On Giving

"If you have the power to give, give; it will come back to you a thousandfold- but the attention must not be on that. Understand it that the nature will force you to give, so better give willingly. You come into life to accumulate- but nature will clench your throat if you will not give and that is when you will be hurt. The more one struggles against these laws the more miserable one feels. Remember when the forest is gone, we get heat in return; the quicker we empty the air out of this room, the quicker the room will be filled up by external air but if you close all doors and apertures, that which is within will stagnate and degenerate ; the river is continually emptying itself into the ocean but is also continually filling up again. You are a machine of taking and giving- u take in order to give. Bar not the exit into the ocean! The moment you do that death seizes you."
-Vivekanand

Strange form of self indulgence

"A strange form of self indulgence! There are times when I would be wronged and cheated, that I may laugh at the expense of those who think I do not know that I am being wronged and cheated.

What shall I say of him who is the pursuer playing the part of pursued?"

-Gibran

Refuge

The small lump of salt went to discover the depth of the ocean and it lost its identity. Who will now come back to tell what happened?

The seat of thought

Mind, the seat of thought, is both the doer and accuser of all Karmas. There is no oblivion in mind and time. It must be the weight of karmas that keeps a soul tied up to the vicious wheel of life and death.

Ram hid behind the trees and slayed Bali. In Dwapar Yug. The same Bali returned as a hunter Jara who shot the arrow that killed Krishna. Even incarnations of Vishnu could not escape the law of cause and effect!

Taking life must be sin of highest order but what an irony 'flesh must survive on flesh'.

No longing goes unfulfilled

A poetry by Mir Bulleh Shah.

Na maen momin vich maseet aan
na maen vich kufar diyan reet aan
na maen paakaan vich paleet aan
na maen moosa na pharaun.

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Na maen andar ved kitaab aan
na vich bhangaan na sharaab aan
na vich rindaan masat kharaab aan
na vich jaagan na vich saun

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Na vich shaadi na ghamnaaki
na maen vich paleeti paaki
na maen aabi na maen khaki
na maen aatish na maen paun

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Na maen arabi na lahori
na maen hindi shehar nagauri
na hindu na turak peshwari
na maen rehnda vich nadaun

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Na maen bheth mazhab da paaya
na maen aadam havva jaaya
na maen apna naam dharaaya
na vich baitthan na vich bhaun

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Avval aakhir aap nu jaana
na koi dooja hor pehchaana
Maethon hor na koi suyaana
Bulla! ooh khadda hai kaun

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun

Translation:

Not a believer inside the mosque, am I
Not a pagan disciple of false rites
Not the pure amongst the impure
Neither Moses, nor the Pharoah

Bulleh! to me, I am not known.

Not in the holy Vedas, am I
neither in opium, nor in wine
Not in drunkard's intoxicated craze
Neither awake, nor in a sleeping daze

Bulleh! to me, I am not known.

Neither in happiness nor in sorrow, am I
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire
Not from water, not earth
Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth

Bulleh! to me, I am not known.

Neither an Arab, nor Lahori
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri
Neither Turk, nor Peshawari
Nor do I live in Nadaun

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Secrets if religions, I have not known
From Adam & Eve, I am not born
I am not the same I assume
Neither in stillness, nor on the move

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am the first, I am the last
None other have I ever known
I am the wisest of 'em all
Bulleh! do I stand alone?

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am forever walking upon these shores...

Here is something I like to read again and again. Beautiful and deep.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/sandfoam/sandfoam.htm

Jap

True in the primal beginning
True throughout the ages
True here and now
Oh Nanak! Forever and ever true

By thinking He cannot be reduced to thought,
Even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times

By remaining silent, inner silence is not obtained
Even by remaining lovingly absorbed within

The hunger of the hungry is not appeased,
even by piling up loads of worldly goods

Hundreds of thousands of clever tricks
But, not even one of them will go along with you in the end.

How then can you become truthful?
How then can the veil of illusion be torn away?

Oh Nanak! It is written
that you shall obey the hukam of His command
that you shall walk the way of His will.

-Granth Sahib