Silence is the womb of the tangible world. In the Christian Biblical version of Creation, God 'spoke' and the world came into being. With the pronouncing of the Word, speech became primary, but silence remained primordial.

The heart of Christian meditation is to return to this primordial state of being. It is a journey from words into the creative word of God; this Word is enveloped by silence. By its very nature, silence is unexploitable, often purposeless and for that reason very frightening.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 43.25

Whatever defect I have of eye, of heart, of mind,

or whatever excess there is,

may Brihaspati remedy it.

Gracious to us be the Lord of the world.

Yajur Veda

Carry us across, as by a boat

across the sea, for our good,

Shining bright, drive away our sin.

Rig Veda

Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.

Roberto Assagioli

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.

E H Chapin

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt

It is far easier to forgive an enemy after you"ve got even with him.

Olin Miller

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

Thomas Fuller

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

The name "Peace of Mind" can refer to: "Peace of Mind," a song recorded by Teresa Brewer in 1960. "Peace of Mind," a song recorded by the band known as Boston in 1976. Other related archives1960, 1976, Boston, Peace of Mind, Teresa Brewer

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Encyclopedia - Peace of Mind

Vipassana is a self-observation technique taught by Gautama the Buddha. "Its origins were already lost in timeless antiquity", he had said. He rediscovered it in his prolonged search for a fundamental antidote to human misery.

The Sakya crown prince who had already mastered every prevalent teaching in India of those times, realised that nothing, including systems of the famous Alara and Ramputta, touched deep-rooted impurities entrenched in his mind.

Observing bodily sensations, he realised, led to hidden depths of the mind where our habit patterns are formed and multiplied.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

The computer era has popularised the term "solution". All metros now display advertisements and posters that offer a variety of solutions.

The names are equally enterprising: "Ideal Solutions", "Smart Solutions", "Party Solutions", "Curtain Solutions", "Critical Solutions"... the list is long. When the question is of one's well being, a superficial solution will not work.

Non-apprehension of Reality is the cause for all misapprehensions. A deluded mind creates misunderstandings. One who broods over the past mars the present which is what shapes the future.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

In the language of yoga, the purpose or the effect of continuous nada sadhana on the human mind is ananda - extreme bliss.

Nada, or sound, is divided into two parts - aahada and anhada, heard and unheard. Heard means that which is possible for you to hear 'through the physical ears', and unheard means 'felt', which is the condition of nada before it is musically shaped and regularised. Then come the shrutis, then swaras, notes, which from time to time have been explained by the masters.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Despite the stupendous achievements in various fields today, peace and happiness continue to elude humankind. Although peace and happiness have to be generated from within, we have started relying more and more on external factors to solve our internal problems.

The progress we see today is mainly of the external world. But, this is no measure of individual evolution. If the individual wants to be peaceful and happy, he must uplift himself.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Generally, quietude, calmness, peace, silence and stillness are taken to be identical states of mind. But in reality, this is not so. All these are states of a deepening order of consciousness, silence being the deepest. In a state of deep silence, there are no thoughts, feelings or mental movements that can disturb or alter the peace of the inner-being.

The human mind gets absorbed in the core of silence where it touches the original source of energy, love, purity and bliss of The Being, and discovers the soul. The mind is transmuted into the Mind of Light. This transmutation is the bridge that leads us to our true Self within. There, God becomes a living presence, and silence a conversation of the soul with God, wordless and wonderful.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

We seem to be free, to do that which we choose and not that which is chosen for us; but possibly, the freedom may be illusory; in fact, it may be bondage.

We may be bound by predestination, the will of a Supreme Intelligent Power, or blind inexorable Nature, or the necessity of our own previous development.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

A beautiful woman is one who values herself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Beauty is the total impact of all these aspects. Mind and body are inter-related; the state of one reflects on the other.

Yet another dimension is the soul, the inner beauty. It is more a part of us than mere body and mind; it is indestructible. Beauty includes inner beauty. To be a complete person, you have to work on not only your external beauty; you have to develop your inner beauty also.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Metta Bhavna is a Pali word meaning meditation of loving kindness. The Buddha taught this meditation in Metta Sutta to 500 monks to cure them of their ailments and to protect them from evil spirits.

Metta Bhavna is also practised to purify our mind of defilements like anger, jealousy, hatred and self-pity. We cannot stop the suffering of the world. We can only stop it in our mind, because we know our minds and we generate anger, hatred, and jealousy in our own mind. The only way we can still our minds is by practising Metta Bhavna.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

A person who lives in his home with his family, going about his daily business with loving detachment is in the world and yet out of it.

Like the boat whose place is in the water and which, floating, does not allow water to enter it, the realised samsari lives in this world not allowing worldly things to enter his mind.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Western writers tend to describe silence in negative terms. We grow up with images of "the eerie silence of the night", "the disturbing silence of the graveyard", "the hollow sounds of loneliness".

In the East, silence is synonymous with bliss. Whether one is visiting an isolated temple on a hilltop, or at the samadhi of a saint, one gets a feeling of peace and harmony. Silence is of two types. The external silence that can be easily created in a sound-proof room. It is the other, the internal silence, which is difficult to achieve.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Karmapa comes from the word karma or karmaka, which means activity. The Karmapas are the first to have realised successive reincarnations. This unbroken succession of masters who have preserved and transmitted the instructions of the Karma Kagyu tradition is referred to as the 'Golden Rosary".

Hence in the Kagyu lineage and practice, the oral teachings and the master-disciple relationship are of supreme significance.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

What do we generally do when we want to get something done, or want to expel something unnecessary, unnatural or repugnant? We take a vow and feel immensely satisfied in the bargain. But we forget that taking a vow is quite an unintelligent act.

When we vow not to do something, it simply means we have not understood certain underlying truths, or are unaware of the workings of our unconscious. It is an act of suppression that can turn into a strange and poisonous repression as well.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

If you are disappointed today about something, it does not mean that it is a permanent condition. There is always a tomorrow to look forward to.

If you refuse to be optimistic or hopeful for the morrow, you will find yourself getting dragged into a whirlpool of despair, which is in itself a generator of unhappiness.

Is there a secret, a magic formula for happiness? If there is, does it lie inside you or outside? Logically, it has to be inside you.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Who is a good human being? Charles Dickens said people were good and bad. But he couldn"t figure out what made them that way. Unfortunately, Dickens missed - by about 50 years - the revolution in psychology brought about by Sigmund Freud.

Freud believed an individual'spersonality was shaped in his infancy, with later influences having only a negligible impact. However, Freud erred in focusing on natural instincts to the exclusion of social structures.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

The future is unpredictable, so the end is unknown to us. This is the mystery of human life. Ancient wisdom had no hesitation in accepting this truth. But today, we find it difficult to accept.

T S Eliot lamented: "Where is the wisdom, we have lost in knowledge;/ Where is the knowledge, we have lost in information".

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Can someone actually change his or her nature? Suppressing one'sindividuality is not change. Without an awareness and understanding of the needs of body, mind and soul, the concept of change is no more than a hallucination.

Every individual is like a deep, fathomless ocean with priceless treasures hidden within. These treasures may be likened to basic human qualities which everyone possesses. But, bad experiences, unhealthy habits, negative thought processes, diverse conditioning, neglect and misconceptions born of misinformation are like perilous sea weeds that tend to stifle and choke emotional areas, jeopardising the possibility of manifesting these basic qualities in a wholesome and fulfilling manner.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)