May 1997

Quotes & Quips

"What you have is His gift to you, and what you do with what you have is your gift to Him."

Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993)

"Today is the golden present. Today we are OK. So enjoy it. Do what good we can. Tomorrow will happen only then, not today. My guru, Swami Sivananda, used to say, 'D.I.N., D.I.N.' DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW." Swami Satchidananda speaking to the Hinduism Today staff during his January visit to our Hawaii ashram

"I've always been a supporter of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

A devotee heard his guru say, "God is in everything and everyone." As he walked away pondering this wisdom, an enraged elephant appeared on the road ahead. "Run! Run!" shouted the mahout. The man thought to himself, "I am God and the elephant is also God, why should I be afraid?" The charging elephant knocked the man in the ditch. Bruised and upset, the man set off to see his guru to complain. After hearing the story, the guru said, "You are right that both you and the elephant are God. But why did you not listen to the mahout, who is also God, and get out of the way?"

A small income is no cause for failure, provided expenditures do not exceed it. Tirukural Verse 478

"I slow, bra [brother], but I still ahead of you!" A Pidgin English bumper sticker spotted on a rusty old pick-up truck. It reflects the casual way of living which still exists on the Hawaiian Islands

Seeker: "Guruji, what is the difference between the Vedic and Agamic teachings?" Sage: "In the Vedas man becomes God, in the Agamas it's the other way around."

"If an evil person falls in the well, what should be done? Pull him up. Do not think that the bad will always be bad, lead them to the right road." From the Nitya Sutras of Nityananda of Ganeshpuri who attained mahasamadhi in 1961

DID YOU KNOW?

Word Power!

Sanskrit (meaning "cultured," "purified" or "refined") is one of the oldest languages in the world. The vastness, versatility and power of expression of Sanskrit can be appreciated by the fact that it has 24 words to describe rainfall, 65 for earth and 67 for water. The
language, written in the Devanagiri script, has been undergoing a revival. Ten years ago Forbes magazine wrote, "Sanskrit is the most convenient language for computer software."