The All-powerful and Omniscient knows our innermost feelings and responds to us according to our deserts.-Gandhi.

* You should, in the purposive practice of mystic contemplation, escape the senses and lay aside the guidance of the intellect, leaving behind indeed, all that belongs to the sensual and the intellectual spheres, escaping alike what is and what is not, and rise upward toward union with Him who is above all knowing and all being. -Dionysius.

* The dewdrop rounding its sphere in the dusk of the lily is not unlike yourself gathering your soul in the heart of God.-Kahlil Gibran.

* Nobody proves God's being. But suddenly one sees God is here. One speaks and God answers. Thereafter, all is sure-Edward Everett Hale.

* Freed from deceptive activity, and from every guile, let the soul be collected in silence. Let the soul that is not unworthy contemplate the Divine Soul. Calmed be the body in that hour, calmed be the striving of the flesh. Let all that is anywhere about be calm. Calm be the earth, the sea, the air, as the heaven itself is still. Now let the soul experience how into a silent heaven the Divine Spirit floweth in.-Plotinus.

* While man is living here, walking these common streets, living in closest intercourse with other men, he is already in the everlasting Presence and his Heaven has begun.-Phillips Brooks.

* The liberal man is near to God, near to Paradise and near to men; but the miser is far from God, far from Paradise and far from men. The unbelieving, liberal man is more beloved of God than the miserly, believing worshiper.-Mishkat-ul-Masabih.

* Two birds, akin and friends, cling to the self-same tree. One of them eats the sweet berry, but the other gazes upon him without eating. In the same tree-the body-man dwells along with God. Overwhelmed by troubles man faints and grieves at his own helplessness. But when he sees the other--the Lord in whom he delights--ah, what a glory is his all his troubles pass away.-Mandukya- Upanishad,

Clouds, sleet and snow, Rough winds of March that blow; But underneath the sod A clod, Grown restless, murmurs to itself: "I hear the voice of God."-Morris.

* We cannot bring God near so as to reach him with our eyes or lay hold of him with our hands--the two ways along which the chief highway of persuasion leads into the mind of man.-Empedocles.

* Those who are inspired and divinely possessed at least understand that they hold within them some greater thing.... When the soul has suddenly taken light, we may be certain that we have experienced Divinity. For this illumination is from God and is God. We may believe that He is present.-Plotinus.

* Grant, Thou Spirit of Strength; Thou guardian of Friends! Grant Thou perfect refuge this day to us who adore Thee! 0 Thou, the Flame of Life, the Spirit of Strength! Agni! With strong forts do Thou guard from all harm the men who adore Thee!-Rig Veda.

* The Peace that cometh to him who rests in the will of God is denied to him who runs hither and thither in greed after silver and gold.-Sanskrit Poet.

Teach me 0 Lord! and enable me to live the life of saints and angels. Take out of the languor, the irritability, the sensitiveness, the anarchy in which my soul lives and fill it with Thy Fulness! Breathe on me with that Breath which infuses energy and kindles fervour. Enter my heart and fill it with fervour by filling it with Thee.-J. Newman.

* For thirty years, I used to say: "Do this! and give this!"; but when I reached the first stage of gnosis, I said: "0 God! be Thou mine and do whatever Thou wilt!"-Abu Ali.

• Grant, 0 Lord! that I may never think of aught save Thee and that I may sing of Thee ever and ever.-Guru Nanak.