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”