Tattva-viveka
Quotes
Nitaisundara Das - April 3, 2009 3:23 am
Post quotes from anyone that can stand nicely alone in a "quote of the day section". Anywhere from a sentence to a small paragraph in length.
Madhavendra Puri Dasa - April 3, 2009 8:17 am
Post quotes from anyone that can stand nicely alone in a "quote of the day section". Anywhere from a sentence to a small paragraph in length.
This is a quote from one of my favorite writers:
“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Jack London
I like to interpret it as a need to shake off all material chains and reach to the soul, which is alive, dynamic and blissful.
Madhavendra Puri Dasa - April 3, 2009 8:21 am
And one more, which I find very uplifting:
"Whenever you fall, pick something up."
Oswald Avery
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 4, 2009 4:57 am
I have a huge collection of quotes which I keep. Here are some. Tell me if they are useful then I can pull in more. Some are actually ones which GM had pulled and I put in my collection.
Beauty of style, harmony,grace and good rhythm
depends on simplicity.
Plato, BC 427-347, Greek Philosopher
The popular religion is fear of God and not the pure spiritual
love which Plato, Vyasa, Jesus, and Caitanya taught to
their respective peoples!
Bhaktivinoda Thakur, medieval Indian saint
It is probably true quite generally that in history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet.These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture,in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions:hence if they actually meet ,that is,if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place,than one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow.
-W.Heisenberg
The first sip from the cup of natural science makes
one an atheist, but at thebottom of the cup, God
awaits."
- Werner Heisenberg, nuclear physicist
"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, German Physicist
Dr Arnold Toynbee, British Historian: “It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.”
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back–
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would
never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from
the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen
incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could
have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream
you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now.”
—Goethe
All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts alreadythousands of times; but to
make them truly ours, we must think them over
again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The time will inevitably come when mechanistic and
atomic thinking will be put out of the minds of all
people of wisdom…When that happens, the divinity of
living Nature will unfold before our eyes all the more
clearly.
-Johann von Goethe
If you want to love you must serve, if you want freedom you must die.
George Hegel, famous german philosopher
We learn from history that man can never learn anything from
history.
George Hegel, famous German Philosopher
Everyone in universe, including you, deserves your
love and compassion- Buddha
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where
power predominates, there love is lacking. Thus one is
the shadow of the other. — Carl Jung
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach
us, that the less we use our power the greater it will
be. — Thomas Jefferson
Your vision will become clear only when you look into
your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks
inside, awakens. - Carl Jung
It is not the length of life,
but the depth of life. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hard as it is to describe God, it is harder to describe the Individual. A certain wandering light comes to me which I instantly perceive to be the Cause of Causes. It transcends all proving. It is itself the ground of being; and I see that it is not one & I another, but this is the life of my life. That is one fact, then; that in certain moments I have known that I existed directly from God, and am, as it were, his organ. And in my ultimate consciousness Am He.
Journal, May 26, 1837,Emerson
What lies behind us and what lies before us are
small matters compared to what lies within us.
Emerson
All true greatness must come from internal growth.
Journals, October 17, 1832 Emerson
God cannot be intellectually discerned.
Journals, July 21, 1831 Emerson
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
Einstein
What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books---a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.
Einstein
There is no logical way to the discovery of elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance
I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein
The scientists' religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection
Albert Einstein
Everyone in universe, including you, deserves your
love and compassion- Buddha
You have just dined, and however scrupulously slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. –Ralph Emerson
Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality
exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we
are burial places! I have from an early age abjured
the use of meat, and the time will come when men such
as I will look on the murder of animals as they now
look on the murder of men. ~Leonardo da Vinci
Human beings are the only animals of which I am throughly and cravenly
afraid.
-George Bernard Shaw
Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Socrates
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him
absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of
Thinking we were at when we created them.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be
happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher."
- Socrates (470-399 B.C.)
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 4, 2009 4:58 am
Some more
Is there anything worse than being blind? Yes, a man with sight and no vision.
Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched. They must be felt within the heart.
Helen Keller
Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not
attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller, (deaf and blind author, activist and teacher)
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.
Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for
the worst of them all--the apathy of human beings.
Helen Keller
There is a soul at the center of nature, and over the
will of every man . . . place yourself in the middle
of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all
whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to
truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The finest emotion of which we are capable is the
mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and
all true science . . . the core of the true religious
sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I
rank myself among profoundly religious men.
- Albert Einstein
Modern man does not understand how much his
"rationalism" . . . has put him at the mercy of the
psychic "underworld." He has freed himself from
"superstition" (or so he believes), but in the process
he has lost his spiritual values to a positively
dangerous degree. His moral and spiritual tradition
has disintegrated, and he is now paying the price for
this breakup in worldwide disorientation and
dissociation.
- Carl Jung
Nitaisundara Das - April 4, 2009 5:25 am
There are some great ones there. For the sake of length, maybe you can just email me (and anyone else) all of them? If you have any organization to them that would be great, but either way.
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 4, 2009 5:30 am
There are some great ones there. For the sake of length, maybe you can just email me (and anyone else) all of them? If you have any organization to them that would be great, but either way.
Do you want the quotes above resent or only new quotes which I have not sent you yet?
Nitaisundara Das - April 4, 2009 5:34 am
Whatever is easier for you, I can just copy and paste from here if you dont send these, just let me know please. I am jealous, I ahve always wanted a list like this.
Prahlad Das - April 4, 2009 5:47 pm
Share them with me too!!! These are great!
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 4, 2009 6:38 pm
Share them with me too!!! These are great!
Send me your email.
Bijaya Kumara Das - April 5, 2009 6:11 am
No matter where you go there you are.
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 7, 2009 3:45 pm
These are quotes from Beyond the post-modern mind which I liked. So I guess these can go along with Bhrigu's review of the book.
Also the first quote is also relevant for the science thread going on right now.
( Page 87 in Excluded knowledge)
A biologist has said,
"Ambiguity seems to be an essential, indispensable element for the transfer of information from one place to another by words, where matters of real importance are concerned. It is often necessary, for meaning to come through, that there is almost vague sense of strangeness and askewness. Speechless animals and cells cannot do this..... Only the human mind is designed to work on this way, programmed to drift away in the presence of locked-on information, straying from each point in a hunt for a better, different point."
(Perennial philosophy Page 55, ) Huston smith,"
Humility is seen as looking on oneself as if one were another( and as severely as truth allows, but not more), while charity is to look on the other as if he were oneself( as indulgently as truth allows but again not more.)"
Kamalaksa Das - April 10, 2009 7:56 am
Here is a very nice quote that takes at least my mind to Guru Maharaja, and serves as a kind of inspiration for all up and coming authors for the Harmonist:
"I think there is no finer way of honoring the teachers of the past than by enriching the traditions they have thought. In the field of literature, we can do that by writing good books and telling good stories, and we can do it by learning to read and learning to listen to stories and books that already exist and whose worth has been wrongly denied or forgotten."
From The Tree of Meaning - Language, Mind and Ecology by Robert Bringhurst
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 10, 2009 2:27 pm
Another good one.
The routinized economic cosmos, and thus the
rationally highest form of the provision of material
goods which is indispensable for all worldly culture,
has been a structure to which the absence of love is
attached from the very root". (Max Weber), famous sociologist.
Braja-sundari Dasi - May 7, 2009 7:48 pm
William A. Ward: "Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate."
Gaura-Vijaya Das - May 11, 2009 1:21 am
I found another old collection of quotes exclusively by Socrates which I liked. The ones in italics are simple and profound.
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
Quotation of Socrates
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
Quotation of Socrates
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Quotation of Socrates
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
Quotation of Socrates
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Quotation of Socrates
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
Quotation of Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
Quotation of Socrates(This is one of my favourites, it is very simple and profound!)
Wisdom begins in wonder.
Quotation of Socrates
Prahlad Das - May 11, 2009 3:28 am
I found another old collection of quotes exclusively by Socrates which I liked. The ones in italics are simple and profound.I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
Quotation of Socrates
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
Quotation of Socrates
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Quotation of Socrates
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
Quotation of Socrates
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Quotation of Socrates
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
Quotation of Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
Quotation of Socrates(This is one of my favourites, it is very simple and profound!)
Wisdom begins in wonder.
Quotation of Socrates
I had to cut and paste these to my desktop 
Wonderful inspirations!
Madhukari Dasi - May 11, 2009 10:48 pm
Some tidbits of inspiration and pearls of wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi:
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others.”
“It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.”
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
“To give service to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”
“There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.”
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself
as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
“The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.”
“Suffering cheerfully endured, ceases to be suffering and is transmuted into an ineffable joy.”
“The sanyasa of the Gita is all work and yet no work.”
“The object of the Gita appears to me to be that of showing the most excellent way to attain self-realization.”
“The whole world is in the throes of new birth. Anything done for a temporary gain would be tantamount to an abortion.“
“A true Brahmin should be the very image of humility and not be proud of his knowledge or wisdom.“
“Bravery is not a quality of the body, it is of the soul.”
“To me I seem to be constantly growing. I must respond to varying conditions, yet remain changeless within.”
“What will tell in the end will be character and not a knowledge of letters.”
“The message of Jesus has proved ineffective because the environment was unready to receive it.”
Citta Hari Dasa - June 5, 2009 7:25 pm
From the Tao te Ching:
True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
Gaura-Vijaya Das - June 25, 2009 4:26 pm
Some perplexing yet good ones from controversial figures. Certainly everyone is looking for love but I don't many people who want love go to Buddhism and Advaita instead of GV.
The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they were today when we have become defenseless against ourselves.
Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of universal self.
-Arnold Toynbee
I do not think we shall understand the complex problem of love till we understand the equally complex problem which we call the mind…Because it is the mind that destroys love. People who are merely clever, conning, do not know what love is, because their minds, although sharp, are superficial; they live on the surface, and love is not a thing that exists on the surface.
Pain itself destroys pain. Suffering itself frees man from suffering
-J. Krishnamurti
Three passions, simple but overwhlemgly strong, have governed my life.
Longing for love, search for knowledge and unbearable pity for suffering of mankind. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy -
ecstasy so great that I would have sacrificed my whole life for a few hours of this joy.
I have sought it next, because it relieves loneliness.
I have sought it finally because in union of love I have seen mystic miniature prefiguring vision of heaven that saints and poets have imagined.
This has been taken from autobiography of B.Russel
Gaura-Vijaya Das - June 25, 2009 4:27 pm
These ones are really good.
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
-Socrates
Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond —for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.
-Socrates
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
-Albert Schweitzer
Gaura-Vijaya Das - July 2, 2009 6:04 pm
If we see the service of another person and sincerely appreciate it, we receive the same benefit that person does, even more. The goal of all our efforts is to please Krishna, so if it's me or somebody else, then the medium doesn't matter so long Krsna's pleasure is ... Moreincreased. That attitude is the antitode to envy and the feelings of ineptitude coming from it. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but great sacrifices bring greater rewards.
Radhanath Swami
Radhakunda Das - July 17, 2009 6:31 pm
SPIRITUAL WISDOM
BY BHAKTISIDDHANTA SARASVATI
1. We are put to test and trial in this world. Only those who attend the kirtana of the devotees can succeed.
2. Every spot on earth where discourses on God are held is a place of pilgrimage.
3. Possession of objects not related to Krsna is our main malady.
4. Let me not desire anything but the highest good for my worst enemies.
5. As dalliance with the body in luxury increases, so wanes the spirit of service of the Lord.
6. Those favored by God find their paths set by thorns.
7. There is no peace or happiness in our worldly life. Circumstances create turmoil and annoyance.
8. Chant the maha mantra loudly and with attachment. This will drive away inertia, worldly evils and pests.
9. Be indifferent to bazaar gossips, stick firmly to your cherished goals, no lack or impediments of the world will ever stand in your way.
10. Pay due respects to the extroverts of the world, but do not be appreciative of their manners and conduct. They are to be shaken off from your mind.
11. A devotee feels the presence of God everywhere, but one averse to the Lord denies His existence anywhere.
12. You cannot appreciate transcendental matters with the reasoning of the world. It is sheer nonsense to decry them with the measuring stick of your intellect.
13. To recite the name of Sri Krsna is bhakti.
14. Life is for the glorification of topics on Hari. If that is stopped, then what need is there to carry on life.
15. Physical illness with Hari-bhajana is preferred to physical fitness without Hari-bhajana.
16. Our span of life on earth is short. Our life will be crowned with success if the body wears out with constant discourses on Hari.
17. We are here on earth not to work as artisans for making big buildings with wood and stone but to work only as messengers for the teachings of Sri Caitanya Deva.
18. A sycophant (a person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer) is neither a guru or a preacher.
19. To transform the adverse desires of the jivas is the supreme duty of the most merciful. To rescue one person from the stronghold of Mahamaya is an act of superb benevolence, far superior to opening innumerable hospitals.
20. Unless we are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us.
21. Look within. Amend yourself, rather than pry into the frailties of others.
22. In this world of Maya, averse to the Lord, full of trials and tribulations, only patience, humility and respect for others are our friends for Hari-bhajana.
23. The Lord, Gaurasundara, puts His devotees in various difficulties and associations to test their patience and strength of mind. Success depends on their good fortune.
24. When faults in others misguide and delude you – have patience, introspect, find faults in yourself. Know that others cannot harm you unless you harm yourself.
25. I wish that every selfless, tender-hearted person of Gaudiya Math will be prepared to shed two hundred gallons of blood for the nourishment of the spiritual corpus of every individual of this world.
Bijaya Kumara Das - July 17, 2009 7:02 pm
SPIRITUAL WISDOM
BY BHAKTISIDDHANTA SARASVATI
1. We are put to test and trial in this world. Only those who attend the kirtana of the devotees can succeed.
2. Every spot on earth where discourses on God are held is a place of pilgrimage.
3. Possession of objects not related to Krsna is our main malady.
4. Let me not desire anything but the highest good for my worst enemies.
5. As dalliance with the body in luxury increases, so wanes the spirit of service of the Lord.
6. Those favored by God find their paths set by thorns.
7. There is no peace or happiness in our worldly life. Circumstances create turmoil and annoyance.
8. Chant the maha mantra loudly and with attachment. This will drive away inertia, worldly evils and pests.
9. Be indifferent to bazaar gossips, stick firmly to your cherished goals, no lack or impediments of the world will ever stand in your way.
10. Pay due respects to the extroverts of the world, but do not be appreciative of their manners and conduct. They are to be shaken off from your mind.
11. A devotee feels the presence of God everywhere, but one averse to the Lord denies His existence anywhere.
12. You cannot appreciate transcendental matters with the reasoning of the world. It is sheer nonsense to decry them with the measuring stick of your intellect.
13. To recite the name of Sri Krsna is bhakti.
14. Life is for the glorification of topics on Hari. If that is stopped, then what need is there to carry on life.
15. Physical illness with Hari-bhajana is preferred to physical fitness without Hari-bhajana.
16. Our span of life on earth is short. Our life will be crowned with success if the body wears out with constant discourses on Hari.
17. We are here on earth not to work as artisans for making big buildings with wood and stone but to work only as messengers for the teachings of Sri Caitanya Deva.
18. A sycophant (a person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer) is neither a guru or a preacher.
19. To transform the adverse desires of the jivas is the supreme duty of the most merciful. To rescue one person from the stronghold of Mahamaya is an act of superb benevolence, far superior to opening innumerable hospitals.
20. Unless we are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us.
21. Look within. Amend yourself, rather than pry into the frailties of others.
22. In this world of Maya, averse to the Lord, full of trials and tribulations, only patience, humility and respect for others are our friends for Hari-bhajana.
23. The Lord, Gaurasundara, puts His devotees in various difficulties and associations to test their patience and strength of mind. Success depends on their good fortune.
24. When faults in others misguide and delude you – have patience, introspect, find faults in yourself. Know that others cannot harm you unless you harm yourself.
25. I wish that every selfless, tender-hearted person of Gaudiya Math will be prepared to shed two hundred gallons of blood for the nourishment of the spiritual corpus of every individual of this world.
Thank you for making my day. Ki jaya Gurudeva
Radhakunda Das - July 18, 2009 7:52 pm
Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'
They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a for ever good-bye?'.
'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
He then began to cry and walked away.
Gaura-Vijaya Das - April 14, 2010 4:14 am
From the best selling author Chetan Bhagat
I went to the ISKCON temple in Chowpatty and met His Holiness Radhanath Swami, an American gentleman who moved to India several decades ago and devoted his life to serve God. I told him I couldn’t sleep because of the anxiety over the fact that there will be a million judgments on my work, both positive and negative, in the coming days.He said,"Imagine, there is a puddle. When it rains, the puddle is filled with water. When it doesn’t, the puddle dries up. Now compare that to the ocean. The ocean is so deep, it doesn’t matter if it rains above or it is dry weather. Your inner depth should be as much as the ocean, so you are not fazed by the external praise or criticism.For that, you must truly do work that is meaningful to you, have love in your heart for others and help people. And when you achieve inner depth, the external world’s rewards won’t matter to you as much."
Yamuna Dasi - September 3, 2010 7:02 am
"In following the will of God is the strength of human soul."
Peter Danov, a great spiritual teacher from Bulgaria, and these words of him are written on his grave with no name on it as per his request
Yamuna Dasi - September 4, 2010 8:27 am
I know that here is a thread for just sharing quotes, but cannot agree with this quote from Mahatma Gandhi given above and think it should not be published in Harmonist since this quote has disharmony in itself:
“The message of Jesus has proved ineffective because the environment was unready to receive it.”
Mahatma Gandhi
It seems to me that Mahatma Gandhi failed to realize that the effectiveness of the message of a great soul cannot be measured by the reactions of the environment or its readiness to accept it. And if by saying this Mahatma Gandhi meant the fact Jesus was killed by the environment, so was he himself. And still the messages they gave were effective and the act of being killed contributed to their effectiveness stamping them with the brave acceptance of death. "Die to live" was their true proof of effectiveness.
When some time ago I was trying to solve in my mind and heart the problem where to position on the altar of my heart and mind Mahatma Gandhi, my guru told me a sentence which helped me to solve the problem: "He was a saintly politician but not a political saint". Even now this explains to me why he was unable to appreciate the role of Christ's mission and the irony of fate is that if the same criteria has to be applied to the "effectiveness" of Ghandis' message, the sentence would have to sound the same way. But in both ways it's not true according to Gita's teaching and history.
As I can quote by memory another saying of Ghandi: "Unfortunately the throne of Sri Guru in my heart remained empty." It seems to me that this explains his failure to understand Jesus since a true guru would have formed his vision in a way to be able to measure differently Jesus and the effectiveness of his message.
Anyway Mahatma Ghandi is a great soul and the only thing which could made me say any word of critics about him is the present situation, when what he said offends another great soul.
Nitaisundara Das - September 4, 2010 1:56 pm
None of these quotes are going on the HArmonist. We changed our mind and never ended up introducing a quotes section.