October 1997

Quotes & Quips

Seeker: "Swami, how do you channel your higher self?" Swami: "Well, the most important thing is to clear your mind out first. When God is looking for a place to stay, He wants to make sure there is a vacancy or else He won't stop." Swami Beyondananda

Man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without. American philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

"Hindu children attending my school will probably never become Catholics, but they will also never be good Hindus." A Sri Lankan Catholic priest on the impact of his Catholic school on Hindu children.

"A recipe from Down Under: Australia is a secular society, we need to add religion and stir vigorously." Jaffna Tamil Prashanth Shanmugan, a religiously active Hindu teenager living in Australia

Did you hear about a meditating Hindu who visited the dentist for a root canal and requested no Novacain? Asked why by a startled doctor, he explained he wanted to transcend dental medication.

"A dip in the Ganga can remove past sins which we repent for. But it is not fair to say, 'I am now going to commit such and such a sin and it is okay, because I can simply bathe in the Ganga to remove it!' " H.H. Sri Jagadguru Bharati Tirtha Dakshinamnayam, Shankaracharya of Sringeri Peetam, speaking on the purifying effects of the holy Ganges river

"If people wish to eat meat and run the risk of dying a horrible, lingering, hormone-induced death after sprouting extra breasts and large amounts of hair, it is, of course, entirely up to them. I can recollect countless assurances from sundry ministers that there was no danger to humans from mad cow disease. The meat-eating habit has suffered a succession of serious blows to its image from which it seems unlikely to recover. Veggies are on the march. Our food is exciting, varied, cruelty-free and safe. I am convinced that in years to come we will regard eating animal flesh in the same light as we now regard cannibalism." Excerpted from "Why All Meat Should be Condemned," a March, 1997, essay published in a London newspaper by Tony Banks, Minister of Parliament, UK