Weekly Reading

Only as a spiritual warrior can one withstand the path of
knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything.
His life is an endless challenge and challenges cannot
possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior
is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an
ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
- Don Juan

Weekly Reading

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
but hope for the patience to win my freedom.
~ Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet/Saint

Weekly Reading

Care

Spirit takes care of
all that concerns me.
All situations in my life
resolve themselves.
Spirit knows the way
Spirit knows the solution.
I give up all worry to spirit's keeping.
I have the assurance
of answered prayer.
Spirit does not fail me
or forsake me.
I am relaxed
and anxiety free.
~Gabriel Halpern

Weekly Reading

If the philosopher is right
If the philosopher is right,
that all we are
and all the earth around us
is only a dream,

even if a bright, long dream-
that even is nothing
but what sits in the mind,

that the trees, that the red bird
are all in the mind,
and the river, and the sea in storm
are all in the mind,

that nothing exists fierce or soft or apt to be
truly shaken-
nothing tense, wild sleepy-nothing
likes Yeats' girl with the yellow hair-
then you too are a dream

which last night and the night before that
and the years before that
you were not.
~Mary Oliver

Weekly Reading-Chant

Kaayena Vacha Manasendriyar Va
Buddhyatmanava Prakriteh swabhaavat
Karomi Yadyat sakalam Parasmai
Narayanayeti Samarpayami

Whatever actions I may perform
Impelled by the forces of nature
By body, word, mind, senses, intellect, soul,
I offer to the feet of Narayana (direction of a human)-the one that helps a human to his/her goal, i.e. towards moksha or liberation.

Weekly Reading

I have learnt silence from the talkative,
toleration from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind; yet strange,
I am ungrateful to these teachers.
~Kahlil Gibran

Weekly Reading

There once lived a man of great knowledge. His reputation as a scholar spread throughout the land and still he longed for recognition. And so it came to pass that this scholar sought out a Zen Master in a nearby monastery asking to be shown the true nature of the universe. But part of him wanted and expected the Zen Master to acknowledge his wisdom. The scholar was granted an interview and seated at a low wooden table. The Zen Master entered the room in silence, placed a tea cup before the scholar and proceeded to fill it with tea. The cup filled up and began spilling over the table, and still the Zen Master continued pouring. The scholar cried out in alarm "My cup is overflowing!" The Zen Master answered "Precisely!" and so ended the interview.

The story of the Tea Cup to demonstrates that knowledge without humility is in fact a handicap to learning. Complete beginners start with an open mind and listen to every word because it is all new to them. They know they are ignorant and so they do not fear to ask questions. The experienced student has heard most of it before, and not listening, misses the little that he did not already know, and so the beginner passes him by. A full cup can receive no tea.

Therefore, when breathing empty your lungs, when learning empty your mind; when loving empty your heart; and when worshiping empty your soul.
~Unknown