A DEVOTEE FINDS THE PATH With Bro. Turiyananda at Lake Shrine; SAYINGS OF BRO. TURIYANANDA
🌹 Photo: Bro. T. after performing a christening at Lake Shrine
A DEVOTEE: Dear Bro. Turiyananda was my first contact with SRF. A friend told me I should visit Lake Shrine as I was searching for my spiritual landing pad. I drove there one afternoon, parked and got out of the car. A beaming monastic in ochre said to me, “I believe we have an appointment.” I told him that I had not made an appointment, but he would not relent. He brought me down to the Sunken Gardens where we talked for an hour or so. I was hooked immediately. Brother gave me the best gift I could ever ask for. I was home.
*******
TURIYANANDA SAYINGS ~~ (from an SRF Devotee newsletter)
In loving memory, here are a few snippets of Br. Turiyananda’s sayings as [an SRF devotee] has written them down. Of course, for a total multimedia experience you have to add, in your mind, Brother’s heavy accent!
*******
“Our behavior during the day makes our meditation at night.”
*******
“Drop it, and you have to drop it fast!”
*******
“Lord, I would like this very much, but please don’t give it to me!”
*******
“TV re-energizes the bad samskaras of sex and violence. If you take regular baths in low vibrations, you cannot ascend higher.”
*******
“Thoughts have the power of materialization. Therefore you have to change your process of thought. There is no other way!”
*******
“Stop worrying about the future of the world. Surrender your life to God.”
*******
“All my life I have taken care of this body and of this mind, and when I die I discover I am not this body and this mind, and all my life I have taken care of somebody else.”
*******
“You have to be honest and say, Lord, I may have this question but I know I don’t understand the answer.”
*******
Brother liked to quote St. Bernadette Soubirou: “For those who believe, nothing needs to be explained; for those who don’t believe, nothing can be explained.”
*******
“Lord, if You forgive me the little jokes that I played on You, I will forgive you the big one You played on me!”
*******
“If you want non-violence, the first thing you have to do is turn off television.”
*******
“Don’t give too much time to the world. Let the dead bury the dead, as Christ said. Anyone who does not at least spend one hour daily in meditation, is as good as dead.”
*******
“The Lord is stingy with those who are stingy with Him.”
*******
“You will know who is your guru when God is satisfied with your sincerity.”
*******
“When doing the Recharging Exercises, invoke a reverential feeling. God Himself has given these exercises to Guruji. You are to be embraced by God as Christ Energy.”
*******
“Maya will give you all sorts of things to rob you of better things.”
*******
“Anything which strengthens your mind is your friend; anything that weakens your mind is your enemy.”
*******
“You have to learn to immediately counteract any negative thought. It’s an unseen warfare!”
*******
“Avoid at all times to find yourself in situations where there is violence or riots so you don’t involve yourself in mass karma. Especially TV revives those bad trends in us.”
*******
“God will help you much more if you willingly discipline yourself. Otherwise He will use the 2-by-4!”
*******
“Stay away from all horror movies because you may attune yourself to that level.”
*******
“Remember the Bushido code: Complaints are for the weak!”
*******
<3 READ Bro. T's memorial article here
https://yoganandasite.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/beloved-bro-turiyananda-in-memoriam-and-personal-sayings/
