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.
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.
Good is that which elevates the mind and evil is that which degrades the mind. Social virtue and vice are temporal entities; they have nothing to do with your relationship with the Supreme.
He who knows his soul knows this truth: “I am beyond everything finite; I now see that the Spirit, alone in a space with its ever-new joy, has expressed itself as the vast body of nature…I am the wisdom and power that sustain all creation.”
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.
A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves!
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.
Worldly entanglements will always remain. Get over them with the help of strong will power and right attitude.
The greatest comforts and lasting peace are obtained, when one eradicates selfishness from within.
So long as we believe in our heart of hearts that our capacity is limited and we grow anxious and unhappy, we are lacking in faith. One who truly trusts in God has no right to be anxious about anything.
