Are you Drawn towards Compassion ?

Those whose hearts are drawn toward compassion
Will never be drawn into the dark and woeful world.

Evil deeds dreaded by the soul will not afflict
The compassionate who foster and protect all life.

-Tirukkural 25: 243-244

Stand Firm, Grow Rich

Waste not food, waste not water, waste not fire;
Fire and water exist to serve the Self.
Those who realize the Self within the heart
Stand firm, grow rich, gather a family
Around them, and receive the love of all.

-Taittiriya Upanishad

Who Sees the Lord Everywhere

Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole countryside is flooded, scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or woman who sees the Lord everywhere.

-Bhagavad Gita 2:46

Meditation

Meditation is needed
Only when the mind is distracted
By false imagining.

Knowing this,
I am here.

Without joy or sorrow,
Grasping at nothing, spurning nothing,
O Master, I am here.

-Ashtavakra Gita 12:3-4

Should You Do Things Without Asking?

Of what purpose is longstanding fellowship
If friends' familiar actions are not accepted as one's own?

Familiar with familiarity, the wise are not annoyed
When friends do things without asking.

-Tirukkural 81:803-804

Hold on to Nothing

Striving and craving,
For pleasure or prosperity,
These are your enemies,
Springing up to destroy you
From the presumptions of virtue.

Let them all go.
Hold on to nothing.

-Ashtavakra Gita 10:1

Decision We Make

Whatever decision we think we are making is actually being made for us, because the decision is the end result of a thought and we have no control over the arising of the thought.

-Ramesh Balsekar

Action Is Better Than Inaction

Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act. Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.

-Bhagavad Gita 3:8-9

Who Does God Reveal Himself To?‏

God reveals Himself to a devotee who feels drawn to Him by the combined force of these three attractions: the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly man, the child's attraction for its mother, and the husband's attraction for the chaste wife. If one feels drawn to him by the combined force of these three attractions, then one can attain him.

-Ramakrishna

The Light and the Dark

These two paths, the light and the dark, are said to be eternal, lending some to liberation and others to rebirth. Once you have known these two paths, Arjuna, you can never be deluded again. Attain this knowledge through perseverance in yoga. There is merit in studying the scriptures, in selfless service, austerity, and giving, but the practice of meditation carries you beyond all these to the supreme abode of the highest Lord.

-Bhagavad Gita 8:26-28

Mastery

The fool tries to control his mind.
How can he ever succeed?

Mastery always comes naturally
To the man who is wise
And who loves himself.

-Ashtavakra Gita 18:41

The Earth Is Mother

Impart to us those vitalizing forces
that come, O Earth, from deep within your body,
your central point, your navel; purify us wholly.
The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth.
The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us
blessings!

-Rig Veda

Before You Speak

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

-Sai Baba

Expect No Return for Dutiful Giving

The benevolent expect no return for their dutiful giving.
How can the world ever repay the rain cloud?

It is to meet the needs of the deserving
That the worthy labor arduously to acquire wealth.

-Tirukkural 22: 211-213

What Pleasure It Is

What pleasure it is to human beings everywhere
When their children possess knowledge surpassing their own!

When a mother hears her son heralded a good and learned man,
Her joy exceeds that of his joyous birth.

-Tirukkural 7:68-69

Your Beauty is Infinite

For have you not heard?
You are pure awareness,
And your beauty is infinite!
So why let lust mislead you?

-Ashtavakra Gita 3:4

To Trust a Stranger

To trust a stranger without investigation
Invites troubles so endless even descendants must endure.

-Tirukkural 51:508

Justice

Justice may be called good when it acts impartially
toward enemies, strangers and friends.

The wealth of those who possess justice will not perish;
rather it will be their posterity's soothing security.

-Tirukkural 12: 111-112

The Impression of Past Actions

The impressions of past action, stored deep in the mind, are the seeds of desire.

They ripen into action in seen and unseen ways--if not in this life, then in a future one.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2:12