Since I posted the Steps Toward Inner Peace and the documentary about Peace Pilgrim I've gotten many letters of appreciation from people all over the world, which just proves how universally inspiring genuine spiritual truth is.
I wanted to just pick out a few passages share why I appreciate them and what they mean to me. The only problem was that as I started going through them again I found too many but here are a few.
In our spiritual development we are often required to pull up roots many times and to close many chapters in our lives until we are no longer attached to any material thing and can love all people without any attachment to them.What I love about the way she speaks is that what she speaks is self evident and undeniable because we have all experienced what she is speaking about. This passage is just one example of something which perfectly describes my spiritual journey.
Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is just a transient garment - that the reality is the indestructible essence which activates the body.Does that sound familiar to anyone? It almost makes one wonder if she met devotees somewhere along the way and read Srila Prabhupada's books. But I think it is more likely proof that spiritual truth is universal and revealed to all sincere seekers.
Q: What can retirement mean to a person?How about this one? I think I've read this somewhere.
A: Retirement should mean, not a cessation of activity, but a change of activity with a more complete giving of your life to service. It should therefore be the most wonderful time of your life - the time when you are happily and meaningfully busy.
Q: How can I feel close to God?What can I say?
A: God is Love, and whenever you reach out in loving kindness, you are expressing God. God is Truth, and whenever you seek truth, you are seeking God. God is Beauty, and whenever you touch the beauty of a flower or a sunset, you are touching God. God is the Intelligence that creates all and sustains all and binds all together and gives life to all. Yes, God is the Essence of all. So you are within God and God is within you - you could not be where God is not. Permeating all is the law of God - physical law and spiritual law. Disobey it and you feel unhappiness - you feel separated from God. Obey it and you feel harmony - you feel close to God.
Q: What is a truly religious person?
A: I would say that a truly religious person has religious attitudes: a loving attitude toward fellow human beings, an obedient attitude toward God - toward God's laws and God's guidance, and a religious attitude toward self - knowing that you are more than the self-centered nature, more than the body, and life is more than the earth life.
I really like this beautiful teaching, and especially the last teaching because it shows her depth of realization and faith in God. She was such a powerful teacher of peace because of her deep connection to God, and she understood the secret of entering in the the kingdom of God.
BLESSED are they who give without expecting even thanks in return, for they shall be abundantly rewarded.
BLESSED are they who translate every good thing they know into action - even higher truths shall be revealed to them.
BLESSED are they who do God's will without asking to see results, for great shall be their recompense.
BLESSED are they who love and trust their fellow human beings, for they shall reach the good in people and receive a loving response.
BLESSED are they who have seen reality, for they know that not the garment of clay but that which activates the garment of clay is real and indestructible.
BLESSED are they who see the change we call death as a liberation from the limitations of this earth-life, for they shall rejoice with their loved ones who make the glorious transition.
BLESSED are they who after dedicating their lives and thereby receiving a blessing have the courage and faith to surmount the difficulties of the path ahead, for they shall receive a second blessing.
BLESSED are they who advance toward the spiritual path without the selfish motive of seeking inner peace, for they shall find it.
BLESSED are those who instead of trying to batter down the gates of the kingdom of heaven approach them humbly and lovingly and purified, for they shall pass right through.
5 comments:
thank you. i made a few copies of the peace pilgrim (at school). I mailed one to my grandfather. he was very appreciative and it is nice for us to pass something so pure onto people of all faith.
Awesome.
wow! thank you so much prabhu. All these recent posts about the "peace pilgrim" and mother Theresa have been simultaneously inspirational and overwhelming. It's really beautiful to see how the lord's surrendered devotees live, think and serve(regardless of their religion). Prabhupada and these women make it sound so simple, just surrender to god, become his instrument, and have compassion for the suffering of others. But if the concept is so simple, why is process so overwhelmingly difficult? Is it maya, is it the absence of faith, or is it lack of endeavor?
surrender is the easiest thing, living in any other state of consciousness is what is intolerably difficult.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
I pray that one day I will have a fraction of a fraction of your surrender. Until then I continue to suffer in this wretched selfish consciousness.
Hare Krishna.
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