Ramakrishna

While a bell is being rung, the repeated ding-dongs can be distinguished one from the other, but when we stop ringing, then an undistinguishable sound only remains audible. We can easily distinguish one note from the other, as if each distinct note had a certain shape; but the continued and unbroken sound when the ding-dongs have ceased is indistinguishable, as if formless. Like the sound of the bell, God is both with and without form.

Two persons were hotly disputing as to the colour of a chameleon. One said, 'The chameleon on that palm-tree is of a beautiful red colour.' The other, contradicting him, said, 'You are mistaken, the chameleon is not red, but blue.' Not being able to settle the matter by arguments, both went to the person who always lived under that tree and had watched the chameleon in all its phases of colour.

One of them said, 'Sir, is not the chameleon on that tree of a red colour?' The person replied, 'Yes, sir.' The other disputant said, 'What do you say? How is it? It is not red, it is blue.' That person again humbly replied, 'Yes, sir.' The person knew that the chameleon is an animal that constantly changes its colour; thus it was that he said 'yes' to both these conflicting statements. The Sat-chit-ânanda likewise has various forms. The devotee who has seen God in one aspect only, knows Him in that aspect alone. But he who has seen Him in His manifold aspects, is alone in a position to say, 'All these forms are of one God, for God is multiform.' He has forms and has no forms, and many are His forms which no one knows.

- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 

Swami Chidananda Saraswati

You are related to the Cosmic Divinity. You have come here to attain that Divinity. May we move forward with a new strength, a new spirit and a new determination, focussing entirely upon the Goal and the Goal alone, making our entire life a total integrated movement towards the supreme consummation!  May we progress towards the Goal each hour, minute and second to unfold and express our Divinity! May divinity be our keynote! Let us try to express and manifest this divinity every moment. May all the powers at our command be directed towards this one ideal of making our inner truth, our essential nature, our true identity! Live in such a way that you may emerge out as a shining, radiantly divine, perfect and liberated soul. - Swami Chidananda Saraswati

Swami Venkatesananda

MESSAGE OF LIGHT

The ancients 'saw' truth, incorporated it in pleasant rituals to ensure its perpetuation and the moderns enjoy the pleasantry (thus depriving the ritual of its life) and faithfully preserve the embalmed rite! Diwali is no exception. 

The darkness of the night is dispelled by the light that is kindled on Diwali. A single lamp may not be powerful enough to illumine a whole street, even as a single pious action may not bring about illumination of the self. But it is possible to illumine the whole street with strings of little lamps (Diwali), even as, if all the little acts of one's life are holy, there is illumination of the self.

The lamps enable us to see objects hidden in the darkness. The light of the sun enables us to see the world outside during the daytime, and at night the same light of the sun reflected by the moon and stars illumines the earth. An inspiring mantra in the Katha Upanishad declares, "The sun, the moon, the stars and the flame do not illumine 'that', but it is 'that' which makes them luminous." What is that? Sight. Light is useless in the absence of sight.

But, what do we mean by 'sight'? Surely, the eyes, the retina, the optic nerve, the brain-centre, are not capable of 'seeing'. These are all present in a corpse which does not see. Enquiry into this is meditation.

- Swami Venkatesananda