Thursday, April 19, 2007

Contemplation for 4/19/07

For today, a little something from the Hindu tradition, specifically an influential religious teacher who believed in a universal mysticism, that is, that all people, whatever their sacred tradition or spiritual practice, could perceive Ultimate Reality whether or not they gave it a particular name...

"What can be gained by thinking about the scriptures? What fools! They think themselves to death with information about the path, but never take the plunge!"

"All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole... A man can reach the roof of a house by stone stairs or a ladder or a rope-ladder or a rope or even by a bamboo pole. But he cannot reach the roof if he sets foot now on one and now on another. He should firmly follow one path."

"One cannot attain divine knowledge till one gets rid of pride. Water does not stay on the top of a mound; but into low land it flows in torrents from all sides."

"[T]he ego is like a cloud. The sun cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud; when that disappears one sees the sun."

"Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water. Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there is water both inside and outside the pot... Then what is this pot? It is 'I-consciousness'. Because of the pot the water appears to be divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive an inside and an outside. One feels that way as long as this pot of 'I' exists. When the 'I' disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words."

-Ramakrishna


No comments:

Post a Comment

Hello! Thanks for leaving a comment.

Everything but spam and abusive comments are welcome. Logging in isn't necessary but if you don't then please "sign" at the end of your comment. You can choose to receive email notifications of new replies to this post for your convenience, and if you find it interesting don't forget to share it. Thanks!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...