1-2-3

Wonderful Shakti atmosphere during the concert of Andre Rieu.
Music: Shostakovich 'Second Waltz
It's so true. Dao De Jing, Chapter 42:

Dao gives birth to One. 

One gives birth to Two. 

Two give birth to Three. 

Three give birth to ten-thousand things.

1-2-3,1-2-3,1-2-3...

Kill Bull - 7

Happy Navratri! So, the great festival is in full swing and here is my regular post "Kill Bull"(see Kill Bull-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). This is the right time to speculate about what makes our soul to be or pretend to be a bull, and how to summon a Divine Power to take off this asuric spell.
Durga Puja offers us, in dramatic form and by means of religious ceremonial a philosophy of the spiritual life, teaching many things, including the awakening of man upon earth from animalism to a life of purity and honor. Goddess Durga's images is a perfect reflection of the eternal Power that pervades all living beings and all things on Earth. It is beautiful dramatic expression of the belief in the ultimate victory of Good over Evil and the great human aspiration for union with God.

Durga is all about struggle and strength, but how does this apply to us personally? Mystic Sandhi puja is not about the event that once was and passed, but what happens today, in the eternal now. Each individual life goes along the horizontal line from birth to death. Good or evil force shapes it, and, if it is not saint-born, his life can not develop without a struggle. Everyone has his own personal Mahishasura. Because of itself the jivatma would be a mere inert passivity, unbalanced by a positive opposite. Like in Lewis Carroll's tale we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that. But how much does it depend on our personal efforts? By and large, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on Mercy only. But I believe that this is inherent element of human nature. I want to say that the soul always seeks God. It is a fundamental necessity of the soul because its properties are the result of the union of eternal Divine basis with itself, modified by the good or evil tendencies. It is reproduced in the Durga yantra.

This is in deep correspondence with human life itself and the world we live in, which are themselves but allegories and symbols. The struggle, external or internal, is part of everything that surrounds us. But this struggle is not for survival. It's a life-and-death struggle. Literally, for the average person, and figurative for the mystic. Because this is the universal truth that mystical death must precede mystical rebirth. This is the death to one's lower self.

Gilgamesh, legendary King of the city of Uruk fighting against the Bull

Many cultures and religions, both current and past, tell us this story. According the St Paul "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live "(Rom 8:13), or the sufi saying "die before you die."
He who desires to rise to the heights of his own being must first crush his own lower nature and inclinations. Through this blessed battle, older versions of "I" may very well die.

Heracles and Cretan Bull

The message of this battle is that we need to tame the demanding self-centered beast within us and bring the power to good use. This process asks to bring the higher and lower consciousness in perfect balance, knowing that control is always in your hands, and purity in your heart. However, it has nothing to do with the confidence a person has when filled of one's own strength. Rather, it depicts the confidence of those whose blessed individuals strength is founded in God.
During the battle with the Shakti herself, (which is impossible by definition, because everything is shakti) the inertia and negativity of the soul become increasingly transmuted and superseded by the positive energy and activity of the Spirit. Like in the Yantra when the upper triangles gradually assumes preponderance over the triangle with a vertex down, signifying that the seeker becomes a more spiritually conscious being.
This battle is actually about Divine union. Divine Shakti's energy overcomes severity and uses mercy to become strong and enduring. This is called a gentle strength. Strength of having the inner-qualities of love, patience and power. And joy. When our pains of division are made up for by the joys of reunification.

Divine Wheel

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Adhyaya One
The Divine Wheel

6. We understood Him as a wheel which has one felly with a triple tyre with sixteen end-parts, fifty spokes, twenty counter-spokes, with six sets of eights, which has one rope of various forms, which has three different roads or paths and which has one revolution for two causes.

7. God is meditated upon as the wheel of this universe, and circumference of this wheel is Maya.

8. The three tyres are the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas or time, space and causation.

9. The sixteen end-parts are sixteen modifications or Vikritis, viz. the five organs of knowledge, the five organs of action and mind and the five gross elements.

10. The fifty spokes are (a) the five classes of ignorance viz., Tamas, Moha, Maha-Moha, Timira (darkness) and Andha-Timira (utter darkness); (b) The 28 disabilities; (c) the nine Tushtis or satisfactions; (d) the eight Siddhis or perfections viz., Tara, Sutara, Tarayanti, Pramoda, Pramodita, Pramodamana, Ramyaka and Satpramodita.

11. The twenty counter-spokes are the ten senses and their ten objects.

12. Six sets of eight: (1) the eight producers of the Sankhya eightfold Prakriti viz. the five elements, mind, intellect and egoism. (2) the eight constituent parts of the body or Dhatus viz. external skin, internal skin, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen. (3) Ashtasiddhis or eight superhuman powers viz., Anima, Mahima etc. (4) Eight mental states (Bhava) viz., virtue, unrighteousness, knowledge, ignorance, dispassion, attachment, super- human power and want of superhuman power. (5) The eight deities viz., Brahma, Prajapati, Devas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Pitris and Pisachas. (6) The eight virtues of the soul, viz. compassion, forbearance, absence of jealousy, purity, freedom from fatigue, auspiciousness, freedom from poverty, and desirelessness. (7) Three different roads are virtue, vice and knowledge. (8) The rope is desire.

13. We understand Him as a river of five sources, impetuous and crooked, whose waves are the five Pranas or vital breaths, whose original source is the fivefold perception, which has five whirlpools, which is impelled by the velocity of the fivefold misery or pain, which is divided by the five kinds of misery, and which has five turnings or branches.

The five senses represent the five streams.

The five Pranas represent the waves.

The five objects of the senses viz., sound, touch etc. are called whirlpools, because the individual souls get drowned in them.

The five kinds of pain are the pain arising from existence in the womb, from birth, old age, disease and death.

14. In the infinite wheel of Brahman in which everything lives and rests, the pilgrim-soul, or the reincarnating self is whirled about when it thinks that it and the supreme Ruler are different or separate. It attains immortality when it is blessed or favoured by Him.

15. This is verily declared as the supreme Brahman. In that is the triad. It is the firm support. It is the indestructible. By knowing what is therein, the knowers of Brahman become devoted to Brahman, merge themselves in it and are liberated from birth.

16. The triad are the world, the individual soul and the supreme Soul. The triad are the enjoyer, the objects of enjoyment and the supreme Soul. It may mean also the waking state, dream and deep sleep.

Who Was Great In The World

Photo from here

"...No one who was great in the world will be forgotten, but everyone was great in his own way, and everyone in proportion to the greatness of that which he loved. He who loved himself became great by virtue of himself, and he who loved other men became great by his devotedness, but he who loved God became the greatest of all. Everyone shall be remembered, but everyone became great in proportion to his expectancy. One became great by expecting the possible, another by expecting the eternal; but he who expected the impossible became the greatest of all. Everyone shall be remembered, but everyone was great wholly in proportion to the magnitude of that with which he struggled. For he who struggled with the world became great by conquering the world, and he who struggled with himself became great by conquering himself, but he who struggled with God became the greatest of all. Thus did they struggle in the world, man against man, one against thousands, but he who struggled with God was the greatest of all. Thus did they struggle on earth: there was one who conquered everything by his power, and there was one who conquered God by his powerlessness. There was one who relied upon himself and gained everything; there was one who in the security of his own strength sacrificed everything; but the one who believed God was the greatest of all. There was one who was great by virtue of his power, and one who was great by virtue of his hope, and one who was great by virtue of his love, but Abraham was the greatest of all, great by that power whose strength is powerlessness, great by that wisdom which is foolishness, great by that hope whose form is madness, great by the love that is hatred to oneself.”

--- by Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Without Stepping on The Flowers

Painting by Marc Chagall

From Muhammad Iqbal ’s "Zabur-i ‘Aj am".

Who caused all the uproar in this ancient temple?
For, its chord-wearing devotees are full of lament like the flute.
In the huts of the poor and in the mansions of the rich,
There are sorrows that would arch one's back in youth.
Where is the cure —for the pain gets worse with the cure;
Knowledge is but pretense, illusion, and magic.
Without a flux of water, Adam's boat will not row—
Every heart has a thousand fights to pick with the boatman
Do not ask me to recount the journey of my life;
I reconciled myself to pain and passed on, singing lyrics.
Mingling my breath with the breeze of dawn,
I toured this garden without stepping on the flowers.
Detached from town and street, yet spread out in town and street—
I watched this inn with the eyes of the moon.

Enter the Door - 18

While you keep certain doors open, such as the door of imagining that you can dominate your own learning with insufficient tools, you cannot open – and go through – the door of a greater understanding. This is why Saadi, for instance, says (in his Bostan, The Orchard): ‘The door of illumination is open to those for whom other doors are closed.’

---by Idries Shah  "The Commanding Self"

I See

I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasure of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles.
I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags.
I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot.
I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians.
I discern the highest conception of emancipation as golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated one as flowers appearing in one's eyes.
I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime.
I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.

---by Gautama Buddha

The Ear of The Ear

The Kena Upanishad, Part 1, Verse 3 with Shankara’s Commentary.

na tatra cakṣurgacchati na vāggacchati no mano na vidmo na vijānīmo yathaitadanuśiṣyādanyadeva tadviditādatho aviditādadhi | 
iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṃ ye nastadvyācacakṣire || 3 ||
The eye does not go there, nor speech, nor mind. We do not know That. We do not know how to instruct one about It. It is distinct from the known and above the unknown. We have heard it so stated by preceptors who taught us that. 

Shankara’s Commentary:

For the reason that the Brahman is the ear of the ear, i.e., the Atman of all. the eye cannot go to the Brahman; for it is not possible to go to one’s own self. Similarly speech does not go there. When a word spoken by the mouth enlightens the object denoted by it, then the word is said to go to that object. But the Atman of that word and of the organ that utters it is the Brahman. So the word does not go there. Just as fire that burns and enlightens things does not either enlighten or burn itself, so the mind, which wills and determines in respect of external objects, cannot will or determine in respect of its self, because its Atman is also the Brahman. A thing is cognised by the senses and the mind. We do not, therefore, know the Brahman, because it cannot be an object of perception to these; and we do not, therefore, know what the Brahman is like, so as to allow us to enlighten the disciple about the Brahman. Whatever can be perceived by the senses, it is possible to explain to others by epithets denoting its class, its attributes and modes of activity; but the Brahman has no attributes of class, etc. It, therefore, follows that it is not possible to make the disciple believe in the Brahman by instruction. The portion of the text beginning with ‘Navidmah’ (we do not know) shows the necessity of putting forth great exertion in the matter of giving instruction and understanding it, in respect of the Brahman. Considering that the previous portion of the text leads to the conclusion that it is impossible by any means to instruct one about the Atman, the following exceptional mode is pointed out. Indeed it is true that one cannot be persuaded to believe in the Brahman by the evidence of the senses and other inodes of proof; but it is possible to make him believe by the aid of Agamas (Scriptures). Therefore the preceptor recites Agamas for the purpose of teaching about the Brahman and says: ‘It is something distinct from the known and something beyond the unknown, etc.’ ‘Anyat,’ ‘something distinct’; ‘Tat,’ ‘the present theme i.e., that which has been defined to be the ear of the ear, etc., and beyond their (ear. eye, etc.,) reach. That is certainly distinct from the known. ‘The known,’ means ‘whatever is the object of special knowledge;’ and as all such objects can be known somewhere, to some extent and by some one and so forth, the whole (manifested universe) is meant by the term ‘the known;’ the drift is, that the Brahman is distinct from this. But lest the Brahnan should be confounded with the unknown, the text says: ‘It is beyond the Unknown.’ ‘Aviditat’ means ‘something opposed to the known;’ hence, unmanitested illusion (avidya) the seed of all manifestation. ‘Adhi’ literally means ‘above’ but is here used in the derivative sense of ‘something different from for, it is well known that one thing placed above another is something distinct from that other.

In Front of Mirror

"If you prostrate youself a hundred times in front of a mirror, it never moves from its place. If any ugliness has appeared in the mirror, know that it is your own; do not despise the mirror. Hide the fault that you see on his face from him, because he is my friend. With the tongue of the heart, he says, “Surely, this is not possible.”

Now, O friend, you say, “Place the mirror into my hand so that I may look at it!” Yet I cannot find a pretext for this, nor can I deny your request; but i say in my own heart, “Let me find some pretext not to give you the mirror, because if I say that there is something wrong with your face, perhaps you will not accept it; and if you say that the mirror is defective, this will be worse for you.” Yet love does not allow me to find a pretext. Now I say, “Let me give you the mirror, but if you see some fault on its face, do not blame the mirror, but something reflected onto the mirror. Know that it is your own image; find the fault in yourself! At least don’t look into the mirror while you are near me. The only condition is that you do not find fault with the mirror. If you are unable to find the fault in yourself, at least find fault with me, as i am the owner of the mirror. Don’t say the mirror is defective.”

“I accept the condition. I promise, I cannot wait any longer!” And yet his heart does not accept it....
But finally, after all these words, when he ws given the mirror, he, himself, just ran away. ...
the mirror was rebuking him with the tongue of its own heart: You see? What did I tell you? And what are you doing to me? You love yourself and find fault with the mirror. Because the one who loves his or her own ego respects only the ego, while the one who loves the mirror, gives up both ego and mirror.

The mirror is the Truth, Itself. He thinks the mirror is someone other than himself. The mirror answers anyone who addresses It. Due to the inclination of the mirror, he also has an inclination toward the mirror. If he, on the other hand, had broken the mirror, he would have broken me too. Hasn’t it been said, “I am near to those whose hearts have been broken”? In short, it is impossible for the mirror to bow down and honor itself. It is like a touchstone or a balance; it always inclines toward the Truth."

---from "The Conversations" (Maqalat) of Shams of Tabriz

Five Gates by Daoxin

Know this: Buddha is this mind. Outside of this mind there is no Buddha. Briefly, I suggest that there are five basic principles.

First: Know the essence of mind. The essential nature is pure. The essence is itself Buddha.

Second: Know the function of mind. Its function gives rise to the jewel of Dharma. It functions without obstruction, but is always still; even the ten thousand delusions are in essence just this.

Third: Constant Awakening is without end. The Awakening mind is always present. The Teaching of this Awakening is without form.

Fourth: Always know the body is empty and tranquil. Inside and outside are transparent to each other. Your body arises in the midst of ultimate reality. There have never been obstacles.

Fifth: Keep unified-mindfulness without deviation. Both movement and stillness go nowhere.

Those who practice this will clearly see their Buddha-nature and enter into the gate of practice without hesitation.

---by the Fourth AncestorZen Patriarch Dayi Daoxin (580-651)

Surrender to Сhanges

"Instead of resisting to changes, surrender. Let life be with you, not against you. If you think ‘My life will be upside down’ don’t worry. How do you know down is not better than upside? A good man complains of no one; he does not look to faults. A life without love is of no account. Don't ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, eastern or western…divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water. The universe is a complete unique entity. Everything and everyone is bound together with some invisible strings. Do not break anyone’s heart; do not look down on weaker than you. One’s sorrow at the other side of the world can make the entire world suffer; one’s happiness can make the entire world smile. Most of conflicts and tensions are due to language. Don't pay so much attention to the words. In love’s country, language doesn't have its place. Love's mute."

---by Shams Tabrizi (1185–1248)

Mirroring of God

From the work Periphyseon (On the Division of Nature) by John Scotus Eriugena (815-877), an Irish theologian and philosopher.

I declare that man consists of one and the same rational soul conjoined to the body in a mysterious manner, and that it is by a certain wonderful and intelligible division that man himself is divided into two parts, in one of which he is created in the image and likeness of the Creator, and participates in no animality … while in the other he communicates with the animal nature and was produced out of the earth, that is to say, out of the common nature of all things, and is included in the universal genus of animals. IV.754a-b.
The highest dignity for human nature is that it uniquely mirrors transcendent divine nature. Only of human nature can it be said that it is made in the image and likeness of God. Not even the angels are accorded that honor, so in a sense man is greater than the angels. Human nature may even require the application of affirmative and negative propositions: Man is an animal and man is not an animal (IV.758b).
Human nature in this respects resembles the divine nature which too is ‘both beyond all things and in all things’
For just as God is both beyond all things and in all things - for He Who only truly is, is the essence of all things, and while He is whole in all things He does not cease to be whole beyond all things, whole in the world, whole around the world, whole in the sensible creature, whole in the intelligible creature, whole creating the universe, whole created in the universe, whole in the whole of the universe and whole in its parts, since He is both the whole and the part, just as He is neither the whole nor the part — in the same way human nature in its own world (in its own subsistence) in its own universe and in its invisible and visible parts is whole in itself, and whole in its whole, and whole in its parts, and its parts are whole in themselves and whole in the whole. (Periphyseon, IV.759a-b).

Renouncing the Fruits

From the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2

47.karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadacana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango 'stv akarmani
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
48.yoga-sthah kuru karmani
sangam tyaktva dhananjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva
samatvam yoga ucyate
Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
49.durena hy avaram karma
buddhi-yogad dhananjaya
buddhau saranam anviccha
krpanah phala-hetavah
O Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.
50.buddhi-yukto jahatiha
ubhe sukrta-duskrte
tasmad yogaya yujyasva
yogah karmasu kausalam
A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.
51.karma-jam buddhi-yukta hi
phalam tyaktva manisinah
janma-bandha-vinirmuktah
padam gacchanty anamayam
The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.

Enter the Door - 16

An Arab Chief tells the story of a spy who had been captured and sentenced to death by a general of the Persian army. The general had fallen upon a strange and weird custom. He permitted the condemned person to make a choice. He could either face the firing squad or pass through the Black Door.

As the moment of execution drew near, the general ordered the spy to be brought before him for a short, final interview, the primary purpose of which was to receive the answer of the doomed man to the query: "Which shall it be -- the firing squad or the Black Door?"

This was not an easy question, and the prisoner hesitated, but soon made it known that he much preferred the firing squad. Not long thereafter a volley of shots in the courtyard announced that the grim sentence had been fulfilled.

The general, staring at his boots, turned to his aide and said, "You see how it is with men, they will always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of people to be afraid of the undefined. And yet I gave him his choice."

"What lies beyond the Black Door?" asked the aide.

"Freedom," replied the general, "and I've known only a few men brave enough to take it."

Self Without Characteristics

From the Sri Shivarahasya Purana, Chapter 28 entitle 'The topic of the Self being without characteristics"

21. Devoid of all bodies am I.   Bereft of all actions, am I.  I am the peaceful Self of all mantras, beyond all the inner faculties.  

22.  I am devoid of all invocations.  I am the illuminator of all the gods. I am the Self devoid of all ablutions.  I am the one, the foremost and without a second.

23.  In the sacred center of the Self, in the sacred waters of the Self, in the mind overcome by the bliss of the Self, realizing that I am the Self alone, I repose and revel
in the Self.

24. The Self alone is the enjoyment for the Self, the contented Self, the happy Self.
The Self alone is the Self of the Self.  The Self alone am I, the supreme.

25.  I am the Self, I am the Self that I am.  I am the Self not of the world.  I am the Self of all. I am the perpetual Self. I am the eternal Self different from qualities.

26.  Meditate thus regularly.  Meditate always thus for accomplishment. The goal is ever attained as simply awareness.  That is just certitude.  Even that certainty shall subside. Be happy by yourself.

27.  O Lord!  The innumerable Vedas with their diverse branches proclaim you alone, the only one, variously as Vishnu, Indra, Brahma, Yama the god of Death, Agni the fire god, Vayu the god of air, the Lord of beings and the Lord of the hosts.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Love Your Difficulties

"Ladder to Heaven" Icon of 13th century

From the book "Unseen Warfare" originally written by Lorenzo Scupoli in 1589, but adapted and translated by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Saint Theophan the Recluse.
Chapter "One should love those opportunities of practising virtue which are particularly difficult"

On no account, beloved, must you flee from what may he a chance for acquiring virtue. On the contrary, whenever such a chance offers itself, you should accept it with joy, regarding as best and most welcome such things as are unpleasant to your heart and evoke no sympathy in you. I predict that, with God’s help, you will actually do so, if you engrave deeply in your mind the following thoughts.
First, you should realise that the opportunities for virtue you meet with are the best means you can have for acquiring it, given you by God in answer to your prayer. Having formed a desire to gain virtue, you have, of course, prayed God to grant it to you; and in praying for it, you could not avoid praying also for the methods and means of acquiring this gift. But God does not give, for instance, the virtue of patience without afflictions, nor the virtue of humility without humbling occasions of degradation and dishonour. So, after your prayer about these virtues, He sends you corresponding opportunities. What are you doing, then, in running away and avoiding them ? You reject God’s help for which you prayed, and mock the gift of God.
So decide to welcome gladly the chances you meet for virtue, and the more gladly, the more difficulties they offer. For in such cases our virtuous actions evoke great courage and reveal great moral strength; and through this we make each time a considerable step forward on the path of virtue, which alone should be our constant aim.[...]
Secondly, make firm in yourself the conviction and faith, that all things happening to us happen according to God’s will and for our profit, so that we may gain thereby a certain spiritual fruit. Although we cannot suppose that some things, such as our sins and those of other people, are a direct result of a willed action of God’s, yet even they do not happen without God’s leave, as means of admonishing and humbling us. As regards sufferings and afflictions, which are our own fault or due to the malice of others—God Himself sends them, desiring us to suffer and be tormented by then), in order to gain the blessing of virtue, which we are bound to earn if we endure as we should the trial He has sent us. The same applies to other judgments of His, hidden from us, but doubtless right and blessed. Thus, convinced that God Himself wishes you to endure the hardship and grief, which assails you, either arising from the evil nature of other people, or invited by your own wrong actions, you will cease to think and say as some others do: no, this does not come from God, it is unjust and criminal, and God does not want crime and turns away with loathing from it and from those who commit it. By this they want to justify their lack of patience and the gusts of anger and feelings of revenge they feel at the sight of injustice; but in actual fact the only thing they achieve is to rebel against God’s ordinance and to attempt to cast off the life-saving cross, imposed on them by God for their own good, instead of shouldering it with a good heart, which would undoubtedly be pleasing to
Him. ... So make it a rule for yourself:— when you meet with injustices, injuries and attacks, pay no attention to them, however wrong your offenders may be, but keep your attention firmly on one thing alone—that God let this happen for your good and that you will deprive yourself of this good if you admit impatience, irritation or contention in connection with it. And do not try to analyse the exact reason why God has allowed this. Do you believe that God is always right and merciful? Then believe that on this occasion too He shows you justice and mercy, although you do not see how. ...
The Lord has laid it on your shoulders in the present grievous case. Do not say, it is too heavy; God knows better the measure of your strength. To some God sends trials and sorrows, brought about by circumstances and in no way dependent on people; these are more easily borne. To others He sends those causes by people, and they are harder, especially when we cannot take the grief caused to us as unintentional, and still harder when we have done some good to those people. The last case is the hardest to bear. If God sends you this, know that it is precisely what is most useful for you, and to this realisation add the inspiring thought: God sees that you are strong enough to bear it and expects you actually to bear it with a good heart, without complaining. So do not disappoint God’s expectation.
I must add that God prefers us to endure afflictions coming from the evil nature of people, especially from those to whom we have done some good, rather than those which are the accidental result of unfavourable circumstances. Why? Because our native pride is more easily subdued and exterminated by the former than by the latter. And also because, if obedience to God’s will is the chief thing in our spiritual doing, there is no better way of provoking and manifesting it to a greater degree than in such cases, if we bear them with a good heart, giving warm thanks to God for sending them, since they are truly a great blessing, thus testifying to our complete obedience to the Divine will, and to an ardent zeal in conforming ourselves in everything to this will.
This disposition precedes the visitation of rigorous trials. Seeing the birth of such a disposition and wishing to make it stronger and more deeply rooted, God sends us a cup of the strongest temptations, which, when borne with willingness, good heart and gladness, always brings this blessed spiritual fruit. Therefore, knowing this, wishing and seeking it, we must accept this cup from the hands of God, shutting the eyes of inquisitiveness, and, with complete faith, clearly see in it the great love of God for us and the assurance of our spiritual progress. Thus we must drain it with joy, the more willingly the more bitter is its taste.

Crowded House of Prayer

A quite realistic parable about Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), a Jewish mystical rabbi.

Once the Baal Shem stopped on the threshold of a House of Prayer and refused to go in.  “I cannot go in,” he said.  “It is crowded with teachings and prayers from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.  How could there be room for me?”

And when he saw that those around him were staring at him and did not know what he meant, he added: “The words from the lips of those whose teaching and praying does not come from the hearts lifted to heaven, cannot rise, but fill the house from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.”

Masha'Allah! Also can recall the words of the Sufi Bayazid Bistami who said: "The thickest veils between man and Allah are the wise man’s wisdom, the worshiper’s worship and the devotion of the devout."

Now I Become Myself

Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before—"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!

--- by May Sarton (1912-1995)

The Leopards in the Temple

A Parable about our Kali-Yuga reality by Franz Kafka from his "Parables and Paradoxes"(1961).

Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the sacrificial pitchers; 
this is repeated over and over again; 
finally it can be calculated in advance, 
and it becomes a part of the ceremony.

Eternity

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

---by William Blake (1757 - 1827)