True Concentration
“True concentration comes when the disciple is able to surrender himself to, and identify himself with, the Atman, that Self which is present as the unchanging Witness of every thought and of every sensation. It is only when this is achieved that the mind of the yogi becomes steady “like a lamp in a windless place.”
–Sri Krishna Prem (a.k.a. Ronald Henry Nixon, a.k.a. Gopal Da, English-born Hindu Teacher, 1898-1965)
Profound Thoughts About Prana
“Prana is implicate to matter but explicate to mind; mind is implicate to prana but explicate to soul; soul is implicate to mind but explicate to spirit; and the spirit is the source and suchness of the entire sequence.”
–Ken Wilber (American Philosopher, 1949-)
True Humility
“To be humble is to accept the truth about oneself; this means accepting our talents as well as facing up to our deficiencies.”
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (French Cistercian Monk, Mystic, Theologian, Monastic Reformer and Political Figure, 1090-1153)
Light Everywhere
“Light everywhere meets with light; since everything contains all things in itself and again sees all things in another. So that all things are everywhere and all is all. Each thing likewise is everything.”
–Plotinus (Egyptian-born Roman Philosopher and Founder of Neo-Platonism, A.D.205-270)
{Quoted in G. R. S. Mead’s introduction to Taylor’s ‘Plotinus’ The Ancient Wisdom, Annie Besant}
I Govern Myself!
“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me.”
–Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French Renaissance Thinker, 1533-1592)
“Michel de Montaigne – The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)” (Michel de Montaigne)
Mastery – Sri Madhava Ashish
Here is a fine comment from a Sri Madhava Ashish – a.k.a. Alexander Phipps, a British-born Hindu mystic, writer and teacher who lived from 1920-1997.
“The Master is one with the spirit. He exemplifies the final attainment. He is what is as yet only a partially realized potential in your own being. You can “recognize” him only to the extent that you can feel the responses in your essence when like answers to like.”
Sri Madhava published some very fine books, that are definitely not for the beginner. But for someone truly interested in the spiritual path, they are well worth the effort:
“Man, the Measure of All Things” (Sri Krishna Prem, Sri Madhava Ashish)
“Man, Son of Man” (Sri Madhava Ashish)
“An Open Window:Dream as Everyman’s Guide to the Spirit” (Sri Madhava Ashish)
The Highest Education
“The highest education is that which not merely gives us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
–Rabindranath Tagore (Indian Poet, Playwright, Essayist, Painter and, in 1913, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1861-1941)
Heart, Mind and Soul
“The intellect of man sits visibly enthroned upon his forehead and in his eye, and the heart of man is written upon his countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only, as God revealed Himself to the prophet of old in the still small voice, and in the voice from the burning bush.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American Poet, 1807-1882)
How Wise People Learn!
“Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools by their own.”
–Benjamin Franklin (American Author, Inventor and Diplomat, 1706-1790)
The Grandeur of the Mysteries
“Let the mind be enlarged, according to its capacity, to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind.”
–Sir Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount Saint Albans, Baron of Verulam (English Lawyer, Statesman, Philosopher and, from 1618-1621, Lord Chancellor of England, 1561-1626)
