"Make God the foundation of your life. Carry
on your normal duties. Duty is God. Work is worship.
Spiritualize all your actions and treat whatever happens as
actions for your good. Learn to experience perennial bliss by
seeking union with God. Never forget God. Do not go after the
things of the world. Have no fear of death. When your life is
rooted in these three maxims, you will realize the Aathman."

-SAI BABA

"It is eternity now; I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine; I
am in it, as the butterfly in the light-laden air. Nothing has to come; it is
now. Now is eternity; now is immortal life."

-Richard Jefferies

Open your heart to receive the blessings of Spirit. In this holiday season
all is at peace. Now is the time to realize the truth of your being. You are a
brilliant, radiant, divine being of light, and God is with you now and always.
Let go of all your doubts. Let your heart soar into Spirit. Let your heart be
light and filled with gladness, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you
go. Do not fear, for you are held in the palm of God's hand, and God is with
you now and always. Be not dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you now and
always. Let your heart be joyous, for you are a beloved child of God. Let
your heart open to God's grace, God's light, and God's love. There is nothing to
fear when you know now that God brings you peace in each moment. Let this
season be a blessing for you and for your family. Let all the blessings of Spirit
continue throughout this new year. May your heart bless all whom you touch,
now and always. BE AT PEACE.

Here are some "pearls of wisdom" from Professor V.K. Choudhry, Gurgaon, India....

1. While describing the character of saints, Saint Tulsidas, the writer of Ramayana, says that the holy persons give happiness to others while the unholy persons live for making others unhappy.

2. Ramayana says that one should follow the advice of one's parents, guru (teacher) and god, as this always blesses the person with happiness and peace.

3. While patience and self-control are necessary for being successful and peaceful in life, generosity remains a virtue, above all.


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"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together
go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The plain truth is too simple for the seeker after complexity, who is looking for things he cannot understand.

Man likes complexity. He does not want to take only one step; it is more interesting to look forward to millions of steps. The man who is seeking the truth gets into a maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through it a thousand times more. It is just like children. Their whole interest is in running about; they do not want to see the door and go in until they are very tired. So it is with grown-up people. They all say that they are seeking truth, but they like the maze. That is why the mystics made the greatest truths a mystery, to be given only to the few who were ready for them, letting the others play because it was the time for them to play.

What holds man back? It is his love of complexity. Life makes for man a puzzle, and like a child he enjoys the puzzle. Truth is too simple for him; he attaches importance to what he cannot understand. If he is told that there is a sacred mountain a thousand miles away he will walk to it. In the ancient days the people were told that if they walked in a circle round the temple a hundred times they would gain much, and they went and felt they had made a pilgrimage. Such is human nature. Man longs for truth, he searches for truth, and yet he wants to escape from truth. Man wants mystery. He wants something that can be put into words. So long as the seeker has that desire he will remain in a puzzle, but for the one who wishes to come out, the door is open. The heart of man is the abode of God. Christ said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you'.... Man has accustomed himself to think of things that are far from truth. Even in religion as well as in everyday life he is continually denying truth, and so he wanders far away because he becomes accustomed to everything but truth.

~~~ "Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, 1924 I, Through Limitation to Perfection", by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

On coming to earth, man, who is the instrument of God, loses connection with that divine power whose instrument he is, thus keeping not only himself but even God from helping His will to be done. When man, who is born to be the instrument of God, does not perform his mission properly he naturally feels dissatisfied. It does not mean that he does not accomplish what he desires, but it is the reason why he is unhappy. ... Spiritual knowledge does not lie in learning something, but in discovering something; in breaking the fetters of the false consciousness and in allowing the soul to unfold itself with light and power. What does the word 'spiritual' really mean? Spiritual means spirit-conscious. When a person is conscious of his body, he cannot be spiritual. It is like a king who does not know his kingship... If man does not realize the kingdom of God within himself nor realize his spirit to be a king, he does not accomplish the purpose of life.

by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

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May the blessings of the exalted sources of refuge,
The Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Three Jewels,
And the Lama, Yidam and Protectors, the Three Roots,
Pacify the terrors of illness, famine and war,

And chaos in the elements. The temperatures
Unbalanced, grand snow mountains-hard, firm glaciers-
Will melt and disappear. Rivers and lakes
Becoming scarce, the forests of the ancients

And trees of beauty, too, will near their deaths.
There is a frightful danger the world's reaches
Will become a great wasteland. May these coming
Dangers be fully pacified, and sublime

Good fortune and happiness spread all round.
May all beings nurture one another lovingly
And kindly, so their joy may fully blossom;
May all their aims be fulfilled, like the dharma.

"All is a miracle. The stupendous order of nature, the revolution of a
hundred millions of worlds around a million of stars, the activity of light,
the life of all animals, all are grand and perpetual miracles."

-Francois Voltaire

The Sanskrit word Advaita points to that which cannot be spoken of and exposes the fallacy of the idea that there is something separate from something else called oneness. The simplicity of this message is directly threatening to the apparent seeker. It is rejected by the guru mind which searches for states to lay claim to . . . stillness, silence, bliss or awareness arise within the hypnotic dream of separation and then drop away again like sand through the fingers.
But Being is the one and only constant that never comes and never goes away. Because it is nothing and everything it cannot be gained or lost, given or received, approached or avoided.
The seeing of these words, the hearing of sounds, sensations in the body, feelings, thoughts . . . the very stuff of boundless aliveness, is the essence of Being . . . indefinable, unknowable, beyond description and yet filling every part of existence.
This clear and simple message speaks of a revolutionary perception where all traditional ideas, and even contemporary teachings of becoming something better or different, collapse. Its illumination is in the energetic, vibrant aliveness that is implicit in the wonder and liberation of simply Being.
It requires no effort and demands no standards. Being timeless, there is no path and no debt to pay. When this is heard and confusion is no more, the contraction of struggling to 'get something' falls away, and the one constant boundless energy of being aliveness is celebrated as all there is.
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To deny the changeableness of life is like fancying a motionless sea, which can only exist in one's imagination.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

If one studied the transitory nature of life in the world, how changeable it is, and the constant craving of everyone for happiness, one would certainly endeavor at all costs to find something one could depend upon. Man placed in the midst of this ever-changing world yet appreciates and seeks for constancy somewhere. He does not know that he must develop the nature of constancy in himself; it is the nature of the soul to value that which is dependable. But is there anything in the world on which one can depend, which is above change and destruction? All that is born, all that is made, must one day face destruction. All that has a beginning has also an end; but if there is anything one can depend upon it is hidden in the heart of man, it is the divine spark, the true philosopher's stone, the real gold, which is the innermost being of man.

Things in the world are changeable; they are not to be relied upon. Man sees the vanity of the world; but if he does not see a reality in contrast, he remains intoxicated by the unreality, and tries to get some pleasure from his life, even for a moment. The happiness of this world is something we cannot keep; it is just like the horizon the nearer you go, the farther it goes. As soon as you get it, you see it is not the thing you wanted. That discontent continues its work till we have found and understood the manifestation of God, in which is hidden the Divine Spirit. God cannot be found in temples, for God is Love; and love does not live in temples, but in the heart of man, which is the temple of God.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me...

May the peace that passes all understanding embrace you and sustain
you as you enjoy the music and the message of ...

http://www.ASilentNightMovie.com

Let us join together now, whatever the holiday celebration -
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's - in achichieving World Peace
in our lifetimes. May this movie renew your Spirit and bring peace to
those you care about as you forward this message on.

Heavenly Peace be mine ...
in Light & Greatest Love throughout the season

Quote of the week:

"To enable your prayers to reach God, you have
to affix the stamp of 'faith' and address it with 'love'. "
- Sai Baba