The self does not need to be put to rest. It is peace itself, not at peace. Only the mind is restless. All it knows is restlessness, with its many modes and grades. The pleasant are considered superior and the painful are discounted. What we call progress is merely a change over from the unpleasant to the pleasant. But changes by themselves cannot bring us to the changeless, for whatever has a beginning must have an end. The real does not begin; it only reveals itself as beginningless and endless, all-pervading, all-powerful, immovable prime mover, timelessly changeless.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj – I Am That – Mind is restless itself
Let us be at peace with our bodies and our minds.
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.
Let us be aware of the source of being,
common to us all and to all living things.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion,
let us fill our hearts with our own compassion—
towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be
the cause of suffering to each other.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life,
and of the suffering that are going on around us,
let us practice the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.
— Thich Nhat Hanh – in Singing The Living Tradition – #505
The ‘I’ that floats along the wave of time, From a distance I watch him. With the dust and the water, With the fruit and the flower, With the All he is rushing forward. He is always on the surface, Tossed by the waves and dancing to the rhythm Of joy and suffering. The least loss makes him suffer, The least wound hurts him– Him I see from afar. That ‘I’ is not my real self; I am still within myself, I do not float in the stream of death. I am free, I am desireless, I am peace, I am illumined– Him I see from afar.
I look deep into my heart, to the core where wisdom arises. Wisdom comes from the Unnamable and unifies heaven and earth. The Unnamable is always with you, shining from the depths of your heart. Her peace will keep you untroubled even in the greatest pain. When you find her present within you, you find truth at every moment. She will guard you from all wrongdoing; She will guide your feet on her path. She will temper your youth with patience; She will crown your old age with fulfillment. And dying, you will leave your body as effortlessly as a sigh.
— Psalm 121 – Stephen Mitchell – A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew
(found in the non-duality highlights)
The world does not yield to changing. By its very nature it is painful and transient. See it as it is and divest yourself of all desire and fear. When the world does not hold and bind you, it becomes an abode of joy and beauty. You can be happy in the world only when you are free of it.
Neither I am me, nor you are you, nor you are me. Also, I am me, you are you and you are me. We have become one in such a way, That I am confused whether I am you, or you are me.
The Lovers will drink wine night and day. They will drink until they can tear away the veils of intellect and melt away the layers of shame and modesty. When in Love, body, mind, heart and soul don’t even exist. Become this, fall in Love, and you will not be separated again.
Do you know what you are? You are a manuscript of a divine letter. You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. This universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you are already that.
Tonight is the night. It is the creation of that land of eternity. It is not an ordinary night, It is a wedding of those who seek unity. Tonight, the bride and groom speak in one tongue. Tonight, the bridal chamber is looking particularly bright.
Go ahead: ask me! Ask me about Love, and I will tell you the essence of madness. Ask me of an intellect gone mad, and I will show you a soul departed for good. Ask me of a hundred calamities, of a hundred life transformations. Ask me of a hundred deserts engulfed in fire. Ask me of a hundred oceans red with blood.
I am an atom; you are like the countenance of the Sun for me. I am a patient of Love you are like medicine for me. Without wings, without feathers, I fly about looking for you. I have become a rose petal and you are like the wind for me. Take me for a ride.
By day I praised you and never knew it. By night I stayed with you and never knew it. I always thought that I was me–but no, I was you and never knew it.
— Jalalud’din Rumi – Seven Pearls – Hush Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi (transl. by Shahram Shiva)
A bare impersonal hush is now my mind, A world of sight clear and inimitable, A volume of silence by a Godhead signed, A greatness pure, virgin of will.
Once on its pages Ignorance could write In a scribble of intellect the blind guess of Time And cast gleam-messages of ephemeral light, A food for souls that wander on Nature’s rim.
But now I listen to a greater Word Born from the mute unseen omniscient Ray: The Voice that only Silence’ ear has heard Leaps missioned from an eternal glory of Day.
All turns from a wideness and unbroken peace To a tumult of joy in a sea of wide release.
— Sri Aurobindo – Last Poems – The Word of the Silence
I have thrown from me the whirling dance of mind
And stand now in the spirit’s silence free,
Timeless and deathless beyond creature-kind,
The centre of my own eternity.
I have escaped and the small self is dead;
I am immortal, alone, ineffable;
I have gone out from the universe I made,
And have grown nameless and immeasurable.
My mind is hushed in a wide and endless light,
My heart a solitude of delight and peace,
My sense unsnared by touch and sound and sight,
My body a point in white infinities.
I am the one Being’s sole immobile Bliss:
No one I am, I who am all that is.
Let us live in joy, not hating those who hate us. Among those who hate us, we live free of hate. Let us live in joy, free from disease among those who are diseased. Among those who are diseased, let us live free of disease. Let us live in joy, free from greed among the greedy. Among those who are greedy, we live free of greed. Let us live in joy, though we possess nothing. Let us live feeding on joy, like the bright gods.
Victory breeds hate, for the conquered is unhappy. Whoever has given up victory and defeat is content and lives joyfully.
There is no fire like lust, no misfortune like hate; there is no pain like this body; there is no joy higher than peace.
Craving is the worst disease; disharmony is the greatest sorrow. The one who knows this truly knows that nirvana is the highest bliss.
Health is the greatest gift; contentment is the greatest wealth; trusting is the best relationship; nirvana is the highest joy.
Whoever has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquillity becomes free from fear and sin while drinking the sweetness of the truth. The sight of the noble is good; to live with them is always joyful.
Whoever does not see fools will always be happy. Whoever associates with fools suffers a long time. Being with fools, as with an enemy, is always painful.
Being with the wise, like meeting with family, is joyful. Therefore, one should follow the wise, the intelligent, the learned, the patient, the dutiful, the noble; one should follow the good and wise, as the moon follows the path of the stars.
Life is but a dream! 