how TO PROGRESS FASTER IN SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

To progress faster in spiritual practice, we must forget ourselves; be the lowliest person and do the dirtiest, the most unwanted work.

.....

Everything we do is practicing. Every work we do well that is practicing, that is meditation, and that is contributing to God and to the universe. That is also a learning experience, not just meditation.

.....

We are representing love; we are representing God. So Every time we forget that, we should try to remember again. That's how we become great. That's how we realize God.

.....

God is the great Love. The more we manifest that love, the closer we are to Godhood. That is what God realization is all about.

.....

If you want to be fully enlightened, your heart has to be like a child's. Everything is then pure and simple. In this way, you will attain enlightenment sooner. If you are very complicated, struggle too much, argue too much, get too involved in rights and wrongs, and take gains and losses too seriously, then do not blame Master if you are slow in getting enlightenment, for you have brought all these troubles onto yourself.

.....

Try to have some consideration, not for other people, but for yourself - to elevate yourself to a much higher sensitivity of consciousness. We cannot always remain at a very coarse level with rough ways of handling people's emotions and the environment. If we are sensitive to other people's feelings and needs, it doesn't mean that it's good for that person only, or good for other people only; it's also good for us. It means that we are highly developed souls. We are very sensitive. We understand before people speak. It means that we have reached the level of Amitabha's Western Paradise. As the sutra says, "In the Western Paradise, people don't need to speak, and each understands perfectly the other person's desires and expressions." We have to bring paradise to earth, and not wait until we die to be there. It is a wrong conception to run to some level somewhere and then forsake the world. We have to better the world as much as our ability allows. Otherwise, not only can we not elevate ourselves, but we also damage the world. We make it worse.