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.
The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.
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.
When a man in the process of dreaming becomes conscious that he is dreaming, he is no longer identified with the phenomena; he is not affected exultantly or dolefully. God consciously dreams His cosmic play and is unaffected by its dualities.
Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own.
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.
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.
Compassion: I don’t think that there is another world as important in marking a person’s inner growth. No other word completely conveys what this single word conveys.
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.
