Inter- Faiths Dialogue

Classics > Spiritual Advices

60 quote(s) | Page 1 / 3

A nd the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace,
And those who spend [part of] the night to their Lord prostrating and standing in prayer

quote 4563 | The Quran
AL FURQAN 25.63-64

W e have no freedom to achieve our goal
Until from Self and fools we free the soul.
To be admitted past the veil you must
Be dead to all the crowd considers just
Once past the veil you understand the Way
From which the crowd's glib courtier blindly stray
If you have any will, leave women's stories,
And even if this search for hidden glories
Proves blasphemy at last, be sure our quest
Is not mere talk but an exacting test.
The fruit of love's great tree is poverty
Whoever knows this knows humility

quote 4527 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds

A man who lived by digging graves survived
To ripe old age. A neighbour said: "You've thrived
For years, digging away in one routine -
Tell us the strangest thing you've ever seen."
He said: "All things considered, what's most strange
Is that for seventy years without a change
That dog, my self, has seen me digging graves,
Yet neither dies, nor alters, nor behaves!"

quote 4522 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p96

P eople under delusion accumulate tainted merits but do not tread the Path.
They are under the impression that to accumulate merits and to tread the
Path are one and the same thing.
Though their merits for alms-giving and offerings are infinite
They do not realize that the ultimate source of sin lies in the three
poisons within their own mind.
They expect to expiate their sins by accumulating merit
Without knowing that felicities obtained in future lives have nothing to
do with the expiation of sins.
Why not get rid of the sin within our own mind,
For this is true repentance?

quote 4392 | Hui Neng
Sutra of Hui Neng 6

W hat then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but
God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who
waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor.
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let
each man take care how he builds upon it.

quote 4364 | The Bible
1 Corinthians 3.5-11

W hatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

quote 4337 | The Bible
1 Corinthians 10.31

I f you are in any doubt concerning what We have sent down to you, then
question those who have read the Book before you; Truth has come to you
from your Lord, so do not be a waverer; do not be someone who rejects
God's signs, so you be a loser.

quote 4335 | The Quran
Qur'an 10:94

W hoever is proud of his royal authority
falls into hell, becomes a dog.
Whoever fancies himself for his beauty
takes birth as a filthy worm.
Whoever proclaims his meritorious deeds
whirls in transmigration, fallen into numerous births.
Whoever is proud of wealth and estates
is thoughtless, blind, senseless.
But whoever in whose heart He, in His grace, lodges humility
finds, says Nanak, liberation in this life,
bliss in the hereafter.

Whoever is proud of his wealth,
Know not even a blade of grass shall accompany him.
Whoever pins his confidence on large hoardes and servants
is destroyed in an instant.
Whoever reckons himself powerful over all
is reduced in an instant to ashes.
Whoever in his pride reckons none as his equal
In the end treated with ignominy by the Master of Law.
Whoever by the Master's grace has his pride anulled,
Says Nanak, finds acceptance at the Divine Portal.

quote 4304 | The Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Gauri Sukhmani 12, M.5, p. 278

H im who humbles himself, God exalts; him who exalts himself, God humbles;
from him who searches for greatness, greatness flies; him who flies from
greatness, greatness searches out: with him who is importunate with
circumstances, circumstance is importunate; by him who gives way to
circumstance, circumstance stands.

quote 4303 | The Talmud
Erubin 13b

W hoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will
be exalted.

quote 4302 | Jesus Christ
Matthew 23.12

A t that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

quote 4189 | Jesus Christ
Matthew 18.1-3

T he path of knowledge leads to Truth, as does the path that combines knowledge and love [bhakti]. The path of love too leads to this goal. The way of love is as true as the way of knowledge. All paths ultimately lead to the same Truth. But as long as God keeps the feeling of ego in us, it is easier to follow the path of love.

quote 3898 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 104

O ne cannot see God without purity of heart. Through attachment to "woman and gold" the mind has become stained -covered with dirt, as it were. A magnet cannot attract a needle if the needle is covered with mud. Wash away the mud and the magnet will draw it. Likewise, the dirt of the mind can be washed away with the tears of our eyes. This stain is removed if one sheds tears of repentence and says, "0 God, I shall never again do such a thing." Thereupon God, who is like the, magnet, draws to Himself the mind, which is like the needle. Then the devotee goes into samadhi and obtains the vision of God.

You may try thousands of times, but nothing can be achieved without God's grace. One cannot see God without His grace. Is it an easy thing to receive the grace of God? One must altogether renounce egotism; one cannot see God as long as one feels "I am the doer ... ... God doesn't easily appear in the heart of a man who feels himself to be his own master. But God can be seen the moment His grace descends. He is the Sun of Knowledge. One single ray of His has illumined the world with the light of knowledge. This is how we are able to see one another and acquire varied knowledge. One can see God only if He turns His light toward His own Face.

quote 3896 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 173-174

D adu says: I am nothing and can do nothing
Truly even a fool may reach Thee by Thy grace.

quote 3873 | Dadu
Jiwat Mritak; Orr, 1947, p. 142

S o a man must be pervaded with the divine presence, and be shaped through and through with the form of the God he loves, and be present in Him, so that God's presence may shine out to him without any effort. What is more, in all things let him acquire nakedness [detachment], and let him always remain free of things. But at the beginning there must be attentiveness and a careful formation within himself, like a schoolboy setting himself to learn.

quote 3819 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

S uch knowledge can only be had by actual experience, nor can the reason of man define it, or arrive at any cognizance of it by deduction, just as one cannot, without experience, know the taste of honey, the bitterness of patience, the bliss of sexual union, love, passion, or desire.

quote 3780 | Ibn 'Arabi
Meccan Revelations, I

K now Him as both particularized and unparticularized, and be established in Truth. Be in a state of unity if you wish, or be in a state of separation if you wish; if the Totality reveals Itself to you, you will attain the crown of victory.

quote 3777 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980; p. 125

I f we hold exclusively to Emptiness, we deny the entire causal world;
All is then attributed to chance, with no ruling principle, inviting evil to prevail.
The same error occurs when one holds exclusively to the manifested, denying the Emptiness;
That would be like throwing oneself into the flames in order to avoid being drowned in the water.

quote 3765 | Yung-chia Ta-shih
Cheng-tao Ke “Sonf of Enlightment”, in Suzuki, 1960; pp. 89-103

M aintain the state of undistractedness, and distractions will fly away. Dwell alone, and you shall find the Friend. Take the lowest place, and you shall reach the highest. Hasten slowly, and you shall soon arrive. Renounce all worldly goals, and you shall reach the highest Goal. If you follow this unfrequented path, you will find the shortest way. If you realize Sunyata (the absolute Emptiness), compassion will arise within your hearts; and when you lose all differentiation between yourself and others, then you will be fit to serve others.

quote 3749 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971; pp. 259, 261, 262, 270, 271

I t is difficult to meet success in the effort to insure one's own spiritual welfare, even without seeking to benefit others. If you seek another's spiritual welfare before attaining your own, it would be like a helplessly drowning man trying to save another man in the same predicament. Therefore, one should not be too anxious and hasty in setting out to save others before one has, oneself, realized Truth in Its fullness. That would be like the blind leading the blind. As long as the sky endures, there will be no dearth of sentient beings for you to serve, and your opportunity for such service will come. Till it does, I exhort each one of you to keep but one resolve: namely, to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all living creatures.

quote 3748 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971; pp. 259, 261, 262, 270, 271

L ife is short, and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourselves to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short, act so that you will have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves; and hold fast to this rule.

quote 3747 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971; pp. 259, 261, 262, 270, 271

A s regards the method of acquiring practical spiritual knowledge, if you find a certain practice increases your evil passions and tends you toward selfishness, abandon it, though it may appear to others virtuous. And if any course of action tends to counteract your evil passions, and to benefit sentient beings, know that to be the true and holy path, and continue it, even though it should appear to others to be sinful.

quote 3746 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971; pp. 259, 261, 262, 270, 271

W e dare not keep ourselves set towards the images of sense, or towards the merely vegetative, intent upon the gratifications of eating and procreation; our life must be pointed towards the divine Mind, toward God.

quote 3666 | Plotinus
Enneads, 15:3:2; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 89

S hut fast the door of your soul -- that is to say your imagination -- and keep it cautiously, as much as you can, form beholding any earthly thing, and then lift up your mind to your Lord, Jesus; open your heart faithfully to Him…

quote 3504 | Thomas a Kempis
The Imitation of Christ. Trans. Richard Whitford, moderenized by Harold C. Gardiner. New York: Doubleday, 1955, p. 58

B e kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. In the slums we are the light of God's kindness to the poor. To children, to the poor, to all who suffer and are lonely, give always a happy smile - Give them not only your care, but also your heart.

quote 3497 | Mother Teresa
Something Beautiful for God : Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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