Inter- Faiths Dialogue

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T rough the chamber of the heart is small, it's large enough for the Lord of both worlds to gladly make His home there.

mosque

quote 3067 | Shabistari
The Secret Rose Garden

T his world is nothing but a dance of shadows,
A line drawn between darkness and light, joy and oppression, time and eternity.
Learn to read this subtle line for it tells all the secrets of creation.

Let go of everything,
Completely lose yourself on this path,
Then you will have no doubts.
With absolute conviction you'll cry out-
I am God!
I am the one I have found!

In the light I praised you and never knew it.
In the dark I stayed with you and never knew it.
I always thought that I was me,
But no-I was you and never knew it.

mosque

quote 3062 | Araqi
Shahram Shiva and Jonathan Star from: La' amat (Divine Flashes), flashes 7, 14, 25, 27.

T he Philosophers say that there is a God, and that His Will directs the Universe … But the more important lesson is to discover God's nature. Upon discovering that nature, a man would please God by making his own nature like unto God's. If the Divine is faithful, he must also be faithful; if free, he must also be free; if beneficent, he must also be beneficent; if magnanimous, he must also be magnanimous. Thus to make God's nature one's own, a man must imitate Him in every thought, word, and deed.

candle

quote 3044 | Epictetus
Crossley, Hastings, trans. The Golden Sayings of Epictetus. New York: P E Collier and Son, 1909, verses 1, 66, 77.

Y ou have seen a hand, a foot, or perhaps a head severed from its body and lying some distance away. Such is the state a man brings himself to-as far as he is able-when he refuses to accept what befalls him, breaks away from helping others, or when he pursues self-seeking action. He becomes an outcast from the unity of Nature; though born of it, his own hand has cut him from it. Yet here is the beautiful proviso: it lies within everyone's power to join Nature once again. God has not granted such favor to any other part of creation: once you have been separated, once you have been cleft asunder, He will, at any moment, allow you to return.

0 Universe, all that is in tune with you is also in tune with me. Every note of your harmony resonates in my innermost being. For me, nothing is early and nothing is late if it is timely for you. 0 Nature, all that your seasons bring is fruit for me. From thee comes all things; in thee do all things live and grow; and to thee do all things return. "Dear City of God" is our cry, even though the poets say, "Dear City of the King."

Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should he. Be one yourself!

candle

quote 3042 | Marcus Aurelius
Book 8:34, Book 4:23, and Book 10: 16

W hat was I born for, if not to follow you?
What is there to live for, if not your undying love?
0 Lord, come alive in my heart-
Come alive so that we may, once again, be as one.

synagogue

quote 3027 | The Psalm
119

T he Supreme Lord dwells in the heart of all beings, and by
His magic power of illusion
He causes them to move about like wooden dolls on a spinning wheel.

Give your whole heart to that Supreme Lord, seek refuge in Him alone;
By His Grace you will find perfect peace and the abode of immortal life.

Go deeper and deeper within yourself until nothing is left-then fight!
No one on earth is more dear to me than you.
That is why I tell you all this …

Abandon all hope of gain from this world and take refuge in me alone;
I will wash away your sins and free you from every evil.
You will never grieve again,

Fix your mind on me, think of yourself as me, worship me, sacrifice to me, honor me as your own Self, and you will surely come to me. This I promise you, for you are dear to me …

Arjuna! Have you heard me? Have my words hit their mark?

temple_hindu

quote 3013 | The Bhagavat Gita
Chapter 18, translated by Jonathan Star and Julle Lal, the Inner Treasure, Tarcher Putnam.

I f you walk toward Him, He comes to you running.

mosque

quote 2994 | Muhammad
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.228

I t is said that when you take only one step toward Him, He advances ten steps toward you. But the complete truth is that God is always with you.

mosque

quote 2990 | Muhammad
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.199

I have seen nothing more conducive to righteousness than solitude. He who is alone sees nothing but God, and if he sees nothing but God, nothing moves him but the will of God.

mosque

quote 2971 | Dhu-l-Nun
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.211

F or thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought.

mosque

quote 2925 | Bistami
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.96

A ll that we behold and perceive by our senses bears undeniable witness to the existence of God-the stone and the God, the plants and the trees, the living creatures, the heavens and the earth and the stars, the dry land and the ocean, the fire and the air, substance and accident. Indeed, we ourselves are the chief witnesses to Him. But just as the bat sees only at night and cannot see in the daytime because of the weakness of its sight, which is dazzled by the full light of the sun, so also the human mind is too weak to behold the full glory of the Divine Majesty.

mosque

quote 2897 | Ghazzali
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.76

C onsolation, peace, joy, beauty, and riches, all that can give delight, all this is shown to the mind illuminated in God, in spiritual similitudes and without measure. And through this vision and touch of God, love continues active. For such a just man has built up in his soul, in rest and in work, a veritable life which shall endure forever… Thus this man is just, and he goes toward God by inward love, in eternal work, and he goes in God by his fruitive inclination in eternal rest. And he dwells in God; and yet he goes out toward all creatures, in a spirit of love toward all things, in virtue and in works of righteousness. And this is the supreme summit of the inner life.

church

quote 2837 | John Ruusbroec
John Ruusbroec, adapted from the translation by Evelyn Underhill in Mysticism (London: Methuen, 1911).

U nderstand, God comes to us incessantly, both with means and without means; and he demands of us both action and fruition, in such a way that the action never hinders the fruition, nor the fruition the action, but they strengthen one another. And this is why the interior man lives his life according to these two ways; that is to say, in rest and in work. And in each of them he is wholly and undividedly; for he dwells wholly in God in virtue of his restful fruition and wholly in himself in virtue of his active love. And God, in his communications, perpetually calls and urges him to renew both this rest and this work. And because the soul is just, it desires to pay at every instant that which God demands of it; and this is why each time it is irradiated of him, the soul turns inward in a manner that is both active and fruitive, and thus it is renewed in all virtues and ever more profoundly immersed in fruitive rest….

church

quote 2836 | John Ruusbroec
John Ruusbroec, adapted from the translation by Evelyn Underhill in Mysticism (London: Methuen, 1911).

F or God to be perceived by the soul, she must be blind. Therefore, he (Saint Paul) says, "He saw the Nothing” from whose light all lights come, from whose essence all essence comes.

church

quote 2824 | Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart, SERMON NINETEEN, from Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, vol. 3, translated and edited by M. O'C. Walshe (Rockport, Mass.: Element Books, 1979).

S URREXIT A UTEM SAULUS DE TERRA
APERTISQUE OCULIS
NIHIL VIDEBAT

This text which I have quoted in Latin is written by Saint Luke in Acts about Saint Paul. It means: “Paul rose from the ground and with open eyes saw nothing.”
I think this text has a fourfold sense. One is that when he rose up from the ground with open eyes he saw Nothing, and the Nothing was God; for when he saw God he calls that Nothing. The second: When he got up he saw nothing but God. The third: In all things he saw nothing but God. The fourth: When he saw God, he saw all things as nothing….

church

quote 2822 | Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart, SERMON NINETEEN, from Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, vol. 3, translated and edited by M. O'C. Walshe (Rockport, Mass.: Element Books, 1979).

Q uestion: It is written: "And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." Rashi, our teacher, comments: "These are the words, no more and no less." What does he mean by that?
Answer: Moses was good. He wanted to reveal more to the people, but he was not allowed. For it was God's will that the people make an effort of their own. Moses was to say just these words to them, no more and no less, so that they might feel: Something is hidden here, and we must strive to discover it for ourselves. That is why, further on, we read: "And he set before them all these words." No more and no less.

synagogue

quote 2762 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.62

T his is how: when man studies or prays with reverence and devoutness begotten of
love, and fastens and binds his spirit to God and remembers that nothing is void of him and with out him, but that everything is filled with life granted by the Creator, then, in all he sees, he sees the living power of the Creator and hears his living voice.

synagogue

quote 2753 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.39

I t is written: "I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd." This does not mean that the shepherd is not there. The shepherd is always there. But sometimes he hides, and then he is indeed not there to the sheep, because they do not see him.

synagogue

quote 2734 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.16

G od says to man as he said to Moses: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet" - put off the habitual which encloses your foot and you will recognize that the place on which you happen to be standing at this moment is holy ground. For there is no rung of being on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times.

synagogue

quote 2733 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.15

R abbi Bunam began teaching with these words: "We thank You, who are blessed and who are the source of blessing, that you are manifest and hidden." Then he continued: "A fearless man must feel God as he feels the place on which he stands. And just as he cannot imagine himself without a place to stand on, so he must in all simplicity grow aware of God who is the Place of the world, and comprises it. But at the same time he must know that He is the hidden life which fills the world."

synagogue

quote 2732 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.14

W hy do we say: "Our God and the God of our fathers"?
There are two kinds of people who believe in God. One believes because he has taken over the faith of his fathers, and his faith is strong. The other has arrived at faith through thinking and studying. The difference between them is this: The advantage of the first is that, no matter what arguments may be brought against it, his faith can
not be shaken; his faith is firm because it was taken over from his fathers. But there is one flaw in it: he has faith only in response to the command of man, and he has acquired it without studying and thinking for himself. The advantage of the second is that, because he found God through much thinking, he has arrived at a faith of his own. But here too there is a flaw: it is easy to shake his faith by refuting it through evidence. But he who unites both kinds of faith is invincible. And so we say, "Our God" with reference to our studies, and "God of our fathers" with an eye to tradition.
The same interpretation has been given to our saying, "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of jacob," and not "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," for this indicates that Isaac and. Jacob did not merely take over the tradition of Abraham; they themselves searched for God.

synagogue

quote 2730 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.13

I AM NOW seventy-four years old. And yet I feel that I am an infant. I feel clearly that in spite of all the changes I am a child. My Guru told me; that child, which is you even now, is your real self. Go back to that state of pure being, where the I am" is still in its purity before it got contaminated with "this I am" or "that I am." Your burden is of false self-identifications-abandon them all. My Guru told me-"Trust me. I tell you; you are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done." I did believe him and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were his words. I did not condition my mind by thinking: I am God, I am wonderful, I am beyond." I simply followed his instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being I am," and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the I am" in my mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared-myself, my Guru, the life lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.

temple_hindu

quote 2704 | Ramana Maharshi
I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated from the Marathi recordings by Maurice Frydman; edited by Sudhakar S. Dikshit. Durham, North Carolina, The Acorn Press, 1982 (11th printing 2000), P. 239.

I t may frighten many of you, but you will understand it by degrees. The living God is within you, and yet you are building churches and temples and believing all sorts of imaginary nonsense. The only God to worship is the human soul in the human body. Of course all animals are temples too, but man is the highest, the Taj Mahal of temples. If I cannot worship in that, no other temple will be of any advantage. The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him, that moment I am free from bondage. Everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

temple_hindu

quote 2691 | Vivekananda
"Vedanta: Voice of Freedom", Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 205 S. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105.

W here shall we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being?

temple_hindu

quote 2688 | Vivekananda
"Vedanta: Voice of Freedom", Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 205 S. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105.

I n like manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has none.

temple_hindu

quote 2680 | Ramakrishna
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna as translated into English by Swami Nikhilananda and published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, Copyright 1942, by Swami Nikhilananda.

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