Flower of the Day: 08/23/14

"I perceive the acute stages of mental disorder as spiritual emergencies. The soul is expanding faster than the body can keep up with. The energy centers are spinning at a frequency that is defined by the soul, but the body carrying all of its marks and scars cannot handle this movement. In other words, the soul is expanding, but the body is still committed to destroying itself and this creates an internal tug of war between opposing forces. This is the origin of suffering: two forces moving in the opposite direction inside of us."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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A Spiritual Life All Our Own | August 23, 2014

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We should never lose sight of the fact that, however difficult the going may be at times, the living of the spiritual life is ultimately our own responsibility. It should never be abdicated to another, however venerable.

 

-John Snelling, “Beware the Charismatic Guru”

 

Via Dialy Dharma:

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What We Need | August 22, 2014

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Restraint means protecting the integrity of our mind so that we’re less likely to depart from our discipline; this way we avoid errors such as greed. So, not only should we not take more than we need but also always practice consideration in making sure that everyone has what they need. 

 

-Venerable Yifa, "Thought for Food"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/22/14

“Paying attention to synchronicities is very important because they are the voice of your intuition or the voice of God coming from within. However, I see that many of you are unable to perceive these signs as you are attached to a particular outcome for situations, filled with expectations. This is a limitation because you predetermine a way for things to happen and hope that life will fit into your plan. But life brings infinite possibilities, and it may offer something that is beyond your own plans.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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When We Trust | August 21, 2014

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When we trust with our open heart, whatever occurs, at that very moment that it occurs, can be perceived as fresh and unstained by the clouds of hope and fear. 

 

-Dr. Jeremy Hayward, "First Thought"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/21/14

“When you de-identify from your past, it will no longer exercise power over you. The past is still the past, but you’re no longer identified with it. It may even be a source of inspiration and understanding that you can use when necessary, but it stops draining your energy and awareness. The past no longer steals away your presence. However, this is only possible when you are in harmony with your past.”

Sri Prem Baba

BKS Iyengar

Via Daily Dharma

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A Whisper of Psychic Release | August 20, 2014

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The most fascinating and perhaps most significant of all interfaces is the one that separates yet connects the ridiculous and the sublime. The surprisingly narrow borderline between things holy and things profane, between prayer and laughter, between a Leonardo chalice and Warhol soup can, between the Clear Light and the joke, provides a zone of meaning as exhilarating as it is heretical: a whisper of psychic release so acutely yet weirdly portentous it just might offer a clue to the mystery of being. 

 

-Tom Robbins, "Now Showing: Satori"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/20/14

It is necessary to learn how to trust the commands that come from the heart. The spiritual master teaches you and guides you through his or her own intuition, but you will only learn if you are able to hear your heart; if you are able to discern. Discernment is an attribute of the Being, for it is a manifestation of your creative intelligence.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 08/19/14

“The fear of scarcity emerges in relation to money, but also in relation to feelings. When you are controlled by a fear of scarcity, you need to wield power over others in order to feel secure. This fear breaks your connection with the source and you feel powerless. So the only way you get power is through robbing other people’s energy by making them feel inferior, guilty, incompetent, or wrong. In other words, making them feel fearful as well. This lowers the other person’s awareness to the same level as your own, and you feel stronger. But the price you pay is very high, because this creates karma that will pursue you indefinitely.”

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 08/18/14

“I have been speaking about the importance of kindness and friendship during our groups. The sangha, a community of spiritual seekers, is one of the sacred jewels of the path to enlightenment: it is the body of the master teacher. So the health of the master’s body depends on the friendships of his or her students and their ability to work together in harmony.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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No Boundaries | August 19, 2014

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Pain and joy, love of life, and fear of death know no boundaries of us and them. We can all wake up to realize that our happiness depends on the happiness of our neighbors and vice versa, and our real safety is in togetherness, not intractable conflict. 

 

-Stephen Fulder, "Do We Really 'Have No Choice'?"

Via Daily Dharma

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Good at Heart | August 18, 2014

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As long as we have fire when we need it, water when we need it, warm food on the table, tasty curry, what else do we need? Happiness is to be good at heart. 

 

- Madeline Drexler, “The Happiness Metric”

 

Flower of the Day: 08/17/14

“Choice is a power through which we can move in this world, however sometimes an apparent paradox occurs. In certain situations you discover that despite your choices, things happen the way they were supposed to. It’s as though there was already a plan mapped out. So work towards making conscious choices, but don’t blame yourself when that is not possible. Remember that even a wrong choice is right because it helps you to increase your capacity to discern. It can also teach you to see the brightness of the right path until there comes a time when you no longer doubt. The ‘wrong’ path is usually unlit and you receive clear signals not to take it, while the right path has a luminosity that inspires you.”

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 08/16/14

"The conditioned mind is under the spell of the cosmic illusion that restricts one’s ability to love and makes one a prisoner of suffering. The conditioned mind is a prisoner of its own prejudices and beliefs. This generates anguish, because one’s essence is in search of freedom. The key that opens this prison door is love."

Sri Prem Baba

Listen to the satsang audio >

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Transcend What? | August 16, 2014

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Buddhist training isn't a method for transcending our basic nature--our nature isn't the trap. Aversion and grasping together are the trap, and nondiscrimination the way out. 

 

- Sallie Tisdale, “The Buddhist Sex Quandary”

 

"The real self is dangerous: dangerous for the established church, dangerous for the state, dangerous for the crowd, dangerous for the tradition, because once a man knows his real self, he becomes an individual. He belongs no more to the mob psychology; he will not be superstitious, and he cannot be exploited. and he cannot be led like cattle, he cannot be ordered and commanded. Integrated persons become individuals, and the society wants you to be non-individuals.

Instead he will live according to his light; he will live from his own inwardness. His life will have tremendous beauty, integrity."

~Osho

Flower of the Day: 08/15/14

“If you find yourself stuck at a certain point, suffering and controlling, this means that you are under the dominion of a force called ‘obstinacy’. Obstinacy is a distortion of willpower. In other words, it is willpower that is being used by fear and hatred. There is an insistence on accomplishing what the ego determines. So, I invite you to relax and surrender to the guidance of the mystery. Maybe you’ll have a nice surprise.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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The Reality of Freedom | August 15, 2014

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Instead of creatively realizing their freedom, many choose the unreflective conformism dictated by television, indulgence in mass-consumerism, or numbing their feelings of alienation and anguish with drugs. In theory, freedom may be held in high regard; in practice it is experienced as a dizzying loss of meaning and direction. 

 

Stephen Batchelor, “Buddhism Without Beliefs”