Equality of past, present & future

In the beginning, nothing comes;

In the middle, nothing stays;
At the end, nothing goes.
Of the mind there is no arising and extinction!
Thus, one remains in the Equality of past, present, and future.

Extract from "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa”

Do not delay

“The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.” ~ Milarepa

Too small

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

Acquire merit

"Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule" ~ Milarepa, Yogi of Tibet

My religion

"My religion is to live and die without any regret" ~ Milarepa (one of the most widely known Tibetan Saints)

Peaceful mind

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.
Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch.

Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough."

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn.After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand!

The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen.

In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."

Moral
A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind.

Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be...!

Respect yourself

Respect yourself and others will respect you. ~ Confucius

Universe of Light

“Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms and embrace it with love.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

Address at the final session

The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who laboured to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labour.

My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.

Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.

Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

ADDRESS AT THE FINAL SESSION
Chicago, September 27, 1893

Address at the parliament of religion

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

RESPONSE TO WELCOME
Chicago, September 11, 1893

The Optimist Creed

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The river

In the valley of Kadisha where the mighty river flows, two little streams met and spoke to one another.

One stream said, "How came you, my friend, and how was your path?"

And the other answered, "My path was most encumbered. The wheel of the mill was broken, and the master farmer who used to conduct me from my channel to his plants, is dead. I struggled down oozing with the filth of laziness in the sun. But how was your path, my brother?"

And the other stream answered and said, "Mine was a different path. I came down the hills among fragrant flowers and shy willows; men and women drank of me with silvery cups, and little children paddled their rosy feet at my edges, and there was laughter all about me, and there were sweet songs. What a pity that your path was not so happy."

At that moment the river spoke with a loud voice and said, "Come in, come in, we are going to the sea. Come in, come in, speak no more. Be with me now. We are going to the sea. Come in, come in, for in me you shall forget you wanderings, sad or gay. Come in, come in. And you and I will forget all our ways when we reach the heart of our mother the sea."

Excerpted from 'The Wanderer' by Kahlil Gibran

We are One

I honor you...
I honor the place within you
where the entire universe resides.
I honor the place within you
of love and light, of peace and truth.
I honor the place within you where,
when you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me,
there is only one of us.

Religion

“Religion is a ploughed field, sown and irrigated by the desire of someone who aspires to paradise or by someone who fears hell.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Teaching

“Before teaching others begin by educating yourself. Teach by example before teaching by words.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Love

“Love does not possess nor would it be possessed; for Love is sufficient unto Love”
Excerpted from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran

The Anthem of Humanity

I have existed from all eternity
and behold I am here,
and I shall exist till the end of time
for my being has no end.

I soared into limitless space
and took wing in the imaginal world,
approaching the circle of exalted light;
and here I am now mired in matter.

I listened to the teachings of Confucius,
imbibed the wisdom of Brahma,
and sat beside Buddha
beneath the tree of insight.
And now I am here,
wrestling with ignorance and unbelief.

I was on Sinai when Yahweh shed
His effulgence on Moses,
at the River Jordon
I witnessed the miracle of the Nazarene;
and in Medina I heard the words
of the Messenger to the Arabs.
And here I am now,
a captive of confusion.

I beheld the might of Babylon,
the glory of Egypt,
and the grandeur of Greece;
and I still see the weakness,
degradation, and pettiness
in all those works.

I sat with the sorcerors of Endor,
the seers of Assyria,
the prophets of Palestine;
and I persist in singing the truth.

I memorised the wisdom
revealed to India,
the heartfelt odes wrought
by the inhabitants
of the Arabian peninsular,
and the music that embodies
the sentiments of the Western people;
yet still I am blind and do not see,
deaf and do not hear.

I endured the brutality
of grasping conquerors,
suffered oppression
at the hands of tyrannical rulers,
and was enslaved by despots:
yet a power remains
whereby I struggle against the days.

I saw and heard all that
whilst still a child,
and shall see and hear the exploits
of youth and their consequences;
then I shall grow old,
and achieve perfection,
and return unto God.

I existed from all eternity
and behold I am here;
and I shall exist till the end of time,
for my being has no end.

from “The Vision Reflections on the Way of the Soul” by Kahlil Gibran

The life cycle

“You were dead, and He revived you;
then He will cause you to die, and
He will revive you; then unto
Him shall ye return.”
The Qur'an, 2:26

The madman

It was in the garden of a madhouse that I met a youth with a face pale and lovely and full of wonder. And I sat beside him upon the bench, and I said, “Why are you here?”

And he looked at me in astonishment, and he said, “It is an unseemly question, yet I will answer you. My father would make of me a reproduction of himself; so also would my uncle. My mother would have me the image of her seafaring husband as the perfect example for me to follow. My brother thinks I should be like him, a fine athlete.

“And my teachers also, the doctor of philosophy, and the music-master, and the logician, they too were determined, and each would have me but a reflection of his own face in a mirror.

“Therefore I came to this place. I find it more sane here. At least, I can be myself.”

Then of a sudden he turned to me and he said, “But tell me, were you also driven to this place by education and good counsel?”

And I answered, “No, I am a visitor.”

And he answered, “Oh, you are one of those who live in the madhouse on the other side of the wall.”

Excerpted from 'The Wanderer' by Kahlil Gibran

Builders of bridges

In Antioch where the river Assi goes to meet the sea, a bridge was built to bring one half of the city nearer to the other half. It was built of large stones carried down from among the hills, on the backs of the mules of Antioch.

When the bridge was finished, upon a pilar thereof was engraved in Greek and in Aramaic, “This bridge was built by King Antiochus II.”

And all the people walked across the good bridge over the goodly river Assi.

And upon an evening, a youth deemed by some a little mad, descended to the pillar where the words were engraven, and he covered over the graving with charcoal, and above it wrote, “The stones of this bridge were brought down from the hills by the mules. In passing to and fro over it you are riding upon the backs of the mules of Antioch, builders of this bridge.”

And when the people read what the youth had written, some of them laughed and some marveled. And some said, “Ah yes, we know who has done this. Is he not a little mad?”

But one mule said, laughing, to another mule, “Do you not remember that we did carry those stones? And yet until now it has been said that the bridge was builded by King Antiochus.”

Excerpted from 'The Wanderer' by Kahlil Gibran