Quote

[kmaherali]

Whoever is sitting with friends
is in the midst of a flower garden,
though he may be in the fire.
Whoever sits with an enemy is in the fire,
even though he is in the midst of a garden.


-Rumi, "Mathnawi" [IV, 1976-1978]
From Jewels of Remembrance, by Rumi, selected and translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski, © 1996. By arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston, www.shambhala.com.

[sofiya]

"Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or
accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others"


(Author unknown).

[kmaherali]

Worrying about something that may never happen is like paying interest on money you may never borrow.

-Unknown

[Betty]

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."


Thomas Jefferson

[Guest]

"If you can learn to devote patience and
tolerance toward your enemies, then everything
else becomes much easier for you."
Our friends may test our patience now and then,
but rarely do they challenge us to grow our goodness
the way an enemy does.

-------- Dalai Lama

[Guest]

Most of us spend our lives as if we have another one in the bank.



-- Ben Irwin

[Betty]

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure."


Norman Vincent Peale

[kmaherali]

The first step toward liberty is to miss liberty; the second, to seek it; the third, to find it.

- Leopold Zunz, German scholar

O Krishna,
Charmer of hearts,
Lifter of mountains,
I hear your flute calling me—
Shall I come by the secret path
through the tall grass?

-Mirabai

[kmaherali]

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.

-Stevie Wonder

[Betty]

(People who guard against evil are) those who, when they act indecently or wrong themselves, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their bad actions (and who can forgive bad actions except Allah?) and do not knowingly persist in what they were doing. (3:135)

[kmaherali]

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure."


Norman Vincent Peale

More on attitude....

Whatever an enemy might do
to an enemy,
or a foe to a foe,
the ill-directed mind
can do to you
even worse.

Whatever a mother, father
or other kinsman
might do for you,
the well-directed mind
can do for you
even better.

-Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

A mind unshaken when touched
by the worldly states,
sorrowless, stainless, and secure,
this is the blessing supreme.

Those who have fulfilled all these
are everywhere invincible;
they find well-being everywhere,
theirs is the blessing supreme.


-(adapted from) Mangala Sutta

[Guest]

Men are asleep: they will awake when they die.

------------Hazrat Ali


What does this quote actually mean?

[jasmine]

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

[kmaherali]

Men are asleep: they will awake when they die.

------------Hazrat Ali


What does this quote actually mean?

In my opinion...

Asleep refers to slumber of ignorance. The majority of mankind pass their lives unaware of their real potential. They live in darkness and are not availing themselves of the real benefits that Allah is constantly showering. As Sayedda Imam Begum tells us:

ejee tuje kyaa kahu(n) man meraa,
tuje laaj na aatee hay heeraa ratan motee,
so kyu(n) gafalatme khotaa hay
utth jaag man meraa..........................................5

O what do I tell you O my mind, are you not ashamed,
Diamonds, jewels and pearls (the best value of life)
You are wasting out of your ignorance,
Wake up...5

It is only after death that they are awakened to the spendour of paradise and at first experience the hell of regret for having wasted their lives.

[Guest]

Men are asleep: they will awake when they die.

------------Hazrat Ali


What does this quote actually mean?

In my opinion...

Asleep refers to slumber of ignorance. The majority of mankind pass their lives unaware of their real potential. They live in darkness and are not availing themselves of the real benefits that Allah is constantly showering. As Sayedda Imam Begum tells us:

ejee tuje kyaa kahu(n) man meraa,
tuje laaj na aatee hay heeraa ratan motee,
so kyu(n) gafalatme khotaa hay
utth jaag man meraa..........................................5

O what do I tell you O my mind, are you not ashamed,
Diamonds, jewels and pearls (the best value of life)
You are wasting out of your ignorance,
Wake up...5

It is only after death that they are awakened to the spendour of paradise and at first experience the hell of regret for having wasted their lives.

WOW!! What a great explanation! Thanks Kmaherali for awakening me.
May Allah be with you - Ameen.

[Guest]

Imaam Ja`faru-s-Saadiq said, "Allah is very forgiving. Allah says, whatever trouble, problem, or crisis you confront with in your daily life, is always because of your deeds, or actions and Allah always intends to forgive your sins. If someone has even minor pain in head or mild sickness, Allah forgives some sin against such trouble's. So trouble, problem, or crisis are blessing in disguise for Mu'mineen."

Usul al-Kafi Vol. 4

[Betty]

The Aga Khan :

"We have to be careful not to try to take the sense of taste of the past and stick it on an airport or stick it on a modern building. I think we have to live in our time and live in the future."

[Betty]

Your patience will give you success. This applies to anyone upon whom calamities befall. The one who exercises patience, to him success is granted by God. The Lord befriends the one who is patient, his Lord loves him very dearly. Noble is the creature who is patient, then in difficult times, the Lord becomes his friend. [Kalame Mowla]

-- Hazrat Ali

[sofiya]

"Prayer is the best of things which people do: so when people do a good work, do thou aslo do the good with them, and when they do evil, do thou shun their evil."

Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S)

[jasmine]

One of the great struggles a mane faces in his life is to gather the courage to reach out to his own wife. But if we touch all else, and never reach our own, we will die with heavy hearts and empty hands. Stretch out your arms; she is generally closer than she appears.

[T.D. Jakes]

[kmaherali]

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

-Sai Baba

[sofiya]

I love you my brother whoever you are whether you worship in your church, kneel in your temple, or pray in your mosque.You and I are all children of one faith, for the diverse paths of religion are fingers of the loving hand of one Supreme Being, a hand extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, eager to receive all.

Kahlil Gibran

[Guest]

"Love isn't about becoming somebody's perfect person. It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be."

[kmaherali]

"Love isn't about becoming somebody's perfect person. It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be."

Real love is unconditional! If someone wants to help another person, it should be unconditional, not subject to him/her being a lover. MHI helps those who even criticise him!

If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day—go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month—get married.
If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime—help others.


- Chinese Proverb

[Guest]

"Love isn't about becoming somebody's perfect person. It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be."

Verily, God does not change man's condition unless they change that which is in themselves.

-- Quran

[kmaherali]

"Love isn't about becoming somebody's perfect person. It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be."

Verily, God does not change man's condition unless they change that which is in themselves.

-- Quran

Absolutely! That which is in themselves ( which is attitude )can be changed through other means apart from one person only. It can happen through the Jamati institutions or Forums like these.

If one relies upon one person only for that kind of a change, then his wellbeing becomes dependant and vulnerable. Furthermore a relationship rather than bringing out the best, can bring out the worst in somebody. There is one exception - unless this person is the Imam.

[kmaherali]

"Love isn't about becoming somebody's perfect person. It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be."

This is one way of looking at it...

Regard him as one who
points out
treasure,
the wise one who
seeing your faults
rebukes you.

Stay with this sort of sage.
For the one who stays
with a sage of this sort,
things get better,
not worse.

-Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

[kmaherali]

PRECONCEPTIONS AND OUR PERCEPTION

A child sees everything, looks straight at it, examines it, without any preconceived idea; most people, after they are about eleven or twelve, quite lose this power, they see everything through a few preconceived ideas which hang like a veil between them and the outer world.--Olive Schreiner

Not thinking about anything is zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the Buddha...Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing oneself from words is liberation.
-Bodhidharma

[Guest]

Never put a period where God has put a comma.
-Gracie Allen

[Guest]

Words which come from the heart enter the heart.

- Ibn Ezra, "Shirat Yisrael"