Quotations to inspire

Let my love spread its laughter in all hearts, in every person belonging to every race. Let my love rest in the hearts of flowers, of animals, and of little specks of stardust.  

Yogananda

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of other.

Mohandas Gandhi

The brotherly attitude means taking each person as he is, regarding them with affection, and helping them in the most natural manner and with the grace that is born of not expecting any return. None of us really knows the potentialities of another, what are their true qualities and capacities, to what heights they will presently rise.

N. Sri Ram

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

Only as we go out in love which seeks to help and serve, do we transcend ourselves and develop that consciousness which embodies the awareness of our essential unity with others.

When he took time to help another up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

The Buddha

Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Let my love spread its laughter in all hearts, in every person belonging to every race. Let my love rest in the hearts of flowers, of animals, and of little specks of stardust.

Yogananda

Let me give myself in constant and unreserved love to all beings whom I have ever known, and seek in my heart their perpetual good.

- N. Sri Ram

To be free yourself,
You have to release everyone else.

- Stephen C. Paul

The Great Way is gateless,
There are a thousand alleyways.
If once you pass the barrier
You walk the Universe in royal solitude.

The Mumonkan

If we trust the true and sure words
Written on Indian leaves,
We hear all past and future
In one stroke of the temple bell.

Li Shang-yin

Place your mind in the mirror of eternity;
Place your soul in the splendour of glory;
Place your heart in the icon of the Substance Divine;
And contemplating, be transformed into the image of the Godhead Itself.

St Clare's words to St Agnes of Prague
(St Clare founded the first female Franciscan order)

Believe nothing because a wise man said it.
Believe nothing because it is generally held.
Believe nothing because it is written.
Believe nothing because it is said to be divine.
Believe nothing because someone else believes it.
But believe only what you yourself judge to be true.

-  Buddha

Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them,
but to stop there is not enough.
We have a higher mission
- to be of service to them wherever they require it.

Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226
Quoted in The Life by St Bonaventura

Peace arises from a state of inward freedom from disordering effects and from distorting pressures; it is also a fundamental reconciliation between one person and another.

- From  Thoughts for Aspirants   by N. Sri Ram