There will come a time...

There will come a time ... when civilized people will look back in horror on our generation and the ones that preceded it: the idea that we should eat other living things running around on four legs, that we should raise them just for the purpose of killing them! The people of the future will say "meat-eaters!" in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism.

-Dennis Weaver

Swami Krishnananda's Vegetarian Lioness

This vegetarian lioness was the constant companion of Swami Krishnananda. She is depicted below with her master at the Khumba Mela of 1936.

This is how Paramahamsa Yogananda describes this encounter in his Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 42: "After I had given a brief discourse in Hindi on Vedanta, our group left the peaceful hermitage to greet a near-by swami, Krishnananda, a handsome monk with rosy cheeks and impressive shoulders. Reclining near him was a tame lioness. Succumbing to the monk's spiritual charm—not, I am sure, to his powerful physique!—the jungle animal refuses all meat in favor of rice and milk. The swami has taught the tawny-haired beast to utter "Aum" in a deep, attractive growl—a cat devotee!"

http://www.storytellingmonk.org/ref/holy_sights/people/lioness_krishnananda.htm

Delusion

"The trouble with the world," said the Master with a sigh,
"is that human beings refuse to grow up."
"When can a person be said to have grown up?" Asked a disciple.
"On the day he does not need to be lied to about anything."

- Anthony de Mello, SJ

Do not die here like a worm. Wake up!

Eating, drinking, sleeping! A little laughter! Much weeping! Is that all ? Do not die here like a worm. Wake up! Attain Immortal Bliss.

-Swami Sivananda

"Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals"

Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you-alas, it is true of almost every one of us!

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A detached person has deeper love

People think that detachment and loving kindness or compassion do not live in the same consciousness. But in reality, a detached person has deeper love and higher commitments than an attached person. In attachment there is always self-interest, ego, and personality; and love cannot exist in its essence with self-interest, ego, and personality concerns.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Health and disease

Perfect health is given by God. Disease is man-made. The baby who is born blind, or who is born a moron, brings such a condition from a past form of existence. Diseases acquired from the past or created through transgressions of the laws in this life are the results of human error. God wants His children to enjoy health and happiness, but they create disease and sorrow by breaking His laws.

-Paramahansa Yogananda

Any time anyone complains...

Any time anyone complains of worry, anxiety, depression, fear, hatred, jealousy - whatever it is - let him sit back and analyze the cause. If he is really sincere, he will find out that he wanted something for himself. Selfish desire causes all the problems. Do things for the sake of others, not for yourself. That is the simple and practical way to find peace.

-Swami Satchidananda

Humour in spiritual life

Q: How does Babaji feel about the sense of humor on the spiritual path? A: On the spiritual path, people think you have to sit sadly and be serious all the time, thinking about God. When a person's mind is purified, the mind develops happiness. In that state of happiness, the mind becomes playful.
-Baba Hari Dass

One will always find that the most evolved sages can be amused; that is why they are pleasant to meet and to speak to. Worrying comes from self- pity and fear, and fear is made of the clouds of ignorance; the light will dissolve it. Humor is the sign of light: when the light from above touches the mind it tickles the mind, and it is the tickling of mind which produces humor.

-Hazrat Inayat Khan

Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go

Freedom means letting go. People just do not care to let go everything. They do not know that the finite is the price of the infinite, as death is the price of immortality. Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go of everything. The giving up is the final step. But the real giving up is in realizing that there is nothing to give up, for nothing is your own.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

This diamond-like nervous system

Having gained this beautiful, perfect human nervous system, if we have known that element of the Self, then we have really used this wonderful diamond-like gift, this diamond-like nervous system which is capable of giving that eternal bliss. If it is not experienced, then we have wasted that gift of diamond.
We have taken upon ourselves this human nervous system, not for the sake of petty enjoyment of changing nature in this relative field of change, but to live and be that infinite bliss. And, we will have to attain that thing whether we attain it in this life, or in the next, or in the next. We just can't forego that. Therefore, with the assistance of the guru and the scriptures, better to attain it quickly. Why postpone?

-Tat Wale Baba

Failure to share one's love is gross ingratitude to society

Love and compassion are inherent in every person. Each has to share love with others. Failure to share one's love is gross ingratitude to society, to which one owes everything. One should give one's love freely to others and receive love in return. But when the forces of evil and hatred overwhelm them, the Good accept the Lord as the Charioteer and He enables to overpower foes.

- Sai Baba

Τhe natural food of man

In men of all races we find that their senses of smell, sound, and sight never lead them to slaughter animals; on the contrary they cannot bear even the sight of such killings. Slaughterhouses are always recommended to be removed far from the towns. Can flesh then be considered the natural food of man, when both his eyes and his nose are so much against it?

-Sri Yukteswar

Man forgets that it is the Spirit that activates his senses

It is naive to try to search for God in any particular place. Man is himself the cause of all his sorrows and difficulties because, forgetting his inherent divinity, he regards the body as real and pursues mundane and physical pleasures. Man forgets that it is the Spirit that activates all his senses. When a fan turns or a bulb burns, it is the current that makes them work. When a car is driven, the engine revolves and the horn works because of the current from the battery. Likewise, for the car of the human body, the eyes are the lights, speech is the horn and all sense organs function because of the current from the Atma (the Spirit).

-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, 8th February 1990.

It will go away...

A disciple once went to his master say, excitedly,
"Master, I just had a vision!"
The master replied,
"Sit down. Meditate. It will go away."

Loving is an act of service

Loving is an act of service. When you love somebody you give him courage; you uplift, transform, and cause enlightenment in that person. You evoke creativity. Has anybody loved you in a way that increased your energy, creativity, and enlightenment? If his love did not do that, you have not yet tasted love.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Prayer brings man and God together

Prayer alone makes life happy, harmonious and worth living in this universe.
Prayer brings man and God together and with every sigh nearer and nearer.

-Sai Baba

Smoking tobacco or marijuana

Smoking tobacco or marijuana dulls the pineal gland and the sensitive cells around it that transmit communications from the Solar Angel. It is a very slow process, but eventually the damage reaches large proportions. Chewing tobacco kills the haemoglobin of the blood and opens the person to invite in unwanted entities.

-Torkom Saraydarian

The state of craving blocks all deeper experience

The state of craving for anything blocks all deeper experience. Nothing of value can happen to a mind which knows exactly what it wants. For nothing the mind can visualize and want is of much value.

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

Making the river Ganges flow uphill

The difficulty in weaning the mind from objects and fixing it on God is the same as in making the river Ganges flow uphill towards its source instead of its natural flow towards the ocean. Through strenuous efforts and renunciation, the mind must be trained to flow towards God, much against its will, if you want to free yourself from birth and death. There is no other way if you want to escape from worldly miseries and tribulations.

-Sivananda