Month: January 2015

“If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware…

“Time and tide wait for no man.” – Geoffrey Chaucer   Kabir – The couplet पाँव पालक की सुधि नाही, करे कल की साज । कल अचानक मारसि, ज्यों तीतर को बाज ||   transliterated: Paav palak ki sudhi naahi, kare kal ki saaj| Kal achaanak marasi, jyon teetar ko baaj || Translation: We have…

“Politeness is the flower of humanity.” – Joseph Joubert   Kabir – The couplet   सुख सागर का शील है, कोई न पावे थाह । शब्द बिना साधु नहीं, द्रव्य बिना नहीं शाह || transliterated: Sukh Saagar Ka Sheel Hai, Koi Na Paave Thaah | Shabd Bina Sadhu Nahi, Dravya Bina Nahi Shah || Translation:…

“If my love is without sacrifice, it is selfish. Such a love is barter, for there is exchange of love and devotion in return for something. It is conditional love.“ – Sadhu Vaswani   Kabir – The couplet   कामी क्रोधी लालची, इनसे भक्ति क्या होए । भक्ति करे कोई सूरमा, जाती वर्ण कुल खोए…

“What is important in meditation is the quality of the mind and the heart. It is not what you achieve, or what you say you attain, but rather the quality of a mind that is innocent and vulnerable. Through negation there is the positive state. Merely to gather, or to live in, experience, denies the…

“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” – Izaak Walton   Kabir – The couplet ऋद्धि सिद्धि मांगो नहीं, मांगो तुम पाई ये । निसदिन दर्शन साधु को, प्रभु कबीर कहु दे ||   transliterated:Riddhi Siddhi Mangou Nahi, Mangou Tum Pai Yeh |Nishidin Darshan Sadhu Ko, Prabhu Kabir Kahu Deh || Translation:Wealth or fame…

“How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!” – Emily Dickinson   Kabir – The couplet दास बनना कठिन है, मैं दासों का दास । अब तो ऐसा होए रहूँ, पाँव तले की घास ||   transliterated: Pakhaa pakhi ke kaarane, sab jag rahaa bhulaan | Nirpakh hoi ke hari bhaje,…

“You cannot fulfill God’s purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans. ” – Rick Warren   Kabir – The couplet दास बनना कठिन है, मैं दासों का दास । अब तो ऐसा होए रहूँ, पाँव तले की घास ||   transliterated: Daas bananna kathin hai, main daason ka daas | Ab to…

Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do. – Plato   Kabir – The couplet सोना सज्जन साधु जान, टूट जुड़े सौ बार । दुर्जन कुम्भ कुम्हार के, एके धक्का दरार||   transliterated: Sona sajjan sadhu jan, toot jude sau baar | Durjan kumbh kumhaar ke,…

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold. – Bob Marley   Kabir – The couplet अटकी भाल शरीर में, तीर रहा है टूट । चुम्बक बिना निकले नहीं, कोटि जातां को फूट ||   transliterated: Atki bhãl sharir mein, teer raha hai toot | Chumbak bina nikle…

Guru is like an axe who cuts the attachments deep within one’s heart. Real diksha means that he has no attachment to anything of this material world. – Subhag Swami   Kabir – The couplet पावक रूपी साइयां, सब घाट रहा समाई । चित चकमक लागे नहीं, ताते बुझि बुझि जाइ ||   transliterated: Pãwak…

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln   Kabir – The couplet बहुत दिवस ते हिंदिया, सुनिए समाधि लागै । करहा पारा गढ़ में, दुरी पारा पछताए ||   transliterated: Bahut diwas te hindiya, suniye Samadhi laagai| Karha paara gadh mein,…

“Having a low opinion of yourself is not ‘modesty.’ It’s self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not ‘egotism.’ It’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success.” – Bobbe Sommer   Kabir – The couplet बन ते भागा बिहड़े परा, करहा अपनी बन । बेदन करहा कसो कहै, को करहा को जान || transliterated:…

“Be careful of living your life based only on faith and signs, or you might find yourself standing in a South American jungle holding a glass of Kool-aid. Commonsense is the foundation of any good testimony.” – Shannon L. Alder Kabir – The couplet पाथर पूजे हरि मिले , तो मैं पूजू पहाड़ | घर…

“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” – Saint Augustine   Kabir – The couplet भक्ति द्वार अति संकरा, राई दसवें भाग । मन तो मैंगल है रहा, कैसे आवे जाय॥   transliterated: Bhakti dwar ati sankara, rai dasavein…

“Those contented souls who meditate on the Lord with single-minded love, meet the True Lord.“ – Guru Granth Sahib   Kabir – The couplet इस तन का दिया करौ, बाती मेल्यु जिव । लोही सींचो तेल ज्यों, कब मुख देखू पिव॥   transliterated: Is tan ka diya karau, bati melyu jeev| Lohi seencho tel jyon,…

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. “ – John Mason   Kabir – The couplet आया था किस काम को, तू सोया चादर तान । सूरत संभाल ऐ ग़ाफ़िल, अपना आप पेहचान॥   transliterated: Aaya tha kis kaam ko, tu soya chaadar taan| Surat sambhaal ai gaafil, apna aap pehchaan||   Translation:…

“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form. “ – Andre Maurois   Kabir – The couplet पहले यह मन कग था, करता जीवन घात । अब तो मन हंस भया, मोती चुन चुन खात ॥   transliterated: Pehle yeh man kag tha, karta jeevan…

“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt. “ – Frederick Buechner   Kabir – The couplet चली जो पुतली लाउनु कि, थाह सिंधु का लेन । आपहु गली…

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi   Kabir – The couplet फल कारण सेवा करे, करे न मन से काम । कहे कबीर सेवक नहीं, चहै चौगुना दाम ॥   transliterated: Phal kaaran seva kare, kare na man se kaam| Kahe Kabir sevak…

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” – Julia Cameron   Kabir – The couplet राम रसायन प्रेम रास, पीवत अधिक रसाल । कबीर पीवण दुर्लभ है, मांगे सीस कलाल ॥ पिया चाहे प्रेम आस, रखा छाहे मन । दो खड्ग एक मयान में, देखा सुना न कान॥   transliterated: Ram rasain…

“Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.” ― Mother Teresa, In…

“Bad teachers distance themselves from the subject they are teaching—and, in the process, from their students. Good teachers join self, subject, and students in the fabric of life because they teach from an integral and undivided self; they manifest in their own lives, and evoke in their students, a “capacity for connectedness.” -Parker J Palmer…

“You’re in love when nobody can understand the way you feel.” -Unknown   Kabir – The couplet अकथ कहानी प्रेम की, कहत कही न जाए । गूंगे केरी सरकार, खाए और मुस्काए ॥   transliterated: Akath kahani prem ki, kahat kahi na jaye| Goonge keri sarkara, khaye aur muskaye||   Translation: The story of God’s…

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” -Daniel J. Boorstin   Kabir – The couplet बूँद समाई समुन्द में, जानत है सब कोई । समुन्द समाये बूँद में, जाने बिराला कोई ॥   transliterated: boond samai samund mein, jaanat hai sab koi| samund samaye boond mein, jaane birala…

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of. – Benjamin Franklin   “I have only just a minute, only sixty seconds in it Forced upon me, can’t refuse it Did not seek it, did not choose it, But it is up to me to use it,…

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. – 1 Peter 3:9 (New Testament)   “Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.” -Fyodor Dostoyevski   Kabir –…

The metaphoric mind is a maverick. It is as wild and unruly as a child. It follows us doggedly and plagues us with its presence as we wander the contrived corridors of rationality. It is a metaphoric link with the unknown called religion that causes us to build cathedrals — and the very cathedrals are…