"It requires many years of work to learn to play a musical instrument and hours of daily practice to keep in shape. Yet in spiritual work, some people feel they can attain a level of proficiency in a few weeks or months. Everything is supported by muscles which hold that which is attained."   SWAMI RUDRANANDA

  LUPOS SOBRE-VEGA + SUCCULENTS

 "If you work harder, much, much harder, then I can fulfill my promise. If not --- there is nothing to say."  RUDI

passages taken from RUDI: Spiritual Cannibalism

"It is imposible to preserve a self-image and reach any depth in spiritual work."

"The ego is replaced by spiritual muscles which can expand with life force. It takes inner nourishment to surrender."

"The act of surrendering is the letting go of one dimension so that a higher dimension is open to us."

"Surrendering in depth changes our pattern, and then when the energy goes through our spiritual computer it brings increased quantities of new knowledge."

"Identification with an organization or cause is no substitute for self-realization."
 

 passages taken from RUDI: 14 Years With My Teacher

"Well," said Rudi, "a miracle is of no use if you aren't aware of it."

"It is not like a head of a monastary who is selected for his experience, understanding, and general capacity. The Indian guru is chosen because of his other-worldly attainments. He exists on another level of being and is treated accordingly. You don't have to believe it, but you better be prepared to act as if you do. And you all can start by learning a little manners."

"I'm glad you (John) have learned to keep your mouth shut," said Rudi.

"When you open to a teacher, you open to everyone with whom he is connected. He is simply the last link in a chain that extends backward in time."

"A teacher is really a servant --- something many teachers would rather forget."

"In older times, men were wiser. They treated the spoken or written symbol for God with reverence and fear. If nothing is sacred to us, how can something that is of a totally different nature enter our existence? We would not let it. It is precisely what our whole personality is designed to prevent.

"Sainthood has to do with level of being, not personality. A saint can be a son of a bitch. There is nothing you can do about it if he is, except surrender or leave. You look doubtful, John."

"Your only protection is your inaccessibility. And that is what you are working to destroy. I don't mean to sound down on you, John. Actually everyone else is worse. Think of Alice. She is a good friend, but she has no burning desire to change her life."
 

 passages taken from RUDI: In His Own Words

"This means you should love the people you claim you love, and be responsible to them. From that you open inside."

"When I can't feel with any one of you, love you, and feel every muscle in my body relate to you and want to nourish you, it is not a lack in you; it is the lack in me. But as a result of what has been generated in this culture in the last few thousand years, everyone has to approach teachers like one peasant approaching another peasant, or a buck approaching a doe. You have to do a kind of ritual dance to get them to love you. But they should be in a condition where they are able to love you because they are nothing in themselves. The thing that stops love, the thing that stops energy flow, is only one thing --- it is having chemistry with personality."

"When I was with the Shankaracharya, I only asked him one question about growing. He said, 'What do you want?' I said, 'Well, I want to grow. I want to suffer and I want to grow.' He said, 'That's not right. You should say you want to grow and you want to be happy.' So I finally said, 'Yes, I want to grow and I want to be happy.' And he said, 'You're going to suffer like a jackass for twenty-five more years...'"

"The need to think of oneself as pure is ego."

"There is nothing worse than walking into a room filled with people who have done meditation for ten years. Everyone is superior to everybody else. You can't tell them anything because they have all the answers. They are totally satisfied; they have a complete, finished thing. It is disgusting, really disgusting. With people who are working, there is no room for talk, there is no room to fight. They are in a state of being, a state of reality. They can't afford to fight with you. They can't afford to even be superior. They can't waste their energy. They are growing."

"Meditating is maintaining where you think you are. It is a very egocentric thing. To do our work, you are always breaking yourself down. You see what you are not. You are not building ego, and there is no self-satisfaction because you always know you could have done it better. You could have done it more consciously. You are always learning that you have not done as good of a job as it is possible to do. You do not come out a winner, you come out with more work. That is the prize. The only way to win is to end up being free."

"I have a long way to go in myself and I am very grateful for it because it means that I will have a creative life. People who make the claim to be enlightened have only done one thing. They have reached a place where they no longer are capable of growing."

"But if you think you can build a spiritual life without having a working physical life, you are wrong because what you are doing is building an illusion."

"Responsibility is 'on earth as it is in heaven.' Big on one level is big on the other."

"One thing comes out of the other."

"It's all a question of what you want," said Rudi.

"It may not seem fair, but if you want something that someone else has to give, you play the game according to his rules."  SWAMI RUDRANANDA