A man who lives through conscience becomes hard. A man who lives through consciousness remains soft. Why?--because a man who has some ideas about how to live, naturally becomes hard. He has continuously to carry his character around himself. That character is like an armor; his protection, his security; his whole life is invested in that character. And he always reacts to situations through the character, not directly. If you ask him a question, his answer is ready-made. That is the sign of a hard person--he is dull, stupid, mechanical. He may be a good computer, but he is not a man. You do something and he reacts in a well- established way. His reaction is predictable; he is a robot. The real man acts spontaneously. If you ask him a question, your question gets a response, not a reaction. He opens his heart to your question, exposes himself to your question, responds to it.
--Osho

http://www.andersoninstitute.com/
worth investigating!

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.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

The Tantrik French-Cuban writer, Severo Sarduy wrote: "I drink because God denies me true intoxication." When we are not consciously seeking God, we are unconsciously seeking God. This is the totality of our life until we understand that even the experience of seeking is God.

If all we know of mind is the aspect of mind that dissolves when we die, we will be left with no idea of what continues, no knowledge of the new dimension of the deeper reality of the nature of mind. So it is vital for us all to familiarize ourselves with the nature of mind while we are still alive. Only then will we be prepared for the time when it reveals itself spontaneously and powerfully at the moment of death; be able to recognize it as naturally, the teachings say, as a child running into its mothers lap; and by remaining in that state, finally be liberated.

To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.

Mahatma Gandhi

He who stores evil in his heart cannot see beauty.

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

When someone tells another about some evil, he thinks that he himself is so good, so free from all evil. This side of human nature we see even in children. One child will come and tell how naughty the other is, thinking, 'I must be called good.' Such a tendency grows and develops. Life gathers the wickedness in people. The heart becomes impressed. In time the evil is stored up. That which is the store becomes the treasure, the world within. He who stores evil cannot see good, because there is no good in this world that has not a little spark of evil in it. There is no evil in this world that has not a little spark of good. If a person only tried to find the spark of good, he could find it. But if a person seeks to find a little spark of evil in every good, he can do that also. Someone may say of another, 'He is very good.' But the neighbor says, 'Yes, he is good, but you do not know this about him: I will just tell you what he does!' Is there anyone who never contradicts when somebody is praising another? There has never been anyone in history about whom somebody has not spoken evil. What is really good? The answer is, there is no such thing as good or evil. There is beauty. That which is beautiful, we call good. That which is ugly compared with the beautiful, we call evil: whether it is custom, idea, thought or action. This shows that this whole phenomenon of the universe is the phenomenon of beauty. Every soul has an inclination to admire beauty, to seek for beauty, to love beauty, and to develop beauty.

The wounded Healer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orxEawi9qro

invitation to SPRING CLEAN up here at the OMPALACE YOGAVIDYA
Saturday May 8th ( the day of SATURN, the servant in the cosmic pantheon)
9 to 5 ( 8 hrs) lunch provided. Call for details 519-372-2216

Truth in Action ~ A Poem

The magic is in the doing
Not the thinking, reading
Talking or listening about
But in the get down hands dirty
Shirt off doing.

~ by Heather Saunders

"The outer (spiritual) Teacher gives the instructions, the inner Teacher sends the strength -- the alert application is the students. Without will, intelligence and energy on the part of the student (of truth), the outer Teacher is helpless. The inner Teacher bides Its time. Obtuseness and wrong pursuits bring about a crisis and the student wakes up to his or her own plight. Wise is the student who does not wait for a shock, which can sometimes be quite severe."

~ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (I Am That)

Wisdom is contrary to the above-named knowledge. It is the knowledge which is illumined by the light within; it comes with the maturity of the soul, and opens up the sight to the similarity of all things and beings, as well as the unity in names and forms. The wise man penetrates the spirit of all things; he sees the human in the male and female, and the racial origin which unites nations. He sees the human in all people and the divine immanence in all things in the universe, until the vision of the whole being becomes to him the vision of the One Alone, the most beautiful and beloved God.

Question: Does the feeling and expression of gratitude help to raise consciousness?

Eckhart Tolle: We are talking about a deeper gratitude. There are more superficial forms of gratitude, and that is not what we are talking about. By that I mean, to be grateful that someone else is worse off than you are … sometimes that is a source of gratitude. People say, "Oh I really should be grateful, because look at this person – they are worse off than I am, so I should be grateful." That's not the true gratitude, that's the gratitude that is arrived at through thinking, where you compare yourself to others.
The deeper gratitude is not arrived at through some conceptual process, where you explain to yourself why you should be grateful. That's a superficial form of gratitude, that's not really what it is, that's ultimately to do with ego. More fundamental than the true form of gratitude is the deep sense of appreciation. It's not to do with what you are telling yourself in your head, it's something that you sense in the present moment, it's an appreciation of the 'is-ness' of this moment.
We are using words as pointers. When I say 'appreciation', some people might ask, "What do you mean by appreciation?" It's to feel that the world around you is alive, and you share in the aliveness of the world that surrounds you. There's the outer aliveness, in other human beings, even in your surroundings – whether it's nature, or even in a room, you sense the aliveness of what's around you at this moment, through your own aliveness.
And with that comes the feeling, "it's good to be alive." You appreciate the many forms of life that are arising at this moment. You don't impose judgment on the form that life takes at this moment, because the form that life takes changes continuously around you – one moment you're here, the next moment you're somewhere else. It's a deep sense of Being-ness, or aliveness, and through that you appreciate what is, in your life.
And by saying 'in your life', it always means in the present moment, because apart from the present moment, there is no such thing as 'your life'. If there's something else there that's not the present moment that you call 'your life', it's a mental construct. You have formed an image of "me" and "my life", it's a story, and you mistake that for your life.
Fundamentally your life is whatever form this moment takes. Your life is always what is now. That's your life. Not some story you're telling yourself in your head. Through that appreciation, you are sensing a sense of Oneness with what's outside and what's inside. There is no longer a separation that is created by excessive conceptual thinking between other people and the self, the separation is created by judgment. There is a sense of allowing the present moment to be as it is.
All these are fundamental aspects of gratitude. It's that openness to the 'is-ness' of this moment. With that openness, comes an appreciation for the 'is-ness' of this moment. There is no longer a denial or a rejection of what is, because you have some story in your mind that clashes with what is around you at this moment. And that's how many people live, so they go through life continuously, there's a clash between their ideas of what should be now, and what is 'now'.
The greatest form of suffering and frustration and non-fulfillment is the clash between the mental story of what 'should' be and what is. That's really the root of the madness. There cannot be gratitude when that operates in your life. When something seemingly negative happens, people may find it very hard to say, "Okay, I should be grateful, even for this."
I'm not saying you should do that, because even that is an idea in your head. It's better to forget about trying to be grateful when something seemingly negative happens, and simply let go of the mental judgment of it, and say, "This is what is, this is what happened, and this is the situation now."
If you can be free of mental judgment and denial or projection, complaining, and so on … just allow what is, and then something deeper emerges, even in a seemingly negative situation. By coming into this place of acceptance, of the inevitable 'is-ness' of now, your inner state is no longer ultimately dependant on what is happening or not happening outside. That is a vital transformation of consciousness, where the external world no longer determines your state of consciousness.
So when something seemingly bad happens, say, "this is." Whether it is a small thing or a large thing, be open to that. If you're open to the 'is-ness' of what is, something within you which we could call 'peace' arises. Sometimes it's very subtle, and you can't notice it at first. You're not grateful for the seemingly bad thing, but you're grateful that you can still be at peace, even in this situation.
Internally you feel that by accepting, peace arises. Even in seemingly bad circumstances. And what is that peace? It's an inner sense of aliveness, being-ness, presence. It's the source of all gratitude. There can be gratitude even when something bad happens. Not for the bad, but for the fact that even in the face of something seemingly negative, there is still peace in the background. But you won't find that until you first accept what is.
Gratitude is very important. It transforms your whole life, if you can remember the importance of being grateful for life. As you go through your day, every day, you can even have little reminders -- of the importance of being appreciative of life. Every person has to verify for themselves, what can I be grateful for at this moment? Sense the being that you are -- not just the physical, but the sense of your own presence. That's a great source of joy, to feel your own presence, it cannot really be defined. That's the ultimate gratitude.

One kind word pleases everybody. Why, then should you be miserly in soft speech? By pleasant words all beings become happy. therefore, speak loving words always. Why be chary of kind words?"

HIGHER POWERS ARE TRYING TO REACH YOU
Dreams That Reconnect Us to the Sacred
"The Divine often guides us through hints, which we have to catch and
respond to without rational understanding."
http://tinyurl.com/ycuolkz
http://tinyurl.com/y8zrtsz

THE GREAT UNKNOWN IS YOUR PARADISE
This video is a mix of corny New Age feel-good optimism and profound,
unexpected metaphysical truths.
http://tinyurl.com/ybctey6

DO YOU REALIZE HOW MIRACULOUS YOUR BODY IS?
You may not be interested in studying how your cells create energy for
you, but it would be good to have a sense of how unbelievably complex
and stupendously miraculous they are.
http://tinyurl.com/yf2fsy3
http://tinyurl.com/yb5benw

When you're an aspiring master of pronoia, you see the cracks in the
facades as opportunities; inspiration erupts as you careen over bumps in
the road; you love the enticing magic that flows from situations that
other people regard as rough or crooked. "That which is not slightly
distorted lacks sensible appeal," wrote poet Charles Baudelaire, "from
which it follows that irregularity -- that is to say, the unexpected, surprise
and astonishment -- is an essential part and characteristic of beauty."

Thoughts are yours. They owe their very existence to you. You can entertain these thoughts or relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release… So long as you consider yourself as an individual, a Guru is necessary to show to you that you are not bound by limitations and that your nature is to be free from limitations."... Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi

Below are the 10 Sufi Thoughts.

May the message of Truth spread far and wide.

1. There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being, none else exists.

2. There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all Souls, who constantly
leads all followers towards the Light.

3. There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of Nature, the only
scripture which can enlighten the reader.

4. There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction
towards the ideal, which fulfills the life's purpose of every soul.

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/Sisterhood, 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.

8. There is One Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its
worshippers through all aspects from the Seen to the Unseen.

9. There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without,
which is the essence of all wisdom.

10. There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which
raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection.

When you stand with your back to the sun, your shadow is before you; but when you turn and face the sun, then your shadow falls behind you.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

The effect of love is pain. The love that has no pain is no love. The lover who has not gone through the agonies of love is not a lover, he claims love falsely. ... Rumi describes six signs of the lover: deep sigh, mild expression, moist eyes, eating little, speaking little, sleeping little, which all show the sign of pain in love. Hafiz says, 'All bliss in my life has been the outcome of unceasing tears and continual sighs through the heart of night.'
The sorrow of the lover is continual, in the presence and in the absence of the beloved: in the presence for fear of the absence, and in absence in longing for the presence. According to the mystical view the pain of love is the dynamite that breaks up the heart, even if it be as hard as a rock. When this hardness that covers the light within is broken through, the streams of all bliss come forth as springs from the mountains.

LOVE ... The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

-Thomas Merton

Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious. ~Ramakrishna

Cosmic Story - Two Brothers

Two brothers were driving across the country together. Their first stop was in the city of San Francisco. One brother said "Let us go to the Temple - tonight they are doing Bhajans all night!" The other brother said - "What, are you crazy? This is San Francisco! I want to enjoy the night life!" So they went their separate ways. One brother went to the Temple and sang Bhajans all night. The other went to a discotheque, and enjoyed a night of strong drink and amorous encounters. The next day, they met up again and continued with their cross country drive. Shortly after starting on the road, they met with an accident and both brothers died.

After death they were brought before Yama, the Judge. Yama is given a video of everything one does in life, and decides where the person's next destination is. One brother was thinking "Oh, I am so glad the last thing I did on Earth was go to the Temple!" The other brother was very fearful. "Oh no!" he thought. "The last thing I did was engage in sinful activities!" Yama looked at the first brother, and said "You must endure some time in hell for your sins." This brother was shocked! He had always acted in a good way! Why was he being punished? He made a protest saying "Lord Yama, I spent all of last night practicing Bhajans. How is it that I am punished?" Yama looked at him in amusement. "My dear sir, last night your mouth and body were engaged in Bhajans. But the whole night, you were dreaming of what it would be like to be with your brother in his amorous adventures." The brother held his head low in shame.

Now it was the turn of the other brother. He was fearful. If Yama sentenced his brother to hell, surely he must deserve even worse punishment! His brother was always going to the Temple, but he hardly ever went. Yama looked at him. "You will go to heaven." Now both brothers were confused. "How is it that I, who engaged in sinful activity, am going to heaven?" said the second brother. "The answer is easy" said Yama. "While you were out on the town, you were always thinking that the thing you should have done is gone to the Temple and worshipped God. The whole evening you were thinking of God. Your brother was thinking of sin the whole evening. You both get the fruit of your thought."

God looks at what is in our heart, not at our outward actions. Most people judge us only by our actions. But if there is not good in our heart, what good does it do if we make all the outward show?

Only love can penetrate all your karmas and resistances and set your heart on fire with the awareness of its true nature. ~Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher." ~Ambrose Bierce

Just as a writer learns the spontaneous freedom of expression only after years of often grueling study, and just as the simple grace of a dancer is achieved only with enormous, patient effort, so when you begin to understand where meditation will lead you, you will approach it as the greatest endeavor of your life, one that demands of you the deepest perseverance, enthusiasm, intelligence, and discipline.

This has been said again and again, down through the ages. All the religious people have been saying this: "We come alone into this world, we go alone." All togetherness is illusory. The very idea of togetherness arises because we are alone, and the aloneness hurts. We want to drown our aloneness in relationship.... That's why we become so much involved in love. Try to see the point. Ordinarily you think you have fallen in love with a woman or with a man because she is beautiful, he is beautiful. That is not the truth. The truth is just the opposite: you have fallen in love because you cannot be alone. You were going to fall. You were going to avoid yourself somehow or other. And there are people who don't fall in love with women or men--then they fall in love with money. They start moving into money or into a power trip, they become politicians. That too is avoiding your aloneness. If you watch man, if you watch yourself deeply, you will be surprised--all your activities can be reduced to one single source. The source is that you are afraid of your aloneness. Everything else is just an excuse. The real cause is that you find yourself very alone.

Osho Take it Easy, Volume 2 Chapter 1