Achariya Fritz Kramer
Speaks on "High Minded"
Sunday, June 12, 2016 at 11:00am
Day in and day out we strive to be high minded, deriving our thoughts, words and actions from the purest place. Is that place the mind? Or somewhere else? This Sunday we will take a look at our mental worlds, and the four constituent functions that create them: buddhi, manas, ahamkara, and chitta. These functions, like the spokes of a wheel, drive the mental process — moving us along, and providing us the perspective to navigate, our spiritual paths. Let us join together in the Temple this Sunday to contemplate what it truly means to be High Minded.
—Achariya Fritz
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
"The Atom, under the influence of Chit (universal knowledge) forms the Chitta or the calm state of mind, which when spiritualized is called Buddhi, Intelligence. Its opposite is Manas, Mind, in which lives the Jiva: the self with Ahamkara, Ego, the idea of separate existence."
—Swami Sri Yukteswar, "The Holy Science"
"It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world -- that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you are not understanding it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!"
—Swami Vivekananda, "Collected Works," Lecture April 1, 1900
Noble Thoughts
"Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure; all things are only its manifestations, and good deeds and evil deeds are only the result of good thoughts and evil thoughts respectively. Thus, within the Essence of Mind all things (are intrinsically pure), like the azure of the sky and the radiance of the sun and the moon, which, when obscured by passing clouds, may appear as if their brightness had been dimmed; but as soon as the clouds are blown away, brightness reappears and all objects are fully illuminated."
—Wei Lang, "The Sutra"
"O my friend! Remain in solitude with a passion to meet the Lord;
Rid thyself of all grief and be happy.
Be not like the whirlwind; be not baffled or perplexed.
Center thy mind on one point, and be free from all thought."
—Sarmad, "Rubaiyats of Sarmad"
"It is only when the mind is empty that there is a possibility of creation; but I do not mean this superficial emptiness which most of us have. Most of us are superficially empty, and it shows itself through the desire for distraction. We want to be amused, so we turn to books, to the radio, we run to lectures, to authorities; the mind is everlastingly filling itself. I am not talking of that emptiness which is thoughtlessness. I am talking of the emptiness which comes through extraordinary thoughtfulness, when the mind sees its own power of creating illusion and goes beyond."
—J. Krishnamurti, "The First and Last Freedom"