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Our capacity to be selfless is as immense as our potential to be selfish.
This is what happens with most people: they are not in search of truth, they don’t want to know the truth; in fact, they are scared of the truth. They have an idea or belief that brings them solace and they merely want someone to validate it for them. They will run hither and thither until someone agrees with them.
if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.
The truth is that our future is determined by the choices we make today, and today is resting on the choices we made yesterday.
(Many mothers give birth to sons, but a real mother is the one whose son devotes his life to a good cause. Otherwise, her going through the labour pain is a waste. A woman who expects welfare from a selfish son is better off being barren).
Suffering results in two types of people: those who become soft and gentle and do everything they can to ensure no one else has to suffer; and those who become hard and bitter, subjecting others to what they went through.
Basically, you can’t win people over if they don’t want to be won over by you. It’s not that they don’t want love or devotion; they do, but just not from you. They have invested their emotions somewhere else. You want to be their pet but they only see you as a dog, a watchdog perhaps. You are attached to them but they aren’t attached to you. From you, they get everything too easily, so perhaps you’re of no value to them. Ironically, if you don’t wish to be taken for granted, if you step back, they become resentful or angry.
It is something quite difficult to rise above the desire to be complimented and accepted. You can move beyond anger and lust, you can remain unaffected in gain or loss, but to let go the need for another’s approval, what is said or thought about you, isn’t easy at all. It takes great insight and a strong sense of self-worth to move beyond this need.
Meditation is predominantly of two types: concentrative and contemplative. In the first kind, you build your concentration. In the second, you use it to reflect on the nature of reality and your own existence. Contemplative meditation gives birth to insight, and it is this insight that changes how you see and interpret the world around you. Deep concentration leads to samadhi, and deep contemplation allows you to maintain that state while dealing with the challenges of the world. I alternated between the two types of meditation.
Enlightenment turns the tables on us: we lead our thoughts and emotions.
the only thing worth loving was the emotion of compassion and not the object of compassion.
‘The universe is trillions of years old, our galaxy and planet are billions of years old. The human race is a few million years old, while the average human life is seventy years. It’s a very short life. It must be celebrated, it must be lived. Life is not a challenge that needs to be faced. Nor is it an enemy that needs to be fought. For that matter, it’s not a problem that needs solving either. It’s a flowing river, and all we need to do is to flow with it,’ I said. ‘Live. Love. Laugh. Give.’
