Travel light on your journey in life. Your desires and expectations are heavy baggage which slow you down and thwart your progress. Let them go.
You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may earn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk on water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult.
The greatest freedom is to be obedient and faithful to God. As we yield ourselves to God’s love and mercy, we are liberated from the suffering of sins. No longer are we dominated by unreasonable fears, compulsions and addictions. We live in peace and unity with all people. Despair and rage pass away.
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.
When we see everything in life as a game, we will be equally joyous when falling as we are when rising. If we can fully understand this – if we can see life as swinging on a swing – we will never fall apart when failure comes our way.
There’s nothing more advanced than relating with others. There’s nothing more advanced than communication – compassionate communication.
The Lord who is the searcher of all hearts is my own guardian. Have no anxiety and everything shall be according to the will of God.
O Lord! I may have increased desire for the objective world like other people but with this difference that I shall look upon it as Thyself without any idea of duality.
Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own.
