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November 4 – November 10

• The seventh region is in the Sahasrara at the top of the head. If your contemplation goes there, then you go into Samadhi. All the knowers of the Supreme Divinity have the actual vision of divine communion with God.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• People want realization and liberation, to become enlightened. Do not think it is something different from doing for others as you would have them do for you.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Ramakrishna: Human beings are of four kinds: those who are bound to the world of desires and attachments, those who renounce the world, those who are liberated, and those rare souls who are eternally free.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Shree Maa performs worship at the sacred fire. Residing in the hearts of devotees, the flame of devotion is burning. In the agnya chakra, the light of meditation is shining. Yagya comes from the Sanskrit word to unite and the fire ceremony is the union of the fire within and the fire outside.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Just as humans inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, and plants inhale carbon dioxide and produce oxygen into the atmosphere, in the same way, in the sacred fire ceremony, devotees surrender all negativities and receive the blessing of divine illumination.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• All thoughts of duality are sacrificed in the sacred fire and the joyous love of unity takes birth in the hearts of the participants. When Shree Maa sits for worship, the silence creates such stillness, that all observers are conducted to her vibration.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

November 11 – November 17

• Udas means a servant of circumstance. Whoever remains satisfied with whatever situation arises is established in wisdom.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Ramakrishna: Men and women who are liberated are not infatuated with this world of objects and relationships. That is why, after becoming free, some just leave their bodies.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• There is another characteristic of a bound soul. If you were to take that individual out of the world he is use to and put him into a holy environment, he would probably die of boredom.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Who has extreme renunciation? Those whose life force is totally dedicated to God with the sincere dedication a mother has for the child in her womb. He who has extreme dedication desires nothing other than God.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• As you practice tapasya, your ego becomes less attached to thought. The thoughts are not becoming more pure. In reality you have the same thoughts, but you have less attachment to them.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• The asuras will teach us selfishness, the Gods will awaken consciousness. This conflict between selfishness and divinity is the perpetual cause of confusion, until we become one with the Light.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Our ancestors provided us with all that we needed to progress in our search. And for that purpose we are beholden to seven generations previous to us, while seven generations to come will benefit from our attainment of understanding. Whether or not our ancestors knew what they were doing, they cultivated within us certain qualities which we needed in order to manifest our highest ideal of perfection.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

November 18 – November 24

• True wisdom makes a man humble.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• If you don’t have the physical presence of a person who inspires you, read a scripture. Sit by a symbol of divinity and listen to the wisdom of the wise.

    – from Before Becoming This

• The feeling of devotion is what fosters our spiritual development; such things as reading books are not enough. When we do puja or other forms of worship, it’s best to sing loudly and enthusiastically so the Gods will hear us! Furthermore, our worship is even more meaningful when we feel gratitude that we have the impulse and the opportunity to perform these devotions.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Mother’s love helps you realize that is not the words that are important but the actions.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Keep your life simple, always be truthful, and give pure love to all, recognizing all as God.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• The influence of maya is so strong, always pulling you out. Tapasya, purifying austerities, are very necessary.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• When I think of Maa, I think of Truth. She is what Truth is, powerful and absolute, but Maa is also gentle and kind. I was a stranger and she took me in. I was hungry and she fed me.

    – Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

November 25 – December 1

• Our responses should be calculated to take us to a better place than we are already at and help us to accomplish our objectives. If we could stop and put one instant of discrimination between the stimulus and the response, then we could live life perfectly.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• A realized being sees that the God within you is the God within me. If I lift you up in any way, I am doing good to myself an I am doing good to my world. It benefits me to do good to others. It is all me.

    – from Before Becoming This

• The power that comes from the feeling that we are being blessed allows us to move forward with renewed vigor. We have more strength and courage. We have a different attitude that makes things work better. Every time we take the name of God, We get a blessing.

    – from Before Becoming This

• The pujas allow us to expand our consciousness to that awareness (of divinity) and cultivate that relationship. We begin by seeing God in little things. We practice seeing God in a flower, in a candle, in an altar of worship, in a form of deity that we put our love and devotion into. Then the relationship increases exponentially.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Each one of the deities is an embodiment of a whole set of spiritual and philosophical aspirations. They are an embodiment of an entire school of philosophy and a whole set of spiritual practices which are designed to bring us to the realization of that philosophy. So the various arms, weapons and mudras (gestures) are all indicative of aspects of spiritual disciplines.

    – from Before Becoming This

• There are many levels of meaning to dharma. Some people speak of dharma as a religion: Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Jewish. Other people speak of dharma as the universal laws of nature. Everything in between is included in the definition. On every level of the evolution of consciousness you will find an expanded definition until you are one with God, and then you will know the real meaning of dharma.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Ramakrishna: It is very difficult to take on the responsibilities of a teacher. Without being given the authority from God, it is very difficult to teach. If you begin to give instruction without authority from God, people will not listen to you. Such teachings have no power. First you do sadhana. In some way you have to attain to God. When you get the authority from God, then you may lecture.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

December 2 – December 8

• Always maintain the highest ideal of behavior, and surrender your life unto the ideal.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Physical enjoyment in the world is like the strike of a cobra. Learn to keep the cobra far away or under control. The comfort of the senses is and illusion, which bears no sustaining reality. In the senses there is no comfort. Only there exists the reflection of Nature.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Perform all actions with Love and respect for Truth, and maintain the great power of the non-attachment of asceticism.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Love and Trust in God. Do not ask for anything else.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Always and with all your might, recite and study books of Dharma.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Have no fear of anything is this world. The world is the examination grounds for detachment form pleasure and pain. Do not give disruption an opportunity to dwell in your mind. God dwells in your heart. With the greatest faith, always remember God.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Always keep your mind in an attitude of purity. Then peace will come. Do not allow your inner attitude to be deflected by the pains and difficulties of the external world. This is known as Peace. When your inside and outside exhibit peace, then you have found the fruits of sadhana.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

December 9 – December 15

• If you only desire the fruit of your actions then you won’t enjoy the fruit or the process. This is a lose, lose proposition. But if you enjoy the process you can’t lose. Then your work becomes worship. We are praying for the joy of prayer. Try to take that attitude into your actions and make this world a better place.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• If you have your own goal and a plan you will certainly enjoy life more because it is your plan and does not belong to anybody else.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Question: What does a person do who doesn’t have a purpose?

  Swamiji: I suggest that a person without a purpose better find one. Without a purpose it is difficult to have a meaningful life. How can you accomplish anything if you don’t know what your purpose is? We need to find a goal that would be worthy of our commitment.

    – from Before Becoming This

• The best thing to do is to stop and think, “What would be a commitment worthy of my dedication. What do I want to give to this world?”

    – from Before Becoming This

• Shree Maa: Ultimately we have to change, and that is God’s blessing.

    – from Before Becoming This

• When you love so much that you don’t think about the distractions and you think only about your beloved, then you really are a lover.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Satsangha is a bonding process, so that people within the congregation try to network their skills and talents and opportunities.

    – from Before Becoming This

December 16 – December 22

• We are not seeking communion only at the time of puja or worship, but in every breath, in every activity. It does not matter whether we are digging a ditch, teaching in school, appearing in court, negotiating a contract or performing a homa (fire ceremony). Our attitude with which we perform these functions is the most important aspect of worship.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• By means of her compassion, we become liberated. She is the one who binds all to worldliness, and She is the one who liberates.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Maa says to us. “Ok, kids go out and play in this world.” What is the fault of the mind? If she is compassionate to us, then She’ll bring our minds back to Her. Then we find liberation from all these worldly thoughts, and we keep our minds at the Lotus Feet of the Divine.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• After you have attained the perfection of discrimination and renunciation, only then should you enter the world. In the ocean of worldliness, there are many crocodiles with names like desire, attachments, and anger. If you rub turmeric on your body and submerge yourself in the waters, you have no fear of crocodiles. If you rub the turmeric of discrimination and renunciation over your body, you can submerge yourself in the ocean of worldliness without any fear at all. God is Truth. That is the eternal phenomenon. Everything else is transient. It is impermanent.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• In the Sundar Kanda of the Ramayan, Tulasidas wrote a beautiful verse:

  “Dear one, take all the pleasure between heaven and earth and count them as one. As great a delight as that might be, it can’t possibly be as enjoyable as satsanga.”

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Through satsanga we have the opportunity to improve ourselves, to really make significant changes in our lives, to become the individual we respect. No other pleasure could be equal to becoming the person we love. That s why satsanga is so important.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Extract the nectar from the tapasya that you are performing. Tapas literally means heat, but implies any act of purification in which our negative tendencies are burned away

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

December 23 – December 29

• Swamiji: Look for those mantras that say, “I belong to you, I am the echo of the vibration that is your soul.” As you practice those particular sections, other parts will call you as well. If you don’t pronounce the mantras correctly, don’t worry. Put yourself in the attitude of surrender to the will of God and try to come as close as possible.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Always study words of wisdom, with all your capacity act in accordance and perform the discipline of these words, and following the systems of worship they enumerate, make the worship of the Supreme Lord, and don’t allow your consciousness to contemplate adverse desires.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Wipe all the dross of sin from your mind, search for the faults in the pleasures of the world, search your own soul for true knowledge, and very quickly try to renounce the attachments to your home.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Maintain the association of true people, take refuge with devotion in the Supreme Divinity, and with all your capacity try to befriend the universe, and very quickly renounce the fruits of your labors.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Whenever possible seek out the company of the true and knowledgeable people, and serve the sandals of their lotus feet, and ask from them even one letter of the knowledge of the Bhraman, and listen to the great words of wisdom from the Vedas.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Take the cure for the illness of uncontrolled desire, and serve your doctor as a beggar would serve a Lord, don’t seek the association of pleasure-seekers or self-centered individuals.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

• “Remain contented with whatever you receive in a divine union, that which God has consented to give.”  – Shankar Acharya, 700 A.D.

    – from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna

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September 2 – September 8

• During those first months in America Shree Maa said very little in English. I was Her translator, and most frequently She spoke to me in our own personal mixture of languages which I would strive to interpret into English. One day She stood in front of an altar of Goddess Kali and in extremely clear English said to the Goddess, “All right, are you going to speak or not?” We were all amazed to hear Her utterance and even more impressed when She turned around and began to speak English so sweetly and clearly that there was no further use of a translator.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Shree Maa: I am always happy. When you live with divinity, you are always happy. It makes me even happier when my children are happy.

    – from Before Becoming This

• The difference between a disciple and a devotee is that the devotee comes to sit at the feet of the Guru but doesn’t change his life. But the disciple takes the wisdom of the Guru and changes his life striving to become a mirror image of the Guru.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Ramakrishna: Protect the Divine Mother in your heart. May you see Her as I see Her and nobody else. You take away all my desires and my anger and my passion.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Ramakrishna: Give me the eyes of wisdom as protectors so that I am always protected and always be careful not to accede to bad desires and bad thoughts.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Currently, I like to translate dharma as the ideal of perfection, because every atom of existence has its own ideal of perfection towards which it is striving. Every individual soul is destined to manifest its own ideal of perfection. Dharma is its individual path and every individual has its own.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and The Goddess

• Swamiji is so down to earth and unpretentious that he won’t let himself get stuck in a “holy man” role. In fact, he is constantly breaking the rules about how an enlightened teacher should act. In the Tibetan tradition this is called “crazy wisdom”, a quality many great masters possess.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

September 9 – September 15

• Shree Maa told us that we must work on ourselves that the desire to “fix things” or help people is part of our attachment to the idea that we have the answers and the solutions our ego.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Shree Maa: If you want peace, see no fault in anyone. Find all mistakes within yourself.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Shree Maa: If you call on God in a true and simple manner, you will know that all you are doing is divine work.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Whatever promotes the health and happiness of those around us can be seen as divine work.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Just doing our best each moment, and completing our tasks so that we don’t leave a mess or problem for someone else to deal with, is the way to live each day fully.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Regular practice is important for the growth of our spiritual lives – there are no short cuts.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Maa’s way is to live in complete simplicity. Her whole life is statement that the important elements of life are the spiritual ones.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

September 16 – September 22

• One of Swamiji’s main teachings is that Mother Nature is constantly changing, as is her nature. Change She will and change She must. When we identify with the changes we suffer. When we desperately try to hold on and keep the changes from happening we feel pain. Only when we learn to watch those changes with equilibrium, with the feeling in our hearts and minds that this is the nature of existence, only then do we begin to free ourselves from actions and reactions, which merely prolong the pain of attachment and sow more seeds of the same.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Shree Maa: Nowadays, there is no one doing intensive sadhana like Swamiji did so many years ago in India. One of the reasons Swamiji has come to this country is to show how to do sadhana, how to pull ourselves out of the muck of materialism and confusion.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Swamiji does not teach one spiritual technique to incorporate into life, but rather, like Shree Maa lives a deeply spiritual way of life, and teaches through his example. His concept of spiritual life is one in which we give more than we take and add value to others peoples lives.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Each moment is a festival. Each breath we take is a cause to celebrate. Each breath we take is another chance to remember God.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Swamiji is an open channel for receiving divine grace. Whoever is fortunate enough to be open to the divine flow will undoubtedly receive it. It remains up to us to direct the gift toward changing our own lives and sharing our love with all people we meet.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• When you worship any of the deities, you are worshipping all the other deities.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Spiritual practices are valuable, because they remind us to live a spiritual life.

    – from Before Becoming This

September 23 – September 29

• Worship is the bridge by which we bridge duality and non duality.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Shree Maa: It is very difficult to understand in your head. Therefore, we always say in our country to live in your heart. If you want to change your life, you can do it very quickly with your heart.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Shree Maa: Of all the planets with human life, this planet has the most duality. Therefore, if you perform spiritual practices, you won’t come back for a long time. Now you are thinking, “Oh, this is pleasure and pain, it’s nice.” But when you leave your body, you’ll feel free and you’ll say, “I’m going home!” If you perform good karma here, you will go to a beautiful place and you will not want to come back. But when it’s time to come back and teach people, you will.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Maa says, “If we are gentle, loving, kind and honest in our dealings, that is spiritual.” She teaches that true spirituality does not come wrapped in exotic packages, but in the fabric of everyday deeds and ordinary actions.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Practice discrimination. Ask yourself which desires will bring you closer to God and which ones will take you further away from your goal.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Our teachers are always carrying out their idea of enabling every home to be a place of worship. They show us that it is possible to know God directly through worship, meditation, study of sacred texts, and through serving others.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• There is no one who is not on the path. Every individual soul is progressing in accordance with its own dharma. We have no right to be judgmental about others, even if it appears they lack harmony and balance.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

September 30 – October 6

• A human being is one who can control his mind.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Please decipher and weigh the ultimate principles of all existence. Sort through the ultimate principles of all the ideals of creation. In order to realize the ultimate ideals of existence, life should be dedicated to spiritual discipline.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Real human life is devoted completely to spiritual evolution. In order to devote ourselves to the realization of these ultimate ideals we need to cultivate some attitudes like peacefulness. Peacefulness in your nature is the foremost amongst energies. Cultivate peace. You, yourself, will understand if your actions bring peace, or are actually leading you in another direction.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Cultivate wisdom. In order to know God, it is most efficient to study the Sanskrit language. In the Sanskrit language there is an illumination of the wisdom of the soul. From the study of Sanskrit certain attitudes arise and become illuminated. The attitude of wisdom in all ideals of perfection are One. These vibrations become apparent in the study of Sanskrit.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• When you realize wisdom, then you will illuminate truth, consciousness, and bliss, within which, there exists no distinction of individual attributes. Especially among paths or ideals of perfection, no discrimination exists.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Always strive to maintain a relationship with the attitude of Truth. When we remain steadfast in the attitude of the ideal of perfection, then our ideal becomes firmly rooted in strength, our ideals become stronger. The sense of satisfaction and contentment reside within. When contentment dwells inside, then outside is characterized by the illumination of light, and we disseminate light in every direction. That illumination is the highest Ideal.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Strive to contain ego. Maintain the recollection that God within you is performing all action. Remember who you are. Who am I? I am nobody. Remembering Truth is meditation. In what ever circumstance you reside, remember who is residing there, and there will be no concept of gain or loss, difficulty or comfort.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

October 7 – October 13

• Devotion and wisdom are not separate paths. If you love (bhakti) something or someone then you strive to learn (gyan) more about this object or person.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• When you look at him, (Swamiji) his skin color and everything is totally dissolved, and you’re looking at the personality beyond the caste, creed and color. You see a human being who is what all world leaders and people who are working for world peace want to be. He’s not the physical self, he’s that one universal personality common to the whole world.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• At the same point in his puja every day, and at a different time of day while his eyes were closed and he was performing meditaion and doing japa (reciting the mantra of the deity), a man dressed in orange clothes with an orange turban wrapped on his head went up to Swamiji and put a mala (garland of flowers) around his neck and smeared his forehead with ashes. I witnessed this daily for nine consecutive days. On the last day, Swamiji started his puja while the doors were still locked. And yet, even with the doors bolted shut, the same man still came and placed a garland around Swamiji’s neck and smeared his forehead with ashes.

  After we left the temple and headed back to our rooms that last morning, Shree Maa turned to us and said, “Did you see that man who put ashes on Swamiji’s forehead and put a mala around his neck?”

  “Yes,” we replied.

  “That man was Shiva.”

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• The subtle body contains the samskaras, the tendencies that formulate your next birth. It attaches itself to the causal body.

    – from Before Becoming This

• We have three levels of consciousness: the gross body the subtle body, and the causal body. The subtle body is called the mind, the world of thoughts, ideas and dreams. The causal body knows the totality, and that allows enlightenment. When the causal body merges into the universal, you become one with God. You become a jivanmukta, liberated while in the body.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Everyone is divine and an avatar of the Supreme Divinity. We just have to wake up to our divine nature.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• She (Shree Maa) shared her nightly routine of feeling herself cradled in the lap of Vishnu, He who sustains and preserves all. On a wakening in the morning, she instructed us, that we were to bow to ourselves in the mirror, while acknowledging the divine energy that resides in each of us, and ask the Goddess to make our eyes her eyes, our hands her hands, and our feet her feet throughout the day.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

October 14 – October 20

• If you raise someone up you yourself find progress. We are not climbing a ladder of success or pulling people down to reach our goal. We are networking and helping each other.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Maa explains that as the mind becomes more absorbed in mantras and one pointed that the world naturally leaves you. You do not renounce the world, the world renounces you. Old patterns knock on your door and you are not home because your mind is currently focused on God.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• When we take birth, we come into this body with its five elements. The body is not eternal. There are five organs and five senses. When we take this body on earth, our actions are different. We forget ourselves when we live in the maya, this duality. Then a certain time comes to wake up.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Question: Does the Guru have a responsibility to her/his disciple.

  Answer: Of Course. If the Guru gives a disciple initiation, it is a big responsibility. You have to take care of the disciple for many lifetimes.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Hinduism says, “Yes, every object of manifested existence is divine. It can reflect divinity to anyone who wishes to perceive it. So worship God in any form you choose to see as divine.” The point is to worship, practice, meditate, contemplate and remember that there is a divine power which is superior to us.

    – from Before Becoming This

• You become the person your are striving to become. You can see the progress. You can watch yourself and begin to like yourself a little bit more each time you cut a bond. You feel a little bit more independence, a greater freedom every time you put aside one of those bonds of attachment.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• We are endowed with maintaining the ancient traditions by acting as an example to the next generation. We should start by increasing our recovery rate. Let’s first start by cultivating enough resistance so when we fall down we pop right back up again. We are moving towards the ultimate goal of being so rooted in faith, that no one can ever shake our roots.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

October 21 – October 27

• Every being manifested, and every moment that comes to birth, comes to birth because of unfinished business. There is some reason that it comes into manifestation, and the arrows we have shot will land. When the stimulus does come, do we act reflexively, or do we control ourselves and design a response that will bring us closer to what we want in the furtherance of our goals.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• There are many techniques to get more control over yourself. If you can identify the emotion, you can repeat the bija mantra that corresponds to the emotion. In this way you get control of the emotion. Then you can recite the mantra of the attitude that you want to replace the emotion with.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• If we act with attachment in duality, then we can only produce egotistical or attached behavior. If we surrender that action, free from attachment, we can aspire to live with the laws of universal dharma.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Maa says that from your devotion wisdom will be illuminated.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Make peace. The eternal religion is pure love, pure truth. We cannot have world peace without individual peace. Faith in wisdom and God bring the highest peace.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Ramakrishna: As long as I remain a devotee and this apprehension of “I”� remains, my identification as a devotee remains. At that time I have a belief that God is a perceivable entity and that I can have a relationship with Her. But if you allow worldly ideas to intrude, then this attitude of “I am a devotee” disappears. Then you believe “I am an actor” instead of “I am a devotee.”

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

October 28 – November 3

• In the Puranas it is written that Hanuman was such a strong devotee that for his benefit God assumed the form Rama.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Chanting and studying the scriptures leads us to our divine selves and motivates us to give up our selfishness.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Question: How do you feel about debt?

  Answer: We are seeking freedom. When you incur debt, what you are saying is, “I am going enjoy today and pay tomorrow.” So you are obligating your self tomorrow for today’s pleasure. We would say that’s not a good idea from a spiritual point of view. If you encumber yourself for tomorrow, then you won’t be free today. You have obligated yourself to spend time working in the marketplace in order to pay for yesterday’s enjoyments. You are borrowing karma.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Question: Does debt affect your mediation?

  Answer: Absolutely. You have to go work to do what you don’t want to do to pay off what you enjoyed yesterday.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Inquiry: But even if we didn’t have debt, we’d still have to go to work to pay for lodging and food.

  Response: Not necessarily. You might create a different standard of life and spend less time working. Then you would work for God instead, and whatever you need will come to you.

    – from Before Becoming This

• When the contemplations rise to the throat, the vishudhi chakra, all ignorance and all foolishness are renounced in favor of listening to the Eternal Truth of God and Words of Wisdom.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• The sixth residence (of consciousness) is the Ajna chakra in the forehead. If your awareness goes there, you have Eternal Vision of the Supreme Divinity. Still a little “I” remains.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

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July 1 – July 7

• Be like a fish at the bottom of the ocean. It swims in the mud yet never gets dirty. In the world be like a fish. Do your work but keep your mind on God.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Ramakrishna (in a very relaxed way): The heart of a devotee is filled with love for God. God is present in all existence. You can know that presence tangibly in the heart of a devotee. It’s just like a rich landlord whose authority extends throughout his land, but he stays in one particular house which is his personal estate. People will speak like this, that the heart of a devotee is the special residence of the Lord.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss

• Ramakrishna: Do you know what the devotion of a devotee is like? He says, “Hey, Bhagavan, you are the lord and I am your servant. You are the mother and I am your child. You are both my mother and father. You are the whole and perfect and I am a part.” Devotees don’t like to say “I am God.” They like to experience the Divine Presence and have the vision of the Supreme Soul. Their main objective is the union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Etrnal Bliss

• Everyone comes to this world for a different purpose. Everyone comes with their own karma, their own samskaras (tendencies). It is very interesting. – Shree Maa

    – from Before Becoming This

• Many people want to escape from their minds because they don’t like what they are doing. But if you like what you are doing then you don’t want to escape from anything. Only those people who feel themselves bound seek liberation.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Question to Shree Maa: What’s your reason for coming to the United States?

  This whole universe is mine. Where God sends me, that is where I go. For you, this is the United States. For me it is not the United States. For me, it is home.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Every being is a divine incarnation. But caught in the illusion of our own importance, we forget who we really are. And then we search for liberation from our own bondage. This is the illusion of the Lord of Illusions.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

July 8 – July 14

• If we are singing from our hearts for the purpose of sincere prayer, and if we know what we are saying and why we are saying it, and others who can hear our prayers can also understand their meanings, and they also become inspired to pray themselves, then we are doing it correctly. Intention, motivation, sincerity, attention, bhava, and understanding, all go together to make a proper presentation.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Why are we chanting these mantras? Are we professionals who, for a fee, will propitiate the Gods so that our benefactors will not receive the fruit of their karma? In the Chandi Path, Brahma, Vasistha, and Visvamitra, joined others in cursing the recitation of the Chandi performed with selfish motivation. They said the Chandi Path is a very pure and powerful tool of personal growth and transformation. It is a path to self-realization. Whoever will recite the Chandi Path for selfish motivation will have abused their tool and the tool will no longer work for them. Without the tools, the curse is equivalent to a lifetime without God.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Intention and motivation set the stage for actions we are to perform. They are most important.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• The sincerity of our devotion is what determines its intensity. Intensity is the measurement of the sincerity of devotion. We pay attention in direct relation to the amount of devotion we feel, and feel to express. Sometimes we feel devotion, but cannot express it. Sometimes we want to express devotion that we do not feel. Other times it comes from the heart, and is expressed in the most pure means, according to the capacity of the individual.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Sadhana teaches us to express that feeling (devotion) in a regular program of spiritual discipline. After practice, when we sit to create the expression, we automatically feel the sincerity.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Bhava means feeling, emotion, an intensity of reality. How intensely do we feel it? How real is it when we are doing it? Is this our reality? Or is it merely a passing thought? Bhava allows us to grok the feeling, to intuit the feeling, to unite the feeling, to be at oneness with the feeling, to attune to the feeling, until it is ours.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Understanding means we understand what we are saying. It is not just on a verbal level, but we know verbally and non-verbally. It means something to us. In fact it means a lot to us. And not just to us. But anyone who hears what we are saying will also be able to understand at least on some level the meaning of our prayer. They will know that we are praying, and may feel moved to pray themselves. They will become inspired to enter our prayer, and there is a transfer of energy which invites them into the mystery of worship.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

July 15 – July 21

• Behold! God is giving us everything without any selfish desire. If we are searching for God we must also renounce selfish desire. When we are giving to God, ultimately we find pure love embracing us and we become absorbed in Divine consciousness.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Inefficiency comes from selfish desire.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Words inscribed in stone are never erased, while what is written on water cannot remain for a moment. Do not allow anger or enmity to remain in your mind any longer than words written upon water.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Shree Maa: When I am one with the soul of existence, how will any one or any thing cause me harm?

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Swamiji and I used to travel throughout India visiting temples. Whenever we went to a temple, it was our custom to perform puja, chant and do as much sadhanna as possible in these holy places. Swamiji would usually perform the puja and the sacred fire ceremony, while I would sit in meditation beside him, or accompany him with the offerings. Often I went into Samadhi. Often he did too. That was our life. We would chant and sing, and then go into the deepest meditation.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• One time we ran out of flowers for puja, Swamiji told us about times in India when He had no flowers for puja. He would simply use the leaves of trees, offering them in and orderly and artistic patterns with the accompanying mantras. He does the same in the United States when necessary.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• The objective of all of our sadhana and all our practices is to cultivate the tendency to think without selfishness, to think about God.

    – from Before Becoming This

July 22 – July 28

• Everything we are doing is worth doing perfectly or it is not worth doing at all.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• In whatever direction are situated the respected Guru’s feet, oh Beloved, everyday one should bow down in that direction.

    – from The Guru and the Goddess

• Serve everyone as God. See God in everyone.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• You cut the bonds yourself. All the guru does is sharpen your knife. Become so strong in your faith that you never swerve from you ideal of perfection.

    – from The Gurur and the Goddess

• Question to Shree Maa: Is praying to you the same as praying to God?

  Yes. There is no doubt about that. The love of the Guru is the same as the love of God. Both are free of selfishness. Any time you pray without selfishness, all that is divine will respond.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Ramakrishna: Certainly there is a means of escape from this world. When you have the opportunity, seek out holy men (and women) and from time to time sit in a quiet place and contemplate God. You must always discriminate between God, who is Real and Eternal, and this world, which is a passing dream. Once you have faith, you have all. There is nothing greater than faith.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Bliss

• Ramakrishna: The Vedas have elucidated seven levels of consciousness. The awareness resides in these seven levels of consciousness. When awareness remains in the world of objects and relationships, it is residing in the three lower chakras: the anus, the genitals, and the navel. Then the contemplations don’t move towards the upper chakras. All the mental faculties are devoted to desires and attachments.

    – from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Bliss

July 29 – August 4

• Liberation does not mean going against the flow of nature. It means accepting the flow of nature without attachment.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Question to Shree Maa: What about someone who reads this book or comes to see you at a program and really wants to know God?

  Answer: Most people are just curious. They come see me to enjoy themselves. Of five thousand people, maybe one soul is touched and feels the desire to change.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Presumably all birth takes place in order to finish karma: the birth of every reaction, the birth of every relationship, the birth of every moment, the birth of everybody. That is our function, our purpose. We are all bound by unfinished karma. With this knowledge it behooves us to perform every action as thoroughly and efficiently as possible, so we don’t have to come back to finish our incomplete work.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Mother Nature is always changing. When we deeply intuit and watch for the changes of nature we cease to feel pain.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• When we actually perform our karma with efficiency and become free of debt, we in effect attain the highest aim of birth, which is victory over death. We manifest an ideal in our lives. We conform our behavior to the ideal of perfection so we are not just saying the words, but we are feeling what they mean.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• The fire is said to burn karma, to purify the actions of the participants, so they become free of the bonds of negativity. All the bondage of thought, the dross of memories, fears and projections, it is all thrown into the fire, along with an assortment of grains mixed with clarified butter.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of the Saint

• The ancient prescription for a peaceful way of life: simplify your life-style, be free from debt, appreciate what you do have, think about God, study the scriptures, be diligent in your spiritual practices, seek divine interpretation in all experience.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of the Saint

August 5 – August 11

• Consciousness is the infinite capacity of recognition. Maa Says, “You are aware of the existence of beautiful state of Consciousness, but you do not know where it is. In reality it is everywhere. Do not be foolish. Be fertile soil in which good seeds may easily take root.”

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and The Goddess

• Pure Love is beyond duality. There is no desire. It is the perfection of desire.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• The path to success in any endeavor is to follow these 9 steps: inspiration, study, practice, refinement, nourishment of divine qualities, purity, overcoming egotistical thoughts, light of wisdom, perfection.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Instead of arguing over how it is being said, seekers should be contemplating what is being said.

    – from Pronunciation and the Chandi Samputs

• Consciousness is constantly reflecting so at any one time we may be aware of many levels of consciousness. Traditionally there are seven levels of consciousness: bhuh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah, tapah, satya.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• From the story of Sukdeva, as told by Shree Maa

  “Even if you go into the forest with one stick, one asana and one begging bowl, if you maintain attachment, you will constantly be thinking about your possessions. Whereas if you are free from attachment you can rule a country as vast as Mithila and your mind will never be disturbed.”

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• If you can change those around you yourself, your wife, your children, if you make them divine, isn’t that beautiful? If every individual did that, it would be wonderful.

    – from Before Becoming This

August 12 – August 18

• Be true. Say what you mean and do what you say. If you are true you will be without fear. If your conscious is clear your heart will be silent. That is peace, no matter what the result.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Shree Maa: Once we were doing puja in a well known temple in Benares when a group of Brahmin pandits came to me and asked, “Why are you letting a foreigner perform the worship in your festivals? Shouldn’t you honor our traditions and let an Indian Brahmin pandit do your pujas?”

  I replied without hesitation, When you can do puja as perfectly as Swamiji, I will be pleased to take you with me.

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Once we had just rented a house in the back hills of Moraga, behind Saint Mary’s College in the San Francisco Bay Area. A few devotees were assisting in building our havan kund, a pit for containing the sacred fire. I took off work early one day to help with the construction. As I came up the drive way, I looked over at the structure and saw Swamiji on his knees in the wet soil, forming the beginnings of our sacrificial fire pit. He was so engrossed in placing the bricks and covering them with mud and cow dung, that he did not notice me. I walked up with wonder, grateful for the privilege being in his company, as he smeared muddy plaster over the bricks with his hands. I thought, “Here indeed is a man who is in love with God.”

    – from Sahib Sadhu: The White Sadhu

• Maa says that if you can renounce all attachment to your actions you are acting in accordance with dharma.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Ultimately, when we become one with God, we become one with all dharma. All join in the realization of divinity.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Sharing in satsanga your devotion grows.

    – from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

• Weapons cannot cut It, fire cannot burn It; water cannot wet It; wind cannot dry It.

    – from Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2:23

August 19 – August 25

• Marriage is a contract to serve each other as a constant reminder that we are divine beings manifesting divinity in the world.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• The purpose of marriage is to become the divine couple, Shiva and Shakti, who are bound together in inherent and essential character, mutually and reciprocally. If a man puts down his shakti, he destroys his own energy. In order to be raised, he must raise others. What better place to begin than in our own divine partnership.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Question to Shree Maa: “Before coming into this life time, do we decide who we are going to have as a partner?”

  Shree Maa: “I believe we do, but it looks like they don’t believe that in this country. They think they choose their partners. But ultimately God does.”

    – from Before Becoming This

• Shree Maa: All relationships are created by previous karma.

    – from Before Becoming This

• Shree Maa: When we have an experience of a relationship from a past life, it is not necessarily a romantic attraction. It is not because a deficiency is being fulfilled. When we come together out of past life samskaras, it feels like a partnership between two people working towards a common goal.

    – from Before Becoming This

• “All my life Ramakrishna has been my Guru, says Shree Maa. I never go anywhere without Thakur’s order. He has ordered me to share unselfish divine love, and so I am doing. The most important accomplishment of human life is self realization. It doesn’t matter what we become, it doesn’t matter what we attain, it doesn’t matter what we possess. All of that is so temporary. It will all be left behind after only a moment’s enjoyment. A well-lived life is one that is full of love and joy and peace and compassion.

    – from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint

• Practice discrimination. Ask yourself which desires will bring you closer to God and which ones will take you closer to God and which ones will take you further away from the goal.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

August 26 – September 1

• The power of pure love extends equally to all. The knowledge that is gathered from books, the practices of Yoga and Meditation are merely paths to the goal of love. Pure Love is Devotion, Pure Love is our life, Pure Love is Liberation.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• By working for the benefit of others, energy increases within us. If you have feelings for others in your heart you will attain the energy of a lion.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• Gods make no distinction as to our birth. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God. That is why the family of this universal existence should strive to maintain universal Love for all and to offer wisdom and devotion to all. Then this world can have peace.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• In the Kali Yuga charity is supreme. Among all types of giving, the offering of Dharma is the highest.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• So much as we search within, so much we find the inner light. That inner light is the delight of our soul and that delight is our Dharma.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• By remembering God the confusions of the heart are removed. That is the greatest medicine.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

• One who observes his or her own faults is a sadhu. Respect is the ornament of a sadhu. A sadhu always seeks to assist others.

    – from Gems of Wisdom

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