~~OM~~
January 1 – January 7
- “Always contemplate the great words of wisdom, and take refuge in the great words of wisdom, and stay far away from the bondages of the soul, and search for the real meanings of the texts of wisdom. I am one with God, always maintain this attitude.” – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - “Make renunciation of the many thoughts of the mind, and leave the egotism of your body, and don’t debate idle philosophies with intellectuals.” – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - Remain the same while undergoing all the pairs of opposites like hot and cold, pleasure and pain, and don’t give expression to worthless speech. – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - Carry yourself as a great renunciate. Don’t look to get grace from other men, and don’t seek to obtain something from men. – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - Sit down in a quiet, conducive and comfortable environment, and contemplate the Supreme Divinity. Look into yourself with the fullness of consciousness, and see the bondage of the gross world to the soul, and reduce your necessity for action in the world. – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - Don’t allow your thoughts to be bound by karma, with the strength of wisdom free your mind from bondage. – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna - Experience the fruits of your prarabda karma, the actions performed in the past, the fruits of which are being experienced in the present, and after the past karma is complete, with an attitude of one mind, go to the realms of Union with the Highest Divinity and remain there. – Shankar Acharya 700 A.D.
– from Siva Puja and Advanced Yajna
January 8 – January 14
- Live your life with minimal amounts of attachments in order to pay out all outstanding debts and obligations. Avoid creating too much prarabdha karma. (Actions commenced in the past which are coming to fruition now and in the future.)
– from Gems of Wisdom - Mother (Shree Maa) is an avatar. She was born with the ability to go into the spiritual state of Samadhi, or as she would say “Going beyond.”
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - When you spend time with Mother, (Shree Maa) you soon see that her whole life is about serving others. She has little concern for own welfare. She is very thin and weighs less than eighty pounds.
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - I told Shree Maa that I knew people that had been meditating two and three hours a day for twenty or thirty years and they were not having clear experiences of samadhi.She said, “If they do tapas (deliberate action to overcome selfish ego based action) they will get samadhi. The meditation you do is very restful, but it is difficult to go beyond in the West. There is so much to draw you out.”
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - The greatness of God is manifest through simple acts of kindness.
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - Some of Shree Maa’s most potent teachings are the things she doesn’t say! I’ve never heard her complain about her situation, her health, or things she doesn’t have.
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - Swamiji: The cement for this building had water as an essential ingredient, but you can’t see the water. The walls couldn’t stand up without the addition of the water. Just so, your divinity, though it can’t be seen, is an essential part of you. This was a beautiful expression of Maa’s admonition not to look far from ourselves to find God!
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint
January 15 – January 21
- When we make ourselves into disciples and start effectively applying changes in our lives, we find greater organization, greater efficiency, greater energy.
– from Gems of Wisdom - Ramakrishna: So I say that God is sometimes with form and sometimes without form. Those who continually contemplate the Supreme Divinity are able to know the true intrinsic nature of that Divinity. Such a person knows that the Divine expresses itself through various forms and attitudes.
– from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss - There is a centrifugal force and a centripetal force. The centripetal force is moving us towards cohesion, unity, light, wisdom, peace, the cessation of separation. The centrifugal force can be called the asuras, the forces of individuality, the forces which say, “Ive got to be me!”
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - Kama means desire. Lobha means greed. Krodha means anger. Moha means ignorance, moda means attachment and matsara means jealousy. These six limitations are the great pasha or bondage of the ego.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - When you maintain awareness of your true being, your true existence, your illumination is a beautiful contribution, and you will attain the wisdom and bliss of Siva.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - One of Maa’s and Swamiji’s teachings is to honor all spiritual traditions and to learn what we can from all. God cares for the effort to get to the mountain top more than the route. – Shree Maa
– from Shree Maa: Life of a Saint - Ramakrishna: The camel loves to eat thorny vegetation. As he eats, the thorns cut his mouth, but still he goes on eating. Worldly people suffer so much pain, but they go back to the same pleasures that brought the pain in the first place. In this way, after each painful event the world of attachment and desire continues.
– from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss
January 22 – January 28
- For man to become pure women must practice purity, then they can transform the world through their purity.
– from Gems of Wisdom - When you see that everything is in flux, you will see that “I” am not. Consciousness does not change, because it is always the same. The objects of awareness change.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - The conflict between wisdom and ignorance makes a great confusion.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - All existence is manifest in duality. These forces manifest with jnana, which is wisdom, the force which brings us towards unity, or ajnana, the ignorance which brings a greater separation.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - Activities which are conducive to unity are the manifestation of jnana, (wisdom) and activities which bring greater division, a greater sense of ego being separate from the total, are manifestations of ajnana (ignorance).
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - These two forces (wisdom and ignorance) are in constant opposition in all aspects of manifested existence, in all things from Brahma to a blade of grass.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - All through our lives we are required to resolve this conflict between wisdom and ignorance. This is the only way we can be free from confusion.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess
January 29 – February 4
- Selfishness is the biggest obstacle to self realization because when selfishness comes, we have forgetfulness and limited freedom. The best way to overcome selfishness is with sincerity.
– from Gems of Wisdom - Ramakrishna: Desires and attachments bind people’s lives, and because of this their independence flees. In order to fulfill desires, resources are necessary. For that reason we become servants to others, and our freedom is lost.
– from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss - Ramakrishna: This egotism, this sense of “I” that exists in all beings, has been bound by the deluding power of maya. This ego is continually inviting maya. Maya covers and deludes the ego of every individual.
– from from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss - Ramakrishna: Because of the deluding power of Maya, our “I” is like a small cloud which obstructs the sun. When the cloud of egotism is removed, you can see the light of God.
– from from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss - Ramakrishna: If even once you can fully leave your identification with “I and mine” at the feet of the Guru, then you will have the vision of God.
– from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss - According to Kashyapa, we are seeking the highest victory in order to destroy the pain of desire. Victory destroys pain. The highest victory destroys the greatest pain, the feeling that we are separate. The greatest victory is victory over the ego, that which defines individuality.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - Wherever there is desire, there is pain. The greatest pain is the feeling of separation. The greatest desire is to realize we are one with God.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess
February 5 – February 11
- Love is an energy that takes us to God.
– from Gems of Wisdom - Realization comes about through intuitive awareness, not through egotistical action. If you want to earn that grace, then refine and purify your awareness through selfless service.
– from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint - God is always working through us, and we have to be prepared. When the time for action comes we will not think, “I am helping this person” or “I am doing a good deed,” but what happens will just be the natural order of things.
– from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint - When we live in truth and purity every second, every moment is a miracle. You are living with God. You are God! Isn’t it beautiful? – Shree Maa
– from Before Becoming This - We came to this world to do God’s work. We came to this world to do our real duty. G-O-D: Go On Duty.
– from Before Becoming This - In this culture you feel you have to do everything yourself and you have to be involved in the materialistic world. In India we are taught that spirituality comes first, then we do our work in the world. But we do it for God. – Shree Maa
– from Before Becoming This - If you want God, you have to use willpower to reach him. Also faith is important. You need faith.
– from Before Becoming This
February 12 – February 18
- Dharma is extremely subtle. If any egotism remains you can miss divine grace.
– from Gems of Wisdom - The idea that you don’t have to do anything to move toward enlightenment may apply to the Satya Yuga, but in this age of activity we have to act. When we act, there are two possibilities: either we act for ourselves or we act for God.
– from Before Becoming This - When we let go of the hope that we will attain enlightenment, then we can become enlightened.
– from Before Becoming This - So long as we are striving for that conception, (enlightenment) we are putting an obstacle in our own path.
– from Before Becoming This - Swamiji – There is really no end to loving. I remember when Jonathan Livingston Seagull rose to heaven and said, “This isn’t the end of it all. This is just the beginning!” There is just more and more love.
– from Before Becoming This - The greatest danger is living without God. The greatest danger is taking whatever knowledge we attain and making it an appendage to the ego and walking around proclaiming our own greatness. In the Sanatana Dharma, the eternal ideal of perfection, we teach how to live with God in every moment.
– from Before Becoming This - When we are doubting, we often aren’t aware we are doubting. The doubting thoughts seem very reasonable to us. What do you do when you are in a state of doubt? “Where there is doubt, have faith.” Those are the words of St. Francis
– from Before Becoming This
February 19 – February 25
- Renounce the burdens of life and enjoy the privilege of demonstrating your love for God.
– from Gems of Wisdom - Kundalini is always moving otherwise we would be a corpse. The image of the sleeping serpent at the base of the spine is only poetry.
– from Gems of Wisdom - The more we doubt, the more it’s impossible to perform effectively and take control of our lives. We become servants of the ego.
– from Before Becoming This - When we find the process is our sadhana, and we enjoy the process, then it doesn’t matter if we get to the goal or not. The goal is merely the direction.
– from Before Becoming This - When you find that you can’t imagine anything more wonderful, that’s where you begin to define enlightenment.
– from Before Becoming This - Grace comes about by what you do.
– from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint - It (love) starts with one pure soul, like Shree Maa, who without selfish desires, who ignites other souls ablaze with the same inspiration, shakti, and the sincere longing to serve this creation with pure devotion.
– from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint
February 26 – March 3
- Respect means to pay attention. The more we love the more we pay attention.
– from Gems of Wisdom - If we act with attachment in duality, then we can only produce egotistical or attached behavior. If we can surrender that action, free from attachment, we can aspire to live in accordance with the laws of universal dharma.
– from Gems of Wisdom - “Look for the teaching behind the illness”, says the sage.
– from Shree Maa: The Life of a Saint - That man/woman who in this world turns his/her thoughts to Brahman and adheres faithfully to the truth is above all a man/woman of good deeds. Such a one knows the Supreme, and is blest in all the worlds.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - Whoever drinks the water from the gurus feet removes the root of ignorance and purifies the karma (activities) from birth, obtains perfection, wisdom, and renunciation.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - The Supreme Divinity resides in the mouth of the Guru, which is obtained as Prasad. Always perform meditation upon the Guru just as a loving woman dreams of her family.
– from Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess - Ramakrishna: The devotion that sadhus derive from their sadhana is not the same as the devotion of worldly people. Worldly devotion always calculates, “I have to do this much japa. I have to sit for so many hours in meditation. I have to do that much worship.” They keep an account of how much they do.
– from Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss