The Purpose of Life

'Earth's Crammed with Heaven...'

The Beholder

Within and Without

On the Learning Curve

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

 “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”  - Bill Nye

True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.” - Oprah Winfrey

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.” – Franklin P. Jones

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams

 “I have learned all kinds of things from my many mistakes. The one thing I never learn is to stop making them.” – Joe Abercrombie

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The Eternal Present

The Path

Thanksgiving

Confidence



"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt

“Confidence comes from not always being right but form not fearing to be wrong.” – Peter T. McIntyre

"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment." - Thomas Carlyle

"Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream." - Malcolm Muggeridge
"Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down." - Ray Bradbury

"Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem." - Woody Allen

"Self-confidence is the result of a successfully survived risk." - Jack Gibb

"Cowards die many times before their deaths." - William Shakespeare



The Gift by Hafiz

The sun
Won a beauty contest and became a jewel
Set upon God’s right hand.

The earth agreed to be a toe ring on the
Beloved’s foot
And has never regretted its decision.

The mountains got tired
Of sitting amongst a sleeping audience

And are now stretching their arms
Toward the Roof.

The clouds gave my soul an idea
So I pawned my gills
And rose like a winged diamond

Ever trying to be near
More love, more love
Like you.

The Mountain got tired of sitting
Amongst a snoring crowd inside of me
And rose like a rip sun
Into my eye.

My soul gave my heart a brilliant idea
So Hafiz is rising like a
Winged diamond.

[translation by Daniel Ladinsky]



Eternity

Buddhism:

“Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those that a chick, which has not broken its way through its shell, might form of the outside world.”

the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha

Christianity:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

John 11:25, 26

Hinduism:

“At the end of the world, all things sleep: He alone is awake in Eternity. Then from his infinite space new worlds arise and awake, a universe which is a vastness of thought. In the consciousness of Brahman the universe is, and unto him it returns.”

Maitri Upanishad

Islam:

“Conduct yourself in this world, as if you are here to stay forever; prepare for eternity as if you have to die tomorrow.”

Bukhari

New Age:

“He who binds to himself a joy, Does the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.”

William Blake

Taoism:

“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.”

Lao Tzu



New Year Message

May the New Year grant you mental peace and may your life's ideal of self-realisation be fulfilled. May all comforts and contentment be added unto you. This is My blessing.



- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

A Prayer in the Jain Tradition

Highly auspicious are the adorable ones

And so are the emancipated;

The saints too are the auspicious ones

And so is the speech divine.

Best in the world are the adorable ones

And so are the emancipated;

The saints too are the best in the world,

And so is the speech divine.

Refuge do I take in the adorable ones.

And also in the emanicpated;

Saints are also the place of my refuge.

And so is the speech divine.

Thus do I pay homage and veneration

Unto the great Arihants every day

In devotion deep with the purity in mind,

In speech and in deed indeed.

Speak … or, Hold Your Peace

“Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than open one’s mouth and remove all doubts.” – Mark Twain

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemmingway

“I write as straight as I can, just as I walk as straight as I can, because that is the best way to get there.” – H. G. Wells

 “One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart you can’t utter.” – James Earl Jones

“Keep your mouth shut and your mind open.” - Unknown

“Unless your heart, your soul, and your whole being are behind every decision you make, the words from your mouth will be empty, and each action will be meaningless. Truth and confidence are the roots of happiness.” - Unknown

Silence

Buddhism:

Health, contentment and trust

Are your greatest possessions,

And freedom your greatest joy.

Look within.

Be still.

-          the Buddha

Christianity:

Be still, and know that I am God.

-          Psalm 46:10

Hinduism:

I am Silence among all secrets.

 -          the Bhagavad Gita

Native American:

Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood is ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence…What are the fruits of silence? They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character.

 -          Ohiyesa, Santee Sioux

Sikhism:

Where words will not succeed, it is better to be silent.

 -          Guru 1, Majh Rag

Sufism:

Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.

 -          Rumi

Taoism:

Silence is a source of great strength.

 -          Lao Tzu

The Speechless Mind

What is Mounam (silence)? Not merely keeping the mouth shut! It means getting beyond the influence of all the senses and being always established in the consciousness of one's own Reality. When the mind withdraws from the outer world, the tongue too becomes silent. All other senses follow suit. That is genuine Mounam.

- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Meaning of Life

Life is a challenge, meet it!

Life is a dream, realize it!

Life is a game, play it!

Life is Love, live it!

- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, Who art in heaven,

Hallow’d be Thy Name

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For Thine is the kingdom

And the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

Fathers

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” – Mark Twain

“I love my father as the stars – he’s a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart.” – Terry Guillemets

“The greatest gift I ever had

Came from God – I call him Dad!” – Author Unknown

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.” – Author Unkown

“My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” – Clarence Budington Kelland

“When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, ‘Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?’ He answered, ‘If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.’” – Jerry Lewis

“A man’s children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.” – Unknown

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” – Charles Wadsworth