Inter- Faiths Dialogue

The Saints > Mystical life

64 quote(s) | Page 1 / 3

T he wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do
not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who
is born of the Spirit.

quote 4287 | Jesus Christ
John 3.8

H e whose corruptions are destroyed, he who is not attached to food, he who
has Deliverance, which is void and signless, as his object--his path, like
that of birds in the air, cannot be traced.

quote 4286 | Buddha Sakyamuni
Dhammapada 93

H igher than all stands the Realm of Grace--
None can have access there except heroes of supreme might,
Inspired by God-consciousness.
In that sphere abide numberless heroines like Sita of surpassing praise
And beauty indescribable.
Those to God united suffer not mortality nor delusion.
In that sphere abide devotees assembled from the various universes,
Cherishing the holy Eternal ever in their hearts.
In everlasting bliss.
The formless Supreme Being abides in the Realm of Eternity.
Over His creation He casts His glance of grace.
In that realm are contained all the continents and universes,
Exceeding in number all count.
Of creation, worlds upon worlds abide therein--
All obedient to His Will;
He watches over them in bliss,
And has each constantly in mind.
Saith Nanak, Such is that realm's [glory] that to try to describe it is to attempt the impossible

quote 4247 | The Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Japuji 37 M.1, p. 8

L iving beyond the reach of I and mine and of pleasure and pain, patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, with all his heart and all his mind given to me--with such a one I am in love.

Not frightening the world or by it frightened, he stands above the sway of elation, competition, and fear--he is my beloved.

He is detached, pure, efficient, impartial, never anxious, selfless in all his undertakings--he is my devotee, very dear to me.

Running not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieving not, lusting not, but letting things come and go as they happen--he is very dear to me.

That devotee who looks upon friend and foe with equal regard, who is not buoyed up by praise nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments, the same in honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full, in harmony everywhere, firm in faith--such a one is dear to me.

Those who meditate upon this immortal Truth as I have declared it, full of faith and seeking me as life's supreme goal, are truly my devotees, and my love for them is very great.

quote 4200 | The Bhagavat Gita
Bhagavad Gita 12.14-20

F or him who has completed the journey, for him who is sorrowless, for him who from everything is wholly free, for him who has destroyed all ties, the fever of passion exists not.

He whose corruptions are destroyed, he who is not attached to food, he who has deliverance, which is void [of lust, hate, and ignorance] and signless [without the signs of lust, etc.], as his object--his path, like that of the birds of the air, cannot be traced.

He whose senses are subdued, like steeds well-trained by a charioteer, he whose pride is destroyed and is free from the corruptions--such a steadfast one even the gods hold dear.

Like the earth, a balanced and well-disciplined person resents not.... He is like a pool, unsullied by mud; to such a balanced one, life's wanderings do not arise.

Calm is his mind, calm is his speech, calm is his action, who, rightly knowing, is wholly freed [from defilements], perfectly peaceful and equipoised.

The man who is not credulous but truly understands the Uncreated (Nibbana), who has cut off the links, who has put an end to occasion [of good and evil], who has eschewed all desires, he indeed is a supreme man.

quote 4199 | Buddha Sakyamuni
Dhammapada 90, 93-97

A rjuna: Tell me of those who live established in wisdom, ever aware of the Self, O Krishna. How do they talk? How sit? How move about?

Lord Krishna: They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart.

Neither agitated by grief nor hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger. Established in meditation, they are truly wise. Fettered no more by selfish attachments, they are neither elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such are the seers.

Even as a tortoise draws in its limbs, the wise can draw in their senses at will. Aspirants abstain from sense pleasures, but they still crave for them. These cravings all disappear when they see the highest goal. Even of those who tread the path, the stormy senses can sweep off the mind. They live in wisdom who subdue their senses and keep their minds ever absorbed in Me.

quote 4198 | The Bhagavat Gita
Bhagavad Gita 2.54-61

T he Supreme Reality stands revealed in the consciousness of those who have conquered themselves. They live in peace, alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame.

They are completely filled by spiritual wisdom and have realized the Self. Having conquered their senses, they have climbed to the summit of human consciousness. To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same. They are equally disposed to family, enemies, and friends, to those who support them and those who are hostile, to the good and the evil alike. Because they are impartial, they rise to great heights.

quote 4197 | The Bhagavat Gita
Bhagavad Gita 6.7-9

I f I have no physical body, if I have obtained the Way and become naturally so, I shall lightly lift myself and raise into the clouds. Coming and going between empty space, I become one in spirit with the Way. What trouble could I have?

quote 4042 | Ho Shang Gong
commentary on the Tao Te King, chap.13, trad. A. Chan, 1991, p.157

S haring virtue with heaven, one embodies Tao (…) reaching the point that he will be with utmost nothingness. (…) Nothingness is something which water and fire cannot destroy, metal and stone cannot injure. When applied to one’s heart, the tiger and the rhinoceros have no place to thrust their teeth and horns, and war weapons have no place to stab their sharp points. Then what danger and harm will one have?

quote 4041 | Wang Bi
commentary on the Tao Te King, 16.11-13, trad. P.J. Lin, 1977, p.29

M ay I be far removed from contending creeds and dogmas.
Ever since my Lord's grace entered my mind,
My mind has never strayed to seek such distractions.
Accustomed long to contemplating love and compassion,
I have forgotten all difference between myself and others.
Accustomed long to meditating on my Guru as enhaloed over my head,
I have forgotten all those who rule by power and prestige.
Accustomed long to meditating on my guardian deities as inseparable from myself,
I have forgotten the lowly fleshly form.
Accustomed long to meditating on the secret whispered truths,
I have forgotten all that is said in written or printed books.
Accustomed, as I have been, to the study of the eternal Truth,
I've lost all knowledge of ignorance.
Accustomed, as I've been, to contemplating both nirvana and samsara as inherent in myself,
I have forgotten to think of hope and fear.
Accustomed, as I've been, to meditating on this life and the next as one,
I have forgotten the dread of birth and death.
Accustomed long to studying, by myself, my own experiences,
I have forgotten the need to seek the opinions of friends and brethren.
Accustomed long to applying each new experience to my own spiritual growth,
I have forgotten all creeds and dogmas.
Accustomed long to meditating on the Unborn, the Indestructible, the Unchanging,
I have forgotten all definitions of this or that particular goal.
Accustomed long to meditating on all visible phenomena as the Dharmakaya,
I have forgotten all meditations on what is produced by the mind.
Accustomed long to keeping my mind in the uncreated state of freedom,
I have forgotten all conventions and artificialities.
Accustomed long to humbleness, of body and mind,
I have forgotten the pride and haughty manner of the mighty.
Accustomed long to regarding my fleshly body as my hermitage,
I have forgotten the ease and comfort of retreats and monasteries.
Accustomed long to knowing the meaning of the Wordless,
I have forgotten the way to trace the roots of verbs, and the
sources of words and phrases.
You, 0 learned one, may trace out these things in your books
[if you wish].

quote 3743 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971;pp 245-247

T he man who has found the joy of the Spirit and in the Spirit has his satisfaction and his peace, that man is beyond the law of karma (actions and rewards). He is beyond what is done and not done. He is beyond the world of mortal beings. In freedom from the bonds of attachment, do, therefore, the work to be done; for the man whose work is pure attains indeed the Supreme.

quote 3621 | The Bhagavat Gita
3:17-19; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1962

W hen awake to the vision of one's own Self, when a man in truth can say: "I am He," what desires could lead him to grieve in fever for the body?

... When a man sees the Atman, his own Self, the one God, the Lord of what was and of what shall be, then he fears no more.

quote 3594 | The Upanishads
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV.4.25; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1965

S aid by God:) He who belittles the least of My saints does no honor to the greatest, for I have made both the less and the greater… They are all one, fast-bound and knit together… They feel all alike, and they will all alike, and they love all together in unity; and they love Me much more than themselves or their own merits. They are rapt above themselves and drawn from their own love and wholly turned to My love in which they rest in eternal fruition. There is nothing that can turn them away from My love or thrust them down out of their glory, for they are full of eternal truth and burn inwardly in their souls with the fire of everlasting charity that never will be quenched.

quote 3512 | Thomas a Kempis
The Imitation of Christ. Trans. Richard Whitford, moderenized by Harold C. Gardiner. New York: Doubleday, 1955, p. 196

T hose who have been cleansed through following the path of stillness (hesychis) are counted worthy to see things invisible…, undergoing, as it were, the way of negation and not forming ideas about it.

quote 3364 | Abbot Vasilios of Iveron Monastery
Hymn of Entry, p. 103

B y receiving a new sense of taste and a new form of knowledge in "stillness" and in giving himself over to God totally. Be still and know. Be still: remain in a state of spiritual wakefulness, with your prospects and your senses open, to hear what God's will is at each moment.

quote 3363 | Abbot Vasilios of Iveron Monastery
Hymn of Entry, p. 92

F or he was a man full of discernment and the good odour of the Holy Spirit.

quote 3354 | Desert Fathers
An Abba of Rome (probably Arsenius): The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 210, An Abba of Rome, 2

H is faith is no longer of any use to him. In fact his faith is only useful so long as he is veiled and has not obtained direct vision and evidence… When that which was hidden becomes evident, when that of which he was merely informed is directly seen, the soul no longer derives any profit from that which it believes but only from that which it contemplates and sees. The states, the intentions, the goals which he had druing the phase of faith are transformed. This transformation should be understood as purely inner. As to the exterior of this being, it is not modified even an iota. He continues to behave in a way which is acceptable to the sacred Law and commendable according to customs and natural law, engaging in the activities which conform to his situation and his rank among his fellow men.

quote 3275 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 172, p.72,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

W hen mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they're full, they worry about hunger. Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. But sages don't consider the past. And they don't worry about the future. Nor do they cling to the present. And from moment to moment they follow the Way.

quote 3255 | Bodhidharma
The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Trans. Red Pine. New York: North Point Press, 1987. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Trans. Red Pine. New York: North Point Press, 1987, p. 75

A fter many births the wise seek refuge in me, seeing me everywhere and in everything. Such great souls are very rare.

quote 3228 | The Bhagavat Gita
BG 7:19, p. 117, The Bhagavad Gita. Trans. Eknath Easwaran. Tomales, CA.: Nilgiri Press, 1985.

G od-vision is nothing but to realize and feel His presence within yourself and everywhere about you, because God is an all-prevailing spirit, permeating the entire universe. The manifested worlds are not different from Him, since they are but His own expression in terms of name and form.

quote 3165 | Ramdas
In the Vision of God, Volume 1, by Swami Ramdas, pp 251-252

W hen my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.

quote 3151 | Ibn 'Arabi
Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

T hose who have attained divine reality and with enlightenment are fraught, From all creation have turned both their their face and their thoughts;The illumined men from the bowl of Looks beg for rays divine,By close attention (to God) they acquired whatever they sought.

quote 3128 | Abu Sa'id
Abu Sa'id's Rubaiyat by Dr Zahurul Hasan Sharib

B etween the pillars of spirit and matter the mind has put up a swing.
There swings the bound soul and all the worlds with not even the slightest rest.
The sun and moon also swing, and there is no end to it.
The soul swings through millions of births like the endless circling of the sun and moon.
Billions of ages have passed with no sigh of relief
The earth and sky swing,
Wind and water swing,
Taking a body, God Himself swings.
Kabir, the servant of God,
has seen it all.

quote 3105 | Kabir
literal translations by Krishan Bakshi, Vinod Argawal, and Anand Mundra in Jonathan Star, the Inner Treasure, Tarcher Putnam

C ome, then, my beloved souls, let us fly to that love which calls us.
Why are we waiting?
Let us set out at once,
Let us lose ourselves in the very heart of God and become intoxicated with His love.
Let us snatch from His heart the key to all the treasures of the world and start out right away on the road to heaven.

There is no need to fear that any lock will hold us back.
Our key will open every door.

There is no room we cannot enter.
We can make ourselves free of the garden, the cellar, and the vineyard as well.
If we want to explore the countryside, no one will hinder us.
We can come and go;
We can enter and leave any place we wish,
Because we have the key of David, the key of knowledge, and the key of the abyss that holds the hidden treasures of divine wisdom.
It is this key that opens the doors of mystical death and its sacred darkness.
By it we can enter the deepest dungeons and emerge safe and sound.
It gives us entrance into that blessed spot where the light of knowledge shines and the Bridegroom takes His noonday rest.

There we quickly learn how to win His kiss and ascend with surety the steps of the nuptial couch.
And there we learn the secrets of love-
Divine secrets that cannot be revealed and which no human tongue can ever describe.

quote 3097 | Jean Pierre de Caussade
Beevers, John, trans. Abandonment to Divine Providence. New York: Doubleday, 1975, pp. 25, 3 7,40, 70, 73, 81-82

T hose who live there possess neither head nor feet, neither faith nor infidelity.
Drinking the wine of dispassion they have renounced good and evil.
Sipping from a cup of bliss, without lips or mouth,
They have cast away
All thoughts of name and fame,
All talk of marvels and visions,
All dreams of secret chambers and distant worlds.

Now with blackened faces staring at a wall, or faces reddened by the wine of Unity. Now in a mystic whirl, dancing in the arms of their Beloved, losing head and foot like the turning heavens. With every strain the minstrel plays, the rapture of the unseen world unfolds; With every note of this mystic song a veil is torn from a priceless treasure.

They are blind to this world, Indifferent to great and small, Ignorant of Master and disciple.

They guzzle down cup after cup of wine and still they want more! They sweep ancient dust from their souls. They grab at the Beloved's dress like a bunch of drunkards!

So who are these guys? They are Sufis.

quote 3070 | Shabistari
The Secret Rose Garden

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