CLAIM YOUR PROMISE The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will

rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you wi th singing. - (Zephaniah 3:17) Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. ... Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. Dogen "When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and lau gh at the sky." There is no place in Buddhism for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Relieve your bowels, pass water, ...put on your clothes, and eat your food. When you're tired, go and lie down. Ignorant people will laugh at me, but the wise will understand. Lin Chi Buddhism promises nothing. It teaches us to be what we are, where we are, consta ntly, and it teaches us to relate to our living situations accordingly. That see ms to be the way to proceed on our highway without being distracted by the sidet racks and exits of all kinds. The signs say: "Tibetan Village, ...next exit"; Ja panese Village, next exit"; Nirvana, next exit"; Enlightenment, next exit -- ins tant one"; Disneyland, next exit." You get what you are promised. But after havi ng gone to Disneyland or having taken part in the Nirvana Festival, then you hav e to think about how you are going to get back to your car, how you are going to get home. This means you have to get back on the highway once more. It is unavo idable. From "The Eightfold Path," in The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation Immovable Mind by Yung-ming Yen-shou You wish to know the spirit of Yung-ming Zen? Look at the lake in front of the gate. ...When the sun shines, it radiates light and brightness, When the wind comes, there arise ripples and waves. from The Golden Age of Zen

To what shall I compare this life of ours? Even before I can say

it is like a lightning flash or a dewdrop it is no more. ... - Sengai ?"Your mind must become one, do not try to understand with your ears but with y our heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul." Chuang Tzu as human beings we have the capacity to enjoy limitless, blissful happiness there i s nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confu sed way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness i nto a source of pain and dissatisfaction. It is grasping and attachment tha...t is the problem, not the pleasure themselves " Lama Thubten Yeshe Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, dem anding, hysterical, calculating the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose s till voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to you have uncovere d in yourself your own wise guide. Sogyal Rinpoche n Leadership A leader leads by example whether he intends to or not. -Unknown

Nothing is as important as what you actually do. Not your intentions, not your p romises, not your suggestions. ... Today is your opportunity to put thoughts and words into deeds. Not because peop le are watching; not because they may follow your lead, but solely because the d oing, in itself, can make a difference in the world. What you do from day to day matters if you make it matter. You never know how today s kindness, generosity, integrity, or ingenuity will ripp le into tomorrow. What example will you set today? Everyday we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize:a blue sky, w hite clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eye s. All is a miracle.-Thich Nhat Hanh If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work. Nhat Hanh In order to rally people, governments need enemies... if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us. Nhat Hanh In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. Nhat Hanh People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom? Nhat Hanh

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, an d being peace that we can make peace. Nhat Hanh Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. Nhat Hanh The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic o f human actions. Nhat Hanh We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a w ill to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only o ur own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love. Nhat Hanh Nothing can match the strength of those whose lives have been shaped and forged through challenging and overcoming hardships. Such people fear nothing. The purp ose of our Buddhist practice is to develop such strength and fortitude. To culti vate such an invincible core is in itself a victory. It is also the greatest ben efit. Those who ...can succeed in this endeavor will savor unsurpassed happiness ; they can manifest the supreme state of Buddhahood. - Daisaku Ikeda On Ends & Beginnings Letting go isn t the end of the world; it s the beginning of a new life. -Unknown

When you ve loved every moment of an experience, it can feel like a death to watch it fade into yesterday. ... When a relationship ends, it might feel like you ll never love or smile again. Whe n a job ends, you might think you ll never feel fulfilled in your work again. You will. Just like every experience is impermanent, every feeling eventually fa des and morphs into something else. Happiness becomes sadness becomes happiness again. If you re willing to let go of yesterday and stay open to possibilities today, you just may be surprised by how much you gain after a loss. What new world might you be creating today? Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is. ...In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day, 'one who knows the better way to live alone.'

- Bhaddekaratta Sutta o be angry is to let others' mistakes punish yourself. To forgive others is to be good to yourself. - Master ChengYen I am the master of my own mind, The bases of power are well developed; I am freed from every kind of bondage, Therefore I don't fear you, friend. ... Bhikkhuni Uppalavanna

To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear. Water surrounds th e lotus flower, but does not wet its petals. = Buddha The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can d o to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently." - Pema Chodran If you talk much, this will make you deaf to what others say, and you should know that there are few so wise that they cannot learn from others. Be near when help is needed, but far when praise and thanks are being offered. ...Take small account of might, wealth and fame, for they soon pass and are forg otten. - Dhammavadaka "Whoever sees me sees the teaching, and whoever sees the teaching sees me." Siddhartha Gautama Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, ...As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth. - Sutta Nipata In the light of his vision he has found his freedom: his thoughts are peace, his words are peace and his work is peace. - Dhammapada Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. ...What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. If you haven t wept deeply, you haven t begun to meditate.

- Ajhan Chah All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditi ons. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else. - Buddha BUDDHA BLESS If your spiritual practice and the demands of your everyday life are not in harm ony, it means there's something wrong with the way you are practicing. Your practice should satisfy your dissatisfied mind while providing solutions to the problems of everyday life. If it doesn't, check carefully to see what you really understand about yo...ur r eligious practice. - Lama Yeshe Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, ...As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth. - Sutta Nipata My place is on cold mountain perched on a cliff beyond the circuit of affliction images leave no trace when they vanish I roam the whole galaxy from here lights and shadows flash across my mind ...not one dharma comes before me since I found the magic pearl I can go anywhere, everywhere it s perfect - Han Shan Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Sutta Nipata Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute to the elevation of your spiritual practice, provided you are able to transform calamity and misfortune into the path. ...- Dzogchen Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires. ...- Lao-Tzu What is this world condition? Body is the world condition.

And with body and form goes feeling, perception, consciousness, and all the activities throughout the world. The arising of form and the ceasing of form --...everything that has been heard, sensed, and known, sought after and reached by the mind --all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized. - Samyutta Nikaya GATE, GATE, PARAGATE, PARASAMGATE, BODHI SVAHA: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone al together beyond. What ecstasy! Alleluia! STHIR SUKHAM ASANAM" The Hadiqa' is the essential fragrance of the path of love. Just as Sosan has be en able to catch the very soul of Zen, Hakim Sanai has been able to catch the ve ry soul of Sufism. All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefitting others. - Milarepa Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. Buddha In fact, everything we encounter in this world with our six senses is an inkblot test. You see what you are thinking and feeling, seldom what you are looking at. - Shiqin One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom? The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, ...is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.

- Sent-Ts'an There are thousands upon thousands of students who have practised meditation and obtained its fruits. Do not doubt its possibilities because of the simplicity of the method. If you can not find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? ... Dogen Our modern Western culture only recognises the first of these, freedom of desires. It then worships such a freedom by enshrining it at the forefront of national constituitions and bills of human rights. One can say that the underlying creed of most Western democracies ...is to protect their people's freedom to realise their desires, as far as this is possible. It is remarkable that in such countries people do not feel very free. The second kind of freedom, freedom from desires, is celebrated only in some religious communities. It celebrates contentment, peace that is free from desires.

- Ajahn Brahm In the sky,there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be tr ue. - Buddha When one does what Buddhas do, one is a Buddha. When one does what Bodhisattvas do, one is a Bodhisattva. When one does what Arhats do, one is an Arhat. When one does what ghosts do, one is a ghost. These are all natural phenomena. There are no shortcuts in cultivation. If you wish others to know about your good deeds, they are not truly good deeds. If you fear others will find out about your bad deeds, those are truly bad deeds. - Master Hsuan Hua The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. ...The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. The greatest patience is humility. The greatest effort is not concerned with results. The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. - Atisha The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temple s on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in ou r hearts. - Dzogchen When we trust with our open heart, whatever occurs, at the very moment that it o ccurs, can be perceived as fresh and unstained by the clouds of hope and fear. C hogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used the phrase, "first thought, best thought" to refer to that first moment of fresh perception, before the colorful and coloring cloud s of judgment an...d personal interpretation take over. "First thought" is "best thought" because it has not yet got covered over by all our opinions and interpretations, our hopes and fears, our likes and dislikes. It is direct perception of the world as it is. Sometimes we discover "first thou ght, best thought" by relaxing into the present moment in a very simple way. Jeremy Hayward The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal w ith. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel con fident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.

- Pema Chodron The perfection of generosity is said to be The thought to give all beings everything, Together with the fruit of such a thought. Hence, it is simply a state of mind. ...- Santideva Bodhicaryavatara "Truth is not a belief, it is utter intelligence. It is a flare-up of the hidden sources of your life, it is an enlightening experience of your consciousness. B ut you will have to give the right space for it to happen. And the right space is accepting yourself as you are." Osho # What you don't know, if you accept that you do not know it, there will be grow th - - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Friday, December 11, 2009 6:07:36 PM via web # If you have to do something that you do not like, you can only do it conscious ly; there is no other way to do it - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Wednesday, December 02, 2009 10:03:46 PM via web # You have become a disciple of the devil if your whole life is about making dea ls. The devil is always making a deal with somebody - Jaggi Monday, November 30, 2009 10:48:59 PM via web # You believe in things that you have not seen and experienced. This has become the basis of all conflict - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Friday, November 27, 2009 10 :45:03 PM via web # The complexities that one encounters on the spiritual path aren't because of t he path, Only because of the mess that is your mind - Jaggi Tuesday, November 24 , 2009 10:27:32 PM via web # Accepting the other team is most important. When acceptance is total, there is no more Opposition - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Monday, November 23, 2009 5:43:05 PM via web # The closer the relationship is, the more effort you should make to understand them. - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Friday, November 20, 2009 10:51:22 PM via web # If you are seeking something beyond survival, then the sense perceptions are n ot enough - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:58:17 PM via web # Without being capable of bringing peace into your life, there's no way you're going to be capable of bringing peace to the world - Jaggi Monday, November 16, 2009 6:05:31 PM via web # Once the stillness comes into your life, then the mind also becomes absolutely still. At the time your intelligence explodes -Sadhguru Jaggi Sunday, November 15, 2009 11:23:06 PM via web # Genuine or fake guru? Whether it s halogen or candlelight, when it lights up, it clears the darkness. Rest is not your problem - Jaggi Saturday, November 14, 20 09 12:45:45 PM via web # Intelligence is like a flashlight. If you flash it, it ll just show you what s in front - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Friday, November 13, 2009 11:38:31 AM via web # As we have physical science to create external well-being there is a whole inn er dimension of science to create inner well being - Sadhguru Thursday, November

12, 2009 11:22:55 AM via web # This life for me is an endeavor to help people experience and express their di vinity. May you know the bliss of the divine - Sadhguru Jaggi Wednesday, Novembe r 11, 2009 10:53:30 AM via web # If you are deeply involved with the simplest aspects of your life, you will se e every aspect of your life as spectacular - Sadhguru Jaggi Monday, November 09, 2009 10:46:35 PM via web # Work is an expression of who you are. So who you are is what needs to be worke d out - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Sunday, November 08, 2009 10:59:16 PM via web # Karma can be compared to a seed, they are just waiting for the right kind of a tmosphere to take effect - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Friday, November 06, 2009 10: 08:42 AM via web # Religions of the world are not about one man s belief against another, but an op portunity for all humans to their own ultimate source- Jaggi Thursday, November 05, 2009 3:47:02 PM via web # If something is easily attainable, people go for it. Not really seeing whether they really need it in their lives or not - Sadhguru Jaggi Wednesday, November 04, 2009 11:19:03 PM via web # What you call 'life' itself is energy. So, if you want to function on a higher plane of life, you need a higher quality of energy - Jaggi Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:31:07 AM via web # Unfortunately most people are still lame. They always need a stick to walk. Wi thout a crutch they cannot walk - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 10:34 AM Nov 2nd, 2009 via web # A spiritual process is neither an invention, nor something that you create. It is just a life process - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 9:56 AM Oct 30th, 2009 via web # When you wanting to know some thing is so Intense that you are willing to die for it, then knowing is not far away - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev 5:18 PM Oct 28th, 2009 via web # Personality means the mask that, got stuck to your face! after some time you re not able to take off the mask - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 5:57 PM Oct 27th, 2009 v ia web # In the process of trying to be happy, we are destroying the world; but still i t is not happy - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 9:55 AM Oct 26th, 2009 via web # Personality means the mask that you are holding, got stuck to your face!, you re not able to take off the mask after some time - Sadhguru 2:57 PM Oct 23rd, 2009 via web # Just Desire the Hightest in Life. All Your Passions, direct them to the Highes t - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 9:36 AM Oct 22nd, 2009 via web # When you are angry then you cannot be loving, you cant suddenly turn your ange r into love, but the anger itself can be directed - Jaggi 5:59 PM Oct 20th, 2009 via web # Do you know that you can play with culture because it is purely subjective? Cu lture is a science - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 4:52 PM Oct 19th, 2009 via web

# Once the stillness comes into your life, then the mind also becomes absolutely still. Then your intelligence explodes - Jaggi Vasudev. 10:04 PM Oct 17th, 2009 via web # Whenever you are happy, the real source of happiness is within you - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 11:48 PM Oct 14th, 2009 via web # Positive thinking is about trying to escape reality - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 5:46 PM Oct 13th, 2009 via web # Just educate your passions, educate your desires to flow in the right directio n, that is all. Fighting them will be a waste of life. - Jaggi 11:01 PM Oct 10th , 2009 via web # To play certain roles, you put on a mask, and after some time, you re not able t o take off the mask. That is a personality - Jaggi Vasudev. 11:10 PM Oct 9th, 20 09 via web # You should have built your personality very consciously, but unfortunately for most people, over 90% built unconsciously. - Jaggi Vasudev. 6:19 PM Oct 8th, 20 09 via web # One of the basic qualities of meditation is, it creates a distance between you and your personality - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 7:01 PM Oct 7th, 2009 via web # Individual transformation is the way to global transformation - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 12:41 PM Oct 6th, 2009 via web # As many colors of the rainbow are an outcome of one pure light, many religions of the world are an expression of the same divine source. 9:08 AM Oct 5th, 2009 via web # A world full of love, light and laughter - its time has come --- - Sadhguru Ja ggi Vasudev. 12:23 PM Oct 1st, 2009 via web # Nothing to do with morality the maximum damage to this world has been done with good intensions. - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. # Spirituality is about acting out of your inner humanity, if you go deeper, you l l be acting out of inner divinity. - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 12:05 PM Sep 29th, 2009 via web # Mind is just a garbage bin. --- Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. 12:02 AM Sep 25th, 200 9 via web # How can you love one and hate the other, when the same divine exists in all. 5 :10 PM Sep 23rd, 2009 via web If you are rooted in reality there will be no fear. If you can joyfully accept the consequence, do what you want; if it is that you will cry when the consequence comes, better be conscious about what you do. A genuine seeker, a person who develops an urge within, will always find his Gur u. He may find it in a man, in a woman, or he may find it even in a rock. He wil l definitely find it somewhere, there is no doubt about it. If a man is intelligent everything that happens is an opportunity; if a man is s tupid everything that happens is a disaster. Life is far beyond meaning, Life is beyond meaning and that's why it is so beaut iful

When you wanting to know some thing is so Intense that you are willing to die fo r it, then knowing is not far away. The moment you make a conclusion, as to what should be at the other end, you are no more a seeker you are a vested interest. You're just an imitation of what is around you, it's just that you don't imitate one person;you take bits and pieces of hundred people and make yourself. Religions of the world are not bout one man s belief against another, but an oppor tunity for all humans to reach to their common ultimate source. Spirituality is about acting out of your inner humanity, if you go deeper, you ll be acting out of inner divinity. As many colors of the rainbow are an outcome of one pure light, many religions o f the world are an expression of the same divine source. The fear is simply because you are not living with life, You are living in your mind. Whatever is your highest, you just contemplate upon that. Your inner and o uter purity will happen naturally. Being with a Master is never comfortable, because He will break all your limitat ions, all your ideologies. Man needs entertainment simply to hide his madness. If he was perfectly sane, h e would not need entertainment. He could just sit and watch this bamboo grow. He does not really need entertainment Till something becomes a reality in our life, if we talk about it, it amounts t o lying. The whole world is lying to themselves and to everybody about God. People have come to the conclusion that body means pain. And yet, just the righ t food, practices and a little change in attitude, and this body becomes a mirac le. Once the stillness comes into your life, then the mind also becomes absolutely still. When your mind becomes still, your intelligence explodes. You can be deeply involved with everything, but still not be identified with it any more. When your happiness is dependant upon what is happening outside of y ou, constantly you live as a slave to the external situation. If you are truly a seeker of Truth, Truth can not hide from you. It is in the La p of truth that you have happened. Most people who claim to be seekers are only seeking security, solace, or the fulfillment of their desires. Do not try to live by morals, ethics, slogans. These are all very poor substitut es for awareness. Be couscious and aware, you will see life the way it is. Just Desire the Hightest in Life. All Your Passions, direct them to the Highest . Even if you get Angry, direct it only towards Shiva. Even with your Passion, t hat's the way to do it. Every bit of energy that you have, you expend it by making it into desire, pass ion, fear, anger, and many other things. May be these emotions are not in your h ands for now, but channeling them in one direction is in your hands. May be when you are angry then you cannot be loving, you cant suddenly turn your anger into love, but the anger itself can be directed. A humanity which has done nothing for its inner well being - how can it create e

xternal well being? How do you expect it to work? Whenever you are happy, the real source of happiness is within you. It bubbles up. It is just that you are looking for an external stimulus to make you happy. The guru is someone who continuously punctures your ego, yet is your friend. If you really want better situations to live in for yourself and everybody, you mus t stop playing petty politics within yourself and around yourself. Only when you truly start seeking what is beyond the physical body, the spiritua l processes open up for you. Positive thinking is about trying to escape reality. It s about wanting to look at one side of life, and missing out on another. You may ignore the other, but the other will not ignore you. Right now, you can choose to ignore a black cloud in the sky, but it s not going to ignore you If you want to know the joy of activity, first and foremost thing is that you must know how to give yourself to activity with total abandon. The world is trying to do so many things. We're trying to go to the moon, to Mar s, but, fundamentally, I feel the most important thing is human consciousness, t he quality of life here. How happy we are here simply depends on how we are with in ourselves. Fundamentally, the only thing you can give is yourself. Blissfulness is not a rare visitor in your life, blissfulness is your constant c ompanion, because that is the nature of your being. Spirituality is about acting out of your inner humanity, if you go deeper, you ll be acting out of inner divinity. As many colors of the rainbow are an outcome of one pure light, many religions o f the world are an expression of the same divine source. The word guru means dispeller of darkness.

What you know as the highest, you just seek that. It doesn t matter whether it is going to happen or not going to happen, simply living with the vision itself is very elevating, is itself very liberating, is itself a very joyous process for a ny person. Every human being is a unique human being When your Sadhana (Spiritual Practice) is based on hope and fear, you won't atta in to anything. Do your Sadhana (Spiritual Practice) joyfully, not with the hope of making it or the fear of not making it. Just do it joyfully. You are not using your intelligence to reach the peak of your consciousness, to become peaceful and loving. You are using your intelligence to drive yourself c razy.You know everything about the world, but you do not know anything about you rself. This is a ridiculous way to live. Spiritual process does not mean looking up, or looking down, or looking around. It is about looking inward. When it is no more about you, you can live your life and do your life in total a

bandon; because there is nothing to gain nothing to lose. You being too involved with your mind and emotion means you are too enamored wit h your own creation, you have no time for the creation of the creator. Because you do not know how to keep your systems in balance, because you can t han dle reality, you succumb to positive thinking. You want to skip the negative and just think positive. What you pursue will not be the strongest point in you. Wh at you try to avoid becomes the basis of your consciousness. Positive thinking c an have some psychological relevance, but no existential relevance whatsoever. If you look at the organization, capability and the certainty with which a simpl e ant is conducting its life, you will see you are quite stupid. Wanting to be special is a sickness, it is taking a huge toll on life. In trying to be special, people are doing all kinds of ridiculous things. The greatest crime that you can do to humanity is to teach your children that su ffering is a part of their life. You have taken away the possibility of them bei ng joyous human beings. In relinquishing the limited, the unlimited becomes yours, But the price is, wha t is YOU does not exist anymore. When who you are and what you are is not decided by any external forces, then yo u are in dignity. If you are not half hearted, if you are a full blooded involvement with everythi ng that you are doing you will see every simple thing is a miracle. When you become meditative, you will see, your intellectual capabilities will in crease many times more than what it is right now. Not because meditation makes y ou intelligent, but because meditation clears up the mess, the muck that s gathere d on the glass of the flashlight. As your meditation deepens, it just clears up the muck more and more and the flashlight becomes more and more powerful. It sho ws you things more and more clearly. Whether we are talking about Kundalini or simple plain energy as in the English language, it's basically about raising ourselves to a higher level of energy. Wh at you call 'life' itself is energy. So, if you want to function on a higher pla ne of life, you need a higher level, a higher quality of energy. The contradiction within a human being is simply because he is trying to mentall y figure out things that he has not experienced. Only when people begin to thing beyond their own wellbeing, something beautiful is possible in the society. Exploration is what is needed - not ideology. Ideology means you have made your summary of life. If life can be summed up, it is not worth living. If you are aware that you are a nobody and you act out your role, this is enligh

tenment. Only when you are truly happy, you can be concerned about somebody. When you are unhappy you are only concerned about yourself. Once you know how to be aware, once the neccessary awareness - to be away from y our own body, to be away from your own mind - has come to you, don't even bother about your karmas. Just see how to deepen this awareness. We know how to go to the moon, but the tragedy is that we still do not know how to live on planet earth. By fixing the outside, life can become comfortable and convenient. But human bei ngs will not know well being unless they fix their interiority. Once you have a thinking mind, a questioning mind, or a doubting mind, you shoul d not talk about devotion. It just leads to enormous deception. Confidence can do things for you but confidence without clarity is a big disaste r on the planet. The sign of intelligence is that you are constantly wondering. Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life. Every human being is capable of living absolutely blissfully within himself. The y have denied themselves this because they never looked at themselves. What you can do and what you cannot do outside is always a question of capabilit y. But when it comes to the inside it is just a question of willingness. If you can bring love into your breath, into your step, into every act that you do, not towards anybody or anything; if you can just bring the longing to merge with everything around you, then creation will lead you on to the creator. The past experience of life is ruling you from within. Unless you break this kar mic grip there is no such thing as freedom in thought and action. Essence of spirituality is that we are constantly aware of the oneness of who we are, at the same time we celebrate the uniqueness of the individual. If you are not seeing life the way it is, you can only live by accident. You are a potential calamity and fear and anxiety is very natural. Anything that does not enhance the possibility of life is of no consequence to t he creation, or to the creator. If you really pay attention to life, life will blossom within you. If you do not pay attention, you are somewhere else, then life could go wrong. If you know that you are stupid, you wont attach too much importance to your tho

ught. You will start looking at life and your intelligence will flower. You claim that you love somebody, but if they dont fulfill your needs, you wont love them. I dont call this love, I call this mutual benefit scheme. Everybody is making Choices; even their compulsions are their choices. Choices m ade in unawareness are compulsions. Let us say you get angry right now. It is yo ur choice, actually, to be angry. Somewhere, you believe that's the way to handl e the situation, but the choice is made in such unawareness that is is a compuls ion; it's happening compulsively on a different level. So you are living by choi ce, but choices are made with out awareness - unconscious choices. If you cultivate your body, mind, emotion and energy in the right direction, med iation will happen. It is not something that you do, it is a quality. Everyday, twice a day if you are reminded that you will also die, then naturally you will move towards knowing higher dimensions of perception. If your experience of life transcends the limitations of the physical, only then we can say you are spiritual. Only if one makes himself available to higher and higher possibilies, then Grace can descend and do something that you yourself could never do. If you have any intention of knowing or touching the ultimate in this life, then giving yourself in parts is no good. A devotee has no other goal except to dissolve into his object of devotion. But you have your own personal agenda and still you call yourself a devotee. Everybody has their own understanding, ideas, opinions of the world. They know t hese are not worth anything, yet they are not willing to keep it down. Your desires and passions are just like this. If you try and fight with them, if you chop them, they will spill blood, and with every drop, a hundred or a thous and will come up. There is no point fighting them. Just educate your passions, e ducate your desires to flow in the right direction, that is all. You can never f ight them. Fighting them will be futile, it will be a waste of life. . With every single action, consciously or unconsciously, people are trying to be happy. So one way, in this level of living, in this dimension of existence, happ iness is the goal of everything that man is doing. But if you look at life, we h ave done so much in this world for our happiness. But all we have ended up with is creating more and more comfort and convenience-but not happiness. Without working on human consciousness, trying to change social or national or g lobal realities means there is no serious intention. When we say everything is maya or illusion, maya does not mean it does not exist , maya simply means that you are not seeing it the way it is. If YOU are not there, enlightenment is instantaneous. If YOU are there, you have to walk till you wear out.

In reality there is only Now. If you know how to handle this moment you know how to handle the whole eternity. When any being calls or really yearns, the existence answers. If the thirst with in you is strong enough, God always answers. Higher dimensions of Awareness mean s Higher dimensions of energy. When you just look at the long term span of this creation, you are just a tiny h appening. But you think too much of yourself, that is the biggest problem. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and af fection. - Buddha We pray for our life of tomorrow, Ephemeral life though it be; This is the habit of our mind That passed away yesterday. - Ikkyu The sound of the water says what I think. Lao Tzu In the morning, bowing to all; In the evening, bowing to all. Respecting others is my only duty-Hail to the Never-despising Bodhisattva. ...In heaven and earth he stands alone. A real monk Needs Only one thing-a heart like Never-despising Buddha. - Ryokan When you hear the splash Of the water drops that fall Into the stone bowl, You will feel that all the dust Of your mind is washed away. ... - Zen Tea Master You're the only one who knows when you're using things to protect yourself and k eep your ego together and when you're opening and letting things fall apart, let ting the world come as it is - working with it rather than struggling against it . You're the only one who knows. - Pema Chodron The man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my m ost ungrudging love; and the more evil comes from him, the more good shall go fr om me. - Buddha