Story:Compassion

Compassion has nothing to do with your teachings. Compassion arises as an empathy, not as a sympathy. Compassion arises when you can see the other person as he is, and when you can see him so totally that you start feeling him. You start feeling in the same situation.

It happened: A few people were beating a fisherman. Ramakrishna was moving from one bank to another of the Ganges, near Dakshineshwar. On the other shore a few people were beating a man. Ramakrishna was in the middle of the stream. He started crying and weeping, and he started shouting, "Stop, don't beat me!" People who were sitting around him, his disciples, could not believe what was happening: "Who is beating you? Who can  beat him?" They said, "What are you saying, PARAMAHANSADEVA? Have you gone mad?" He said, "Look! They are beating me there on the other side." Then they looked; a few persons were beating a man, and Ramakrishna said, "Look at my back." He uncovered his back -- there were marks, blood was coming out. It was impossible to believe. They went, they rushed to the other shore, caught hold of the man who was beaten. They uncovered his back: exactly the same marks. 

This is empathy -- putting oneself into somebody else's place so totally that what is happening to him starts happening to you. Then compassion arises. But these states are all of no-mind.

Communication and communion....
Communication is of the mind: verbal, intellectual, conceptual. Communion is of nomind, of deep silence; a transfer of energy, non-verbal; a jump from one heart to another -- immediate, without any medium.
The Beloved Vol 1, Osho
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=_AIgjdA3TGcC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=%22Compassion+has+nothing+to+do+with+your+teachings.+Compassion+arises+as+an+empathy,+not+as+a+sympathy%22&source=bl&ots=gzdqPQ5lWT&sig=0XVlP6ziW5zmW95d-5CJygA47W4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nYb5U-faO8zJuASNjoCQBw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA

Story:Lunch with God

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him some chips. He gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.

His smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. He gave him his biggest smile ever..

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? He's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked, "dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"

He replied "I ate potato chips in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime! Embrace all equally!

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=79618

Story:Selfishness Vs Servanthood

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, ‘Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like. 

‘The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, ‘You have seen Hell.’ 

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew, which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand.’

‘It is simple,’ said the Lord. ‘It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other. The greedy think only of themselves.’

My question for you today is, “Will you spend your year trying to serve yourself, or will you realize that true happiness, fulfillment, and success are found in giving your life away for the sake of others?” 
http://www.centrifugeleadership.com/?p=1242

Story:Silent Your Thoughts

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, was walking along the seashore lost in high thoughts. Suddenly he came upon a man who was trying to empty the ocean into a pit he had dug, with the help of a spoon. He became curious and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"

The man replied, "If you have eyes you can see. It is as clear as day. I mean to empty this ocean into this pit."

Aristotle laughed and said, "Is it not madness? Are you in your right senses? Can oceans be measured by spoons? Can pits be filled by spoons? 

Why waste your life in senseless tasks?"

The man laughed and said, "I thought it was you who is mad, because aren't you engaged in filling the infinite with your spoonful of thoughts?" It is said that Aristotle tried to locate that man later but he never found him.

The man was correct: how small is a thought, how vast existence! How will you measure this vast existence with your measuring spoon? Where will you keep it? Your head is so small, the universe so vast. Look at your arms, how short they are -- how far can they reach? You are engaged in a worthless task. Perhaps that man may have succeeded in emptying the ocean, because the ocean is finite. A spoonful of water does make the ocean less by a spoon, but the infinite you can never attain through thoughts.

It's through the thought-less, relaxed state of meditation you can approach the infinite. Therefore, by silencing the thought, the beggar becomes a king as soon as he becomes silent. The depths of the depth less become known, the unknown becomes familiar, the stranger becomes the beloved, and the blind find their way. 

Source: “The True Name”, Vol 1 Osho
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=82u7ac4rA-cC&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=spoon+ocean+aristotle+water&source=bl&ots=BCpcR1uGQp&sig=67jpBMFdBXpjXb5TM44gfajdWDI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RB_xUoHTBqHQiAfty4HwBQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=spoon%20ocean%20aristotle%20water&f=false

Earlier, Aristotle was a serious scientific thinker.. constantly working with 5 senses basis alone was totally changed after meeting this Awakened One and amalgamated subtler spiritual truths in every of his scientific exploration..the seriousness of him changed into a simple superb smile. BEST WISHES - Dr. Hari Kumar

Book:Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach

Jonathan Seagull is a story for one who knows that somewhere there’s a higher way of living than scuffing the tracks of others, someone who yearns to fly the way their own heart yearns to fly.

It’s a reminder, this little fable, that the path for us to follow is already written within, that it's for each of us to find our own loves, and live them brightly for ourselves. Others may watch, they may admire our resolution or despise it, but our one freedom is for us to love and to choose every day of our lives, as we wish.

http://www.jonathanlivingstonseagull.com/

Quotes:
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”

“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way".” 

“Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.” 

“Heaven is not a place, and it's not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” 

“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.” 

“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.” 

Jonathan mets two gulls who take him to a "higher plane of existence" where there is no heaven but a better world found through perfection of knowledge.

“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.” 

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.” 

Last words of his teacher: "Keep working on love" understanding that the spirit cannot be really free without the ability to forgive and that the way to progress leads—for him, at least—through becoming a teacher not just through working hard as a student. He returns to the Breakfast Flock to share his newly discovered ideals and tremendous experience, ready for the difficult fight against the current rules of that society. The ability to forgive seems to be a mandatory "passing condition".

“Jonathan sighed. The price of being misunderstood, he thought. They call you devil or they call you god.” 

“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip," Jonathan would say, other times, "is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.” 

“Why, Jon, why?" his mother asked. "Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans, the alhatross? Why don't you eat? Son, you're bone and feathers!" "I don't mind being bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know.” 

“He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all”

"Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom."

“That the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”

“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!” 

“Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again” 

“We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.” 

“One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin.” 

“You don't love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That's what I mean by love.” 

“He spoke of very simple things- that it is right for a gull to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form. 
"Set aside," came a voice from the multitude, "even if it be the Law of the Flock?"
"The only true law is that which leads to freedom," Jonathan said. "There is no other.”

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1743336-jonathan-livingston-seagull

MUHAMMAD QUOTES

God does not judge you according to your bodies and appearances or your possessions, but He looks into your hearts and observes your deeds.

A good deed is one that brings a smile of joy to the face of another.

A man’s first charity should be to his own family.

A man giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better for him than giving one hundred when about to die.

A perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind is safe.

A Muslim who meets with others and shares their burdens is better than one who lives a life of seclusion and contemplation.

Acquire knowledge, it enables its professor to distinguish right from wrong; it lights the way to heaven. It is our friend in the desert, our company in solitude and companion when friendless. It guides us to happiness, it sustains us in misery, it is an ornament amongst friends and an armor against enemies.

The example of the five (daily) prayers is like that of a clear-water river flowing in front of your houses in which a person washes himself five times a day – cleansing him from all dirt.

A sincere repenter of faults is like him who hath committed none.

Charity is incumbent on each person every day. Charity is assisting anyone, moving and carrying their wares, saying a good word. Every step one takes walking to prayer is charity; showing the way is charity.

The best of all alms is that which the right hand giveth and the left hand knoweth not of.

Do you know what is better than charity and fasting and prayer? It is keeping peace and good relations between people, as quarrels and bad feelings destroy mankind.

Allah has hated for you three things: 1. Vain talks, (useless talk) that you talk too much or about others. 2. Wasting of wealth (by extravagance) 3. And asking too many questions (in disputed religious matters) or asking others for something (except in great need).

Allah will not give mercy to anyone, except those who give mercy to people and other creatures.

A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world.

There is a reward for kindness to every living animal or human.

He who is deprived of gentleness is deprived of good.

Happy is the person who finds fault with himself instead of finding fault with others.

It is a fine thing when a believer praises and thanks God if good comes to him, and praises God and shows endurance if smitten by affliction. The believer is rewarded for (every good action), even for the morsel he raises to his wife's mouth.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have right over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers.

The best among you are those who are best to their wives.

No one eats better food than that which he eats from the work of his hands.

Anyone who has property that exceed his needs, let him support someone whose property does not (meet his or her needs), and anyone whose food exceeds his needs, let him share it with someone who does not have food.

Indeed, an ignorant man who is generous is dearer to God than a worshipper who is miserly.

He who is not loving to God’s creatures and to his own children, God will not be loving to him.

God helps those who persevere.

True religion is surrender.

The most excellent Jihad is that for the conquest of self.

He who knoweth his own self, knoweth God.

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Who are learned? They who practice what they know.

It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad, and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent, but silence is better than idle words.

Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.

There are two blessings which most people misuse – health and leisure.

No man is a true believer unless he desireth for his brother that which he desireth for himself.

None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.

Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, nor any preference to claim over another. You are brothers.

Should one tell you that a mountain has changed its place, you are at liberty to doubt it; but if any one tells you that a man has changed his character, do not believe it.

The best of the houses is the house where an orphan gets love and kindness.

I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him, will be in Paradise like this," ? putting his index and middle fingers together.

Riches are not from an abundance of wordly goods but from a contented mind.

The love of the world is the root of all evil.

Endure evil with patience and forgive, for therein is great and true wisdom.

Patience is the key of content.

It is your own conduct which will lead you to reward or punishment, as if you had been destined therefore.

Refrain from seeing and speaking of the vices of mankind, which you know are in yourself.

Power consists not in being able to strike another, but in being able to control oneself when anger arises.

The (true) servants of (God) the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, reply with (words of) peace.

From morning until night and from night until morning keep your heart free from malice towards anyone.

They will enter the Garden of Bliss who have a true, pure, and merciful heart.

If anyone removes (one of the) anxieties of this world from a believer, God will remove (one of the) anxieties from him on the Day of Resurrection if one smoothes the way for one who is destitute, God will smooth the way for him in this world and the next and if anyone conceals the faults of a Muslim, God will conceal his faults in this world and the next. God helps a man as long as he helps his brother. If anyone pursues a path in search of knowledge God will thereby make easy for him a path to paradise.

Seven kinds of people will be sheltered under the shade of God on the Day of Judgment...They are: a just ruler, a young man who passed his youth in the worship and service of God...one whose heart is attached to the mosque...two people who love each other for the sake of God...a man who is invited to sin...but declines, saying 'I fear God'...one who spends his charity in secret, without making a show...and one who remembers God in solitude so that his eyes overflow.

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN QUOTES

When the human heart becomes conscious of God, it becomes like the sea: it extends its waves to friend and foe. Man's greatest privilege is to become a suitable instrument of God. The heart of the Holy One is the gate of God's shrine.
The wave is the sea itself yet, when it rises in the form of a wave, it is the wave and when you look at the whole of it, it is the sea.

How can the unlimited Being be limited? All that seems limited is in its depth beyond all limitations.
We are always searching for God afar off, when all the while He is nearer to us than our own soul.

Gentleness, mildness, respect, humility, modesty, self-denial, conscientiousness, tolerance and forgiveness are considered by the Sufi as the attributes which produce harmony within one's own soul as well as within that of another.
What is called sympathy, kindness, mercy, goodness, pity, compassion, gentleness, humanity, appreciation, gratefulness, and service - in reality, it is love.

He who expects to change the world will be disappointed; he must change his view. When this is done, then tolerance will come, forgiveness will come, and there will be nothing he cannot bear.
How can one explain spiritual progress? What is it? What is it like? Spiritual progress is the changing of the point of view.

In order to learn forgiveness, man must first learn tolerance.
Forbearance, patience and tolerance are the only conditions which keep two individual hearts united.
Great tenderness and watchfulness is required from each one of us.

All will help you if you will help yourself.
He who can quicken the feeling of another to joy or to gratitude, by that much he adds to his own life.
He who makes room in his heart for others, will himself find accommodation everywhere... Heart talks to heart.

The work of the inner life is to make God a reality, so that He is no more an imagination; that this relation that man has with God may seem to him more real than any other relation in this world. And when this happens then all relationships, however near and dear, become less binding. But atthe same time a person does not thus become cold, he becomes more loving.

Sadness comes from limitation in different forms, from lack of perception, from lack of power over oneself and over conditions, and from lack of that substance which is happiness itself and which is love.
The true ego does not know sorrow; its true being is happiness, for the real ego is God and God is happiness.
Happiness, which is sought after by every soul, has its secret in the knowledge of the self. Man seeks for happiness, not because happiness is his sustenance, but because happiness is his own being.

Throughout the whole journey on the spiritual path, the main thing that has to be accomplished is the forgetting of the false ego.
Spiritual attainment is attuning oneself to a higher pitch. As the shadow is evident yet non-existent, so is evil.

Do not bemoan the past, do not worry about the future, but try to make the best of today.

The universe is like a dome; it vibrates to that which you say in it, and answers the same back to you; so also is the law of action; we reap what we sow.

There is one God and one truth, one religion and one mysticism; call it Sufism or Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism, whatever you wish. As God cannot be divided, so mysticism cannot be divided.
I have seen all souls as my soul, and realized my soul as the soul of all.
Seek Him in all souls, good or bad, wise and foolish, attractive and unattractive; in the depths of each there is God.

Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful.
By our trust in the divine beauty in every person we develop that beauty in ourselves.
Instead of lamenting your fate, create your world.
Don't be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous.

There is no greater scripture than nature, for nature is life itself.

Every blow in life pierces the heart and awakens our feeling to sympathize with others; and every swing of comfort lulls us to sleep, and we become unaware of all... If it were not for pain, life would be most uninteresting, for it is by pain that the heart is penetrated.

Every person, however should be able to care for himself by prayer, by meditation, by silence, and to cherish that belief in perfect health and root out the belief in illness.

The Sufi’s tendency is to look at everything from two points of view: from his own and that of another.
What is Sufism? It is wisdom. To learn wisdom at every step on the path of life is the only work of the Sufi.

Every moment has its special message.
Everything in life is speaking in spite of it's apparent silence.

At death comes leisure. After death the mind comes to greater life, a life more real than here.

Love from above is forgiveness; from below, devotion.
Love lies in service; only that which is done, not for fame or name, not for the appreciation or thanks of those for whom it is done, is love's service.
Love is the divine Mother's arms; when those arms are spread, every soul falls into them.

Divine sound is the cause of all manifestation. The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.

Until the heart is empty, it cannot receive the knowledge of God.

The external life is but the shadow of the inner reality.
No one will experience in life what is not meant for him.
Every man's path is for himself; let him accomplish his own desires that he may thus be able to rise above them to the eternal goal.

That person becomes conqueror of life who learns to control his tongue.
Fighting with another makes war, but struggling with one’s self brings peace.

Life is a continual battle. Man's constant struggle with outer things gives a chance to the foes who exist in his own being. And he alone is victorious who has conquered himself.
The final victory in the battle of life for every soul is when he has risen above the things which once he most valued.

Do not let your own mind be impressed by the depression of your friend. If you do, you will have taken the germ of his disease.

No-one has seen God and lived. To see God we must be non-existent.
If God is to be found anywhere, it is in man's heart, which is love.
The whole purpose of life is to make God a reality.
Above law is love; above love is the Beloved.

Happy is he who does good to others; miserable is he who expects good from others.
Good deeds, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance, acts of love, none of these are ever lost, and some day they will return to us.

A person however learned and qualified in his life's work in whom gratitude is absent, is devoid of that beauty of character which makes personality fragrant.

To weigh, to measure, to examine, to express an opinion on a great personality, one must first rise to the same development.

One is never so strong as when one is broken.
The heart is not living until it has experienced pain.
The heart sleeps until it is awakened to life by a blow; it is as a rock, and the hidden fire flashes out when struck by another rock.
The heart when it is not living and making its life a life of love, feels out of place; and all the discomfort of life comes from this... The soul feels suffocated when the doors of the heart are closed.

Joy and sorrow are the light and shade of life; without light and shade no picture is clear.

If there is anything that will bring satisfaction it is diving deep into Love, and then we shall realize that there is nothing which is not just; we shall never again say that anything is unjust. This is the point the wise reach, and they call it the culmination of wisdom.
Discussion is for those who say, what I say is right, and what you say is wrong. A sage never says such a thing hence, there is no discussion.

He who arrives at the state of indifference without experiencing interest in life is incomplete and apt to be tempted by interest at any moment; but he who arrives at the state of indifference by going through interest really attains the blessed state.

The true lover of God keeps his love silently hidden in his heart, like a seed sown in the ground, and if the seedling grows, it grows in his action towards his fellow-man. He cannot act except with kindness, he cannot feel anything but forgiveness; every movement he makes, everything he does, speaks of his love, but not his lips.

Love that is free from attachment is the love of sages.
The great teachers of humanity become streams of Love.
He who fights his nature for his ideal is a saint; he who subjects his ideal to his realization of truth is the master.

With the maturity of his soul, a man desires to probe the depths of life, he desires to discover the power latent within him, he longs to know the sources and goal of his life, he yearns to understand the aim and meaning of his life, he wishes to understand the inner significance of things, and he wants to uncover all that is covered by name and form. He seeks insight into cause and effect, he wants to touch the mystery of time and space, and he wishes to find the missing link between God and man — where man ends, where God begins.

Is a Sufi a follower of Islam? The word Islam means 'peace'; this is the Arabic word. The Hebrew word is Salem (Jeru-salem). Peace and its attainment in all directions is the goal of the world.

Be polite to all. Be prejudiced against no one. Bear no malice against your worst enemy. Blessed are they who make willing sacrifices in kindness. Consider your responsibility sacred. Do not look down upon the one who looks up to you. Do nothing which will make your conscience feel guilty. Extend your help willingly to those in need. Guard the secrets of friends as your most sacred trust. Influence no one to do wrong. Judge not another by your own law. Prove trustworthy in all your dealings.

In order to arrive at spiritual attainment two gulfs must be crossed: the sea of attachment and the ocean of detachment.
The solution to the problem of the day is the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity within.

It is the purity of the soul itself that gives the tendency towards cleanliness of body.
All forms of worship or prayer must draw man closer to God.

All the disharmony of the world caused by religious differences is the result of man's failure to understand that religion is One, truth is One, God is One; How can there be two religions?
The aim of all religions and philosophies is the understanding and the realization of unity.Your work in life must be your religion, whatever your occupation may be.
Insight into life is the real religion, which alone can help men to understand life.
The religion of the mystics is a steady progress towards unity….In the first way he sees himself in others, in the good, in the bad, in all; and thus he expands the horizon of his vision. This study goes on throughout his lifetime, and as he progresses he comes closer to the oneness of all things

I work simply, not troubling about results. My satisfaction is in accomplishing the work which is given to me, to my best ability, and I leave the effects to the cause.
There should be a balance in all our actions is to be either extreme or lukewarm is equally bad.

He who is looking for a reward is smaller than his reward; he who has renounced a thing has risen above it.

The desire of an infant to look at a thing, to tear it to pieces and see what is inside it, shows that it is the soul's desire to look into life, to understand life.
Through matter the soul attains to its highest realization; therefore, the physical body is a necessity for the fulfillment of its purpose.
The question, "What is the purpose of manifestation?" may be answered in one word: satisfaction, the satisfaction of God.

Self-pity is the worst poverty; it overwhelms man until he sees nothing but illness, trouble, and pain.
Self-pity is the worst poverty. When a person says, "I am to be pitied," before he says anything more he has diminished himself by half; and what is said further diminishes him totally.
Worry comes from self-pity. When the self is forgotten, there is no worry. Worry comes also from fear, and fear comes from the clouds of ignorance. Light breaks the clouds.

Do not boast of your good deeds. Do not reproach others, making them firm in their faults. Do not spare yourself in the work which you must accomplish. Do not take advantage of a person's ignorance. Harm no one for your own benefit. Make no false claims. Render your services faithfully to all who require them. Seek not profit by putting someone in straits. Speak not against others in their absence.

It is not our situation in life, but our attitude towards life that makes us happy or unhappy.
Right and wrong depend upon attitude and situation, not upon the action.
The right attitude in life is to keep a balance between justice and kindness.

Mastery lies not merely in stilling the mind, but in directing it towards whatever point you desire.
The soul is either raised or cast down by the effect of its own thought, speech, and action.

Verily the man who considers human feelings is spiritual.
The awakened heart says, "I must give, I must not demand." Thus it enters a gate that leads to a constant happiness.

Every thought, speech and action that is natural, sound and loving, is virtue; that which lacks these qualities is sin.
The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.

One can never think too many times of the wish one has. Dream about it, think about it and imagine it, keep it in mind, retain it in mind and do everything possible towards its fulfillment - but with poise, with tranquility, with patience, with confidence, with ease, and not by thinking hard about it.

While man rejoices over his rise and sorrows over his fall, the wise man takes both as the natural consequences of life.
With trust in God, with good will, self-confidence, and a hopeful attitude towards life, man will always win his battle, however difficult.

When one praises the beauty of God, one's soul is filled with bliss.
God is truth, and truth is God.
No man has the power to teach another the truth; man must discover it himself.
The person, who is in tune with the universe, becomes like a radio receiver through which the Voice of the universe is transmitted.

To love is one thing, to understand is another. He who loves is a devotee, but he who understands is a friend.
Every person desires that there would be in the world someone who understands him well, at least as well as he understands himself.

When speech is controlled, the eyes speak; the glance says what words can never say.
As one can see when the eyes are open, so one can understand when the heart is open.
For the value of everything exists for man only so long as he does not understand it. When he has fully understood, the value is lost, be it the lowest thing or the highest thing.

The sea of life is in constant motion, no one can stop its ever-moving waves. The Master walks over the waves, the wise man swims in the water, but the ignorant man is drowned in his effort to cross.

Behind us all is one spirit and one life; how then can we be happy if our neighbour is sad?
The service of God means that we each work for all.

When the mind and body are restless, nothing in life can be accomplished. Success is the result of control.
My intuition never fails me, but I fail whenever I do not listen to it.
Let courage be thy sword and patience be thy shield, my soldier.
When man rises above the sense of duty then duty becomes his pleasure.

Foundational principles of Universal Sufism:
1. There is one God; the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save He.
2. There is one master; the guiding spirit of all souls that constantly leads all followers toward the light.
3. There is one holy book; the sacred manuscript of nature, the only Scripture that can enlighten the reader.
4. There is one religion; unswerving progress in the right direction toward the Ideal, which fulfills every soul's life purpose.
5. There is one law; the law of reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience, together with a sense of awakened justice.
6. There is one brotherhood; the human brotherhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. This was later adapted by followers to; "There is one Family, the Human Family, which unites the Children of Earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God."
7. There is one moral; the love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence. ... (later alternative; "which springs forth from a willing heart, surrendered in service to God and Humanity, and which blooms in deeds of beneficence").
8. There is one object of praise; the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9. There is one truth; true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of Wisdom.
10. There is one path; annihilation of the false ego in the real (later alternative; "the effacement of the limited self in the Unlimited"), which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection.

ZOROASTER QUOTES

A thousand people cannot convince one by words to the extent that one person can convince a thousand by action.

With an open mind, seek and listen to all the highest ideals. Consider the most enlightened thoughts. Then choose your path, person by person, each for oneself.

Satisfaction linked with dishonor or with harm to others is a prison for the seeker.
Happiness comes to them who bring happiness to others.
Doing good to others is not a duty, it is a joy, for it increases our own health and happiness.
He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers

Turn yourself not away from three best things: Good Thought, Good Word, and Good Deed.
Taking the first footstep with a good thought the second with a good word and the third with a good deed I entered Paradise

The three greatest concerns of men are these: to make him who is an enemy a friend, to make righteous him who is wicked, and to make the ignorant learned.
Be good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong.

Suffer no anxiety, for he who is a sufferer of anxiety becomes regardless of enjoyment of the world and the spirit, and contraction happens to his body and soul. Hearken with your ears to these best counsels, reflect upon them with illumined judgment. Let each one choose his creed with that freedom of choice each must have at great events.
When you doubt, abstain.

A reflective, contented mind is the best possession.
Abiding happiness and peace is theirs who choose goodness for its own sake - without expectation of any reward.

All flows out from the Deity, and all must be absorbed in Him again.

MOTHER TERESA QUOTES

When Mother Teresa received the Nobel Prize, she was asked, ?What can we do to promote world peace? She answered - Go home and love your family.?

When a poor person dies of hunger it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.
We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

The fullness of our heart is expressed in our eyes, in our touch, in what we write, in what we say, in the way we walk, the way we receive, the way we need. That is the fullness of our heart expressing itself in many different ways.

Let's concentrate on a worthwhile goal: that no child be unwanted, that no person go unloved. And let's not stop smiling at whomever we meet, especially when it's hard to smile.

Keep the corners of your mouth turned up. Speak in a low, persuasive tone. Listen; be teachable. Laugh at good stories and learn to tell them...For as long as you are green, you can grow.

Service means an unceasing and wholehearted labor in making ourselves available so that He may live, in and through us, His life of infinitely tender, compassionate and merciful love, for the spiritually and materially poorest of the poor.
We are to be all love, all faith, all purity for the sake of the poor we serve.
The poor are our brothers and sisters... They are the people in the world who need love, who need care, who have to be wanted.
Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.
Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence.

Peace begins with a smile.
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
If we really want to love, we must learn to forgive before anything else.
Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Forgive and forget. Love one and all.
Whenever you share love with others, you'll notice the peace that comes to you and to them.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
Intense love does not measure, it just gives.
Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Listen in silence, because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.
God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be: oneness with God.
Love Him trustfully, without looking back and without fear. Give yourself fully --He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness.

Our poor people are great people, a very lovable people, They don't need our pity and sympathy. They need our understanding love and they need our respect. We need to tell the poor that they are somebody to us that they, too, have been created, by the same loving hand of God, to love and be loved.
Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

Spiritual people are not perfect people, They are only imperfect people who have put the Lord first.
What is our spiritual life? A love union in which the divine and the human give themselves completely to one another.
If I ever become a Saint ? I surely be one of "darkness". I will continually be absent from Heaven - to lit the light of those in darkness on earth.
We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. "I will be a saint" means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through... sharing together, praying together, suffering together and working together.

The greatest science in the world, in heaven and on earth, is love.
Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.
Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.
I believe we must look for holiness, joy, and love in our own homes.

I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there. Be that good news to your own people.
Poverty comes into our homes to give us the chance to love. Here is where love finds its place. Are we there, open and willing to offer support and affection?
Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family. Be holy? let us pray.

There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.
It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.
What is important is that we are able to smile at one another in our families. With a generous and cheerful smile, we should be able to accept everything that happens, both the joyful things and the sad things.
Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.

Let everyone sweep in front of his door and the whole world will be clean.
There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.

When you don't have anything, then you have everything.
When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again.
With God, nothing is impossible.

Why can't there be love that never gets tired?
Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.
If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.
In loving one another through our works we bring an increase of grace and a growth in divine love.

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.
It takes humility to recognize the greatness of God shining through us.
We learn humility through accepting humiliations cheerfully.
Each one of us is what he is in the eyes of God.
We must all work together. We are all one in this unity.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Small things, done in great love, bring joy and peace.
I do not agree with a big way of doing things. What matters is the individual. If we wait till we get numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers and we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person.
What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.

Somebody loves us, too - God Himself. We have been created to love and to be loved.
Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need tanks and generals?

There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.
Success will win you false friends and true enemies - succeed anyway.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
One filled with joy preaches without preaching.
I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given.
Every creative act of ours in relation to other people -- an act of love, of pity, of help, of peacemaking -- not merely has a future but is eternal.
The good God has given Himself to us? Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say to you, rejoice.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.
God is in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?
I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.
The most significant ailment in the world today is "spiritual deprivation."

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of having selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will gain false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten by tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and bluntness make you vulnerable. Be honest and blunt anyway. What you spend years building can be destroyed overnight. Build it anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Even if you live your life, you will die someday. Live your life anyway. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, and must empty ourselves. Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness.
If we accept that a mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, rather, to use violence to get what they want.
Give that child to me. I want it. I will care for it. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child.

Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.
True holiness consists in doing God's will with a smile.

All of us must cling to God through prayer and sacrifice.
From now on you must pray for your people and yourself three times a day.
Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.
If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.
The Simple Path: Silence is Prayer. Prayer is Faith. Faith is Love. Love is Service. The Fruit of Service is Peace.

I find the rich much poorer- sometimes they are more lonely inside.
Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.

If you give what you do not need, it is not giving.
We have to give until it hurts. We need to give from the resources we would like to keep for ourselves. We need to give to the point of sacrificing. We must give something that we find hard to give up.
Everything that is not given is lost.
A life not lived for others is not a life.

Never be so busy as not to think of others.
One must really have suffered oneself to help others.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
The true way and the sure way to friendship is being open to each other, accepting each other just as we are, knowing each other.

Let's not pray long, drawn-out prayers, but let's pray short ones full of love.
Prayer, to be fruitful, must come from the heart.
Prayer unites us. Simply open your hearts to Him. Also, simply accept what He sends you. With a big smile, generously give Him what He asks of you. God will do the rest, never fear.

What greater love is there than God's love for each one of us? His love isn't a fantasy. It is real.
I am for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way God lives for me.

I just take one day. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet come; We have only today, we must live each day as if it were our last so that when God calls us we already, and prepared, to die with a clean heart.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway… You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.

I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.
Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.
I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.

How wonderful it is to think that we have all been created for a purpose! We have not come into the world to be a number; we have been created for a purpose, for great things: to love and be loved.
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?
I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.

The best day - today.
Biggest obstacle - fear.
Easiest thing - to fool.
Biggest misconception - that another is guilty of failure you.
Most difficult - to achieve your dreams.
Most unattainable - to please everyone.
Most stupid thing - justification.
Biggest mistake - you fall spirit.
Biggest defeat - to surrender without a fight.
Root of all evil - selfishness.
Best Entertainment - work.
Most useful thing - experience.
Most useless thing - laziness.
Worst defeat - despair.
Most needed - the hearth.
Most faithful friends - parents.
Biggest donors - the teachers.
Best teachers - children.
Your biggest enemy - you yourself.
Most dangerous man - a hypocrite.
Worst Wizard - anger.
Most treacherous feelings - hatred and envy.
Greatest happiness - to be useful to others.
Biggest success - to eradicate its shortcomings.
Most unpleasant drawback - bad mood.
What you cannot escape - the problems.
Most essential - communication.
Shortest path - right.
Longest time - to bring foreign brains.
Most beautiful gift - forgiveness.
Most best defense - smile.
Most pleasant feeling - inner peace.
Greatest pleasure - their duty.
Biggest disappointment - betrayal.
Most depersonalization - imitation.
Nobody can take you: education, experience and memories.
Most important thing you carry with you - mind.
Best medicine - optimism.
Most powerful force in the world - faith.
Most stimulating gift - hope.
Reality only - love.

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.

Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right where you are and in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools.
Hungry for love, He looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?

We draw the circle of our family too small.
If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at one, I will.
I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time - just one, one, one. So you begin. I began - I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand....The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community. Just begin - one, one, one.

I perceive the infinite greatness that we can tap into. I see how he can work through us. Because you and I have nothing on our own we need him. As the Bible says, God waits and looks. Will we respond?

May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

Love, tenderness, and compassion are real justice. Justice without love is not justice. Love without justice is not love.
The most important medicine is tender love and care.
It is only by frequent deaths of ourselves and our self-centered desires that we can come to live more fully.

Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other's faults and failures.

If you cannot love the person whom you see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.
The more we empty ourselves, the more room we give God to fill us.
Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter into heaven. And what is being a little child? It is having a clean heart, a pure heart.
Try to be more in tune with God and more open to Him, so that you will be able to see His face.
The whole of our life must come to that one word "yes." Yes to God: that is holiness. We allow God to take from us whatever He wants and we accept whatever He gives with joy. That is yes in action.

These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. Not to want to manage other people's affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one's dignity. To choose always the hardest.