Thursday Quote

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”

-St. Francis

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Love all men as God, even if they hurt you or shame you. Be like Gandhi and Christ."

-Neem Karoli Baba

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"In order to receive grace, we must cultivate humility. When we bow down, grace will automatically flow to us....

"Anger is the greatest obstacle to grace; it is like a knife with both ends sharpened."


-Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“The first step in spiritual life is to have compassion. A person who is kind and loving never needs to go searching for God. God rushes toward any heart that beats with compassion -- it is God’s favorite place.”

-Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"The only abstract way of being in contact with the Divine is by thinking that, even in the darkest moments, you are walking in the Light. In order to get that constant focus, you have to strip yourself of unnecessary mental clutter."

~ Swami Radha

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"One must love the world and its people, not feel repulsion for them.
There is nothing wrong with the world - the Divine is everywhere."

-Mother Meera

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Be patient. The path of self-discipline that leads to God-realization is not an easy path: obstacles and sufferings are on the path; the latter you must bear, and the former overcome -- all by His help. His help comes only through concentration. Repetition of God's name helps concentration."

-Swami Ramdas

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so."

-Ma Yoga Shakti Saraswati

Monday Music

Happy Guru Purnima

Click here to learn more about this special day for yogis.












Photo by Natasha Philips

Thursday Quote

"I remember my first visit with my guru. He had shown that he read my mind. So I looked at the grass and I thought, 'My god, he's going to know all the things I don't want people to know.' I was really embarrassed. Then I looked up and he was looking directly at me with unconditional love."

-Ram Dass

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore."

-Guru Nanak

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

The Guest House
By Mowlana Jalal al-Din Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"I have no father, no mother, relatives or brothers.
I have broken family ties; who can do anything?
I have spoken of my love through my tears.
Servant Meera has fallen in love with the Lord,
He is now mine. Gopala (Lord Krishna) is mine. No one else!"

-Mirabai

Monday Music

Real Independence

Real independence is freedom from cravings and desires. Learn how to cultivate vairagya (dispassion) in Kali's recent Yoga Chicago column, here.

Thursday Quote

"I was passionate,
filled with longing,
I searched
far and wide.

"But the day
that the Truthful One
found me,
I was at home."


-Lal Ded

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Thou art atman, buddhi is thy consort Parvati; the prana is thy attendant; this body is thy house; the act of sensual enjoyment is thy worship; deep sleep is samadhi; walking by my feet is the perambulation around thee; all my speeches are thy praise; whatever actions I perform, are all thy worship, O Lord Siva."

-Prayer for Karma Yogis, by Adi Shankaracharya

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Moksha is not an attainment of liberation from an actual state of bondage, but it is the realisation of the liberation which already exists. It is freedom from the false notion of bondage."

-Sri Swami Sivananda, in Bliss Divine

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Let's imagine that nothing would exist. No creation took place, nothing. Forever and ever you will never exist. How do you feel? Let's say from your stand point of view there is no forms, no names, no creation, anything. Suppose all these would never take place. You will never be able to exist. How do you feel? Sad, right? Be absorbed forever and ever, never existence. Meditate on that. It could be, it could happen. No creation will take place. Forever and ever, no space, nothing. Void for eternity. Anyone grasp that idea? Now you're really grateful, right, whoever gave you this chance to be. When you think like this, now you appreciate God, this intelligence who create all this and gave us this ego. That's so nice to have this chance of Samadhi, to have all this happiness you are having. And also in the future, eternal bliss, higher and higher, and higher. Now you appreciate. Turn to the Lord. I sometimes spend all day feeling grateful to be here. How did I end up in the United States, teaching yoga? I was born in the north of Brazil. How is all this taking place? How fortunate I have all these chances. now pay attention this. Direct your attention to the core of yourselves, deep inside: 'Thank you.'"


-Sri Dharma Mittra, quoted in The Master Said...

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

I Have Fallen in Love

"I have fallen in love, O mother with the
Beautiful One, who knows no death,
knows no decay and has no form;

"I have fallen in love, O mother with the
Beautiful One, who has no middle, has
no end, has no parts and has no features;

"I have fallen in love, O mother with the
Beautiful One, who knows no birth and
knows no fear.

"I have fallen in love, O mother with the
Beautiful One, who is without any family,
without any country and without any peer;
Chenna Mallikarjuna (Shiva), the Beautiful, is my husband.
Fling into the fire the husbands who are subject
to death and decay."

-Akka Mahadevi

Monday Music

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"It is foolish thing to take credit for a matter over which we have no control. We never created this intelligence. It is given to us. This body is granted to us. So, while we have no control over the body or knowledge of the brain, we are still ready to take credit for any discovery we make. It is for this reason that I say in every book I have written that whatever I say is not from me but from a power above and beyond. I am merely the instrument. In that sense we all are instruments of a higher power."

-Gopi Krishna

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

Yogi Times: Can you tell us WHY you have been "doing it" [raising consciousness with your skills and passion in your community] all this time?

Sri Dharma Mittra: “Everything I do is accomplished through Divine inner intuition because in reality “I” am not the doer at all. Whatever “I” am doing is the result of this mind having acquired lots of yogic knowledge, through constant practice over many years and due to some realizations I have had as a result along the way. Because of my having passed through all of this, it takes very little effort for me to live out my dharma as a yoga teacher. Also, it's really a great pleasure for me to share spiritual knowledge with those desperately in need of it and see their doubts, pain and suffering destroyed. This is indeed the most pleasing thing for this mind to experience and I'm extremely grateful to have this opportunity.”


Yogi Times: “WHY are you ‘doing it?'"

Sri Dharma Mittra: “I am ‘doing it’ because it's the highest type of charity to share spiritual knowledge with others. For a Yogi who has achieved yoga (Divine Union), automatically, a strong desire arises in his or her mind to help others to escape the darkness that is ignorance of the True Self. This ignorance is the root cause of all pain and suffering and it is eradicated by Self Knowledge. Also, I believe that sharing the knowledge of the Self with others is the most ethical and civilized action one can take.

Yogi Times: “What motivates you to keep ‘doing it?’”

Sri Dharma Mittra: “What motivates me to keep teaching and sharing this precious knowledge is the realization that I must follow the example of the great masters of the past who also devoted their lives and efforts to passing on Self Knowledge. Doing so is natural for me at this point – there is nothing else I would rather do.”





Happy birthday, Guruji!

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“The best thing to give
your enemy is forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your heart;
to your child, a good example;
to your father, deference;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to your self, respect;
to all men charity.”

― Swami Sivananda Radha

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one’s Self–this is supreme happiness. When it is found, nothing else remains to be found; the sense of want will not awaken anymore, and the heart’s torment will be stilled forever. Do not be satisfied with fragmentary happiness, which is invariably interrupted by shocks and blows of fate; but become complete, and having attained to perfection, be YOURSELF.”

- Sri Anandamayi Ma

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“Reduce your wants and lead a happy and contented life. Never hurt the feelings of others and be kind to all. Think of God as soon as you get up and when you go to bed.”

~Sri Dharma Mittra

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"The real cause of pain, which we should seek to remove, is our clinging to the transient things. Pain is bred by attachment to the known, which must pass away. Only by removing that attachment can the cause of pain be eliminated. Attachment to the known creates the fear of the unknown, but what we fear in the unknown is just the pain and sorrow of the known."

-David Frawley (Vamdeva Sastri)

Monday Music

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Sometimes the longest journey we make is the sixteen inches from our heads to our hearts."

-Elena Avila

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"You cry for shanti, for peace. But where to get it? Through whom to get it? Realize peace in your own heart through association with sages and by meditation. You can find this peace only in the stillness, only within your own self. You certainly cannot find it in objects. Look within."


-Sri Swami Sivananda

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"The one Reality takes manifold names and forms as a result of human ignorance. It is one and the same Thing that a Bhakta calls God, a Jnani calls Brahman, a Shakta calls Shakti, an Atheist calls Nature, a Scientist calls Force or Energy, a Christian calls Father in Heaven, a Mussulman calls Allah, some others call Infinity or Truth and a Vedantin calls Atman or Self. Whatever different names there may be, the fact remains that the Thing is one and the same. The difference is only in names. The Absolute Thing, which is beyond name and form, is birthless, growthless, decayless, deathless, sexless, All-pervading, All-knowing, All-blissful, without beginning, without end, changeless, beyond time, space and causation. The One Thing or the Ocean of Consciousness by Itself is ever the same—One only without a second."


-Swami Narayanananda

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Sit still, meditate, and all the answers will come."


-Sri Dharma Mittra

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"When my task fails to bring desired ends or leads me to defeat, I shall try to see the Divine Purpose which ever seeks to give me undersstanding even through pain and sorry.

"When confronted with difficulty and perplexity, I shall try to be calm of spirit and strive to understand their meaning.

"When there are moments that provoke impatience, I shall guard myself with fortitude and perseverance.

"When unkind criticism is made, I shall try not to feel hurt or despondent, for have i not often been helped and spurred onward by adversity!

"If occasions arise to make me feel the lack of right and justice, I shall try to overcome these feelings with tranquility.

"I shall try to remind myself always that He, the All-wise Divine Dispenser, is ever just."


-Swami Paramananda

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"That pure and equanimous state which is devoid of ego-sense and non-ego-sense, of the real and the real, and which is free, is known as turiya (the fourth state). It is the state of the liberated sage. It is the unbroken witness consciousness. It is different from the waking and the dreaming states, which are characterized by movement of thought; it is different from the deep sleep state, which is characterized by inertia and ignorance. When the ego-sense is abandoned, there arises the state of perfect equilibrium in which the turiya manifests itself."

-Vasistha

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.”

―Sri Ramakrishna

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"You should work, no doubt. Work saves the mind from going astray. But prayer and meditation also are necessary. You must sit for meditation at least once in the morning and once in the evening. That will be like the helm of a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, there is self-examination in respect of the work done in the course of the day."

-Sri Sarada Devi

Happy Maha Sivaratri!

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"One great thing to be considered is kripa (divine grace). The breeze of His grace is always blowing. Only unfurl your sails and you will have it. How can you catch the breeze if you keep your sails furled? Hoist them now and do not delay any longer. Give up your desires for worldly enjoyments, your hankering for name and fame, and fully resign yourself to the Lord. It is quite impossible to enjoy worldly pleasures and at the same time realise God. You cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time. If you want to realise God, you must renounce worldly pleasures. If, on the other hand, you desire to enjoy temporal pleasures, you will have to give up God. Do not keep your feet in two boats, as they say. If you do, you will only make yourself miserable. You must have a clear conception of your life’s ideal. Decide now what life you want to lead. Should it be this fleeting life of transient pleasures or the everlasting life of eternal bliss?"

-Swami Brahmananda

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

-Swami Vivekananda

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“If you practice spiritual discipline for some time in a solitary place, you will find that your mind has become strong, and then you can live in any place or society without being in the least affected by it. When the plant is tender, it should be hedged around. But when it has grown big, not even cows and goats can injure it. Spiritual practices in a solitary place are essential.”

-Sri Sarada Devi

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“Yoga is especially necessary at this point in time, when life appears especially confusing and filled with tension, stress and distractions. It helps one to slow down in life and re-align oneself with the harmony of the universe and find peace within. It will help diminish cravings and bad habits, and bring you a disease-free body, a balanced mind, radiant health and long life. Yoga brings very special results. It is the door-opener to intuitive knowledge and Eternal Bliss.”


-Swami Kailashananda

Monday Bonus Quote

Fear is a great human curse. It is your worst enemy. Fear assumes many forms and blights many lives. But a calm mind brings courage. Then you will face the trials and difficulties of the spiritual path without fear. Fearlessness is a divine quality. What is fear? It is an imaginary zero; it is maya's deception. It is a mental delusion. It is a negative modification that arises in the mind-lake when one forgets his real, divine nature. It is a whirlpool that emanates from the chitta (mind) when one has lost his power of vichara (inquiry) and discrimination. It is the dark wave that proceeds from the ocean of antahkarana (mind) when one has intense attachment to the body.

Friends, there is nothing to fear really. Fear is due to acceptance of suggestion. Victory over fear really means victory over the thing that we fear. We attract to ourselves the very things we are afraid of. That is the universal law of nature. You need not be afraid of anything else in this world save fear itself.

Auto-suggestion helps a lot in removing fear. Assert the truth of being. Assert, "Nothing in the three worlds can make me afraid. I am absolutely fearless. My will is strong and irresistible." Make friends with the threatened experience, or the things you do not like. The raja yoga method is to repeat the formula: "I am courageous" or "OM courage". In the morning meditate on the virtue of courage.

The devotee's method is to pray to God with faith and sincerity and to make perfect self-surrender: "O God, make me fearless. Grant me the virtue of courage. O Mother, take thy son in thy lap. Thou art fear; thou art courage. Let me see thee alone in all these forms". Feel the invisible helping hand of the ishta devata (your own deity). Have strong faith. Real strength lies in fearlessness. Remove fear of all sorts.

The vedantic method is to enquire: "Who am I?". Identify yourself with the inner Self. Assert: "I am the embodiment of courage - I am immortal Atman - I am not this perishable body. Who is to fear whom when all this is the Self?" This will destroy fear to its very root. How peaceful and strong are they who have victory over fear. May we all shine in divine glory, radiating courage all around. May the divine splendour, the brahmic aura shine in all faces and remove the darkness of fear, ignorance and terror. May we all attain that state of absolute fearlessness - brahmi sthiti (the state of Brahman). May we become one with the fearless Brahman.


-Sri Swami Sivananda



Click here for more.

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to insure your success."

-Norman Lear

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Meditation also means concentration. You don’t have to do all these things (practice all these techniques), but if in your mind you are always remembering the L-rd, you are always in meditation. For example, if when you walk in the street, your thoughts are resting on the L-rd, then it’s meditation. So, I always encourage the Study of the Self: a meditation that doesn’t require stopping the mind or anything like that. The main point to succeed in meditation is to gradually be free from cravings, from fickleness, from opening the eyes, or from becoming nervous if you are not experiencing anything. You have to eventually be able to sit quietly for an hour without being nervous. To achieve this, gradually, you must eat the right food so that the mind is no longer jumpy. If you eat too much spicy or animal-based food, you’ll never be able to concentrate on anything."

-Sri Dharma Mittra
Read the rest here.

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Anger begets anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love."

-Mahavira

Monday Music

May all beings be happy and free from suffering

Thursday Quote

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

-Jesus of Nazareth

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Even kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God."

-Guru Nanak

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

Worldly affairs are all deceptive;
So I seek the truth Divine.

Excitements and distractions are illusions;
So I meditate on the non-dual Truth.

Companions and servants are deceptive;
So I remain in solitude.

Money and possessions are also deceptive;
So if I have them, I give them away.

Things in the outer world are all illusion;
The Inner Mind is that which I observe.

Wandering thoughts are all deceptive;
So I only tread the path of wisdom.

Deceptive are the teachings of expedient truth;
The final truth is that on which I meditate.

Books written in black ink are all misleading;
I only meditate on the pith-instructions of the whispered lineage.

Words and sayings, too, are but illusion;
At ease, I rest my mind in the effortless state.

Birth and death are both illusions;
I observe but the truth of no-arising.

The common mind is in every way misleading;
And so I practice how to animate awareness.

The Mind-holding Practice is misleading and deceptive;
And so I rest in the realm of reality.


-Milarepa, The Song of the Twelve Deceptions

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"There is the Music of Heaven in all things and we have forgotten how to hear it until we sing."

-Hildegard of Bingen

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“When one loves, one does not calculate.”


― Thérèse de Lisieux

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."


* * *



"While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart."

-St. Francis of Assisi

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

“I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

"It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

"It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

"And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

"That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”


― Osho

Monday Music

Thursday Quote

"Seek divine wealth, not the paltry tinsel of earth. After acquiring inward treasure, you will find that outward supply is always forthcoming."

-Lahiri Mahasaya

Monday Music