I want peace, and to be of use
I am not in crisis. I just want to live more quietly and give more than I take.
For the person who is not in crisis, the traditions have their gentlest and most demanding things to say. Sarada Devi: if you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Yogananda: absence of wrath is the quickest way to peace. Vivekananda: they alone live who live for others; and the beggar you help has done you the favour. Periyava: of all gifts, food is highest; reduce your wants and give the difference away. Neem Karoli Baba answered every question about enlightenment with “feed people.” The Tao: the highest excellence is like water, benefiting all things and occupying the low place. The Śānti mantra: that is full, this is full; taking fullness from fullness, fullness remains—which is to say, giving does not diminish you. And the Mother's Auroville Charter: a place that belongs to nobody in particular, and to humanity as a whole. That is, in the end, what this library is trying to be.
One must learn to take one's foundation on the Divine and overcome the fear, relying on the help to carry one through all things even unpleasant and adverse.
The Grace is always there ready to act but you must let it work and not resist its action. The one condition required is faith.
God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true.
If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.
No beggar whom we have helped has ever owed a single cent to us; we owe everything to him, because he has allowed us to exercise our charity on him.
The purpose of every rule of dharma, however elaborate, is finally to make a person compassionate. If a rite leaves you harder than it found you, you have performed it wrongly.
ஜாதிகள் இல்லையடி பாப்பா; — குலத்
தாழ்ச்சி உயர்ச்சி சொல்லல் பாவம்There are no castes, little one; — / to speak of high and low birth is a sin.
Jādhigaḷ illaiyaḍi pāppā; — kulath / thāzhchchi uyarchchi sollal pāvam
The best service you can do is to keep your thoughts on God.
Have faith and confidence in your Guru. Believe fully, that Guru is the sole Actor or Doer.
So long as you breathe the free air of earth, you are under obligation to render grateful service.
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥
Established in yoga, do your work, Arjuna, letting go of attachment, the same in success and failure. That evenness is called yoga.
ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥
All this, whatever moves in this moving world, is enveloped by the Lord. Enjoy it, then, by letting it go. Do not covet anyone's wealth.
அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி
பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.
As the letter A is first of all letters, so the primal Lord is first of all the world.
நமச்சிவாய வாஅழ்க நாதன்தாள் வாழ்க
இமைப்பொழுதும் என்நெஞ்சில் நீங்காதான் தாள்வாழ்க
Hail Namashivaya! Hail the feet of the Lord! Hail the feet of him who does not leave my heart for the space of a blink!
One meal, given
- Once a week, eat one meal less, or one meal simpler, than you normally would.
- Give the cost of it—the actual food, if you can—to someone who needs it. A temple kitchen, a neighbour, a stranger.
- This was, in his life, not symbolic but literal. He ate once a day for eighty years.
What could you give away this month that you would not miss?
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