Quotes 2006
(Kam’s notes)
There are many systems of touch, but healers around Osho, regardless of their particular view, have on thing in common – an ability to touch which arises out of the moment and not out of a formula, a recipe.
Anon
Asked what does she say to God when she prays Mother Teresa said,
I don’t say anything. I just listen.
No work, no food.
Zen master-Hyakujyo Nehan-8th century
Moreover, suffering has good qualities.
Because of sorrow, pride is dispelled,
Compassion arises for those trapped in samsara,
Evil is shunned, & joy is found in virtue.
Shantideva
Benefits of seeking solitude
Shantideva describes the longing a dharma practitioner has for a place of solitude in the following manner & we should pray to be able to find & live in such a place as well:
Having left the childish people of the world behind, where shall I dwell? In solitude where there is no one to interrupt my dharma practice. The trees, birds, animals & other forest dwellers will never hinder me but rather will benefit me by serving as objects for my renunciation & loving-kindness, which will increase daily. I shall receive nothing unpleasant from these forest folk.
When shall I dwell in the cave where there is no foundation for clinging to arise? In empty shrines or at the foot of trees, unattached to family & not looking back – when shall I come to dwell like that? When shall I dwell in that place not owned by others, which causes no arguments & allows me to meditate for as long as I like? A clean open place where I can dwell without attachment to my body & possessions. When shall I be able to live without fear, with nothing but a begging bowl, a cooking pot & some poor clothes, of no use to no others & not desiring anything? If I abide in this way, I shall not even have to protect or hide my body. There is no danger from thieves or robbers since I shall possess nothing that anyone else would want.
Shantideva
The sage has few errors,
The superior man changes his errors,
The petty man covers his errors,
The foolish man sees no errors.
Unknown
This fault I see is not the fault of the person,
But the fault of delusion.
Realising this, may I never view other’s faults,
But see all beings as supreme.
Unknown
It is a fact that the fossilized heads of primitive men never show the slightest trace of tooth decay. This degenerative disease has made its appearance only in relatively recent times, evidently from the time when man ceased to nourish himself in a natural manner.
The yoga exercises should be performed as though by someone else, as though by a person whose success or failure were a matter of indifference to you.
While we sit thus motionless, breathing easily, we discipline our thoughts & concentrate ourselves consciously upon the heart. In this way, we accumulate a store of energy, like water in a dammed up river. Not thinking, not speaking & not acting are the creators of mighty positive forces.
Complete muscular relaxation is followed by a slowing down or even suspension of the thought-stream.
All yoga exercises should be performed quite unemotionally, in a detached manner, without any desire to succeed or apprehension of failing.
Much of the success in yoga training depends upon this condition of affective indifference to results.
We refer to the third dentition. There are cases where a third growth of teeth occurs around the seventieth year of life. This happens generally to people who afterwards attain a ripe old age. These unexpected teeth are usually not very solid & do not last very long.
Every repetition of the sexual act means a corresponding shortening of the remaining years.
The voluntary control of sexual activity is considered by hatha-yoga as one of the most important, if not the most important means of prolonging youth & life itself.
A tense muscle denotes anxiety.
In this he had the help of the third lung, the skin.
Prana automatically follows consciousness.
The earth releases negative radiation while from the cosmos we receive positive rays. The secret of inversions extraordinary effect is partly due to the fact that we receive the cosmic radiations in reverse.
Whosoever does his duty in such a way that he is willing to give up even his own life to it, he is a true karma-yogi.
An act of the will, in regard to our mental world, usually gives rise to a thought the exact opposite to the one desired. Repression through an act of will, of the thought of lust, for example, stimulates lust.
The mechanism of the world is a dangerous machine; once we are in its clutches, we are in danger of being crushed by it.
The law of sattva, the law of the pendulum, is everywhere & characteristic of life. Inspiration is followed by expiration, work by play, extraversion by introversion.
Those who believe that we work in order to improve the world, to ‘make the world a better place to live in’ etc., are in error. The world cannot be helped. The same needs & cares it had a thousand years ago it has today & will still have a thousand years from now. All we do, in this respect, is to move the problems from one place to another, that is all. When the waves rise in one place, they fall in another. And as with waves , so with fortune & misfortune, divided in the world, but their sum is always in balance.
“What do you want with the world? It is made. The Lord of creation has thought of everything.”
Every generation tries to change & reform the world, but it remains as inadequate as ever.
To live consciously is to live in the present.
When the heart thinks & the brain feels, there is inspiration & intuition.
Jnana yoga follows the path of negation, of analysis. All the tools of our consciousness are examined one by one, & one by one it is recognised: I am not this, nor that. And thus we arrive at the core of our being, recognising it as the “I”. It is a rocky road along an abyss.
Only as long as we believe to be of this world can the world have power over us.
We come out of freedom, are bound for a while & we return to freedom.
Alain from yoga for perfect health
The husband loves not his wife, but only the God in her.
Vedas
It is a matter of indifference what the world thinks of religious experience; he who possesses it has a treasure, the source of life, intelligence & beauty, lending the world & humanity a new sense.
C. G. Jung
The Self, free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless, real of desire, real of purpose –that Self is to be sought after & inquired about, The Self is to be realised. The being who is seen in the eye – that is the Self. That is deathless, that is fearless & that is Brahman.
They have gone away without comprehending the Self. Whosoever follows this doctrine, as it is false, must surely perish.
The doctrine of the demons-The body alone should be served.
Prajapati
Man is made entirely of desire. As is his desire, so is his will; as is his will, so is his action; and as is his action, so will he fare.
Upanishads
Behind this world show, behind these physical phenomena, behind these names & forms, behind these feelings, thoughts, emotions & sentiments there dwells the silent witness, thy immortal friend.......That is the Self.
Is there not a higher form of bliss than the transitory & illusory pleasures of this world?
Is there not a more dignified life than the life of the senses? How uncertain is life here?
Swami Sivananda
Hatha yoga is only intended for those who need to be purged of impurities.
Shankaracharya
The various practices of hatha yoga have their ending when they result in raja-yoga.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The seven accomplishments of the body are:
1. 6 actions leading to purity-general cleansing, neti, vasti, lauliki, trataka, kapalabhati
2. Asana leading to firmness
3. Mudra leading to solidity
4. Pranayama leading to lightness
5. Sense-withdrawal leading to steadiness
6. Meditation leading to sensitiveness
7. Samadhi leading to undefiledness
Gherandaa Samita
A tortoise breathes about 3 times per minute
A human breathes about 16 times per minute
A horse breathes about 16 times per minute
A duck breathes about 20 times per minute
A cat breathes about 24 times per minute
A dog breathes about 28 times per minute
Hen breathes about 30 times per minute
A monkey breathes about 30 times per minute
In general the slower breathing animals are generally less excitable & long lived than the faster breathing ones.
Some have stated that the tongue can be sufficiently lengthened for entering the hole (skull) without cutting it at all. (cutting-6 months to 3 yrs)
Rub the gums of the teeth with the essence of the acacia catechu (khadira) plant, likewise clean earth, until all impurities are removed.
Let him find in his heart a broad ocean of nectar.
Region of earth-from feet to knees
Region of water-from knees to anus
Region of fire-from anus to heart
Region of air-from the heart to the eyebrow centre
Region of ether-from eyebrow centre to the crown of the head
Whenever there comes about a collapse of dharma & the uprising of adharma, then I emanate myself. (Krishna)
The aspirant who watches himself will find that he is only interested in being.
As to the devotees, there are four kinds, who are all good people:
He who is distressed, he who desires knowledge, he who seeks wealth, & he who has knowledge.
Ernest wood from yoga
98% of all the atoms in your body are replaced within one year.
Your body creates a new stomach lining every 5 days
Your body creates a new skin in one month
Your body creates a new liver every 6 weeks
Your body creates a new skeleton in three months
Science has proven that 99.99% of your body is empty space &
99.99% of the entire universe is also empty space.
Your thoughts instantly become your body.
Unknown source
The four healthy lifestyle characteristics that are seen in only 3 % of the population are:
1. Non-smoking
2. Healthy weight
3. 5 or more vegies/fruit per day
4. Exercise more than 30 mins/ 5 days a week
What doctors don’t tell you
Radiation
Radiation increase causes cell death, cell-mutation development & cancerous cells.
At 39,000ft the total radiation is about 64 times greater than at sea level.
Nuclear power workers receive 1.6 msv per year extra.
Airline crew receive 1-4 msv per year extra.
Figures from the National Radiological Protection Board show that the average yearly dose to UK aircrew is approx. 2.6 msv – the equivalent to 130 chest x-rays
Passengers & crew on transatlantic flights receive an average radiation dose equivalent to a chest x-ray.
Two studies indicate an increase in the risk of melanoma & breast cancer in females.
Another study showed that pilots seemed to be 3 times more likely to develop skin cancer & an increase in prostate cancer.
Dental x-rays 15mrem or .15msv
Chest x-rays 10mrem or .1msv
Mammogram 70mrem or .7msv
Natural sources of radiation 300mrem or 3msv
People in the US receive an average of 360 mrem of radiation per year from natural & man-made radiation sources.
Man-made radiation
Tobacco, TV, x-rays, smoke detectors, thorium in lantern mantles, nuclear materials, building materials, luminous watches, C.A.T scans, luggage screening systems, emergency lighting, computer monitors, etc.
Long-term exposure to cosmic radiation triples a commercial airline pilots chance of developing nuclear cataracts.
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You are 30 times more likely to be killed riding on a motorcycle.
In 2006 there were 8 million people in prison world-wide.
In 2006 28% of the adult population used tobacco, 4% used cannabis & 1% other drugs.
In 2006 335 million people used illegal drugs.
In 2002 military expenditure was 950 billion dollars
Various internet sources
There is more to life than simply increasing its speed
Gandhi
Those that are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of very vivid & fixed dream visions, so that those who are most ignorant think they know most.
Theodotus
The only reality of each life is “impersonal witnessing”
Fast track evolution-Just ignore the mind.
Clive Sheridan
The number one predictor of divorce is habitual avoidance of conflict. And what’s sad is the reason we avoid conflict is because we believe it will cause divorce.
Diane Sollee - www.smartmarriages.com
Krishnamacharya struggled to maintain the yoga school, but in 1950 it closed. A 60 year old yoga teacher, krishnamacharya found himself in the difficult position of having to start over again.
Krishnamacharya continued to study, teach & evolve his yoga in near obscurity.
Although Krishnamacharya praised Iyengar’s skill at asana practice at Iyengar’s 60th brithday celebration, he also suggested that it was time for Iyengar to relinguish asana & focus on meditation.
In fact, Iyengar says, he (Iyengar) was so obsessed that some of his neighbours & family considered him mad.
Yoga journal-May/June 2001
Childhood needs (often unmet)
Sense of safety
Physical touching
Attention
Mirroring
Guidance
Listening
Acceptance
Freedom to be ourself
Tolerance to our feelings
Validation
Respect
Support
Trust
Nurturing
Unconditional love
Charles Whitfield
This is the tyranny of marriage: the vows which bind us allow us to become our worst selves. There is no loneliness like marriage.
Dani Shapiro-picturing the wreck
To know the not-self in one’s nature is the pathway to knowledge of the Self.
Life in matter is a series of crisis & resolutions.
Man, in his own true nature, is eternally free & blissful; he needs but to realise this truth & know himself, by withdrawing from everything other than his Self.
No individual can ultimately fail. The divinity which descends into humanity is bound to re-gain its original state.
What we call ‘willing’ is but an inflation of ourselves, attended by a hardening.
When I have no will of my own, I can act with the strongest will in the world.
Obstacles may check action, but they cannot check the will behind the possible action.
Only a disinterested search can result in Truth, for every form of self-interest will lead to a creation which will serve that self-interest.
Truth is a “pathless land,” because intuition is pathless.
Happy is the man who can say: the self in me has vanished, & Truth has taken its place.
You must lose your heart & look for it in every quarter. When you find it, you will know it as the heart of all things.
There is but one essence of Beauty; it moulds all beautiful things.
The essence of beauty has to be a subtly harmonious polarity of opposites, which calls for a sensitiveness that is all-pervading.
It is only when our sensibilities have come to a pint of refinement where they make a perfect bridge between that which eternally is & that which is not, that we shall know what is Absolute Beauty.
I bury myself in all that is dark & suppressed; I am resurrected in all that is fair & beautiful.
There is such a thing as a stairway of beauty, a progressive appreciation & sense of the beautiful.
All beauty springs from the same source, & all things beautiful are secretly in affinity with one another.
Whatever the graduations by which the One becomes the Many, by those same graduations the many have to re-become the One.
Nourished by a sense of Unity, you will be able to digest the differences.
There is a pure happiness that arises out of virtue, right living, life without fears, without wants, & without possession, but only with divine simplicity.
The Reality is within ourselves, but it requires a consciousness purified of the dross of desire & indulgences to feel it & to know it.
If we are peace-minded, we enjoy peace within, even when there is conflict & violence without.
The greatest help that we can give to our fellow human beings throughout the world is to live a life which is natural in the utmost of the term, beautiful in that naturalness, yet profound & integrated & therefore simple.
Man’s true greatness lies in being nothing, in abolishing himself, while his good works spread on every side.
Humility is a condition of uttermost self-forgetting, an intensely sensitive spiritual state.
The less we use the world for our own purposes & depend upon it as a parasite, the more we shall be able to sympathise with those who are in it, & help them in their struggles.
A person who wants nothing can give all.
Wanting nothing for yourself, you are able to go out & meet all; seeking not to become anything in particular, you become your true Self.
The more different I am from others, the more I need to be supplemented by them in the work.
Spirituality is the golden mean of self-abnegation.
The truly spiritual person conforms to a pattern all their own.
To him who treads the Path the present is ever the present, without any of the dregs of the past. He begins anew all the time.
The spiritual man is a man re-born in Spirit, who thus regains his lost innocence, his youthfulness & simplicity, but never to lose them again.
There is a way of living vitally, freshly, originally, spontaneously & dynamically that life becomes a transformation, a state of perpetual joy, native ecstasy which nothing can take away.
Release yourself from fears born of unhappy memories, equally from pre-conceived hopes of fulfilment, from all that is a product of the mechanical aspects of the mind.
What is eternal will live in Eternity. What is of time will live & perish in time.
The adepts are Nature’s masterpieces. In them Truth, Goodness & beauty have taken their abode.
One can be taught in silence; the Master can communicate inwardly; there can be the circulation of life-currents between Him & one who has entered the globe of His influence.
Sri Ram
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