The intense desire for God-realization is itself the way to it. SRI ANANDAMAYI MA

In Buddhism, the word “mantra” means “mind protecting.” A mantra protects the mind by preventing it from going into its usual mechanical habits, which often are not our optimal conscious perspective.

When you are with someone you love very much, you can talk and it is pleasant, but the reality is not in the conversation. It is simply in being together. Meditation is the highest form of prayer. In it you are so close to God that you don’t need to say a thing It’s just great to be together. SWAMI CHETANANDA

If you come to a practice with a pure heart and a yearning to be free, it will reflect back the purity of your aspiration.

May the Blessings of God Rest upon you. May His Peace Abide with you May His Presence Illuminate your heart Now and forever more. SUFI PRAYER

The Tao says, “In the end you will be like the valley which is the favorite resort of the Way.” You become receptive, become soft, become open, become attuned, become quiet. You become the ocean of love.

In Sanskrit this is called vairagya, a state of weariness with worldly desire where only the desire for spiritual fulfillment is left. The spiritual pull is the last desire, one that really grabs you, but that dissolves on its own because you dissolve in the process.

Don’t go outside your house to see flowers. My friend, don’t bother with that excursion. Inside your body there are flowers. One flower has a thousand petals. That will do for a place to sit. Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty inside the body and out of it, before gardens and after gardens. KABIR, “A PLACE TO SIT”

How did the rose ever open its heart And give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its being, Otherwise we all remain too frightened. HAFIZ, “HOW DID THE ROSE?” TRANSLATED BY DANIEL LADINSKY