As earthly creatures continually subject to relative disappointment, pain, and loss, we cannot avoid feeling vulnerable.  Yet as an open channel through which great love enters this world, the human heart remains invincible.  Being wholly and genuinely human means standing firmly planted in both dimensions, celebrating that we are both vulnerable and indestructible at the same time.  Here at this crossroads where yes and no, limitless love and human limitation, intersect, we discover the essential human calling:  progressively unveiling the sun in our heart, that it may embrace the whole of ourselves and the whole of creation within the sprere of its radiant warmth.

The sun shines equally on diamond and charcoal, but the former has developed qualities that enable it to reflect the sunlight brilliantly, while the latter is unable to reflect the sunlight.  Emulate the diamond in your dealings with people.  Brightly reflect the light of God's love.

Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness.  To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.  Sarcasm draws out the rebellious spirit and anger in the wrongdoer.  Loving suggestions bring out the repentence in him.  Repentence consists in thoroughly understanding one's own error and in abandoning it.  Friendship is pure by nature.  When you have a lilly in your hands, how can you crush it?  When you love a person dearly, how can you hurt him, even though he may be wrong?  Divine love is unlimited and infinite.  When two or more persons are friends always, no matter what happens, that is an expression of divine love, of divine friendship.

For a short while the immortal ray of light that is our soul wears a perishable mortal garment...but for all eternity the soul is sustained by the Infinite Source of that light.  The more we meditate, the more we feel that consciousness.  And the less we meditate, the less able we are to transcend identification with the little self -- so many pounds of flesh encasing a limited mind bound by sense perceptions to the troublesome environs of the world.  We have to get to the Self beyond its physical and mental instrumentalities to realize we are not fragile mortal beings; there is an unbroken link between ourselves and the Beloved Mother of the Universe, the Divine Consciousness flowing through and permeating Infinity.

"Intuition is perceived mostly through the heart," Paramahansaji said.  This I have found.  When something is not right, I get feelings here in the heart.  There is an uneasiness that makes me think, "Oh, there is something wrong with that individual or with that situation."  It does not make me uncomfortable, but I am conscious of a little disturbance in my heart.  This is what Paramahansaji is referring to.  "Whenever you are concerned about something, or trying to find the right course to pursue, calmly concentrate on the heart.  Don't try to analyze the problem; just remain watching the heart."  Of course, it is good to sit quietly and think deeply about your problem after meditation; that has its place as well.  But as you go about your duties, when the thought of your problem arises, just put your mind at the heart center.  Concentrate there, and try to be aware of the feelings that are flowing from that center."

It is clear that we must embrace struggle.  Every living thing conforms to it.  Everything in nature grows and struggles in its own way, establishing its own identity, insisting on it at all cost, against all resistance.  We can be sure of very little, but the need to court struggle is a surety that will not leave us.  It is good to be lonely, for being alone is not easy.  The fact that something is difficult must be one more reason to do it.

To love is also good, for love is difficult.  For one human being to love another is perhaps the most difficult task of all, the epitome, the ultimate test.  It is that striving for which all other striving is merely preparation.  For that reason young people - who are beginners in everything - cannot yet love; they do not know how to love.  They must learn it.

One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth.  Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other's individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on this deeper level.  This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy.  It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials.  While a heart connection lets us appreciate those we love just as they are, a soul connection opens up a further dimension -- seeing and loving them for who they could be, and for who we could become under their influence.  This means recognizing that we both have an important part to play in helping each other become more fully who we are....A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion.

While our absolute nature, as pure being or open presence, is timeless and changeless....our soul evolves and deepens through cultivating and embodying the seed potentials -- for courage, strength, generosity, humor, tenderness, wisdom -- contained in this larger nature.  The essence of spiritual work is to realize and continually reorient ourselves toward our being, our absolute nature; and this is what leads to ultimate freedom.  Yet spiritual realizations often remain compartmentalized, apart from everyday life, or become used as a rationale for living in an impersonal or soulless way.  That is why, if we are to live our realizations and bring them into this world, we also need to work on the vessel of spirit -- our embodied humanity.  Soulwork is the forging of this vessel......If spiritual work brings freedom, soulwork brings integration.  Both are necessary for a complete human life.

Awareness born of love is the only force that can bring healing and renewal.  Out of our love for another person, we become more willing to let our old identities wither and fall away, and enter a dark night of the soul, so that we may stand naked once more in the presence of the great mystery that lies at the core of our being.  This is how love ripens us -- by warming us from within, inspiring us to break out of our shell, and lighting our way through the dark passage to new birth.