Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
Internally I am a hermit, and externally I am a prince. Arms mean protection to the poor and destruction of the tyrant. Baba Nanak had not renounced the world but had renounced maya, that is, self and ego.
Do not take this material world so seriously because it is always changing. Something terrible that you take so seriously today is going to change tomorrow.
God first created light, all men are born out of it. The whole world came out of a single spark; who is good and who is bad? The Creator is in the creation, and the creation in the Creator, He is everywhere.
The tiger does not come to eat your fruits. His prescribed food is animal flesh. But man’s food is vegetables, fruits, grains, and milk products.
Thoughts are the medium through which the ego, the limited self, appears and paves the way for all our likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain.
Character is formed from the repeated choice of thoughts and action. Make the right choice-you shall have a firm and noble character.
Those who read books cannot understand the teachings and, what’s more, may even go astray. But those who try to observe the things going on in the mind, and always take that which is true in their own minds as their standard; never get muddled.
