Thought for the day - We all know this, yet the force of our past habits makes us deny it.

September 5, 2007

This is from another :

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Behold the folly of Man: In childhood busy with his toys, In youth bewitched by love, In age bowed with cares- And always unmindful of the Lord! The hours fly, the seasons roll, life ebbs, But the breeze of hope blows continually in his heart. Birth brings death, death brings rebirth: This evil needs no proof. Where then O Man, is thy happiness? This life trembles in the balance Like water on a lotus-leaf- And yet the sage can show us, in an instant, How to bridge this sea of change. When the body is wrinkled, when the hair turns grey, When the gums are toothless, and the old man's staff Shakes like a reed beneath his weight, The cup of his desire is still full. Thy son may bring thee suffering, Thy wealth is no assurance of heaven: Therefore be not vain of thy wealth, Or of thy family, or of thy youth- All are fleeting, all must change. Know this and be free. Enter the joy of the Lord. (Swami Shankara, `Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination' )

You think you must have this or that and then youcan be happy. But no matter how many of your desiresare satisfied, you never will find happinessthrough them. The more you have, the more youwant. Learn to live simply. Lord Krishna said: " His

mind is full with contentment whose desires everflow inward. That man is like a changeless oceanwhich is kept brimful with constantly enteringwaters. He is not a muni who bores holes of desires inhis reservoir of peace and lets the waters escape.

(Paramahansa Yogananda, `Man's Eternal Quest')All worldly pursuits have but the one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow: acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings, in destruction; meetings, in separation; births, in death. Knowing this, one should, from the very first, renounce acquisition and heaping-up, and building, and meeting; and, faithful to the commands of an eminent guru, set about realizing the Truth (which has no birth or death). That alone is the best science.

(Milarepa in `Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa, A Biography from the Tibetan')-- ----- " Let Noble thoughts come to us from every side " .

- RigVeda (1-89-i)