Religious Thought 229

Neglecting valuable advice, an ignorant man becomes the cause of his own misery. That soul who neither follows another's orders nor fathoms what to do himself creates nothing but torment until he leaves this life.

- Tirukkural 847-848

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If you think, I breathe, the I is extra. There is no you to say I. What we call I is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no I, no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.

- Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"

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The light of God is an ornament of wisdom. That is the meaning of "light upon light." The light of reason draws toward the earth. The light of God carries you aloft. Things of reason are of the lower world. The light of God is an ocean, reason merely a dewdrop.

- Rumi

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"I arise today Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In obedience of angels, In service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward... ”

- The Lorica of St. Patrick

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A heart without affection is like a purse without money.

- Benjamin Mandelstamm, Russian Jewish writer and Hebraist

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Religious Thought 218

People shed whole jugs of tears for wife and children. They swim in tears for money. But who weeps for God? Cry to Him with a real cry.

- Ramakrishna

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If you worship those worthy of worship, --Awakened Ones or their disciples-- who've transcended complications, lamentation, & grief, who are unendangered, fearless, unbound: there's no measure for reckoning that your merit's 'this much.'

- Dhammapada 13, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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When Moses conversed with God, he asked, "Lord, where shall I seek You?" God answered, "Among the brokenhearted." Moses continued, "But, Lord, no heart could be more despairing than mine." And God replied, "Then I am where you are."

- Abul-Fayd al-Misri, The Kashf al-Mahjub

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Let nothing upset you, Let nothing frighten you. Everything is changing; God alone is changeless. Patience attains the goal. Who has God lacks nothing; God alone fills all their needs.

- Theresa of Avila

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So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the just.

- Proverbs 2:20

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Religious Thought 217

Imperishable is the Lord of Love. As from a blazing fire thousands of sparks Leap forth, so millions of beings arise From the Lord of Love and return to him.

- Mundaka Upanishad

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A mind unshaken when touched by the worldly states, sorrowless, stainless, and secure, this is the blessing supreme. Those who have fulfilled all these are everywhere invincible; they find well-being everywhere, theirs is the blessing supreme.

- (adapted from) Mangala Sutta

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When we are ignorant we live in His prison; when we become prudent we live in His palace; when we fall asleep we become intoxicated; when we are awakened we are in His hands.

- Rumi

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“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. ” 

- Matthew 12:33 (Revised Standard Version)

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With faith, there are no questions; without faith there are no answers.

- The Chofetz Chaim

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Religious Thought 216

Before the world was created, the Self Alone existed; nothing whatever stirred. Then the Self thought: "Let me create the world." He brought forth all the worlds out of himself: Ambhas, high above the sky; Marichi, The sky; Mara, the middle region that is earth; And Apa, the realm of waters below.

- Aitareya Upanishad

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Half the spiritual life consists in remembering what we are up against and where we are going.

- Ayya Khema, "When the Iron Eagle Flies"

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When a believer gives in to temptation, a black stain appears on his heart. If he repents and asks for forgiveness, that stain disappears. But if he continues to transgress, the stain continues to grow until it blackens the entire heart. That stain is the rust the Lord Almighty refers to: "Nay, rust has fallen upon their hearts for what they have earned."

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Abu Hurairah

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Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything to conform my will to thine.

- Thomas More

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The booth is designed to teach us not to put our trust in the size or strength or improvements of a house, nor in the help of any man, even the lord of the land, but in the Creator, for He alone is mighty, His promises alone are sure.

- Isaac Aboab, Menorah HaMaor

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Religious Thought 215

Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear. Those who follow this path, resolving deep within themselves to seek Me alone, attain singleness of purpose. For those who lack resolution, the decisions of life are many-branched and endless.

- Bhagavad Gita 2:40-41

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To be attached to one's own happiness is a barrier to the true and perfect path. To cherish others is the source of every admirable quality.

- Tsongkhapa, "The Splendor of an Autumn Moon"

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Lord, bestow upon us that which is good in this world and that which is good in the life to come, and save us from the doom of the Fire.

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Sahih al-Bukhari

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The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings...Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time.

- William P. White

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He who repeats what he has learned one hundred times cannot be compared to one who repeats it a hundred and one times.

- Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 9b

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Religious Thought 214

Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Serve your wife, children, father, and mother, and treat them as if they are very dear to you, but know in your heart that they do not belong to you.

- Ramakrishna

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Loosened & oiled Are the joys of a person. People, bound by enticement, looking for ease: to birth & aging they go.

- Dhammapada, 341, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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When a believer gives in to temptation, a black stain appears on his heart. If he repents and asks for forgiveness, that stain disappears. But if he continues to transgress, the stain continues to grow until it blackens the entire heart. That stain is the rust the Lord Almighty refers to: "Nay, rust has fallen upon their hearts for what they have earned."

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Abu Hurairah

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“The true, living faith, which the Holy Spirit instills into the heart, simply cannot be idle.”

- Martin Luther

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Wisdom, properly used, is a remedy for every ill; but when misdirected, becomes an incurable disease.

- Bahya, "Hobot HaLebabot"

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Religious Thought 213

[The Master] is blessed. He understands the nature of the Self. His mind is no longer thirsty. He is the same under all conditions, Whatever he sees or hears, Or smells or touches or tastes.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:65

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What is the benefit of exerting mental effort the wrong way?

- Guon

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Renunciation of the world is followed by peace; its desire brings sorrow. Restrain your desires, discipline your self, and do not allow anyone to oppress your soul.

- Rabi'a, "Rabi'a the Mystic"

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“Are you humbly grateful? Or grumbly hateful?”

- Pastor Roland Smith

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Recite a hundred benedictions daily.

- Meir, Talmud: Menahot

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Religious Thought 212

To speak so listeners long to hear more and to listen So others' meaning is grasped are the ideals of the impeccably great.

- Tirukkural 65:646

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Where there is dependence, there is instability, where there is no dependence, there is no instability, where there is no instability, there is quietude, where there is quietude, there is no desire, where there is no desire, there is no coming and going, where there is no coming or going, there is no birth and death, where there is no birth or death, there is neither this world nor that world, nor both: that is the end of sorrow.

- Udana

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Patience comes in three stages: first, one learns not to follow the baser self; second, one learns to content oneself with one's fate; finally, one surrenders oneself to the Master's will and discovers within love and compassion, the greatest of all achievements.

- Al-Ghazzali, "Ibya Ulum Id-Din"

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“The Bible to me is a blueprint of how to live your life and a blueprint of how to treat others and seek that connection to that higher being. ”

- Blair Underwood

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A man without comrades is like the left without the right.

- Solomon Ibn Gabirol, "Mibhar HaPeninim"

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Religious Thought 211

Whatever we see or think about is the manifestation of the Mother, of the Primordial Energy, the Primal Consciousness. Creation, preservation, and destruction, living beings and the universe, and further, meditation and the meditator, bhakti [devotion] and prema [divine love] all these are manifestations of the glory of that Power.

- Ramakrishna

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He whose senses are steadied like stallions well-trained by the charioteer, his conceit abandoned, free of effluent, Such: even devas adore him. Like the earth, he doesn't react-- cultured, Such, like Indra's pillar, like a lake free of mud. For him --Such-- there's no traveling on.

- Dhammapada 7, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Since I understood four things, I have discarded all other knowledge. First, that my daily sustenance has already been apportioned to me and will neither increase nor decrease by my futile efforts, so I strive to increase it no more. Second, I alone and no one else can atone from my sins, so I devote myself to the Lord. Third, I know that I will never be able to escape death, which is in our pursuit, so I have prepared myself to meet him. Fourth, I know that God is observing me; therefore I refrain from doing what I must not do.

- Hatim al-Asamm, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"

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Trust the past to Gods mercy, the present to Gods love, and the future to Gods providence.

- St. Augustine of Hippo

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It is good to make a habit of inspiring yourself with a melodyFor the loftiness of melody is beyond all measure.

- Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav

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Religious Thought 210

"When a person is sleeping soundly, free from dreams, with a still mind, that is the Self, fearless and deathless. That is Brahman, the supreme."

- Chandogya Upanishad

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Life has no whence; it is carrying forth, and carrying forth again. Death has no whither; it is carrying away; and carrying away again. Ultimately how is it? If the mind does not differ, myriad things are one suchness.

- Dgen, "Rational Zen"

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Once Luqman was asked how he had attained such merit. He replied, "By adhering to virtue, by fulfilling all pledges, and by giving up futile apprehensions."

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Malek bin Hawari

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When Christ entered our world, he didn't come to brighten our Decembers, but to transform our lives.

- Rich Miller

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It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

- Psalm 118:8

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Religious Thought 209

Whatever takes form is false. Only the formless endures. When you understand The truth of this teaching, You will not be born again. For God is infinite, Within the body and without, Like a mirror, And the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere, Flowing around a pot And filling it, So God is everywhere, Filling all things And flowing through them forever.

- Ashtavakra Gita 1: 18-20

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Do not underestimate your ability.

- Geshe Chekawa, in Advice From a Spiritual Friend

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God created the hearts of men to be the homes of His praise, but they have become the homes of lust; nothing but fear and a desire for goodness can purify them. When faith establishes itself within the heart, praise and contentment follow.

- Abu Muhammad bin Khubayq, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"

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“Lord, take me where you want me to go, let me meet who you want me to meet, tell me what you want me to say, and keep me out of your way. ”

- Prayer of Father Mychal Judge

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The pure righteous people, do not complain against wickedness but add righteousness. They do not complain against disbelief but add faith. They do not complain against ignorance but add wisdom.

- Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

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Religious Thought 208

It is not those who lack energy or refrain from action, but those who work without expectation of reward who attain the goal of meditation. Theirs is true renunciation.

- Bhagavad Gita 6:1

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Hence, the purpose of the Holy Life does not consist in acquiring alms, honor, or fame, nor in gaining morality, concentration, or the eye of knowledge. That unshakable deliverance of the heart: that, indeed, is the object of Holy Life, that is its essence, that is its goal.

- Samyutta Nikaya, translated by Nyanatiloka

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If you want to sit with God, sit with saints. If you do not consort with saints, you will be lost; you will be separated from the whole.

- Rumi

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“The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day.”

- E.M. Bounds

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Power buries those who wield it.

- Talmud: Yoma

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Religious Thought 207

My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents, and I lay them both at His feet.

- Mohandas Gandhi

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Turn away from mischief. Again and again, turn away, Before sorrow befalls you. Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, And you will be filled with joy.

- Dhammapada 117-118

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His words were filled with such eloquence and wisdom, as though an ocean abided inside him, and the ocean filled with eloquent pearls. The light that shone from every pearl became a criterion of right and wrong.

- Rumi

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“Those who live by the flesh experience Gods law as a burden, and indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom.”

- John Paul II

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If I try to be like him, who will be like me?

- Yiddish proverb

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Religious Thought 206

There are ignorant people who speak flowery words and take delight in the letter of the law, saying there is nothing else. Their hearts are full of selfish desires, Arjuna. Their idea of heaven is their own enjoyment, and the aim of all their activities is pleasure and power. The fruit of their actions is continual rebirth. Those whose minds are swept away by the pursuit of pleasure and power are incapable of following the supreme goal and will not attain samadhi.

- Bhagavad Gita 2:42-44

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And what, monks, is Right View? It is, monks, the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of the origin of suffering, the knowledge of the cessation of suffering, and the knowledge of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called Right View.

- Digha Nikaya

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cture is a gift from divine grace.

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad, as reported by Abu Hurairah

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“If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ? ”

- Thomas Kempis

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Recite a hundred benedictions daily.

- Meir, Talmud: Menahot

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Religious Thought 205

Sooner or later Fortune or misfortune May befall you. When you know this, You desire nothing, You grieve for nothing. Subduing the senses, You are happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 11:3

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Arouse your will, supreme and great, Practice love, give joy and protection; Let your giving be like space, Without discrimination or limitation. Do good things, not for your own sake But for all the beings in the universe; Save and make free everyone you encounter, Help them attain the wisdom of the way.

- Prajnaparamita

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O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as narrated by Anas, as related by At-Tirmidhi

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“One filled with joy preaches without preaching.”

- Mother Teresa

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There is a single Jewish worldintertwined, interconnected.

- Ralph I. Goldman, Statement, May 1979

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Religious Thought 204

Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they attain the state of union.

- Bhagavad Gita 6:16-18

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As a blind man feels when he finds a pearl in a dustbin, so am I amazed by the miracles of awakening rising in my consciousness. It is the nectar of immortality that delivers us from death, the treasure that lifts us from death, the treasure that lifts us above poverty into the wealth of giving to life, the tree that gives shade to us when we roam about scorched by life, the bridge that takes us across the stormy river of life, the cool moon of compassion that calms our mind when it is agitated, the fun that dispels darkness, the butter made from the milk of kindness by churning it with the dharma. It is a feast of joy to which all are invited.

- adapted from the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva

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Allah tries his chosen people through many hardships, but those who persevere through adversity, surrendering themselves before the will of Allah, shall be blessed with a superb reward.

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Anas bin Malik

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“It is more important to remember God than it is to remember to breathe. ”

- St. Gregory of Nazianzus

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Discontent is the source of trouble, but also of progress.

- Berthold Auerbach, "On the Heights," 1865

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Religious Thought 203

Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.

- Bhagavad Gita 2:49

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The path to material gain goes one way, the way to Unbinding, another. Realizing this, the monk, a disciple to the Awakened One, should not relish offerings, should cultivate seclusion instead.

- Dhammapada, 5, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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My peace, my brothers, is in solitude, because my beloved is with me. His love is my test among the mortal beings.... Zeal for His union has healed my sou

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Enthusiasm is as good a thing in the Church as fire is in a cook stove.

- Billy Sunday

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He who can work in the realm of the real and live in that of the ideal, has attained the highest.

- Ludwig Boerne, German-Jewish political writer and satirist

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Religious Thought 202

Both renunciation of action and the selfless performance of action lead to the supreme goal. But the path of action is better than renunciation.

- Bhagavad Gita 5:2

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It does not matter whether you are a theist or atheist, what matters is sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Abdullah, Muhammad's father, died while Amina was pregnant. Muhammad was born in the year of the elephant. Amina sent a message to Muhammad's paternal grandfather to inform him of the birth, inviting him to come and look at the baby. When the grandfather arrived, Amina told him of the voice she had heard while she was pregnant. The grandfather took the baby to the Kaba, the shrine in the centre of Mecca, and gave thanks to God for this gift.

- Ibn Ishaq, "The Life of Muhammad"

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Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

- Henri Nouwen

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Our religion has three elements: fear, love, and joy, by each of which one can draw near to God.

- Judah Halevi, Kuzari

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Religious Thought 201

Self-knowledge cannot be gained until everything is renounced. When all points of view are abandoned, what remains is the Self. Even in the world you do not get what you desire until all obstacles are removed. This is even more true of self-knowledge.

- Maharamayana

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In reply to the question, 'What is the best that people can possess, what brings them truest happiness, what is the sweetest of the sweet, and what is the pleasantest life to live?' the Buddha answered: 'Trust is the best that people can possess; following the way brings happiness; truth is the sweetest of the sweet; and the practice of insight is the pleasantest way to live.'

- Sutta Nipata

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I saw a man in Paradise for a deed as simple as cutting down a tree that stood in the middle of a road, causing wayfarers much distress.

- Hadith The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Ibn Umar

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Do not turn away from those who are in need, but share all things in common with your brother. Your heart shall not cling to the high and mighty, but turn to the good and humble folk.

- The Didache

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There is something higher than modernity, and that is eternity.

- Solomon Schechter, in "Menorah Journal," 1924

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Religious Thought 200

As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

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Walking the spiritual path is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques.

- Chogyam Trungpa, "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism"

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Do not regard yourself as infamous or weak. Reflect upon your aspirations, O noble one. No matter what your station be, keep searching. For this pursuit is a blessed course. This quest removes all impediments to God.

- Rumi

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“I am justified and acceptable to God even though there are in me sin, unrighteousness, and fear of death.”

- Martin Luther

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The Torah you heard from the mouth of a sage, esteem it as though you had heard it from Mount Sinai.

- Rabbi Helbo, Ecclesiastes Rabbah

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