Swami Vivekananda

God alone is eternal, everything else is transitory. Everything dies; the angels die, men die, animals die, earths die, sun, moon, and stars, all die; everything undergoes constant change. The mountains of today were the oceans of yesterday and will be oceans tomorrow. Everything is in a state of flux. The whole universe is a mass of change. But there is One who never changes, and that is God; and the nearer we get to Him, the less will be the change for us, the less will nature be able to work on us; and when we reach Him, and stand with Him, we shall conquer nature, we shall be masters of phenomena of nature, and they will have no effect on us.

- Swami Vivekananda

Mata Amritanandamayi

Wait Faithfully for God

“You may be waiting for God or God’s grace, but the thought

of God occurs in you only once in a blue moon or on Sundays or at best two or three times a day. Furthermore, those few occasions on which you may think of God are very dull and lacking in intensity, because you are preoccupied with so many other supposedly important things. It is all right if you faithfully wait for Him to come, but be sure you are attentive in your waiting. If you are preoccupied with other things, how can God come? How can His grace flow? 

The Guru is there. His ever-flowing grace is there; it is always present. But you want Him to come uninvited, without any effort on your part. In the name of waiting you idle away your time. You do not consider it an intrinsic part of your life to wait faithfully. You do not take this period of waiting seriously and sincerely. 

You say, ‘I am waiting for God, for His grace to come. He is all-compassionate, so He will come. Until then, let me engage in other important matters.’ This is foolishness. You will neither receive grace nor will you have the power to overcome difficult situations with this kind of faith.”

- Mata Amritanandamayi

Ramakrishna

Have passionate love for God. 

One of  Brahmo songs says:

O Lord, is it ever possible to know Thee without love,

However much one may perform worship and sacrifice?

Pray to God in secret and with yearning, that you may have that passionate attachment and devotion to Him. Shed tears for Him. 

A man sheds a jugful of tears because his wife is sick or because he is losing money or because he is worrying about getting a job. But tell me, who ever weeps for God?’

- Ramakrishna