Day by day
”An intense student may be endowed with the slenderest of good qualities, but if he can readily understand the truth--however theoretically--and expound it to others, this act of exposition will help him to become himself imbued with these ideas and his own mind will soak in their truth. This in the end will lead him to actualize the Divinity within himself.” Excerpt from Tripura, an archaic Sanskrit text, translated into modern language.
13.20.4.292, ExcerptListen 1 Oct 2014... The improvement of character and the elevation of moral condition are the foundation of all spiritual work.
4.4.4.143, ExcerptListen 2 Oct 2014But before he can even attempt to surrender the underself, he must first begin to feel, however feebly and however intermittently, that there is an Overself and that it is living there deep within his own heart. Such a feeling, however, must arise spontaneously and cannot be manufactured by any effort of his own... For such a feeling is nothing else than a manifestation of grace…
12.18.4.94, ExcerptListen 3 Oct 2014Socrates' prayer to the god of Nature: ”O Pan! Do so that I become beautiful inside me. And all that exists outside and around me to be in harmony with what I have in me. . . My wish for material wealth is only for so much as a wise man can carry in his hand.”--from Plato
10.15.6.87Listen 4 Oct 2014The threshold of this inner being cannot be crossed without overcoming the fear that arises on reaching it. This is a fear of the unknown, the unfamiliar, the fantastic, and the illusory. The ego shrinks back from what is so strange to its past experience. It is afraid of losing itself in this emptiness that confronts it, and with that losing hold of the solid ground of physical life. Only by calling up all its inner courage and inner strength can these enemies be conquered.
15.23.8.49Listen 5 Oct 2014... When we understand that Mind is itself a reality apart from the fleshly brain, we can also understand why telepathy between two persons is perfectly possible…
11.16.14.85, ExcerptListen 6 Oct 2014We cannot help living in a human ego and feeling its wishes and desires, for most of us are infatuated with it. But it can be put in its place and kept there, first through a profound understanding, next through a lofty aspiration to transcend it, and third through a following of the Quest until its very end.
6.8.4.177Listen 7 Oct 2014He will find, if he accepts this intuitive leading, that although the unfavourable circumstances may remain the same, unchanged, his attitude towards them does not. Out of this inner change there will be given him the strength to deal with them, the calm to deal with them unmoved, and the wisdom to deal with them properly.
14.22.1.260Listen 8 Oct 2014Despite the absence of a teacher, it is still possible to intensify his efforts. His surroundings offer part of the material for study; his personal history can be explored for a greater awareness of the meanings of his past and present experiences; and every situation offers an opportunity for a more objective observation of himself.
2.1.6.683Listen 9 Oct 2014The worth of this teaching does not depend upon the numbers of people who espouse it. The weaker the response which it receives from the world in general, the stronger should be the effort put forth by the few, if they really believe in it, to keep it alive.
13.20.1.250Listen 10 Oct 2014The adept is happy indeed when a student comes into the full realization of the Kingdom of Heaven for whoever finds it, naturally wants to share it with others.
16.25.5.287Listen 11 Oct 2014The ego will always seek, and find, ways to excuse itself. It will do anything else it can rather than honestly confess its own vileness or weakness or erroneousness. It will cling stubbornly to them rather than admit the need for a thorough change.
6.8.3.106Listen 12 Oct 2014Even in the midst of bodily sufferings, he will still keep and not lose this beautiful serenity of mind. And he is able to do so precisely because he is able to differentiate the flesh from the mind. Inevitably, it must counteract, even though it may not obliterate, the body's pain.
7.10.1.77Listen 13 Oct 2014The soul of man incarnates all over the face of this planet... No Western birth will exempt him from following the same path which the Eastern seeker must walk--the subdual of self, the subjugation of thought, and a kindled yearning for his infinite Home.
10.15.1.322, ExcerptListen 14 Oct 2014Take the beginning and the end of the Greek alphabet and suppose that the first letter, Alpha, is the first faint stirrings of the universe. And take the last letter, Omega, to be the last vanishing trace of that universe. Imagine that Alpha is the reincarnation of the previous Omega, and you will have a key to what is really happening…
16.27.3.54, ExcerptListen 15 Oct 2014... The time has come to develop the knowledge and extend the understanding of a teaching which few know and fewer still understand. Occupied principally, as it is, with matters of eternal rather than ephemeral life, it finds today a larger opportunity for service than it could have found at any earlier period in consequence of the evolutionary forces which have been working on man's history, ideas, attitudes, communications, and productions. It is the most important knowledge which any human being could study.
13.20.1.397, ExcerptListen 16 Oct 2014If God is everywhere, as He must be, then He is in man too. This fact makes possible his discovery, under certain conditions, of a diviner element in his being which is ordinarily obscured.
16.25.1.32Listen 17 Oct 2014The mind interprets its own experience in a particular way because, owing to its structure, it could not do so in another way. But these limitations are not eternal and absolute. When, as in dream, yoga, death, or hallucination, they are abruptly loosened, then experience is interpreted in a new and different way.
13.21.2.137Listen 18 Oct 2014Form a plan of life and carry it out.
3.2.6.53Listen 19 Oct 2014He who attains this beautiful serenity is absolved from the misery of frustrated desires, is healed of the wounds of bitter memories, is liberated from the burden of earthly struggles. He has created a secret, invulnerable centre within himself, a garden of the spirit which neither the world's hurts nor the world's joys can touch…
15.24.2.97, ExcerptListen 20 Oct 2014Daily meditation will overcome the materializing effect of constant contact with worldly influences…
13.20.1.325, ExcerptListen 21 Oct 2014There is a materialistic serenity and a spiritual serenity. The first comes from the possession of money, property, position, or affection. The other comes from no outward possessions but from inward ones. The first can be shattered at a single blow; the other soon recovers.
15.24.3.106Listen 22 Oct 2014If you want to change your karma, begin by changing your attitude: first, toward outer events, people, things; second toward yourself.
6.9.3.141Listen 23 Oct 2014The capacity for intuition is born from a long experience in bygone lives but the psychological reality of it was always present--because the Overself was.
11.16.14.125Listen 24 Oct 2014In the early stages of spiritual progress, Grace may show itself in the bestowal of ecstatic emotions. This encourages him to pursue the Quest and to know that he is so far pursuing it rightly. But the purpose gained, the blissful states will eventually pass away, as they must. He will then falsely imagine that he has lost Grace, that he has left undone something he should have done or done something he should not have done. The true fact is that it is Grace itself which has brought this loss about, as constituting his next stage of progress…
12.18.5.238, ExcerptListen 25 Oct 2014That which connects the individual man to the Universal Spirit, I call the Overself. This connection can never be broken. Its existence is the chief guarantee that there is hope of salvation for all, not merely for those who think their group alone will be granted it.
14.22.3.331Listen 26 Oct 2014Because the Overself is already there within him in all its immutable sublimity, man has not to develop it or perfect it. He has only to develop and perfect his ego until it becomes like a polished mirror, held up to and reflecting the sacred attributes of the Overself, and showing openly forth the divine qualities which had hitherto lain hidden behind itself.
2.1.5.12Listen 27 Oct 2014Our trouble is that our notion of what constitutes reality is incorrectly limited to the world of the five senses, with the sad consequence that we devise dozens of ways of finding happiness but never arrive at it.
13.21.1.3Listen 28 Oct 2014The self-identification with the Overself should be as perfect as he can make it. He is to be it, and not merely the student meditating on it.
15.23.6.116Listen 29 Oct 2014We complain that there is no response to our prayer for uplift or light. But that is because there is no propriety in our approach. The intellectually gifted comes with his arrogance and the artistically gifted with his vanity, while each man comes with his pride. The correct approach was described by Jesus: Become as a little child; for then we become humble, feel dependent, and begin to lay the ego aside. With that the door to the Overself opens and its grace begins to shine through.
12.18.3.1Listen 30 Oct 2014My dear Ego: ”It is obvious that in this world I cannot live without you. Your presence is overwhelming, fills every instinct, thought, feeling, and action. But it is also obvious that I cannot live with you. The time has come to adjust our relationship. So I have one request to make of you. Please get out of my way!”
6.8.4.176Listen 31 Oct 2014
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