place to place;
every holy pilgrimage
just goes to waste!

Or have down deep
many scriptures dug,
but still fail to be
ONE like the lovebug*.

The plain truth remains
the eternal life of spring
that I wish to attain
only true love can bring

“The Lord of Love is one. There is indeed No other.
He is the inner ruler In all beings.
He projects the cosmos From himself, maintains and withdraws it Back into himself at the end of time.
His eyes, mouths, arms, and feet are everywhere.
Projecting the cosmos out of himself, He holds it together.

– Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Sacred speech is the manifestation of divinity. God exists in the form of Sabda Brahman (the divine principle of sound). Under any circumstances, do not let your speech be tainted by harshness. Never become agitated. When you understand that all are one, there will be no reason to get agitated. All bodies are like mirrors, and what you see is your own reflection. How then can you become angry with your own reflection? Understand that there is nothing greater than love. When you fill your heart with love, your thoughts, vision, words and deeds will all be suffused with love.

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Shabad Hazare:
bilap karay chaatrik kee ni-aa-ee tarikhaa na utrai saaNt na aavai bin darsan sant pi-aaray jee-o ha-o gholee jee-o ghol ghumaa-ee gur darsan sant pi-aaray jee-o.

( My heart longs for the guru as a thirsty pied-cuckoo longs for water…My thirst is not quenched, and I can find no peace without seeing him…I, my soul is a sacrifice to my loving guru.)
Shabad Hazare:_________________________________
This is the highest love letter by a disciple, written by Guru Arjan Dev Ji to Guru Ram Dass Ji. Its gift is that it gives the benefits of a thousand shabads, and one’s soul will merge directly with God. It makes the separated ones come home with grace. One who recites this shabad will never be separated from their beloved.

chakar chehun ar burn, jati ar pati nehun jeh
roop rung ar raikh, bhaikh kohoo keh na skut keh
achul mooret anbho parkas ametoje kehjai
koti eindar eindran saho sahan gnejai
tirbhavn maheep sur nar asur naiti naiti bun tirun keht
tav sarb nam kathai kavan karm nam barnt sumati. (1)

-Jaap Sahib

(No one can give any explanation of His form, dress, outline and complexion.
God’s form is stable, He is self-illuminated, with immeasurable power.
God is the king of millions of kings, and the King of kings of gods.
God is the Lord of three worlds (land, air, water) not only gods, men and demons, but the whole vegetable world announces that none is equal and alike God.
None can utter all of Your names. Wise men who realise Your virtues, call You in the same way.)

In the path of devotion, for those who bargain and crave for profit, reverence is equated with returns; they sell homage at so much per unit of satisfactory response. They calculate how much they are able to extract, like paid servants clamouring for wages, overtime allowances, bonuses and so on. One must be a member of God’s family, a kinsman, a friend of God. You must feel that you are the Lord’s very own. Then your work will not be tiring, you will be able to carry it out in a better manner and it will yield more satisfaction too. In return the Lord Himself will maintain you in bliss. Leave the rest to Him. He knows Best. The joy of having Him is enough reward. This is the secret of human happiness. Live out your lives on these lines and you will never come to grief.

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Purification

The aspiring yogi of the West as well as of the East must discipline himself… He should refrain from making too much fuss about the body. If he sees he is finding time for everything else but is too busy for God, he should take the whip of discipline to himself. Why be afraid? There is everything to gain. If a man will not himself cry and struggle to attain his own salvation, will anyone else do it for him?

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

Purification

…You cannot make steel until you have made the iron white-hot in fire. It is not meant for harm. Trouble and disease have a lesson for us. Our painful experiences are not meant to destroy us, but to burn out our dross, to hurry us back Home. No one is more anxious for our release than God.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

Purification

Kriya Yoga is the real “fire rite” oft extolled in the Gita. The yogi casts his human longings into a monotheistic bonfire consecrated to the unparalleled God. …All past and present desires are fuel consumed
by love divine. The Ultimate Flame receives the sacrifice of all human madness, and man is pure of dross. His metaphorical bones stripped of all desirous flesh, his karmic skeleton bleached by antiseptic suns of wisdom, inoffensive before man and Maker, he is clean at last.

–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi”

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.
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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

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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
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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
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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”