Inter- Faiths Dialogue

The Ways > Love & Devotion

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T he sum and substance of the whole matter is that a man must love God, must be restless for Him. It doesn't matter whether you believe in God with form or God without form. You may or may not believe that God incarnates Himself as man. But you will realize Him if you have that yearning. Then He himself will let you know what He is like. If you must be mad, why should you be mad for the things of the world? If you must be mad, be mad for God alone.

temple_hindu

quote 3902 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 449

L ove cannot be found through words. Let no one put his faith in them.

candle

quote 3868 | Dadu
Psalm 181; Orr, 1947, p. 168

W ithout love all is false, try however hard you may.
The pain of separation is not born of words; desire [for God] is not born of words.

candle

quote 3867 | Dadu
Psalm 181; Orr, 1947, p. 168

W ithout a torturing thirst, how should one drink the bliss of communion with the Lord?
0 God, give me an aching desire to behold the vision of Thee!
Desire [for God] does not arise without the pain of separation;
How could love exist without this pain?

candle

quote 3866 | Dadu
Psalm 181; Orr, 1947, p. 168

T each me, 0 Hari, to reverence Thy pure Name, that my heart may be glad in Thy worship.
Make my heart to overflow with love, devotion, yearning, 0 Hari!
Make me gentle in speech and humble of bearing, rejoicing in
Thy presence, 0 Rama!
Fill me with spiritual longing, detachment from the world, and a loving heart.
May I steadfastly cherish the desire to remain ever-devoted to Thy feet.
Grant me quiet contentment and self-control, and keep my heart firmly directed toward Thee.
O Ever-Present, awaken me to the sense of Thy constant presence.
O Mohan, grant me knowledge, and the power of meditation, that my mind may continually turn to Thee.
O Lord of the humble, grant that the Light of lights may illumine Dadu's heart.

candle

quote 3862 | Dadu
Psalm 181; Orr, 1947, p. 124

O ne says "Swami," one says "Shaikh"; neither grasps the mystery of this world.
One speaks of "Rama" and the other of "Allah," but they have not known either Rama or Allah!
... Says Dadu: I am neither a Hindu or a Muslim. I follow none of the Six Systems [of philosophy]; I worship the Merciful.
Dadu belongs to neither faction: he -is the slave of Allah Rama. He who is without form or limitation, He alone is my Guru.

candle

quote 3859 | Dadu
Bani 190, 191; Orr, 1947, p. 62

O brothers, the love of God is sweet! It is conferred by the Master, and grows sweeter every day.
Wherever I go, I offer obeisance to the Lord; whatever I do is an act of worship to Him.
In sleep, I reverence Him; I bow my head to no other. Whatever I utter is His name.
Whatever I hear reminds me of Him; whatever I eat or drink is to His honor.
To me, society and solitude are one; for all feelings of duality have left me.
I have no need to practice austerity, for I see Him smiling everywhere as the supreme Beauty -in every form.
Whether sitting, walking, or performing actions, my heart remains pure, for my mind remains fixed on God.
Says Kabir: I have experienced the divine state, beyond both joy and suffering; and I am absorbed in That.
0 brothers, the love of God is sweet.

candle

quote 3853 | Kabir
Bijak, Shastri, 1941;p.49

S o many bodies, so many opinions! But my Beloved, though invisible, is in all these bodies.
There is no life at all without the Beloved; the Self lives as each and every one.
What, then, 0 friend, are you searching for like a fool?
The object of your quest is within you, as the oil is in the sesame seed.
As the pupil is in the eye, so is the Lord in the body;
The deluded do not know Him, and search for Him without.
The lock of error shuts the gate; open it with the key of Love.
By opening the door, you shall wake the Beloved.
Kabir says: 0 brother, do not pass by such good fortune as this!

candle

quote 3850 | Kabir
Bijak, Shastri, 1941;pp.52-53,41

T he soul, desiring to be possessed by this immense God, for love of Whom she feels that her heart is robbed and wounded, unable to endure her sickness any longer, deliberately asks Him ... to show her His beauty, His divine essence, and to kill her with this revelation, and thereby free her from the flesh since she cannot see and enjoy Him as she wants. She makes this request by displaying before Him the sickness and yearning of her heart, in which she perseveres suffering for love of Him, unable to find a cure in anything less than this glorious vision of His divine essence.

church

quote 3845 | Saint John of the Cross
Spiritual Canticle, I. 11:2; Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, 1973; pp. 448-449

L ove is ... devout and thankful to God; trusting and always hoping in Him, and that even when he has but little devotion or little savor in him, for without some sorrow or pain no man may live in love.

church

quote 3827 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 294

H e who is thus a spiritual lover knows well what his voice means which says: "Thou, Lord God, art my whole love and my desire! Thou art all mine and I all Thine! Spread my heart into Thy love that I may know how sweet it is to serve Thee, and to be as though I were entirely melted into Thy love." 0 I am immersed in love and go far above myself for the great fervor that I feel of Thy unspeakable goodness! I shall sing to Thee the song of love; and my soul shall never be weary to praise Thee with the joyful song of love that I shall sing to Thee. I shall love Thee more than myself, and not myself but for Thee. And I shall love all others in Thee and for Thee, as the law of love commands which is given by Thee.

church

quote 3826 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 294

T he noble love of God perfectly printed in man's soul makes a man to do great things and stirs him always to desire perfection and to grow more and more in grace and goodness.

Love will always have his mind upward to God and will not be occupied with things of the world. Love will also be free from all worldly affections, that the inward sight of the soul may not be darkened of lost, and that his affection to heavenly things may not be diminished by an inordinate winning or losing of worldly things. Nothing, therefore, is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven nor in earth; for love descends from God and may not rest finally in anything lower than God.

church

quote 3825 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 293

A ll that is in this world is vanity, but to love God and to serve only Him.

church

quote 3821 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 290

F or if things are to go well with a man, one of two things must always happen to him. Either he must find and learn to possess God in works, or he must abandon all works. But since a man cannot in this life be without works, which are proper to humans and are of so many kinds, therefore he must learn to possess his God in all things and to remain unimpeded, whatever he may be doing, wherever he may be. And therefore if a man who is beginning must do something with other people, he ought first to make a powerful petition to God for His help, and put Him immovably in his heart, and unite all his intentions, thoughts, will and power to God, so that nothing else than God can take shape in that man.

church

quote 3820 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.7, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 255

T he man who has 'God essentially present to him grasps God divinely, and to him God shines in all things; for everything tastes to him of God, and God forms Himself for the man out of all things. God always shines out in him; in him there is a detachment and a turning away, and a forming of his God whom. he loves and who is present to him. It is like a man [who is] consumed with a real and burning thirst, [but] who may well not drink and may turn his mind to other things. But whatever he may do, in whatever company he may be, whatever he may be intending or thinking of or working at, still the idea of drinking does not leave him, so long as he is thirsty. The more his thirst grows, the more the idea of drinking grows and intrudes [on him], and possesses him and will not leave him.

Or if a man loves something ardently and with all his heart, so that nothing else has savor for him or touches his heart but that, and that and nothing but that is his whole object: truly, wherever he is, whomever he is with, whatever he may undertake, whatever he does, what he so loves never passes from his mind, and he finds the image of what he loves in everything, and it is the more present to him the more his love grows and grows. He does not seek rest, because no unrest hinders him.

church

quote 3817 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

A man should accept God in all things, and should accustom himself to having God present always in his disposition and his intention and his love. Take heed how you can have God as the object of your thoughts whether you are in church or in your cell. Preserve and carry with you that same disposition when you are in crowds and in uproar and dissimilitude. And, as I have said before, when one speaks of similitude, one does not mean that we should pay a similar attention to all works or all places or all people. That would be quite wrong, because praying is better than spinning, and the church is a better place than the street. But you ought in all your works to have a similar disposition and a similar confidence and a similar love for your God and a similar seriousness. Believe me, if you were constant in this way, no one could come between you and the God who is present to you.

church

quote 3815 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

I have sought Thee daily at dawn and at twilight, I have stretched forth my hands to Thee, and lifted up my face;
Now my thirsty heart cries out to Thee, like the beggar who cries at my door for grace.
The infinite heights are too small to contain Thee, yet, if Thou wilt, Thou mayst make Thy abode in my heart.
Shall my heart not treasure this hope of harboring Thee, or shall I not entreat Thee till my tongue can call no more?
Nay, I will surely worship Thy name, till my nostrils no longer breathe.

synagogue

quote 3773 | Salomon Ibn Gabirol
The Royal Crown; Zangwill, 1923, 1974; pp. 16

A ccustomed long to contemplating love and compassion,
I have forgotten all difference between myself and others.

temple_buddhist

quote 3738 | Milarepa
Evans-Wentz, 1971;pp 245-247

I t is the Lord alone who is to be loved and adored at all times with a mind free from external care. To those devotees who love Him and sing His glory, He reveals Himself. This is the highest path, to love the one absolute, eternal, Truth. Truly, this divine love is the Highest.

temple_hindu

quote 3682 | The Bhakti Sutras
74-81

O ne should not engage in theological disputes; there is room for many different viewpoints, and no single viewpoint is the final truth. One should reflect, instead, on the means to awaken devotion, and one should engage oneself in the practice of those means.

temple_hindu

quote 3681 | The Bhakti Sutras
74-81

S ome teachers think that knowledge (inan) alone is the means to attain divine love (bhakti); others think that these two are mutually interdependent. But Narada thinks that a fruit must come from a tree of the same kind. Therefore, to attain to supreme love, the only means worthy of acceptance is love.

temple_hindu

quote 3679 | The Bhakti Sutras
28-33

N arada holds that divine love manifests as the dedication of all activities to God, complete surrender to Him, and extreme anguish in the event of forgetting Him.

temple_hindu

quote 3678 | The Bhakti Sutras
19

A nd this is the conclusion-that for the good man to ... continually hold converse with God by means of prayers and every kind of service, is the noblest and the best of things, and the most conducive to a happy life.

candle

quote 3641 | Plato
Laws, 716C; Jowett

A man attains perfection when his work is worship of God, from whom all things come and who exists within everyone.
Greater is your own work, even if it is meager, than the work of another, even if it is great. When a man does the work that God gives him, no sin can touch him.
And a man should not abandon his work, even if he cannot achieve it in full perfection; because in all work there is some imperfection, as in all fire there is some smoke.
... It is better to perish in your own work, than to flourish in another's.

temple_hindu

quote 3618 | The Bhagavat Gita
18:46-48 and 3:35; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1962

O nly by love can men see Me and know Me, and enter into Me.
He who works for Me, who loves Me, whose supreme Goal is Me, free from attachment to all things, and with true love for all creation, he, truly, becomes one with Me.

temple_hindu

quote 3614 | The Bhagavat Gita
11:54-55; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1962

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