Everyone post some favorite quotes!

[Daniel]

...every atom belonging to me as good, belongs to you.

 

Walt Whitman 1892

[Ajay0]

All of spirituality is contained in that one word: Awareness. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi

 

Proceed on life’s journey with awareness. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi

 

If I were to summarize it ( Guruma's teachings) into one thing, it would be awareness. How to develop that awareness-insight. I am not referring to awareness at the level of the mind as seen in mountaineers or astronauts. A slip in awareness and the mountaineer can be buried alive under snow or the astronaut blasted away from his ship. But that awareness does not transform them or cause them to disassociate from the mind and its functions. To be an observer is to be totally neutral and to be a witness. And somewhere, I would add, the awareness of who I am, or what the truth is. ~ Anandamurti Gurumaa

 

How to do meditation, many people ask me. Don't do anything, to just go into thoughtless awareness. Try to go to the thoughtless awareness. If you can get into that condition of thoughtless awareness you've done your job, because that's the point where you are with the truth, with the reality, with the joy, with everything that is so fundamental. ~ Nirmala Devi

 

 

When you are in thoughtless awareness, you must know that you are in the kingdom of God and His people, His arrangements, His consciousness, is going to look after you. ~ Nirmala Devi

[Ajay0]

You can become fully aware only when you are living in the moment. ~ Barry Long

A mind in the present moment is meditation. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Do not lose yourself in the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. Do not get caught in your anger, worries, or fears. Come back to the present moment, and touch life deeply. This is mindfulness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

One way to get free of attachment is to cultivate the witness consciousness, to become a neutral observer of your own life. The witness place inside you is simple awareness, the part of you that is aware of everything — just noticing, watching, not judging, just being present, being here now. ~ Ram Dass

[Ajay0]

If we continuously maintain self awareness, we will be able to experience peace and happiness. ~ Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi Devi).

 

When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action. ~ Eckhart Tolle

 

And thoughtless awareness is nothing but such a pouring sense of joy - joy which is neither happiness or unhappiness, but singular. ~ Nirmala Devi

 

The most beautiful moments in your life – moments of bliss, moments of joy, moments of ecstasy, moments of utter peace – were moments when you were not thinking about anything. You were just living. ~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

 

Whenever your mind becomes still there is happiness and enjoyment, and each time the mind is shaken then sorrow, tensions and worries surround you. ~ Anandmurti Gurumaa
 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Ajay0

[Ajay0]

Under the obsessive thoughts and plans, under the emotions, positive and negative, there is an ocean of peace. ~Gangaji

 

To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment. ~ Eckhart Tolle

 

We are completely unaware of our true nature because we identify ourselves with our body, our emotions and our thoughts, thus losing sight of our unchanging centre, which is pure consciousness. ~ Dr. Jean Klein
 

[Unota]

"Son coeur est un luth suspendu;

Sitot qu’on le touche il resonne."

 

“His/her heart is a poised lute;

as soon as it is touched, it resounds”.

- Pierre-Jean de Béranger

[Ajay0]

The Self, our Being, is awareness. ~ Sri Muruganar

 

Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always. ~ Ramana Maharshi

 

Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self. The true Self is imperishable; therefore when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end. ~ Ramana Maharshi

 

This world is trapped in the well of suffering. What is this suffering due to? This suffering stems from ignorance of the Self. All suffering in this world is because of ignorance. This ignorance leads to raag (attachment) and dwesh (abhorrence) relentlessly and suffering is experienced as a consequence. Only Gnan can cure this suffering. There is no other remedy. Gnan insulates you from suffering. ~ Ambalal Muljibhai Patel

 

Purpose of suffering is to connect you to your Self (Awareness). It indicates that you got carried away by all the transient things around you. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
 

[whocoulditbe?]

"Every portion of matter may be conceived as like a garden full of plants and like a pond full of fish. But every branch of a plant, every member of an animal, and every drop of the fluids within it, is also such a garden or such a pond. And although the ground and air which lies between the plants of the garden, and the water which is between the fish in the pond, are not themselves plants or fish, yet they nevertheless contain these, usually so small however as to be imperceptible to us. There is, therefore, nothing uncultivated, or sterile or dead in the universe, no chaos, no confusion, save in appearance; somewhat as a pond would appear at a distance when we could see in it a confused movement, and so to speak, a swarming of the fish, without however discerning the fish themselves. It is evident, then, that every living body has a dominating entelechy, which in animals is the soul. The parts, however, of this living body are full of other living beings, plants and animals, which in turn have each one its entelechy or dominating soul."

– Leibniz, Monadology

[Ajay0]

The Self stands beyond the mind. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

All happiness comes from awareness. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

The Self (awareness) alone can give you happiness. All happiness is from the Self. All trouble, sorrow and suffering is from the mind. ~ H.W.Poonja

 

If you do not mess your mind, you will naturally be joyful. ~ Jaggi Vasudev

[Ajay0]

You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it.
~ Ramana Maharshi

 

Your true nature is awareness and not what your mind is producing. ~ Burt Harding

 

The more you identify with your mind, the further away you are from your Self (awareness). ~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

 

Awareness is who we are and forgetting that leads to suffering. ~ Vicki Woodyard

 

Mind is nothing but the absence of your presence. ~ Eckhart Tolle
 

[Taomeow]

Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.

― Thomas Sowell

[Ajay0]

The Self is pure consciousness. ~ Ramana Maharshi

 

Remove the ego and avidya (ignorance) is gone. Look for it, the ego vanishes and the real Self alone remains.~ Ramana Maharshi

 

To be free from bondage the wise person must practice discrimination between One-Self and the ego-self.
By that alone you will become full of joy, recognizing Self as Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss. ~ Adi Shankaracharya

 

When I say, ‘Meditate on the Self’ I am asking you to be the Self, not think about it. Be aware of what remains when thoughts stop. Be aware of the consciousness that is the origin of all your thoughts. Be that consciousness. ~ Annamalai Swami

 

Tayumanuvar, a Tamil saint whom Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) often quoted, wrote in one of his poems: ‘My Guru merely told me that I am consciousness. Having heard this, I held onto consciousness. What he told me was just one sentence, but I cannot describe the bliss I attained from holding onto that one simple sentence. Through that one sentence I attained a peace and a happiness that can never be explained in words.’

—Annamalai Swami: Final Talks, pages 67–68.

[Taomeow]

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician. — Charlie Chaplin.

[Ajay0]

You are the unchangeable Awareness in which all activity takes place. ~ H.W. Poonja

 

We are not separate from the Natural Awareness we experience within the present moment. ~ Metta Zetty

 

You are primal awareness. Life is only primal awareness. Between two thoughts or two perceptions you are. You know moments in your life when a thought completely disappears into silence, but still you are. ~ Dr. Jean Klein

 

 

“You realize your true identity as consciousness itself, rather than what consciousness has identified with. That's the peace of God. The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am.”― Eckhart Tolle

 

The truth is you really are nothing, but this nothing is full, whole, infinite in everything and everywhere. This nothing is conciousness itself. It is already whole, complete and fulfilled. This is the amazing irony. ~ Gangaji

[Ajay0]

The great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. ~ Dzogchen

 

True self-knowledge is nothing but awareness itself, naked and unadorned by any concepts. ~ Gilbert Schultz

 

There is only this moment, the now. That is all there is. All else is imagined. ~ Adam Oakley

 

The cause, the 'who' or the 'me', has no substance or independent nature of itself. It is just an imagined thing based on past events, experiences and conditioning. ~ Sailor Bob Adamson

 

Be what you are 100% - then there is no room for a 'me' to play havoc with the concept of identity. ~ Gilbert Schultz
 

[Ajay0]

Self-awareness is yoga. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

Deepen and broaden your awareness of yourself and all the blessings will flow. You need not seek anything, all will come to you most naturally and effortlessly. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

[Ajay0]

 

Happiness is self-generated as the mind becomes still. As we become involved with the desires of the world, we lose that centering, that stillness. ~ Dr. Frederick Lenz

 

 

Happiness arises from within. It is a quality of your innate nature. Thoughts distract you from consciously abiding in and enjoying your innate nature. Thoughts create all desires and desires can be all-consuming. Your mind can convince you that attaining a particular object of desire will make you happy.

 

The truth is that when your mind is still, a natural feeling of happiness arises within you. Your true nature is causeless and living causeless happiness is your natural state of being.  ~ Jac O' Keeffe

 

 

For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It's a natural state. You will abide in that state forever.  ~ Robert Adams

[Ajay0]

In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness. ~ Sayadaw U pandita

 

 

Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
 

 

 

Excitement always has an opposite; sooner or later the pendulum swings back to boredom or depression.

Excitement depends upon an emotional attachment to something, perhaps a new home or a compliment. Inwardly, you may attach yourself to a daydream or a hope of getting rich. But these excitements have no stability; they wear off. So you are kept in a nervous search for more excitement, which exhausts you.

 

But when you find inner liberty you are free from anxious dependence upon contrived thrills. Then you are happy. You are happy whether or not you get the new home, or whether or not your daydream comes true." ~ Vernon Howard

 

The discovery that peace, happiness and love are ever-present within our own Being, and completely available at every moment of experience, under all conditions, is the most important discovery that anyone can make. ~ Rupert Spira
 

[Daniel]

"I can levitate birds... but no one cares."  - Steven Wright  

[Ajay0]

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind.- Nyanaponika Thera

 

Maintaining equanimity of mind in all situations should be our focus. It verily is the goal. - Mata Amritanandamayi

 

Equanimity of Mind is Yoga . ~ Krishna (BG 2:48)

 

Equanimous mind gives rise to a heightened awareness. - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy. - Jon Kabat-Zinn

[Ajay0]

Feelings, even the best of them, turn to negativity - disappointment, anger, discontent, resentment, jealousy, guilt, etc. A good feeling starts off being elevating, exciting, like taking a drug substance, alcohol or having sex. But what goes up must come down and feelings are no exception.

   

So in a couple of hours or days the down side starts and you perhaps wonder why you feel moody, depressed, suicidal or just plain unhappy. ~ Barry Long

 

 The pure state is who you are but the emotions try to emulate the 'aliveness' of being through dramatization and create nervous exhaustion. ~ Burt Harding

 

 

Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but you may need to experience many disillusionments before you realize that truth. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they will also give you pain. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they cannot give you joy. Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being. ~ Eckhart Tolle

 

 

The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace.  ~ Jean Klein
 

[Ajay0]

Boundary lines, of any type, are never found in the real world itself, but only in the imagination of the mapmakers. ~ Ken Wilber

 

 

Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many. ~ Chuang Tzu

 

 

Awareness is that state of mind which observes something without any condemnation or acceptance, which merely faces the thing as it is. 

  When you look at a flower nonbotanically, then you see the totality of the flower; but if your mind is completely taken up with the botanical knowledge of what the flower is, you are not totally looking at the flower. Though you may have knowledge of the flower, if that knowledge takes the whole ground of your mind, the whole field of your mind, then you are not looking totally at the flower.
 ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti 

[silent thunder]

6 hours ago, Ajay0 said:

Boundary lines, of any type, are never found in the real world itself, but only in the imagination of the mapmakers. ~ Ken Wilber

Well stated Mr Wilber.  Reminds me of this potent observation by Mr Wilson

 

Every boundary established between two nations represents the arbitrary line where rival gangs tentatively agreed to stop killing one another.  ~Robert Anton Wilson

[whocoulditbe?]

"If, good sir, this is what you discern, if this is what you have awakened to, do not lead lay disciples or those gone forth. Do not teach the Dhamma to lay disciples or those gone forth. Do not yearn for lay disciples or those gone forth."

– The devil Māra speaking to the Buddha, Brahma-nimantanika Sutta

[Cobie]

9 hours ago, whocoulditbe? said:

… those gone forth. …

 

To ‘go forth’ refers to when a layperson leaves home to live the life of a Buddhist renunciate among a community of fully ordained monks. ( Google)

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Cobie