Cool Quotes

The Doors of Perception

2011-02-21T09:49:00.002+11:00

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narow chinks of his cavern.

William Blake, A Memorable Fancy

The Mystery of Vibrations

2009-09-30T10:02:00.000+10:00

Whoever knows the mystery of vibrations indeed knows all things.

Hazrat Inayat Khan (Sufi, 1882-1927)

Before you speak

2009-03-10T08:50:00.000+11:00

Before you speak, ask yourself:
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?
Is it true?
Does it improve upon the silence?

Sai Nath of Shirdi, (c1838 - 1918)

New Year

2009-01-03T17:09:00.001+11:00

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

G. K. Chesterton

This universe is one

2009-01-01T10:41:00.001+11:00

We have to believe in the totality, in the universality. This universe is one. God has not made them separate. All religions are one; coming from the same Source. So we believe in every religion, we follow every religion; and the whole concept of nations is also mythical. The whole world was made one, with lots of rivers, mountains, and sea.

H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1991)

It is in you

2008-08-28T08:38:00.000+10:00

Jesus said:
I say to you, as for what you seek after and you enquire about, look, it is in you!

Dialogue of the Savior 16

When the heart is purified

2008-08-03T18:52:00.002+10:00

When the heart is purified with sincerity
Then even enemies become friends..
Tigers may come near but will never attack one.
Poison offered to such a one will turn into nectar,
Any harm directed towards him will result into good,
Harsh words will sound polite.
Any pain afflicted will become the source of happiness.
The flames of fire will turn cool.
For God All Merciful is pleased.
If one's heart is full of compassion,
If one loves others more than oneself,
God will look upon such a one with an eye of mercy
And bless his heart with His presence.

Saint Tukaram (1608-1660)

Tagore on Forgiveness

2008-06-19T23:02:00.001+10:00

Go not to the temple to put flowers on the feet of God
But
First Fill your own house with Fragrance of Love
Go not to the temple to light candles on the altar of god
But
First remove the darkness of sin from your heart.
Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer
But
First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen.
Go Not to the temple to pray on your bended knees
But
First bend down to lift someone who is downtroddden
Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins
But
First forgive those who have sinned against you

Listen, O Soul

2008-02-16T09:23:00.003+11:00

Listen, O soul, to my advice.
Do not become a den for foxes and snakes,
nor a hole for serpents and asps,
nor a lair for lions,
nor a shelter for vipers.
When these things happen to you,
O soul, what will you do?
For these are the Powers of the Adversary.
You were a temple.
You made yourself a tomb.
Stop being a tomb, and become a temple again,
so that uprightness and divinity may remain in you.
Light the light within you.
Do not put it out.

(from the Teachings of Silvanus, a Gnostic Christian text in the Nag Hammadi Libary)

Friends, don't remain asleep

2007-12-02T10:05:00.000+11:00

Friends, don’t remain asleep at the time of dawn.
This is the time of opening the doors, the time of nearness.
Those who are awake at dawn, find the Benevolence of God.
This is the time when soothing light of Truth pours forth.

Makhtumkuli (1733-late 1790s), Sufi poet and Turkmen nationalist.
This poem can be read both literally and metaphorically.

Yusuf Islam

2007-04-06T10:01:00.001+10:00

Don't you feel the day is coming

2007-04-02T09:11:00.000+10:00

Don't you feel the day is coming, and it won't be too soon
When the people of the world can all live in one room
When we shake off the ancient,
shake off the ancient chains of our tomb
We will all be born again of the eternal womb.

Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, Don't you feel a change a coming? (1971)

There is a Water

2006-11-07T17:43:00.000+11:00

There is a Water that flows down from Heaven
To cleanse the world of sin by grace Divine.
At last, its whole stock spent, its virtue gone,
Dark with pollution not its own, it speeds
Back to the Fountain of all purities;
Whence, freshly bathed, earthward it sweeps again,
Trailing a role of glory bright and pure.

This Water is the Spirit of the Saints.
Which ever sheds, until itself is beggared,
God’s balm on the sick soul; and then returns
To Him who made the purest light of Heaven.

(Rumi)

I entered not knowing where

2006-11-06T18:31:00.000+11:00

I entered not knowing where.
And I remained not knowing.
Beyond all science knowing.

I did not know where I entered,
But when I saw myself there,
Not knowing where I entered,
Many things I suddenly learned;
I will not say what these things were,
For I remained not knowing,
Beyond all science knowing.

It was peace, it was love,
It was the perfect knowledge,
In deep loneliness
I saw with wisdom;
It was a thing so secret
I was left babbling and trembling,
Beyond all science knowing.

I was so far beyond,
So lost and absorbed,
I lost all my senses
I was of all sensing dispossessed;
And my spirit was filled
With knowledge not knowing,
Beyond all science knowing.

Whoever truly reaches there,
To himself he is lost;
All he knew before
Now appears very base;
But his knowledge grows,
And he remains not knowing
Beyond all science knowing. …

This knowing by not knowing,
Is of such high power,
That the arguments of the wise
Are unable to grasp it;
For their knowledge does not explain
Not to know knowing,
Beyond all science knowing.

And this exalted wisdom
Is of such excellence,
That no faculty of science
Can hope to reach it;
But he who learns to conquer himself
With this knowledge of not knowing,
Will always go beyond all science knowing.

(In this song, found in a manuscript of his works, Juan de la Cruz (a.k.a. John of the Cross)(1542-1591) described his entry into nirvikalpa-samadhi)

The great mystery

2006-11-05T17:49:00.000+11:00

The primary matter of all things is the “great mystery” … Like children are born to the mother, from the “great mystery” issues all things, with or without feelings, as well as the other things, all in the same manner. The “Great mystery” is the only mother of all mortal things.

(Paracelsus (1490-1541), Swiss spiritual alchemist)

When realisation came

2006-11-04T09:45:00.000+11:00

When realisation came to me, I was filled with joy and all fear departed from me.
I found pure deliverance in the realm of the unapproachable, the unthinkable.
The Unapproachable has come near, the message of the Unthinkable abides with me always, the Unutterable find utterance.
From separation I have come to Union.
The bonds of self are loosened, all error has fled, and the light of the Brahman shines upon my soul.

(Dadu Dayal (1544-1603) Rajasthan, India)

Reality

2006-11-04T09:37:00.000+11:00

1.Holding on to Reality is samadhi.
2.Holding on to samadhi with effort is savikalpa samadhi.
3.Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is nirvikalpa samadhi.
4.Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep.
5.Remaining in the primal, pure, natural state without effort is sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi

(Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950))

Sahaja Samadhi

2006-11-04T09:35:00.001+11:00

In yoga the term is used to indicate some kind of trance and there are various kinds of samadhi. But the samadhi I speak to you about is different. It is sahaja samadhi. In this state you remain calm and composed during activity. You realise that you are moved by the deeper self within and are unaffected by what you do or say or think. You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done by something with which you are in conscious union.

Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)

Beyond

2006-11-04T09:03:00.000+11:00

Dearest, (in the pinda exist) the (cakras) of five lines, 16 lines, sixty four petals, the truly beautiful 100 petal (lotus) and the beautiful thousand petal lotus and above this is a very brilliant 10,000,000 petal lotus. Above the 10,000,000 petal lotus is a 30,000,000 petal lotus, each pericarp of which is similar to a flame. Above this is the all encompassing, eternal, undivided, independent, steady lotus- pervading all, stainless. By its will (sveccha) it causes creation and dissolution. Both the animate and inanimate are dissolved in this linga.

(from the Nath text, the Kaulajnananirnaya, chapter 3)

When a man reflects

2006-11-03T20:03:00.000+11:00

When a man reflects upon himself, responds to the Holy Spirit that lives and calls within him, and follows its secret nod instead of his own whims or the advice of others, by applying himself and adhering to the station for which he was born into the world and to which he was assigned by the Highest Being Himself – this is to undertake happily one’s calling with God.

(Hryhorij Skovoroda (1722-1794), Ukraine)