If you are open with someone, he will be open with you. If you want love from someone, give your love to him. If you want kind and sympathetic behavior from someone, be kind and sympathetic to him.
Monks are not expected to speak about themselves; the message is important, not the person.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The emphasis is on the importance of the message rather than on the individual delivering it.
This quote by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi highlights the idea that true wisdom and teachings should be valued over the personal identity of the teacher. In many spiritual traditions, such as that of the monks, the focus is placed on the message and the lessons being imparted, rather than the ego or personality of the person sharing them. This statement encourages listeners and students to look beyond the individual and seek deeper understanding of the concepts being communicated.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on mindfulness, one could use this quote to emphasize the value of the teachings themselves over any personal anecdotes.
More from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
All quotes →Know what you want, decide when you want it, figure your plan of action, follow through on it, and never doubt.
The genius of man is hidden in the silent, settled state of mind from where every thought emerges.
Meditation is the direct means of eradicating the very cause of the majority of diseases, both mental and physical.
The whole purpose of life is to gain enlightenment. _x000D_ Nothing else is significant compared to that completely natural, exalted state of consciousness. _x000D_ So always strive for that. _x000D_ Set your life around that goal. _x000D_ Don't get caught up in small things, and then it will be yours.
Problems are not solved on the level of problems. Analyzing a problem to find its solution is like trying to restore freshness to a leaf by treating the leaf itself, whereas the solution lies in watering the root.
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The mystery of human destiny is that we are fated, but that we have the freedom to fulfill or not fulfill our fate: realization of our fated destiny depends on us. While inhuman beings like the cockroach realize the entire cycle without going astray because they make no choices.
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If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.
We can glimpse it in the book of Acts: the method of the kingdom will match the message of the kingdom. The kingdom…goes out into the world vulnerable, suffering, praising, praying, misunderstood, misjudged, vindicated, celebrating: always – as Paul puts it in one of his letters – bearing in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed.