Selected Passages from The Great Tradition as named by Avatar Adi Da Samraj: Guru, Faith, Devotion, Surrender, Real God
323. Sparks of Light: Counseling in the Hasidic Tradition, by Zalman M. Schachter “ ‘Prayer is not to God; prayer is God.’ Indeed, the key distinguishing
feature of early Hasidism may have been its tremendous emphasis on
prayer as an ecstatic experience, capable of transporting each person to divine realms of splendor.
In his diagnosis, therefore, the rebe carefully examined the depth and
intensity of the hasid’s prayer life. Was he simply mouthing pious words? Or, could he surrender his ego and feel the hidden worlds draw near? Was he able to plunge fearlessly into this region of paradox without
clinging to false stability? For the Hasidic sages truly advocated an approach to prayer transcending duality.” (pg 108)
“The rebbe’s position was not a simple one. He had to be many things to many different people. Heart and mind, soul and intellect—all had to
skillfully blend in day-to-day life. A wrong word could literally plunge a Hasid into despair or foolish recklessness. For this reason, the rebbe sought a comprehensive training--- rigorous and yet gentle--- for his
disciple, to prepare him for spiritual mastery…..He (the rebbe) observed the hasid’s behavior in different life situations, and supervised his prayer life, involving many counseling sessions.” (pg 74)
323a. Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, by Irénée Hausherr “The tradition of spiritual fatherhood or motherhood--- for this is a ministry also exercised by women---retained its full significance
throughout the Byzantine area, while from Byzantine it spread to the Slav Orthodox world. To take but one example out of many, the
following advice is given in a text from Kievan Russia, the Admonition of
the Father to his Son (11th Century):
‘I show you, my son, true refuges--- monasteries, the houses of the saints: have recourse to them and they will comfort you: shed your sorrows before them and you will be gladdened: for they are sons of
sorrowlessness and know how to comfort you, sorrowing one…In the city where you are living or in other neighboring towns seek a God-fearing
man—and serve him with all your strength. Having found such a man, you need grieve no more; you have found the key to the Kingdom of Heaven; adhere to him with soul and body; observe his life, his walking, sitting,
looking, eating, and examine all his habits; first of all, my son, keep his
words, do not let one of them fall to the ground; they are more precious than pearls—the words of saints.’” (Intro) 327. Piri-Muridi Relationship: A Study of the Nizamuddin Dargah, by Desiderio Pinto
“Piri-muridi has been variously depicted as a teacher-student, a parentchild, and a prophet-people relationship. In other words, the pir is
expected to interact with the murid in the roles of teacher, father and
mother, and prophet. And the murid is expected to interact with the pir in the roles of student, son or daughter, and a person who is in need of correction.” (pg 4) “The pir is a guide, helper and teacher who takes one to God. The pir is like the moon. He spreads his light in all four directions.
Those who come under the influence of this light meet him and get what they want. He shows the way and brings them into the light.
He catches and saves the murid from falling by the wayside. He will
not let him out of his grasp until he can stand on his own two feet. This
catching and saving of the murid takes place through the light of the pir. The pir shows the path… The pir looks at the habits of the murid…. The pir wants to make the murid like himself. The pir is the guide who brings the murid on the way of the Quran and in such a way that the murid begins to live accordingly to its injunctions.
The pir is just a guide. He is nothing in himself. He shows the way to God.
The pir guides his murids through his words.” 348. The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, by Antonio Rigopoulos “There are innumerable saints in this world, but ‘our father’ (Guru) is the Father (real Guru). Others might say many good things, but we should
never forget our Guru’s words. In short, love your Guru wholeheartedly, surrender to Him completely and prostrate yourselves before Him
reverentially, and then you will see that there is no sea of the mundane existence before you to cross, as there I no darkness before the sun.”* “Stick to your own Guru with unabated faith, whatever the merits of the other Gurus and however little the merits of your own.
Pant, we must not give up attachment to our own Guru. Be ever firmly resting in Him and in Him alone.”*
“Look to me, and I will look to you. Trust in the Guru fully. That is the only Sadhana. Guru is all the Gods…
My Guru, after depriving me of everything, asked me for two pice. I gave them to him. He did not want metallic gifts. What he asked for was faith (nistha) and patience, cheerful endurance (saburi).”* * All quotes from Sai Baba of Shirdi 351a. Infinite Intelligence, by Meher Baba. Edited for publication under the auspices of the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust (Ahmednagar, India) “To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and
benefit of others--- by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty---this is the sole game that has intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance.” --Meher Baba (Forward)
“The Sadguru or Perfect Master is the thematic center of Infinite
Intelligence. As God in human form, He has infinite Knowledge, Power,
and Bliss as His constant divine attributes….Meher Baba declared that He took upon Himself the burden of universal suffering in order to perform His God-ordained duty of universal spiritual salvation.” (Forward) 392. Lamp of Non-Dual Knowledge and Cream of Liberation: Two Jewels of Indian Wisdom. Translation into English by Swami Sri Ramanananda
Saraswathi “Both books are highly concentrated distillations of the heart of Advaita Vedanta, presented through a series of questions and answers between Master and disciple.” “With an intense desire for liberation; reaching a guru; hearing from him
the non-dual Brahman shining forth as Being-Knowledge-Bliss of the Self; understanding It, though indirectly, yet as clearly as one
understands Vishnu, ect.; turning the mind one-pointedly to this Brahman, without taking to enquiry by reflection (manana); always meditating on the non-dual Self of Being-Knowledge-Bliss,
attributeless and un-differentiated, is called yoga. By its practice the
mind becomes tranquil and can gradually go to Samadhi. In Samadhi it will experience the supreme Bliss.” (Lamp of Non-Dual Knowledge) pg. 49
“Being must itself be Consciousness. If the Consciousness be different from the Being, it must be nonexistent. How then can Being be revealed?
Again, Consciousness must itself be Being. If different from
Consciousness, it must be insentient. The insentient cannot exist by itself. Thus Being and Consciousness, being identical, are also Bliss.” (Cream of Emancipation) pg. 168
395. Sadguru Gnanananda: His Life, Personality, and Teachings, by his devotees
“The grace of the guru is an indispensable condition of spiritual
advancement and liberation. ‘The guru is the spiritual father’ says the Swami. Through the knowledge that he imparts to his pupil, the disciple becomes one with the Brahman and realizes that he is deathless and permanent.” “A true disciple has no sadhana to perform. He has only to surrender himself completely to his guru.” Swami Gnanananda
“The Teaching is condensed in the image of the Teacher. ‘The image is like a drop of the nectar of immortality fallen into the world of forms or like the sound of that celestial music that could charm a rose tree into flowering amid snow.’” “To venture to write a life-sketch, of such a great gnani, however humble
the aim may be, would definitely appear presumptuous or even ridiculous, since he has continuously defied all definitions, be it in terms of his age,
his sadhana or his spiritual attainment. This book, however, is meant to awaken veneration and aspiration to ‘know’ in those who may not have had the good fortune to experience his Grace, and is made as an offering to the Sadguru.” 410. The Three Christs of Ypsilanti: A Psychological Study, by Milton Rokeach
“Let me emphasize at the outset that my main purpose in bringing the
three Christs together was scientific--- the end result of investigations in which, as a social psychologist, I had a long-standing interest. On the theoretical side, these investigations concerned a problem basic to an
understanding of human personality--- the nature of the systems of belief that people hold. How do these systems develop? What function do they serve? Why are some relatively open an others relatively closed?
Under what circumstances can a system of belief--- especially a closed system--- be changed? If a system of belief does change, by what process does it do so? When it changes, does it change all at once or gradually? If it changes gradually, what sequence does the change follow? And is this sequence accidental or has it a definite pattern?” (pg. 19)
“How did Clyde, Joseph, and Leon perceive and explain one another’s claims to the same identity? How did they feel about the daily group
meetings? And how did they deal with one another not only during the group meetings, but at meals, in the laundry room where they worked, and during their spare time? Tape recordings of group sessions and
individual interviews, and observation of the three Christs in their daily routines provided answers to these questions.”
413d. God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer, by Bart D. Ehrman
“If there is an all-powerful and loving God in this world, why is there so much excruciating pain and unspeakable suffering? The problem of
suffering has haunted me for a very long time. It was what made me begin to think about religion when I was young, and it was what led me to
question my faith when I was older. Ultimately, it was the reason I lost my
faith. This book tries to explore some aspects of the problem, especially as they are reflected in the Bible, whose authors too grappled with the pain and misery of the world.” (pg. 1)
“The questions I will be asking are these: What do the biblical authors say about suffering? Do they give one answer or many answers?
Which of their answers contradict one another, and why does it matter? How can we as twenty-first century thinkers evaluate these answers, which were mitten in different contexts so many centuries ago?”
413f. Come Be My Light, by Mother Teresa. Edited, and with commentary, by Brian Kolodiejchuk “I want to become a real slave of Our Lady—to drink only from His
chalice of pain and to give Mother Church real saints. I know what I want is above my strength--- but He who has given me the desire will also give me the strength to do the impossible…Your Grace, please pray for me,
that I may give to Our Lord all that He asks without a thought of self.” (pg 141) *
Our Lady was her indispensable companion and the rosary the simple but powerful means to remain united to her:
“We are taught to love and say the Rosary with great devotion; let us be very faithful to this our first love--- for it will bring us closer to our
Heavenly Mother. Our rule asks of us never to go to the slums without first having recited the Mother’s praises; that is why we have to say the
Rosary in the streets and dark holes of the slums. Cling to the Rosary as the creeper clings to the tree--- for without Our Lady we cannot stand” (pg 141) *
• Quotes by Mother Teresa 413k. How to Think About God: The Perfect Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan, by Mortimer J. Adler “The book I am writing is not a work in natural theology, because natural
theology as it has been developed in the West since the beginning of the Christian era has not been written by pagans* for pagans. Since this
book will try to do what natural theologians so far have not done (base its thinking about God on reason alone, unaffected by Western religious
beliefs), it should perhaps be described as a work in ‘philosophical’ rather than in ‘natural’ theology.” (pg.12) “I have in mind not only the thinking done in Western sacred theology and in Western natural theology, but also the modern and recent
philosophical thinking that I have described as anti-theological. In
addition, as I remarked in the preceding chapter, a book intended for 20 thcentury pagans must be couched in terms that reflect 20 th-century
science, especially its subatomic physics and its cosmology.” (pg. 13)
• Authors defines pagan as ‘one who does not worship the God of the Christians, Jews, or Muslims; irreligious persons.’
453. The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, by Fritjof Capra “Although physicists are mainly concerned with rational knowledge and mystics with intuitive knowledge, both types of knowledge occur in both fields. This becomes apparent when we examine how knowledge is
obtained and how it is expressed, both in physics and Eastern mysticism.” (pg. 30) “For most of us it is very difficult to be constantly aware of the limitations and of the relativity of conceptual knowledge. Because our
representation of reality is so much easier to grasp than reality itself, we
tend to confuse the two and to take our concepts and symbols for reality. It is one of the main aims of Eastern mysticism to rid us of this confusion.” (pg. 28)
“The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought to light the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary
interpretation of observation was made.” -- Niels Bohr (European physicist) pg. 54
504ba. The Gospel in Brief, by Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Isabel Hapgood. Edited, and with a preface, by F. A. Flowers III
“I knew not the light, and I thought there was no sure truth in life; but when I perceived that only light enables men to live, I sought to find the sources of the light. And I found them in the Gospels, despite the false
commentaries of the Churches. And when I reached this source of light I was dazzled with its splendor, and I found there full answers to my
questions as to the purport of the lives of myself and others, --- answers
which I recognized as wholly harmonious with all the known answers gained among other nations, and, to my mind, surpassing all other answers.
I sought a solution of the problem of life, and not of a theological or
historical question; and that is why I was indifferent to know whether
Jesus Christ is or is no God, and from whom proceeds the Holy Spirit, etc. And it is just as unimportant and unnecessary to know when and by whom such and such a Gospel was written, and whether such and such a parable came from Jesus Himself or not. For me, the only important
concern was this light, which, for eighteen hundred years, has shone upon mankind; which has shone upon me likewise, and which shines upon me still. But to know more than this, how I ought to name the source of this light, what elements compose it, and what kindled it, I in no way concerned myself.�
-- Leo Tolstoy (pg 7-8) 504c. The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark, by Morton Smith
“Even before I finished transcribing the text, I began to think it was too good to be true. Here was new information about Jesus, a new miracle
story, a quotation from a secret Gospel by St. Mark, and the information that Mark had written a second, secret Gospel, and that Clement’s
church, as well as the Carpocrations, had used it! If the letter was really by Clement I had a discovery of extraordinary importance.” (pg 17)
“What most concerned me was the secrecy of Jesus and particularly “the mystery of the kingdom of God,” since that phrase appeared in the text. Much of Jesus’ secretiveness seemed to be tied up with his role as the Messiah, and the Messiah was certainly connected with the kingdom.
But just what did Jesus have to do with it? What kind of a Messiah was he?” (pg. 69) 607. Plotinus: The Enneads. Translated by Stephen MacKenna. A new, definitive edition with comparisons to other translations on hundreds of key passages “At twenty-seven he was caught by the passion for philosophy: he was directed to the most highly reputed professors to be found at
Alexandria; but he used to come from their lectures saddened and discouraged. A friend to who he opened his heart divined his
temperamental craving and suggested Ammonius, whom he has not yet tried. Plotinus went, heard a lecture, and exclaimed to his comrade: ‘This was the man I was looking for.’
From that day he followed Ammonius continuously, and under his
guidance made such progress in philosophy that he became eager to investigate Persian methods and the system adopted among the Indians.” (pg. 2)
“Ever illuminated, receiving light unfailing, the All-Soul imparts it to the entire series of later Being which by this light is sustained and fostered
and endowed with the fullest measure of life that each can absorb. It may be compared with a central fire warming every receptive body within range.” (pg. 153)
613. Jewish Mysticism: An Introduction, by J. H. Laenen. Translated by David E. Orton “The first tangible historical evidence of the existence of Jewish
mysticism is not found until the second century of the common era. The precise dating if this beginning is a matter of debate; estimates range from the second to the sixth century. These first mystical pronouncements are
called “chariot mysticism” or “mysticism of the divine throne.” This form of mysticism functioned in closed rabbinic circles which anxiously took care
that the contents of their knowledge and their mystical experience did not become known by the public as a whole. In this form of mysticism the
mystic made a visionary journey through the palaces if the seven heavens. The final goal of this journey was the privilege of beholding God, who was seated on his glorious throne in the seventh palace of the seventh heaven.” (pg 18)
“The reports of mystical experiences in the various Hekhaloth texts are not all precisely the same in content. Not only did each mystic experience the heavenly journey in an entirely individual way, but the various periods
in which certain groups of mystics were active also produced variations in content, shifts of emphasis and changes of terminology.” (pg. 29-30)
614a. Mystical Origins of Hasidism, by Rachel Elior
“The Hasidic phenomenon is not easily characterized. It encompasses mystical arousal and spiritual revival; a historical turning-point and a polemical background; an original spiritual world, new conceptual
vocabulary, and social phenomena. It implies both a continuity with
kabbalistic tradition and ideological innovation. It owes its origins to a variety of creative personalities--- mystically inspired charismatic leaders and socially innovative and productive religious thinkers who from the
eighteenth century on have produced a rich and multifaceted literature
that to this day continues to attract followers to the Hasidic way of life.” (Preface) “Hasidism originated in a mystical awakening that altered conceptions of
the relationship between man and God. It was the product of an eruption of charismatic piety that drew its legitimacy from a consciousness of
contact with superior realms. This awakening occurred in the first half of the eighteenth century in ascetic circles of men known as hasidim who followed the practices developed by the kabbalistic disciples of Isaac Luria of sixteenth-century Safed….Like their predecessors, these groups ascribed great importance to muystical experiences and recognized the authority of visionaries.” (pg. 6) 649. The Spiritual Instructions of Saint Seraphim of Sarov: A Spirit-Baptizer in the Eastern Christian Tradition. With an introduction based on the Wisdom-Teaching of Adi Da Samraj
“The Conversation of St. Seraphim with Nicholas Motovilov forms the
central point of his teaching; it also contains within itself a warning against
any purely intellectual interpretation. His experience occupies the whole mind and soul; understanding certainly, but understanding through the
ear, through touch, through smell and through sight. Words alone are not sufficient. Yet St. Seraphim’s words are already much.”
“After these words I looked in his face and there came over me and even greater reverential awe. Imagine in the center of the sun, in the dazzling
brilliance of his midday rays, the face of the man who talks with you. You
see the movement of his lips and the changing expression of his eyes, you hear his voice, you feel someone grasp the shoulders; yet you do not see the hands, you do not even see yourself or his figure, but only a blinding light spreading several yards around and throwing a sparkling radiance across the snow blanket on the glade and into the snowflakes which
besprinkled the great elder and me. Can one imagine the state in which I then found myself?” Nicholas Motovilov (pg 95-96)
643. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Translated by Benedicta Ward “The prototype of the hermit life was St. Anthony the Great, a Copt and a layman. He was unlettered, the son of well-to-do peasants. One
day in church he heard the saying of Jesus: ‘Go, sell all you have and give to the poor and come and follow me’, as a commandment addressed to himself. He withdrew from ordinary Christian society about 269, and
later he went further and further into solitude of the desert. Anthony died in 356 at the age of 105 and he is still regarded as the ‘father of monks’. He had many disciples and many imitators, and it is from
Anthony and this tradition that many of the Sayings of the Fathers come.” (Forward)
“Three Fathers used to go and visit blessed Anthony every year and two of them used to discuss their thoughts and the salvation of their souls with him, but a third always remained silent and did not ask him anything. After a long time, Abba Anthony said to him, ‘You often come here to see me,
but you never ask me anything,’ and the other replied, ‘It is enough for me to see you, Father.’” (pg. 7)
647. Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart. Translated from the Russian text, Dobrotolubiye, by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer. With a new Foreword and the original Introduction and Biographical Notes
“Generally speaking, these writings are a spiritual forcing house, into which the faithful enter with their consciousness and their heart, by
reading instructions concerning phenomena of spiritual life. A man is there subjected to the palpable influences of the contemplations so
evoked. Thus stimulated, he feels that at those moments he floats in
another atmosphere, life-giving and light-giving. Those are the moments of joy, and it is at such moments that fresh shoots are born and strengthened on the tree of spiritual life.” (Introduction)
“When you thus enter into the place of the heart, as I have shown you, give thanks to God and, praising His mercy, keep always to this doing, and it will teach you things which in no other way will you ever learn. Moreover you should know that when your mind becomes firmly
established in the heart, it must not remain there silent and idle, but it should constantly repeat the prayer; ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy upon me!’ and never cease. For this practice, keeping the mind from dreams, renders it elusive and impenetrable to enemy suggestions
and every day leads it more and more to love and longing for God.” (pg. 330)
669. The Way of Perfection, by St. Teresa of Avila. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. A study edition prepared by Kieran Kavanaugh “This book deals with the advice and counsel Teresa of Jesus gives to her religious Sisters and daughters who live in the monasteries that, with the help of our Lord and the glorious Virgin Mother of God, our Lady,
she founded. These monasteries follow the primitive rule of our Lady of Mount Carmel. She directs her counsel particularly to the Sisters at
St. Joseph’s monastery in Avila, which was the first foundation and the place where she was prioress when she wrote this book.” (pg. 30)
“O Eternal Wisdom! Between you and your Father these words would have sufficed. Your petition in the garden was like this. You manifested your own desire and fear, but you abandoned them to his will. Yet, you know us, my Lord, that we are not as surrendered to the will of your
Father as you were. You know that it was necessary for you to pause to consider if what we are seeking is good for us, so that if it isn’t we won’t
ask for it. If we aren’t given what we want, being what we are, with this free will we have, we might not accept what the Lord gives. For although what he gives is better, we don’t think we’ll ever become rich, since we don’t at once see the money in our hand.” (pg. 327) 672. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez
“In his writings, John seized the opportunity to communicate with his
readers as a mystic, poet, teacher, and ardent lover of God. For the sake of instructing, he draws on his knowledge of theology, psychology, and
spiritual direction. Beginning with the symbols of his poetry, he then leads the reader to his conceptual system with its own language and application.” (pg. 35)
“O my God and my delight, for your love I have also desired to give my soul to composing these sayings of light and love concerning you. Since, although I can express them in words, I do not have the works and virtues they imply (which is what pleases you, O my Lord, more than the words and wisdom they contain), may others, perhaps stirred by them, go
forward in your service and love--- in which I am wanting. I will thereby find consolation, that these sayings be an occasion for your finding in others the things that I lack.” (pg. 85) 675. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr “According to Sufism, the supreme goal of human life is to attain Truth, which is also Reality, the source of all reality, and whose attainment, as
also stated by Christ, makes us free, delivering us from the bondage of
ignorance. Although deeply involved with love and also on a certain level with action, Sufism is at the highest level a path of knowledge, a
knowledge that is illuminative and unitive, a knowledge whose highest object is the Truth as such, that is, God, and subsequently the
knowledge of things in relation to God. There is such a thing as the Truth, and it can be known.” (pg. 30)
“The goal of all Sufi practices is the remembrance of God, but since
God is the One and the Absolute, to remember Him in a manner worthy of His Reality, human beings must become integrated and whole. Since
He is the Sacred as such, He demands of us all that we are. Tawhid or Divine Oneness, which is the central reality of Islam and Sufism,
corresponds in the human state to totality and integration. And so Sufi practices seek to integrate the totality of the subject who is to remember God.” (pg. 116)
681. Rumi and the Sufi Tradition: Essays on the Mowlavi Order and Mysticism, by John A. Moyne
“When I encountered Shams, I realized that he knew the secrets and
desires of my heart. He created a storm within me and could answer my questions. Until then I had been carefree person and the most respected
scholar in the city. People kissed my hand and paid homage to me. In every meeting or gathering I was placed at the head above everyone else. My teachings were nourishment for the souls of my people. But Shams
changed all of that. He guided me to the path of love and I learned the
Truth in his school. I was ravaged by love and became strong. I became a slave to love, and became free. The divine ecstasy in love, which is an attribute of God, led me to the truth. Every moment that I was with
Shams my soul was in a state of adoration and I was in touch with the
Supreme Soul. I could clearly see the seat of Creation.” Rumi (pg 11)
“It is generally understood that Sufism, tasawwuf, grew within the Islamic milieu, and the terms Islamic mysticism and mystics have often been used
as synonyms if Sufism and Sufis, despite the fact that the earliest Islamic
mystics were not called Sufis. May of the well known medieval Sufi saints and Sheiks were Koran scholars, went to pilgrimage to Mecca, and
quoted from the Koran and the Tradition (hadith) or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.” (pg 31)
685. Mystical Dimensions of Islam, by Annemarie Schimmel “The goal of the mystic attained, sometimes, through constant meditation is fana, annihilation, and subsequent perseverance in God. This final
experience is always regarded as a free act of divine grace, which might enrapture man and take him out of himself, often in an experience
described as ecstatic. In Sufism, the term generally translated as
‘ecstasy’ is wajd, which means, literally, ‘finding,’ i.e., to find God and become quiet and peaceful in finding him.” (pg. 178)
“The term shahid, ‘witness,’ is used for the beautiful beloved, for he is the
true witness of divine beauty. O look at him, to adore him from a distance, may induce the Sufi to truly religious ecstasy, and to contemplate his
face is to worship. Wherever beauty is revealed, there out of necessity love must grow. Beauty and love are interdependent…..
The beloved is usually called an ‘idol’ in Persian poetry, worthy of worship, a sensual image of the divine, which is hidden by its very
brightness. Beauty would be meaningless if there were no love to
contemplate it--- we may think, once more, of the concept of God as the hidden treasure who wanted to be known: the treasure of beauty (for
‘God is beautiful and loves beauty’) reveals itself in order to kindle love in the human heart.” (pg. 291) 688. In the Tavern of Ruin: Seven Essays on Sufism, by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh “The disciple is like a machine whose energy comes from devotion. This
machine, by means of the selfless remembrance of God ( zekr), transmutes all of the self’s desires and fears into Divine Attributes. Gradually, the disciple’s self passes away and the Divine Nature becomes manifest; then the disciple truly becomes the recipient of the sufi cloak, and his
heart and soul become illuminated by the grace of the Divine Attributes. At this point the disciple if worth of entering the spiritual feast of the
Sufis, which takes place in the ‘Tavern of Ruin’ (kharabat). This is the
spiritual state of self-having-passed-away-in-God ( fana). Here, the sufi directly perceives the secrets of the Truth.” (pg. 7)
“Temporal love arises from the beauty of transient forms. Like them, it is also transient---its only lasting result being the perpetuation of the
species. It is the result of the sublimation and the refinement of sexual
desire. Real or Divine love, however, is a profusion and a rapture from the Absolute Beloved which descends upon the heart of the sincere lover. This lover is like a moth that flutters around the beauty of the
candle that is the Absolute, burning away its relative existence in His fire.
The lover turns away from himself and perished, inclines towards Him and becomes alive. When the lover is emptied of himself and becomes nothing, he finds eternal life.” (pg. 25)
Bhakti Yoga: The Yoga of Love and Devotion, by Swami Vivekananda. “When the heart is purified and cleansed to the brim with the divine nectar of love, all other ideas of God become simply puerile and are rejected as
being inadequate or unworthy. Such is indeed the power of para-bhakti, or supreme love. The perfected bhakta no longer goes to see God in
temples and churches; he knows no place where he will not find him. He finds Him outside the temple as well as in the temple. He finds Him in the wicked man’s wickedness as well as in the saint’s saintliness, because he has Him already seated in glory in his won heart, as the one almighty,
inextinguishable light of love, which is ever shining and eternally present.” “To whom do the stones and brooks preach sermons? To that human soul the lotus of whose holy inner shrine is already about to open. And the light which causes the beautiful opening of this lotus comes always
from the good and wise teacher. When the heart has thus been opened, it
becomes fit to receive teaching from the stones or the brooks, the stars or
the sun or the moon, or from anything that exists in our divine universe; but the unopened heart will see in them nothing but mere stones or mere brooks.” “Religion, which is the highest knowledge and the highest wisdom, cannot be bought, nor can it be acquired from books. You may thrust your head
into all the corners of the world, you may explore the Himalaya, the Alps, an the Caucasus, you may sound the bottom of the sea and pry into
every nook of Tibet and the desert of the Gobi, but you will not find it
anywhere until your heart is ready to receive it and your teacher has come. And when that divinely appointed teacher comes, serve him with childlike
confidence and simplicity, freely open your heart to his influence, and see in him God manifested. Those who come to seek the truth with such a spirit of love and veneration--- to them the Lord of Truth reveals the most wonderful things regarding truth, goodness, and beauty.” 739. The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal, by June McDaniel “The signs of devotion are seen when a person chants the names of the Mother, and listens to My hymns and songs of praise, when the mind is
full of good wishes, and it flows toward Me without a break, like a liquid. He worships without hope of reward, even liberation, for he desires to remain as My servant…. Because of his excessive love, his eyes are
always full of tears, and his voice is choked….When he attains the state of transcendent devotion (parabhakti), he cannot thing of anything but me
and becomes absorbed in my aspect of pure consciousness. This kind of
devotee gives up all sastric observances and ordinary responsibilities, and he always calls for me, saying “O Ma, O Ma.” I come to him as the cow
comes to the calf when it calls.” (pg. 152) “When Bhagavan overflows, the universe is created--- it is his love and
play, streaming like a fountain, which creates infinity of worlds. When the person overflows, ecstasy is created--- an infinity of emotional states which shift, conflicting and harmonizing. The personal reflection of Krsna’s play is the emotional bhava of the devotee in ecstasy.
The ecstatic flows with love, and he overflows. The emotions of the
cycles of separation and union are so intense that varying emotions are
expressed chaotically or, like Radha, simultaneously. It is the pressure of these emotions that requires the creation of a spiritual body…” 696. The Unlimited Mercifier: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn 'Arabi, by Stephen Hirtenstein
“The cause of love is Beauty (jamal), which belongs to Him, for Beauty
is loved for its own sake. ‘God is beautiful and He loves Beauty.’ So He loves Himself and the cause of that is beautification ( ihsan). There is no beautification except from God, and there is no beautifier except God. So when I love because of the action of beauty, I am loving none but
God, because He is the Beautifier (Muhsin); and when I love because of beauty {itself}, I am loving none but God, for He is the Beautiful ( Jamil). Thus in every aspect love is connected only to God.” (pg. 201)
“Ibn ‘Arabi is indeed a man of some accomplishment in spiritual exercise and endeavor, as well as Sufi discourse, and he enjoys leadership and
authority with a group of those who follow this way. He has adherents, disciples and pupils, and has written very many literary works….He has
produced some fine discourse on the subject of Reality, which comes to
him without his concerning himself with formal religious knowledge, since
God, may He be exalted, has blessed him with a ‘burning thought’, so that this speech poured forth upon him and achieved a marvelous felicity in his
devising of it, upon the hearing of which minds are bewildered and with the presentation of which hearts are carried away. I myself saw him….in the city of Aleppo” (pg. 218) Ibn al-Sha
543. Science of Soul [A Practical Exposition of Ancient Method of Visualisation of Soul] (AtmaVijnana), by Brahmarshi Parmahans Shree 108 Swami Yogeshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj (Formerly Rajayogacharya Bal-Brahmachari Shree Swami Vyas Dev Ji Maharaj)
“ I told him of my search for a Guru who could lead me to illumination, and he allowed me to stay with him…I went to him at the appointed time in the
afternoon and sat in front of him in the usual asana (posture) as directed by him. I gazed at him peacefully for a while, then he placed his gracious
hand on the crown of my head, over the Brahmarandhra. My eyes closed and I attained some unknown state. My body was illuminated as if by an electrical light. This light filled the entire body and revealed all its inner
state and subtle processes. I went on seeing the very same things that you may all read in this book and visualize by Yoga---concentration---within your own self.
It is twenty-eight years since that time. My enquiries ceased and there was no longer any necessity to go to a greater saint. The cause of this
satiety in knowledge is the blessing of that Mahatma and the vision that
he showed to me for fifteen hours. From 7 p.m. that evening to 10 a.m. the
next day he made me sit continuously in samadhi (trance). Next day, when I awoke from Samadhi, I fell at his feet, with eyes full of tears. The he
said: ‘Well, now you may go; this much was the science. I have shown you all. Go on perfecting this by continuous practice.’
….I have described this science in this book and I offer it at the feet of the Lord for the benefit of humanity. I bow in gratitude and with devotion to the lotus feet of those gracious Gurus who instructed me.” (pg. 10) “For proper practice a qualified guide is required in the case of
beginners. In the absence of a Guru (teacher) one should pray for guidance. In the case of a sincere devoted aspirant who has purified
himself by Yama, Niyama, Asana, and Pranayama, Guru may become
manifest in the form of inner guidance. Faith, purity and perseverance will
always bring divine grace in the form of Guru, either as a qualified teacher or as inner revelation.” 226. Six Yogas of Naropa and Teachings on Mahamudra. Translated and Annotated by Garma C. C. Chang
“To practice this Mahamudra meditation one should first be initiated by a qualified Guru. The purpose of Mahamudra initiation is to make the disciple recognize the illuminating void Awareness of his Self-Mind.
Only after recognizing this intrinsic ‘awareness-without-content’ can the disciple practice Mahamudra correctly. Until he has done so, he will find
it difficult to escape from the subject-object entanglement and to elevate his mind to the state of non-distinction and non-attachment. To deepen this illuminating-void Awareness, he should practice often the essential instructions given below.
He who can rest his mind in pure Self-awareness without distraction will be able to do anything. To practice Mahamudra he should stop
discriminating, abandon habitual thoughts of ‘accept this’ and ‘reject that,’ and strive to reach a state where Samadhi and activities become one.
Until he has done so, he should stress quiet meditation first, asd then as a subsidiary exercise apply his Mahamudra awareness to his daily activities.”
~~Lama Kong Ka (pg 37) “All things (dharmas) in both Samsara and Nirvana are devoid of selfnature and thus illusory. But the clinging, confusions, and discriminating
thoughts of sentient beings make things appear to be real. To clear away this clinging and confusion, one should observe the void nature of all
dharmas and learn the truth about maya. This is the general principle of illusoriness.” 227. Becoming Vajrasattva: The Tantric Path of Purification, by Lama Yeshe
“During an initiation, the guru calls upon the divine energy of the universe, which manifests as divine, blissful wisdom in the shape of the particular
deity---, in this case, Heruka Vajrasattva. This energy activates a force
largely dormant in the disciple’s nervous system, which now awakens and begins to vibrate. If you generate the proper altruistic state of mind and an understanding of emptiness, and recite the Vajrasattva mantra, you maintain and augment the vibration activated by the guru.
….The yoga method of Heruka Vajrasattva should be practiced only by those who have received the initiation and oral commentary from a properly qualified vajra master.”
“Much light radiates from the HUM and mantra rosary at the divine
hearts of Heruka Vajrasattva and his consort, filling all of space in the ten directions, purifying the negativities of all sentient beings and making offerings for the enjoyment of the buddhas and their sons, the
bodhisattvas. The pure essence of the transcendental wisdom of all holy beings’ body, speech, and mind returns in the form of light, dissolving inot the HUM and mantra rosary at the hearts of Vajrasattva and his
consort. From these, vast quantities of blissful white kundalini (amrita) energy pour down his central channel. The essence of this kundalini
energy is his blissful transcendent wisdom. Its energy is inexhaustible--the exact opposite of our limited energy, which always runs out quickly and requires us to eat to replenish it.” (pg. 57) 228. Clear Light of Bliss: A Commentary to the Practice of Mahamudra in Vajrayana Buddhism, by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Second revised edition, 1992
“To practice mixing with the Emanation Body during sleep we cause the wisdom being to enter the commitment being’s body in the same way that the dream body enters the gross physical body when we wake from the
dream state. Thus, the white Heruka enters the blue Heruka and remains in the heart of the blue Heruka. Then we arise from the dream state in
the form of blue Heruka and generate the strong divine pride of being the Emanation Body of a Buddha. We think ‘I am the resultant Emanation Body; I am Heruka.’ Even though this divine pride is generated while awake, this practice is called ‘mixing with the Emanation body during sleep.’ The reason is that this process of mixing begins with a strong determination generated while still in the sleep of the dream state.
While we are practicing the three mixings of sleep, the sleep and dream
times are said to belong to the meditation session and the waking in the
form of the Emanation Body to subsequent attainment. During subsequent attainment we should continuously contemplate all
appearances as being empty of inherent existence, regard all these
emptinesses as being the nature of bliss, and perceive this bliss as being in the form of the Deity’s body.” (pg 124) “All four levels of Secret Mantra transform great bliss into the spiritual path, but the methods of transformation differ according to the level being practiced. In Action Tantra the meditator generates bliss by
looking at a visualized goddess, and then transforms that bliss into the path. In Performance Tantra the meditator generates bliss by exchanging smiles with the goddess, and in Yoga Tantra by holding hands with her
and so forth. In Highest Yoga Tantra the meditator generates bliss by imagining sexual embrace with a consort and, at advanced stages, by engaging in actual embrace; and then transforms that bliss into the
spiritual path. It should be noted, however, that it is very difficult to use great bliss as a method for attaining enlightenment, and if we are able to
do so we have indeed attained a formidable accomplishment. As the great Mahasiddha Saraha said, ‘Everyone is excited about copulation but very few can transform that bliss into the spiritual path.’” (pg. 4)
260. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
“In the beginner’s mind there is no thought, ‘I have attained something.’
All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. Dogen-zenji, the
founder of our school, always emphasized how important it is to resume our boundless original mind. Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with all beings, and can actually practice.
So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner’s mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read
much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, ‘I know what Zen is,’ or ‘I have attained enlightenment.’ This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very
careful about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner’s mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.” (pg. 22 Prologue) “When you are you, you see things as they are, and you become one with
your surroundings. There is your true self. There you have true practice; you have the practice of a frog. He is a good example of our practice---
when a frog becomes a frog, Zen becomes Zen. When you understand a frog through and through, you attain enlightenment; you are Buddha.
And you are good for others, too: husband or wife or son or daughter. This is zazen!” (pg. 83) 169. In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. Edited and introduced by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Foreword by the Dalai Lama
“Monks, there is one person who arises in the world for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the
world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans. Who is that one person? It is the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly
Enlightened One. This is that one person.
Monks, there is one person arising in the world who is unique, without a peer, without counterpart, incomparable, unequalled, matchless, unrivaled, the best of humans. Who is that one person? It is the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.
“Monks, the manifestation of one person is the manifestation of great vision, of great light, of great radiance; it is the manifestation of the six
things unsurpassed; the realization of the four analytical knowledges; the penetration of the various elements, of the diversity of elements; it is the realization of the fruit of knowledge and liberation; the realization of the fruits of stream-entry, once-returning, nonreturning, and arahantship.
Who is that one person? It is the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.” (pg. 50) “The Pali Canon is the collection of texts the Theravada regards as
Word of the Buddha (buddhavacana). The fact that the texts of this
collection have survived as a single canon does not mean that they can all
be dated from the same period; nor does it mean that the texts forming its most archaic nucleus are necessarily more ancient that their counterparts
from the other Buddhist schools, many of which have survived in Chinese or Tibetan translation as parts of entire canons or, in a few cases, as
isolated texts in another Indian language. Nevertheless, the Pali Canon has a special importance for us….” 270kb. Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen’s Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View, by Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. Commentary translated by Thubten Choedak. Root Text and Lineage Prayer translated by H. H. Sakya Trizin and Jay Goldberg
“In whatever manner I continue, there is no liberation Through grasping at the true nature of things. To explain this precisely:
There is no liberation through grasping at existence,
There are no heavenly realms through grasping at non-existence, [And] grasping at both [extremes] is [only] done in ignorance. Be joyful in the state of non-duality.” (pg. 57)
“The very “suchness” nature of our own minds (dharmata) is no different from that of the buddhas themselves. The essence of the enlightened
state to be discovered in oneself is exactly the same essence as that of a full enlightened Buddha. It is only due to our defilements and
obscurations that we have failed to recognize this nature of mind, the original wakefulness of our own natural awareness. If we really recognize the nature of reality; our awareness-wisdom, then whether we speak of
what the Nyingma School calls dzogchen, or what the followers of the
Kagyu call mahamudra, or what the Sakya tradition khorde yerme, the intention is the same. These teachings are all concerned with how to recognize and realize this intrinsic awareness, as it is.” (pg. 172)
293. Bhaja Govindam of Sri Sankaracharya. Text in Sanskrit with English translation and Comments by Swami Gurudasananda “The grace of an illumined soul is necessary for self-realization. By putting ourselves in the orbit of the Guru’s influence, by devout
contemplation on his personality, our minds will gradually get established in the same level of the Guru’s consciousness, without all the drudgery
and fluctuations of fortune, attendant on mere individual struggle. The
devotee’s mind will never again seek for vain frivolities, once he totally
surrenders to the Guru. But faith in the Guru should be unsullied and staunch. The radiant rays of light from his grace will then shine and open
wide the petals of the lotus of the disciple’s heart. Guru’s upadesa is the leaping spark from which the spiritual life of the disciple if kindled. It sets
his whole being astir. This leads to constant engrossment of the mind on the one ideal of spiritual perfection.....
Even such a Master Teacher as Sri Sankaracharya who thunders forth the Advaita philosophy, adores his Guru with unbounded devotion and
respectful submission and seems to prostrate at the feet of Sri Govinda Bhagavathpada with the words: ‘Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam.’” (pg. 105-106)
“‘The life of man is uncertain like rain drops trembling on a lotus leaf.
Know that his whole world remains a prey to disease, ego and grief.’
The globule of water shining brilliantly on a lotus leaf in bright daylight
does not stick to the surface on which it rests, but is ever ready to slide and roll down without leaving any trace whatsoever. It is so unstable that a slight shake by a gentle wind sends it slipping down smoothly. Likewise
man’s life on this planet is extremely uncertain. Life is slipping through our fingers. Death is really crawling behind us very closely. Any moment
anything may happen to us and we will have to leave everything as it is and depart….the purport of the stanza is that life is that there is no time to be wasted in frivolities…here and now, we should start our spiritual journey for the Great Release.” (pg. 12-13)
315. Guru: The Spiritual Master in Eastern and Western Traditions--Authority and Charisma. Edited by Antonio Rigopoulos
“Indeed, the human guru is but the empiric, exterior representative of the true master, the sad-guru. The atman which resides in the heart of every being….
The function of the guru is to transmit the diksa to the disciple through an authoritative lineage, a guru-parampara. When his sisya is spiritually
ready he leads him to death, so as to bring him in touch with his inner sad-
guru. This is the golden rule from the very beginning of time: the first men, who could not count upon human guru-s, gained their knowledge directly from the sad-guru. As it is stated in the Yoga-sutra-s:
‘The very Lord has been the teacher of the primordial Seers, because He is not limited by time [as human beings are].’” (pg. 130) “The veneration of the guru, the observance of his teachings, the learning of an ‘intentional language’, and the oral transmission of songs are the main features of the cult. The guruvada or doctrine of the preceptor
represents the real essence of Baul sadhana. In order to display such a
conception, I will present some of the teachings and rituals connected to the guru-sisya and the pir-muridi, namely, the relationship between the
disciple and his preceptor in the Hindu and Islamic contexts respectively. ‘You [=guru] are the charioteer of my heart’s desire, I go wherever you drive me.
O guru, you are the essence of the Tantra-s, O guru, you are the essence of the mantra-s,
O guru, you are the essence of the yantra-s. If you don’t play the music, who will do it? The eye of my mind is blind since birth. Guru, you are always conscious.’” (pg. 250) 385. The Divine Madman: The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley. Translated by Keith Dowman and Sonam Paljor
“He dressed himself in silver, gold and jewels, and tying a white silk sash around his waist he went outside to display himself to the people. Then he took off his finery and returned it to the Chieftain, who, however, insisted that he should keep it.
‘You can’t take it with you!’ said the Lama. ‘A moment of enjoyment is sufficient. Listen to my song!’
‘Bathe us in bliss-waves, Father Kahgyu Lama! Gold, silver and jewels are illusory happiness While losing wealth is illusory sadness---
Take refuge in the man without wealth or possessions! A beautiful lifelong companion is illusory happiness And parting of lovers is seemingly sad---
Take refuge in the friendless and family-free! Incarnation is a precious human body is illusory happiness And leaving it empty-handed is seemingly sad---
Take refuge in the heart of the human situation!
Fulfillment of ambition for wealth and status is illusory happiness And seeing it snatched away by others is seemingly sad--Take refuge in the man who is infinitely generous!
Gaining the goal of one’s life is illusory happiness And the parting of body and mind at death is seemingly sad--Take refuge in striving for everlasting bliss!’
At the end of his song his audience was burning with faith and devotion.” (pg. 61-62) 409q. The Flight from God, by Max Picard
“The man of the flight experiences within the economic system the crises he wishes to avoid in relation to God. He would rather his soul were
shaken by the economic system that by God. If he allows himself to be
shaken to the depths by God, the impulse of the shock will carry him to God; and then nothing will remain but the individual man face to face with
God. Not even the emotional shock will remain, for it was exhausted in the act of moving man towards God. The shock imparted by the economic
system is, however, felt by man as a purely mechanical shock, flinging him from one thing to another, a fresh motive-power within the Flight.” (pg. 100-101)
“So too with science. It also continues to grow spontaneously, through
sheer quantity of knowledge, the divisions of which approach each other and are mingled together, and out of this comes that which is new, and this again mingles with the rest, yielding a further increase in knowledge. This science has no center from which it grows; where the center should be there in only emptiness. Science is merely a rim, and only from this rim does it continually grow. Man no longer has anything to do with this
science, except to watch it and write an account of the mingling of the knowledge and of its growth. Only when it can no longer be viewed as a whole, and this to such an extent that its growth is a tangled confusion, does man go on to give it the support of something resembling an idea;
but this he does, not that knowledge may terminate in the idea, but that knowledge may continue to grow while using this idea as a support. Now man is no more that an employee of science; that science may grow, man must do its will; no longer is he its master.” (pg. 131) 493d. Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth, by Burton L. Mack “The Christ cult differed from the Jesus movements in two major respects. One was a focus upon the significance of Jesus’ death and
destiny. Jesus’ death was understood to have been an event that brought a new community into being. This focus on Jesus’ death had the result of shifting attention away from the teachings of Jesus and away from a
sense of belonging to his school. It engendered instead an elaborate preoccupation with notions of martyrdom, resurrection, and the
transformation of Jesus into a divine, spiritual presence. The other major difference was the forming of a cult oriented to that spiritual presence.”
(pg. 75-76) “And as for the notion of the spirit, which has gotten so out of hand in the Corinthian congregation, Paul boxed it in with great precision by
making sure that its activity was to be understood only in relation to this interpretation of the Christ myth and always within the arena of the
spiritual kingdom over which Christ ruled. So the Greek concept of the spirit was being tamed by the Christ even as the Christ was being transformed into a Hellenistic deity.
Paul’s taming of the spirit had a very precise objective in view. The concept of sin colored the horizon against which the Christ event
glistened and the new spiritual kingdom came into view. This was Paul’s
vision of a Christian “Israel” composed of both Jews and gentiles living together in purity, holiness, and righteousness, and it was this vision that drove his entire mission and mythmaking enterprise.” (pg. 140-141)
504i. Jesus the Magician, by Morton Smith
“These use of Jesus’ name in pagan spells flanked by a vast body of material testifying to the use of his name in Christian spells and
exorcisms, and to the practice of magic by Christians of various sects
(including the self-styled ‘Catholic Church’). Exorcism became a regular ritual of the Church; other magical practices are often attested by
conciliar legislation against them and by ‘Catholic’ writers (primarily Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius) against ‘heretics’. The
attestations are confirmed by a multitude of Christian amulets, curse tablets, and magical papyri in which Jesus is the god most often invoked.
After Christianity gained official status in the fourth century, this side of the religion was gradually driven underground, but the change was slow. Thus Jesus long continued to be represented in Christian art as a
magician, compete with a magical wand, as he appears on a fourth-century gold glass plate in the Vatican library, reproduced on the cover of this
volume. This Christian cult of Jesus the magician must be left aside in
our effort to determine the content of the outsiders’ traditions about him, but it does strengthen the case for those traditions by showing that they were not peculiar to outsiders nor solely the product of malicious
interpretations. On the contrary, some of their most important elements
were accepted by hundred of thousands of believing Christians through the first millennium, and more, of Christian history.” (pg. 63-64)
“The historical similarities between Apollonius and Jesus are clear: both were itinerant miracle workers and preachers, rejected at first by their townspeople and brothers, though the latter eventually became more
favorable. An inner circle of devoted disciples accompanied each. Both were credited with prophecies, exorcisms, cures, and an occasional raising of the dead. As preachers both made severe moral demands on their
hearers. Both affected epigrammatic utterances and oracular style; they taught as if with authority and came into conflict with the established
clergy of the temples they visited and tried to reform. Both were charged with sedition and magic but tried primarily for sedition.” (pg. 85)
584a. Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History, by Charles H. Kahn
“His learning was universal. He first studied geometry and astronomy with Anaximander, then hieroglyphic symbolism with the priests of Egypt
and the science of dreams with Hebrew masters. He studied also with the Arabs, with the Chaldaeans of Babylon, and finally with Zoroaster, who taught him the ritual of purification and the nature of things. In the late tradition Pythagoras’ life thus assumes mythic form; he becomes the
paradigm of the theios aner, the ‘divine man’ who absorbs all forms of
wisdom in order to become a sage, seer, a teacher, and a benefactor of the human race.” (pg. 6)
“One must say that the Pythagoreans teach that on the highest account
(logos) the One is principle of all things, but on the second account there are two principles of what is produced, the One and the nature opposite
to this. And ranked below these are all those things that are conceived in terms of opposition: good things under the One, bad things under the nature opposed to it. Hence these two are not really first principles
(archai) for this school. For if each is principle of a different set, they are not universal principles of all things, since matter and all Beings ( onta,
presumably Forms) have come into being from it. And this is the supreme god.” (pg. 97)
592. Plato and Vedic Idealism, by Swami Paramananda. “Plato reaches the greatest heights of his sublime philosophy when he
considers the theme of the soul. In the Republic he states that the soul of man consists of three parts: the wisdom-loving, the honor-loving and the
gain-loving. The soul to which Plato refers here is what the Indo-Arayns
call the Jivatman or individual soul. It is not the permanent principle in man, but only the reflex of the Paramatman or Real Self. The three parts in the Platonic classification correspond to the mind (manas), intellect
(buddhi) and ego (ahamkara) which in Vedic philosophy constitute the subtle body of man. This subtle body contains the character and
determines the course of the soul after bodily death. It is not, however, the indestructible essence of man’s being, although it is much less
perishable than the gross physical body. Like the Indo-Aryan sages,
Plato lays great emphasis on the distinction between the spiritual and the physical. ‘The soul is like the divine and the body is like the mortal,’ eh
declares; or to quote the words of the Bhagavad Gita: ‘These bodies
are perishable, but the dwellers in these bodies are eternal, indestructible and impenetrable.” (pg. 52-53)
“In the process of turning inward the soul’s eye the need of a teacher is universally recognized, as is the need of a guide when one travels into an unknown region. The teacher in India is called Guru, or ‘sight-giver’ or
‘one who dispels the darkness.’ He is also regarded as the parent in the second birth of the awakening soul. In Theatetus Socrates even calls
himself a midwife. ‘My art of midwifery is in most respects like theirs,’ he
says; ‘but the difference lies in this, I practice on their souls when they are in labor, and not on their bodies; and the triumph of my art is in examining
whether the thought, which the mind of the young man is bringing to birth, is a false idol or a noble and true creation. Therefore, I am not myself
wise, nor have I anything which is the invention or offspring of my own soul, but the way is this: Some of those who converse with me at first appear to be absolutely dull; yet afterwards, as our acquaintance ripens, if the god
is gracious to them, they all of them make astonishing progress. There is clear proof that they have never learned anything of me, but they have
acquired and discovered many noble things of themselves, although the god and I helped to deliver them.’
Here Socrates expresses with remarkable definiteness the Vedic idea
that the Guru is merely instrumental in drawing out the inherent powers of the soul.” (pg. 45-46) 598a. The Therapy of Desire, by Martha C. Nussbaum
“Such responses are very natural and very tempting. For this reason, if we have followed Nikidion’s therapeutic education this far, we should
suspect them. Epicurean therapy does not waste time on illusions that are no longer powerful. It aims at the bad ones that provide the very
structure of Nikidion’s daily life---at the bad habits that, ‘like bad friends,’ have been leading her into distress and error for years. Only that which threatens holds the promise of true therapy. And true therapy, as
Epicurus insists, is painful. So we must ask Nikidion to consider a possibility. We ask her (and we should also ask ourselves) to take
absolutely seriously the possibility that Lucretius is right: that erotic love, as most people know and live it, is bad for us, and that human life will be
richer and better without it. We shall see later that Lucretius has a lot to say about the motivations that most people have, in their experience of
love, for embarking on the course of therapy. We shall see in detail how he motivates his imagined reader. But for now we ask our pupil to
approach the poem with the door open a tiny crack, allowing, simply, that it might have something to say to her, not only in a seminar room, but I her life. Love might not be so very wonderful.
And in fact I believe that these arguments are of great worth to believers
in love and in love stories. They are therapeutic, I believe, not in a nihilistic sense, but in a human and constructive way. I shall argue that they lead us not into an impoverished world but into a world more richly human. They
do this by exposing myths and delusions that constrain us and prevent us from dealing with one another in a fully human way. They teach us to
acknowledge one another, and ourselves, as human beings---that is, as
beings both natural and social---in one of our most important and intimate activities. Through their complex and carefully crated structure, they lead us to a world beyond the religion of love, beyond that world’s emotions of vain longing, of awe and obsession, of disgust with the body and its limits,
into a world both natural and rational. Not a world of colorless atoms, but a world in which we see and care for one another, without religious
interference, as the very beings we are.” (pg. 144-145) “Similar problems arise, Book III shows, in human beings’ relation to their own death. For, once again, their experience of their own incompleteness and vulnerability leads them to create elaborate stratagems of selfprotection that are believed to shore up these boundaries against
assault. These stratagems are never successful, since death and finitude are never defeated. This leads, once again, to an increasingly frenzied attempt to secure the bounds of the self, which involves the agent in
increasing aggression against others; this opens up, in turn, new type of vulnerability, new sources of anger.
Lucretius has linked a number of different pursuits with the fear of death, as people try to use the world to place barriers between themselves and all the incursions that might cause their end. A major stratagem is, of
course, the turning to religion, which Lucretius connects with aggressive behavior in no uncertain terms from the beginning of the poem. He
carefully shows how images of angry punishing divinities---created initially as support for human incompleteness---both increases fearfulness and
dependence, and also engendered, possibly by imitation, ferocious acts
such as the slaughter of Iphigenia, in which priestly commands prevail over parental love and compassion. Religion promises to turn the needy
incomplete being into a being as secure as the gods are seen to be. It does not work. And its consequence is, in fact, an increase in weakness, a ‘hidden force’ that saps human strength, engendering self-contempt and
acquiescence in the (frequently aggressive) projects of priests.” (pg. 261)