Religious Leaders

"17. The Jnanin present in the heart sees the mind merged in the light of the heart, like moonlight in the presence of the sun during the day."

"16. Without seeing the origin of light, the true form of one's Self, the ordinary man sees by the mind different things and is deluded."

"15. As in the night when the sun is not present, one sees the light in the moon, the man who is not present in the heart, sees merely the mind."

"14. Just as the sun gives light to the moon this heart bestows the effulgence on the mind."

"13. It is said that the heart is in the microcosm just as the orb of the sun in the macrocosm. The mind in Sahasrara is like the disc of the moon."

"12. The world is none other than the mind. The mind is none other than the heart. Therefore the entire story finishes in the heart."

"11. The macrocosm is in its entirety in the body. The body is in its entirety in the heart. Therefore heart is the summarised form of all the macrocosm."

"10. Even in intake, the one steadfast thought is said to be the natural state. Nirvikalpa Samadhi will result when the sensory objects are not present."

"9. Even when the sensory objects to be known are in the proximity, when the difference is not taken in, the mind does not cause a break in Yoga."

"8. For one stationed in the Self, Sahasrara will be of pure effulgence. There: if any mental formulation falls within its presence, it will not live."

"3. It is said that the I-activity is the root of all activities. From where the I-thought emerges, that in short is the heart."

"2. That, from where all the activities of the embodied beings emerge, is mentioned as the heart. The description of its form is conceptual."

"Some contend that just as sugar cannot taste its own sweetness and that there must be someone to taste and enjoy it, so an individual cannot both be the Supreme and also enjoy the bliss of that state; therefore the individuality must be maintained separate from the Godhead in order to make enjoyment possible. But is God insentient like sugar? How can one surrender oneself and yet retain one's individuality for supreme enjoyment? Furthermore they also say that the soul, on reaching the divine region and remaining there, serves the Supreme Being. Can the sound of the word 'service' deceive the Lord? Does He not know? Is He waiting for these people's services? Would He not – the Pure Consciousness – ask in turn, 'Who are you apart from Me that presume to serve Me'?"

"Surrender is giving oneself up to the original cause of one's being. Do not delude yourself by imagining this source to be some God outside you. One's source is within oneself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge in it. Because you imagine yourself to be out of it, you raise the question, 'Where is the source'?"

"There is no doubt that Sheik Osama bin Laden has a high level of faithfulness, trustworthiness, and transparency. He is faithful to his religion and to Jihad for the elevation of the word of Allah...This man has a pure, honest and believing personality. He defends all that belongs to Islam and who renounces anything that is not Islamic."

"I am ever living to help and guide all who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me."

"My mortal remains would speak from the tomb."

"I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb."

"My tomb shall bless and speak to the needs of the devotees."

"I shall be ever active and vigorous even after leaving this earthly body."

"The wretched and the miserable would rise to plenty of joy and happiness."

"Whoever puts his feet on Shirdi soil, his sufferings would come to an end."

"Three main points:1) The “destination” one must reach, that is, “Mukthi”, (salvation) that is located “high up”; 2) the ways or margas leading to it are many, one path originating from Shirdi; and 3) The Presence of a guide, that is, a guru, is essential in order to reach the goal safely."

"Jnana marga is like Ramphal. Bhakthi marga is like Sitaphal (custard apple), easy to deal with and very sweet. The pulp of Ramphal is inside and difficult to get at. Ramphal should ripen on the tree and plucked ripe, If it falls down it is spoilt. So if a Jnani falls, he is ruined. Even for a Jnani there is the danger of a fall, i.e., by a little negligence or carelessness."

"Oh friend! Brahma Jnana means realisation of Self (Atma). There is no difference between Atma and God. If you want to realise Atma in your body, then you have to surrender to God the following five things: five pranas, five senses, mind, intellect and ego. All these are inside a person. It is easy to surrender the external things. But to surrender those which are inside a person is very difficult. It is like walking on the edge of a sharp knife. Those who cannot surrender even the external things are deemed to be fully under delusion. Such persons cannot understand the five inside matters."

"Though I be no more in flesh and blood, I shall ever protect my devotees. I shall be with you the moment you think of me."

"Trust is sadguru fully. This is the only sadhana. Sadguru is all the gods."

"Look up to me and I will look after you. Not vain is my promise that I shall ever lighten your burden."

"If you make the sole object of your thoughts and aims you will get paramatma"

"I am the bond slave of my devotee. I love devotion. He who withdraws his heart from the world and loves me is my true lover and he merges in Me like a river in the sea."

"If one perpetually thinks of me, and makes me his sole refuge, I become his debtor and will give my life to save him."

"In whatever faith one worships me, even so I render to them."

"If one meditates on me, repeats my name, and sings about my deeds – He is transformed and his karma is destroyed. I stay by his side always."

"Whatever you do, wherever you may be, ever bear this in mind that I am always aware of everything you do"

"My eye is ever on those who love me."

"Know that my soul is immortal. Know this for yourself"

"There shall be no want in the house of my devotee."

"If you seek my advice and help, it will be given at once."

"If you cast your burden on me , I shall surely bear it."

"If you look to me I look to you."

"Sabka Malik Ek Hai."

"Sai Baba is exemplary among the great saints of Maharashtra in western India for the ways in which he drew upon and surpassed the categories, concepts, and styles of a variety of conventionally competing religious traditions. Maharashtra is well-known for the integrative spirituality of its foremost figures, and among them Sai Baba is particularly important. The author “locates” Sai Baba in the contexts of both Hindi and Islamic traditions."

"More over, Sai Baba was a celibate, remaining in one place, performing miracles, admonishing his disciples, and keeping a fire perpetually burning at Shirdi. The functions of a Guru, ascetic and saint, Sai Baba adds that of Avatar as many of his devotees and followers consider him as major incarnation of this age."

"There is a right and legitimate Pan-Islamism to which every sincere and believing Mahomedan belongs — that is, the theory of the spiritual brotherhood and unity of the children of the Prophet. It is a deep, perennial element in that Perso-Arabian culture, that great family of civilisation to which we gave the name Islamic in the first chapter. It connotes charity and goodwill towards fellow-believers everywhere from China to Morocco, from the Volga to Singapore. It means an abiding interest in the literature of Islam, in her beautiful arts, in her lovely architecture, in her entrancing poetry. It also means a true reformation — a return to the early and pure simplicity of the faith, to its preaching by persuasion and argument, to the manifestation of a spiritual power in individual lives, to beneficent activity for mankind. This natural and worthy spiritual movement makes not only the Master and His teaching but also His children of all climes an object of affection to the Turk or the Afghan, to the Indian or the Egyptian. A famine or a desolating fire in the Moslem quarters of Kashgar or Sarajevo would immediately draw the sympathy and material assistance of the Mahomedan of Delhi or Cairo. The real spiritual and cultural unity of Islam must ever grow, for to the follower of the Prophet it is the foundation of the life of the soul."

"Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God's signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Over and over, the stars, sun, moon, earthquakes, fruits of the earth and trees are mentioned as the signs of divine power, divine law and divine order. Even in the Ayeh of Noor, divine is referred to as the natural phenomenon of light and even references are made to the fruit of the earth. During the great period of Islam, Muslims did not forget these principles of their religion."

"In 1906 a delegation of Muslims led by the Aga Khan was steered into submitting a memorandum to the Viceroy, Lord Minto, demanding separate electorates for Muslims..... Lady Minto wrote in her Journal... "This has been.... an epoch in Indian History.... that will affect India for many a long year...." The Aga Khan... claimed..."Lord Minto's acceptance of our demands was... and the final inevitable consequence was the partition of India and the emergence of Pakistan.""

"The South Asiatic Federation was more for the good of the Muslim countries such as Arabia, Mesopotamia and Afghanistan than for the good of India. This shows how very naturally the thoughts of Indian Musalmansare occupied by considerations of Muslim countries other than those of India... What a terrible thing it would have been if this South Asiatic Federation had come into being! Hindus would have been reduced to the position of a distressed minority. The Indian Annual Register says: "Supporters of British Imperialism in the Muslim community of India have also been active trying by the organization of an Anglo-Muslim alliance to stabilize the role of Britain in Southern Asia, from Arabia to the Malaya Archipelago, wherein the Muslims will be junior partners in the firm at present, hoping to rise in time to the senior partnership. It was to some such feeling and anticipation that we must trace the scheme adumbrated by His Highness the Aga Khan in his book India in Transition published during the war years. The scheme had planned for the setting up of a South Western Asiatic Federation of which India might be a constituent unit. After the war when Mr. Winston Churchill was Secretary of State for the Colonies in the British Cabinet, he found in the archives of the Middle Eastern Department a scheme ready-made of a Middle Eastern Empire.""

"My father insisted that I learnt the Koran and encouraged me to understand the basic traditions and beliefs of Islam but without imposing any particular views. He was an overwhelming personality but open-minded and liberal."

"My grandfather was a most gifted person, and amongst his many qualities, one of them had always particularly impressed me. While the past was a book he had read and re-read may times, the future was just one more literary work of art into which he used to pour himself with deep thought and concentration. Innumerable people since his death have told me how he used to read in the future, and this certainly was one of his very great strengths. As a child I used to listen to him for many hours on end and I think, in fact I am convinced, that it was his inspiration which has created in me such a strong interest in the future, while at the same time, guiding me to learn from the teaching books of the past."

"Life in the ultimate analysis has taught me one enduring lesson. The subject should always disappear in the object. In our ordinary affections one for another, in our daily work with hand or brain, we most of us discover soon enough that any lasting satisfaction, any contentment that we can achieve, is the result of forgetting self, or merging subject with object in a harmony that is of body, mind and spirit. And in the highest realms of consciousness all who believe in a Higher Being are liberated from all the clogging and hampering bonds of the subjective self in prayer, in rapt meditation upon and in the face of the glorious radiance of Eternity, in which all temporal and earthly consciousness is swallowed up and itself becomes the eternal."