Achariya Ajay Jeff Bauer
Speaks on "Desire of Nations"
Sunday, January 17, 2016 at 11:00am
The phrase “Desire of Nations” comes from the Old Testament in prophesizing the coming of the Messiah. We sing these words at Christmas time in the carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” All of life can be seen as motivated and driven by desire. Desire animates life and propels it onward – but to what final destination? What is the “Desire of Nations,” the One grand desire that informs all other desires? What is its fulfillment?
—Acharya Ajay
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
"There is an eternal desire in every human heart, and our life's activity in its every detail is an attempt to fulfill that desire. In the realization of the self, the eternal desire of the heart attains its complete, permanent, and perfect fulfillment. Blessed is he who has realized the Self."
-- Swami Premananda, “The Path of Pure Consciousness”
"Naturally everyone desires to live life "to the fullest." Paradoxical as it may seem, the fullest measure of life is realized only in the attainment of simplicity.
"As one progresses in life he learns to become more attuned to one being:
He hears and heeds one word.
He follows one light.
He resolves the multifarious ways of duality by the consciousness of One, pure and simple."
—Swami Kamalananda, “Reflections On Still Waters”
"With the power that flows from perceptions of Thee,
may I calm my storms of restless desires.
The sunshine of Thy joy penetrates to the innermost
depths of my being. With the hunger of ages I feed
upon Thy light.
By Thy grace and by my constant wakefulness, may
this bliss be mine forever and forever."
—Swami Yogananda, “Whispers from Eternity”
Noble Thoughts: "Let Noble Thoughts come to us from every side."
—Rig Veda
"The soul cannot progress except with the light which God has given it as a nuptial gift; love works the likeness of God into the soul. The peace, freedom and blessedness of souls consists in their abiding in God's will. Towards this union with God for which it is created the soul strives perpetually."
—Meister Eckhart, "Sermon VII – Outward and Inward Morality"
"A spiritual aspiration consists in having an intense need to be one with the Divine, to give oneself wholly to the Divine, not existing outside the divine consciousness, so that it is the Divine that is all in all for you in your integral being, and you feel the want to have a consistent union with him, to have the feeling of his presence, of his guidance in all that you do, of his harmonizing all the movements of your being. That is spiritual aspiration."
—The Mother, "Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Aspiration"
"O God, my whole concern and desire in this world,
Is that I should always remember you
Above all things of this world,
And that in the next
I should meet with you alone.
That is why I always pray: 'Your will be done.'"
—Rabi'a, translated by Andrew Harvey in "The Essential Mystics"