Rod Stryker > Quotes

“Strengthen your mind and refuse to carry the burden of mental and moral weaknesses acquired in past years; burn them in the fires of your present divine resolutions and right activities. By this constructive attitude you will attain freedom,” said Paramahansa Yogananda.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“If yoga is about life, this means ALL life, not just part of it. Together, the spiritual and the material constitute the whole you, the whole of the experience of being human, and the nature of the universe in which you live. There may be no step more important to achieving ultimate fulfillment than accepting what the Vedas teach us about desires--that some desires are inpsired by your soul.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” —CHARLES DU BOS”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“In our more lucid moments, when we have quieted the hubbub of our distractions, we are capable of sensing the power and intelligence that sustain us and everything else. In such moments, it is hard not to feel touched by the sublime, by that which links all the things in the world together, by the eternal essence that is at the heart of our existence.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“the core of a fulfilled life is knowing that every moment is a choice.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“You are responsible for your life,” he roared, lecturing a group of us one night. “The sooner you see how you have determined your fate, the sooner and more completely you will have the life you want.” I understood his point, but the more I thought about it, the more I found myself questioning it. My mind wandered to many of the difficulties that I had had to contend with through no fault of my own: my parents’ separation and subsequent divorce when I was a child; being raised by a single mother who had less money than most of the parents whose children I grew up with; having a father who was someone I was in awe of from afar more than a real or loving presence in my life. The more I considered it, the more convinced I became that I had had little to do with the circumstances determining my fate, and the more Mani’s statement bothered me. It certainly wasn’t a particularly enlightened or compassionate view of the world, I thought, reflecting on the lives of other people I knew whose circumstances were far less fortunate than mine, also through no fault of their own. My attention drifted back to Mani’s words just in time to hear him acknowledge that no one controls all the circumstances in which they find themselves. Hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, misfortune, blighted childhoods, abuse, war, and disease are not things that anyone consciously chooses. “However,” he continued, holding to his point, “because you choose how you will respond to these circumstances, it is you and only you who, in the end, has and will determine your destiny.” I left the lecture that night with the words “You are responsible for your life” bouncing in my head. It would be a while before I would come to accept them completely.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“In other words, success is less the result of what you know than the cumulative effect of what you do.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“when the object of your desire will likely be another lifetime of breaths.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“One of the most ancient meanings of the word tantra is “to weave.” In this sense, tantra refers to the philosophy and techniques that allow us to weave the richness of spiritual experience and the fabric of everyday life into a single vibrant tapestry. Dissolving the apparent conflict between the spiritual (the Infinite) and the worldly (the finite) and thereby achieving both kinds of fulfillment, is the heart of tantric philosophy and practice.”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom

“dharma (accomplishments, especially job or career), artha (material possessions and means to achieve dharma), kama (pleasure), and moksha (spiritual development). Under”
― Rod Stryker, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom