LIFE IS A GIFT - POEM BY LALLA

Life is given.
Nothing is earned,
so learn to serve others,
not your own desire and greed
and ego. They steal your energies,
whereas devotion builds your strength
and protects the intelligent flame
that leads to the truth within.

- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic


From Naked Song
Versions by Coleman Barks

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Love, by Lalita

"In love there is no need or absence of anything. Love radiates, gives, relieves, uplifts, cares, shares, and is grateful. Love spreads joy. It does not seek self-glorification or pleasure fulfillment. Love is a state of being within your own heart - not something to attain from others, like approval or attention. May your heart be filled with love today, and may that bring joy to those around you."

- Lalita

Please enjoy our websites at http://www.peacethroughkindness.com

"My heart has become capable of every form; it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks, and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Ka'ba, and the tablets of the Torah and the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take, that is my religion and my faith."
- Ibn al-Arab, Ibn-Al-Arabi: The Bezels of Wisdom (Classics of Western Spirituality Series)

I think the world today is upside-down and is suffering so much because there is so very little love in the homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other.
– Mother Teresa of Calcutta,
Mother Teresa: In My Own Words

"The Earth" by Rabindranath Tagore

Take me,
O Earth, again to that thy wholeness where
Life sprouts and buds and blossoms every day
In a hundred thousand ways, where songs are sung
To a hundred million tunes, and dances throb
To beats of innumerable symphonies...

Will not my joy of soul add just a shade
Of greenness to thy lovely woods? a spark
Of brightness to thy morning rays?...Will not
The forest, in a hundred years from now,
Carry my heart-throb in the tender folds
Of its green foliage?...

And will not the men
And women who will live in far-off times
Find something of me in them? Shall not I
Appear upon their faces as the light
Of smile? as youthful freshness in their limbs?
As sudden gladness in their sweet spring days?
As the soft glow of love in warm young hearts?...

I have not had enough. There yet remains
A mystery unsolved, a wonder still
Unguessed. I am, Earth-Mother, in thy arms
A child that looks astonished at thy face.

~ Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

"Lost in the Sky of Love"

The shadows of evening fall thick
and deep, and the darkness of love
envelops the body and the mind.
Open the window to the west, and be
lost in the sky of love;
Drink the sweet honey that steeps the
petals of the lotus of the heart.
Receive the waves in your body: what
splendor is in the region of the
sea!
Hark! the sounds of conches and bells
are rising.
Kabir says: "O brother, behold! the
Lord is in this vessel of my body."

~ Kabir, The Mystic in Love : A Treasury of Mystical Poems by Gross, Shelley

One positive seed-thought
Has saved me,
My entire life:
My Lord Supreme
Will always love me
No matter what I do
Or what I say
Or even what I become.

Excerpt from Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 9 by Sri Chinmoy

God Is...: Selected Writings of Sri Chinmoy

Quotes of Oneness

“There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“We want to lead mankind in the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this is to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of The Religion, which is Oneness, so that each may choose that path that suits him best.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

“The candles are many, but the light is one.” ~ Rumi

“Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it ‘jal’. From another ghat the Mussalmāns take water in leather bags and call it ‘pāni’. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it ‘water’. Suppose someone says that the thing is not ‘jal’ but ‘pāni’, or that it is not ‘pāni’ but ‘water’, or that it is not ‘water’ but ‘jal’, It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.” ~ Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

“I came to the conclusion long ago … that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu … But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian.” ~ M. K. Gandhi

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” ~ Albert Einstein

“When the flow of life becomes spontaneous, it is always surcharged with the glory of pure love and service. What a splendid gift is human life!”

~Swami Ramdas,

The Essential Swami Ramdas (Library of Perennial Philosophy)