“Let innumerable births come! Go slowly. No hurry, no sorry, no worry!”

– Siva Yogaswami (1872-1964), renowned Sri Lankan mystic

What has learning profited a man, if it has not led him to worship the Good Feet of Him who is pure knowledge itself? Tirukural 2

People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children. They swim in tears for money. But who weeps for God? Cry to Him with a real cry. Ramakrishna (1859-1886)

He soon felt that the fulfillment of his desires gave him only one grain of the mountain of happiness he had expected. This fulfillment showed him the eternal error men make in imagining that their happiness depends on the realization of their desires. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased about something. Ashtavakra (date unkown), revered Hindu Sage

Out beyond ideas of wrong doing
and right doing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Rumi (1207-1273), Sufi mystic and poet

Real poetry is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it. Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), famous Edo-period poet

Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds…to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation. Ellison S. Onizuka (1948-1986), American Astronaut
Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks or suggestions is despicable. Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952)

All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it, you would be free. Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1905-1971), Japanese Soto Zen master

I used to go on the Internet to escape reality, now I seek out reality to escape the Internet. Anonymous

The ultimate in selfishness is to care only for the protection, preservation and multiplication of one’s own body. To be attached to one’s name and shape is selfishness. A man who knows that he is neither body nor mind cannot be selfish, for he has nothing to be selfish for. Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), A guru of the Inchagiri Sampradaya

There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening. Marshal McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian Philosopher

In one word, this ideal is that you are divine. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

Do not blame the world. Find a solution. Sri Chinmoy (1931-2017)

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author

The happiness we are seeking is actually accepting what is. Haemin Sunim, Seon Buddhist

What is experienced has the character of brightness, activity, and inertia. It is embodied in the elements and the sense organs. Its purpose is to provide both experience and liberation. Rishi Patanjali, (2nd Century bce) Revered author of the Yoga Sutras

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Franklin D. Rooosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd president of the United States of America

f everyone were high-minded, there would be no one to return your karma to you. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today

Here are the ingredients: attention, concentration, meditation, contemplation, samadhi. Willpower is the fuel. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today

Couroupita guianensis, known by a variety of common names including cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae

Did You Know?

Cannonball Tree

 The cannonball tree, also known as Couroupita guianensis or Nagalingam maram, is a tropical tree found across Southeast Asia and considered sacred by Hindus. Hard spherical fruits hang from its branches until they fully ripen, plummeting from their heights and smashing onto the ground with a bang. When the hull is breached, the capsized fruit reacts with oxygen turning a bluish-purple and emanating a powerful pungent odor with similar notes to that of durian.
The fruit is only consumed by humans for medicinal reasons. Wild animals, on the other hand, happily devour the pulp and seeds. The seeds are cleverly surrounded by a fibrous, hairlike substance which protects them from being digested on their journey to their new earthy home. The tree’s trunk can grow up to 50 feet tall and support a wide canopy of dark green leaves. Covering the tree, a waterfall of fragrant flowers bloom in bright shades of pink and red. Emerging from the center of these flowers is an anemone-like ring of stamens which contains, at its core, a tiny pure white lingam. A cobra hood of a hundred pink staminodes with yellow tips hovers over the lingam as if guarding it from an unseen threat. Legend says that the cannonball tree only flowers on sacred grounds. Perhaps this is why the plant can be found growing at many Hindu and Buddhist temples around the world, including the home of Hinduism Today.

With the red-and-white walls and towering gate of a temple behind him, a soul hovers in perfect poise, hands in graceful mudrās that indicate he is fully aware of his inherent oneness with God Śiva, his radiant essence and immortal identity.

Basics

Is Temple Worship Only For Beginners?

Temple worship is for all men and women at every level of spiritual development. Its meaning and experience deepen as we unfold spiritually through the stages of service, devotion, yoga and enlightened wisdom. We never outgrow temple worship. It simply becomes more profound and meaningful as we progress through four spiritual levels. In the charya pada, the stage of selfless service, we attend the temple because we have to, because it is expected of us. In the kriya pada, the stage of worshipful sadhanas, we attend because we want to; our love of God is the motivation.

In the yoga pada, we worship God internally, in the sanctum of the heart; yet even the yogi immersed in the superconscious depths of mind has not outgrown the temple. It is there—God’s home on the Earth plane—when the yogi returns to normal consciousness. So perfect is the temple worship of those who have traversed the jnana pada that they themselves become worship’s object—living, moving temples. Yea, temple worship is never outgrown.

Drawn from the teachings of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Post Views: 2,199