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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Date: Wed Jun 11, 2003 7:07 am
Subject: Silence,Self,Effort,Suffering,Memorial,Service

http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...ilosophy&show=0&cid=62835

Silence,Self,Effort,Suffering,Memorial,Service

IN THE SILENCE OF THE HEART

I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the
heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to
listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us
and through us that matters.

- Mother Teresa, `Mother Teresa, A Simple Path'

We believe profoundly in silence-the sign of a perfectequilibrium.
Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.
Those who can preserve their selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the
storms of existence-not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree;
not a ripple upon the shining pool-those, in the mind of the person
of nature, possess the ideal attitude and conduct of life.

If you ask us, `What is silence?' we will answer, `It is the Great
Mystery. The holy silence is God's voice.'

If you ask, `What are the fruits of silence?' we will answer, `They
are self-control, true courage of endurance,
patience, dignity, and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of
character.'

- Ohiyesa, Charles Alexander Eastman, `The Soul Of An Indian'

Build your inner environment. Practice Silence! I remember the
wonderful discipline of the Great Ones. When we used to talk and
chatter, they would say: "Go back into your inner castle."
It was very hard to comprehend then, but now I understand the way of
peace that we were shown.

- Paramahansa Yogananda, `Spiritual Diary'

SELF

You can't fight the ego. Accept the ego, and let it go on. This
understanding will gradually push the ego back.

- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels" Ramesh S. Balsekar Advaita Press, 1966

SUSTAINED EFFORT

This Atman, resplendent and pure, whom the sinless disciples behold
residing within the body, is attained by inceasing practice of
truthfulness, austerity, right knowledge, and continence.

- Mundaka Upanishad

Train yourself in godliness; for while bodily training is of some
value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for
the present life and also for the life to come.

- Christian Epistles, 1 Timothy

By sustained effort, earnestness, discipline, and self-control, let
the wise man make for himself an island which no flood can overwhelm.
- Buddhist, Dhammapada 25

SUFFERING

We can only play at driving the ball from one place to another. We
take away pain from the physical plane, and it goes to the mental
one. It is like that picture in Dante's hell where the misers were
given a mass of gold to roll up a hill. Every time they rolled it up
a little, it again rolled down.

- Vivekananda

SINCERITY

Where are the four castes today in this country? Answer me, [brahmins
of Bengal]. I do not see the four castes. Just as our Bengali proverb
has it: " A headache without a head", so you want to make this
varnashrama [caste system] here. There are not [the traditional] four
castes here. I see only the brahmin and the shudra. If there are
kshatriyas and vaishyas, where are they and why do you brahmins not
order them to take the yajnopavita [investiture with the sacred
thread] and study the Vedas, as every Hindu ought to do? And if the
vaishyas and kshatriyas do not exist, but only the brahmins and
shudras, the Shastras say that the brahmin must not live where there
are only shudras; so, depart, bag and baggage! Do you know what the
Shastras say about people who have been eating mlechchha [non-Hindu]
food and living under the government of the mlechchhas, as you have
been doing for the past thousand years? Do you know the penance for
that? The penance would be burning yourself with your own hands. Do
you want to pass as teachers and walk like hypocrites? If you believe
in your Shastras, burn yourself first like the one great brahmin who
went with Alexander the Great and burnt himself because he thought he
had eaten the food of a mlechchha. Do like that, and you will see
that the whole nation will be at your feet. You do not believe your
own Shastras and yet want to make others believe in them. If you
think you are not able to do that in this age, admit your weakness
and excuse the weakness of others; take the other castes up, give
them a helping hand, let them study the Vedas and become just as good
Aryans as any other Aryans in the world, and be you likewise
Aryans. - Vivekananda

SHRADDHA (MEMORIAL)

The meaning of the mantras in the shraddha ceremony [for ancestors]
is very edifying. The mantras depict the suffering and care undergone
by our parents on our behalf. The performance of it is an honor paid
to the memory of the sum total of the spirits of our forebears, whose
virtues we inherit. Sraddha has nothing to do with one's salvation.
Yet no Hindu who loves his or her religion, his or her country, his
or her past and his or her great forebears should give up shraddha.
The outward formalities and the feeding of brahmins are not
essential. We have no brahmins in these days worthy of being fed on
shraddha days. The brahmins fed ought not to be professional eaters,
but brahmins who feed disciples gratis and teach them true Vedic
doctrines. In these days, shraddha may be performed mentally. -
Vivekananda

SELF

The wise man who, by means of concentration on the Self, realises
that ancient, effulgent One, who is hard to be seen, unmanifest,
hidden and who dwells in the buddhi and rests in the body-he, indeed,
leaves joy and sorrow far behind.
- Yajur Veda, Katha Upanishad (1.2.12)

It is not always physical bravery that counts. One must have the
courage to face life as it is, to go through sorrows and always
sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.
- African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Saying (Kenya)

SERVICE

Without selfless service are no objectives fulfilled; In service lies
the purest action.
- Sikh Adi Granth

I began to live to give what I could, instead of to get what I could,
and I entered a new and wonderful world.
- Peace Pilgrim

I tell you these things that you may learn wisdom; that you may learn
that when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only
in the service of your God.
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Book of Mormon

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