True love stories never have endings. - Richard Bach.

The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. - Richard Bach.

Your friends will know better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years. - Richard Bach.

All difficulties are solved by taking rest in the Divine arms, for these arms are always opened with love to shelter us. - The Mother.

Turn towards the Divine, all your suffering will disappear. - The Mother.

Although I am a typical loner in my daily life, my awareness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has prevented me from feelings of isolation. - Albert Einstien.

Without the Divine life is a painful illusion, with the Divine all is bliss. - The Mother.

Who am I? Not the body, because it is decaying; not the mind, because the brain will decay with the body; not the personality, nor the emotions, for these, also will vanish with death. - Ramana Maharishi.

Yoga works miraculously. The only thing is, you have to do it. - Sadhguru.

Talk as little as possible. Work as much as you can. - The Mother.

The greater the outward show, the greater the inward poverty. - J. Krishnamurti.

If you do not wish to say something which is true, instead of lying just keep silent. - The Mother.

The mind, the life, and the body must become and live what the soul knows and is. - The Mother.

The path is long, but self-surrender makes it short, the way is difficult but perfect trust makes it easy. The Mother.

A hero fears nothing, complaints of nothing, and never gives way. - The Mother.

If you go the way of your thoughts you will be carried away by them and you will find yourself in an endless maze. - Ramana Maharishi.

Donald Walters, now known as Swami Kriyananda -- who heads Ananda Sangha – shares some of the yogi’s thoughts. Man was given ego-consciousness to inspire him to seek God. That is the only reason for his existence, job, friends, personal interests: these things, by themselves, mean nothing.

A professor from Columbia University came to lunch with the Master in his third-floor interview room at Mount Washington. I served them, and after lunch sat it in the room and took notes while they conversed. At a certain point in their discussion, the professor asked, “Do your teachings help people to be at peace with themselves?” “They do indeed,” the Master answered, “but that is the least they do. We teach people all how to be at peace with their Creator.”

The Columbia professor had a probing mind.

Among many questions, he asked, “How do you distinguish between yourself and your followers?” “All are waves on the same, one ocean,” the Master replied, “composed, as the ocean water is, of the same substance: Spirit. Some of the waves are higher than others. Some waves don’t even want to distance themselves from the ocean. All waves, no matter how high, are in essence one and the same.

The difference between the guru and the disciples, then, lies only in their respective closeness to the ocean: in how conscious each one is of his essential reality. The greater the sense of ego, the taller the wave, and the greater, in consequence, the ignorance. The greater one’s awareness of the ocean as one’s sole reality, the smaller the wave, and also the less his sense of having a separate individuality.”

Professor: “Is there a difference, then, of evolution?”

The Master: “That much is true if we understand evolution to mean a progressive refinement of awareness. The tall waves participate more exuberantly in the play of delusion. The little waves, which are more enlightened, are no longer excited by the play. Enlightened beings enjoy everything, not for itself, but as a ‘play’ of God’s.”

The professor asked: “Is there any end to evolution?”

The Master replied, “No end. You go on until you achieve endlessness.”

“Is man important in the scheme of things?” the professor wants to know.“Man is important in one sense only,” the Master tells him. “He was made in the image of God: That is his importance. He is not important for his body, ego, or personality. His constant affirmation of ego-consciousness is the source of all his problems.”

At another point in the conversation, the Master tells us, “Man was given ego-consciousness to inspire him to seek God. That is the only reason for his existence, job, friends, personal interests: these things, by themselves, mean nothing.”

“What is the difference,” asks the professor, “between science and religion in the search for truth?”

“True religion,” the Master replies, “is not theology. It is born of deep, inner communion with God. True religion teaches us, for example, how to become the atom, whereas theology, at most, only discusses the atom. Science studies the nature of the atom outwardly, proving its existence by experimentation. Inner religion, however, goes beyond experimentation to actual experience. It helps one to cognize, by direct experience, his oneness with the atom at its vital center.”

The professor, poses another question: “Which came first: the tree or the seed?”

“The tree came first,” the Master answers without hesitation, “as the idea of a deed precedes the deed itself. The tree was, in this way, a special creation. God, when He set the process in motion, gave the tree seeds that it might produce other trees like itself. “Everything, at first,” he added, “is an idea, a special creation.”

He adds: “People spend too much time fussing over their persons and possessions. What a waste it is, to devote so much energy to polishing, polishing, polishing this little body, home, and belongings – all of which, so very soon, must be abandoned forever!”

On the importance of a guru, the Master says: “If you go to a doctor and get a prescription from him, but after your return home, you tear it up and toss it away, how do you expect to get well? The guru is a spiritual ‘doctor’. It isn’t sufficient merely to have a guru: You must do what he tells you. 

If you follow his prescription even a little bit, your life will be transformed. Everyone who practices what he learns here will pass through the portals of death into the radiant kingdom of light. Don’t expect to get there, however, if you merely depend passively on the guru – like a suppositious patient whom one may imagine framing his prescription and hanging it on a wall—as if expecting the writing itself to make him well! And don’t think to get there by merely ‘hanging on’ grimly to the end! Go on with steadfast faith, devotion, and joy. Long before you reach your divine goal, you will have realized how sweet life can be when it is lived rightly. You will be glowing with inner radiance, vitality, and happiness!”

The Master categorically states: “If you practice even a hundredth part of what I teach you, you will reach God.”

The highest form of Grace is silence. It is also the highest spiritual instruction. - Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Weak though my effort was, by Thy grace, I gained the Self, oh Arunachala. - Ramana Maharishi.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality. - Seneca.

Sincere devotion is much more effective than Ganges water. - The Mother.

Gratitude is not an attitude. Gratitude is something that flows out of you when you are overwhelmed by the recognition of what you have received. - Sadhguru.

Give yourself entirely to the Divine and you will see the end of all your troubles. - The Mother.

The Mother is always ready to welcome the child, whatever fault the child may have committed. - The Mother.

Leave all care to the Divine's Grace, including your progress, and you will be in peace. - The Mother.

Perception can sometimes stain reality. That is why I don't tell everything about my past. - Zoo, Netflix TV Show.

It is hard to practice ignorance. - Anonymous.

Why is self-introspection important for devotees? Bhagawan lovingly reminds us and guides us today.

Humanness is a combination of the body and consciousness. One has to embark on self-scrutiny as the first step in spirituality. Only then the reality can be comprehended. No one undertakes self-examination, though everyone is ready to condemn others. Only the person who is prepared to examine and punish himself for his lapses is competent to judge others. Students and devotees should realize that control of the senses is quite simple. What is necessary is not to encourage negative feelings when they arise and adopt positive attitudes. For instance, Buddha confronted the anger of a demon with his love and transformed him. Many students today are subject to depression and are confused in mind. The reason for this is their weakness owing to a lack of self-confidence. When there is total faith in God, then there will be no room for depression.

Disciple: Why is there so much suffering in love?

Nisargadatta Maharaj: All suffering is born out of desire. True love is never frustrated. How can the sense of unity be frustrated? What can be frustrated is the desire for expression. Such a desire is of the mind. As with all things mental, frustration is inevitable.

Human beings need entertainment to hide their madness. If they were perfectly sane, they could just sit and watch the Flower blossom. - Sadhguru.

People are softened by the forced reflection that comes with loss. - Anonymous.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. - Friedrich Nietzsche.

Do not worry about who loves you. Concentrate on the people you love. - Sylvia Browne.

This is a temporary place. Your real home on the other side. So live life to the fullest. - Sylvia Browne.

The more you try to be special, the more you get hurt. Just be, melt and become part of the wind and the earth; become part of everything, as creation intends. - Sadhguru.

Everything will come in its time; keep confident patience and all will be all right. - The Mother.

My whole life people have tried to make me into something I am not. To make me "normal" or at least "acceptable". I became skilled at so many things just so I would still have value, despite my flaws, or what I have been taught was a flaw. Of course, I tried to fit in. But when you are punished just for being different, you begin to hate what you are and what you love. What should make you happy only brings you pain! Pain is what made me a Sister Warrior. - Warrior Nun, Netflix TV Show.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurti.

None of us deserve His grace, it's not earned, it's given. - Anonymous.

All directions are within the mind! I am not asking you to look into any particular direction. Just look away from all that happens in your mind and bring it to the feeling 'I am'. The 'I am' is not a direction. It is the negation of all directions. Ultimately even 'I am' will have to go, for you need not keep on asserting what is obvious. Bringing the mind to the feeling 'I am' merely helps in turning the mind away from everything else. - Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Nothing is difficult for those who call sincerely the Divine. - The Mother.

Be honest towards yourself, no self-deception. Be sincere towards the Divine, no bargaining in the surrender. Be straightforward with humanity, no pretence and show. - The Mother.

Only the unborn Spirit's timeless power can lift the yoke imposed by birth in time. - Sri Aurobindo.

The only journey is the one within. - Rainer M. R.

Do not worry my dear, you are not a bad person. Your mistakes tend to come from honest stupidity, rather than evil intentions. - Anonymous.

One who sees all beings in oneself and oneself in all beings knows no hatred. - Isa Upanishad.

Attachment destroys courage. The giver is always ready to give. The taker is absent. Freedom means letting go. People just do not care to let go of everything. They do not know that the finite is the price of the infinite, as death is the price of immortality. Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go of everything. - Nisargadatta Maharaj.

It is not necessary to attach any importance to the opinions of people because they are only the passing results of passing impressions; other circumstances and new impressions will easily change them. - The Mother.

The more we talk, the less words mean. - Anonymous.

You can go as far as you want to go, past all limitations, and live a supremely victorious existence. - Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.

The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things. - Rainer M. R.

All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time. - Mitch Albom.

You are here to contact your soul, and that is why you live. Aspire persistently and try to silence your mind. The aspiration must come from the heart. - The Mother.

There is no greater fulfillment than to touch and transform lives. - Sadhguru.

A materialistic person is ruthless with others but kind to himself. A spiritual person is ruthless with himself but kind to everyone else. - Sadhguru.

The only thing that stands between you and your well-being is a simple fact: you have allowed your thoughts and emotions to take instructions from the outside rather than within. - Sadhguru.

I am the servant of that God whom the ignorant call man. - Swami Vivekananda.

My child, hide nothing from me, depend on me for all your needs. - The Mother.

Oh, Soul, you worry too much. You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your golden wings. Of anything less, why do you worry? You are, in truth, the Soul of the Soul of the Soul. - Rumi.

Do you pay regular visits to yourself? Start now. - Rumi.

The individual is not merely the ephemeral physical creature, a form of mind and body that aggregates and dissolves, but a being, living power of the eternal Truth, a self-manifesting Spirit. - Sri Aurobindo.

No one is you and that is your superpower. - Anonymous.

Show some skin and you get everyone's attention. Show some depth and everyone is afraid of heights. - Anonymous.

Do more of what you love, less of what you tolerate, and none of what you hate. - John Assaraf.

Whenever you are alone, remind yourself that God has sent everyone else away so that there is only you and Him. - Rumi.

When you come to a point where you have no need to impress anybody, your freedom will begin. - Anonymous.

In God's plan and play (Lila), the sole function of Satan or Maya is to attempt to divert man from Spirit to matter, from Reality to unreality. - Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.

O Thou Self-manifested cause and substance of creation, O Thou indwelling Self of all, Thou source of Illumination, guide me beyond Thy rays of creation, transport me beyond Thine objective form that, by Thy grace, I may behold Thy glorious Self. That absolute Self abiding in the transcendental effulgence, verily, I am He. - Isha Upanishad.

The Bhagavad Gita has emphasized again and again, however, that between all beings and their creator is an immortal bond - indulgently elastic but breakable never. None can stray so far as to withstand forever the pulling power of God's saving grace. - Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.

The paradox of our times is that we have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge but less judgment, more experts but fewer solutions. - Jay Shetty.

The irony of our time is that we have guided missiles but misguided men. - Martin Luther King.

So long as the lower nature is active, the personal effort of the Sadhaka remains necessary. The personal effort required is triple labour of aspiration, rejection and surrender. - Sri Aurobindo.

Everyone can be a perfect expression of the Divine in himself, on condition that he knows his place and keeps to it. - The Mother.

The best journey takes you home. - Anonymous.

What am I to do, but surrender to the will of my beloved. - Rumi.

I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am. - Charles Horton Cooley.

The only real purpose of life is to explore it in its fullest depth and dimension. - Sadhguru.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix.

What am I to do but surrender to the will of my beloved. - Rumi.

Disciple: What are the signs of progress in spiritual life?

Nisargadatta Maharaj: Freedom from anxiety; a sense of ease and joy; deep peace within and abundant energy without. I found it all in the holy presence of my Guru - I did nothing on my own. He told me to be quiet - and I did it - as much as I could.

In the pursuit of happiness, we have ripped the planet apart, but still, we are not happier. It is time to stop and look, because all human experience happens within you, not outside of you. - Sadhguru.

Disciple: There are a number of spiritual teachers, teaching various paths. Whom should one take for one's Guru?

Sri Ramana Maharishi: Choose one where you find you get Shanti or peace.

Everybody is seeking God for the truth, in different ways, thinking it is somewhere else. One has to just reverse and look within. - Sri M.

To do Sadhana, one has to find an appropriate time to sit in solitude and practice. Once one becomes an expert at this, Sadhana can be done anywhere in the world. - Sri M.

The search for one's true identity and happiness is not just reserved for monks or sanyasis. Every human being, without distinction, can embark upon this search. - Sri M.

Disciple: "Mother, how to go within?"

Mother: "Ah! I have spoken about it many times." She keeps silent for a very long time as if in trance and then speaks again. "Put your body in a comfortable position and start chanting OM. You will find that you are before a tunnel. A long, narrow tunnel. Go on chanting, go on chanting, intensely, wholeheartedly. You will find that the tunnel slowly gets illuminated. Go on, go on doing it as often as possible. You will find one day that you have come to the end of the tunnel, and at the core of your heart where the Lord is. It is a long process. But you are sure to arrive at it if you are sincere."

If you want to know wellbeing, IN is the only way out. - Sadhguru.

What you do should not define who you are, who you are should define what you do. - Sadhguru.

Bernard asked the Master, “What is the best way to transform emotion into devotion?”

“The company you keep” the Master replied, “will determine in what direction your feelings develop. In the company of devotees, those feelings will more easily become devotional.”

“Master,” pursued the disciple, “what if I am alone – for instance when I meditate?”

“Am I not always with you?” the Master replied with a loving smile.

(From the book Conversations with Yoganananda written by Swami Kriyananda)

No matter what kind of karma you gathered in the past, this moment's karma is always in your hands. - Sadhguru.

Each victory gained over oneself means new strength to gain more victories. - Sri Aurobindo.

The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on. - Anonymous.

What is the fundamental virtue to be cultivated in order to prepare for the spiritual life?

I have said this many times, but this is an opportunity to repeat it it is sincerity. A sincerity that must become total and absolute, for sincerity alone is your protection on the spiritual path. If you are not sincere, at the very next step you are sure to fall and break your head. All kinds of forces, wills, influences, entities are there, on the look-out for the least little rift in this sincerity and they immediately rush in through that rift and begin to throw you into confusion. Therefore, before doing anything, beginning anything, trying anything, be sure first of all that you are not only as sincere as you can be, but have the intention of becoming still more so. For that is your only protection.

(From the Mother’s answer to a devotees question)

All I want to convert you to is who and what you really are. - Swami Kriyananda.

The spiritual relation of souls united in seeking God is stronger and more binding than any other relation. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

O' Lord, let Thy will be done, Thy work be accomplished. Fortify our devotion, increase our surrender, give us light upon the path. We erect Thee within us as our supreme Master that Thou mayst become supreme Master of all the earth. Our speech is still ignorant; enlighten it. Our aspiration is still imperfect, purify it. Our action is still powerless; make it effective. - The Mother.

It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple. - Guru Rabindranath Tagore.

This world was not built with random bricks of Chance, a blind God is not destiny's architect; a conscious power has drawn the plan of life. There is a meaning in each curve and line. - Sri Aurobindo.

Don't waste your time on trying to make out whether the advice you get flows from knowledge only, or from valid experience! Just follow it faithfully. Life will bring you another Guru if another one is needed. Or deprive you of all outer guidance and leave you to your own lights. - Nisargadatta.

Life cannot be against you, for you are life itself. Life can only seem to go against the ego's projections, which are rarely in harmony with the Truth. - Mooji.

Nothing should go back to normal. Normal wasn't working. If we go back to the way things were, we will have lost the lesson. May we rise up and do better. - Anonymous.

What is God and Why?

By Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya

God is a conscious Being, who is present everywhere, who is all-powerful, who is all-knowing and who is all-perfect.

He cannot be recognized by the mind, understood by the intellect, known by the reason; He has to be felt in the heart.

God expresses Himself through whatever is true, whatever is beautiful, and whatever is good.

He wants to express Himself through many. That is why He has created trees and plants, pests and insects, birds and beasts, animals and men, and this whole universe. Through the evolutionary process, He is taking everything towards His perfection, so that ultimately, everything becomes Himself. In this whole universe, good or bad, whatever is happening, whatever is becoming, all are His will, His play, and His plan.

His presence can be felt everywhere and in everything; everything is a part of Himself, everything is moving under His law, and in accordance with His wishes.

Through the evolutionary process, man has reached such a stage that he can be conscious of God within himself. That is why in the Divine's play, he has a special role, a special responsibility. When everything else in the universe, including nature, moves unconsciously through the evolutionary process, man alone, if he so desires, can realize God within himself, make his will one with His will, go through the evolutionary process consciously, realize within himself God's truth, God's beauty, and God's goodness, and establish them in the material world.

Then in this play of God, man's special role is to realize God and himself, make his will one with the Divine's will, express Him through all his efforts, and make his life and his surroundings God-pervaded.

In each one's life, a moment comes when he has to choose between the path and the muddle. You cannot put one foot here and one foot there. If you try to, you will be torn to pieces. A heart that does not choose is a heart that will die. - Divine Mother.

Don't stop when you are tired. Stop when you are done. - Anonymous.

There was a Master come unto the earth, born in the holy land of Indiana, raised in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne. 

The Master learned of this world in the public schools of Indiana, and as he grew, in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles. 

But the Master had learnings from other lands and other schools, from other lives that he had lived. He remembered these, and remembering became wise and strong so that others saw his strength and came to him for counsel.

The Master believed that he had the power to help himself and all mankind, and as he believed so it was for him so that others saw his power and came to him to be healed of their troubles and their many diseases.

The Master believed that it is well for any man to think upon himself as a son of God, and as he believed, so it was, and the shops and garages where he worked became crowded and jammed with those who sought his learning and his touch, and the streets outside with those who longed only that the shadow of his passing might fall upon them and change their lives.

It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the several foremen and shop managers bid the Master leave his tools and go his way, for so tightly was he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics had room to work upon the automobiles.

So it was that he went into the countryside, and people following began to call him Messiah, and worker of miracles; and as they believed, it was so.

If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop touched a listener’s head; the last of the multitude heard his words as clearly as the first, no matter lightning nor thunder in the sky about. And always he spoke to them in parables.

And he said unto them, “Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and to sickness, to riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these and not another.”

A mill-man spoke and said, “Easy words for you, Master, for you are guided as we are not, and need not toil as we toil. A man has to work for his living in this world.”

The Master answered and said, “Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.

“The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.

“Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.

“But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, II trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’

“The other creatures laughed and said, ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!’

“But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.

“Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.

“And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’

“And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’

“But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.”

And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude thronged him the more day on day, tighter and closer and fiercer than ever they had when he saw that they pressed him to heal them without rest, and feed them always with his miracles, to learn for them and to live their lives, he went alone that day unto a hilltop apart, and there he prayed.

And he said in his heart, Infinite Radian Is, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me, let me lay aside this impossible task. I cannot live the life of one other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for life. I’m sorry I allowed it all to happen. If it be thy will, let me go back to my engines and my tools and let me live as other men.

And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice neither male nor female, loud nor soft, a voice infinitely kind. And the voice said unto him, “Not my will, but Thine be done. For what is thy will is mine for thee. Go thy way as other men, and be thou happy on the earth.”

And hearing, the Master was glad, and gave thanks, and came down from the hilltop humming a little mechanic’s song. And when the throng pressed him with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and learn for it and feed it nonstop from his understanding and to entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, “I quit.”

For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with astonishment.

And he said unto them, “If a man told God that he wanted most of all to help the suffering world, no matter the price to himself, and God answered and told him what he must do, should the man do as he is told?”

“Of course, Master!” cried the many. “It should be (a) pleasure for him to suffer the tortures of hell itself, should God ask for it!”

“No matter what those tortures, nor how difficult the task?”

“Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree and burned if so be that God has asked,” said they.

“And what would you do,” the Master said unto the multitude, “if God spoke directly to your face and said, ‘I COMMAND THAT YOU BE HAPPY IN THE WORLD, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.’ What would you do then?”

And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a sound was heard upon the hillsides, across the valleys where they stood.

And the Master said unto the silence, “In the path of our happiness shall we find the learning for which we have chosen this lifetime. So it is that I have learned this day, and choose to leave you now to walk your own path, as you please.”

And he went his way through the crowds and left them, and he returned to the everyday world of men and machines.

(An extract from Illusions - The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach)

Quiet, quiet and more quiet, calm strength, calm gladness are what are needed in mind and nerves and body as a basis for siddhi - precisely because the Force, the Light, the Ananda that comes down are extremely intense and need a great stillness in the body to bear and support. - Sri Aurobindo.

Spirit is the image of the Lord of Yoga; mind and body are the means He has provided for reproducing that image in phenomenal existence. All Nature is an attempt at a progressive revelation of the concealed Truth, a more and more successful reproduction of the divine image. - Sri Aurobindo.

Courage is the force that makes our lives brilliant. - Anonymous.

Whether you continue in the household or renounce it, and go to the forest, your mind haunts you. The obstacle is the mind; it must be got over whether in the home or in the forest. - Ramana Maharishi.

What is not permanent is not worth striving for. - Ramana Maharishi.

To walk on the path you must have dauntless intrepidity, you must never turn back upon yourself with this mean, petty, weak, ugly movement that fear is. Indomitable courage, perfect sincerity, total self-giving (attitude) to the extent that you do not calculate or bargain, you do not give with the idea of receiving, you do not offer yourself with the intention of being protected, you do not have a faith that needs proofs, — this is indispensable for advancing on the path, this alone can shelter you against all dangers. - The Mother.

Why are you so dejected? If you were really unfit to realize the Self in this life, you could not have come to this place at all. The power that drew you here will make you realize that Self. If not today, then at some other time it is bound to fulfill its commitment. There is no reason why you should be dejected. - Sri Ramana Maharishi.

It is certain that for someone who has desires, when his desires are not satisfied, it is a sign the Divine Grace is with him and wants, through experience, to make him progress rapidly, by teaching him that a willing and spontaneous surrender to the Divine Will is a much surer way to be happy in peace and light than the satisfaction of any desire. The Mother.

Our best help is faith, the Divine is all-merciful. - The Mother.

Our concept of education has to go beyond manufacturing cogs for the economic engine. - Sadhguru.

Indeed, if you truly leave everything to the Lord's care, your heart will be in peace, and all things will be the best possible. - The Mother.

If the wind blows, you can always adjust your sails, but, if you don't know where you are going any road will take you there. - Anonymous.

Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? - Charles Bukowski.

Many teachers will tell you to believe; then they put out your eyes of reason and instruct you to follow only their logic. But I want you to keep your eyes of reason open; in addition, I will open in you another eye, the eye of wisdom. - Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri.

The Bliss of Identity 

By Sri Aurobindo

All Nature is taught in radiant ways to move,
All beings are in myself embraced.
O fiery boundless Heart of joy and love,
How art thou beating in a mortal’s breast!
It is Thy rapture flaming through my nerves
And all my cells and atoms thrill with Thee;
My body thy vessel is and only serves
As a living wine-cup of Thy ecstasy.
I am the center of Thy golden light
And its vast and vague circumference,
Thou art my soul great, luminous and white
And Thine my mind and will and glowing sense.
Thy spirit’s infinite breath I feel in me;
My life is a throb of Thy eternity.

There Is A Candle In Your Heart

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it cannot be learned in any school.

People like us who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. - Albert Einstein.

This beautifully designed volume contains poetry by Rumi, art by Michael Green, and a CD of the thirteenth-century mystic's verse put to American music. Here is an excerpt containing "One Song," a poem by Rumi translated by Coleman Barks on the theme of hospitality.

All religions, all this singing
One Song.
The differences are just
Illusion and vanity.
The Sun's light looks
A little different on this wall than
It does on that wall,
And a lot different on this other one,
But it's still one light.
We have borrowed these clothes,
These time and place personalities
From a light,
And when we praise,
We're pouring them back in.

(An Excerpt from One Song: A New Illuminated Rumi by Michael Green)

The Sun Never Says
By Hafiz

Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, "You owe Me." Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky.

You imprison yourself in various moods, and this is the cause of all your sorrows. To escape, you have to dissolve the feelings and emotions connected with body consciousness. Meditation is the way. - Paramhansa Yogananda.

Your garment of thoughts absorbs the vibrations of those with whom you mix. If you leave your coat outside in the garden, later on, when you bring it indoors, it will carry with it the fragrance of fresh air and flowers. The environment is stronger than will power. - Paramhansa Yogananda.

If you have within you that faith which is truly divine, and if there is something you desire that is not in the universe, it shall be created for you. - Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri.

Accept yourself as you are. And that is the most difficult thing in the world because it goes against your training, education, your culture. From the very beginning, you have been told how you should be. Nobody has ever told you that you are good as you are. - Osho.

Nothing happens by accident in the Divine scheme of things. - Ramana Maharishi.

Everything the Lord has created is to try us, to bring out the buried soul immortality within us. That is the adventure of life, the one purpose of life. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

As for me, all I know is that I now nothing. - Socrates' words in Plato's Phaedrus.

I once knew an Indian saint, half of whose body, in his earlier years, had been covered with sores. His diabetic illness had been so acute that he had found it difficult to sit still at one time for more than fifteen minutes. But his spiritual aspiration had been undesirable. "Lord" he prayed, "wilt Thou come into my broken temple?" With ceaseless command of the will, the saint had gradually become able to sit in the lotus posture daily for eighteen hours, engrossed in the ecstatic trance. "And," he told me, "at the end of three years I found the Infinite Light blazing within me. Rejoicing in Its splendor, I forgot the body. Later I saw that it had become whole through the Divine Mercy."

(An extract from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda)

In Zen, we do not find the answers; we lose the question. - Zen Proverb.

After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so crazy suddenly made much more sense. - W. Heisenberg.

A saint once was set upon and badly beaten by a band of ruffians. His brother disciple later found him, lying unconscious by the road. They carried him back to their ashram and nursed him lovingly back to consciousness. One of them was pouring a little milk into his mouth when the saint started to open his eyes.

"Do you recognize who it is that is feeding you?" his brother enquired gently. 

"Yes," said the saint with a blissful smile. "The same One who beat me earlier!"

(An extract from The Art and Science of Raja Yoga by Swami Kriyananda)

Men travel to gaze upon mountain heights and the waves of the sea, broad-flowing rivers, and the expanse of the ocean and the courses of the stars, and pass by themselves, the crowning wonder. - Saint Augustine.

People begin to lead that moment when they decide for themselves how to be. - Warren Bennis.

Just beneath the shadows of this life is God’s wondrous Light. The universe is a vast temple of His presence. When you meditate, you will find doors opening to Him everywhere. When you have communion with Him, not all the ravages of the world can take away that Joy and Peace. - Paramahansa Yogananda

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. - Max De Pree.

Great things are done when men and mountains meet. - William Blake.

Kabir was a great 16th-century saint whose large following included Hindus and Moslems. At the time of Kabir's death, the disciples quarreled over the manner of conducting funeral ceremonies. The exasperated master rose from his final sleep and gave his instructions. "Half of my remains should be buried with Moslem rites," he said. "Let the other half be removed with a Hindu sacrament." He then vanished. When the disciples removed the shroud that had covered his body, nothing was found but a beautiful array of flowers. Half of these were obediently buried in Maghar, by the Moslems, who revere his shrine to this day. The other half was cremated with Hindu ceremonies in Banaras. A temple, Kabir Cheura, was built on the site and attracts immense numbers of pilgrims.

In his youth, Kabir was approached by two disciples who wanted minute intellectual guidance along the mystic path. The master responded simply:

Path presupposes distance;

If He be near, no path needest thou at all.

Verily it maketh me smile

To hear of a fish in water athirst!

(An extract from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda)

Fall seven times, stand up eight. - Japanese Proverb.

The emancipation of our physical nature is in attaining health, of our social being in attaining goodness, and of our self in attaining love - Guru Rabindranath Tagore.

It should come as no surprise that the unhealthiness of our world today is in direct proportion to our inability to see it as a whole. - Peter M. Senge.

Every life is a profession of faith and exercises an inevitable and silent propaganda. - Amiel.

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at. - Thoreau.

However beautiful a song may be, it is just a tune to those who do not understand its meaning. - Milarepa.

A transcript shared by Nayaswami Jyotish Ji in one of his recent blogs. He says, "Last week a friend sent me a copy of a letter that Paramhansa Yogananda wrote to a devotee in India in 1951. It is filled with timeless advice and blessings. Imagine that Yogananda has written this to you."

For those who are on the spiritual path, being alone, keeping a distance from people, and becoming silent are not issues - these are opportunities. - S.

When the uninformed argue with the misinformed, there is no need to choose a side. - Carmine Savastano.

Our children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. - Neil Postman.

The task of leadership is not to put greatness in humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. - John Buchan.

All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone. - Pascal.

Never let life beat you down. Beat life! If you have a strong will you can overcome all difficulties. Affirm, even during trials: “Danger and I were born together, and I am more dangerous than danger!” This is a truth you should always remember; apply it and you will see that it works. Don’t behave like a cringing mortal being. You are a child of God! - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Everything the Lord has created is to try us, to bring out the buried soul immortality within us. That is the adventure of life, the one purpose of life. And everyone’s adventure is different, unique. You should be prepared to deal with all problems of health, mind, and soul by commonsense methods and faith in God, knowing that in life or death your soul remains conquered. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

You must never lose courage.

Divine mother sent me to pilot you out of the clouds of your mind. Everybody's difficulty is different, and he or she has to win that test of karma and Divine mother.

Overcome all by constant inward calling on God and utmost devotion in words, thought, action, and obedience to Guru. Your troubles I do not mind. I will never give up on my job with you. It is better to conquer evil and no go on living it forever. Never for a moment identify yourself with momentary flashes of error. Have no fear, even when I am gone and no longer visible to your eyes. You will never be alone. I may not scold you then, but I shall ever be with you, and through Divine Mother guard you from all harm, and will constantly whisper to you guidance through your loving self.

So do not make life discouraged and tired, but be ever, but be ever interested in doing for Divine Mother, no matter if wars, sickness and death dance around you. That is the secret of victory over delusion and all troubles. Be cut to pieces, but never give up. Be a divine leech - suck at the blood of wisdom even though torn to bits. A smooth life is not a victorious one. And I will give you lots of good karma, so you will get through. I will not only ever forgive you, but ever lift you up no matter how many times you fall. Keep unceasingly trying to conquer that not only I invisibly help you, but visibly through many here. Divine Mother will help you win, through your own efforts and the blessings of the great Gurus. I am not building a mansion for you or giving you riches that will perish, but I am making an imperishable home with all riches for you in my Divine Mother's mansion.

Unceasing blessings,

Paramahansa Yogananda.