Achariya Fritz Kramer
Speaks on "Gracious Essence"
Sunday, October 18, 2015 at 11:00am
When walking the spiritual path, we hear much about the concept of grace. Yet, different religious traditions seem to have quite distinct definitions of what it constitutes. They speak about grace in many forms; as beauty, as favor, as mercy. Are these concepts mutually exclusive, or do they share some common foundation? Let's gather together in the Temple this Sunday morning to consider the many manifestations of grace, and meditate upon their divine essence.
—Acharya Fritz
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
“All is possible by God's grace.”
—Swami Yogananda
“Spirituality is the source of beauty. Beauty emanates from within our soul. It is the divine glow of purity, holiness, love and self-realization. Loveliness is the fullness of beauty. It is the consummated perfection of all that is sweet and sublime in beauty. Loveliness is the gracefulness of soul. It is the spiritual charm of devotion. It is beauty in its supreme excellence.”
—Swami Premananda
“Those who are pure always in body, mind, and speech, who have strong devotion, who discriminate between the real and the unreal, who persevere in meditation and contemplation — upon them alone the grace of the Lord descends.”
—Swami Vivekananda
Noble Thoughts: ("Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides." —Rigveda)
“Perfection or freedom from error comes only from grace. Without an unreserved surrender to His grace, complete mastery over thought is impossible.”
—Mahatma Gandhi, "An Autobiography"
"To open ourselves to this grace, to this flow of truth, means that we have to step out of ourselves. We have to let go of the illusion that we are in control of our life. When we hand it over, we'll find ourselves falling into grace, falling into this clarity and openness and love, falling right into the grace of awakening from separation, where we realize our true spiritual essence: this beautiful, unknown, unborn presence which manifests as everything we see."
—Adyashanti, “Falling into Grace”
"The recurring response of grace to the pulsing prayer of the soul is the rhythm by which the worker moves forward to wholeness."
—14th century unknown author, “The Cloud of Unknowing”