“This is what I do to keep my head screwed on semi-straight and keep my heart open. Whenever I sing, that’s why I sing. Whether it’s at the Grammys, whether it’s in the bathroom, whether it’s in front of 10,000 people or three people, by my guru’s grace, my head stays in that place.”

The ultimate act of power is surrender.

I just try to keep my heart open. By this, I mean to try not to let my own programmed reaction to things keep me closed down for too long.

As we do practice something unexpected starts to happen-we get happy!

Real compassion is not emotional. Real compassion is based on the experience that all beings, which might appear separate, are actually a part of my own body, and I am a part of the body of the universe. We are not separate. So if one being hurts, I also hurt.

You can’t think yourself out of a box that’s made of your thoughts.

I mope around less. It is horrible. I miss it.

The presence of real love in the world inspires me.

You can’t manipulate a heart open. You can only allow it to open in the right circumstances.

I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I knew whatever it was that I was looking for was real.

Practice is not about how you feel while you are doing it. You are planting seeds.

You can never really know what a guru is as long as you are imprisoned by your own thoughts and circular ego.

Chanting just hits you and you want to be a part of it. That’s the point of this whole thing. That’s what cuts through all the ‘stuff’. You get lit up. You don’t have to know what it means.

All we can know is our own subjective version of reality. That’s the way we go through our lives. Everybody.

You cannot think your way out of a box made of thought.

We all inhabit our lives, in different ways to some degree. We see ourselves a certain way, and based on how we see ourselves, that’s how we see the world.

I chant to save my miserable ass. That’s what I do.