If you want a customer who will pay in gold,
could there be a better customer than God, O my heart?
He buys our dirty bag of goods,
and in return gives us an inner light
lent from His splendor.
He receives the dissolving ice of this mortal body
and gives a kingdom beyond imagining.
He takes a few teardrops,
and gives a spiritual spring so delicious
sugar is jealous of its sweetness.
Rumi, Mathnawi VI, 879-882, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.167.
The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid; the calf, the young lion and the fatling together with the little boy to herd them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion like the ox shall eat straw. A babe shall play over a viper's hole, and infant pass his hand over an adder's den. In all of my sacred mountain nothing evil or vile shall be done. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the seas. Isaiah 11:6-9
In the days to come the Mount of God's House shall stand firm above the mountains and it shall tower over the hills. The people shall gaze on it with joy. And the many nations shall go and say: "Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Eternal One, to the House of the God of Jacob; that God may instruct us in God's ways and that we may walk in God's paths. Micah 4:1-2
One who is free from illusion, false prestige and false association, who understands the eternal, who is done with material lust, who is freed from duality of happiness and distress, and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attains to that eternal kingdom. Gita 15:5
How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God. Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10
It's not a small matter, you know, this losing or gaining the Kingdom of God. Thomas A Kempis, Imitation of Christ, III.47.4
"Yes", Jesus said to them, "and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will receive much more in this, present age and eternal life in the age to come." Luke 18:29-30
Jesus replied, "Mine is not a kingdom of this world;(...)" John 18:36
One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God. Gita 18:55
A new kingdom is coming very soon. When the new kingdom is established, only the person who does karma (i.e. works) will survive. Teachings of Babaji, P.16.
(...) The kingdom that will come now will be a religious kingdom. There will be high morals. At every crossroad, bells will be hung, and if anyone is in trouble he may go and ring them and he will receive justice. I will root out all fear from the world. I will give the boon of fearlessness to all. I will stop the use of all weapons. (...). Teachings of Babaji, P.80.
I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; what is born flesh is flesh, what is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:5-6
For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20
I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11
It is not those who say to me, "Lord, Lord", who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my father in heaven. Matthew 7:21-22
Behold the Kingdom of God is within you (...) like a treasure hidden in a field! Luke 17:21
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it. Matthew 13:44-46
(...) The hidden treasure, as we saw, is discernment, the fear of God, and knowledge of God: it is that power which enables us to distinguish the eternal from the perishable. R.C. Zaehner, Evolution in Religion, P.97.
His followers said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" (Jesus said), "It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here it is,' or 'Look, there it is.' Rather, the father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." Gospel of Thomas, 113.
I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3-4
Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than fro a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:24
The Lord gave me to know, during meditation, that as long as my heart beats in my breast, I must always strive to spread the Kingdom of God on earth. I am to fight for the glory of my Creator. Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 1548.
Today, in the course of a long conversation, the Lord said to me, (...) My kingdom on earth is My life in the human soul. (...) Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 1784.
For in the realm of the spirit heaven is as near up as it is down, behind as before, to left or to right. The access to heaven is through desire. He who longs to be there really is there in spirit. The Cloud of Unknowing, P.127.
The journey, or process itself, is what Jesus called the Kingdom of
God. This is a very important point. To accept our illness and whatever
damage was done to us in life by people or circumstances is to participate
in the cross of Christ and in our own redemption. In other words,
the acceptance of our wounds is not only the beginning, but the journey
itself. It does not matter if we do not finish it. If we are
on the journey, we are in the Kingdom. This seems to be what Jesus
is saying in the parables. It is in bearing our weakness with compassion,
patience, and without expecting all our ills to go away that we function
best in a
Kingdom where the insignificant, the outcasts, and every day life are
the basic coordinates. The Kingdom is in our midst. Our attitude
toward reality can go on improving as the Spirit - according to our personal
history, determination, and all the other uncertain factors of life - enables
us to negotiate the spiral staircase. Keating, Thomas. Intimacy with God.
PP. 90-91
To find our own center is the reverse of becoming self-centred. It is to awaken to the center beyond ourselves, whence we are created and to which we return with Christ, the centre where we find ourselves and Him in that experience of communion we call the Kingdom." Dom John Main (1926-82). The Presence of Christ.[in]: The Fire of Silence and Stillness: An Anthology of Quotations for the Spiritual Journey. P.28
Let not him who seeks cease until he finds, and when he finds he shall
be astonished. Astonished he shall reach the Kingdom, and having
reached the Kingdom, he shall rest. And the Kingdom of heaven is within
you and whosoever knoweth himself shall
find it. And, having found it, ye shall know yourselves that
ye are sons and heirs of the Father, the Almighty, and shall know yourselves
that ye are in God and God in you. And ye are the City of God.
F.C. Happold (1893-1971). Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus on Mysticism. [in]:
The Fire of Silence and Stillness: An Anthology of Quotations for
the Spiritual Journey P.27
"You know, brother, how we breathe; we breathe the air in and out.
On this is based the life of the body and on this depends its warmth.
So, sitting down in your cell, collect your mind, lead it into the path
of the breath along which the air enters in, constrain it to enter the
heart altogether with the inhaled air, and keep it there. Keep it
there, but do not leave it silent and idle; instead give it the following
prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me."
Let this be its constant occupation, never to be abandoned. For this
work, by keeping the mind free from dreaming, renders it unassailable to
suggestions of the enemy and leads it to Divine desire and love.
Moreover, brother, strive to accustom your mind not to come out too soon;
for at first it feels very lonely in that inner seclusion and imprisonment.
But when it gets accustomed to it, it
begins on the contrary to dislike darting about among external things.
For the kingdom of God is within us, and for a man
who has seen it within, and having found it through pure prayer, has
experienced it, everything outside loses its attraction and value.
It is no longer unpleasant and wearisome for him to be within." Writings
from the "Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart." Quoted after: Johnston, William.
Christian Zen.Fordham University Press, New York. 1997.
p.80
We cannot do exactly what they (the Desert Fathers) did. But we must be as thorough and as ruthless in our determination to break all spiritual chains, and cast off the domination of alien compulsions, to find our true selves, to discover and develop our inalienable spiritual liberty and use it to build, on earth, the Kingdom of God...we need to learn from these men of the fourth century how to ignore prejudice, defy compulsion and strike out fearlessly into the unknown. Merton, Thomas. The Wisdom of the Desert. P. 24. Submitted to L-Center Discussion Group by Gary Horn <horngary@aol.com>
If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath, you will not see the father. Gospel of Thomas, 27.
Jesus said, "Fortunate are those alone and chosen, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again." Gospel of Thomas, 49.
Jesus said, "Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom." Gospel of Thomas, 82.
God is eager to bring you to His kingdom (...). The one reason behind His creating us is His desire that we love Him and return to Him. He is looking forward to that time. In our love is His fulfillment. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.45.
Life is not what it seems to be. (...) This is not the kingdom of God. It is God's laboratory, where he is testing souls to see if they will overcome evil desires by good ones, and make Him their supreme desire, so they can return home to His Kingdom. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.126.
(...) when your will and discrimination are held captive by binding sense attachments, you will lose the infinite kingdom of God. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.194.
We belong to a generation that wants to see results of our work. We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made. But that is not the way of God's Kingdom. Often our witness for God does not lead to tangible results. Jesus himself died as a failure on a cross. There was no success there to be proud of. Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus' life is beyond any human measure. As faithful witnesses of Jesus we have to trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit. The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us. What is important is how well we love. God will make our love fruitful whether we see that fruitfulness or not. Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey. P. Aug. 11.
See the related subjects: Commandments,
Harmony,
Humanism,
Omnipresence,
Salvation,
Unity.
Last modified: 2003/12/09