Good Company:

Quotes

from

Baba Sawan Singh,

Master Kirpal Singh,

& Others

to Accompany Us On the Way

Table of Contents

1. It Is Thy Turn to Meet God! 51. Love and Devotion 1 2. A Noble Gift 52. Love and Devotion 2 3. The Purpose of Life 53. Become the Master of Your Thoughts 4. This Is Your Golden Opportunity 54. Criticism 5. A Wasted Life 55. Silence Is Golden 6. Start a New Pattern of Life 56. Mind Your Own Business 7. Every Saint Has a Past 57. Service/Kindness 8. Defeat 58. Benevolence Towards All Creatures 9. Sincere Effort 59. Humility 10. The Determination to Succeed 60. Desires 1 11. Patience and Perseverance 61. Desires 2 12. You Will Succeed - Sooner or Later 62. Be Not Allured by This False Show 13. The Agony of Separation 63. Chastity 14. The Difficulty of the Path 64. Work Hard - Then Forget It 15. The Path Is Difficult, but the Rewards Are Superb 65. Proper Conduct 16. Act Now Lest You Regret It Later 66. Solitude 17. Stages of Development 67. Mind 1 18. The Third Eye 68. Mind 2 19. Travel to the Worlds Within 69. Mind 3 20. The Inner Bliss Is Supreme and Unrivaled 70. Mind 4 21. There Is Nothing Here to Compare to the Inner Bliss 71. Simran 1 22. A Bright and Radiant Land 72. Simran 2 23. Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 1 73. Remembrance 1 24. Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 2 74. Remembrance 2 25. Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 3 75. Master Tests His Disciples 26. Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 4 76. Faith 27. Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 5 77. Surrender 1 28. Destroy the Old and Forge the New 78. Surrender 2 29. Torn Between Two Worlds 79. Surrender 3 30. Obedience 1 80. Surrender 4 31. Obedience 2 81. Self-Pity 32. Obedience 3 82. Gratitude 33. Think Before You Act 83. Receptivity 34. The Diary 84. Grace 1 35. Self-Discipline 1 85. Grace 2 36. Self-Discipline 2 86. Prayer 1 37. Purification 1 87. Prayer 2 38. Purification 2 88. Master’s Love 1 39. Meditation Aids Purification 1 89. Master’s Love 2 40. Meditation Aids Purification 2 90. Master’s Love 3 41. Meditation Can Change Your Life 91. Master’s Love 4 42. Meditation Is a Natural Process 92. Karma 1 43. Meditation Instructions 93. Karma 2 44. Look into the Darkness 94. Dying 45. Leave the Results to the Master 95. Death 1 46. Sit at the Door and Wait 96. Death 2 47. Dry Spells 97. Death 3 48. The Ambrosial Hour 98. Rebirth 1 49. Regularity 99. Rebirth 2 50. The Music of the Spheres 100. Retirement

I used to read scriptures - Sikh scriptures.

But I read only one hymn,

not one page or two hundred or ten hymns, only one, and I put it into writing.

This is today's lesson,

and the whole day was given up to this.

Then only you'll understand the meaning.

But that also won't do unless you live up to that lesson. (Sant Kirpal Singh http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/heard.htm)

-1-

It Is Thy Turn to Meet God!

What an unspeakable blessing! The time has come to realize Him at last. It is thy turn to meet God. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/whohigh.htm) When a true Master accepts a disciple, that person’s status changes. We were lost wanderers whom not one befriended; accepted by the Satguru, we were then recognized. He becomes an “accepted” soul, under the care of the Master. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurumukh.htm) You are one of the luckiest sons of Sat Purush, and He has chosen you to get Naam and go with the Master to Sach Khand. You must reach there. Nothing can prevent you. But you can hasten the progress or retard it, as you like. (Hazur, The Ambrosial Hour, 98)

Arise, awake, and stop not until the Goal is reached! (Upanishads) It is time now for us to rise from sleep. (St. Benedict) O my blessed beloved, awake! Why do you sleep in ignorance. (Kabir) You have not known what you are. You have slumbered upon yourself all your life…Whoever you are! Claim your own. (Walt Whitman) A tree as big around as you can reach starts with a small seed; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (Lao-tzu) You are destined for enlightenment. Cooperate with your destiny, don’t go against it, don’t thwart it. Allow it to fulfill itself. (Nisargadatta) You shall seek me and you shall find me. Because you seek me with all your heart, I will let myself be found. (Into Great Silence)

-2-

A Noble Gift

He, out of His mercy, has bestowed upon you such a noble gift that all the treasures of this world stand in no comparison with it. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 80) He who is born as human and by good luck is connected with the Sound Current and practices it, is great. He is the monarch of monarch, for he will be one with the Creator. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 192) You are one of the fortunate children of Invincible Light. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.3, 169) You have great strength in you; you are the child of a lion. (Kirpal,www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/madness.htm)

A disciple once lamented, “I don’t think I have very good karma, Master.” Emphatically Yogananda replied, “Remember this: It takes very, very, very good karma for a person even to want to know God!” (Yogananda) We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. (Teihard de Chardin) Such is the world, it is easily led away by nonsense; but when it hears of the Path of Truth, it rejects it as false. (Kabir) Degrade not truth by forcing it upon unwilling minds. (Letters from the Masters of Wisdom) The unsurpassed, profound, and wondrous Dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred, thousand, million kalpas. Now I can see and hear it, accept and maintain it. May I unfold the meaning of the Tathagate’s (the Buddha’s) truth. (The Lotus Sutra) Not all spiritual paths lead to the harmonious Oneness. Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more. (Lao-Tzu)

-3-

The Purpose of Life

The greatest purpose of human life is that one should know one’s Self and know God, and all the rest is mere dissipation. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/vegdiet.htm) This life is for the purpose of ending our coming back into this world.(Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 337) So put in more time, please to your practices. Develop love for God within you. You will be blessed. You will have made the best use of your life. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/truelove2.htm) So the foremost work, truly speaking, our private work, is to leave the body…All other works are secondary. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/riseabov.htm) Having diverted your mind from the world, give up all aspirations and hopes except that of reaching the pure spiritual region. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 125) The whole of this life’s purpose is to become still - to withdraw from outer environments, and to concentrate. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/madness.htm) Anything that helps us in our concentration and inward progress is worth doing; all else is off the mark. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 168)

He is born to no purpose, who, having the rare privilege of human birth, is unable to realize God in this life. (Ramakrishna) To know the sweetness of the Infinite within us, that is the cause, the reason, the purpose, the only purpose of our being. (Nicholas of Cusa) It were better to live one single day in the pursuit of understanding and meditation, than to live a hundred years in ignorance and restraint. (Buddha) There is no one in this world who is not looking for God. Everyone is trudging along with as much dignity, courage and style as they possibly can. (Hafiz) It is as if a king had sent you to a country to carry out one special, specific task. You go to the country and you perform a hundred other tasks, but if you have not performed the task you were sent for, it is as if you have performed nothing at all. So man has come into the world for a particular task, and that is his purpose. If he doesn’t perform it, he will have done nothing. (Rumi)

-4-

This Is Your Golden Opportunity

You may do it today, or tomorrow, or next year, in ten years’ time or later on in life, or you can take millions of births to do it, but this very work will have to be done sooner or later. (Kirpal, www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) What takes months to do here, there takes years to do. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/riseabov.htm) Fortunate you are to have the man body! What you can do here in a short time, cannot be done in the other world, higher planes, in ten times as long. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/god-enter.htm) There is no specific time limit for this second stage (man-making). It all depends upon the disciple’s aptitude for self-discipline, obedience to the commandments of the Master, and developing a love for Him. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 6) Usually an ordinary initiate would take four births to complete his course, but it can be shortened even to one birth according to the disciple’s love and faith and obedience to the Master. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 242)

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. (Earl Nightingale) God realization does not begin in a cave high atop the Himalayas. It begins in the pots and pans of the kitchen. Treat all of your tasks, however small, as opportunities to see God and serve Him. (Sivananda) Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. (George Bernard Shaw)

-5-

A wasted Life

If, during lifetime, entry has been made into the eye center and the sound current has been grasped, life has been usefully spent. If this has not been done, even though all else has been done - and most successfully - then life has been wasted. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 143) Are you always keeping sweet remembrance of God? Just as if a man has been stabbed and feels pain, so should you feel pain for God. If that is not developed we are nowhere. We are wasting our human life. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/love4god.htm) Without a connection with the All Sustainer, our life is wasted; nothing remains but preparation for the return to the field of action. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 356) To be without Initiation and without the Guru’s guidance is to lead a wasted life confined to the world seen by the outer eyes. Born in darkness, such persons also die in darkness. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 129) To sacrifice one’s spiritual future just for a few days dancing to the mind’s tune - is this intelligent? (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 154) The manmuck is an idiot for he does not take the long-range view of things. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 204) He who barters away his life in the human body in exchange for the dross, the sense pleasures and other worldly objects, is the most pathetic of fools, for he is digging a pit into which he will inevitably fall himself. With his own razor, he is trying to cut his throat. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 110)

A life devoted to the interests and enjoyments of this world, spent and wasted in the slavery of earthly desires, may be truly called a dream. (William Law) The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose. (Plutarch)

-6-

Start a New Pattern of Life

No matter what your past has been - stop now! View the facts and start afresh. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 58) One has to outlive and forget one’s past whatever it be… (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsqa.htm) All that has blemished your pure life in the past can be left in the hands of the Master, and in the future you should live a clean and chaste life and be regular in your spiritual practices. You will come very close to the Master, and His love will just envelop you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tours/55/ss55_11.htm) You are advised to draw a thick curtain over the past and just forget everything which has since passed as no amount of repentance or resentment can do it. You must start a new pattern of life. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 53) If we live recklessly when our hair is black, at least when it turns to white we should give some thought to how we are living, and what it will avail us. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm)

There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. (Epistle to the Ephesians) Forget the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now. (Sri Yukteswar) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (Corinthians) Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. (Seneca)

-7-

Every Saint Has a Past

Every saint has a past, every sinner a future. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/sant.htm) One falls often, no doubt, but one becomes a good rider only after many a fall. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm) To fall in sin is manly, but to remain there is devilish. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 168)

A saint is a sinner who never gave up. (Yogananda) One mistake after another is also true practice. (Dogen) In the archer there is a resemblance to the mature person. When he misses the bullseye, he turns and seeks the reason for his failure in himself. (Confucius) As a child learning to walk falls a thousand times before he can stand, and after that falls again and again until at last he can walk, so are we as little children before God. (Hazrat Inayat Khan) Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experiences as a sinner. (Eric Hoffer) The spiritual path is one of falling on your face, getting up, brushing yourself off, turning and looking sheepishly at God and then taking the next step. (Sri Aurobindo) Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. (Confucius) To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature. (Plutarch)

-8-

Defeat

Defeat is not so bad as the admission of defeat. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 114)

The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. (Lloyd Jones) In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. (Vince Lombardi) Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure. (George Eliot) If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail. (Seneca) Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. (Thomas Edison) Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. (Marilyn vos Savent) Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it. (Josephus Daniels) In this world whatever is gained is gained only by self-effort; where failure is encountered, it is seen that there has been a slackness in self-effort. (Yoga Vasistha) There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat save your own inherent weakness of purpose. (Richard Pape) Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved. (Lao-tzu)

-9-

Sincere Effort

It is better to die in sincere effort than to attain all worldly success. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 100) When the mind has gone in, it tastes sweetness such as it has never before tasted in worldly objects. Then it becomes obedient and faithful. So long as it has not tasted that sweetness, there is no greater enemy. The primary factor in this success is the effort of the disciple. (Hazur)

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory. (Mahatma Gandhi) All I can do is engage with complete sincerity. Then, whatever happens, there is no regret. (The Dalai Lama) Hope is effort, not wish; effort to make it so; not wish that it may be so. (Gurdjieff) Great souls have will, feeble ones have only wishes. (ancient Chinese proverb) Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. (Mahatma Gandhi) To awaken to the Divine Truth requires great energy and dynamic will power. We cannot awaken from the cosmic dream by wishful thinking. (Yogananda) Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. (Joshua Reynolds) Without labor nothing prospers. (Sophocles) I exhort you, brothers: remember, all things that come into being must pass away. Strive earnestly! (Buddha) If a life of ease and merriment led to God, would anyone be without Him? (Guru Amar Das)

-10-

The Determination to Succeed

The determination and faith should be so strong that even if nothing comes out of it until the last moment of life, there is no wavering of faith. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 176) Make so much effort in this line that even at the time of death you fall forward on the Path, not backward. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 189)

Come what may - let my body rot, let my bones be reduced to ashes - I will not get up from here until I have found the way beyond decay and death. (Buddha) There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm determination. (Japanese proverb) An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men. (Thomas Fuller) In mighty enterprises, it is enough to have had the determination. (Sextus Propertius) Do not blame karma, or anybody else, for what you are. You can undo what has been done, through the exercise of a determined will. (Papa Ramdas) Those who really seek the path to enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. They then proceed with strong determination. (Buddha) The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. (Vince Lombardi)

-11-

Patience and Perseverance

Man has got himself so enmeshed in mind and the outgoing faculties that his release from them can only be brought about by struggle and perseverance. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.1, 35) It is natural to be disappointed at the failure of our first effort, but in the spiritual journey we must have patience to wait and observe the will of the Master. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 85) Perseverance combined with full faith in the gracious Master Power working overhead will one day remove all obstacles, and your cherished goal will be achieved. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.2, 121, 122) Time factor is a necessity; patience is a necessity; perseverance is a necessity. It will not happen in one day. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 122) The spiritual path is an arduous up-hill journey and requires steadfast patience and perseverance. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Patience is the noblest virtue, but is the fruit of very long cultivation. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 108)

Patience is crowned with faith: where one has no patience, one has no faith. The prophet said, “God hasn’t given faith to anyone in whose nature there is no patience.” (Rumi) The virtue of patience is one which most assures us of perfection. (Saint Frances de Sales) Steady perseverance alone will tame your mind, and it is only through a tamed mind that you can experience God. (Sathya Sai Baba) The greatest prayer is patience. (Buddha) The great thing and the hard thing is to stick to things when you have outlived the first interest, and not yet got the second which comes with a sort of mastery. (Janet Erskine Stuart) Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. (Shakespeare)

-12-

You Will Succeed - Sooner or Later

You must reach the supreme Goal in due time. Some reach it sooner, others later, according to their individual efforts and the karma they have to overcome. (Hazur, The Ambrosial Hour, 98) A person who has begun his journey on the right path will reach his destination one day, sooner or later. He is far better than one who journeys on the wrong path. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 103) Our Master used to give an example of people crossing a river. The sailor first takes one load, then another load, then a third. Those whom Masters have initiated are taken one by one. All will go, some before, some after, but on the other side of the world you will all meet. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/god-enter.htm)

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. (Henry David Thoreau) Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. (Abraham Lincoln) In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. (Zen Soup) Enlightenment must come little by little, otherwise it would overwhelm. (Idries Shah) Our regularity in meditation and the amount of our leisure time we spend in sweet remembrance of the Master is directly proportional to the extent of our passion, zeal, love, and eagerness to reach our goal in the least possible time. (Sant Darshan Singh)

-13-

The Agony of Separation

The torment and agony of separation is most necessary. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/hunger.htm)

Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts can find no rest except in Thee. (Saint Augustine) Saints are not saints by chance, nor by choice, but by necessity - because there is a hunger in their souls which cannot be satisfied by anything less than the Divine. (Nancy Pope Mayorga) When you have an immense thirst for the Divine, when you will not give undue importance to anything else - the tests of the world or the tests of the body - then He will come. (Yogananda) The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love. (Mechthild of Magdeburg) The longing to go back to the source is present in each being from the very time that it is separated from the source by the veil of ignorance. (Meher Baba) When the Guest is being searched for, it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that does all of the work. Look at me and you will see a slave to that intensity. (Kabir) I once had a thousand desires, but in my one desire to know You all else melted away. From my first breath I have longed for Him. This longing has become my life. This longing has seen me grow old. (Rumi) It is the burn of the heart that I want. It is this burning which is everything - more precious than a worldly empire - because it calls God secretly in the night. (Rumi) There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you? You feel the separation from the beloved. Invite Him to fill you up, embrace the fire. (Rumi) Tears in the eyes and pain in the heart are the two pillars between which we pass to go within. (Rumi) Recognize the Path to your Beloved, O travelers and take the route of the anguished lover in separation. Keep the Master's grace in your thoughts, and reflect on His pure teachings. Develop love and devotion with endearment, and keep the thought of the Creator always before you. Try to merge yourself into God like water in water. Fix your mind within by following the Path of the Sound Current. A yearning will arise; make then an intense and anguished call. Repeat the Name of your Beloved, day and night, again and again. With care in thought, word and deed, you will cross to the other shore. (Dadu)

-14-

The Difficulty of the Path

Spirituality is the highest goal in man’s life and it is also the most difficult. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 294) You know from experience that the path is not an easy one. It is death in life - a living death. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 169) To understand the teachings of the Master and strictly follow them from day to day, to confide in Him and to completely surrender one’s self, body and soul, to His will is not an easy thing to do. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, V. 3, 117) Very few men, in all God’s creation, ever see Him and realize Him. Lord Krishna told that one in a thousand walks toward Him; and if a thousand such ones were found, then from them only one will take what is offered; and if a thousand of those were found, only one from them will realize it. In hundreds of thousands, there is none; in millions, there may be one. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/ineffable.htm)

Like the sharp edge of a razor, the sages say, is the path. Narrow it is, and difficult to tread. (Upanishads) One cannot expect to become a saint without paying the price, and the price is much renunciation, much temptation, much struggle and persecution, and all sorts of sacrifice. (Mother Teresa) I know the path: it is straight and narrow. It is like the edge of a sword. I rejoice to walk on it. I weep when I slip. God’s word is: “He who strives never perishes.” I have implicit faith in that promise. Though, therefore, from my weakness I fail a thousand times, I shall not lose faith. (Mahatma Gandhi) If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one’s way through before regaining one’s original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely. (Ramana Maharshi) O God, you seek those who hide from you, and hide from those who seek you! (Saint Augustine) There is no easy way from the earth to the stars. (Seneca) Those who seek the easy way do not seek the True Way. (Dogen)

-15-

The Path Is Difficult, but the Rewards Are Superb

There is no task in the world so difficult as spiritual practices is in its beginning, but its end is the most joyful. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 99) Everything that is holy, lovely and good is hard, but the rewards are supremely superb. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 306) In the beginning, there is a hard struggle to bring the attention to the eye focus…But when the habit to reach the focus has been acquired, the glimpses of the inner world make this study interesting. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 210)

Spiritual achievement costs much, though never as much as it is worth. (Evelyn Underhill) We should make all spiritual talk simple today; God is trying to sell you something, but you don’t want to buy. That is what suffering is: your fantastic haggling, your manic screaming over the price! (Hafiz) Do not be dismayed, daughters, at the number of things which you have to consider before setting out on this Divine Journey, which is the royal road to heaven. By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder if the cost seems to us a high one. The time will come when we shall realize that all we have paid has been nothing at all by comparison with the greatness of our prize. (Saint Teresa of Avila) Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (Corinthians)

-16-

Act Now Lest You Regret It Later

Get the full benefit of meditation, and increase it day by day. The more you increase it, the nearer will you advance toward your goal. If you refuse, the day will come when you will be filled with regret for the lost opportunity. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm) The journey may be long but has to be completed. Life is running out, let not vain pursuits deflect us from our Noble Path. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 170)

The trouble with you is that you think you have time. (Buddha) Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. (Psalm) Meditate now, lest you regret it later. (Buddha) Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. (Sydney Harris) The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. (Milarepa) It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. (Moliere) A wrong-doer is often a man that has left something undone, not always he that has done something wrong. (Marcus Aurelius) All wisdom can be stated in two lines: what is done for you - allow to be done. What you must do yourself - make sure you do it. (Essential Sufism) The worm is in the root of the body’s tree; travelers, it is late! Life’s sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings. (Rumi)

-17-

Stages of Development

There are no windfalls as a general rule. You have to work your way up. Every one reaching the top step has ascended the steps below. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/msg-xmas.htm) The true Godman has been made, for at one time he was just like us. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/poison.htm) There are different stages through which one has to pass. To attempt to bypass any stage would make one short of development in that particular stage and eventually prolong final attainment. Let every one develop steadily and slowly. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/drops.htm) There are four stages of development. That’s all. In the first stage, man is hungry, then he meets the Master, then He attaches us to Naam, then he should be fully devoted to Him. There are different stages of development. The hunger is there; the bread is there; he eats it and is satisfied. Not necessarily four lives…But a man can pass through all these four stages in one live. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/very few.htm) Ours is to be an attitude of passivity, for the Doer is the One and only One, the Master, who is the best judge of the time and measure and manner of each step on the Path. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 177)

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. (Ecclesiastes) If we have ideas about how our practice should unfold, these will often get in the way, preventing us from honoring the phase that is actually with us. (Jack Kornfield) Once I said to God, “How do you teach us?” And he replied, “If you were playing chess with someone who had infinite power and infinite knowledge and wanted to make you a master of the game, where would all the chess pieces be at every moment? Indeed, not only where he wanted them, but where all were best for your development; and that is every situation of one’s life.” (Saint John of the Cross)

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The Third Eye

A door within the body leads into the realm beyond - the Kingdom of God. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mod/mod_iiihtm) In the center behind and above the eyes there is an aperture; on this side of it is the material world, in which we are living now; and on the other side is the astral world. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 178) This “Single” or “Third Eye”…provides an ingress into the spiritual worlds - the Kingdom of God - now a lost realm to most of us. (Kirpal, The Mystery of Death, 61) Of this inlet or ingress little is known by the people at large. (Kirpal, The Mystery of Death, 61) This center, when located, gives an access to, and provides a supraconscious contact with, the realms that lie beyond the farthest ken of the human mind. (Kirpal, The Mystery of Death, 62) Unless you open that third eye - which can be opened only while in the man-body - you are nowhere. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/single-eye.htm) It is here at the eye-center that one has to tap within, and to “knock” and knock hard with fully concentrated and single-minded attention, as an undivided individual, in order to find the way-in and gain entry into the astral world. (Kirpal, The Mystery of Death, 61, 62) When the third eye opens, you see the Light of God within you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/single-eye.htm)

The Kingdom of Heaven is within. (Jesus Christ) If, therefore, thine eye be “single” thy whole body shall be full of Light. (Jesus Christ) Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads into life, and few there be that find it. (Jesus Christ) The way Godward is narrower than hair and sharper than the razor’s edge. (Mohammed)

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Travel to the Worlds Within

A travel of one single inch within is better than a trip round the globe. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 173) The Vedas and other scriptures reveal to us the existence of tens of millions of suns and moons that are in the kingdom of heaven within us. But if we do not go within, how shall we ever behold them? (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 29)

The astral heaven has, as Jesus described it, many “mansions”, or levels of vibration. It is similar to this material world, for this one is a projection of those subtler realms. The astral heaven, however, is without the countless imperfections of this grosser plane of existence. Heaven is not “up there”, as people commonly imagine. It is all around us. It is just behind our physical vision. I see it all the time, and I spend much of my time there. It is a vast universe, composed of beautiful lights, sounds, and colors. The colors of the material plane are very dull by comparison. Heaven’s beauty is like the most radiant sunset you have ever seen, and even far more beautiful. There is infinite variety in the astral world. The seasons there can be changed at will by advanced souls. Usually it is springtime there, with perennial sunshine. Snow, when it falls, is peaceful and beautiful, and not at all cold. When the rain falls, it descends gently, as myriad-colored lights. Astral beings, though busy, are at the same time very happy. Sometimes, in their compassion for mankind, they visit people in dreams or in visions, or inspire in them beautiful thoughts. How long a person remains in the astral world depends on how well he lived on earth. Those with good karma may remain there for many centuries. Devotees, on the other hand, spurred on by their desire for enlightenment, may elect to return to earth sooner, in order to continue their spiritual efforts. For they realize that the astral world, too, is but a veil behind which the Lord hides His face of eternal perfection. (Yogananda) In my travels I spent time with a great yogi. Once he said to me, “Become so still you hear the blood flowing through your veins.” One night as I sat in quiet, I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast I know it is the source of all of us. (Mirabai)

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The Inner Bliss Is Supreme and Unrivaled

You know that the inner bliss is supreme and unrivaled. There is nothing similar to it on earth, but alas! the mind is no much intoxicated with the lust for woman, wine, and wealth that it fails to see and comprehend the greatness of the spiritual beatitude within. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/follow.htm) Your wildest dreams or imaginings cannot picture the grandeur of what lies within. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 226) It is beyond the ken of human comprehension to gauge the grandeur and limitless of divinity. (Kirpal, Letters to New York initiates)

No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him. (Corinthians) My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that Light was wherein it was bathed…And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is. (Saint Augustine) Absolutely unutterable and indescribable are the lightning like splendors of Divine Beauty; neither can speech express nor hearing apprehend. Shall we name the brilliance of the morning star, the brightness of the moon, the radiance of the sun - the glory of all these is unworthy of being compared with the true Light, standing farther from it than does the gloomiest night and the most terrible darkness from midday brightness. (Saint Basil the Great) I wish I could give a description of at least the smallest part of what I learned, but, when I try to discover a way of doing so, I find it impossible; for, while the light we see here and that other Light are both light, there is no comparison between the two and the brightness of the sun seems quite dull if compared with the other. In short, however skillful the imagination may be, it will not succeed in picturing or describing what that Light is like. (Saint Teresa of Avila)

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There is Nothing Here to Compare to the Inner Bliss

Maulana Rumi says that compared to the vastness of the worlds within, this world is not even the extent of an atom. What a magnificent abundance of life there is within us! (Kirpal,ruhanisatsangusa.orgiamthine.htm) When you pierce the veil and go up, the pleasures of this world appear very low and coarse compared to the bliss you enjoy there; in fact, it is like a public latrine when compared to the inner bliss. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 18) When you have got a taste of the beyond then there’s nothing here to compare with that. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 291)

Every region and everything is utterly beyond words. What beauty and glory! How can I describe them? There is nothing here on earth to convey the idea. I am helpless. (Swami Ji) The simple, absolute and immutable mysteries of Divine Truth are hidden in the super luminous darkness…For this darkness, though of deepest obscurity, is yet radiantly clear; and, though beyond touch and sight, it more than fills our unseeing minds with splendors of transcendent beauty. (Dionysius the Areopagite) Imagine if all the tumult of the body were to quiet down, along with our busy thoughts…Imagine if all things that are perishable grew still…And imagine if that moment were to go on and on, leaving behind all other sight and sounds but this one vision which ravishes and absorbs and fixes the beholder in joy, so that the rest of eternal life were like that moment of illumination which leaves us breathless. (Saint Augustine) No man who has lived through a temporary spiritual experience is ever likely to forget it. His days will be haunted until he sets out to seek ways and means of repeating it. (Paul Brunton) Exalted, drawn, and absorbed into the uncreated Light, I beheld that which cannot be related. (Angela of Foligno)

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A Bright and Radiant Land

When you begin to accumulate the wealth of Naam, your soul will go within and you will find yourself in a bright and radiant land. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 40) True love, wisdom and power are the greatest gifts that one gets by basking in the sunshine of Heaven’s Light. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 92) Once you discover this Light and learn to live by it, your whole existence will be changed. Love will permeate your very being and it will burst forth from the very pores of your body… (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 83, 84) When the Light is seen shining within your heart and the Music of the Spheres becomes audible, you behold the Light in all that is outside, you see the one Light in all. This is the Universal Vision that the One is in all and all are in One. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 172)

The middle region of the sky, where in the spirit dwelleth, is radiant with the music of Light. (Kabir) And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul (such as it was) above the same eye of my soul, above my mind, the Light Unchangeable…He that knows the Truth knows what that Light is, and he that knows It, knows eternity. (Saint Augustine) He is the Light of all lights which shines beyond all darkness. (Bhagavad Gita) Our mind is pure and simple. When it is emptied of thought, it enters the pure and simple Light of God, and finds nothing but the Light. (Symeon) Ground yourself, strip yourself down, to blind loving silence. Stay there until you see you are gazing at the Light with its own ageless eyes. (Rumi) Looking up gives Light, though at first it makes you dizzy. Get used to this Light, unless you’re a bat! The sign of your having this Light is your vision of the end. The lust of the moment is in truth your dark grave. (Rumi) For you the outside will now stand transformed as the very expression or manifestation of God - everywhere the Light of God will dazzle your eyes; even in the apparent diversity and activity of nature you will strangely be conscious of an all-pervading stillness and peace of the Eternal - a consciousness which is unshakably permanent. You will also feel that you are liberated from the harassing dualities of life followed by the crowning experience of an abiding state of ineffable ecstasy. (Swami Ramdas)

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Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 1

It is not reasonable to expect to attain to the higher planes without perfecting yourself to a great degree. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 6) Until one can love, obey and transform one’s life, the gift of the Master remains as a seed locked away in a steel vault that cannot sprout and grow to fruition. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 21) The more you will try to eradicate the weaknesses in you and lovingly attend to Simran, Dhyan, and Bhajan, the richer will be the extent of your experiences within.(Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.2, 111) With initiation and spiritual practice, one gradually becomes aware of his shortcomings and tries to weed them out; and the more he purifies himself, the more he grows into Divine Life. (Kirpal, Naam or Word, 278) If you don’t give up these worldly things you are not ready for this path. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/best_use.htm)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Jesus Christ) Without virtue, God is only a word. (Plotinus) If a man who beholds a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater. (Buddha) The disciple does not abstain from the things which he has been told to, but instead he blames the Master for not getting any progress. (Swami Ji) I was held back by mere trifles, the most paltry inanities, all my old attachments. They plucked at my garments of flesh and whispered: “Are you going to dismiss us? From this moment we shall never be with you again, for ever and ever. From this moment you will never again be allowed to do this thing, or that, for evermore.” (Saint Augustine)

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Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 2

The Masters say that two things are essential for success on the spiritual path: first a genuine urge, a passion for it; and second, regular practice. If either one of these is lacking, our efforts will not be fruitful. (Kirpal) To tread the path of Sant Mat, certain conditions must be fulfilled. The first requirement is the inner desire to merge with the Oversoul. The second is the blessing of a perfect master. (Kirpal, Sat Sandesh, Feb. 1988, 9) It is difficult to control your senses, to rise above body consciousness, to keep thoughts pure and not to think ill of others. If we accomplish these things, it is not difficult to realize God. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/reform.htm) If a person devotes twenty hours daily in meditation and has no love and faith, he cannot progress spiritually even a little bit. (Hazur, The Ambrosial Hour, 129) Devoting hours to meditation without eliminating bad habits and cultivating good ones in their place, will not get one anywhere. Purity of life is essential for fruitful meditations. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Let your physical sojourn be sweetly ethical, cooperative, and tolerant. Without these virtues the great spiritual flights evade you. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 296) He will open the door only when He has tested our fitness and found us worthy. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 168) Appreciable inner progress cannot be made until you learn to lead a well-regulated and disciplined life. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 52)

The only worthwhile accomplishments are not those we achieve outwardly but the victories we win over ourselves. (Yogananda) One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand men on the battlefield. (Buddha) I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; the hardest victory is over self. (Aristotle)

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Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 3

Our perpetual gratification of the senses dissipates us, and we lose the capacity for one-pointed attention. (Kirpal, Sat Sandesh, July 1988, 18) If you do not stop enjoying the senses, you will not be able to leave the body. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm) So long as the student has no control over his mind and is a slave of his senses, he can get nothing even if he sits in meditation for eight hours every day. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 46) Brave is he who has control over his mind and senses, for the inward progress is in proportion to this control. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 98) Unless and until you become the master of all the five senses, appreciable inner progress cannot be made. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 15)

Bright and luminous as you are…you went to the world of darkness, and engaged in combat with it; and the world of darkness obscured your Light, and encompassed you with darkness, and blinded you, and made you lose sight of all that you had seen, and forget all that you had known, and in the end, you were captured and held prisoner. (Hermes) Urged by desire, I wandered in the streets of good and evil. I gained nothing except feeding the fire of desire. As long as in me remains the breath of life, help me, for Thou alone can hear my prayer. (Ansari of Heart) I was swept up to Thee by Thy beauty, and torn away from Thee by my own weight. (Saint Augustine) When will you find God? When all your desires for other things are finished. When you realize that the only thing worth having is Him. When every thought, every feeling is drenched with the love of God. (Yogananda)

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Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 4

Who can rise above body consciousness? One who is unattached and is not engrossed in sensual pleasures can do it. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/chaste.htm) One should be very cautious to avoid falling into carnal enjoyments as that darkens the inner vision. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 146) With the Satguru’s mercy one gets a little connection with the Light and Sound Principle, but if the life is not kept pure and chaste, the curtain of darkness will obscure the Light again. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm) One must rise above all enjoyments and not be ruled by greed and lust, for while one remains under their influence no real progress can be made. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/re_mind.htm) If you are not getting much experience within, then look to your diary, and you will find the reason or cause lying in your everyday life. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/5dacoits.htm) If you waste your energies in sex enjoyment, you cannot progress spiritually. (Hazur Spiritual Gems, 95) You may go on meditating all through your life, but unless you practice chastity and forgiveness, it will not bear any fruit. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/chaste.htm)

If you spent one-tenth of the time you devoted to distractions like chasing women or making money to spiritual practice, you would be enlightened in a few years. (Ramakrishna to a disciple) It is easy to keep things at a distance; it is hard to be naturally beyond them. (Bunan) Understand this if nothing else: spiritual freedom and oneness with the Tao are not randomly bestowed gifts, but the rewards of conscious self-transformation and self-evolution. (Lao-tzu) If you can disentangle yourself from your selfish self all heavenly spirits will stand ready to serve you. If you can finally hunt down your own beastly self you have the right to claim Solomon’s kingdom. You are that blessed soul who belongs to the garden of paradise! Is it fair to let yourself fall apart in a shattered house? You are the bird of happiness in the magic of existence! What a pity when you let yourself be chained and caged. But if you can break free from this dark prison named body soon you will see you are the sage and the fountain of life! (Rumi)

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Prerequisites for Inner Experiences 5

Excessive eating and drinking, frittering away the attention on worldly sights, sounds and sensations - all these are outer enjoyments which deny one the bliss of the inner enjoyments. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm) If one cannot rise above, be in full control of, and handle with ease the circumstances of his outer environment, he will never be able to succeed in the way of spirituality. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Unless the outgoing faculties are controlled and the spirit is depersonalized from the distractions of life, it cannot rise above body-consciousness. (Kirpal Spiritual Elixir, 250) The more a person attends upon his Guru and diligently follows His instructions, the more he develops his receptivity; and in the same proportion, the Guru reveals to him more and more spiritual experiences. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurbhakti.htm) The all-knowing Master looks to your inner-most intentions, the sincerity of purpose in you, and honesty of efforts you make in following His commandments, and bestows on you the gift of His spiritual wealth according to your merits. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurbhakti.htm) The celestial manifestations within are the result of the grace of the Master and in no way may be claimed as one’s personal effort or endeavor, however good they may seem to be. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 95)

Perennial joy or passing pleasure? This is the choice man is to make always. The wise man recognizes this, but not the ignorant. The first welcomes what leads to abiding joy, though painful at the time. The latter run, goaded by their senses, after what seems immediate pleasure. (Katha Upanishad) Don’t allow your animal nature to rule your reason. (Rumi) The road to pleasure is downhill and very easy, so that one does not walk but is dragged along; the way of self-control is uphill, toilsome no doubt, but exceedingly profitable. (Philo)

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Destroy the Old and Forge the New

We have to suffer to reshape ourselves, to destroy the old and forge the new. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 298) The more you abide by the teachings of the Master, by the sayings of the Master, the more you have to tear up your old name and fame, what you are, whether high or low. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/difficulties.htm) So long as we do not sacrifice that to which we are most attached, at the altar of God’s Love, we cannot obtain Salvation. (Kirpal, Philosophy of the Masters, v.2, 152)

Anyone who does not give up all he has can not be my disciple. (Into Great Silence) Because of your love I have broken with my past. (Rumi) During eight and twenty years of prayer, I spent more than eighteen in that strife and contention which arose out of my attempt to reconcile God and the world. (Saint Teresa of Avila) So did my two wills, one new, the other old, one spiritual, the other carnal, fight within me and by their discord undo my soul. (Saint Augustine) The important thing is this: to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become. (Charles Dubois) Rationalizations enter the mind - perhaps the thought: “Won’t God be just as pleased with me if I live a good, moral life? Must I give up everything human - everything normal, and be left in the end with, perhaps, nothing?” (Yogananda) In the quest for Divine Bliss, there lingers subconsciously in the mind a certain apprehension: the fear of bereavement, of losing one’s old associations and familiar sense enjoyments; most of all, of losing one’s own self-identity. (Yogananda) All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. (Anatole France) Change, even change for the better, is often approached with apprehension. In giving up something people think, “Will I be left with - nothing?” It takes courage to renounce the known for the unknown. It is not easy even to renounce a familiar pain for an unknown, and therefore uncertain, happiness. (Yogananda)

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Torn Between Two Worlds

Overcoming and giving up outward tendencies, stilling the mind and dying while alive is not easy. The inner gate opens only when the outer gates are closed. There is no other way to get in. People wish to continue to run out through the outer gates and also wish to get into the inner. This is impossible. Two things cannot happen at the same time. One is to be given up to achieve the other. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 212) The path of the Masters is diametrically opposed to the path which the learned and the public follow. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 188)

On the one hand I felt the call of God; on the other, I continued to follow the world. All the things of God gave me great pleasure, but I was held captive by those of the world. I might have been said to be trying to reconcile these two extremes, to bring contraries together: the spiritual life on the one hand and worldly satisfactions, pleasures, and pastimes on the other. (Saint Teresa of Avila) Though she (Saint Teresa of Avila) was resolved to belong entirely to God, she knew not how to shake herself free from the world: and at times she persuaded herself that she could enjoy both, which ended mostly, as she says, in complete enjoyment of neither. (Fray Luis de Leon) I feel at odds with myself, cut off from conventional life yet not really connected to the Absolute. The thing that keeps me going is the memory of my previous experiences and a desire to become one with that transcendent realm I know is real. I get glimpses of this from time to time, as if I’m seeing a friend in an alien world; these experiences give me a sense of stability, self-worth and connectedness. But there are times when I have none of that, and I just hang on in trust. (from Ordinary People As Monks and Mystics) I persist on praising not the life I lead, but that which I ought to lead. I follow it at a mighty distance, crawling. (Seneca)

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Obedience 1

The highest type of love for the lover is to live in the Will of the Beloved. (Kirpal, Philosophy of the Masters, v. 2, 191) If only we would obey implicitly for six months, we would see the magical change in our condition. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 138) If you really love me, then: live up to what I say. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/occupied.htm) Learn to obey implicitly - this is the secret in a nutshell. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/theifof.htm) So to obey the Guru’s commands is the first and the last lesson on the path of Spirituality. Those who do not obey, who show one thing on the face and feel something different in the heart, will never gin the Guru’s pleasure. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/joyfully.htm) One way of pleasing the Master is to live up to what the Master says without regard to what your mind says or what your heart likes. (Kirpal, Portrait of Perfection, 25) Generally, you’ll find we don’t keep His commandments; we simply modify something to our own interests or purposes. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/comeback.htm)

A lover ought to embrace willingly all that is hard and distasteful, for the sake of his Beloved; and not to turn away from Him for any contrary accidents. (Thomas a’ Kempis) If a man consorting with me does not conform his life to my commandments, what benefit will ten thousand precepts be to him? (Buddha) Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness. (George Bernard Shaw) Discipline is simply a matter of doing what we must, without wasting time or energy worrying about whether we feel like it. (Zen Soup) The aim of obedience to the guru is not to enslave the disciple, but to liberate his will from that which enslaves it truly: whims, and much more - bondage to likes and dislikes, and to desires and attachments. (Yogananda)

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Obedience 2

Make up your mind whether you would like to conform to the dictates of your mind or to the commandments of the Master. The choice lies in your own hands; you are free to choose; no one else can make the choice for you. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 59, 60) Whatever the Master ordains, that must be taken as Gospel truth, no matter whether it stands the test of mere human reason or not. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/godman/godman_30.htm) The outer sign of a man who loves is that he gives implicit obedience, complete self-surrender. He cherishes what the Beloved or the Master wants. He always wants to please the Master, not to please himself. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 91) One must, therefore, obey the Master literally, and straightway engage himself in the spiritual practices and discipline as it may be laid down for him. This is the only way to spiritual success; there is no other. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 167) The difference between one who is advanced on the Way, and one who is not advanced, is that he lives up to what he memorizes, the others don’t. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/occupied.htm) Obedience to the Master’s instructions makes the student’s path easier and facilitates progress. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 195) There is a remedy for mistakes, but there is no remedy for disobeying, and the road is long for such people. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 63)

The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing what the failing person is unwilling to do. (source unknown) Try to realize, and truly realize, that what stands between you and a different life are matters of responsible choice. (Gary Zukav) As you choose to empower yourself, the temptations that you challenge will surface again and again. Each time that you challenge it, you gain power and it loses power. (Gary Zukav) Every great person has first learned how to obey, whom to obey, and when to obey. (William Ward) Obey what is revealed you from your Lord. God is aware of all you do. And put your trust in Him, for He is your guardian and trustee. (Qur’an)

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Obedience 3

Ever since the child disciple is initiated into the mysteries of the Beyond by the Master, the gracious Master-Power resides with him or her at the Tisra Til and watches everything for the spiritual betterment of him or her, and those who obediently endeavor to abide by His behests are rewarded abundantly, whereas those who cannot do so have to wait longer. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 226) Whoever insists on his own ideas and does not want to obey, doubtless he will also get the Master’s love, but the inner key will not be entrusted to him. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm)

Remember, he who breaks the wall of the Guru’s orders will never realize the inner knowledge. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm) If you obey Him, you will become what He is. If not, if your mind steps in and interferes, you will not be able to get anywhere near Him. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 28) The saddest part is that even after meeting the Guru, we do not become obedient; this is why we remain empty. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/awakened.htm) Question: “What type of life is most conducive to spiritual progress?” Master explained, “Keeping the commandments one hundred percent, and developing receptivity. They you’ll have one hundred percent of the fruit.” (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/ldarshan.htm) To get the full benefit of the Master Power, the disciple must develop receptivity. It is impossible to develop receptivity until implicit obedience is given to the commandments of the Master. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 145) It is for you to remain devoted to Him, and keep His commandments. The rest is for Him to do. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.1, 27)

You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His Way. (the New Testament - James) Beware! Don’t allow yourself to do what you know is wrong, relying on the thought, “Later I will repent and ask God’s forgiveness.” (Rumi)

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Think Before You Act

If at every moment you are consciously watching your behavior, a calm consideration will replace a blind instinctive reaction to certain situations in life where the choice lies between committing a lapse in behavior or avoiding it. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 19) The truth of the matter is that we must become consciously aware of every thought that passes through the mind; we must weigh our words before we speak and not speak idle words as a mere reaction to the situation that confronts us. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2 14) One must first think of the results before doing or even contemplating any deed. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/vegdiet.htm)

In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it. (Epictetus) Whenever I wish to move or speak, first I shall examine my state of mind, and firmly act in a suitable way. Whenever my mind becomes attached or angry, I shall not react, nor shall I speak; I shall remain mum and unmoved like a tree. (Shantideva)

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The Diary

The purpose of the diary is to reflect your own inner state, so that you know where you stand. It is a tool, which if used properly, will chisel you into a receptacle fit for the manifestation of the Master within you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Once you become aware of a failure, you should be able to trace it to a certain situation, and this situation will help you to identify the cause of the weakness in you that has to be strengthened. By and by, the very cause of the failure will drop off by itself. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Those who do not maintain the diary will lose valuable ground in making steady spiritual progress. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/ondiary-c.htm) The diary forms should be a true reflection of your own inner state. The failures made should be as an open self-confession of the shortcomings which stand between you and the Master. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/ondiary-c.htm) If you live up to the sublime purpose behind the keeping of the diary, you will progress from day to day, and achieve your goal in this lifetime. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/ondiary-c.htm)

A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation…You have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it. (Seneca) We should every night call ourselves to an account; what infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift. (Seneca) The diary form was designed by a conscious entity, who in life was an accountant, to help others reach His level…The form…has for its column heading “observe” and “failures”. The word “observe” suggests that we watch with an open or objective or detached mind. Just note. That’s all. Nowhere does it say that we should feel guilty or get discouraged, or take credit when we don’t fail…After awhile, the voice which notes at night begins to speak in the day when the same situation comes up. This voice some call conscience. The more we listen to it, the stronger it becomes. In mystical literature this voice is called “The Witness” or “The Watcher”…Master advises us to work on one trait at a time, calling them weeds to be weeded out and not watered…The difference between His method and that of modern psychology is profound. Modern psychology teaches us how to express these traits. Master teaches us how to uproot them. Both agree repressing these traits is harmful. (Robert Leverant)

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Self-Discipline 1

The spiritual path is a difficult one and requires a rigorous self-discipline. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Next begins a rigid system of self-control, enforcing the rule in every detail of life. We are constantly beset by five foes - passion, anger, greed, worldly attachments, and vanity. All these must be mastered, brought under control. You can never do that entirely until you have the aid of the Guru and are in harmonic relations with the sound current. But you can begin now, and every effort will be a step on the way. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 339)

“Discipline” is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you’re wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson though. The words on this page won’t do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up - restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain - just watch it come up and don’t get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience. (Henepola Gunaratana) Brother, stand the pain; escape the poison of your impulses. (Rumi) Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. (Abraham Joshua Heschel) Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. (Seneca) No conflict is so severe as his who labors to subdue himself. (Thomas a’ Kempis) What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do. (Aristotle)

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Self-Discipline 2

It is a path of love, discipline and self-control. After the initial spiritual experience given at the time of Initiation, the rest depends on relentless regular practice as enjoined by the Master. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 52, 53)

I believe in self-control, not coercion. Coercion is based on oppression, and results in fear and hatred. Self-control requires courage, and may be induced by love. We will do many things for those whom we love which we would not ordinarily do - which we would not ordinarily have the strength of mind and power to do. How many habits have we been able to break through love, which we would never have had the strength to break without love? And when the love is universal love, all habits which are detrimental, either to the individual or to the social order, will be dissolved in its light. (Meher Baba) Let’s ask God to help us to self-control: for one who lacks it, lacks His grace. (Rumi) The intelligent desire self-control; children want candy! (Rumi) If men live decently it is because discipline saves their very lives for them. (Sophocles) Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire. (Epictetus) Remember that there is always a limit to self-indulgence, but none to self-restraint. (Mahatma Gandhi) The disciplined man masters thoughts by stillness and emotions by calmness. (Lao-tzu) There never has been, and cannot be, a good life without self-control. (Leo Tolstoy) No one is free who is not master of himself. (Shakespeare)

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Purification 1 Changing over from material to spiritual man is the most difficult part of spirituality and when you learn to perfect yourself in that field, then God-realization is not difficult. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 103) The sweet and loving remembrance of the Master, the contemplation of His form and careful attention to His discourses are some of the tried methods for the purification of the mind. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurbhakti.htm) In the task of self-purification, physical and mental suffering play their part. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Find for yourself what habits are obstacles in the way of truth; get rid of them by and by, and fill their place with good ones. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 81)

The process of self-purification is not the work of a moment, nor of a few months but of years - nay, extending over a series of lives. The later a man begins the living of a higher life, the longer must be his period of probation, for he has to undo the effects of a long number of years spent in objects diametrically opposed to the real goal. The more strenuous his efforts and the brighter the results of his work, the nearer he comes to the threshold. If his aspiration is genuine - a settled conviction and not a sentimental flash of the moment - he transfers from one body to another the determination which finally leads him to the attainment of his desire. (letters from the Masters of Wisdom)

When you realize that something is unwholesome and bad for you, give it up. And when you realize that something is wholesome and good for you, do it. (Buddha) My foes - desire, hatred, and their kindred - are without hands, without feet. They are neither cunning nor valiant. How do they enslave me? They dwell in my spirit, and there at their ease they smite me. I will never turn back from fighting them. I make war on them all. (Shantideva) Life is a campaign against foes, it is a battle with obstacles, temptations, hardships and limitations. These foes are within man and so the battle has to be incessant and perpetual. (Sathya Sai Baba) The surest sign of a person of the highest wisdom is that he or she is unattracted by the pleasures of the world. Even the subtle tendencies have ceased. (Yoga Vasistha) Enlightenment consists not merely in the seeing of luminous shapes and visions, but in making the darkness visible. The latter procedure is more difficult, and therefore, unpopular. (Carl Jung)

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Purification 2

Purity of body, mind and soul is the most important factor in winning the love of the Lord. It may be considered in three different stages - Repentance, Forgiveness and Abstention. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 25) One begins to do things in order to carry on with the higher ideal always before him or her, the fulfillment of which becomes an all absorbing vocation in one’s life. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 17) Such things as are conducive to higher progress become joyful. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 17)

No one can be enlightened unless he be first cleansed or purified and stripped. (Theologia Germanica) However harsh its form, however painful the activities to which it spurs him, the mystic recognizes in this breakup of his old universe an essential part of the Great Work…(Evelyn Underhill) The downward drag is incessant, and can be controlled only by those who are clearly aware of it, and are willing to sacrifice lower interests and joys to the demands of the spiritual life. (Evelyn Underhill) To the true lover of the Absolute, purgation is a privilege, a dreadful joy. (Evelyn Underhill) Wisdom begins with sacrifice of immediate pleasures for long-range purposes. (Zen Soup) How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same. (Seneca) If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite. (William Blake)

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Meditation Aids Purification 1

If your daily life is not under control, try to bring it in control, or, give more time to meditation and you will be able to gain control quicker. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm) When you come in contact with Light and Sound Power within, you have not to adopt any virtues, but everything, all virtues, will come within you of themselves. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/occupied.htm) There is a sound of truth vibrating within - a song which is sung in every being. There is a great attraction in hearing this sound, through which all other attractions will fade away - one becomes free of them. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 166) With the longing to go within and the hearing of the Sound Current becoming tasteful, the indulgence or play in sex decreases and ultimately becomes hateful, and is automatically given up, like other bad habits, such as anger, greed and so forth. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 317)

If you really want to rid yourself of present bad habits…you have no greater recourse than meditation. Every time you meditate deeply on God, beneficial changes take place in the patterns of your brain. (Yogananda) When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready. (Lao-tzu) When you realize the unborn, uncreated, unconditioned, you are liberated from everything born, created, and conditioned. (Buddha)

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Meditation Aids Purification 2

You enjoy outside and unless you get more blissful enjoyment inside you cannot withdraw from outside. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/first see.htm) The mind is a lover of enjoyments, and in the Naam there is the Maha Ras - the most delectable Nectar one can ever taste. If only the mind would take one true sip, it would never again yearn for lower enjoyments. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm) When one gets the Naam’s inner nectar, all worldly intoxicants seem ridiculous, and when the seed of Naam sprouts, all other things become meaningless. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm) One cannot possibly forsake the lusts of the flesh unless one comes to know by actual contrast, the real happiness in the life of the spirit which comes about by communion with the holy Word. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/guru-means.htm) Even a little intoxication derived from steady daily practice will start to erase the taste for outer pleasures. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm)

You were darkness once, but now you are the Light of the Lord. Be like children of Light, for the effects of the Light are seen in complete goodness and right living and truth. (Ephesians) No one can live without delight and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures. (Saint Thomas Aquinas) By meditation upon Light and upon Radiance, knowledge of the spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved. (Patanjali)

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Meditation Can Change Your Life

One’s whole life can be changed with meditation and love for the Guru. The Guru will then appear within. (Kirpal ruhanisatsangusa.org/joyfully.htm) Wherever you are, you can at best serve the Master and the best service which earns His pleasure is sincere meditations. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 107) At the cost of meditation, don’t do other work. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/hunger.htm) Meditation is most necessary, for only by meditation will all things come of their own accord. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm) The more you absorb yourself into that Light and Sound, the more love will overflow from you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/prayer.htm) Learn to sit still and be mentally still, and the silence thus generated will be more vocal than words spoken and written; and you will have an instantaneous solution not only to your personal problems but to the problems of others as well. This is the greatest secret of success. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm)

Through meditation, the Higher Self is seen. (Bhagavad Gita) Contemplation for an hour is better than formal worship for sixty years. (Mohammed) Contemplation places us in a purity and radiance which is far above our understanding. (Ruysbroeck) If the mind can get quiet enough, something sacred will be revealed. (Helen Tworkov) The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well. (Sogyal Rinpoche) This is the only way…to explain existence, to overcome sadness and grievances, to banish death and misery, to find the right path, to realize Nirvana - it is correct meditation. (Buddha) Contemplation is for man the end of human life. (Saint Thomas) True meditation gives us, as it were, wings for flight to a higher realm and thus detaches us from terrestrial fetters. (Paramananda)

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Meditation is a Natural Process

The meditation practices should be an easy, natural and enjoyable process, wherein you could sit for extended hours. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 144) In three hours the mind is subdued, provided this time is given with love and devotion, and not as a duty. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 301) The method (of meditation),…is the simplest when compared with other methods. This has been followed and recommended by the past Masters. It is natural, within all, designed by God, and as old as the creation itself. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 126)

Meditation is not some strange technique that we have to learn with great effort and difficulty. Whatever we accomplish in this world we accomplish through the power of concentration, which is nothing but meditation. (Swami Muktananda) All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement and desire is outside of the veil; within the veil is silence and calm and rest. (Bayazid al-Bistami) When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. (Krishna) Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end. (J. Krishnamurti) The spirit of meditation is the combating of self-willed thinking. (Hakuin) Meditation…is the expression of your true nature; it is the activity which appeases your inmost desire. (Suzuki Roshi)

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Master Kirpal Singh’s Meditation Instructions

It is given in the Holy Bible that God cannot be had by observation. I may add that God cannot be found by exertion or clutching or anxiety to see God. You do not see God through your own efforts. God is to be found only by your sitting at the door, patiently waiting. Your effort comes in that way only – sitting at the inner door patiently, and perfectly relaxed, waiting. Your effort should come by looking constantly within to see the Light of God. Effortless effort. Not pushing, not by exertion, not the least. The very effort you make stands in the way of your penetrating within. It closes the door. The "I-ness", "I can have it – I must have it"; that attitude retards and stands in the way. You must not think of the body, have consciousness of the body. If you have your attention at the center – at the door – you will lose body-consciousness and rise above it. That is why all effort is fruitless. When you strive you hold yourself to the body. You must receive the Light of God within by the favor or grace of the Master. So, do as I say, simply sit earnestly relaxed with full consciousness at the center within, constantly, steadily, and see what comes. Anxiety or exertion will not give it to you. It is a matter of surrendering one's self to the higher power within. So, when sitting for meditation, you should sit in a prayerful mood and pray to the Master within that He may show you God and help you. Create a receptivity between you and the Master. So have one pose that is absolutely comfortable, and do not move any part of the body. Don't think of the body or mind. Sit in devotion, prayerfully asking the Master within for help, and fix your attention at the inner door. Think of the power overhead; look into the darkness inside, just within the two eyebrows; look minutely, steadily, without exertion, just looking for something, some light. For those initiated, repeat the charged words. Those that are not initiated, please repeat the Master's name. You are not to think of anything or try to imagine or visualize. Leave all that and be just like a child, let come what may. Now, just sit down and see what you find.

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Leave the Results to the Master

Do not depend upon your own efforts to pierce through the Light, but repose yourself in the Master Power to grant you the way. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 143) You need not struggle for staying at the eye focus when you withdraw quickly. You have simply to relax fully, repose joyously and resign to the divine will and pleasure of the Master and go into the Beyond. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, vol. 2, 109) Sit fully devoted and fully absorbed with the inner gaze fixed losing all sense of effort – as effort involves a taint of ego – leaving all to the Master within. (Kirpal, letters to Vermont initiates) This is just like having an effortless effort. You have to become the inner eye itself. Your job is only to see minutely and with a searching eye into the center of the darkness, while repeating the five Names mentally and slowly, and wait. It is for the Master within to give you results more or less according to the background earned as a result of karmic reactions. We cannot get higher results by clutching. The very anxiety and impatience themselves stand in the way. Your part is to sit at the door behind the eyes, and knock and it shall be opened unto you. (Kirpal, letters to Vermont initiates) Yes, you should give your full attention in meditation so much so that you become one with the gaze: there should be no effort on your part. Leave all and everything in the Master's hands. All desires should be stilled, even the desire for transcension. (Kirpal, letters to initiates in the New York City area) Do your duty and expect nothing – leave the results to the Master. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 117)

Each satsangi should always be determined to do the meditation; he should not go after getting experiences, he should only be determined to do his meditations regularly and wholeheartedly. (Sant Ajaib Singh) We can say either that we make progress little by little, or that we do not even expect to make progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough. (Suzuki Roshi)

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Sit at the Door and Wait

You should not have any clutching tendency to have one thing or the other. Simply sit at the door and wait. This sublime silence is best and easily achieved by lovingly and humbly reposing in the gracious Master-Power, to grant and bless you with whatever it deems fit. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 195) We cannot get higher results by clutching. The very anxiety and impatience themselves stand in the way. Your part is to sit at the door behind the eyes, and knock and it shall be opened to you. (Kirpal, The Self-Introspection Diary, March 1 & 2) Do not worry, but sit in the spiritual exercises with great calmness. Even the desire to see scatters the mind. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 180) Always be buoyant and fresh when you sit for meditation and wait patiently, like a loving baby looking up into the eyes of the nursing mother. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, vol. 2, 168)

While meditating, don't concentrate on the results of meditation. Meditate, rather to please God. If you seek results, you will be disappointed if they don't come. Meditate without attachment to the fruits of meditation. (Yogananda) Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened. (Jesus Christ) Do not get excited or impatient in your efforts to find God. Be wholehearted, but not anxious about getting results. Be patient. Move toward your Divine Goal ever calmly, with tranquility. (Yogananda) Greed for enlightenment and immortality is no different than greed for material wealth. It is self-centered and dualistic, and thus an obstacle to true attainment. Therefore, these states are never achieved by those who covet them; rather, they are the reward of the virtuous. (Lao-tzu) If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its master’s presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in our Lord’s presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed. (Saint Francis de Sales)

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Dry Spells

The intervening dry spells in meditation which the spiritual aspirant finds sometimes are a blessing in disguise when the inner devotion is fostered for a higher step. You need not worry about it, but instead be earnestly devoted to your holy meditations with renewed zeal and vigor. The gracious Master-Power will be extending all feasible help, grace and protection. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 164) The gaps of hushing silence creating an intense longing and pangs of separation for the Master and Holy Naam within the innermost recesses of the heart are happy preludes for a big leap forward. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, vol. 2., 95) A period of disappointment intervenes often in the life of the devotee. This is desirable. It has a purpose. It gives the shock. After a time spent in disappointment, the intensity of love for spiritual uplift increases. A temporary obstruction in the path of determination gives it momentum to proceed ahead. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems ,73) It is not your karma that holds you back, nor is it responsible when you miss your meditations, but rather the treacherous misleading of your mind, which can be subdued and controlled by careful planning and execution. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 261)

Oh, when will dawn for me that day of blessedness when He who is all Good, all Beauty, and all Truth will light the inmost shrine of my heart? When shall I sink at last, ever beholding Him, into that Ocean of Delight? (Ramakrishna) Doubt, the ruthless hunter, lurks within your body; his arrow has pierced the flawless diamond of your soul. (Kabir) Your worshipper of old wanders ever longing for favor still refused. (Tagore) O Master, I know You taught us that we couldn't get to You without much effort and without Your help, but all this silence is leading me astray. (Hafiz) O Beloved, please come back. My heart is broken, and my body is a wreck and almost dead. Come back: for I’ve been blinded from the lack of your Light, and only Light from Your window will open my eyes again. Grief has conquered my bleeding heart; only your face will free me of this pain. (Hafiz) The Journey is long, and the Way dry and barren, that must be traveled to attain the Fount of Water, the Land of Promise. (Cartusian monks, statues, 4.1)

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The Ambrosial Hour

The morning time just before daybreak, and evening time immediately after sunset - are particularly beneficial (for meditation), because these times unite night and day, and spiritual currents are particularly strong and powerful at such a time. (Kirpal, The Philosophy of the Masters, v. 1, 35) They say that if one's early morning hours are wasted in sleep, one dies before living. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, vol. 3, 18) Those who have made the best use of their nights, by knowing oneself and the Overself, have themselves been made. Those who have wasted their nights in frivolous pursuits have wasted themselves. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 347) If man can control the dim hours from sunset to sunrise, he becomes a true human being. But instead we eat, drink, enjoy the worldly pleasures until midnight, and then snore the rest of the night away. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 347) Success awaits those who lose their heads in the pursuit of God. Living in ease and comfort, sleeping long and getting up when you will, meditating fifteen and twenty minutes at your convenience, and making up excuses for your lapses are not the means by which you reach Him. (Kirpal Sat Sandesh, July 1988, 23)

Arise in the midst of the night and commune with thy God. The ego will be crushed and things will be revealed to thee thou did not know before and thy path in life will be made smooth. (Quran) Before the Buddha goes to bed, he cast his Buddha eye around the world to see who has the "Great Wish" and draws that person to himself. (Buddhist scripture) At the ambrosial hour of the early dawn, be ye in communion with the Divine Word, and meditate on His glory. (Guru Nanak) While ordinary people waste the time of Elixir in deep sleep, regarding it as night, the devotees of the Lord keep awake. But during the day when ordinary people are awake, the devotees of the Lord consider it to be night. (Krishna) O my heart, if you wish to bathe in the light of your Beloved’s face, awake at early dawn, leave the comforts of your bed, sit in meditation in a corner, and you will behold Him. (Kutubdin)

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Regularity

The first thing the negative power does when he wants to keep control over a soul is to stop them doing bhajan and simran. The individual finds that there is always something to lure him away from his meditation. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 175) No matter in what circumstances one finds himself and what new problems one is facing, a devotee should not miss his Bhajan. He may give only fifteen minutes or even five minutes to it daily, but he should be on it without a break. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 289) We are adrift. Sometimes we want God, Sometimes the world…Sometimes you are running like a hare, then sleeping, then again turning your head some other way. It's better to go regularly like a tortoise, step by step, step by step, every day, not turning but going ahead. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 217)

There is only one failure in meditation: the failure to meditate faithfully. (Eknath Easwaran) Miss one morning, and you need seven to make it up. (Hindu proverb) He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again. (Saint John of the Cross) Satsangis should not miss the regularity because in regularity is the prosperity. If we miss meditation even for one day it takes us three days or more to meditate and fill up that gap. Because even if we meditate for four or five hours daily, still because we think about the world a lot, the worldly portion is much more. That is why the Satsangis should make a habit of regularity in their meditation. Even if it is only a little, it doesn’t matter, but they should be regular in meditation. (Sant Ajaib Singh) Repetition, for no special purpose and without end, is the way to follow the cosmic order. The point is not to look for something, but to practice. Continue until you reach your coffin. If you practice every day, after a while you no longer have to think about practicing or decide or want to practice. So repetition is very important. (Suzuki Roshi)

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The Music of the Spheres

The Sweet melody of the Music of the Spheres is endlessly playing within us. (Hazur, 2008 calendar) Through the practice of listening to this Music, all sins, impurities and afflictions are removed. The pains of many births are eliminated and one gains bliss. Doubts and fears are destroyed. One enjoys heavenly bliss and dwells in his original Home. (Kirpal. Philosophy of the Masters, v. 4, 157) They have ears but hear not, the enchanting sweet Melody of Life reverberating throughout all creation. If thou grow in power of hearing then be deaf to the world. You will hear when thine ear is closed to the noises of the world, thou will hear the Music of the Spheres - The Flute of the Lord. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/msg-bday.htm) From the life of Lord Krishna we learn how He once jumped into the River Jamuna, where lived a thousand-headed poisonous snake. Lord Krishna won over this monster with the music from His flute; that is, the Music of the Spheres. It again indicates that to control the serpent-mind there is no other means than the Sound Principle. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/serpent.htm) Question: Why is it that it’s so much more difficult to listen to the Sound than it is to look for the Light? Answer: Because the mind is killed with that Sound. Mind would rather go into the opening of the cannons rather than hear the Sound because hearing the Sound kills the mind forever. (Kirpal ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/obedient.htm)

Out of this temple of the body I am hearing a Sound calling me, “Come up”. Bell is ringing wildly: “come back, my children, come back“. (Shamas Tabrez) The Music of the Spheres is so intense and swift that It pulls me up in an instant. (Plato) If you should in this world bring many thousand sorts of musical instruments together, and all should be tuned in the best manner, and the most skillful masters of music should play on them in concert together, all would be no more than the howlings and barkings of dogs in comparison of the Divine Music, which rises through the Divine Sound and tunes from eternity to eternity. (Jacob Boehme) All the seven regions are resounding with this Sound. But fools do not hear It, for the Sound is subtle. (Hafiz) A Sound is coming from the eternal abode to call you back. (Tulsi Sahib) Reverse the outward perception of hearing and listen inwardly to the perfectly unified and intrinsic Sound of the mind-essence. (Buddha)

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Love and Devotion 1

By developing intense love with the Master, your soul will begin to leave the body of itself without any strenuous efforts on your part. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 317) A disciple said, “I just want to pray to you that I develop more love and faith in you.” Master told him, “That love will sprout forth when you come in contact with Light and Sound Principle…or sweet remembrance of the Master.” (Kirpal, Sat Sandesh, Sept. 74, 6) The pains of love are far sweeter than any conceivable pleasure. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 286)

From the beginning of my life I have been looking for Your face, but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face I was looking for. Today I have found You, and those who laughed and scorned me yesterday are sorry that they were not looking as I did. I am bewildered by the magnificence of Your beauty and wish to see You with a hundred eyes. My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever for this wondrous beauty that I now behold. My arrow of love has arrived at the target. My soul is screaming in ecstasy. Every fiber of my being is in love with You. (Rumi)

If once in this world I win a moment with Thee, I will trample on both worlds, I will dance in triumph forever. (Rumi) I wish I could give you a taste of the burning fire of love. There is a fire blazing inside of me. If I cry about it, or if I don’t, the fire is at work, night and day. (Rumi) Time is a factory where everyone slaves away, earning enough love to break their own chains. (Hafiz)

What happens when your soul begins to awaken your eyes and your heart and the cells of your body to the great journey of love? First there is wonderful laughter and probably precious tears and a hundred sweet promises no one can ever keep. But still God is delighted and amused you once tried to be a saint. What happens when your soul begins to awake in this world to our deep need to love and to serve the Beloved? O the Beloved will send you one of His wonderful, wild companions - like Hafiz. (Hafiz)

If destiny comes to help you, love will come to meet you. A life without love isn’t a life. (Rumi)

Love is the energizing elixir of the universe, the cause and effect of all harmonies. (Rumi) When all the strings of my life will be tuned, then at every touch of yours will come out the music of love. (Tagore)

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Love and Devotion 2

Those who turn their back upon the world and are wholly engrossed in the love of the Master and make loving devotion as their ruling passion, they easily and quickly get transformed into the likeness of the Master. (Kirpal, ruhanisansang.org/gurbhakti.htm) The devotion to the Guru then is the first stage in spirituality and it consists in implicit acceptance of His commandments. (Kirpal, ruhanisansang.org/burbhakti.htm) Devotion requires purity of heart. Purity of heart requires that no other thought should strike in your heart other than of the One whom you love. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/devotion-diaries.htm) Devotion starts when you detach your heart from the outward things and attach it to God or to the God-in-man. (Kirpal,ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/devotion-diaries.htm) First of all, the ABC of devotion starts from keeping the diary. (Kirpal, .ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/devotion-diaries.htm) So the first principle of devotion or bhakti is to know that God is everywhere. We are living in Him and He is in us. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/bhakti-devotion.htm)

Love of body or skin is passion. Love of God is…devotion. It is pure love. It is love for love's sake. It is divine. (Sivananda) The world is happy with the intoxication of wine, but I have drunk deep from the fountain of love and devotion. Day and night I am intoxicated with its bliss (Mirabai) The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed. (J. Krishnamurti) There is no path greater than love. There is no law higher than love. And there is no goal beyond love. God and love are identical. (Meher Baba) For love is victorious in attack, and invulnerable in defense. Heaven arms with love those who it would not see destroyed. (Lao-tzu) They do not love who do not show their love. (Shakespeare)

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Become the Master of Your Thoughts

A measure of success of how well you are succeeding in handling your outer environment will be a gradual awareness that you are becoming the master of your own thoughts. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptive.htm) Cast away all negative thoughts, and instill positive ones in their place. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/change.htm) All virtues exercised in righteous living are good, but that of nonviolence of thought is the highest. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/change.htm) Any time you feel overtaken with unloving thoughts towards anybody, you should resort to the Simran of Names and think of the Master. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.2,34)

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering the attitudes of his mind. (William James) Thoughts are our enemy. When we are free of thoughts, we are naturally blissful. The gap between thoughts is our true state, it is the real Self. Get rid of thoughts, be empty of them, be in a state of perpetual thoughtlessness. (Ramana Maharshi) Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts. (Buddha) Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded. But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother. (Buddha) A thought of anger or hatred sends arrows from the mental factory towards the person aimed at, hurts the individual, sets up discord and disharmony in the thought-world, and comes back again to the sender and harms the sender also. (Sivananda) Remember this – that very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all in your way of thinking. (Marcus Aurelius) A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. (Winston Churchill)

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Criticism

One who permits himself or herself to be disturbed by what others say and do, is without question one who is still controlled by the ego and has yet to conquer the self, and learn the rudiments of spirituality. (Kirpal Spiritual Elixir,104) Speaking evil of others is the greatest sin, and they who do it are fools. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 265) The worst of all bad habits is to criticize others. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/reform.htm) In this vast creation, everyone is gifted with an individual perception. The heredity, the environment and the teachings inculcated, all combine to make one what he is. We cannot blame anyone for thinking differently in his own way. Everyone has his own temperament and his own way of thinking. They must differ and they do differ vehemently. There is no help for it. It is, on the other hand, the sign of sentient life. We must not therefore, on that account, cross swords with them. (Kirpal, The Way of the Saints, 257)

Can one behave the same inwardly, whatever the circumstances? Can one's behavior spring from within and not depend on what people think of you or how they look at you? (J. Krishnamurti) People live too much vicariously, in the opinions of others. Your primary concern should be how to win the Lord, not how to please your fellowman. (Yogananda) As a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken by praise or blame. (Buddha) If instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God. (Meher Baba) Speak evil of no one. (Mohammed) Worrying about the faults of others is an unnecessary addition to the worry we have over our own faults. (Hazrat Inayat Khan) Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart. (Seneca) Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them. (Rumi) The flies seek filth, the bees seek honey. I will shun the habit of the flies and follow that of the bees. I will refrain from finding faults in others and only look for the good which is in them. (Hindu vow)

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Silence Is Golden

Never wish to think or to appear clever; have no desire to speak. It is well to speak little; better still to say nothing, unless you are quite sure that what you wish to say is quite true, kind, and helpful. (Kirpal) Too much talking dissipates spiritual energy. You should try to control your speech by resorting to Simran of the Names silently. (Kirpal) Indulgence in unnecessary talk and debate results in the exhaustion of mental powers. (Hazur)

If you want to feel God's guidance in your life, don't waste time talking idly with others. Silence is the altar of the Spirit. (Yogananda) The sage does not talk, the talented ones talk, and the stupid ones argue. (King Tingan) The man who finds God loses his speech. (Mohammed) Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. (Publius Syrus) In futile discussion is much poison; in much talk is great mischief. Keep your mouth shut; suffer all in silence; and remember the Name Unfathomable. (Kabir) Silence is an answer to a wise man. (Euripides) Bear kindly when others chatter. Be not irritable: calm men do not answer back. (Buddha) The wise man does not argue; he remains silent and goes quietly on his path. (White Eagle) Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he. (Publius Syrus) One of the things that keep us at a distance from perfection is, without doubt, our tongue. (Saint Francis de Sales) Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. (Ambrose Bierce) Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue, to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak. (Epictetus) Tranquil sage indeed is he who can control his speech. (Buddha)

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Mind Your Own Business

Another common desire which you must sternly repress is the wish to meddle in another man's business, directly or indirectly, privately or openly. If you see a case of cruelty to a child or an animal, it is your duty to interfere. If you are placed in charge of another in order to teach him, it may become your duty gently to tell him of his faults. Except for such cases, mind your own business and learn the value of silence. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) Mind your own business and let other dear ones seek their own redemption.(Kirpal)

Speak as little as possible of oneself. Mind one's own business. Avoid curiosity. Do not want to manage other people's affairs. (Mother Teresa) As far as possible one should not interfere in the affairs of others. (Ramana Maharshi) How much time a man gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says, or does, or thinks, but only what he does himself. (Marcus Aurelius) And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother's eye, and do not consider the beam in your own eye? (Jesus Christ) Once I knew a man whose ears were exceedingly keen, but he was dumb. He had lost his tongue in a battle. I know now what battle that man fought before the great silence came. (Kahlil Gibran) It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others. (Saint John of the Cross) You cannot practice too rigid a fast from the charms of worldly talk. (Fenelon) Speech is silver, silence is golden; speech is human, silence is divine. (German proverb) People with opinions just go around bothering one another. (Buddha)

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Service/Kindness

When you serve others, you are serving Him. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 287) Mind and body become sanctified through selfless service, provided it is undertaken without ego or vanity. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 95) If we have helped even one person by removing a little misery from his day, we have done a great service. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 238)

Thoughtfulness, the kindly regard for others, is the beginning of holiness. (Mother Teresa) You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. (Plato) If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each person’s life sorrows and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) Have benevolence toward all living beings, joy at the sight of the virtuous, compassion and sympathy for the afflicted, and tolerance towards the indolent and ill behaved. (Jainism Tattvarthasurta) Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. (Albert Einstein) I count all that part of my life lost which I spend not in communion with God, or in doing good. (John Dunne) Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child. (Buddha) As a mother even at the risk of her own life protects her only son, so let a man cultivate goodwill without measure among all beings. Let him suffuse the whole world with thoughts of love, unmixed with any sense of difference or opposed interests. (Buddha)

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Benevolence Towards All Creatures

The whole creation is the temple of God. There is no place where He is not. In minerals life is sleeping; in plants life is dreaming; in birds and animals life is awakening; and in man life is awake. As such we are brothers of all creatures, of plants, of birds and animals. So the flowers and trees, sparrows and doves are as members of our own order. How simple, pure, loving and beautiful they are! We should love all. We should live in fellowship with all creatures, with all life. One must not interfere with the life of any animal in God's creation. (Kirpal, Portrait of Perfection, 143)

All creatures are God's children, and those dearest to God are those who treat His children kindly. (Mohammed) Bodhisatvas see all beings like parents see their only son. They are delighted to see him practicing goodness, but when their son is ill they are filled with empathy and are constantly concerned. Likewise when Bodhisatvas see any being enmeshed in the illness of illusion, their hearts ache with compassion. (Mahaparinirvana Sutra) Whenever I injure any kind of life, I must be quite certain that it is necessary. I must never go beyond the unavoidable, not even in apparently insignificant things. That man is truly ethical who shatters no ice crystal as it sparkles in the sun, tears no leaf from a tree. (Dr. Albert Schweitzer) Animals are my friends – and I don't eat my friends. (George Bernard Shaw) Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. (Dostoyevsky) One is dearest to God who has no enemies among the living beings, who is nonviolent to all creatures. (Bhagavad Gita) He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin…Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live at the expense of others. (Acharanga Sutra)

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Humility

He who would walk the way of humility must renounce his earlier ways of living. He must give up the opinions he has formed, the standards to which he is accustomed. He must have a new outlook on life. The things the world would worship are to him of no value. (Kirpal, The Way of the Saints, 347) There is a divine purpose behind the life of everyone who comes into the world; no one has been created for nothing. We have something to learn from everyone. This is the mystery of humility. (Kirpal, The Way of the Saints, 344)

Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues. (Confucius) It is in vain to gather virtues without humility, for the spirit of God delights to dwell in the hearts of the humble. (Desiderius Erasmus) Humility, like darkness, reveals the Heavenly Lights. (Henry David Thoreau) The first quality or virtue we have to develop, before we aspire to have God, is humility. You have in fact to unlearn what you have learnt. You must become simple, unsophisticated, and childlike. (Papa Ramdas) Where there is humility and patience, there is neither anger nor vexation. (Saint Francis of Assisi) One is only as obedient as one is humble, and one can never be humble if one is not obedient. (Saint Catherine of Siena) Humility is the most difficult of virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of oneself. (T.S. Eliot) Whoever has in his heart even so much as a rice grain of pride cannot enter into paradise. (Muhammad) He that shall humble himself shall be exalted. (Jesus Christ) Even if you be otherwise perfect, you fail without humility. (Talmud) When you are older you will know that life is a long lesson in humility. (James Barrie)

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Desires 1

Although in our heart we may persuade ourselves that we have eliminated desire, yet it is not correct, because as long as the karma is not washed away, which happens at the second stage only, the spiritual progress is only by fits and starts and not uniform – just like an ant ascending a wall. Until those karmas are burnt, it cannot be said that the practitioner has abandoned desire. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 110) Your inability to concentrate properly is due to your worldly desires, which must be brought under control till you reach the point when love of God becomes an all-consuming passion, and you consider it the be-all and end-all of your existence. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 99)

And I marveled to find that at last I loved you and not some phantom instead of you; and I did not hesitate to enjoy my God, but was ravished to you by your beauty. Yet soon was I torn away from you again by my weight, and fell again with torment to lower things. Still, the memory of you remained with me and I knew without doubt that it was you to whom I should cleave; though I was not yet such as could cleave to you. (Saint Augustine) As a bird tied by the leg, when it starts to rise upwards, is pulled back to earth by the string, so the mind which has not yet attained desirelessness…is pulled back to the earth by desires. (Saint Maximus) Desires go on increasing and burning more fiercely as they are fed. The more you yield to desire, the more dominant it becomes in your life. It does not matter the desire, the more you try to satisfy desire, the more you become captivated and enslaved by it. (Ramana Maharshi) Indulging in one's desires in the hope of transcending them is like attempting to extinguish a fire by pouring kerosene on it. (Lakshmana) Desire grows in strength if you follow it, but dies if you turn from it and abstain. Desire is slavery; renunciation is freedom. (Hermes) Although your desire tastes sweet, doesn’t the Beloved desire you to be desire less? The life of lovers is in death: you will not win the Beloved’s heart unless you lose your own. (Rumi) Kill the snake of desire in the beginning; or watch out: your snake will become a dragon! (Rumi) The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires. (Seneca)

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Desires 2

Desires are the cause of suffering, and he alone is poor who has unfulfilled desires. He who is free from desires is richest. All desires arise in the mind, and when the mind is subdued and is merged in the sound current, the game is won. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 280) Riches or poverty depends on the absence or presence of desires, respectively. He who has no desires is the richest, and the so-called richest is the poorest if his desires are not fulfilled, He who does not need anything is a sovereign. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 163) If the mind could throw away all the worldly desires this moment, the soul would go up like a shot, instantaneously. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 109)

It is difficult to overcome one's passions, and it is impossible to satisfy them. (Marquerite De la Sabiere) It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow. (Francois La Rochefoucauld) Do not become attached to the things you like; do not maintain an aversion to the things you dislike. Sorrow, fear and bondage come from likes and dislikes. (Buddha) Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods. (Socrates) In God alone is there primordial and true delight, and in all our delights it is this delight that we are seeking. (Saint Bonaventure) The desire for perfection…is that desire which always makes every pleasure appear incomplete, for there is no joy or pleasure so great in this life that it can quench the thirst in our soul. (Dante) The more one yields to desire, the more insatiable it will become. (Mahabharata) To identify with any desire keeps you separate from God. (Vivekananda) When the one thought of God saturates your mind, naturally all other desires will disappear from it. (Papa Ramdas)

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Be Not Allured by This False Show

Outward beauty, loveliness of form, charm of personality, whether it is yours or possessed by another, is of no lasting worth. Be not allured by this false show. Be not deluded by these transitory qualities. Handsome or ugly, fair or dark, delicate or coarse, exquisite or plain in appearance, all the forms that you behold are born of dust. They are dolls of clay. They are fleeting forms that will soon vanish and be no more. They are exactly like garments that we have purchased at the vanity-fair of this world, but which have to be discarded before we depart. Your aim in life should be to transcend them. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 288, 289)

Discriminate and you will find that even the body of the most beautiful person consists of bones, fat, and other disagreeable things. Why should one give up God and direct his attention to such things? Why should he forget God for their sake? (Ramakrishna) Know this world to be an absorbing dream. In a moment it will vanish. Believe this. (Guru Teg Bahadur) All this is illusion and mirage that deceives by its false glitter. Beholding its glamour, men believe it to be real. (Dadu Dayal) O Lord, give me that right discrimination that the lure of the world may cheat me no more. (Ansari of Herat) Do not let the false delights of a deceptive world deceive you. (Clare of Assisi) Lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to Light. Lead me from death to immortality. (Upanishads) People fancy they are enjoying themselves, but they are really tearing out their wings for the sake of an illusion. (Rumi) Little by little God takes away human beauty: little by little the sapling withers. Go, recite “To whomever we give a length of days, we also cause them to decline.” Seek the spirit; don’t set your heart on bones! (Rumi)

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Chastity

It is only a really brave person who can refuse sensual pleasures when they are easily available. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 23) Look upon all the women of the world either as your mother, sister, or daughter, so that you may make progress in your spiritual journey. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 176) As the Master is the embodiment of chastity, chastity radiates from Him and penetrates into the disciple the moment he thinks of Him. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.2, 52,53) …there is no entry within as long as there is no chastity of thought and action. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 165)

What a mistake to suppose that the passions are strongest in youth. The passions are not stronger, but the control over them is weaker. (Edward Bulwer-Lytton) Pleasure is the bait of sin. (Plato) Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Jesus Christ) Out of a forward will lust had sprung; and lust pampered had become custom; and custom indulged had become necessity. These were the links of the chain; this is the bondage in which I was bound. (Saint Augustine) Fiery lust is not diminished by indulging it, but inevitably by leaving it ungratified. As long as you are laying logs on the fire, the fire will burn. When you withhold the wood, the fire dies, and God carries the water! (Rumi) Of all longings and desires none is stronger than sex. Sex as a desire has no equal. (Buddha)

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Work Hard - Then Forget It

It is good to work, and one should work wholeheartedly; and then forget it. To continue concerning oneself with countless petty matters will fritter away the attention. This only causes further enmeshing attachments, and wherever your thoughts are, there will you reside. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 57)

A devotee who can call on God while living a householder's life is a hero indeed. God thinks: "He is blessed indeed who prays to me in the midst of his worldly duties. He is trying to find me, overcoming a great obstacle, pushing away, as it were, a huge block of stone weighing a ton. Such a man is a real hero." (Ramakrishna) Work alone is your privilege, never the fruits thereof. Never let the fruits of action be your motive; and never cease to work. Work in the name of God, abandoning all selfish desires. Be not affected by success or failure. (The Bhagavad Gita) One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. (Bertrand Russell) Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put into his heart. (Rumi) To live in the world or to leave it depends on the will of God. Therefore, work, leaving everything to Him. What else can you do? (Ramakrishna) If you choose a job that you like you will never have to work a day in your life. (Confucius) It doesn't matter what you do – as long as you do it with love. (Mother Teresa) Work is worship. When there is joy in the work itself, why do you want the fruit of it? Make work itself worship. That is possible only when you surrender to God and allow Him to work through you. (Papa Ramdas)

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Proper Conduct

A true disciple revels in inner bliss giving silence and has great tolerance and moderation in all things. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 120) We must be polite and gentle and even humble in our conduct. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh,v.2, 38) Be polite and courteous with all. (Kirpal, The Way of the Saints, 336) Learn to live peacefully and amicably with each other, giving due regard to the feelings and sentiments of others. (Kirpal, The Way of the Saints, 336) …always obey the Master's orders and follow the rules of nonresistance as far as practicable. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 86) These three things will help you: to eat less, sleep less and have mercy, forgiveness and love. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 351) A disciplined life is an asset; make it a principle to be always happy, cheerful and grateful. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 124) If money is lost, nothing is lost; if health is lost, something is lost; but if character is lost, everything is lost. (Kirpal, Sat Sandesh, May 1977, 3)

Calm silence, sincerity, and courteous words, whether one is agreeing or disagreeing with others, mark the person who knows how to behave. (Yogananda) If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. (Herman Hesse) Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. (Bhagavad Gita) Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. (Vincent van Gogh) Abstinence is easier than moderation. (Saint Augustine) When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you. (Lao-tzu)

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Solitude

The greater the solitude, the better. There is no better luck than solitude. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 176) If you desire some company, find a good and truthful person – otherwise keep aloof and lead a lone life. (Kirpal, Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 54) The worldly minded people are usually engrossed in physical and sensual pleasures and their activities affect the spiritual aspirant adversely. You should know that yours is the Way into the Beyond whereas the worldly wise have their own ambitions of sense gratification. You should carefully avoid uncongenial society in the larger interests of your spiritual progress. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 4)

Beginners on the spiritual path, especially, should be very careful in the company they keep. They should mix with other devotees, and try not to mingle with ego-saturated, worldly people. They should especially avoid people who are negative, even if those people are devotees. (Yogananda) If a traveler does not meet with one who is his better, or equal, let him firmly keep his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool. (Buddha) I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. (Henry David Thoreau) Seclusion is the price of greatness. (Yogananda) The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. (Seneca) I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone. (Lord Byron) I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity. (Albert Einstein) The departure from the world is regarded not as a fault, but as the first step into that noble path at the remotest turn of which illumination is to be won. (Joseph Campbell) Something of the hermit’s temper is an essential element in many forms of excellence, since it enables men to resist the lure of popularity, to pursue important work in spite of general indifference or hostility, and arrive at opinions which are opposed to prevalent errors. (Bertrand Russell) Eagles fly alone; sheep herd together. (Sufi saying)

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Mind 1

The mind is the most powerful, clever, and cunning of enemies. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 282) Swami Ji has said that we should not hesitate to go all out to still the mind. We do not fully grasp that the mind takes everyone to his doom. It is like a thousand-faced snake, which is constantly with each being; it has a thousand different ways of destroying the person. The rich with riches, the poor with poverty, the orator with his fine speeches – it takes the weakness in each and plays upon it to destroy him. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/serpent.htm) So mind is a disciple of the Negative Power, you see. It is working to take you away from the Path, from God. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.1, 82) Our mind, we should never forget, is Satan incarnate, and an inveterate enemy of the soul. It does not wish the soul to gain emancipation from its overlordship, and does everything it can to prevent this. In other words, you may call it an imp of Satan – an active agent through which Lucifer spreads mischief and trouble. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 266)

What is the demon? Your own mind. It is not outside, this demon is inside; that complicates the battle. You have to go into yourself. (Chidananda) Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind. (Ramana Maharshi) We are caught in the prison of the mind. If we are to escape we must recognize that we are in prison. If we think we are free, then no escape is possible. (Gurdjieff) The cessation of the mind's waves is liberation. (Patanjali) One should use the mind in such a way that it be free from any attachment. (Diamond Sutra) The mind unlearns with difficulty what has long been impressed on it. (Seneca) There is no misery or suffering outside your own mind because the whole world is nothing but a projection of your mind. (Annamalai Swami) There is nothing wrong with God’s creation. Misery and suffering only exist in the mind. (Ramana Maharshi)

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Mind 2

To try to concentrate the mind in the eye center is to pick up a quarrel with it, and it is a lifelong quarrel. If successful in this struggle, the prize is everlasting bliss. Then there is no more revolving on the wheel of births and deaths. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 188, 189) …mind is material, it will always drag you to the material things. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 198) The mind for ages is accustomed to staying outside and it takes some time for it to develop another habit, that of going within to stay there for long periods. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm#mind/maya) If it were an easy affair (to control one's mind), Guru Nanak would not have sat on pebbles for twelve years. Christ would not have spent nineteen years in the Tibetan hills and Soami Ji himself would not have contemplated in a solitary, dark, back room for seventeen years. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 206) Mind is very powerful. At the time of deliberation, it makes promises but does not care to fulfill them when the occasion arises. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.2, 22)

A mind that is fast is sick. A mind that is slow is sound. A mind that is still is divine. (Meher Baba) Thou has commanded that an ill-regulated mind should be its own punishment. (Saint Augustine) Mind control is not one's birthright. The successful few owe their success to their perseverance. (Ramana Maharshi) The mind is said to be two-fold: the pure and also the impure; impure by union with desire – pure when from desire completely free. (Upanishads) The mind is like a fire which is fueled by thoughts and desires. If there are no thoughts or desires, then the fire of the mind will die out. (Lakshmana) The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. (John Milton) They say that woman is an enticement. No, No, she is not so. They say that money is an enticement. No, No, it is not so. They say that landed property is an enticement. No, No, it is not so. The real enticement is the insatiable appetite of the mind, O Lord Guheswara! (Allama Prabhu, Vacana 91)

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Simran 1

The simran of the objects of the world should be replaced by the simran of God, and thoughts of the world by contemplation of the Master, who is God incarnate. Thus is imprinted on our subconscious mind the impression of God in the form of our Satguru. (Kirpal, Philosophy of the Masters, v.1, 48) Simran must be done slowly and the Words are to be repeated or thought out with clarity. The whole process is to be carried out with love, devotion and single-minded attention to ensure quick results. When properly done for some time, a state of divine intoxication comes upon the spirit and blessed calmness is experienced. (Kirpal, The Ambrosial Hour, 159) Sitting in sweet remembrance of the Master is exactly what the words imply. There is no technology involved in it. It is simple enough –a feeling of deep-seated love naturally created within or a longing. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 106) By simran alone the soul leaves the body and goes up. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 15) Without love simran seems to be a burden. (Hazur, The Ambrosial Hour, 129) The sign of complete simran is that the soul will start gradually leaving the body. After crossing stars, moon and sun, it will reach the luminous form of the Satguru. To reach this point is the job of simran. Before that, consider that the course of simran is not yet accomplished. (Hazur, The Ambrosial Hour, 130) Our task is to stick at the door and do repetition mentally and no third thing. (Kirpal, letters to Vermont initiates) Simran done with faith, produces a unique feeling in the heart. By doing Simran a feeling of bliss and divine influence fills the heart. This state is produced sooner or later, according to the individual devotee’s sanskaras (predominating nature, the result of past karmic impressions). (Kirpal, Philosophy of the Masters, v. 2,223)

Do simran as if one were collecting or counting precious jewels. Each repetition of a word or words should be done with the mind attentive, much like a jeweler who inspects each diamond with meticulous care. (Jagat Singh) Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness; by constant meditation it gains strength. (Ramana Maharshi) The mantram becomes one’s staff of life, and carries one through every ordeal. It is no empty repetition. For each repetition has a new meaning, carrying you nearer and nearer to God. (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Simran 2

When anyone would complain to Hazur about inability to still the mind, He would reply, "Your simran is not constant enough." And for the complaint of not being able to sit for long in meditation, the same reply was given. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 190) Simran is a weapon against all dangers. It acts as a password to all spiritual planes. It gives strength and sustenance to the body and mind during trouble and affliction, and brings the soul near the Master. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 184) You will please appreciate that the sacred charged words are highly efficacious and carry the thought transference of the Master. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 113) If you accept the Simran of charged Names as the basic Names of God in the Master, then you will be able to repeat them with affection, love and devotion. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 116) Go on steadily on the Path, and once your simran becomes perfect you will find yourself endowed with the power to stop a speeding train. There is so much power in simran. (Hazur, Sat Sandesh, July 1981, 31) Don't give up simran even if a lifetime of meditation has not produced any satisfactory results. (Hazur, Sat Sandesh, July 1981, 32) Simran to be very effective must be constant and ceaseless. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 111)

People do not know what the Name of God can do. Those who repeat it constantly alone know its power. It can purify our mind completely. The Name can take us to the summit of spiritual experience. (Swami Ramdas) The breath that does not repeat the Name of God is a wasted breath. (Kabir)

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Remembrance 1

Sweet remembrance of the Master is the sum total of all practices. We do them only to show that He may not be forgotten in weal or woe. As you think, so you become. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/moc.htm) If one loves someone, one cannot forget that person, his face is always before the vision, in the heart, in the mind, even vibrating in one's blood as it runs through the veins. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 106) So if all the time we think of Him, no matter while we are engaged in worldly pursuits, we will gradually imbibe His spirit. (Kirpal, The Night is a Jungle, 254) When a disciple remembers the Master, he experiences within him a soothing influence and a sort of Divine intoxication. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 150) The more you direct your attention and absorb yourself in the sweet remembrance of the Master, you will develop receptivity and feel that Master is within you and you are in the Master. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 113)

The mind keeps wandering here and there because it hasn't found an object that fills it with deep peace and contentment. Therefore, find an interesting object for your mind and then engage your mind with that. (Swami Muktananda) Misery is due to the great multitude of discordant thoughts that prevail in the mind. If all thoughts be replaced by one single thought, there will be no misery. (Ramana Maharshi) A person should pine for his Master as does the rainbird for a drop of rain. He should repeat His Name with every breath and should think of His form day and night. (Guru Arjun) Oh! The charm of the Name! It brings light where there is darkness, happiness where there is misery, contentment where there is dissatisfaction, bliss where there is pain, order where there is chaos, life where there is death, heaven where there is hell, God where there is Maya. He who takes refuge in that glorious Name knows no pain, no sorrow, no care, no misery. He lives in perfect peace. (Swami Ramdas) There is nothing so lovely and enduring in the regions which surround us, above and below, as the lasting peace of a mind centered in God. (Yoga Vasishtha) If I forget You O God, even for a fraction of a minute, this amounts to me more than fifty years. (Guru Nanak)

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Remembrance 2

See Him present in every experience and remember He is always with you, ready to assist whenever you turn your thoughts to Him. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 93) Remember the Satguru so much so that at every breath a pang of separation from Him troubles the heart. This condition will only come when you drive away all other thoughts. (Sawan Singh, Ambrosial Hour 127) A man who has got love with him, love of God, is attached to God so much that all other things leave his mind, he is not attracted by anything else. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 93) No matter where you are or what you are doing, you should not forget God. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 116) We must constantly remember that our aim is God. And we must not be concerned with anything that makes us forget Him. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 94) It starts as a remembrance, but eventually the remembrance occurs by itself – that means he has become that very remembrance. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 115) The most effective way is to come in contact with or enjoy His presence. Once you have enjoyed somebody, then naturally His sweet remembrance will go on…And when you have seen Him, His physical body at your own level, talking to you, have enjoyed His presence, then that effect carries sweet remembrance all the time. Naturally you see, there's no difficulty. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 133) How happy we are of course when we are in the physical body with our Master; we can never forget it. When we remember those days, tears are shed, the heart bursts. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 437) If you want to have love for somebody – remember Him sweetly. That will result in attachment of the mind and outgoing faculties. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 117)

The true saint goes in and out among the people and eats and sleep with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment. (Aabu Sa'id Ibn) Those who really want to be yogis must give up, once and for all, this nibbling at things. Take up one idea; make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave other ideas alone. (Swami Vivekananda)

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Master Tests His Disciples

The Masters test the disciples again and again to see how much the disciple can sacrifice, how much loving devotion he has, and to what extent he still remains under the influence of mind. (Kirpal,ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm) Suppose a man ill-treats you without any fault on your part, you should see in this…the Hand of the Master working. He wants to find out and make known to you, if your self-reverence has died out or not… (Hazur, The Self-Introspection Diary, July 4 & 5) Every day you are given tasks which are intended to help your spiritual progress. Unfortunately, most people look for a very special assignment to be given to them by the Master personally before they accept it as a task from the Master. They do not see that their day-to-day dealings and behavior with other people in their work, the responsibilities they have to assume in their other mundane duties and how well they fulfill them, are all tasks given by the Master. (Kirpal)

Happy is the man who doesn't give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love Him. (James – New Testament) God is faithful and will not permit you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also give you a way out that you may be able to bear it. (Corinthians) The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse. (Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan)

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Faith

Question: How does faith in the Master-Power develop? Answer: By regular practice…Some people are in the make already, they have that grown already. Others have to form faith in due course, not all at once. So it’s better when you see you are helped by Master in all your affairs; when you see some improvement in your inner way. First, when you see quite impossible things are made very softened down, naturally faith arises. …The more you come in contact with Master, and the more you become receptive, the more faith you will have in Him. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok,hunger.htm) Look here, faith comes only as a result of the reaction of the past; or if you see something…So blind faith does not help you, only to a certain extent, not beyond. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/first see.htm) Sant-Mat does not ask for blind faith or acceptance on mere authority. It is purely practical. Any belief not based on personal experience and verification of facts has little value. One should therefore try to see with one’s own eyes and hear with one’s own ears rather than indirectly with the eyes and ears of others. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tours/55/ss55_08.htm) This love and faith also come with the grace of a perfect Master. It is He who can help us to get both love and faith. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurmukh.htm)

Faith begins as an experiment and ends as an experience. (W.R. Inge) Faith expressed in action is a sure means of realization. Faith is not blind. It is the willingness to try. (Nisargadatta) The principle part of faith is patience. (George MacDonald) Faith is the belief in the unknown. Faith heals, faith creates, faith works wonders, faith moves mountains. Faith is the searchlight for God-finding. (Sivananda) He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God. (Vivekananda) Faith…is the resolve to live as if certain things were true, in the confident assurance that they are true, and that we shall one day find out for ourselves that they are true. (W.R. Inge) Faith must have adequate evidence, else it is mere superstition. (Archibald A. Hodge) Faith is to believe what we do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. (Saint Augustine) Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. (Tagore)

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Surrender 1

At all times our hearts should be full of love for the Master and our own mind should be so fearless that it should not be ruffled if it were given the kingdom of the world nor if the kingdom of the world were taken from it. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 38) One must be in the world attending to the duties and obligations assigned to him or her, but one should do these in a very detached manner. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 277) You should be above the idea of death and life – neither fear death, nor desire the joy of life. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 195) If one tries to live a Godly life, all God’s favors automatically flow down to him. One who loves God need not ask for any favor. It is enough to dedicate our very life to Him and become His bound slaves. It is up to Him to treat us as He wishes. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2,27)

They are the chosen ones who have surrendered. (Rumi) If we surrender to God we do not have to make any choices at all. (Papa Ramdas) No man enjoys the true taste of life but he who is ready and willing to quit it. (Seneca) The "awakened" person is recognized by particular signs. First of all is liberty; he does not allow himself to be tossed about by the vicissitudes of life, by fear, joy, anxiety, success, or failure. Then there is the spiritual force that reveals itself in calmness, an ineffable smile, and deep serenity. (Thich Nhat Hank) One of the first proofs of self-mastery is when one shows that he can be kind and forbearing and genial with companions of the most dissimilar characters and temperaments. And one of the strongest signs of retrogression is when one shows that he expects others to like what he likes and act as he acts. (Damodar) Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well. (Epictetus) Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all. (Buddha) Surrender and all will be well. Throw all responsibility on God. Do not bear the burden…If one surrenders to God, there will be no cause for anxiety. Nothing will affect you…God never forsakes one who has surrendered. (Ramana Maharshi)

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Surrender 2

Everything that comes to you in the Divine dispensation is invariably right for your spiritual progress. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 223) Whatever befalls us is regulated by the direct orders of our Satguru and we should take it as such, as a blessing in disguise. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 94) Take for granted that all that has happened, is happening or will happen, is with His will. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 171) Whatever comes to your count is a blessing in disguise and should be accepted cheerfully. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 108) The Guru may give happiness or misery, for he has to make a beautiful form from a rough piece of stone and therefore has to wind up all the karmas; but a true follower will never complain, no matter what hardships the Guru allows. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 1, 27) A real devotee makes no distinction in pain and delight; his business is devotion. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 75)

There is no way of making a person true unless he gives up his own will. In fact, apart from complete surrender of the will, there is no traffic with God. (Meister Eckhart) The only real surrender is that in which the poise is undisturbed by any adverse circumstance, and the individual, amidst every kind of hardship, is resigned with perfect calm to the will of God. (Meher Baba) One must realize that no physical or mental effort can take one to God. One must give up, mentally and physically, all idea of reaching God and one must finally throw oneself at God’s feet and let Him do whatever He wishes with you. When there is complete physical and mental self-surrender, then God’s grace takes you to the goal. (Saradamma) Be resigned to every situation and think honestly and sincerely: "Baba has placed me in this situation." (Meher Baba) Have a happy state of mind, a state that is untouched by the events of life. (Yogananda) The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. (Lao-tzu) Stay at the center and let all things take their course. (Lao-tzu)

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Surrender 3

The Master teaches that it does not matter in the least what happens to a man from the outside: sorrows, troubles, sickness, losses – all these must be borne by each and must not be allowed to affect the calmness of his mind. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) Do your best and leave the rest to the Master-Power overhead and leave off all worry and anxiety. It is time to be gay and happy. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 192) The Master-Power is your companion always through thick and thin. So in all of your affairs do whatever you can and leave the rest up to Him, and try not to feel annoyed or discouraged. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 158)

If you want to be given everything, give up everything. (Lao-tzu) Do nothing by self-will but rather conform to heaven's will, and everything will be done for you. (Lao-tzu) The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. (Seng Tsan) Surrender is the most difficult thing in the world while you are doing it; and the easiest when it is done. (Bhai Sahib) When surrender is complete, everything is God. Everything that happens is then His action. In that state there is peace, harmony and an absence of thoughts. (Annamalai Swami) Surrender does not denote any change in the external mode of life, but a right attitude toward it. (Papa Ramdas) Man is too often afraid to surrender. He thinks he will lose something; but one never loses when he gives himself absolutely to God. (Turiyananda)

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Surrender 4

Yet another point, you must give up all your feelings of possession; karma may take from you the things which you like best – even the people whom you love most. Even then you must be cheerful – ready to part with anything and everything. (Kirpal) We must learn to accept smilingly His decrees whatever they be. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 27) It is not the inner experience which determine the spiritual progress, but the basic personal attitude of serene living of the child disciple, which proves his or her worth. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 95) If you live for God, all things shall work out in your best interest, not only spiritually but also materially. This is the fundamental law of God and can be realized by all who will practice true living. (Kirpal)

Offer unto me that which is very dear to thee – which thou holdest most covetable. Infinite are the results of such an offering. (Krishna) Real activity is combined with calmness which can't be ruffled. It is a balance of mind which is never disturbed, whatever happens. Only when the mind is calm and collected is the whole of its energy spent in doing good work. (Swami Vivekananda) Surrendering yourself to God is giving up what you can't keep in order to realize what you can't lose. (Shantidasa) Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all else shall be added unto you. (Jesus Christ) Die for God and you will live as God. (Meher Baba) The great thing is to resign all your interests and pleasures and comfort and fame to God. He who unreservedly accepts whatever God may give him in this world - humiliation, trouble and trial from within or from without - has made a great step towards self-victory. (Francois Fenelon) We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is awaiting us…The old skin has to be shed before the new one is to come. (Joseph Campbell) If you attach yourself to gross energies - loving this person, hating that clan, rejecting one experience or habitually indulging in another - then you will lead a series of heavy, attached lives. This can go on for a very long and tedious time. (Lao-tzu)

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Self-Pity

You need not dwell much on your personal character or impurities of mind. It amounts to self-pity…Although it is a very happy augury to be conscious of one’s shortcomings, undue apprehension sometimes breeds morbidity which hampers progress. The conscious contacts with divinity within revolutionizes the thought pattern of the child disciple and he sees everything in much clearer perception. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 108) Depression and despair breed in egoistic hearts. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 108) Always brooding, "I am a sinner. I am a sinner" won't do. You are not a sinner; you have committed sin. You have besmeared yourself with filth. Wash it away. You are gold ore that comes from the mines. You are pure gold if you clean it (the filth) away. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 271)

The worst sin is to call yourself a sinner. For in that very thought you open the door, and invite sin to enter your mind. (Yogananda) Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew. (Saint Francis de Sales) Do not brood over failures, defects and mistakes. They will weaken your "will". Just reflect for a while why you have failed in the attempt and try to be careful in the second attempt. (Sivananda) God doesn't mind your imperfections: He minds your indifference. (Yogananda) Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world. (Helen Keller) No one can ever gain strength by brooding over his weakness. (Paramananda) Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world - making the most of one’s best. (Harry E. Fosdick) Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love. It is reached when a man deliberately turns his back on all help from anyone else in order to taste the rotten luxury of knowing himself to be lost. (Thomas Merton)

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Gratitude

Gratitude is a tonic for the heart. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) Prayer and gratitude grant inner peace and harmony to withstand the hazards of physical life, which is a passing phase of the soul in its long journey back to the True Home of the Father. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) Prayer and gratitude are akin. There is much to be grateful for, if we only just count the manifold blessings granted to us by the Master Power. A healthy physical body, strong enough to attend to mundane obligations, and a sound mind purified by meditations in the Holy Naam are perhaps the superb blessings. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/wayof.htm) When you are grateful, your mind is at rest; you feel satisfied. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/elixir.htm) Ingratitude is the greatest evil. What has God given us? All that we need and much more. Have we ever offered a thanksgiving prayer for what He has done and the bounteous gifts supplied by Him? If we fulfill these conditions of truthfulness and contentment with a sense of gratefulness, He would not deny us anything for which we may happen to wish. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/search4truth.htm)

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. (Marcus Aurelius) The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart. (Plutarch) Blessings are oftentimes not valued till they are gone. (Thomas Fuller) If the only prayer you say in your life is “Thank you,” that will suffice. (Meister Eckhart) The more you express outwardly your gratitude and thankfulness for what you have, the more you change your molecular vibration away from the dense energy into finer levels. (Sanaya Roman) The greatest saint in the world is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice. It is he who is most thankful to God. (William Law) Ingratitude is the soul’s enemy…Like a hot, parching wind, it dries up the well-spring of holiness, the dew of mercy, and the streams of grace. (Saint Bernard)

Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not. (Marcus Aurelius)

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Receptivity

That Life becomes infused in your life if you become receptive. You will become one, no more two. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 147) Become even a little receptive and the Master in you will restrain you when you are in danger of going wrong. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/re_mind.htm) When will you actually experience the fact that you and He are not separate and not different? (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/iamthine.htm) Receptivity is the key which can not only solve your material difficulties, but also unlock the Kingdom of Heaven within you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptiv.htm) To get the full benefit of the Master Power, the disciple must develop receptivity. It is impossible to develop receptivity until implicit obedience is given to the commandments of the Master. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptiv.htm) So receptivity is important for success in all phases of life, both mundane and spiritual. First, one must lead a God-like life; second, the spiritual diaries must be maintained in the accurate way…and third, you must learn to develop receptivity. If you succeed in the first two, the third will follow of itself. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptiv.htm) You can only become receptive through love. The man who has love, even while sitting with thousands of people still remains all alone, because his whole attention is riveted on the Master with whom he is concerned. This is the way that you can develop receptivity. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/receptivity1.htm)

I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. (Jesus Christ) You and I are not we but one. (Meher Baba)

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Grace 1

The more one is able to develop receptivity by keeping His commandments, the more one is able to feel, retain and enjoy His Grace. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 283) Complete renunciation within by resignation to His will and pleasure is the key-note to earn His pleasure and grace. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 147) Unkind thoughts, temptations for revenge, a pride of learning and knowledge, lurking doubts and skepticism, distrust of God and lack of faith in Him are some of the formidable barriers that stand in the way and prevent His grace and blessing from flowing in. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 130) The Kali Yuga is at its height and in full force, and therefore so is the Master's grace and mercy. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 119) It is through the grace of God alone that one is initiated. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/trueservice.htm)

The breeze of grace is always blowing on you. You have to open the sails and your boat will move forward. (Ramakrishna) The human body is like a boat, the first and foremost use of which is to carry us across the ocean of life and death to the shore of immortality. The Guru is the skillful helmsman; divine grace is the favorable wind. (Shirmad Bhagavatam) God's grace never descends upon a man who is a slave to lust. (Mohandas Gandhi) The sure sign of grace is …the desire to go against all selfish desires. (Eknath Easwaran) God is not partial. His grace is on all, the good and the evil, just as rains fall equally on all places. Whoever tills the land reaps the harvest. (Turiyananda) The soil is faithful to its trust: whatever you have sown in it, you reap the same. But until springtime brings the touch of God, the soil does not reveal its secrets. (Rumi) The world is full of remedies, but you have no remedies until God opens a window for you. (Rumi) I need more grace than I thought! (Rumi)

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Grace 2

The grace of the Master is as limitless as His greatness, so much so that He forgives even those who talk ill of Him and accepts them as His very own.. The Master's grace is boundless. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, V. 3, 118, 119) Humility and faith purify the mind and make it a fit instrument for God's grace. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 119) Prayers, humble and sincere, help in establishing a harmony between man's mind and God's grace. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.3, 119) The efforts of the disciple and the grace of the Master go hand in hand. Effort is rewarded with grace, and grace brings more effort. When a laborer gets his wages after a day's work, is the Master so unjust that He will keep back His grace from a diligent disciple? (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 322) First is God's grace. He has given you human birth. This means you can go up: go back to your home. Again His grace – the second grace – you met somebody who was Word made flesh. This is His Grace. Then that Word made flesh – (Grace was there) gave you something to start with. So all this - God's Grace and Master's Grace is done. So many thousands of dollars have been deposited in your name. Now comes the third Grace – your own grace – have grace on your own self, and go to the window where that money can be drawn. So even God's Grace and the Master's Grace does not help much unless you have grace on your own self, you see. The whole thing depends on you. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 138)

Is it an easy thing to receive the grace of God? One must altogether renounce egotism; one cannot see God as long as one feels, "I am the doer." (Ramakrishna) Most people have many desires which they want to fulfill. But some rare people tell God: "I want nothing. Make me desireless, that is my only desire." Such a one will be a fit instrument to receive grace. The one who will get the most grace is the one who is completely desireless. (Annamalai Swami) It is the grace of God that helps those who do everything that lies within their power to achieve that which is beyond their power. (Abraham Joshua Heschel) By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. (Ephesians)

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Prayer 1

Prayer must arise from the depths of the soul. It should not be a vain repetition of empty words with little meaning in them. What we pray for we must really wish for, not only intellectually but from the very core of our being. It must churn the very soul to its depths and the music of prayer should come out and tingle from the very nerves, tissues and fibers of the entire frame making us unmindful and oblivious of everything else beside the sweet music of the soul. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/pray/pray_14htm) You should sit in a humble manner and pray, "O God, help us, O Master help us – I am at your door, please raise me up." To sit at the door, wait and repose all hopes in Him, this sort of prayer will help you. You will have a boost. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/true-prayer.htm) Attaching attention to anything is prayer to that thing. And prayer is good, for in prayer, mind contracts, and if done regularly with interest and for long periods, mind comes in concentration, and by concentration, mind becomes pure. The purity of mind expresses itself first in clear thinking, then in inspiration and in intuition. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 290) Sir, can you give us an example of a good prayer?" the Muslim gentleman asked. In reply the Great Master (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh) said, "If I were to pray, I would pray as follows: `My Lord! I am ignorant, I do not know what to ask of you. Give me that which you think best for me. And give me the strength and wisdom to be happy about what you deem fit to give me and about how and where you keep me. I have no virtues, no devotion. My actions are all dark and sinful. I possess no merits and my mind has thoroughly crushed me. For a sinner like me, O Lord, there is no refuge but Thy Blessed Feet. Please take me under Thy shelter. I want nothing more. Make me Thy slave, that I may be Thine and Thou mayest be mine." (Hazur, The Call of The Great Master, 134)

Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to Heaven, and meditation the eye wherewith we see God. (Saint Ambrose) Usually prayer is a question of groaning rather than speaking, tears rather than words. (Saint Augustine) If you ask of God, He gives you what you ask, but if you dare to live Him, God gives Himself and all that you would have asked for. (Sri Aurobindo) Never think that God's delays are God's denials. True prayer always receives what it asks, or something better. (Tryon Edwards) Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Prayer 2

The secret of a successful prayer lies not so much in the words we use, nor in the time we devote to it, nor in the effort that we put into it, as it lies in the concentrated attention that we may give it at the seat of the soul so as to make it soulful. The most natural form for a fruitful prayer is the yearning of a soul without the agency of words, oral or mental, with the tongue of thought. A prayer like this generates and releases such a fund of spiritual energy that all the Cosmic Powers are attracted and combine together, shaping out things as best as possible. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/pray/pray_title.htm) Effort and prayer must go together if we want success in all our ventures. One of them by itself can achieve nothing. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/pray/pray_05.htm) Beg from the Lord and the Guru their divine Vision, complete self-surrender and the gift of Naam. Pray also to be saved from the evil tendencies of the mind and the senses. Being Omnipotent, He is capable of granting us all these boons. Besides this, the seeker may pray for the gift of happily resigning to His sweet will. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/pray/pray_23.htm)

I think of Thee and lovingly long for Thee. I pray to the saints to manifest Thee in me. (Guru Arjan) Meritless as I am, I intensely pray for my turn, O Nanak. All the spouses had Thee in abundance, spare a night for me as well. (Guru Amar Das) Full of the deadly sins and tormented by lusts of the flesh I cry, rescue me by Thy grace, as best Thou may. O great and compassionate one! I am at Thy mercy. (Guru Ram Das) O Master! May I live by beholding Thee, and my life's aim be fulfilled. (Guru Arjan) You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. (Kahil Gibran) If you ask of God, He gives you what you ask, but if you dare to live Him, God gives Himself and all that you would have asked for. (Sri Aurobindo) Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God. (Paul of Tarsus) More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

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Master’s Love 1

So it is first He who loves us, not we Him, you see. Our love is only reciprocal. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/prayer.htm) My connection with you is not limited to this life but is for all time… (Hazur, The Self-Introspection Diary, Sept. 10, p. 90,91) Death and distance are immaterial in the relationship of the Master and the disciple. He is always by his side, here and hereafter. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/jj/jj-intro4.htm) When the world turns its back, the Guru is standing beside you. Through desert and forest, over seas and mountains, in this world and the next, He is with you. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/protect.htm) The true form of a Guru is Holy Sound and in that form the Guru permeates every hair on your body and is seated within you. (Hazur, Sant Bani Magazine, April 1985, 11)

"Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work," says the Lord. (Jeremiah) God has given us the privilege of being born again, so that we are now members of God's own family. (Saint Peter) "I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you," says the Lord. (Isaiah) O Lord - You have seduced me. I was seduced. (Into Great Silence) Because of Your love I have broken with my past. (Rumi) It is possible that a man can be so changed by love as hardly to be recognized as the same person. (Terence)

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Master’s Love 2

I am your father, I have you by the hand and I shall never let you go. (Kirpal) The Master always holds His disciples in the innermost heart center. After all they all are His children. He does not look at their unworthiness. He is there to make them worthy. He cannot leave them – His love is so great. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 218) So the Guru will love His disciples because it is He who has given birth to them in the inner way. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/pleasemaster.htm) A faithful devotee is taken care of by the Master as a child is taken care of by its mother. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 166) To the Master, his spiritual children are dearer than the offspring of the flesh. The latter are entitled to His worldly property but His spiritual children would succeed to His spiritual wealth. You, as disciples, are dearer to me than my own sons. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 318, 319)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. (Epistle of John) Love possesses seven hundred wings, and each one extends from the highest heaven to the lowest earth. (Rumi) Love is the power of God that binds two souls and makes them one; there is no power on earth that can dissolve that bond. (The Aquarian Gospel) To be able to say how much you love is to love but little. (Petrarch) Love is the expression of an ancient need, that human desire was originally one and whole and the desire and the pursuit of the whole is called love. (Aristophanes) Born at the banquet of the gods, Love has of necessity been eternally in existence, for it springs from the intention of the Soul towards its best, towards the Good; and as long as the Soul has been - Love has been. (Plotinus) All things work together for good to them that love God. (Paul of Tarsus)

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Master’s Love 3

The true Guru is one who is always with you and is your protecting angel. (Hazur, Discourses on Sant Mat, 128) The Master always saves the disciples, no matter how dangerous a situation they may be in. His protecting arms serve as a shield and buckler, and the disciple leads a charmed life as it were. (Kirpal, Portrait of Perfection, 190) Having received the protection of a God-realized man, do you think He would ever forget you? The Master always holds His disciples in the innermost heart center. (Kirpal, Portrait of Perfection, 189) You need not entertain the idea that Master is far away. He is always with you each fraction of a second, protecting, correcting and patting you internally even when you are fast asleep. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/drops.htm) With all the strength a man can have, he cannot fathom the love of God and of the Master which He has for a loving disciple. The Master stands by the initiates even in dreams. The disciple is guided by His mighty hand each fraction of a second. (Kirpal, Sant Bani Magazine, Nov. 1990, 27) No perfect Saint has ever failed His disciples. Realize fully, this one will not fail you. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 235)

A single atom of the love of God in a heart is worth more than a hundred thousand paradises. (Bayazid al-Bistami) Union with the Cosmic Beloved is the most enjoyable experience possible. It is dream after dream, joy after joy; a thousand million divine romances in one, ever thrilling your heart. In every point of space you behold searchlights of His love, shining like a million suns. As often as you think you have exhausted His love, again and again, like a rolling surf, it crashes anew upon the shores of your mind. (Yogananda)

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Master’s Love 4

The Master's love for the children is unfathomable. It is a thousand times more than the love of a worldly father and mother put together. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/drops.htm) It is you who have drawn a thick screen of various thoughts in between you and your Friend. Try to remove this screen, then you will see a Friend waiting with outstretched arms, to embrace you with Love, to stand by you all through this life and thereafter. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 207) I have great love for all of you. Indeed, if you knew how much I loved you, you would dance for joy. You will become so intoxicated by His love that it will carry you straight into the arms of your beloved within. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm) When the Master initiates someone, He resides with him; He watches all of his actions, guiding him further where it is needed; especially those who turn their faces to Him. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/fruit2.htm) No initiated soul should have any doubt about Master's merciful and constant care for his spiritual welfare. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 132) Master always holds the hands He takes. There is never a thought of loosening that tight hold. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/masterquotes.htm) Master is pleased to see His children going along. He does not compare the man running with the child hopping along; He appreciates that hopping, too. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/god-enter.htm) I cannot help emphasizing that all Satsangis, whatever their qualifications and the degrees of advancement, are equally dear to me. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/runs out.htm) When the child does not obey and wastes his life, the Master shakes him hard, and though he might be a hopeless case, the unceasing love of the Master will infuse a breeze of enthusiasm into his heart eventually. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 53) Someone connected with a college where Master was speaking asked Him, "How many disciples do you have?" Master said, "I have no disciples. Only God has disciples. These people are my friends. I love them and they love me." (Kirpal, Sant Bani Magazine, Feb. 2004, 31,32)

There is no path greater than love. There is no law higher than love. And there is no goal beyond love. God and love are identical. (Meher Baba)

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Karma 1

The world is a furnace in whose fires the soul is purified. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 209) Disease is due to past karma and disappears when the karma has run its course. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 112) The main events of life are the results of our past actions, and this is debt that stands against us; and like a debtor we should be happy when the debt is being paid off. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 174) The process of cleaning is going on, and after all, what is a ten or twelve years' period, or even one lifetime, in which the karmic accounts of all the previous innumerable lives has to be settled! (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 148) By offering yourself to Him, you have asked that your karma may be hurried, and so now in one or two lives you work through what otherwise might have been spread over a hundred. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gensq.htm) Rest assured that before you were born here, the arrangement of your livelihood was made. The pains and pleasures and general run of life were then determined. This was not by any haphazard process, but by a carefully regulated system. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 173, 174)

If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart. (Socrates) Not in the heavens above, nor in the farthest reaches of the sea, nor by transporting yourself to the remotest valleys of the mountains, will you be able to hide from the consequences of your own evil actions. Likewise, certain are the blessings growing out of your good actions. (Buddha) Good and evil do not befall men without reason. Heaven sends them happiness or misery according to their conduct. (Confucius) This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross. This testing purifies the gold by boiling the scum away. (Rumi) In the spiritual life, every cause is also an effect, and every effect is at the same time a cause. (Aldous Huxley)

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Karma 2

It is easier to pay the karmic debt on the physical plane and it is more advantageous to pay as much of it as possible here than to carry it to the planes within. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 197) Everything that comes to you in the divine dispensation is invariably right for your spiritual progress. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 223) Karmic debts also come in a man's life to be squared up, but in the case of a loving disciple the dose is generously diluted and is held firm in the hands and charge of the Master Power sugared with love. (Kirpal, Sant Bani Magazine, Nov. 1990, 27)

Every action, thought, and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought, and feeling, which is to say, for our every intention. (Gary Zukav) Chance is a word void of sense, nothing can exist without a cause. (Voltaire) God does not play dice with the universe. (Albert Einstein) There is an old saying that though the mills of the gods grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly fine. That is only another way of saying that one can never escape his own karma. (Julian P. Johnson) We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, we reap our characters; we sow our characters and reap our destiny. (C.A. Hall) God is not to be fooled; a man reaps what he sows. If he sows seeds in the field of his lower nature, he will reap from it a harvest of corruption, but if he sows in the field of spirit, the spirit will bring him a harvest of eternal life. (Paul of Tarsus) If you help others, you will be helped, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in one hundred years, but you will be helped. Nature must pay off the debt. It is a mathematical law and all of life is mathematics. (George I. Gurdjieff)

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Dying

Each man has to die in the manner destined by past karma, either by disease or accident. Death cannot befall us before it is due. Then why worry? We may not know as to how we will meet death, whether by disease or by accident, but one thing is sure, that if the sweet remembrance of the Lord exists at the time, we will have a peaceful death as the Master's presence will be overhead. The only thing required to be done is the sweet remembrance of the Lord all the time. (Kirpal, Sant Bani Magazine, January 1984, 16) If you have been accustomed to one thought, a ruling passion in your life, then naturally that will be the last thought with you. Anything which has been ruling your mind will come up. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/protection.htm) Wherever our desire is, we shall go there. That is why a person's thought should be on God at the time of death. (Kirpal, ruhanisantangusa.org/serpent.htm)

So why do the Saints always emphasize doing Simran? Why do They make us do Simran? They make us do the practice of Simran so that at the time of our death either we should be doing Simran or we may have the Form of the Master within us. If we are doing Simran, or if we are remembering the Form of the Master, we will go directly to Him. (Sant Ajaib Singh, The Ambrosial Hour, 253, 254) Whatever state of being one calls to mind at the end upon leaving aside his body, to that very state he attains, always being in that state. (Tibetan Book of the Dead) The longings that a person feels when alive, which remain fixed in his heart, come to mind at the moment of death. (Jnaneshwar) Your mind state at the time you draw your last breath is crucial, for upon this hinges the subsequent direction and embodiment of the life force. (Roshi Philip Kapleau) To create the most positive possible imprint on the mind-stream before death is essential. The most effective practice of all to achieve this is a simple practice of Guru Yoga, where the dying person merges his or her mind with the wisdom mind of the Master, or Buddha, or any enlightened being. Even if you cannot visualize your Master at this moment, try at least to remember Him, think of Him in your heart, and die in a state of devotion. When your consciousness awakens again after death, this imprint of the Master’s presence will awaken with you, and you will be liberated. If you die remembering the Master, then the possibilities of His or Her grace are limitless. (Sogyal Rinpoche)

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Death 1

The initiates of the Living Master have a rare privilege, for they are granted Divine protection at the time of their final exit from the world. Such disciplined souls are greeted at the last moment by the Radiant Form of the Master, Who escorts them into the inner planes for further progress on the Path as may be necessary for each individual. There are many living instances of those leaving the earth plane for good who bore testimony to the Master's presence and make a happy transition, with His Grace. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/follow.htm) Death is no bugbear; it is the name given to a change which comes when one leaves the coarse atmosphere of the earth and enters a finer one of Light. Something like the sun setting in one place and rising in another. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/jewel.htm) There is no court of trial after death for a devoted disciple. The Master is all in all for him. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/knowthy.htm) You should please be rest assured that the blood and near relations of the initiates are granted feasible protection and help in the beyond. (Kirpal, Spiritual Elixir, 252)

Death is the temporary end of a temporary phenomenon. (Buddha) Life is going forth, death is returning home. (Lao-tzu) No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: "I lived well, I do not need to live again." (Nisargadatta) The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation. (Hermann Hesse) A man of discrimination and wisdom is not afraid of death. He knows that death is the gate of life. Death to him is no longer a skeleton bearing a sword to cut the thread of life, but rather an angel who has a golden key to unlock for him the door to a wider, fuller and happier existence. (Sivananda) We die into this world and are born back into the oneness. (Taoist saying) Death is a punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor. (Seneca)

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Death 2 We are to leave this world one day, and if we are loving, obedient disciples, and have made proper preparations in this lifetime, we do not have the transition which we call death. While others weep, the spiritually developed soul departs happy – happier than a bridegroom on his wedding day. The time of death is a critical one in our experience, when our friends and relatives are helpless to render any assistance; but for the followers of Sant Mat, it is the happiest time of all. The Master appears and takes the departing soul with Him, and puts it in its upward journey at the place for which it is fit. There is no rendering of accounts with Kal, provided there have been love for and obedience to the Master. The departed soul is happier than it has ever been before. There is absolutely no fear of death. The Master's presence within breaks all worldly connections, and the mind is free to continue the upward journey. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 267)

As a will-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well-used brings a happy death. (Leonardo DaVinci) Who knows but that this life is really death, and whether death is not what men call life? (Euripides) Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you. (Hermes) The hour which gives us life begins to take it away. (Seneca) The gods conceal from men the happiness of death, that they may endure life. (Lucan) Nothing can be accomplished after death in the way of spiritual liberation unless it is at least begun during this life. (Santon ki Shiksha) I leave this world without a regret. (Henry David Thoreau) If I die, don’t say that he died. Say he was dead, became alive, and was taken by the Beloved. (Rumi) Our death is our wedding with eternity. (Rumi) Death is nothing but a gateway to birth. Nothing that lives ever dies, it only changes form. When a man’s body is weary the soul leaves the body to receive newer and fresher garments. And so on goes this great play of God - from eternity to eternity. (Guru Nanak)

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Death 3

At death, some writhe in agony and torment, and others leave in joy and peace. So what is it all about? They say that at the event of any birth the world rejoices, and the newcomer cries – but brothers, you should live such a life that at departure you yourself rejoice, and the whole world cries. This would mean that you had won the gamble of life. (Kirpal, Sant Bani Magazine, Oct. 1988, 7) The consciousness will be morbid (if given morphine), even after leaving the body. If he is not conscious when leaving the body that does have an effect. To die consciously is all right. To be able to say, "I am going now…" is best. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 246) Those whom Masters have initiated are taken one by one. All will go, some before, some after, but on the other side of the world you will all meet. (Kirpal, The Light of Kirpal, 417)

I want to meet my God awake. (Mother Teresa – refused drugs on deathbed) Never say about anything, "I have lost it," but only "I have given it back." Is your child dead? It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been returned. (Epictetus) Your brother has not lost the light of day, but has obtained a more enduring Light. He has not left us, but has gone before us. (Seneca) Death is the bright side of life. (Alfred Lord Tennyson) Readiness for death is that of character rather than occupation. It is right living which prepares for safe or even joyous dying.(Jacques Bossuet) Death, the awe-inspiring and heart-rending death, is to me a harbinger of joyous life, and I welcome it fully. (Kabir) What is death? Either a transition or an end. I am not afraid of coming to an end, this being the same as never having become; not of transition, for I shall never be in confinement quite so cramped anywhere as I am here. (Seneca) Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean. (David Searls)

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Rebirth 1

A soul whose tendency is towards worldly pleasures and goods will have to be reincarnated, while no force can give a rebirth into this world to those whose tendency is upward. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 127) We are born again and again because the attention is given deeply to desires, and unfulfilled desires bring the attention back. (Hazur, The Dawn of Light, 172) Those who have worldly desires left in their mind at death will have to be reborn, not withstanding their devoting long hours to spiritual exercise. (Hazur, Spiritual Gems, 182) One will go on coming and going until one surrenders one's whole being to the Guru; and this means living in accordance with His wishes, thinking as he advocates. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/dance.htm) The possibility of future incarnations can be ruled out by gradual development of loving devotion to the Master Power and aversion for worldly possessions. (Kirpal, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 3, 17) Those who have love for the Master, where will they go? Where the Master goes. But that should be the ruling passion with love and full faith – only in that case. (Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/gives-hand.htm)

The soul is immortal and clothed in many bodies successively. (Plato) It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection. (Voltaire) I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence. (Socrates)

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