Have Compassionate Love for Others

Have compassionate love for others but keep it secret; do not make a display of it or talk about it. If your desires are fulfilled, do not be elated, and if you are frustrated do not be disappointed. The elation may be deceptive; it should be checked, for initial joy may end in final grief. After all, whatever happens, you remain unaffected, just as you are.
The Greatest of all Mantras

Visitor: I am taught that Mantra Japam is very potent in practice.

Bhagavan: The Self is the greatest of all mantras and goes on automatically and eternally. If you are not aware of this internal mantra, you should take to do it consciously as japam, which is attended with effort, to ward off all other thoughts. By constant attention to it, you will eventually become aware of the internal mantra, which is the state of Realisation and is effortless. Firmness in this awareness will keep you continually and effortlessly in the current, however much you may be engaged on other activities. Listening to Veda chanting and mantras has the same result as conscious repetitions of japam - its rhythm is the japam.
... Sri Ramana Maharishi

Vedantic Thought for the Month

The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation (Dhyana). In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. The touch of the soul can paint the brightest colour even in the dingiest places; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest thing; it can make the wicked divine – and all enmity; all selfishness is effaced. The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us miserable. That is the secret: To think that i am the spirit and not the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as a series of paintings, scenes on a canvas, of which I am the witness.

... The Vedanta Kesari (January 2003)

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

... Ralph Waldo Emerson

Need for Simplicity

Be straightforward in all your dealings. Give up hypocrisy and conceit. Be child-like, not childish. But be reserved and aloof in the company of worldly people, in a dignified way without being haughty. You can be full of sympathy for others in an impersonal way and yet be aloof and reserved, and not allow them to come near you in a personal way. You should not open your heart to all, but should open it to pure and spiritual souls. There is no need to wash your dirty linen in public. Bad people take advantage of your confessions and turn them against you to make your life miserable. But you can always open your heart to a wise elder, to one who is already well experienced its difficulties himself. You should never open it to wrong and worldly people. Turn to your Istam when you are in difficulties if there is no one who is experienced to turn to.

... Swami Yatishwarananda

Whenever the mind goes after anything other than God, consider that as transient and surrender the mind at the sacred feet of the Lord.
... Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi

Prayer by Sri Ramakrishna

O Mother, I throw myself at Thy mercy; I take shelter at Thy Hallowed Feet. I do not want bodily comforts: I do not crave name and fame; I do not seek the eight occult powers. Be gracious and grant that I may have pure love for Thee, a love unsmitten by desire, untainted by any selfish ends – a love craved by the devotee for the sake of love alone. And grant me the favour, O Mother, that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching maya, that I may never be attached to the world, to ‘lust’ and ‘lucre’ conjured up by Thy incrutable maya! O God, there is no one but, Thee whom I call my own. God, I do not know how to worship, I am without austerity; I have neither devotion nor knowledge. Be gracious, God and out of Thy infinite mercy grant me love for Thy Lotus Feet.

Goal

"Your goal is God. Your centre is God. Your ideal is God. Turn back to God and realise everlasting bliss. Resting on him you will be saved. As the lamp cannot burn without oil, so too, you cannot live without God. God is within you all the time, inspiring you, lifting you up. Withdraw. Aspire. Meditate. Realise."
... Swami Sivananda

One of Sundaramurti Nayanar's songs

Its meaning was:
No other support I have
except thy holy feet.
By holding on to them,
I shall win your grace.
Great men sing your praise, Oh Lord.
Grant that my tongue may repeat thy name
even when my mind strays.

... T.K. Sundaresa Iyer