Some favorite verses and quotes, please add yours too Options

[Tapati]

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world
that understanding triumph over ignorance
that generosity triumph over indifference
that trust triumph over hatred
and that truth triumph over falsehood.

--Zorastrian Prayer for Peace


Kalama Sutra

"Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching. Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the
spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on experience.Do not believe in anything simply because you
have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do
not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is
written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and
elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is
conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

- the Buddha

[Tapati]

This poem was written by my grandmother-in-law, Olga Grassi, David's paternal grandmother. She was a deeply spiritual woman who faced death with utter fearlessness. She allowed me to print this online in my magazine.

Spirituality Is...

The essence of life
a leap of faith
an innocent limbo
a flowering intellect
an awareness of good
an introspective search
the poetry of religion
a benediction of the senses
the reflection of the mind
a higher dimension
the blessing of the heart
a communion with a higher power
a quest for holiness
the intellectual search for the soul
an everlasting bond with God
an all-encompassing emotion
an alliance with the unknown
a pathway to serenity...

It is silent and unseen
but as powerful as life itself

and...

Can be rendered helpless in the face of disbelief.

It is as fragile as lace
as strong as steel

Not something that is
but something you feel

And sadly, some feel it...
not at all.

January 1. 2000

[babu]

Oksana Baiul's mother asking why her daughter was invited at the young age of 5 to particpate in the Ukrainian national figure skating program.

"Oksana is clumsy, she wobbles when she skates but she is fearless and is willing to try anything. This is something we cannot teach. We cannot teach greatness."

[Chanahari]

There was somewhere a conference of clergymen way high in the clerical hierarchy. The bishops and priests spoke about preaching, events, the interference with politics and all such appropiate topics which are likely to surface in such conferences. Once then, one of the participants asked a question:

- Why are we clergymen?

Everyone turned heads towards the person who asked the question. Nobody answered.

- Why are we clergymen? - he asked again. The other priests looked at each other. Some of them murmured words to answer the wuestion for themselves. Finally, the asker said:

- Because we are so fallen that God couldn't figure out any other way to save us.

[Tapati]

Wherever I go--only Thou!
Wherever I stand--only Thou!
Just Thou; again Thou! Always Thou!
Thou, Thou, Thou!
When things are good, Thou!
When things are bad, Thou!
Thou, Thou, Thou!

Hasidic song


With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
Beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in my old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.

--Navajo prayer


From the cowardice that dare not face new truth
From the laziness that is contented with half truth
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth
Good Lord, deliver me.

--Kenyan prayer

Let me seek you in my desire.
Let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you
Let me love you when I find you.

--St. Anselm


O God, give me, I pray Thee,
light on my right hand
and light on my left hand
and light above me
and light beneath me.
Lord, increase light within me
and give me light
and illuminate me.

--Ascribed to Mohammed

[Tapati]

I first saw this on the internet in the early nineties on the Unix based forum I was involved with when my son was recovering from his injury. It's been making the rounds ever since, and some versions include a long story illustrating the points.

In honor of Mother's Day (yesterday in the U.S., various days in other locales) I wanted to share it.

____

The Kindness of Our Many Mothers

by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche

Before practicing loving-kindness to all sentient beings, we must first reflect on the kindness offered to us by our mothers over many years. When we were born, we were like a small insect, unable to do anything. Thereafter, our mother gave us food and drink, sacrificed to give us clothes and shelter, and otherwise tried to please us. Even when she lacked resources she tried to give us what we needed. All that she used for her child she acquired through hardship. Our mother also protected us from fire, water, falls and all other dangers. She worried about our health and well-being. We knew nothing when we were born, but our mother taught us how to talk, rejoiced over even our first faltering words and steps, and oversaw our education, helping to make us the best among all others. If a friend helps us a little, or offers us a cup of tea, we feel much gratitude. Think, then, how much more gratitude one should feel for one's mother who has done so much for us. Then we must meditate on the fact that we have been reborn in innumerable lifetimes. So all sentient beings have been our mothers at one time or another. Therefore, we must realize that all beings have been kind to us, and we must repay this by practicing loving-kindness and wishing that all may have happiness and the cause of happiness.

We extend the kindness we feel for our mother to our other relatives, then to our friends, then to our countrymen and finally to all beings universally, even to those whom we regard as enemies. Lord Jigten Sumgon said: If you cannot think kindly of your mother, think of a dear friend and extend outward from there.

Compassion is wishing that all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. If your mother or a close friend is experiencing a crisis, you are responsible for helping. Even if your mother is crazy, you must try to help, so in the same way you must help all sentient beings deluded by the three poisons, clarifying their view if possible.

[Tapati]

Quote from St. Ignatius:

"There are very few people who realise what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace."

[0Oneiros0]

Quote from St. Ignatius:

"There are very few people who realise what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace."

That sounds like how we get fanatics, Bhaktivedantas and inquisitors.

[Chanahari]

Well, the first I got to my mind was that the temple devotees tried to convince me to move into the temple, to do sankirtan etc. with similar phrases. I don't think that they did God's bidding that time, but it is sometimes requires deep thinking as to differentiate.

[Tapati]

When I read it, I don't think of religion as run by humans, I think of my direct relationship with the Divine (or whoever it is I am feeling this connection to). So it doesn't bring up those connotations to me.

Certainly there are many people who represent themselves as telling you what God wants you to do or be. That's another matter altogether...

[Tapati]

Blood In The Boardroom Lyrics
by Ani DiFranco


sitting in the boardroom
the I'm-so-bored room
listening to the suits
talk about their world
they can make straight lines
out of almost anything
except for the line
of my upper lip when it curls
dressed in my best greasy skin
and squinty eyes
I'm the only part of summer here
that made it inside
in the air-conditioned building
decorated with corporate flair
I wonder
can these boys smell me bleeding
though my underwear

there's men wearing the blood
of the women they love
there's white wearing the blood of the brown
but every woman learns to bleed from the moon
and we bleed to renew life
every time it's cut down
I got my vertebrae all stacked up
as high as they go
I but I still feel myself sliding
from the earth that I know
so I excuse myself and leave the room
say my period came early
but it's not a minute too soon

I go and find the only other woman on the floor
is the secretary sitting at the desk by the door
I ask her if she's got a tampon I could use
she says
oh honey, what a hassle for you
sure I do
you know I do
I say
it ain't no hassle, no, it ain't no mess
right now it's the only power
that I possess
these businessmen got the money
they got the instruments of death
But I can make life
I can make breath
sitting in the boardroom
the I'm-so-bored room
listening to the suits talk about their world
I didn't really have much to say
the whole time I was there
so I just left a big brown bloodstain
on their white chair

--this is absolutely my favorite Ani DiFranco song

[0Oneiros0]

When I read it, I don't think of religion as run by humans, I think of my direct relationship with the Divine (or whoever it is I am feeling this connection to). So it doesn't bring up those connotations to me.

Certainly there are many people who represent themselves as telling you what God wants you to do or be. That's another matter altogether...

It is just that it seems to me that abandoning oneself into the hands of god to be "formed by his grace" does not produce a good result, as least if one is judging from self-professed recipients of this "grace."

The divine? Ah, so delightfully vague, promising to fulfill the deepest needs of our being...

It seems to me that people are drawn to that which is mysterious and which they do not understand. parokSakAmAH iva hi devAH.

[Tapati]

I think a lot of people may claim to be formed by his grace but what they really are talking about was that they surrendered to a religious institution and lived their lives fully according to its rules.

Again, that is not what I mean by it.

What I feel this connection with is mysterious only because we do not know for certain who or what it might be...yet to me it is a familiar entity that feels so all encompassing that I can only imagine the word God as describing it. As long as the input and feedback I receive is only positive for me, I will continue my endeavor to connect with it.

Until they come to take me to the loony bin, anyway.

[Tapati]

Sarasvati namasthubhyam
Varade kaama roopini
Vidyaarambham karishyaami
Sidhirbhavatu me sadaa

O Goddess Saraswati, the giver of Boons and fulfiller of wishes, I prostrate to You before Starting my studies. May You always fulfill me.

[Tapati]

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”

God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”

"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”

-author unknown

[0authority0]

JESUS IS GOD.

John 3:16

Love,

YOURMASTER

[Homer]

JESUS IS GOD.

John 3:16

Love,

YOURMASTER

YM, Is this sarcasm? I have come to believe that you are here only to waste our time and obstruct meaningful discussion.

Are we to understand this Bible quotation reflects your genuine sentiments when your very first post on this forum was this:

"God is simply a projection of our thinking into our belief system. It is not real. We make up 'God'. It is a shared memory, passed down from one to another and modified to fit our egos and fears."

Either you are a Christian trying to disrupt the intent of the existence of this forum or you are a pathological personality.

I have given up trying to understand your brand of "humor".

[Chanahari]

JESUS IS GOD.

John 3:16

Love,

YOURMASTER

Just to be sure:

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mark 10:18

[Tapati]

When I was becoming Catholic, many years ago, I used to have these discussions with my 8th grade science teacher, Frank Komatar. We discussed theology on a regular basis.

He challenged me to find anywhere in the New Testament where Jesus said he was God. I felt sure I would find it, and I spent hours searching.

Not once does he say that.

[Tapati]

Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled,
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart
toward heaven --
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.

- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.