Our lives are a drop in the ocean in the shape of God.
– Rumi –
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you?
– 1 Corinthians 3:16 –
In my heart I found my beloved.
Now wherever I turn, God’s face I see
In all beings and things – great and small.
The Divine light illumines all space.
God is there in nature’s beauty.
God is present in people, birds and beasts –
God’s power pervades all the worlds.
God is love, peace and joy.
– Swami Ramdas –
The true Self is who you are because of the divine indwelling, the Holy Spirit living within you.
– Romans 8:9 –
God is the eternal giver. The spiritual task is to become the conduit for the generosity of God.
– Swami Agnivesh –
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All creation has its source in God.
There exists a spark of divinity in every one of us and we are not separate from God. To remember this, is our purpose in life and the source of peace.
As the leaf comes out of the tree and is an expression of it, so do we emerge from God and are an expression of God. We embody God like a seed embodies life. The seed is not separate from the tree; we are not separate from God.
We not this collection of thoughts, feelings and emotions, tied up in an ego. We are sons and daughters of God. We share the same Divine essence, which is love. We are the hands, the feet and the face of love and compassion.
In the West, God is often seen as remote and ‘other worldly’. If we say we are God, we might be considered deluded or heretical. If we say this in the East, however, they might simply ask: What took you so long to realise this truth?
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God does not need to be begged or persuaded to enter human history and grant special favors. Prayer should never have the aim of changing God’s mind.
Our deepest prayer should always be that God’s will prevail. The Divine will is always benevolent and loving. How could it not be, when the essence of God is love?
The beginning of prayer is the remembrance of who we really are. We should always pray as sons and daughters of God. God will never leave us bereft of consolation.
This message is at the heart of the parable of the Prodigal Son. After leaving home, the young man forgot who he was and experienced desperation and alienation. He was living a life inappropriate to his real heritage. It was only when he returned home and was embraced by his father, that he remembered who he really was. He was the son of the father, of the same being as his father. Remembering this made all the difference.
When we are at our lowest, we receive God’s consolation most profoundly. When we surrender our will to the ‘suchness’ of life, the benevolence of the Divine will, grace ensues; strength to prevail and find meaning, even in times of suffering.
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Experience of human interconnectedness through our divine connection is the transition from charity to compassion.
– Paul Coutinho –
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Since we all share this common nature in God, we are all one. If we live in awareness of our Divine nature, we cannot help but be compassionate and loving towards others, because love and compassion are the essence of the Divine.
In traditional catechisms, to the question: Why did God make you, the answer was: to know him, to love him and to serve him, and to be happy with him forever.
We know, love and serve God through the love and compassion we embody.
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God: Who are you?
Hanuman: When I don’t know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you.
– (From the Hindu Scriptures) –
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So dear friends, remember who you are:
- Be love in the flesh and blood.
- Be the face of compassion.
- Be the hands and feet of inclusion and justice.
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Take Lord, unto Yourself, my sense of self; and let it vanish utterly.
Take, Lord, my life, live your life through me.
I live no longer, Lord, but in me, you now live.
Yes, between you and me Lord, there is no longer room for ‘I’ and ‘mine’.
This whole world is but the voice through which you speak to us.
Come, Lord, come and fill me wholly with Yourself.
– Tukaram –