Achariya Fritz Kramer
Speaks on "On The Seventh Day"
Sunday, May 24, 2015 at 11:00am
This Sunday we will meditate upon the true spiritual significance of the Sabbath. In the "battle din of activity" that makes up our daily lives, people from all times and lands have set out to establish and promote a time solely defined by spiritual rest, a time to strive for the divine ideal of stillness. While often considered a practice principally undertaken in Judeo-Christian custom, these moments set aside to honor God have deep roots that can be seen from Zoroastrianism to Buddhism to Native American spiritual traditions, and everywhere in between. Let us join together in the temple to rejoice in the day the Lord has made.
—Achariya Fritz
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
"The Sabbath day is meant, principally, to put your mind on God...For one day, for at least a few hours, you should think of nothing but God."
—Swami Yogananda Paramhansa
"The bottom of the lake we cannot see, because its surface is covered with ripples. It is only possible when the ripples have subsided, and the water is calm, for us to catch a glimpse of the bottom. If the water is muddy, the bottom will not be seen; if the water is agitated all the time, the bottom will not be seen. If the water is clear, and there are no waves, we shall see the bottom."
—Swami Vivekananda
In the way toward Divinity there are seven spheres or stages of creation, designated as Swargas or Lokas by the Oriental sages. These are Bhuloka, the sphere of gross matters; Bhuvarloka, the
sphere of fine matters or electric attributes; Swarloka, the sphere of magnetic poles and auras or electricities; Maharloka, the sphere of magnets, the atoms; Janaloka, the sphere of Spiritual Reflections, the Sons of God; Tapoloka, the sphere of the Holy Ghost, the Universal Spirit; and Satyaloka, the sphere of God, the Eternal Substance, Sat.
—Swami Sri Yukteswar
Noble Thoughts: ("Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides." —Rigveda)
"Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind rest at peace. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature."
—Lao Tsu, "Tao Te Ching" translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
"Let my doing nothing when I have nothing to do become untroubled in its depth of peace like the evening in the seashore when the water is silent."
—Rabindranath Tagore, "Stray Birds"
"This rest is unchangeable, as God is; it is elevated, as God is, above all created things; it is most secret and intimate, because it is only God, the enjoyment of whom pierces to the very depths of our hearts; it is full, because God completely fills and satisfies the heart; it leaves nothing to desire, and nothing to regret, because he who possesses God can neither desire nor regret anything else."
—John Nicholas Grou, "Manual for Interior Souls"