A soul is as great as the circle of its influence.
Even today we can see in everyday life how people argue and dispute without coming to a conclusion. Then perhaps another comes and sets the whole thing right. The discord of thousands of people could be resolved, and thousands of people could be united into one harmony by the presence of one who unites them all. ... The influence of one soul may be felt in a village, of another in a country, of another in the whole country.
What is the sign of such souls? In the East it is believed that some people bring good luck, some child in the house, a guest, or a friend. The good luck may be brought to one person, or it may be brought to ten or fifty. This shows that there is some influence, and we can recognize it as something which is beneficial, good, harmonious, to five, ten, a hundred, or even more. The soul is as great as the circle of its influence.

Amma has possessed me; Hari has enchanted me! All my doubts have flown like migratory
birds in winter.
When I was mad with pride, the Beloved did not speak to me;
But when I put on the robe of humility, the Master opened my inner eye,
Dyeing every pore of my body in the color of love.
Drinking the elixir from the cup of my emptied heart, I slept on His bed in divine
ecstasy.
The devotee meets Hari as gold meets a gold-solvent-, the pure heart melts into
its Lord.

-Saint Kabir

There are many paths, and each man considers his own the best and wisest. Let each one choose that which belongs to his own temperament.

Commentary by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

The Sufi looks on all with tolerance, and knows that there is a path for everyone. The path of the lover is for him, the path of the one seeking for wealth is for him, the seeker after paradise is following his path, it is all a journey. It is simply that there are four different routes by which the journey is made. The Sufi sees the same goal at the end of each; the lover has to meet the seeker after wealth, and both have to meet the one who has done his duty. Therefore at the end of their journey there is a place where they can meet. What does it matter if one does not go by a certain path? Let each choose the way that belongs to his own temperament and tendency. Therefore the Sufi does not worry. He gives no preference to one or the other. He sees the journey of life being made along one or other of these roads. The saying of Buddha, 'Forgive all', comes true. Forgiveness does not come by learning, it comes by understanding that a person should be allowed to travel along that path which is suited to his temperament. As long as he is journeying with open eyes, let him journey.

Sondra Ray, International Best Selling Author, teacher,
seminar leader, presents her new book, "Rock your world with The
Divine Mother." Tapping into the Divine Mother in a balanced way
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A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE
by Jack Gilbert

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.


-Jack Gilbert

Gilbert has several books.
One is *Refusing Heaven,* available here:
http://tinyurl.com/o8kwn
Another is *The Great Fires,* available here: http://tinyurl.com/38az42

"The lesson that life constantly enforces is 'Look underfoot.' You are
always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure
of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is
where you are. Don't despise your own place and hour. Every place is the
center of the world." --Naturalist John Burroughs

*

"We want to be God in all the ways that are not the ways of God, in what
we hope is indestructible or unmoving. But God is fragile, a bare smear of
pollen, that scatter of yellow dust from the tree that tumbled over in a
storm of grief and planted itself again." --Deena Metzger, *Prayers for a
Thousand Years,* edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon

Swami Sivananda on Jesus

Swami Sivananda was a great saint of the twentieth century who founded the Divine
Life Society on the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh. He wrote over two hundred
books and performed many great works.

"Jesus welcomed and embraced the sinners, the despised and the harlots and purified
them. He comforted them and gave them solace and peace. He raised the fallen. He
brought relief and rest to the broken-hearted.

Jesus said: "Unless you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the
Kingdom of God". To Jesus, God was a loving Father. Jesus' watchword was love for
God and fellowmen.

"Have faith in God. The Lord is our God. Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart
and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. The love of God manifests in the love of man." This is the central teaching
of Jesus.

Jesus was a world teacher, a prophet and Messiah. His Sermon on the Mount is nothing
but the practice of Sadachara or right conduct. It corresponds to the practice of
Yama-Niyama of Raja-Yoga, the Eightfold Path of Lord Buddha. It is marvellous, inspiring
and soul-stirring.

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. How humble he was! He
said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shalt inherit the earth".

Lord Krishna washed the feet of the guests in the Rajasuya yagna performed by King
Yudhishthira. Avataras or mighty souls perform such actions. Should you not learn
lessons from those great persons ? Lord Krishna, the mighty Lord of the three worlds,
took delight in washing the feet of the guests. Should you not learn to be humble
? How haughty and proud you have become ! You are puffed with vanity and intoxicated
with pride when you possess a little money, a small car and a small estate. You
think you are a mighty emperor and walk with arrogant steps and treat others with
contempt. You think too much of yourself and your position in life. In reality,
your officeship has created in you a slave mentality and a fear of losing your position.

Christ's message has always been: "Love thy neighbour as thyself". He said: "The
Kingdom of Heaven is within thee. His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Be not anxious. Seek ye first His Kingdom. Everything will be added unto thee".
He was the way, the truth and the light, for all men to follow.

Jesus Christ laid stress on love of God and love of fellowmen, and the need for
repentance or a change of heart, for entry into the Kingdom of God. He instructed
people to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He said that a contrite heart was
necessary in order to receive God's forgiveness.

"The Kingdom of God is within thee. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall
be opened unto thee." This is the foundation upon which the ethics of Jesus has
been built. "