This special evening with Brother Chidananda, President and Spiritual Head of Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, was live-streamed during the 2018 Convocation.
Please view Brother Chidananda’s Satsanga Video on the SRF Website or on the SRF YouTube page.
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Scroll down to read and download the individual lectures. Downloadable PDFs are located at the end of each lecture. Jai Guru!
(Reminder: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability. Discussion on how to do the techniques has been omitted, based on SRF policy but is in the SRF Lessons.)
Guruji compared our minds to a lake. Just as the lake ripples can disturb the surface, so our thoughts can disturb our peace in meditation. When I was a child, we had a ten foot wooden boat. We would go out to where the lake was about twelve feet deep and would try to seek the bottom of the lake. If the wind was blowing, there would be ripples across the lake and we couldn’t see the bottom. But on some days, it was so calm that when the ripples camp we could see everything on the bottom of the lake clearly, the moss, the logs, even the oxygen bubbles coming off of the logs.
Master said, “As soon as you take away the ripples of sensation from the mind, God’s heavenly bliss emerges as peace. A changeable mind perceives a changeable creation, and is easily disturbed; the unchangeable soul and the unruffled mind, on the other hand, behold, behind the masks of change, the Eternal Spirit. The man whose mind is like an oscillating mirror beholds all creation as distorted into waves of change; but the man who holds his mental mirror steady beholds there naught but the reflections of the Sole Unity—God. Through realization, not mere imagination, he sees that his body and all things are the condensed consciousness of Spirit. The mind, free of artificial excitation, remains centered in its native state of inner peace and soul joy. “
Pantanjali said that in meditation we experience alternate waves of thoughts and feelings. When these waves are neutralized, the yogi resides in the Self, the Soul. Meditation is concentration used to know God. In meditation, we don’t let the mind wander around and think different things. We focus on the one beam of light with our attention, and the body is relaxed and like the sun’s rays. Meditation is that special form of concentration where we don’t want to think.
Master said,:
“You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger;
Ride the lion and play with the cobra;
By alchemy you may learn your livelihood;
You may wander through the universe incognito;
Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful;
You may walk in water and live in fire;
But control of the mind is better and more difficult.”
In “God Talks with Arjuna, Chapter 6 verse 43, Arjuna says to Krishna, “I consider the mind to be as difficult to master as the wind.” We’re all in the same situation. It isn’t easy. We have to learn the techniques and learn to focus the mind and really concentrate on our relationship with God. If the mind runs away, we bring it gently back. “
The Gita predicted this trouble in Chapters 12-13 and 14. It is talking about the war of Kurushetra, indicating that maya does not want us to self-realize, even when the mind is still. Then, Guruji says, “Ego blows the conch shell of breath.” And when our breathing gets restless, everything else chimes in. The blood starts moving. In the next verse. We find that if we continue our meditation, guruji has given us a whole quiver of arrows, techniques. The devotee will be aided if he realizes these. If he forces the breath, the body will get tense. Keep the mind calm by practicing the right techniques and by keeping good company. If we keep on, then in an instant, if we keep on, Krishna and Arjuna will blow their conch shells. These are the beautiful astral sounds.
Brother Bhaktananda told us to treat the mind like a dog. “ Tell it to sit. Stay. Remind yourself, “I am the soul, and I am in control, and I am going to tell you to concentrate. Master said ,” I used to sit for hours trying to control the body and the thoughts. But between the restless thoughts and God, there is a wall. However, when the mind is still, we are in the kingdom of the Infinite. “
Master said, “When I am in the Infinite, my whole mind melts in the bliss of God.” Guruji had a younger brother. Mukunda would come home with friends, and his brother would hear them talking about Samadhi.
“Can I see you in it?” he inquired.
Master declined, and finally said, “Come to my room at midnight. He put a mat on the floor for his younger brother, and then explained, “Samadhi is withdrawing the mind from the body and merging it with God through a method of concentration.”
He mentioned Hong Sau and Om but not kriya. The mind becomes fully absorbed in the sound coming from the heart chakra that he hears in the om technique. This inner awareness and body awareness of God is yoga. And then Master went into Samadhi.
Some people think that they have to have kriya first, but you can get there with Om and Hong Sau. With Hong Sau, when the mind is told to follow the breath, the body relaxes and there is less carbon being burned up. Everything can slow down and relax. Because we are doing the technique, we are conscious so the five senses are turned off. Brother Turiyananda asked Ma why it is so hard for people to practice Hong Sau.
She responded, “Where are their minds during the day? If we are anxious during the day, we replay our anxiety when we meditate. When during the day, we practice the presence throughout, then our consciousness and feeling are connected with God all day. Try to keep them regularly connected with God so that we can say, “Now I have the chance to focus on the Divine. It feels so close because you’ve been with the Divine all day.
The position for meditation includes having the eyes lifted up throughout meditation. But when you do the techniques, the attention is on the techniques. Perform that aspect of the technique.
How many of you have harmoniums? (A scattering of hands were raised throughout the audience.)
Chanting is half the battle. You don’t need to know a lot about music. Demonstrating with the harmonium, Brother showed how to play “Opal Frame” line “Baptize me in Thy light” with four white notes. Come home after work and just play those four notes and let them wash over you. Then, hold one note down and play the notes with a drone.
We try many ways to find God, but God will allude us until we find a way to pour our love out from our hearts.
Brother then demonstrated the Hong Sau technique. He noted that the Sanskrit words mean, ”I am He”. Brother said, “Wow!” Doesn’t that release a lot of burdens. I am God. I am He. So the meaning is wonderfully relaxing just in itself. The reaction to the incoming and outgoing breath is just wonderful!
With Hong Sau, we don’t control the breath at all. If it wants to go fast, that’s fine. We’re not trying to make anything happen. When we do it , we concentrate on the chant, the breath, and the feeling of peace that comes. Sometimes people say they don’t have time to do Hong Sau. It’s better to do just a tiny bit rather than skipping it. Then it keeps us in the habit and we remember to do it. We only need to concentrate on one Hong Sau at a time.
A young man and an older man were taking a canoe trip of 100 miles. The younger man said, “You mean we have to travel 100 miles. The old timer responded, “The only mile is the next mile. Brother continued discussing the technique.
It’s important how we end our meditation. The purpose of the techniques is to let us feel calm. They are preparing us for communion. This is the time of great stillness and also a time for love and devotion. Brother Anandamoy advised, “Don’t let the mind go away. Hook the mind to a thought like, ‘Reveal Thyself!’”
Daya Ma told the monks to take an affirmation to our rooms. “I Love you Lord. “ When I was young, I wasn’t sure if I really loved him. Then I thought, “If I’m a soul, then the soul will love God. And I said, ‘I the soul, love you.” Then the feeling in the room changed, and I thought, “Maybe I do”, and then I could say, “I love you, Lord’”.
When I was in Calcutta, I had work in the morning and I had to take an early bus. I only had time for the techniques. Then, two miracles occurred. The first time I took the bus, there was only one passenger on the bus. I put my chuddar back against the corner. I was just doing the devotional part. The glass windows were rattling, and I lost all awareness of the bus. Suddenly, I found myself in the air. I was levitating. People didn’t like the bus going so fast, so they had put up speed bumps. The driver hit a speed bump. The back wheels acted like a lever and threw me up into the air. The driver realized he had hit a bump, and slowed the bus down, and I kept moving at the same speed the bus had been going and came down on the back of the metal seats in front of me.
When we are talking about spirituality and our sadhana , we are talking about developing a personal relationship with God. Guruji said that when he looked at the spiritual eye, everything stopped. After deep devotional calls, the spirit falls on the devotee. He writes:
“You can hid behind the ocean,
You can hid behind delusion,
You can hide behind life.
You can hide behind dualities
You can hide behind theological conundrums,
You can hide behind my prayers,
But you cannot hide behind My love,
For in the mirroring light of my love,
You are revealed.”
Even if our meditation needs to be short, these can be the most memorable times in our lives, when we curl upon the lap of Divine Mother. In meditation, in private, you may be bathed and saturated in the love of God. Master said, “No matter what happens, at all times in death and life we are on the lap of Divine Mother. Life is waking on Her lap, and death is sleeping on Her lap. So you see we can never part, for in life and death through eternity we will be waking or sleeping on Her ever living bosom.”
May we now remember those who couldn’t be here, and send love to them as we have been specially trained by guruji to do.
2018 Convo – Bro. Anilananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Recharging the Body with Cosmic Energy ~ Brother Balananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
We have a lot of information on recharging the body with cosmic energy that is important for new devotees, but we’ll also be taking you veteran devotees to the next level. We can draw in unlimited energy from the cosmic sea. Bode Miller, the gold medal winning, Olympic skier, was racing when he started to fall. He went beyond the point of no return, but was able to right himself. He went on to win the silver medal. When he asked how he was able to recover, he responded, “I visualized myself back in racing position, and instantly, I was there. “
We’ve all heard stories of exceptional strength in a crisis, like the mother who lifted a car off of a child who was under it. When her husband became pinned under the tractor he had been driving, Mildred Shell lifted the 3100 pound vehicle off of his chest. Ms. Shell held the tractor up for over an hour until help arrived. She said a few months later that she tried to move the tractor and couldn’t budge it.
Guruji told us, “There are three things I never miss every day: meditation, service, and the energization exercises. If he missed them in the morning, he would do them two times in the evening, and he didn’t have to do them.
Developing powers of will and concentration help us to rise above body consciousness. In Lesson 38, Master tells us that when the energization exercises are done perfectly, they will automatically eliminate physical and mental disease. Once Brother Abhedananda, an expert on the exercises was asked a question.
“If I only have so much time for the energization exercises, which one should I do? “
He told him that every Wednesday the monks from Encinitas go to Mother Center to perform service. They don’t get back until 11:30 p.m.
“ I take a shower and go out onto the bluffs in the cold air, and I practice the first exercise; then the second, the third, and so on. By the time I get to the third, I am so full of energy that I do them all. Our meditation begins with those exercises, not just Hong Sau,” he explained.
The saints have attained union with Him without practicing the energization exercises, but for a devotee, they are a very important part of the path. Re-read the lesson on energization and understand the important part of them as a spiritual technique. When one moves the energy through the spine and brain, one is able to unite with God.
Brother Bhaktananda asked, “Do you know the purpose of the energization exercises? To gain such perfect control of the life energy that when we practice kriya we have control over all of the energy to bring it up the spine, through the brain, and go into Samadhi. It is important to remember that they are not ordinary exercises. “
(Brother then gave three points to remember, but since they describe the techniques, I won’t include them in these notes. The rules of this site and SRF state that we are not to divulge the techniques without the specific permission of mother center on a case by case basis. You will find these in lesson #38 of the SRF Lessons)
Mrinalini Mata advised that we practice as simply as possible and she added, “ Don’t be too practical about it. Don’t think about times, just visualize the energy going to the body part. Remember that the consciousness is faster than the speed of light. If one puts his mind on the body part, the energy will flow there. The greater the will, the greater the performance. It is so important to keep the mind concentrated and to will the energy to each body part. “
Brother described a challenge he had when a senior monk asked him to accompany him on a tour to Montreal. In the morning the senior monk let him know that he had laryngitis. He had lost his voice, and Brother Balananda would have to do all of the classes. I said, “Brother. It’s not possible. I don’t speak French. All I know is, ‘ Ou est la plage?’ Where is the beach? “
He told me, “Not to worry. They speak English.”
I studied all night and had about an hour of sleep. It was a gray morning when I looked up at the sky in Montreal and said, “Master, Help!” And then he gave me something. He let me see my golden astral body inside of my physical body while I was doing the energization exercises. Every time I tensed it was like a super nova. When I finished, my whole body was tingling. The sensation was like a child with a battery in his mouth.
I led the service and then counseled people until 11 p.m. Then I read, “The Divine Romance.” I lay down and was thinking. I thought, “These techniques really work!” And a little voice in my head said, “Of course they work. What didn’t work was you!”
Some people visualize pinpoints of light on the parts. Then, once you get it, you can remove the tool. Mrinalini Mata told, “Visualize a golden light moving through each body part. You might say to yourself, ‘I’ve been dilly dallying for thirty years. I’m going to do this right.’ See how Master keeps pushing us to the next level?”
Periodically do them in front of a mirror. Memorize the feeling of when the arm is locked, for example in spinal stretching. Make sure you do the exercise exactly as Master asked us to. If we’re not getting the proper results ask at retreat, or ask someone if what you are doing is being done in the proper way. Practice outside in the fresh air or at least by an open window.
Guruji told us to practice them in order. Brother said he has been told by a devotee, “I’m so tense after the exercises.”
He said to remember to tense to the count of three and then relax and feel. If you do this you will get ten times more benefit from the exercises. For new students, try to learn a few new ones every day. Master suggested for new students to do one recharging of the twenty body parts every day and add a few new ones each time. Initially it may take 25 minutes, and then you will get it down to 15 minutes.
New students should go to the long meditations. You don’t have to stay for all of it, but you can watch in the beginning to see how the exercises are performed correctly. All of the exercises are done with the eyes closed with the exception of those that require balance.
Br. Pierre then demonstrated each exercise as Br Balananda explained them.
For devotees concerned about memory loss, Brother Abhedananda suggested doing the memory stimulation exercise five times a day. Really check yourself. Am I tensing the other body parts or just the one I am supposed to? Learn to tense just the body part noted. The stomach exercise is the only exercise that massages the heart (when the diaphragm moves). It is also good for indigestion and constipation.
It is a lot to learn…38 exercises. In time, you will find you may get a little sloppy, so practice in front of a mirror. Mrinalini Mata used to check Brother Abhedananda to see if he was doing the exercises correctly. One time he said, “She gave me 19 corrections today.”
Dear ones, do not be discouraged by the seeming lack of will power. I pray to God to bless you.
2018 Convo – Bro. Balananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Opening Our Hearts and Minds to the Guru ~ Sister Bhakti
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Sister Bhakti welcomed the Convocation devotees first in English and then in Spanish, as did most of the monastics who spoke at Convocation.
We may speak different languages, but in our daily life, we all speak the language of the heart. Master said that YSS/SRF devotees are like shiny jewels scattered across the earth. That is how Master sees you!
There is so much joy at Convocation. This room feels like a temple. Why? Because Master is here. You would not be here if Master and his teachings had not deeply touched your mind and heart. We still need to open our minds and hearts every day to Master, anew.
When I first read “The Autobiography of a Yogi,” there were many questions I had always pondered over . When I read Master’s book, the answers came one after another, and I was deeply moved. He talked about God, and I thought, “That’s what I want, that kind of relationship with God. There are always those aspects of his teaching – the silent and devotional aspect of them, that bring our sadhana to life. We have a living link with Master and his blessings.
This motivates us to cultivate a more personal relationship with Master, to open both our minds and hearts. We can relate to him. He went through many of the struggles that we all have had. He comes to tell us that we can to that too.
Rajarsi Janakananda summarized our relationship with the guru: “Master came to give us God, and all we have to do is receive Him. I’m not referring to the passive receiving where we sit back and get inspired. If we did that, it would save him a lot of time and trouble. Learning by doing is the best way to learn. When we apply the techniques and the rules of spiritual living, they become a part of our character. We transform our consciousness to be part of God’s process. Remember, He doesn’t do anything for us that is not in our best interest.
Mrinalini Mat recalled that Rajarsi said the following after Master’s passing” “ I have been with Master today. There is a great celebration going on in the astral. Master is very aware that we are missing him. He told me, “I could appear to them now in form, but if I did so, they would be content to stay where they are. They need to come where I am.”
One of the principles of spiritual learning is that he will guide us until we reach the ultimate goal. He even takes some of our karma. From the guru’s side, all of the doors are open. We just need to give our willing cooperation to open the door on our side and see.
What about our consciousness amidst this fast and changing world? One thing we can do is talk to the guru throughout the day. Or we can talk to him and ask him to help us overcome some habit, to just to say thank you.
Where I work, we start the day with prayer. It helps me to stay more focused and calm. Daya Mata said, “To me, the meaning of discipleship is to live in the thought of the guru’s presence. Keep our mind here. She would then point to the Christ center.
It can be especially challenging in today’s world to keep the mind anchored on God and guru. There are so many things competing for our attention: demanding jobs, family responsibilities, and so forth. It is difficult to give enough time and care to those things and to still find time for meditation.
So much information is coming to us from other sources. We have the means to find out what everyone else is doing and everything that is going on in the world. Many people look at their phones every five minutes, and if they don’t they feel that they’re missing something. I don’t think any of you are doing that. (Laughter)
Think about how it would be if you focused with that same urgency on Master, saying that frequently, “I love you Master.” Every minute is a link between God and guru, and if you do that, you’ll find what you have really been missing: peace to your soul.
We just don’t want these electronics to ruin our lives. If you want two keep connected to God, open up to the ways to do it. Use the little gaps of time to bring the mind back to God. Keep little pictures with you and around the house to remind you of guru.
What is your first thought when you get up in the morning? Is it, “Oh, I have so much work to do. How am I going to get it all done?” Or you can think of Master.
Meera Ma , who was known for her cheerful ways , began her day by saying, “All right, Master, what are we going to do today. “ The important thing is putting him first before opening up to problems. If we do this, then we will have more creativity for problem solving. Turn to God for help.
There was a devotee who was very dedicated to Master and was considering leaving her job. She was facing many difficult situations at her job. She was in charge of a team of people who weren’t very cooperative. One was extremely suspicious of her and treated every kindness from her as having an ulterior motive.
She made up her mind to daily seek Master’s help. She took Master with her to work every day, and every day she asked him to help her. She also stayed calm and visualized herself surrounded by harmony. She would ask him, “How should I manage this situation? How should I handle these personalities? “
She noticed that a woman who complained a lot was actually a very good worker, so she started to encourage her. The woman began even to like Master’s affirmations. Four years later, this devotee received an award for how she dealt with people on the job. She told me, “All the credit belongs to guru.” She felt that she was able to change because she sought his help and applied his principles.
The ego is usually defensive. We get upset. But when we align our thoughts with him, we change our thinking. Let’s try taking the thought of guru into our daily life situations. Doing this throughout the day helps to keep the mind and heart from feeling restlessness during meditation. You can feel that peace that you cultivated during the day.
The most destructive force that we all have to fight is the unwillingness to meditate. We need to make sure that we don’t make excuses for not meditating. Ma used to tell us, when we told her our work was making it hard to find time for meditation, “If I can do it with the responsibilities that I have, then you can do it too.”
Master used to say, “Never give up your meditation for unimportant things. Make the time. We really need to want to do it. Make it a priority, a necessity in life.” If there are periods when you can’t do the full routine, don’t take an all or nothing approach. Do the best you can with the time you have. Whatever the length of the meditation, it makes all the difference if we fill our meditations with Master’s presence. Think if you were able to meditate with Master every morning. Think about this the next time you meditate. He is there! Just fill your heart with love for him and think strongly of the guru before meditation. God’s presence, through the guru, will flow through you.
There are two things I want to emphasize.
- Don’t carry your work or problems into your meditations. Meera Ma used to say, “Leave your worries and troubles outside of the chapel. Then you will know the truth about Master’s practice. It is amazing how tenaciously we can hold onto our problems. If we hold onto God instead of problems, you will feel your problems lightened.”
- We are putting limitations on what we will accept from God and guru. To know God, don’t expect anything. Just launch yourself into his blissful presence within. If you don’t receive what you expected, they might be giving you an opportunity for unconditional love.”
Sister Gyanamata used to say, “I do not ask for marvels, but for realization. As I crawl along, I’m sure that the changes are coming over my whole being.” She always looked forward to meditation. She never gave in to discouragement, even though her body was in great pain.
Look forward to your meditations when you go to bed. Look forward to your morning meditations and think tomorrow is another opportunity to meditate and be with Master. Talk to Master inwardly to cultivate a loving relationship.
“Sometimes we say, “I wish he would talk to me too.” He talks to you through his writings, through the SRF teachings. He told us, “When I am gone the teachings will be the guru….Through the teachings you will be in tune with me and the great gurus who sent me.”
Before long, we will have more of his inspirational writings. When the new Lessons come out, you will have an additional chance to put into practice these gems of wisdom. His light is present in every word he’s uttered. He helps us to be receptive to the Lessons. Master is willing and eager to give to you.
If you have a question, find and read his teachings, and you will find the answer you need. These writings can be a source of personal guidance from master. When dealing with maya, Master’s teachings will come to our aid if we make them part of us.
Mrinalini Mata writes of a wintertime experience when she was feeling sad as she was walking in front of the retreat. She had the thought, “Master said you must always be happy.”
She countered with, “I don’t see any reason to be happy.”
The she heard, “Nothing can make you happy if you choose to be unhappy and nothing can make you unhappy if you choose to be happy.”
The she thought, “But everything is conspiring to make me unhappy.
“If you have given up hope of ever being happy, cheer up. Never lose hope.”
She argued, But I don’t see any reason why I have to be happy.”
The thought came back, “The greatest sin against spirit is not to be happy.”
She explained that no matter what argument I had, Master’s teachings came to mind. I felt I had a verbal tussle with Master. And he always wins. Then, I felt as though my heart was going to burst with joy, because I thought Master, in his own words, had guided me. “
This story reminds us that if we read Master’s teachings for a half an hour or even five to ten minutes a day, we will grow in attunement with God. Many of us in the ashram open Master’s books at random for guidance. Once, I opened one of Master’s books that way.
I opened the book to the story “Two Frogs in Trouble”. You know, Master has a wonderful sense of humor.
“There were two frogs living in a pond near a farm, It was spring and the grass was green with colorful flowers decorating it, There were swans swimming in the pond, butterflies flying around and fishes swimming and playing. It was a beautiful day and the big frog was very happy to sit and do nothing all day. The small frog jumped from behind the big frog “Get up! Let’s go and play in the pond” called to his friend.
The small frog jumped into the water with joy, the big frog followed. They swam in the pond happily, they crossed the pond into the barnyard having fun and playing on their way, leaping with joy. In their joy they were carelessly jumping around. It was the milking time at the barn and the frogs accidentally jumped into a bucket half filled with milk.
Insides of the bucket were slippery and it was hard to hold on to, they tried very hard but there was no way for them to get out. They were forced to stay inside and swim. They kept swimming for some time, it was tiring them. The frogs shouted “Help! Help!”, unfortunately there was no help coming their way.
The big frog groaned “What is the use of swimming, we will die here anyway, I’m already tired, and I can’t swim anymore”. “Don’t give up my friend, let’s keep trying, or else we will die” encouraged his little friend. They swam for some more time after that. The big frog finally said “I can’t swim anymore, It is of no use, we will die anyway, I’m going to quit”. The big frog stopped and it gradually sunk into the bottom.
The little frog said to itself, “I’ll keep trying as long as I can, or else I will also die”. So he kept swimming for couple more hours. His legs were moving very slowly, hardly managing to stay on top. The little frog thought of giving up and ending his life, which seemed to be the only option he had.
He remembered what happened to his big friend and kept trying with all his might. “I will keep trying until I die. As long as I keep trying there is hope” thought the little frog. He swam with all his strength, he was getting weak, and splashes in the milk were the only sound he could hear. As he kept trying the milk was getting thicker and thicker with foam, making it difficult for him to swim.
The little frog kept swimming even when the milk got thicker making it difficult for him to swim. Milk got so thick that it was getting difficult even to take his legs out of the thick lump. When he was very close to last of his strengths he found a solid lump forming below him in the milk. As soon as the butter was solid enough to stand on it he jumped with all his strength and leaped outside the bucket.
His joy was immeasurable, He was filled with so much joy, and from then on he decided he would keep trying no matter how difficult the situation is.
Moral of the story: Banat. Banat. Ban jaaye (doing… doing… done) Saint is a sinner who never gave up. One should never give up his spiritual efforts no matter how much difficult it is to try. Keep trying, Keep trying” (Note: I missed some of this in my notes. This is a version of the story from the website AumAmen.com.)
Master’s message to me was to stop worrying; to just keep paddling, and you’ll be all right.
Master has assured us of his help just as much now as when he was in form. He told us, “When I am gone, I will be just as concerned for your spiritual welfare as I am now. I shall always be watching over each one of you, and whenever a true devotee thinks of me in the silent depths of his soul, he will know that I am near.”
Daya Mata reminded us, “There is no barrier between you and the guru expect what you put up in your own mind.”
But we do have mental barriers, don’t we. It’s easy to open the mind to guruji when everything has gone well, but what happens when things aren’t going well. The guru’s will does not always coincide with our will. But we know that the guru is the speaking voice of silent God. We have a choice to resist or to surrender to God. Our soul says, “Surrender.”
But the ego says, “No”.
There is a beautiful exchange in the “Autobiography of a Yogi” when Master first comes to his guru. “Sri Yukteswar asks him, “Will you give me the same unconditional love?” Then he ordered him to do the one thing he didn’t want to do, to return home.
Master laments, “My young heart was not yet malleable to the transforming fingers of my guru”.
Ego is too short-sighted to see what is for our highest good. The guru does see. The question is, “Who do we follow?”
Mrinalini Mat advised us to ask ourselves, “Am I standing here with the door open only a crack, or do I throw wide open the door of my heart and say ‘Come in!’ Let their light fill us. Jesus said, ‘Those who fulfill my wishes are not only pleasing me but also the Father in me.’ “
One devotee has said, “I exercise a lot, so I don’t do the energization exercises. I like Hong Sau. Om is harder. What should I do?”
Remember that the techniques are so scientific, and that they are also interrelated. We need to be open to what the guru wants us to learn. The guru’s goal is our highest liberation, so he keeps pushing us forward. He doesn’t always care about our comfort level.
When I was a Bramacharini, I was asked to lead the exercises, to play the harmonium, and to lead meditation at a retreat. Then, Sunday morning came and the sister was sick. I had to do it. I still remember the topic: “Proof of the Existence of God. I did confront Master with some questions. Why was he putting me in this position? And he was very kind and understanding. Well, I survived the experience and I guess they did too.
Later, I had to take some papers to Ma, and she laughed and said, “Well, Master just wanted to bring you out of your shell. Whether shyness or any other limitation we think we have, Master doesn’t want us to crawl out at our own pace. He makes it faster. This helps us to grow and get rid of some of the ants in our consciousness. Remember, the trust between the guru and the disciple needs to be mutual. The disciple bares his soul to the guru, and the guru bares his heart to the disciple.
Master said, “I only ask that you never try to deceive me. Always be very sincere with me.” He expects that we will be honest with him. We need to let him see us just as we are because then he can help us more. He will show us where to change.
Daya Mata stated, “All of the human beings that I’ve known in this world, there was only one to whom I could bear my soul without reservation. We knew he understood every weakness. We had all of these frustrations and desires in our hearts, even the ignoble ones. His love and friendship were unconditional.”
Another way to break down barriers is to replace negative thinking with positive thinking. Learn to overcome moods: anger, anxiety, resentment, and negative thoughts about ourselves and our circumstances. This is especially important during these uncertain times when we hear so much about the problems in the world. It is important that we don’t get pulled down into a delusive state of mind.
There are problems. Often we haven’t listened to the guru’s law. We all have to make a commitment to bring in the light for our meditations and prayers for a positive outcome with our families and our communities. Also, united efforts, like here when we meditate together and chant together are very powerful. Our positive thoughts encourage others.
There is a story about Meera Mata. Master had knocked on the door to her room. She had been weary the prior night, and she had left some books on the floor.
Master said to her, “I’m so sorry that you weren’t ready for me. “ He explained that this was not just about the room. How many times has master knocked on the door and you have not been ready or in tune with him.
We often hear about negative thoughts that devotees may have. “I’m unworthy and can’t face Master because I’ve made a mistake. This is one of the most powerful tools of maya.
One dear soul wrote a letter that enumerated all of her faults and added that she wasn’t doing all of the things that Master said in his teachings. This is not the way God and guru see you. We urged her to change her perspective. We told her, “If you are really as bad as you say, you would not be so concerned about it.”
We are all on the spiritual path. We are bound to discover things that we don’t like about ourselves, but remember that you are a child of God. If you had not been ready for this path, you would not have been drawn to him. You have Master’s promise. Just think, the guru has drawn me to him. Please don’t shut him out by calling yourself unworthy. He sees you soul.
If you saw a priceless gem covered in mud, would you throw it out or just wash the mud off. You would just wash it off. We spend too much time worrying about the mud. Gur is concerned that we keep on going. Remember Sri Yukteswar’s words to Master, “I will be your friend from now to Eternity no matter whether you are on the lowest mental plane or the highest mental plane of wisdom. I will be your friend even if you should err, for then you will need my friendship more than at any other time.
Mrinalini Mata said that once when Master was scolding her she looked into his eyes and all that she saw was love and compassion.
Master assured us, “Even when I am gone and invisible to your eyes, I am always with you. “ The guru’s relationship with us is founded in a love and care for us that lasts throughout eternity. The power of his love is greater than all of our flaws.
Get to know him through meditation and in every situation even in those that we would not have chosen. So we need to keep our minds open to him and remove all negative thinking so that he can bring out our true nature, that of a unique and cherished child of God.
When Sister Sahaja Mata read Master’s letters to Rajarsi Janakananda, while he faced a serious illness, he reacted as if he was hearing them for the first time, saying, “I did not know that he loved me so much”.
When we can’t truly see what Master has done for us in this and in other incarnations, we’ll say, “I didn’t know Master loved me so much. So let us follow him through this and to any other incarnations we might experience.
2018 Convo – Sister Bhakti Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Faith: Learning to Express the Unerring Intuition Within Us ~ Brother Bhumananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
You’re a big family! After the wonderful satsanga last night by Brother Chidananda, I marveled that it was so complete. Then when I arrived home at the ashram, I thought, “Oh! I am to follow that!
Then I thought about one of Bother’s points, to take any delusion that thrives out of our consciousness and really throw it out of the soul, and you will know that beautiful consciousness he had when you go home. Keep that deep, soul born consciousness which Master had. It is for us too. It’s regal and proper to follow that wonderful satsanga with a class on faith.
Some people think of faith as belief, but faith is something much deeper and stronger. It comes from experience. But you have to test it with spiritual action. That’s how you understand pure faith. If you take these teachings, not for months, but for years, suddenly you’ll realize, “Oh my goodness! This is like a different life for me!”
It’s like a caterpillar crawling and emerging as a butterfly of omnipresence.
When you practice Kriya, every spark of your consciousness is spiritualized as God’s light. Sri Daya Mata for so many years spoke at these convocations. Often, her message was simply:
“Meditate. Ask guru to guide you as you go forward.”
But when she spoke, we were totally, completely absorbed. Why? It was her knowing God. That’s the power of faith. It comes when we practice the teachings. Master said that real faith is rooted in the realization of God.
Life is difficult. Each one of us has to deal with the opposing force of delusion. At times we do the wrong things. We often fall in ruts of bad habits. When you are struggling, remember that your struggle is temporary. But guru’s love for you as his perfect child, that’s forever.
Man, by succumbing to evil for a time, may eclipse the light of his soul, but eventually he finds he is perfect even as God is. The perfect nature of the soul is from which the divine spring flows. You can cover it up, or ignore it, but that divinity you are is always trying to express. Something inside you has always rebelled at the thought of sickness, old age, death. That something is your soul, because it knows you are eternal joy. The way we experience this is to practice the teachings.
Some don’t realize the value of the Energization Exercises. They increase our vitality by balancing the body. They reduce tension. If you practice faithfully, with deep concentration, they give that impression that we are not these little machines. As we devote ourselves to the energization exercises we begin to feel and express ourselves in this way.
Brother relayed the story of Jesus and the fig tree from “The Second Coming of Christ”.
In the incident of the hapless fig tree we have a provocative contrast between the human and the divine, manifesting simultaneously in one man: human reaction at a disappointment, taking form in divine power.
Jesus was hungry and looked for fruit on the leafy fig tree, but at the wrong season. Finding no figs, he just willed the tree to cease to exist! The will and life force present in the body of Jesus, being in tune with the Cosmic Will and Cosmic Life, simply withdrew the life force and will that erstwhile had sustained the fig tree. Just as am electrical engineer who has access to all the switches of the main dynamo that controls the electricity in a city can put off or on at will a single light or all the lights, so Jesus, being one with the Cosmic Electrical Engineer, was able to switch on life in the extinguished lamp of the lifeless body of Lazarus, or switch off the life that coursed through the fig tree.
Though rationally viewed as unreasonable for Jesus to expect the fig tree to yield fruit during the off-season (for it produced in accordance with nature’s laws, instituted by the Creator), still the impulsive act was yet another demonstration to show the disciples that the God image in man is unconstrained by even the irritating implacability of the material universe.
Man owns the omnipotence of God, provided he forsakes delusion, and, by meditation, lifts his consciousness from the body and unites it with God’s perfect reflection within him. The Hindu scriptures say that one who knows the Spirit becomes the Spirit. Jesus demonstrated that oneness with Spirit by his Spirit –united dominion over all things.
When the Disciples expressed surprise at the prompt response of the fig tree to this sentence of destruction, Jesus spoke of the power of faith-not blind faith, but perfect conviction born of God-realization and the personal command of great metaphysical laws that have the power to move mountains and grant any prayer. “(“Second Coming of Christ “pp 1261-1262)
This story shows the human side of the great Masters. When the disciples marveled, Jesus said, “Verily, I say unto ye, shall ye not also say unto this mountain, “Be cast into the sea”, and it shall be done.”
Jesus was saying that if you have faith that’s grounded in your own experience of God, you have the power to move mountains. The purpose of everything that guru gave us is to move us from human consciousness to the divine consciousness, the consciousness that Jesus and our guru manifested.
If you operate your computer without the Internet, the computer is very limited in what it can do. But if you link it to the Internet, it can do anything. Similarly, the little mind is limited, but if you go to your connection, the cosmic mind, then there is no limit to what you can accomplish. Say to this mountain, be thou cast into the sea, with cosmic power, cosmic love, God.
I have a brother. From the youngest age he loved water and boats. I was about nine when he got his first boat. One day, we launched that boat. None of us had ever been in a boat before. We were having a great time when the weather changed. The winds became very strong. The waves were five to six feet high. The current was taking us out to the ocean. Suddenly, a big ocean liner pulled up beside our boat. The people in their chairs on the deck were having a cocktail party. They were looking down on us. We were crying for help. They called the Coast Guard. They took us down to the beach. We were scared to death. The people on the big boat were serenely sipping cocktails. What is the lesson here?
We are all on the same ocean. It can be pretty overwhelming if you stay in the little boat. If you let anxiety take over your consciousness, life can be rough. But if you say, “I am not this limited mind. I am the Atman!” you can still be in rough waters but still feeling of Divine protection.
During the day, if you get ruffled by big events, ask yourself the question, “Which boat am I in?” Remind yourself, “I am made in the image of God.”
How do you feel that this is a positive question? That is answered by Kriya yoga. The yogi finds himself united by yoga to all creatures. The power of Kriya bids us to rid ourselves of delusion by using the life force. This whole thing is in it. We don’t know anything else but grace as we are moving away from the sensory nerves to the upper regions. Then we discover a blissful realm that we have never experienced.
When we are going to the movie theater and waiting for the movie to begin, we may be really into talking to our friends at first. Then the theater opens the curtains and the movie begins. You are sucked right into that movie for the next few hours. You’re totally mesmerized. That’s just with an ordinary movie.
When you were born, you were, just before, you were in your mommy’s tummy in the womb. This was a thousand times more captivating than any ordinary movie. You were truly captured by it. The power of Kriya yoga turns off the movie, and then you are free to experience who you really are.
The Upanishads state, “f thou canst transcend the body and perceive thyself as Spirit, thou shalt be eternally blissful, free from all pain.”
After a Sunday service, a devotee came up to me and told me that his brother was very ill. He asked me to visit him. This was one of the most difficult hospital visits I have ever experienced. His brother was in his thirties. He had a brain tumor and was in the last stages. He was not a devotee, and he was very very angry with his wife, very very angry with his three children, and very very angry with God.
I tried to give him some comfort, but nothing worked. Finally I asked him, do you mind if I take you through a guided meditation. Then, with the grace of the guru, I led him through a little meditation.
After this, I just had the sense, “God is here!”, and after that, he looked at me and just said, “Thank you!” He got a little glimpse that there was something more than this terrible movie he was seeing.
The answer is to discover your oneness with God, by diving into that inner communion that is waiting for us, each one of us. Master wrote, “God’s voice is silence. Only when restless thoughts cease, can one hear the voice of God communicating through the silence of intuition.”
Meditation buys stillness. In stillness, the intuition of the soul becomes active. With understanding, we experience the intelligence of God. The cosmic Om, as attunement , gets deeper and we’re led to experience the great goodness of love. God is peace. God is love. God is wisdom. Put it together with stillness and understanding and the holy Om, and there is communion with God. The sum total of this process is faith. God pours his love, faith, and bliss into us.
We have to keep patiently making the effort. Even with Kriya, it takes time. Brother Bhaktananda said that the spiritual effort of seeking God is unlike anything else. Sooner or later, you get a breakthrough. If the heart feels dry, or there is a lack of enthusiasm, the answer is to just keep practicing.
One devotee told me that he had practiced Kriya for 45 years and had kept on with his twice daily practice. He told me he has been blessed beyond belief. Recently, after practicing Kaiya, he asked Master, “What is cosmic peace? “ He then felt a peace in the upward centers spreading across his body. He told me that he felt his very soul was expanding in waves. He said, “I entered a place of blissful peace, and I knew for a brief instant that I was home. “
We’ve talked some about Kriya and meditation, but devotion is also so important. Some devotees say, “Just give me the Kriya yoga. I’m not good at devotion”.
Master told us that you need both. Master said he knew a yogi who practiced the techniques but forgot to love God. He said he was like a spiritual robot. We can never find God by so many million Kriyas. God is not for sale, to put it bluntly.
But when we offer him our hearts, he finds us irresistible. Sometimes, the body resists. Sister Gyanamata said when this happens, to take it in stride. She told us, “Tell God, ‘You have the power to take this away instantly. Unite me with Thy Consciousness, “
If it is not right, but you do your best, in God’s eyes, that is the perfect devotee.
An eagle was flying, and saw a little bird lying on its back with its feet in the air. “What are you doing, he asked?”
“The sky is falling, and I’m trying to hold it up”, the little bird replied.
The eagle laughed and said, “You are the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. Do you really think you can make a difference?”
The little bird answered, “One does what one can.”
This is a rule of the spiritual path. Just tell God and guru that one does what one can.
What is attunement with the guru as we try to model our lives after him? Guru told us there comes a growing feeling with your, from your heart, the center of intuition. Master is happy when you know that with every fiber of your being, when you know that there is no test you cannot face with courage and enduring faith. Attunement with the guru is one of the highest manifestations of faith. Guru’s love is so all embracing that no matter what, he forgives us. When He loves us, and we love him with all of our hearts.
It is a powerful technique when you pray to God as a beggar or with doubt, like, ”Lord, I don’t know if you are listening.” The secret of effective prayer is to change the concept from that of a beggar to a child of God.
Master told a story of driving between Mount Washington and Encinitas. Often they would stop at Laguna Beach. One time he sent the devotees in to get Scotch bread, what we would now call shortbread. A student came back with fudge. Master asked him, “Why did you come back with fudge when I asked for Scotch bread”. The devotee explained that the bakery agent said there was no more Scotch bread, other than a package reserved for another customer.
Master looked up and said, “Mother of the Universe! What is this? I know you would give this to me.”
The devotees reported that a bright light moved across the sky into the store. The baker ran out to Master’s car, which was at the far end of the parking lot. He handed him the package of Scotch bread, saying, ”Here. I’ll make an excuse to the other party, and Master cried, because the Mother of the Universe had looked out for him.
He looks out for you when you are really in tune with Him. One time, I needed a chair. I found a little, flimsy one, but the price was right. Next door, I found the perfect chair. It was sturdy and fit perfectly. I returned ten minutes later to get the flimsy chair. It was ten minutes before closing. When the owner saw us, he pretended that he didn’t see us and walked quickly away to his car and drove off.
The other monk with me leaned over and said, “Master really doesn’t want you to have this chair”.
But the story is not over. When we returned to the ashram, I was still looking for a chair. One of the nuns called about a chair donated to them that was too big. When we went to look at it, it was an exact replica of the one I had like before. Then I realized why the owner of the store had acted so crazy. Divine Mother didn’t want him to spoil the surprise. I often realize how important it is to say, “Thank you God. You do indeed look after your devotees. “
Master was divinely ordained. Babaji told him, “You are the one.” And what a wonderful example our guru is.
On one occasion, Master raised some money the day before the escrow closing on Mt. Washington. He was $5000 short. He had consulted all of the students, but nothing was forthcoming. He told the devotees, “God always comes to me in the end.” The students told him, “Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.” He told them, “Don’t tell me that everything will be all right.”
He prayed to the Lord for an answer, and told them it seemed to last a year. He heard the Lord say, “Go to bed”. Then a miracle occurred. A big gust of wind opened a window. Suddenly, he remembered Ms. Julia Test. He picked up the telephone and called her.
She told him, “I will give you $200.00.He explained that he needed $5,000. She told him that there was $5,000 that she had lent to a second party that had been returned to her. She asked if he would take it on a second mortgage. He replied that he would, but asked her to join him immediately at the escrow office.
Master said that when they got to the office, a man was waiting to buy the property with an offer of $10,000 more than ours.
“But God was listening. Mt. Washington was ours!” he exclaimed.
So go forth with an indomitable will. Express that powerful spirit when the going gets rough.
One final point, and this is important. When you read in “Autobiography of a Yogi” on “The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar” about Hiranyaloka, maybe some of you had the thought, “Oh, they were at the end of life. I want to go there. “
This desire has come up for me. One problem. I don’t qualify. To rise to the highest level of Hiranyaloka, one must go from salvikalpa samadhi to nirvikalpa samadhi. But I have a plan. The mudras followed at the end of life tell us that there will be Sri Yukteswar or Master, or both, and then I’m going to have a conversation with them.
“Beloved Master Beloved Sri Yukteswar, I know I don’t qualify for Hiranyaloka, but can you get me in anyways? He who created all of us and all of the rules is far, far beyond any rules. All things are possible to God. “
If a young man is trying to get into the university but doesn’t have the credentials, he may not get in. But if his family knows the president of the college, and the President says, “I know this family and this young man”, I’m going to relax the rules.”
If God thinks you’re ready, he can reach down and in one instant your karma is gone, and you are free. One of the highest laws is the creative grace of God. With the blessings of the guru, all things are possible. There is only one rule you need to follow, and that is the love for God. If we deeply love God, we will follow the sadhana and follow Master’s how to live principles.
Follow all of the principles but do not feel restricted. It is our joy to follow that guru out of the joy of our hearts for Master. Wait! May Day! What if God says, “You’re not ready yet.”
Then we are reminded of this beautiful chant, “1000 years or till tomorrow!”
How long will it take? When you love God, time doesn’t matter. Let this effort matter. How can I love you more? Keep seeking, striving, waiting, yearning for God, and always, always remembering all things are possible with Him.
Master said that if we love Him with all of our hearts, he will wipe out all of our karma.
Brother Bhumalananda then led devotees in a meditation. For those who were unable to come to Convocation, let us send them a great blaze of God and guru’s love from our own souls.
“Father, Thou art free from all karma.
I am Thy child.
I am free of karma.
Now and forever!”
2018 Convo – Bro. Bhumananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation – Center Representative Conference ~ Brother Tyagananda, Brother Devananda, and Brother Sarvananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Brother Tyagananda
Brother began the conference with a prayer and some beautiful chanting. He noted that the theme of the conference would focus on three essential elements for SRF organizations-(temples, centers, and circles): Humility, Harmony, and Cooperation.
He reminded the devotees to remember the words of Rajarsi Janakananda;
“To you, the Center leaders, to you, I’m very grateful for the way you’re holding together Self Realization Fellowship. All of you, I know, are trying to uphold the perfect example of ideals. Let your light so shine that all will be inspired to emulate your spiritual blessing. The rewards are great.
When the Center Representatives monks started talking about what we should address, we felt that it was time to talk with you again about service, serving the guru. Many devotees come to the path so enthusiastic. You serve for a while and then something happens. Then you stop? Why? Serving the guru’s work is not easy. It can be very challenging, but that is the test. How? When we serve his work there are challenges, but we hang in there. We keep serving.
What broke Master’s heart is when devotees who promised to serve him would go away.
Problems and challenges are an integral part of our sadhana. If we want to find the guru in this life, we have to have this commitment. We need to stay with humility, harmony, and cooperation, not walking away. The artist Sade had a song called, “Hang on to Your Love”. Do you remember, she was a singer from the 80’s? The lyrics are so beautiful. “In heaven’s name, why are you walking away, hang on to your love.”
As an expression of our active love for the guru, we serve him. Especially when it’s not convenient, we continue serving. We have to ask, “How can I make my love stronger, not walking away? “
One devotee told me that when his center was busy buying a building, everyone was walking away. He wanted to quit. He went down on his knees to God, and said, after that, walking away was not an option.
Brother Mokshananda came into the ashram. His family wanted him back, but he stayed with the guru. Master told him, “Loyalty is the highest spiritual law”.
Loyalty begins where personal convenience ends. Those of you here are the dearest of the dear to guruji. Those who serve with their love are so special. Nothing is closer to my heart.
Guruji used to talk about the inner circle. He was sad when there was a big event with food and thousands came, but when it came time to serve, almost no one showed up. Master wrote to Rajarsi, “Everyone wants to ride on the golden chariot but very few want to help build it.”
If we are able in this life to have a deep, heartfelt commitment to guruji, to believe and feel, your life can be so transformed. Be workfully committed. You will never know how fast you progress to God and the goal of Self Realization Fellowship.
With service, Guruji is giving us the greatest opportunity to accelerate out spiritual evolution. With Brother Mokshananda , Brother Balananda and others who served, we have seen it clearly. The ones who serve their spiritual groups, they are the ones who grow spiritually. It is worth it because the rewards are unbelievably great. Daya Ma said that the ones who worry that if they serve they will fall to pieces; these are the ones who don’t find God. Never be afraid of hard work. The people who slack or dodge it- they do not progress on the spiritual path. I’ve seen it over and over.
Some devotees set limitations. I will only do this but no more. He or she who thinks only of his own comfort, thinking that if she serves, she will fall to pieces, will not get very far. But she who gives her who heart finds the life divine.
When I entered the ashram, the ladies at Hidden Valley ashram were doing lots of devotional service…hard labor. I was coming from Europe where I’d never worked in my life, not even cleaning my room nor doing laundry. Brother Turiyananda was there, and he said, “he won’t last ten days”. The monks worked hard. We often said, “For God and guru.”
We worked in the desert from early to late often with little to eat. Once they gave us a cheese sandwich which probably had been prepared five days before.
Early on, I was Br. Simone then, one monk said, ”Oh, there are such blessings here!”
And I thought, “Why don’t you just shut up.” I thought, “Sooner or later it’s going to pay back, the blessings of the guru.”
And here I am! That was in 1986, 32 years ago, and I tell you, it was worth it! So then I go the Center Department helping all the devotees who did not want to serve. (Laughter)
There will be problems. As devotees, we know that they are opportunities for us to grow spiritually through humility, harmony, and cooperation. These words are emphasized in the Center Department on line guide for operating SRF centers. Brother Devananda will be talking shortly about the best way to communicate.
But do use the Center Online Guide. (The Center Online Guide is a digital library for those who serve- center leaders, service readers, etc. For the website, user name and password, check with your center or call SRF Member Services. )
Guruji used to say, “I’ve done all this organizational work. As a young man, he was averse to organizational work. He said that organizations are like hornets nests. Whatever the leader does or does not do is criticized.
Just ask him, “Guide me to be humble. It’s all in your hands. “
Keep on serving. Keep on referring to the guidance we have prepared. Keep the large spiritual perspective. We are here to become something, not just only playing harmoniums.
The Center Department has three supervisors: Brahmachari Jason, Brother Nikhilananda, and myself, Brother Tyagananda. There is never just one big boss in charge.
(Brother then introduced all of the monastics serving in the Center Department.)
Please come to see us in the Center Department and make an appointment with your center representative. Remember, do everything for God. We are working for him. Serving is just as important as your spiritual meditation. Serving God is just as important. Those who are dry will find more life in service, and involvement with the center.
In thinking, “I’m working only for God!” your love becomes so deep. So give all of your heart, and have no other objective but to serve and love him.
Brother Devananda
We’re going to talk about how to integrate spirituality and lead through communication. Have you ever been talking to devotees and they didn’t agree with you. A nun once went to Guruji to complain about another nun who she thought was strong willed and didn’t always agree. Guruji said, She’s strong willed, but all of my disciples are strong willed, because I am strong willed.
We have to learn to get along. Guruji advised us to practice kind speech. You need to be willing to talk things out. Guruji observed two disciples arguing. One turned and walked away from the other. Guruji called to her. He said, “Please come back and talk.”
He often said, “Fools argue. Wise men discuss. That is a good example for all of us of the willingness to discuss.
We don’t like to deal with difficult people who want to do that. The Gita says, “O Arjuna. surrender not to unmanliness; it is unbecoming to thee. O Scorcher of Foes, forsake this small weak-heartedness! Arise!”
Sometimes we need to have a talk with someone who is really difficult. The law of karma tells us that what you give out you will get back. But when something happens, we often ask, “Why did this happen? It’s not right.” How can we be spiritual and deal with conflict?
We need to know how to be kind and caring and then deal with people. Guruji told us that getting along does not mean giving up on our ideals. But how can you maintain your ideals without being offensive?
Someone may meditate a lot, but no one wants to work with them. That’s not a good sign. Once, I was connecting with a coordinator who was dealing with a difficult person. I asked him, “What do you think you’re supposed to learn from this?”
He said, “I need to stand up and face this person in a good way. Misbehavior in a group cannot be allowed to continue. There’s a destructive and constructive way. If you have someone who is harsh and a bully- they’re pushing people away. There is room for everyone, but you don’t need them in key positions.
Look at what you are creating, because it can create a magnetism. If you say, “I can’t work with this person “, that’s creating inharmony. You are not leaving a person in a place where you can deal with them.
One of our devotee’s sisters moved to another city. She tried to help the center there. She was treated with such disrespect that she never went back. That is very unusual, but we don’t want to turn people off. If you are in a leadership role or have been a member for many years, look at your style for communicating with the members. When you invite people to serve, it is very important to ask them, “Would you be open to feedback and guidance?” If they are not open, you don’t want them in that position.
If you have someone who is showing up late or not showing up, or just not doing well, it’s your job to help them and to work with them.
For 18 years, I served in the monks’ personnel department. At that time, it was also like the SRF information center. Because the community was so big, we would get a lot of calls. I would be in the middle of counting money or some other task and someone would call. I would say curtly, “What do you want?”
After a few years, I realized that how I treat people is my work. So I changed my attitude. People are our job. Caring about the people around us is our job. The best type of yogi is he or she who feels for others. How we treat the people around us is more important than getting things done.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care about them and their spiritual lives. Conflict is normal, but how we deal with it matters. Maybe there is a tense conversation and you’re stirred up. How do you handle it?
Calm down. Become aware of your own feelings. Have you ever had a conversation when you were upset? How did it go? We don’t like to admit, “I might be a little bit angry. I’m spiritual, so I’m not supposed to be angry.” Give yourself some time. I use journaling.
We need to find out what we are so that we can become what we want to be. First, we have to deal with us. This is true in your relationships. Calm down first so that you can have a constructive relationship
I began the process of trying to communicate in a spiritual way when I was at Lake Shrine, and we were building a new temple. I had a mentor, a devotee who was my communication counselor. I was in charge. I had an issue with someone that I was avoiding dealing with. Finally, I started making myself face the person but in a constructive way.
On one occasion we were at an outing, waiting outside for fireworks at a high school. The people next to us were smoking and the smoke was blowing on me and the nearby children. I am allergic to smoke. I thought, “Just let it go”. Then, I forced myself to talk to the group. I began with, “Hi, how are you. I know you are not aware, but the smoke is blowing on us and on these children. Would it be okay if you moved to another place a little further away?”
They answered, “Yes. We’d be happy to.”
I did not approach them with, “Hey. Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Most people are reasonable as long as you are calm and kind. Your heart has a brain. Be calm, kind, caring and clear.
If you are meditation and you start to think about an issue, you start thinking, “Why did they do it? And their tone of voice! “You have to deal with yourself and your feelings first.
I highly recommend not using email for serious issues. You may write it in anger, then read it later and say, “Oh my gosh! I was really angry. I wish I hadn’t said it that way.” The phone is better, if you know the person, but in person is best.
For instance you can say to someone who is serving and late, “You are coming late. It’s causing some problems. “Explain how it is causing problems. Communicate in a clear way. If it is very sensitive, meet in person.
Years ago, I had moved two a new ashram. The office I was in did not have a phone, and I really needed a phone. I asked the person in charge of that, “May I have a phone?
He replied, “There are a lot of people who want things here”, and walked away.
I thought, “I need to meet this person.” I was thinking about it in meditation. I knew I had to deal with it. Finally I approached him and asked, “Do you have a few minutes?” Then I asked, “How are you doing?”
He replied, “My life is falling apart here. I can’t finish anything because I have too much to do.” He went on for about thirty minutes. After that, because I was listening, I told him, “I had no idea the pressure you were under, but I really do need a phone.”
He answered, “Yes, I should have put that in. “That afternoon he spent two hours putting my phone in. That’s the power of good communication. You have to be willing to listen but also clear about what you’re going to say. This is especially important if you are leading. If you are responsible for an area, be sure to ask people how they are doing.
Have you ever had someone correct you when you knew they didn’t care about you? If I know they care, I’ll do anything for them. It’s important to make a connection with people.
Communicate in a kind way. “Are you aware of that? Just try to do better in the future.”
For coordinators, it’s your job to create harmony and to make sure that you are not creating disharmony. Sometimes you have to be unpopular if you make a difficult decision. I have had to remove bullies who refuse to listen or to change.
To review: Work through your own feelings first. Journaling works. Get calm. If you do meet with the person, be calm and caring. Don’t do sensitive things through email. Maybe small things can be addressed that way. Always ask at the beginning, “How are you doing?”, and then be calm and listen. The Center Department is here to help you. Be sure to call for guidance. You may not be appreciated or liked by some, but you are playing an important role. While getting along with yourself, you should also practice the art of getting along with others. It is a great, but challenging and difficult art.
There are several practices that are necessary in order to know how to get along with yourself.
Master said, “Anyone who is extremely emotional or is restless with bad habits can never get along with himself. If your conscience tells you all the time that you are wrong, how on earth can you expect to get along with yourself?
And when you meet others, you will find that they will not extend their trust and their goodwill toward you. Because a person who goes against his conscience mistrusts himself, and that reflects in his character. Man’s conscience speaks to him all the time and is constantly prodding him to change and to behave rightly. So always listen to your conscience, the voice of your inner self; it is there to help you get along with yourself.”
Brother Sarvananda
I’m recalling Master saying, “Thou hast given this monk a large family.” What does a healthy spiritual family look like?
When I was in Brazil, at a conference in Rio, the devotees were asked to share challenging situations and how they overcame them. There was a lady who had been in charge of accounting. A man came in with lofty ideals. He felt that anything having to do with money was the root of all evil. He got hold of her ledgers and burned them.
He realized later that he needed accounting. When she told this story to the group, she was so funny in the telling that she brought the house down. If this had been a business, he could have been gone today. In this spiritual family he was able to get away with this. One of the takeaways is don’t take it too seriously.
Meera Ma asked Master what his secret was for working with people.
He told her, “Don’t expect them all to do their best. Just be grateful for the smallest little things they do.”
So she always expressed great appreciation for even the little things.
Everyone goes through different karmic periods or has bad day. Ask yourself, “What am I like when I am on my best, on a good day?”
Some people may be going through a major karmic test. You may want to cut them some slack. Often that happens in a family. People go through a difficult period, and everyone pulls together.
How many would like to be admired by Daya Mata?
Ma said, “I admire the person who has deeply felt conviction but lest I am wrong, maybe I should listen to what you have to say.”
She said that one time she was with a group of nuns and spoke strongly to one in front of the group. She went to her room and realized that she hadn’t needed to do it in front of the others. So she went to her and apologized.
If you are new in leadership, you may make mistakes. The point is will you let it slide or will you say, “I’m sorry”?
I had the privilege a few months ago of travelling to some meditation groups on the east coast, three fairly small groups.
The first group was a tremendously strong group. On Sunday morning they have a meditation that begins at six a.m. and goes until 11 a.m., five hours. Then they have their reading service. When you meditate together as a group this deeply, the chances are you will have 96-98% fewer harmony problems. Just being together in meditation at that level brings them together in harmony. And I must say, they have never called me once about any harmony problem. This is such a good group!
Sometimes in SRF, the group gets so interiorized after meditation we may approach others like zombies. This group is not like that. Even though a visitor may be a stranger or attends only once, the group warmly welcomes them. At that group, they went out of their way to make people welcome. I thought to myself, “This is a group that Master will be pleased with. (Your scribe is proud that he is speaking of the Washington D.C. Center!)
When we watch the film, “Glimpses of a life Divine”, there is a journalist who talks about having interviewed presidents and a couple of popes. He says that Master saw through his misguided ambition and still loved him. I love to see when people come and go that friendship is still there, that we are not trying to convert, but just to reach out to people with love in the same way.
The second group was in a community that has a reputation of being kind of out there. They are very colorful people. (I only know that he is speaking of Woodstock, NY because he mentioned this story at parent day at SRF Summer Day Camp.) One of them made a sign that said, “A saint is a sinner who never gave up.” Each person in the center had the icon, and on this sheet every devotee at the center was a different saint with their picture photo-shopped onto the body of a saint. Again, don’t take yourselves too seriously.
The last group met in the basement of the home for a long time nuclear family. There was a husband, father, niece, but you couldn’t tell the difference between who was in the family and who was another devotee. Remember, you are not an organization. You are a spiritual family.
Early on, when I first came here, I wasn’t looking forward to coming to the hotel and putting on a suit and a scarf. I came to the hotel with some trepidation. I came to the first group meeting, and I saw, these people are so loyal and sincere. Many devotees have come from all over and many come more for the meditation. Do remember to come to the meditation room located in the Catalina Room between sessions.
Just you remember that you are Master’s faultless jewels and treat each other with love and respect as Master does. There is a quote from Ma that I will close with.
“The spirit of Christ manifests in us when we look for the positive qualities in others instead of judging them; when we forgive instead of harboring feelings of resentment; when with deep faith and an open heart we set aside our preferences to seek attunement with God and pray, “Father, not my will, but Thine, be done.”
For Daya Mata, this was a labor of love for her, this path. Draw others to love for her and Master by your example.
2018 Convo – Center Representative Conference Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Teen Class: using Will Power for Success and Happiness ~ Sister Draupadi
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
It is a joy to be with you all. (Sister repeated the welcome in Spanish, as many of the monastics did in their opening remarks.)
Let us begin with a show of hands. How many of you are in your twenties or under? How many of you are attending Convocation for the entire week? (Many of the young devotees raised their hands.) That is just wonderful. The fact that you have stepped away from the daily world of doing day to day to become a more spiritual person says that you are thinking more deeply about the path.
I was speaking with one young man at summer youth camp about how he was doing. He reported that he had a fine social life. I asked him what he had learned in the program. He told me that it helped him to fill in the gaps of his life to draw closer to God and guru.
When I was in my twenties, I had a desire to draw closer to God. I was drawn to Indian philosophy and read as many books as I could. Two themes resonated with me.:
- Learn how to meditate.
- When the student is ready, the Master will appear.
I decided I would need to search. I went to India. Then, one day in Fullerton, I saw a little marquee with a picture of a yogi and his family. I was feeling a little leery, because I didn’t want to get involved in organized religion. When I went to the lecture, there was a distinguished gentleman there with long hair, wearing a kurta, and dressed in garb as an Indian monk. I thought to myself, “A reverend, he’s not.” That was in the mid 70’s.
He talked about India and a trip he had just been on to the ashrams there. He recommended that newcomers read “Autobiography of a Yogi”. Then there was a chant: “Door of My Heart”. As I chanted, I felt feelings I had never felt before. I felt as though my heart would burst.
I thought, “This is it. This is the guru I’ve been looking for”. As I was reading the last chapter, my eyes fell on the testimonial by Forest Lawn: “Paramahansa Yogananda: A Yogi in Life and Death”.
What struck me then was, “He’s gone, and I can’t learn from him. I need a living guru.” And I was confused, because it all seemed so right. I decided to resume my plans to visit India. I went to the Sunday service. The subject of the service was “The Ever Living Guru”. And those words resonated with me. In that talk, all of my questions were answered, and the promise in all of those yoga books had come true for me. I realized too that the guru had orchestrated this and the whole thing. Then I realized that he was already teaching me.
When we awaken spiritually, it is a very important time. The soul is yearning to find something beyond our existence. God lovingly responds, sends his messenger, and says, “Teach them.” And if we offer our reverence and respect, it opens our minds and hearts. We need to ask ourselves this morning, “Am I taking advantage of this golden opportunity being offered to me?” Take advantage of this opportunity, for after all, you created it.
In order to use will power effectively, we need to have a goal and to focus. Ask yourself this question. “What is the purpose of life? One young person whom I talked with answered this question by saying, “How can I be the best version of myself. How can I live up to my highest potential? How can I be the most authentic person I can possibly be?”
Authentic means to be real, genuine, and true to our Divine Self.
We are not ordinary human beings. We are a spark of God. When God created us, he put a hidden treasure inside of us, and that treasure is you! The purpose of life is not just to create a good salary, retire on a good pension, and fade away. Many seek happiness outside, because somewhere along the way, the purpose of life became blurred.
A primary teacher asked her students to write down what they wanted to be when they grew up. One child said, “Happy.” The next day, she spoke to him. “I think you misunderstood the assignment.”
He replied, “Miss, I think you misunderstood life.”
What is purpose? Guruji said, “I was once like you. I walked the earth seeking truth. Everything that I thought would bring me joy brought me misery. You must all discover your own divinity and win the kingdom of God for yourself. “
We cannot do this in some miraculous way, but in a simple way, by doing all of the little things in life with love. It’s not how much we do but how much love we put into the giving. It is not how much we give. So do small things with great love. When you do this, that’s when you can inspire your environment.
When I was visiting Sicily, a young man stepped forward. The first thing he said was, Sister, today I’m taking kriya yoga initiation. “
There was an older gentleman with him, Paulo, the father of the young man. He told me, “Sister, I’m here to see what my son is doing that has caused him to change so much. So, tonight is my first lesson in yoga, that is, tonight is my first lesson on how I can change.” This young man changed because of his spiritual effort, and he influenced his father’s life. There is no end to the ripple effect of peace and goodness. We can spread it all around us.
Will power is the ability to control our thoughts and attitudes in order to change our behavior. Will power is supported by core values. Ask yourself, “What are my values?? What principles do I live by that tell me what to do, that tell me right from wrong? These are the principles in life that apply to everyone. They are universal, eternal, and apply at all times. They are never out of date.
Here are a few examples:
- Courage in the face of challenges
- Straightforwardness and not an ounce of deceit in you
- Servicefulness-performing random acts of kindness
- Non injury-not to injure another creature in thought, word, or deed.
There are many more. Our task is to make decisions based on these principles. When we do they can give us an unshakeable foundation. For example, if you are going to a party where everything is intoxicating and illegal, liquor, drugs, vaping, and so on, something inside says to you that it’s wrong,. That’s when you have to listen to your inner voice. Your God and guru are talking to you.
My brother works in the film industry on sound. He was invited to some dinners where they can all eat and drink all that they want. My brother doesn’t drink. The first few times , he ordered a soft drink. His co-workers noticed and asked him about it. They kept pressuring him and teasing him. “What are you going to order tonight, a buttermilk?”
He told them the truth. “Actually, I feel better when I don’t drink. “ At the end of the day, he was still skirting around the issue. He needed to find the courage to speak his truth.
Finally, he said, “Actually, I don’t drink anymore.” When he said this, all of the pressure stopped, because they accepted his answer. One person told him he was considering that as an option.
My brother said, “I was passionate about my job. People didn’t know their limits and acted in ways that interfered with their work because of this pressure to drink. I had prayed to the Masters for a long time, and I didn’t want to leave or to do anything that would jeopardize their blessing. Courage doesn’t have to be demonstrated all at once. When you’re developing courage, it can be like building a muscle. The more we exercise it, the more we build it. To be courageous does not mean that you’re afraid. It means that you do not allow fear to keep you from speaking your truth.
Steve Jobs said, “Don’t let the noise of people’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
Sri Yukteswar said, “Look fear in the face, and it will cease to trouble you.”
It’s human nature to want to be liked and to want to fit in. One young girl told me, “That is an over-generalization, because my friends and I are very clear about saying no to activities and other things that we don’t subscribe to.”
When making moral choices, what one person feels is right for them may not be right for you.
What kind of person do you want to be? Guruji said, “Be in the world but not of the world.” Be true to yourself. If you are honest and frank with people may not always be that way with you.
Mother Theresa had this poem posted in her room in Calcutta, (a spiritual version of the poem by Kent Keith);
“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
Hold firm to your values in making moral choices. To walk this path is a high calling. It takes strength and determination. If you are unsure what to do, seek the opinion out of someone you trust, someone who has more life experiences than you do.
One young person asked me, “What if you don’t have a mother and father whom you can talk to.”
Once, after a Mother’s Day talk, I saw a young man in the audience. I got the impression that he had endured some challenges. I was really interested to hear what he would say. He was the sweetest person. He told me, “I know we’re supposed to honor our mothers, but I never really had a mother in my life. She’s in prison. But Sister, when I found Master, I found Divine Mother. I have everything that I need in Her.”
If you have both parents, be grateful. If you are praying to God and guru for guidance and protection, then you’re on the right track. God and guru are trying to tell us in so many ways through those who love us and the inner guidance of our souls. We have to go within in the silence. It can be challenging because we see so much pressure and so much stress sin the world. It’s chaos and stress, and no one wants to accept it. To quiet the noise is the first step in our spiritual life, so our relationship with God can take shape and grow.
The best time for this process is in the early hours of the morning. Promise yourself that you won’t pick up your phone or look at social media. Studies show that that adults spend an average of nine hours on their devices every day. There is nothing wrong with technology, but why spend so much time on aimless pleasure? Why not spend that time in prayer?
Today, 80% of people who are successful in business engage in meditation in some form. But we are so fortunate. We don’t have just any meditation. We have the sacred science called kriya yoga. If we apply these tools every day in our meditation, it is the best gift we can give to ourselves. Because when y0u meditate, everything changes; your whole being!
Train the mind to go within, to intuitively experience who you are, and blissful union with your creator; cleansing the mind of the things that keep us from being close to God. It is like an inner technology that wipes out all of the negative information in your mind. The real you begins to emerge.
In the testimony of a fourteen young girl from the SRF/YSS Summer Day Camp, she says, “The Hong Sau technique is the best thing I have ever learned. After I practice the technique, it’s the ultimate peaceful calm. Emotionally I have much more tolerance, and I am much kinder, much more giving. It is as if my soul peaks. And when I close my eyes and look at the third eye, God’s bright light is looking back at me. “
Her transformation expanded her ability to give to others. Where it really counts is in how we treat others. We metamorphose into a highly successful, supremely joyous person. The glory of the Divine shines forth, and you realize there is something tremendous in you, and you had not known it.
We should also pray deeply before and after meditation, spending time with guru and the param- gurus, and sharing what’s in your heart and mind. Their job is to help us to break through any obstacles.
How will I know that master is helping me? We can know by the way we help others. One young man told me, “I’ve already had two breakthroughs this week.”
There is no jealousy among the gurus when we pray to one rather than to another, because in our past lives, we’ve been close to all of them.
There are two ways to tune yourself in to the gurus.
- Read a passage from “Autobiography of a Yogi on one of the gurus and reflect on his nature. Tell him, “I want to know your nature, and when they respond, you will know that they are ever living gurus.
In the book Mejda, the author, his brother, Sananda Lal Ghosh, describes a remarkable encounter with Lahiri Mahasaya.
“According to Ananta’s diary, it was on May 3, 1906, that we moved from Bareilly to Chittagong. Here Mejda used to take me with him to pick fruit from trees in the yards of neighboring homes. One of the homes had some beautiful large swans. Mejda decided he wanted to make a quill pen, so he plucked a feather from one of the graceful birds. The owner found out and complained to Ananta. Our brother sought to put an end to Mejda’s naughtiness, and decided the best way was to confine him during the day. So he personally took Mejda and me to the local school and enrolled us. Mejda did very well on his papers; mine just barely passed.
Ananta’s way was to restrict our movements with prohibitive orders: “Don’t do this! Don’t do that! Don’t go there! People won’t like you if you don’t behave!” Our days in Chittagong were filled with endless restrictions. But this only made Mejda more obstinate; in the face of unreasonable curtailment, he became more determined to do what he wanted.
One day, Mejda and I were told: “Don’t go toward the harbor. Stay away from the mouth of the river.”
I thought: “Mejda will never obey this. This is exactly what he rebels against.” Of course, it wasn’t long before he took me with him to the mouth of the river.
Ananta had directed all of us children to be home by early evening every day, to wash, and to begin our homework by six o’clock. The harbor at Chittagong was about four kilometers from home. Thus, after returning from school and taking tiffin, we couldn’t walk the round-trip distance of eight kilometers and be back at the specified time. So we used to run all the way to the harbor, watch the ships for a short while, then run home. From all this sprinting, Mejda became an excellent athlete. I, too, became a pretty good one; but not nearly so much so as Mejda.
The road to the mouth of the river followed several low hills. Fruit hung in abundance in the trees along our way. One day Mejda said, “Listen, when we return this evening we’ll pick some lichis. No one will see us in the twilight.”
So said, so done! Mejda was picking some of the luscious, sweet lichis when he heard someone call his name. Startled, Mejda stood stock still. All sense of adventure ended abruptly! Cautiously we moved in the direction from which the voice had come. The twilight was fast fading and we could not see far ahead in the shadows, but we soon discerned a man dressed in white. Seeing that we were somewhat afraid, he beckoned us closer in a friendly manner. If he were the watchman here, how would he have known Mejda’s name?
Slowly we advanced toward the gently smiling person. His form seemed lustrous with a wonderful light. I looked around to see where the light was coming from. Suddenly Mejda bowed before the saint and touched his feet. The saint embraced Mejda and kissed him on the head. I also bowed before the saintly figure. With a gesture of blessing, he said to us, “Jaiastu!” (“Victory be with you!”). And then he spoke to Mejda:
“Mukunda, it is God’s wish that I come to you today. Remember what I say to you. You have come on earth as God’s representative to fulfill His wishes. Your body is His temple, sanctified by prayer and meditation. Do not run after material pleasures or satisfaction. You will show the way that leads to true happiness; and by your spiritual knowledge you will deliver those who are suffering in ignorance. Never forget that you are one with Maha Purusha, attained only by those who are supremely successful in meditation. Your body, mind, and life must never deviate from the thought of God, even for a moment. The blessings of the Infinite Father are upon you. Your faith in Him must be absolute. He will protect you from all dangers. In this world only He is eternal; all else is transient and unreliable. One day your ideals of Yoga will inspire all mankind. Mukunda, march onward!”
I was fidgeting, for time was passing and darkness was upon us. We had a long way to go to reach home. A scolding by Father and a beating from Ananta were inevitable. The saint perceived my thought and said, “Do not be troubled. Go home freely; no one will notice that you are late.”
We started for home. After walking a short distance, we looked back and saw the saint blessing us with upraised hands. Then he vanished. I turned to Mejda and spoke, but he wasn’t listening. He was walking, head down, in a thoughtful mood. When we reached home, Mejda went directly to his prayer room. I inquired where Father and Ananta were. I learned that Ananta had been invited to a friend’s home, and that Father had not yet returned from an important meeting at the office. What joy! They did not know of our belated return. I ran to the prayer room to tell Mejda.
But Mejda was coming to get me. He took hold of my hand and led me to a photograph that hung on the wall. We stood a moment before it, then he said, “Do you recognize him? Was it not he who spoke to us?”
I was astonished. It was he — that very smile. But he had died long ago. How could he have come to us now? How could we have talked with someone who had been dead all these years? He had blessed us, embraced Mejda and kissed his head. I was choked with awe, unable to speak. I simply looked at Mejda. There was no doubt that Mejda and I had seen and talked with the great Lahiri Mahasaya! the saint whose counsel was sought by householders and sages alike throughout all India; the preceptor to whom people had come in endless streams to receive blessings and spiritual instruction. With Mejda, I had seen the Yogavatar with my own eyes and talked with him. I am thrilled to this day whenever I recall that wondrous experience. It is forever etched in my memory. I am blessed: His endless mercy, his crowning grace, is upon me. My gratitude knows no bounds.”
(Note: this version is the full account from the SRF Website, under “Disciplines Reminisce”. Sister gave an abbreviated version of this story, but my notes were inadequate.)
Because Master’s independent spirit was already active, Lahiri Mahasaya reminded him, “One day, you will inspire all mankind. “ And here we are at the fee of the great joy of the one who is known as the father of yoga in the west. He has dedicated his life to awaken our lives. How can we live our lives successfully with inner happiness? The guidance of the Masters is not gone from the world. May their blessings of faith inspire us all.
2018 Convo – Sister Draupadi Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Satsanga ~ Brother Govindananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
I was exhilarated at the reception to see all of these devotees putting Master’s teaching into practice. We have come to see that no matter how many things life throws at us, Master has the answer.
Question1: I love to pick out various possession phrases by Master. “Make me feel you in and around me.” “Help me to feel Thy presence. “ What does it mean to be possessed by the guru?
Awhile back, I was working at the publications center. One of the monks asked me how long I had been in the ashram. I said, “Fifteen years. What have I learned in that time?”
He stopped, and then he said, “That’s quite a question.” And I still ask myself, what I have learned.
Motivating yourself is not always easy. Master said, “Resurrect me from the sepulcher of words.”
It is like being raised from the dead. How do we react to this statement? Maybe with anxiety. I like the idea of feeling Guruji’s bliss, but I like the idea of also inserting a bad habit here and there. Ego has no desire to be possessed by anything.
My thought might be, “I’m not making progress here. I’ve been patient long enough. I thought, “What would happen if Guruji came to me right now?” There was a little hesitation. I thought about this hesitation for weeks. The ego was concerned about Guruji showing up, saying, “Things need to change around here.”
To be possessed by Guruji is only to be possessed by our Selves. “Eternity and I, one united ray. A tiny bubble of laughter, I Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself”. (From Master’s poem, “Samadhi”)
The first reaction springs from our desire for independence. The second comes from our desire to be part of something greater than ourselves. We are a paradox. I spoke with Brother Pranavananda about this. He explained that we come to Convocation because we belong here. It is easier to see the desire in others and not in ourselves. It is a humbling thought that we need to belong.
I have a cousin who is now married. When I went to Hidden Valley to become a monk, she drove me there. After that, I didn’t see her for twenty years. I had known her husband. They came to see me, and we went out to dinner, but the restaurant was packed.
My cousin said to her husband, who is a colonel, “Dear, your mission is to find us a table.”
He turned to me and said, “My wife understands that the way to get me to do something is to call it a mission.”
Brother Premamoy, who trained many of us when we were young monks, often used the term “esprit de corps”. This is when we are inwardly singing, “At last I have come home.”
Question 2: This may seem silly, but I wonder about the idea of immortality. The idea of eternity is daunting…overwhelming.
When we consider eternity, I think of the first time I visited India in 1992. I was overwhelmed there by the feeling of eternity.
Swami Smaramananda told me a story about a man who lived in an incredible mansion with vast grounds and beautiful gardens. Somehow, he decided to inhabit the tool shed, where he stayed, never enjoying the outside or the gardens He said, “You think, “ Up until now I was living in this beautiful garden surrounding a huge mansion, and I’ve been staying in the toolshed. I have never walked around the beautiful grounds.”
Then you think, ‘Why was I so foolish all of these years?”
Then you enter the mansion of your Heavenly Father who owns that house, and you think, “Why did I stay in the toolshed all of these years? “ This is ego consciousness.
The “Bhagavad Gita” is all about facing this fear. There is a reason that fearlessness if the first quality listed in the Gita. We are children of God. We meditate from that perspective. It is the ego that makes us feel that we are separate from eternity.
Master said, “To overcome misery, I don’t want you to ever forget material remedies, but the greatest remedy is kriya yoga. This is the way of freedom.”
When we are in fear, we have usually covered it up with other things. During his very first evening with him, Sri Yukteswar tells Master in his first lesson, “Look fear in the face and it will cease to trouble you.”
Is it really that important to do that in the beginning? Yes!
Question3: Master said once to live a life of balanced recklessness. How can I make this a part of my life? It sounds exciting, like, “Just go for it!”
Master tells us to smile a perpetual smile. “Smile that strong smile of balanced recklessness. We need to face the challenges that our life has created.”
We can afford to be reckless if we’re recklessly with God.
Swami Ram Tirtha’s song includes the lines, “Friends and counselors pray waste not your breath. Take up my orders, devour up ye death,” and “Beware all ye mountains, stand not in my way, your ribs will be shattered and tattered today.” Swami Ram Tirtha had no fear.
In the ashram, I was asked what did I want to do. The senior monk had a major task that he wanted me to do, but it was daunting. It had a lot of risk, but there was also a lot on the upside. I went to the restroom and worked with Master on what I should do. This was balanced recklessness.
Master said, “Babaji will help”.
I told my supervisor, “Yes”. He told me he was already booking plane tickets.
There is a devotee I know who had a similar situation. He told me, “There was a risk. I took I, and I’ve regretted it ever since.” (Laughter)
But when we do it with Master we have more assurance. We can’t always make perfect decisions in this world. We wouldn’t be here if that were the case.
I like to go hiding mountains north of here. We were passing a deep cavern. I said, “If I fall off here. It won’t be the mountains that are shattered. Then I thought of Master’s quote, “Danger and I were born together, and I am more dangerous than danger.” I also remember thinking that I didn’t want the other monk to go back and report those last words.
Question 4: I’ve been out of work for a long time. We have run out of resources. We may lose our home. This is the first time I have felt at the mercy of circumstances. I have asked for prayers for at least an alternative. It is a terribly crushing feeling that we feel at this time.
When we go through the most crushing experiences in life, the results can be to free us to make productive efforts to change. It can for me. Once, a family member called me. He had been diagnosed with an advanced, late-stage illness. I didn’t ask about my feelings. I had to trick myself. I said, “Guruji, you know the answer. May this family member always feel guided and helped by you.”
After it was over, I felt not only closer to this family member, but also to God.
Anxiety is so easy to come by in this world. It can get out of hand very quickly. There is much good advice in the little book of Master’s “Living Fearlessly.” We can feel courage coming into our mind and our body. If anxiety is natural, the ultimate solution for anxiety can’t be found in this world. The answers are spiritual.
Even physical exercises can help us a great deal when we are anxious. When I was first in the ashram, I was anxious about something for a week or two. One night, I was going home from work on the tube. I was catastrophizing.
“I can’t meditate in this state. I’ll just go for a run.”
And it worked. I got it out of the body. Approach everything holistically. That happened over 20 years ago, The problem at work was still there. I just didn’t have any anxiety about it. At all times pray, and bring Master into it.
Question 5: I was involved in a serious accident recently. I was badly hurt. I have had a deep battle with discouragement and despair. I have a hard time meditating. What can I do? I want to feel close to Master.
The accident is recent. You will feel close to Master before long. It is natural to feel inadequate and hopeless during challenges. There is a great article in the SRF Magazine called, “Happiness Set Point”. No matter what happens to, we set a goal that in a year’s time, we will regain our equilibrium. The author says, “We can have a happiness set point whether it involves winning the lottery or losing a limb.”
We’re greedy for joy and bliss. When these things happen, we need things to help us to move through the initial period when we are frustrated and discouraged. Master tells us that these difficult experiences are an essential part of our spiritual growth. This lesson, we all have to do.
I remember talking with a devotee. This was a long term devotee who was facing a debilitating condition that kept getting worse. This devotee told me, “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, but it’s made me who I am.”
I felt like I was bowing at His feet, I was so inspired. He was so clearly feeling close to Master through it all.
Sister Gyanamata can offer us something here. She told us, “We make too much of feeling, even admitting that the right kind of feeling is very enjoyable. What does it matter how you feel? Bear your lot as long as it is the will of God that you should do so. Act rightly, and in due time the right feeling of peace and joy will come.”
Question 6: As a parent, I often feel overwhelmed with both working and dealing with my children. I am also taking on some of the problems and issues of close friends who are struggling. Can you help me a little with these challenges?
If we are already doing the best we can, doing better may mean doing less. We really can’t take on the problems of others. That is their karma. My mother, who was always a helper, said that it was a good thing for the world that I had joined the ashram.
What is our mission? What are we to do? These feelings that come up are a warning that something has to change here. Who do we trust more- God or ourselves? It is better to die in our dharma. Pandharma is not our mission. It is not for us. Even our nearest and dearest belong to God.
(Dharma is the moral order of the universe and a code of living that embodies the fundamental principles of law, religion, and duty that governs all reality.)
Question 7: Could you please discuss detachment on the spiritual path? I have enough struggles drinking too much coffee and eating too many desserts.
One devotee told Brother Paravananda, “ Nothing was going well. Then I read Master’s “The Law of Success”, and everything changed. “
One of the monks researched over the years to find out what makes a successful life for us? Here’s what he came up with. Start small. Don’t move on until you have achieved some success. Then try something bigger. Bring guru into it.
Love is one of the greatest stimulants to the will. Under the influence of love on the will, we can do almost anything. Look at the talk in “Man’s Eternal Quest”, “Curing Mental Alcoholics”.
Master tells us that those with bad habits should associate with those with good habits. Even businessmen are now turning to fasting for mental clarity. If there is something we can’t seem to shake, try a little fast with fruit juice. The very thought of fasting shakes things up. It brings back anxiety and worry. There is a lot of research about how fasting really help the body, mind, and spiritual health. It also helps us with detachment. We learn all about it when we go on a little fast.
Question 8: When I am participating in group meditation, I often feel emotionally disconnected from the group. How can I feel more a part of the group?
When I first started attending an SRF Center, I didn’t want to wait around to talk to other devotees. I was so busy. As time went on, I naturally grew bonds with the devotees in the London Center, and it became my family for those four to five years. Whether we attend those groups or not, it always provides us with a foundation. Overtime, good attachments come about. Attending social functions and participating in service also helps us to bond with the group.
Question 9: How can one be free of attachments?
Krishnamurti said, “And can a mind that has not understood the whole significance of desire know … suppress, transmute and all the rest of it, then what is one to do with desire? Then what is one to do with desire?”
Master’s phrase for desire was “Matter drenched”. He said that when good aspirations are pursued, we are wisely, actually increasing our peace as long as they are good desires. Our attachments increase when we go into the world.
Once a devotee complained to Brother Santoshananda said, “I have all of these duties. I supervise all of these people who go into the work. Then it hits me. What do I do?”
Brother replied, “Nothing. I suggest you try to do one less thing rather than losing your peace”.
The devotee came back to him later and said, “Brother, it works! I’m kinder. I feel less pressure. I even feel deeper joy. I just had to retain the peace I feel within me. Now, wherever I go, I feel like I’m in the right place.”
Question 10: I can’t get it through my head why Spirit needed the entertainment of delusion. What is he getting out of this? He already had perfect love and bliss? Why this lila? Please have mercy on us.
(There was much laughter over this question.)
We are advised with satsangas that the best thing is not to answer questions that you do not have an answer for. At the end of “The Autobiography of a yogi”, Sri Yukteswar says, “Some mysteries remain unanswered.” (Laughter)
So why did God create the world? Here’s what I think, what Master thinks. What would you do if you had all of that bliss and an overload of creativity? Do we feel we need a reason to have fun? So does God. God has His Happiness with the dial dialed all the way to the top. If he broke the dial off it would have happiness all the way up to the top of bliss. There is one thing He wants from this creation. We can choose to give him our love. Do we think we are separate from God? Wouldn’t you create the universe if you were God? When you are a causal being, you will. Master said we can bring universes into being just like the Creator.
There is a quote from the Upanishads.
“From joy we come.
From joy we have our being.
And in this sacred joy
We will melt again.”
2018 Convo – Bro. Govindananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Spiritual Courage: Living with Spiritual Principles in the World ~ Brother Jayananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
This is a very profound subject. But before we begin I have some bad news for you. We have no letter to read from the President of YSS/Self Realization Fellowship. Brother Chidananda decided that he would much rather welcome you all in person.
Brother Chidananda
I want to welcome you all. What a special joy to be able to come and officially inaugurate this 2018 Convocation. Joy! Love! And Welcome to you all! I greet you in the name of God, our Father, Mother, Friend, Beloved, and our great gurus and param-gurus. My prayer is that their love will flow out to you permeating your heart. My prayer is that their blessings, their love, will be with you for all of this week. I pray that all of you will be helped by that Divine Communion. I look forward to being with you at the end of the week for our satsanga. In the meantime, my love, my joy, and may the gurus bless all of you!
Brother Jayananda
Brother JayanandaOur subject tonight is “Spiritual Courage: Living with Spiritual Principles in the World”. When I realized that I had to follow Brother Chidananda, I realized I needed a good dosage of spiritual courage. Spiritual courage means living our spiritual ideals. I think this is why Convocation means so much to all of us. We have people who have been coming for thirty, forty, twenty years. When can live our spiritual ideals and do the things that our guru asked of us, we find a sense of well-being.
I was talking to an usher who is volunteering here. He told me that the days and week are so busy that sometimes you rush up to the room and you only have time to change clothes, and then you are duty. And then he said, “But you know, it’s always the best week of the year.
Guruji often talked about the material world. He gives us a hint of it in “The Autobiography of a Yogi. Sri Yukteswar regretted the education system and the way it was going. He said that an education system that does not offer a spiritualized education is offering avidya.
The purpose of life is to seek God. When we come on the path, that gradually becomes more real in our life, to experience that God is the center of our life. Master lets us know that everything in life is not perfect. It will be difficult and not enjoyable at times. But what we are getting is what we need. We think maybe if we had better surroundings and so forth, then we could practice. This is not true.
Master says in “God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita” that those duties that come to man in his life are those meant for his own welfare. If we don’t feel we’re up to it, we go to another environment. These teachings were given to us in this age. This is what we all signed up for.
If we look at Lahiri Mahasaya, we may ask, how is it that was he a householder and also a great yogi. He was exemplifying what it is to live in the material world and still be a great yogi. In “Autobiography of a Yogi”, Master writes that Master Lahiri lived on a modest salary and carried on a spiritual life.
(Note: Expanded excerpt: )“Day after day the sublime guru initiated one or two devotees into Kriya Yoga. In addition to these spiritual duties and to the responsibilities of his business and family life, the great master took an enthusiastic interest in education. He organized many study groups and played an active part in the growth of a large high school in the Bengalitola section of Banaras. At weekly meetings, which came to be called his “Gita Assembly,” the guru expounded the scriptures to many eager truth seekers.
By these manifold activities, Lahiri Mahasaya sought to answer the common challenge: “After performing one’s business and social duties, where is the time for devotional meditation?” The harmoniously balanced life of the great householder-guru became the inspiration of thousands of men and women. Earning only a modest salary, thrifty, unostentatious, accessible to all, the master carried on naturally and happily in the path of disciplined worldly life.
Though ensconced in the seat of the Supreme One, Lahiri Mahasaya showed reverence to all men, irrespective of their differing merits. When his devotees saluted him, he bowed in turn to them. With a childlike humility, the master often touched the feet of others, but seldom allowed them to pay him similar honor, even though such obeisance toward the guru is an ancient Oriental custom.” (“Autobiography of a Yogi”)
Nonetheless, we may ask why these teachings were given in this way. The idea was to balance both east and west; the best qualities found in India need to be combined with the best of the technology of the west.
I have told some of you the stories of my trip to India with Brother Bhaktananda. In Rishikesh, we saw a living throng. So many people living in that city. We couldn’t believe the number of sadhus who were clad as monks, walking the streets. They were everywhere. Here I was dressed as a monk. (Although Master said we shouldn’t compare ourselves to other.)
As I was there, I was so grateful for Master’s teachings. What we have been given is so incredible. I realized that they, the teachings, were looking what I was looking for. They were very, very sincere. We are so very, very blessed with these teachings and techniques. This is a balanced path of east and west. Master teaches us to live in the world but not be of the world. Our guru was an exemplar of that. He was relentless in bringing these teachings to all thirsty souls around the world.
What is this self-control? In the battle of Kurushetra , Vrishakethu (son of Karna) represents yama and niyama. He represents the power in the devotee that he to see the right. Pantanjali explains that niyama is moral courage and the ability to do the right thing. It is not easy. As we go through life we try to overcome our bad habits. We find the power to overcome. As we develop, this becomes more and more apparent.
For years, I worked as a secretary for Ma. Many people expect me to talk about major things that I witnessed while working for her. I didn’t see those. I didn’t see her levitating down the hallway. I did see the little things. One time she had something that she wanted to have framed. The picture had slipped out of the frame, and she asked me to fix it. As I was reframing it, I saw on the back of the picture that she had written, “Keep your mind on God today.” She had this as a reminder to herself. She practiced these things consistently, and in this she became a very great soul.
Brother Turiyananda, who passed away in 1990, was legendary among the monks. He was bigger than life. His stories were incredible. He had a way of telling stories that would simply fascinate people. On the opening day of Convocation, when it was held at the Biltmore Hotel, there was a vantage point where you could look down on the room where everyone gathered. We would always see the same big crowd of people around Brother Turiyananda.
Brother Turiyananda once said to Ma, “ I think I am losing my memory. Do you have something that would help. He thought maybe she would give him a rap on the head or a mantra. Instead, Ma told him, “Oh I have that same problem sometimes. I get a little piece of paper and write on it and put it on the floor by my bed. Then, when I get up in the morning, I say, ‘What is that piece of paper doing there? And then I remember what it is .’”
Once while I was working for her, Ma saw me looking at a piece of paper written in her handwriting. “Our work must be and expression of our love for God. Let’s do something beautiful today for God. “ This is inspirational, but Ma wanted a constant reminder of it.
Brother Premamoy trained many of the monks. One of the things he told us was to put little notes around, such as attaching notes to the mirror to remind you to practice the presence.
Practice these little things. Find ways to practice the presence. Brother Bhaktananda did this often as did Daya Ma and others. This is a constant reminder of the Divine. All of us speak the same language when it comes to the Divine. What our guru gave use it! Many times when we go on retreats, we hear devotees say, “Oh, if only I’d made more effort in the beginning!”
Brother Bhaktananda often gave the same message in all of his CD’s. He lived it, and it has a tremendous power because of that. Every once in a while, he slipped in something really profound . He said, “Practice the presence once in a while, but you have to “kneel into it”. It’s what your mind is saying. It’s easy to do if you practice.
All of us can always go a little deeper. We can always do more in our practice. We should come out of Convocation feeling that we can do even more in our lives.
Brother Premamoy said to us in 1980, “The love for God does not come automatically. It is developed as we all develop these qualities. When we talk about our meditation and reflect on it, it makes the practice more real, more intense. We have to keep striving for that. But it’s worth it when we start feeling the presence of the Divine. Then we realize we have an inner presence to rely on.
Brother Bhaktananda was very matter of fact. There was nothing phenomenal about him. His simplicity and total sincerity were very winning.
The time comes when everything else in life becomes a distraction. You lose interest in the things that aren’t worth the time. It doesn’t mean that we neglect our responsibilities. We saw this with Daya Ma. She was outwardly extremely busy but could inwardly exude a joy that you could tangibly see in her presence. This week, as we go through the week, try to tangibly feel the presence of the Divine.
Sr. Sahaja Mata, one of the direct disciples of Master, worked in the editorial department. She was tireless in her work. The monks would always see her light on late and night and early in the morning. She was always a cheerful delight. She would often type up a note on a small piece of paper and give it to one of the monastics. It was always profound.
The monks had a main office in the main building. Her office was at the far end. There was a phone in the middle of the hallway. She would go out to call you could hear her voice calling the ashram operator. Once, when she was facing a serious health challenge, we heard her say about her doctor’s visit, “Well I’m off to see the wizard.” She was always so cheery no matter what she was facing.
Anytime someone asked Ma to help respond to questions, including those from the growing number of devotees from other countries, there would be some new inspiration she would share. On one occasion, a devotee protested that the guru was no longer alive.
“Tell them that they have a living guru by their side, and that the minute they read the “Autobiography of a Yogi”, they will find it to be so. If they will it to be so, it will be so,” she said.
Daya Ma said, “He’s as close as your thoughts allow Him to be. You need to realize the real connection between your soul and the divine. “We are looking for that feeling of love and compassion. But it is up to us and our willingness to feel that presence. It’s our receptivity.
Master said, “If you develop that calm intensity or meditate with concentration, you will find that a time comes that no matter what you are doing you feel peaceful inside. After meditation, you look up and time passes, and nothing matters but God. Success in self-realization depends on whole-souled effort. The true devotee knows the value of constant and regular meditation, by which his life becomes an uninterrupted prayer. Yoga should not be practiced mechanically or from an oppressive sense of duty, but with joy and perpetual zeal, thus causing each day’s meditation to yield a deeper bliss than that of the previous day.”
We have to have the patience to persevere, because this rarely happens in an instant. It is a process.
Brother Anandamoy once told the monks that he had recently read a story about children having visions. There was a boy who had visions who would walk to school with the other kids. They would go to the school all day. He went to the church for the day, and today he is in ecstasy. Brother Jayananda commented, “I wish I could do that”.
Brother Anandamoy gave him a look, and he responded, “Well Brother, I was looking for a short cut.”
Brother Anandamoy said adamantly, ‘What do you mean? You have the greatest short cut ever with Paramahansa Yogananda”
Master told a story about two most ignorant students who were constantly insulted by the teacher. One decided that he just couldn’t take it and left. The other one just took it. Everyone was surprised at the end of the year when he passed all of the classes.
We need to say, “Okay, I’m going through a difficulty now, but I won’t give up.” We need to develop this ability to just keep on and persevere no matter what.
Brother Premamoy often would say the spiritual life is like this, drawing a wavy line with lots of peaks and valleys, then this, drawing a wavy line with smoother waves, and then this, as he would draw a straight line. I could always see with him that he was living with that evenness of character. That’s what we’re striving for, that spiritual courage.
Daya Mata told us, “Courage becomes unflinching when it is united to God and guru. So why wait? When by meditation you secure your key, soon you will realize that a Divine hand is guiding you .In my study, I’ve always had this posted. ‘In life, in death, I sit unharmed upon Thy lap Divine Mother’. May you know that courage made of God’s wondrous love.”
Master was very much against the serious holy man. Master said that this path will bring the “funeral of all sorrow”. Why do people keep coming back to Convocation? There is a joy that keeps us coming back. Keep practicing these little things every day so that you can more effectively live these spiritual ideals. Take these little things during the week. Go to the meditations, and visit the meditation room. If you have just a few minutes, offer spontaneously from your hear your love for God. Concentrate at the Kutastha. Practice the techniques. The techniques are wonderful! Every one of us can learn something new at the classes on the techniques.
So, have a wonderful week!
2018 Convo – Bro. Jayananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Spiritual Generosity: The Art of Selfless Giving ~ Brother Nakulananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Guruji referred to the Bible’s New Testament verses as the greatest truths given to mankind: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself”. (Luke 10:27)
These two commandments sum up the whole purpose of religion. If you sincerely love God you will do only what is based upon truth. Your love will not allow you to err against Him. Bring in the light, and darkness will vanish as though it had never been. Bring in love of God and the darkness of ignorance flies away. The science of yoga explains the truth behind the first commandment, and gives definite scientific techniques that enable the devotee to attain the divine communion necessary in order to love God so completely. Behind each part of these commandments is a deep metaphysical truth.”
With the science of yoga, we use our attention to find God and seek God within. They work hand in hand, because we can’t really separate them. Guruji lives in each one of us. That’s the whole purpose: to see God in yourself and one another. There’s an American who was born in India. He immigrated to the united States as a young man and became an author and professor at Rutgers University. He told me that when younger people asked, “Do you feel like an American or an Indian, he answered, “If I am in America I feel like an Indian. I did this because I wanted to bother people.”
That, of course, is not a great purpose in life. He went on to explain that he had great struggles in his life. He was in and out of the hospital a lot. Growing up, he felt that there was a limited amount of happiness in the world. “I had to grab all I could,” he said.
When he was in his thirties, he decided to make a change. A woman got into the elevator with him, and he asked the woman, how she was doing. When she proceeded to tell him, he thought to himself, “Mother of God, I have my own problems!”
The woman proceeded to tell him about her son who was a paranoid schizophrenic. “I have to put him in the hospital again” she explained.
He knew she had a lot of problems, but decided to ask her, “Do you want me to go to the hospital with you? “ He then stated, “As soon as I asked this question, I pleaded to God for her to say, ‘No.””
The woman replied, “Yes.”
The man then reported, “Automatically, I felt an enormous release, and a great space opened up around us. One of the easiest ways to change is to offer patience to ourselves. He was putting into practice a law of God. This is what God expects of each one of us. Guru has given us so much in his lectures and writings, and his life itself is a walking, talking scripture.
Even though Master is an avatar, he comes back into a small body and goes through these human experiences in order to teach us.
He told us, “When I was very little and saw the other children playing with something, I always wanted it. I began to use my strong will to get it. When this resulted in fights with others, I thought maybe this can’t continue. The best way might be to share . When I was a young child, mother would give us treats to share with others. I thought, ‘If I like it, others will like it too. If I share with everyone, then I’ll have nothing’.
Then my experience became, ‘If I share with others, I’ll enjoy it more.’” This is the cosmic law of being unselfish put into practice.
In another story, Master tells us, “In college, I got two pineapples and gave the bigger pineapple to a friend. A wonderful feeling rises in you when you are more concerned with others. Not only does he thank you, but God thanks you too. We can never be happy by trying to keep things for ourselves. “
Guruji said, “Infinity is our home. We are just sojourning awhile in the caravanserai of the body. The more we get away from ‘me’ and ‘mine”, the more we will feel joy. Service to others is the purpose of this world; to give and serve.
Lord Krishna told Arjuna, “”O Arjuna, the best type of yogi is he who feels for others, whether in grief or pleasure, even as he feels for himself.”
Whenever we reach out and help an individual, we are helping our larger self. When we feel the afflictions of all beings we try to decrease their suffering and to increase their happiness.
Often it is through afflictions, tests and trials in life, that we are forced to think of other people. The Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, had 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold. He revealed that while going through these amazing experiences, he was also going through a deep, dark depression. On one occasion, during the Olympics, he locked himself in his room for two or three days. He decide that he needed to get help. After going through treatment for his depression, he decided to help other people by telling his own stories. He emphasized, “Those moments were light years better than the winning of any Olympic medal.
“Money and possessions cannot give us that. By reaching out to help another person, we’re helping God in that form. Those experiences made me who I am today and helped me to grow as a person,” he said.
Master tells us, “As your range of experience begins to increase, you begin to expand your consciousness. You are taking a step toward Christ Consciousness. It is not only a meditation. It’s also about right activity.”
There is a legend about King Arthur. When he was a young man, the old king had died. Around that time, he found a large rock with a sword in it. The hilt was sticking out of the rock. It was proclaimed that whoever could remove the sword would be king. Arthur was serving a knight who was fighting another knight. His sword broke. Arthur remembered the sword in the rock. He ran down to the stone and pulled the sword out of the stone for the knight to use. He was proclaimed king.
When we perform selfless acts, we’re going deeper into Christ Consciousness.
Einstein wrote, “A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest–a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
The way to get out of this prison is through selfless service.
Daya Ma wanted to be a bhakti yogi. Master told her, “You have to be a karma yogi”.
She combined those two to make a strong foundation for this work to go on throughout the world. It’s a marvelous thing to speak of love. It’s another thing to put it in service.
The Upanishads state: “The Wise man, who realizes all beings as not distinct from his own Self, and his own Self as the Self of all beings, does not, by virtue of that perception, hate anyone.” (6th Mantra)
यस्मिन्सर्वानि भूतानन्यात्मैवभुद्विजानतः
“What delusion, what sorrow can there be for that wise man who realizes the unity of all existence by perceiving all beings as his own Self?” (7th Mantra, Isha Upanishad)
How do we these truths in our lives? Do I take the least and leave the best for other people? There’s much joy in being unselfish.
There’s much joy in being unselfish. Master taught us by example. He would say, “As you are so kind and loving toward me, be that kind and loving to all.”
Last night, Brother Sevananda told a story about St. Therese de Lisieux. She was a powerful soul with a strong will. There was an elderly nun , Sister
St. Peter. She was an invalid who needed to be helped around and who was not easy to get along with. She needed help to go from the chapel the refectory.
This nun was very critical. She would ask over and over, “Where are you? I don’t feel you. You’re going too fast. Slow down. “ She was a very bitter lady, always criticizing St. Theresa.
One day after they had made it to the refectory, St. Theresa rolled up her sleeves and helped her to cut her bread.
Theresa wrote in her diary, “I bestowed on her my favorite smile at the end of my task, and I won her strongest confidence. “
She was guiding the elderly nun down the halls. There were harmonious strains of distant music. The hallway was well lighted. She turned to the invalid nun, and instead of sweet music, she heard her complaints.
She wrote in her diary, “The contrast thrilled me. Not for a thousand worldly delights would I barter those ten minutes spent in charity. “
Thérèse deliberately ‘sought out the company of those nuns whose temperaments she found hardest to bear.’ What merit was there in acting charitably toward people whom one loved naturally? Thérèse went out of her way to spend time with, and therefore to love, the people she found repellent. It was an effective means of achieving interior poverty.
If you recall, Jesus said, that if you did it to my least brother you did it to Me. The way to freedom is service to others. The way to happiness is meditation and being in tune with God.
A disciple was doing some work for guruji with a willing, devoted attitude and Master was please. Master said that egotism or selfishness in us is a test and a limited prison. We are not these bodies. We will labor for the heavenly Father or selfishly for ourselves. We need to get outside of ourselves and to realize God as the giver.
There was a young college man, Paul Elder. Just before Christmas, his brother presented him with a shiny new car. He told his friends about a little street urchin asking him about his car.
“Where did you get that car?’
He responded, “My brother gave it to me, and I didn’t pay for it at all.”
The little boy’s response was, “I wish I could be a brother like that.”
Paul asked him if he would like to take a ride in the car, and the child replied, “Yes”. He asked if he could ride by his house and stop. Paul drove by the house and stopped. The little boy ran up the stairs. He came back down carrying his little brother, who was crippled with polio.
He said to his brother, “There she is Just like I told you upstairs. And some day, I’ll get you one just like it , and you can see in all of the Christmas windows. “
Master said to make up your mind to be of service to others every day. This is how Ma became so loving and so humble. Do not ridicule an erring person. If you listen and observe you may be able to understand and help him. You have to look beneath the surface.
I like to watch the devotees come in to our services. I often think, “Master has drawn a diverse group of souls.”
There was a lady who was sitting on her porch shelling lima beans and throwing out the ones that looked dried out. She looked inside of the ones she was going to toss and found perfect lima beans. So disregard the shells.
Goethe said, “Treat people as they ought to be and they will become that.”
Every day when you leave your home, think, “Today I’m meeting some challenging conditions. People who talk too much, (listed other flaws not included in these notes.) And I won’t be surprised or disturbed, because I can’t believe in a world without them. “
Some people cause happiness wherever they go. The Talmud says, “Do not unto others that which is hateful to you. “ Whenever you do something, there is karma.
Jimmy Hoffa, organizer and late president of the Teamsters Union said, “I do unto others what they do unto me, only worse”.
Think about a group like this one at Convocation. Think of all of the volunteers, coordinators, and others planning this event. Why do people do this, work and serve this way? Because it brings us joy to serve one another.
This is a large spiritual family coming together to serve one another. I see God’s love flowing through everything. Remember, to know spirit, you must become the spirit.
So break the boundary of spirit. Take the least.
There was a missionary in the far country visited a little café. She was opening a letter and a twenty dollar bill dropped out. She looked outside of the café and saw a shabbily dressed man. “He probably needs this more than I do,” she thought. She wrote on the envelope, “Persevere”, and dropped it at the man’s feet. A little while later, she turned around when the man tapped her on the shoulder. He presented her with a roll of twenty dollar bills.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Lady, you won!” he shouted. “Persevere was 20:1.”
Learning to really listen to people is so important. One of the greatest ways that we can treat other people is to be present and listen, not just with our ears but with our minds, hearts, and souls, to be there, to be totally available. But you have to be very sincere to be with other people, not to analyze, but to listen, to have empathy.
Someone said, “When I ask you to listen and you give me advice, you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me. Maybe that’s why God I mute. He just listens and trusts you to work it out for yourself, and if you want to talk, He is there.”
One of the best counselors was Brother Anandamoy. Very rarely would he give me advice. He would just listen. He gave me his full attention. I always felt valued and always felt loved.
Here is your homework. When you see people, give them your whole heart and soul to listen .
A mother asked her little girl why she was so late getting home.
“My little friend showed me that her doll broke.”
“So you stopped to help her fix her doll?” the mother asked.
“No, I stopped to hear her cry.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Harry Truman that he doubted if people were listening to him when he greeted them. “So I put out my hand and said to the people leaving, ’I murdered my grandmother this morning. ‘ Most people responded with, ‘Oh, how lovely!” or, ‘”Just continue with your great work.”
But one foreign diplomat who was listening, whispered to me, “I’m sure she had it coming to her.”
Guruji was so practical and so balanced. He advised that when you feel like being alone, be away from people for a time, “When I am with others, I mix with concentration and love. When I am alone, I’m alone with God.”
Mother Theresa said, “Let no one leave here without being better. The biggest disease is the feeling of being unwanted, of loneliness. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but many more who are dying for love.”
The idea of forgiveness is also critical. “Master said, “You must love people, but it is sometimes hard. I have loved my enemies, and I shall never be an enemy to anyone.”
Robert Byrnes, the poet once said, “I talk to so many people who hold onto grudges. It is good to forgive, but best to forget.” Jesus told us to forgive 70 times 70. He told us that if someone smites you, to turn the other cheek.
When Abraham Lincoln was a young lawyer he asked to be put on a certain case. The other lawyers ostracized him. One of them, Edwin Stanton, commented, “I don’t want this gawky ape around. “Mr. Lincoln was denied any role in the trial – and his counsel was literally ignored and denigrated by Stanton.
“Where did that long-armed creature come from and what can he expect to do in this case,” Stanton reportedly asked. Lincoln heard him say this.
But when his friends asked him about Stanton, he said , “I heard him, and he was brilliant.”
Many years passed, and Lincoln had become president of the United States. He picked Stanton for Secretary of War. One of his cabinet members said, “Don’t you know that he is your enemy?”
Lincoln replied, “He’s brilliant, and he’s the best one for the job.
When Lincoln was assassinated, at his deathbed, Stanton, now an admirer, commented, “Now he’s one for the ages.”
A nine year old boy got a bike for Christmas. That afternoon, he saw a man loading the bike into his car. He put up a sign, “To the person who stole my bike. You really hurt my feelings, but I am a Christian and I forgive you.”
The next day, the bike was back in his driveway with a brand new paint job.
Daya Mata said, “God does forgive us our errors. The simplest course is to draw directly to God. The same God is in all of us.”
We cannot talk about the spirit of generosity without talking about our guru. He has come back from omnipresence to shepherd us back to God.
He promised us,
“Oh, I will come again and again!
Crossing a million crags of suffering,
With bleeding feet, I will come
If need be, a trillion times
So long as I know One stray brother is left behind.”
(“God’s Boatman”)
He advised us to see God in the suffering of the mentally and spiritually distressed, and to love the unconscious God in the enemy by a touch of love.
The guru is among all men, the best of givers. His generosity knows no boundaries. Shankara told us that a philosopher can only turn a philosopher’s stone into gold, not into a philosopher’s stone. But a guru can turn us into one like him. He is drawing each one of us to this path.
Unselfishness is required for thinking of others. When we think of others, they think of us.
We’ll end with Master’s prayer on forgiveness from ”Whispers from Eternity:”
“Heavenly Father,
Inspirit us with generosity.
Thy Being is an outpouring of bounty;
Let us, too, know the joy of giving.
Teach us to spend for others’ necessities
as naturally as for our own.
Since we shudder at
even the thought of destitution for ourselves. “
Inspirit
us with
generosity
may we sympathetically help those who in
actuality know the pangs of want.
Let us realize that to die rich,
Without having shared our treasures,
Is to die poor in Thine eyes;
And to die poor because of liberality
Is to die rich with Thy blessings.
Men selfishly blinded by opulence
Must experience poverty in this or a future earth-life,
Because in the abodes of the world’s-abandoned
They saw Thee not.
In all experiences of Thy children
It is Thine omnipresent consciousness
That enjoys and suffers.
Thou didst bestow riches on Thyself
In the forms of the wealthy
As an intricate human test
To see how charitable
Thou wouldst be to Thyself
In the forms of the needy
The large-hearted man,
Receiving from Thee
Loving largess
And freely bestowing it on others,
Expands into the Universal Self.
Accepting daily Thine endless gifts,
May we praise Thee and thank Thee,
O Giver of All!”
Paramahansa Yogananda
2018 Convo – Bro. Nakulananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Satsanga ~ Brother Praffulananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Question 1: What are the attitudes and qualities one should cultivate for swift spiritual progress based on your counseling of SRF devotees?
We have to be willing to change from what we are now into what we are to become. Our guru has given us so many conceptualizations that we can tune into.
In meditation, darkness goes away.
We can say, “Reveal Thyself as Light.”
So that’s the goal. That’s what we want to change into. If we know ourselves as light, we will have no problems ever again. That’s how we can solve the imperfections of this world.
Sri Yukteswar said, “The earth is an ocean of affliction. “
Our guru said, “Even so, though it is an ocean of affliction, many love it and do not wish to leave this place from its complacent familiarity. If we can change our consciousness, we can change the world. “
Omar Khayam in the quatrain #73 writes: “
“Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire.
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits — and then.
Re-mold it nearer to the Heart’s Desire!”.
The problem is that we don’t like to change our comfort zone. We don’t want things that make us change. We like the way we are. We postpone the things we need to confront in our lives. We kick them down the road. Some of these are big life tests.
The ministers are often asked in satsanga and counseling how to deal with this. The ego’s slight of mind trick when confronted with problems is to claim, “That is because of him. The problem is this other. It’s not me. I’m just the victim. I couldn’t do anything about it. “
Master gave us an answer. “Dear Father, whatever conditions confront me, I know that they represent the next step in my unfoldment. I will welcome all tests because I know that within me is the intelligence to understand and the power to overcome.”
With all of these issues confronting us, this is when you turn to the guru. If we were just relying on our own senses, we’re still susceptible to slight of mind, to ego trips.
Sometimes delusion is so strong that the person says, “I feel that God is guiding me” when this is not the case. Every day read guru’s writings and then we can go into meditation and deal with whatever conditions confront us and how to deal with them.
In “The Divine Romance”, Master tells us, “Better than a million wishes, go to the Lord and tell Him, ‘I can’t solve these problems by myself. But I can if I place it in your hands. “
After meditation you’re able to see the answers to your problems and put up the best solution. This is applying the science of meditation in our daily life. Look at whatever is confronting you and then let the possible solutions come as answers in meditation. Don’t just let things fester in your mind. This is no way to progress.
One goal of Self Realization is, “To teach that the purpose of life is the evolution, through self-effort, of man’s limited mortal consciousness into God Consciousness.”
Question 2: We are made in the image of God. How does this apply to financial issues?
We can start by looking at the answer to the previous question. We sit , after meditation, and look at the why of this. If this is an issue for you, is it the need to develop courage? Is there a fear of not having enough to get by? I don’t have those answers. First we have to understand the why of it. This really is an issue.
Master’s concept of abundance is reflected in this statement: “Abundance, material as well as spiritual, is a structural expression of rita, cosmic law or natural righteousness. There is no parsimony in the Divine, nor in its goddess of phenomena, exuberant Nature.”
If we perceive scarcity in our lies, a certain part of the cosmic order is not in place. The worries about scarcity gradually change as you realize that God is in you and everything is all right in the world, As we do this more and more, our consciousness changes.
We need to change our concept of success. The typical concept of success is about having a lot of money. Our guru tells us that real success is the power to create at will whatever you truly need. He recommended high thinking and plain living.
Along with the free literature of SRF, there is a little practical tool, the Horn of Plenty. It is a box with a little slot. Every day you put a coin in the bank and repeat an affirmation.
- Some examples:
- Teach me to feel that thou art the power behind all wealth, and the value within all things. Finding Thee first, I will find everything else in Thee.”
- “All things that the Father hath are mine.”
- The Lord’s Promise: “Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Devotees who have used the horn of plenty often describe it as a miracle tool kit, because it changes consciousness. One woman who was using it wrote to Mother Center said “I have experienced so many miracles since I started using the horn of plenty. I have received several bonuses and pay raises at my job and an unexpected subsidy for publishing a book. It has changed my fleeting hopes and taken them to an entirely new level.”
This practice helps us to put ourselves into harmony with cosmic rules and the law of abundance. It also changes the cells of our brains. Then, when we feel we have made progress with the bank, we can give it away. Don’t just empty it out and use it again. By sharing it with others we are affirming to the universe that there is enough to go around in the world.
Question 3: I met my husband before I joined SRF. He is not supportive of my path at all, in fact he constantly criticizes my spiritual path. I know we are supposed to think about the influence of our surroundings and environment. At times, I want to him. We are not close to an SRF Center, but I do meditate with the great guru.
We have drawn to ourselves the environment , both inner and outer, that we live in now. So, remember ,“Whatever conditions confront me, I know they represent the next step in my unfoldment.”
Every devotee does have environmental issues. We need to identify what it is that we control in our situation. It’s not your spouse. It’s not your children. It’s not even your pet fish. Listen to Brother Anandamoy’s CD on “:Spiritual Marriage”. In marriage, a common difficulty is that many got married before they came onto the spiritual path. Her husband resents the time she spends in meditation. There is always time, even a little bit, for meditation.
One of the most essential elements of our practice is to practice unselfishness. In one illustration of this, a woman said, ‘My husband resented that I was trying to meditate. And as a result, I resented him with my whole body. Then, what Master said, hit me like lightening. I realized that because of my attitude toward him I was spending the whole day in resentment. Then I decided to spend the whole day praying for my husband, and he is changing. “
What Daya Ma told us in “Living a God Centered Life”, “When they can seek God together, hand in hand in unconditional love, what wonderful companionship that is.”
If it is not this way, remember that you can conquer by love. It must be unconditional love. It cannot be, “I will love him as long as he responds to me as I wish.”
This is a fabulous way to change our environment. We may or may not change the other person but we are learning to give love unconditionally. Remember that the final test of the spiritual life is to unconditionally love God. As we learn to love one another unconditionally, we are also direction our strength to love God unconditionally. One day God will respond with the ocean of bliss.
Question 4: I am a Kriyaban, but I also feel drawn to one of the other SRF gurus. Am I being disloyal? Does it even matter since they are all our gurus?
Does it even matter? No, because they’re all one in spirit and their consciousness they are not jealous. We are attracted to different gurus because they do have different personalities. People of the west may relate more to Jesus. We can shift our focus from one to the other. If you feel the need for wisdom, pray to Sri Yukteswar; joy-Lahiri Mahasaya.
Paramahansa Yogananda spoke of himself as our guru preceptor. He was the one designated to bring this dispensation the west and the whole world. In our Kriya Pledge, we give our loyalty to the entire line of gurus. This principle is about loyalty to the line of gurus and Self Realization teachings, but it’s fine to be drawn to one more than the others.
Question 5: Sometimes I feel I can never live up to guruji’s expectation, especially when I am busy and don’t have time to do all of the SRF routines. My once treasured sadhana becomes a heavy obligation. How can I get back to my initial feelings?
The guru gives us unconditional love regardless of what we do or don’t do. If you want to know God and be freed from all sorrow and suffering, follow the eight-fold path of yoga. If you want to know yourself as light, meditate deeply. The only one making us do something on the spiritual path is us. It’s time to take responsibility. It is not about whether or not the guru is pleased but about our own regret.
Think about the despondency of Arjuna as relayed in “God Talks with Arjuna”. Remember when he realizes, “I’ve got to fight”.
We have to choose between many of the things we would like to do over our spiritual routine. Realize that your relationship with the path and the guru takes work, just like a marriage takes work.
Brother Anandamoy told us that most marriages fail from neglect. We need to take stock of whatever it may be in our lives that is keeping us from our spiritual path. Take one thing . Scroll back on your social engagements. Have time for entertainment only after you meditate. How can we do something positive when we’re overwhelmed by too much. One change can be dramatic. There are times when so much comes along that it seems like there is no way. When things come along, don’t just throw out your routine.
You may decide to do just a little bit of it, maybe practice the first three techniques and spend five minutes on each , but make it intense. Just do the best you can, and if we really do the best we can, it is enough.
Question 6: How should I deal with our meditation circle when some do all of the work and the others just come?
If you want that answer, go to the Center Department workshop. (Laughter)
Question 7: I have a terminal illness. I have peace but I’m much more in tune with Master in the last stage of my life. But I have so much physical pain, that it’s hard to be in touch with Master.
Do what you can. Death is the final test for every being. For this devotee, the desire for a deeper relationship of the guru is a reflection of unconditional love. It is not so much now about practicing the techniques but about fully expressing the love and devotion in the heart.
At the time of the disciple’s death, the guru is present to usher you into the astral world. Seva Devi was a disciple who knew that the time had come for her to leave.
ELLEN B. MERCK [SISTER KARUNA]
“I write this story because I am the only one now living who can testify to its truth. My husband, Bror Merck, an eyewitness, died in 1941.
The incident concerns a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, Mrs. Jean Chamberlin, to whom Master gave the name of SEVA DEVI. They met in Salt Lake City in 1931, when Mrs. Chamberlin attended his classes. At that time his students called him “Swamiji,” for he had not yet received the title of “Paramahansa” (which his guru Sri Yukteswarji gave to him in India in 1935).
Mrs. Chamberlin’s late husband had been a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. She came to Los Angeles in 1932 to help in the SRF work. She was a spiritually advanced disciple, highly regarded by Yoganandaji. When he left this country in 1935 to visit India, he appointed Seva Devi to be the speaker at the Thursday and Sunday SRF meetings in Los Angeles.
Seva Devi died in Los Angeles in November, 1938. My husband and I took care of her in her final illness. She was suffering intensely during her last night on earth, and had lost her power of speech. About four o’clock in the morning I left her to go to my nearby home. When I departed there was no one with her except Bror. He told me, a few hours later, about a beautiful incident that took place after my departure.
Seva Devi, he said, became calm and free from suffering at five o’clock. Suddenly she said:
“Yes, Swamiji; yes Swamiji!” She repeated these words several times in a cheerful way. Thus Bror saw that she had regained her power of speech and that she apparently was replying to something that had been said to her by her guru Yoganandaji, who was invisible to Bror’s eyes.
Mr. Merck asked, “Is Swamiji here?”
“Yes,” she answered in a happy voice. “Swamiji is here.”
My husband wondered if her mind were clear. He said: “Seva, do you know who I am?”
“Yes, Bror,” she replied quickly, as though she understood why he had asked the question.
Her youngest son came into the room. My husband, who wanted to assure himself still further concerning her mental clarity, asked: “Do you know who it is chat stands by your bed?”
“0h yes! Lew, my boy,” she replied tenderly. In a short while she peacefully left her body.
Master referred to this incident several times in his lectures, stating that he had visited Seva Devi in his astral body during the very hour when she told my husband: “Yes, Swamiji is here.”
“I wanted to guide her in the transition to her new home;’ the master said.
(Note: This full version of the story is from Yogananda Site- Word Press.)
[Sister Karuna added the below to this story in later years…from SRF mag, Spring 1994]
*”Many times when some disciple living far away has been ill or dying, he has drawn my astral body there through his devotion,” Paramahansaji said. “Seva Devi was a very devoted student. She became extremely ill, but she never complained about it to anyone. She knew her time had come to leave this earth.
One day when I visited her in Los Angeles she said to me, ‘Please don’t hold me here.’ Later on, I was staying in the Self-Realization Fellowship Hermitage in Encinitas for a time. I had been given a radio and was waking up early in the mornings to listen to broadcasts from India. One morning I suddenly felt intuitively the subtle astral vibration of Seva Devi; she drew my astral body to her through her devotion. My physical body was as dead. I was told later that Seva Devi exclaimed, just before her passing, `Swamiji is here!’ She was aware of being consciously ushered by me into the other world.”
JULY, 1956 Self-Realization magazine
Meditate as you are able and don’t worry about doing more than you are able to do.
Gyanamata, who experienced over 30 years of physical pain, and who Master referred to as a saint, sat on the edge of her bed to do the energization exercises. If you can’t do that, then just feel the gaze focused at the spiritual eye, a repeat over and over, “I love you Master. I love you God. “ You have his promise that he will be with you when you need him the most.
Question 8: I am having a very hard time with current events. They make me so distressed. It’s very painful for me.
Many of us feel that way. The law of reincarnation ensures that we are drawn to an environment where we work out where we didn’t work out previously. The lesson might be that we really need to learn unconditional faith and help and blessings of the gurus. There is nothing to fear because this world is not our home.
If you find the world upsetting right now, remember that it’s just doing its job of keeping us caught up in maya. If you keep wrapped up in the movies, you will be caught up in the drama that the movies create.
Think about how many times have you died before and how many millions of life times we have had. We died in all of them. This is a little morbid, but in how many of those lives were you eaten alive?
Ma was at the SRF London Center when she said, “In the end, everything will be all right, and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end. “
This is still just an intellectual understanding. If all of this is encroaching on our meditation, we can do something really simple. Turn off all of the news feeds. Put all of your computer news sites into the trash bin. The news has to sell to stay in business, and what they sell is upsetting.
This may is selling us cosmic delusion, and we are buying it by allowing ourselves to be upset by it. If it is necessary for your occupation, just turn it down and try to become dispassionate.
In meditation, we turn off the switch. Meditation helps us to disconnect the consciousness form the noise of distractions. When you practice Hong Sau, really practice Hong Sau, because if you are really focused on the breath, that solves that issue. It takes a long time and a lot of effort, but in the end we can control the switch.
“Could thou and I with faith conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire
Would we not shatter it to bits
And then
Remould it nearer to that heart’s desire.”
(From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Edmund Sullivan)
This is our destiny. To be able to remake it the way we know it might be able to remake it the way we know it ought to be. In the last act, the man beholds the Divine Playwright. God will disclose it, the final act of the cosmic drama long concealed.
We’re still in the middle of the novel. It’s supposed to be messed up. It’s about turning bad movie scripts into beautiful ones. We need to keep ourselves from being hurt by the show.
In the end, we will be able to dissolve the show into its constituent components of light.
2018 Convo – Bro. Praffulananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Workshop for Sunday School Teachers ~ Sister Rajana
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
(Note: This was a different format than the lectures. Sister provided a practical workshop for Sunday School teachers. I missed the middle of the session in order to attend the Center Representatives Conference.)
In 1999 at Convocation, Daya Mata talked about the need to love and serve with faith and courage. She could see the times ahead. If we’re really going to know God and be his instruments, we need to manifest these four qualities: love, service, faith, and courage, and the rest do not be troubled about. That is the message for all of us. This is what life is all about.
When we think of the soul qualities within us, we are not expecting others to be the way we think they should be. We are deepening our compassion. Daya Mata accepted everyone just as they were.
Loving and serving go together. What is love without manifesting it in some way? The more we love, the more we authentically want to reach out to others.
If we look at serving, you love the guru and want to serve him. But be working to serve without attachment to a particular outcome. Maybe we were very enthusiastic about serving guru when we first started. Then something happened. Things changed and we were all wrapped up in things that weren’t going according to my plan, which is the best thing.
When we are attached to a particular plan, we miss the guidance of the guru. Always be open to guidance. Tell him, “What now, Master?” Tell yourself, “Let me be calm.”
When you give a Sunday school class, make sure to really be prepared for the class. Do something that will really engage them. For instance, teens really like art. There is a CD from Brother Bhumananda where he talks about preventing a nervous breakdown. He advises, “Lock the door. Go across the railroad tracks and help someone else.”
What happens when we get creative? Students learn more. For example, when we make fuzz balls together, we tell them, “If you make a fuzz ball, you have to give it to someone else. “
Why should we use art? Art provides a creative outlet for both our young children and our teens. There are many opportunities for fellowship and communication during the process of creating something. Art also relieves stress. Anytime anyone does something creative, they feel good about themselves.
It’s also a good idea to create a little library. I always keep copies of “Where There is Light” on hand. Our students also enjoy laminating their paper projects. They last longer and can be put to use as gifts or just to add to their altars at home. They can also attach them to binders or folders for school.
There is a quote from the New Year’s Eve letter from Brother Chidananda where he asks about how we want to change ourselves. There are powerful lessons for our teens in that:
“Each year brings to us anew a wonderful opportunity to liberate within us the God-given freedom to be masters of our own destiny. We need not follow automatically the well-worn paths of ingrained, unproductive habits and trends of thinking, nor be diverted from our spiritual ideals by impulses of the senses, ego, and worldly environment. Through the power of discrimination and a will recharged by the invigorating thought of a fresh beginning in this new year, we can reset our focus and blaze new trails that will reveal the hidden potentials of our soul. Know that the past cannot hold you back nor the future intimidate you. You can choose to live consciously in the present and to go forward with trust that infinite resources are at your command.” Brother Chidananda -President YSS/SRF
Guruji encouraged us to set our course for the new year by introspecting and meditating to attune our consciousness with God’s vast supporting consciousness, and then use His divine gifts of the power of thought and will to take charge of our lives.
Clearing the mind of self-doubt, sadness over past mistakes, and any other form of negative thinking is a vital first step. Having cast out those obstacles, affirm and imprint upon your uncluttered consciousness the positive quality or goal you want to manifest or achieve. Gurudeva has told us, “You can instill any trend in your consciousness right now, provided you inject a strong thought in your mind; then your actions and whole being will obey that thought. By applying with calm, patient perseverance the activating power of the will — finding ways each day to remind yourself of the specific goal you are striving for — you will see that what you have affirmed becomes a reality.”
Remember, too, that you are not alone in your efforts. When in the stillness of daily meditation you contact Him who is the Source of all power to accomplish, you will increasingly feel His power pulsing beneath your thoughts, His mighty will reinforcing your will, and His wisdom and love guiding you.
Guruji has told us, “Every minute is a link between you and God. By living in that awareness, you will find a silent river of peace flowing beneath the surface of your consciousness, nourishing your whole being and your noble aspirations. Through your own inner transformation and the unfolding of your soul qualities, you will bring out the good in others and encourage them also to discover and manifest their true divine Self.”
Another useful tool is Daya Mata’s talk and CD, “Free Yourself from Tension. It is really important to make the teens know and feel that this is their class. They can sign up for something. Engage them in service, e.g. with the kirtan group, playing the harmonium, cleaning, participating in service days, or serving as ushers or greeters.
Another activity is to have them lie down on the ground and do the four part body recharging from the Energization Exercises. This is another way to help them to relieve tension and stress.
Talk with the teens often about any stresses they might be experiencing in their lives. Find something related to that from “Where There is Light”. Hand it out and give them strategies for using these prayers and affirmations from Ma’s book. These discussions about things that are stressing them out are a time when I encourage team leaders to be quiet and to actively listen.
Also remind them of these points that Daya Ma always emphasized the following points:
(1) Keep the mind calm through practice of meditation.
(2) Think one thought at a time.
(3) Don’t interrupt others while they are talking. Let them complete their sentences.
(4) Read books that require deep concentration.
(5) Learn to eat slowly, and preferably in silence.
(6) Exercise regularly.
(7) Relax. Don’t get bogged down in little things.
(8) Set aside time for seclusion, when you can be alone with God and have time to think.”
–Sri Daya Mataji (Finding the Joy Within You)
These are very practical things that they can do. Another thing they can do is to make a spiritual eye, God’s eyes. They can use these as Christmas ornaments or just have them on the desk with a picture of the guru or a quote from our guru. They can make little journals with pre-printed pages that include a list of daily acts of kindness.
The late afternoon workshop was an experiential session where participating Sunday School teachers were engaged in some of the activities discussed above. We made laminated pictures using photographs from SRF calendars and sayings by our Guru. Small laminating machines can now be purchased for about $30.00 online or from teacher supply stores along with laminating materials.
The session ended with a prayer.
2018 Convo – Sister Rajana Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Satsanga ~ Brother Saralananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Before I received your questions for satsanga, I inwardly prayed that they would all be easy to answer. (Laughter) The first question was, “Can you explain the Christ Consciousness so that I can understand what it feels like? The great ones tell us that it feels really, really, really, really, really good.” (Laughter) You may have noticed in your own life that God does not always answer our prayers. (Laughter) God has made it abundantly clear that I should have prayed for Christ Consciousness. (More laughter)
Our guru told us, “If at this moment, you could completely calm your emotions you would find Cosmic Consciousness.”
Most of the time, however, we find ourselves striving toward that but find it challenging to picture a state of complete calmness and repose in oneness . Because human reason has to rely upon the partial and often deceptive data supplied by the physical senses, we must learn to tap deeper and more subtle levels of awareness if we would solve the enigmas of life— Who am I? Why am I here? How do I realize Truth?
Yoga is a simple process of reversing the ordinary outward flow of energy and consciousness so that the mind becomes a dynamic center of direct perception— no longer dependent upon the fallible senses but capable of actually experiencing Truth.” That is the state of Christ Consciousness. “ In Samadhi, when the mind expands beyond the body into peace, that is experiencing Christ Consciousness.
In Discourse 71 of “The Second Coming of Christ,” Jesus promised his disciples that “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. “
That is, if their consciousness were perfectly in tune with the Christ Consciousness and Its emanations of Cosmic Vibration—they would be able to demonstrate untold wonders through operating the universal creative principle. Any devotee, of any era, who is in tune with Christ Consciousness materializes the glory and wisdom of Cosmic Consciousness (the Father) hidden in and beyond all creation. Those who would discipline their consciousness for expansion into Christ Consciousness—were considered by Jesus to be His real disciples.
“Then Jesus spoke to them precious words, none dearer to the devotee’s heart, that he loved them with the same divine, impartial, undying love with which the Heavenly Father loved him. Even as he felt God’s love within himself always, so would they abide always in God’s love flowing through Christ Consciousness if they continued to keep His commandments. What love could be purer; what love could be greater than the love Jesus expresses here for his disciples. Human love requires human meriting and is subject to whims of feeling; but God’s love is unconditional, eternal, unchanging.
Brother then led the group through the following visualization. “Try to imagine the love spoken of by Jesus in these verses. Close your eyes, put your attention on the heart, and feel the greatest love that you have ever felt for another person. Let that love saturate every cell of your body. Now, expand the feeling of love, like an encircling sphere embracing your family, friends, all your loved ones. Feel your love ever increasing; include in that sphere all the people in your city, than all of your country. Now everything in the world is bathed in that love. The whole earth, the solar system, the far-flung galaxies and island universes—everything is floating in this vast sphere of love. Feel it. Meditate on this. Merge yourself in that love which permeates and upholds the infinitudes of manifestation—a demonstrable presence of God’s heartbeat of bliss, setting the pace of cosmic harmony and unity, and known to the devotee as the All-in-all fulfillment.
“The love felt in the heart at the beginning of this visualization is human love. And the love that expanded until it encompassed everything is the universal love of Christ, the infinite love of God. The love that most persons feel for dearest family and friends, Jesus felt for the world and every human being. The Christ Consciousness that encompasses everything in its love was born in the body of Jesus, in the body of Krishna, the body of Buddha.”* (“Second Coming of Christ” pp 1397-1398)
Guruji has come into our lives so that we might one day experience this vast state of Christ Consciousness for ourselves. We also accomplish this expansiveness the social way, by learning to “love thy neighbors as thyself. “ Start with your friends and neighbors, and eventually you will feel this love for all.
He has given you certain family members whom you are serving. God’s consciousness has begun to express itself through your consciousness whenever you do something for someone without any thought of yourself. When that happens, you are expanding into the sphere of Christ Consciousness.
One man talked with me about how different life was with his wife once they were married. He cited hundreds of differences: “I like black olives. She hates them. I like the house cool. She keeps the furnace blaring. She’s an early bird. In the morning, she pops out of bed like a piece of toast. When I get up, it’s like my pajamas were nailed to the bed. My feeling is, if God had meant for man to see the sunset, he would have scheduled it later.”
There is no disagreement, no matter how small, that cannot grow into a major argument. Too often in communications we fail to realize that two monologues do not equal a dialogue. If our task was to create a new universe that we would inhabit together, we would be given many opportunities to stretch our understanding.
Question 2: Does one need to realize and incorporate into life each lesson in the SRF lessons before one goes on to the next lesson? The Lessons keep on coming. I can’t keep up with following everything. There is so much he gives me, and I can’t keep up with it all. This makes me feel stressed out and inadequate.
Master did not require that we practice and incorporate everything before going on to the next lesson. If we had to practice everything in the lesson, we would have to hire some staff and delegate to them. For example, in the lesson about getting along with your relatives, could you take an international flight? I’ll give you the names and addresses of those who are hard to get along with. We cannot delegate all of our spiritual duties to others.
Remember that Master said, “If you practice just one millionth of what I teach you in these Sunday night meetings, you will reach God. “
Mrinalini Mata writes in the Fall 2016 issue of the SRF Magazine, in an article called, “The Science of Spiritual Study: The Art of Introspection” about how Master wants us to study his teachings. Each day, I would take one thought from the teachings, and I will reflect upon this. Repeat it to yourself. Then analyze your actions and ask, “Am I manifesting this?” Then keep with the thought for a few days. When the next lesson arrives, move on and practice that lesson. In the same way of study, we keep coming back to these core principles.
Question 3: What should I do when I have only a few minutes to meditate? Do I practice part of the techniques, practice silence, or talk to the guru?
This is a very personal question. Each of us needs to decide what to do. You could practice the techniques for a minute or so but inwardly repeat a devotional thought. Practice a visualization or an affirmation. Pray for others. We can also practice our gratitude for God and guru.
Daya Mata said, “Inwardly, I call to God, My love, my love” Churn the ether with some devotional thought and repeat inwardly over and over while we wait for a response with God.
Daya Mata explained, “Most people give up because they have the notion that God is not responding, but in His own way, He is. One of the
problems is that we forget to listen. Listening is part of the conversation with God.”
Master prayed, “O Father! Show me the highway that leads to Thee. Give me bursting aspirations of the heart.”
After devotion, we can be still and listen for God’s reply. Keep the attention at the heart center. Wait for a response. Call again and again and go back into inner stillness and wait again. Churn the ethers with devotional thought, and after that we have a time of stillness where we wait for God’s response
Master received countless demonstrations of Sri Yukteswar’s love for him, but only on the first day when they met did he say, “I love you. “ He expressed his love through countless actions, continuous silent blessing. He had a very serious, devotional nature. Master went to his guru with a personal desire. “Guruji, I know you love me, but my mortal ears long to hear these words,” he pleaded.
Sri Yukteswar responded, “Yogananda, I love you always.”
Master said to him, “Your answer is my passport to heaven.”
Brother Saralananda shared the following story. At the end of my meditations, I would ask Master, “Do you love Me?”, and I asked it over and over again Then I thought, “You’re asking Master a question. Why don’t you ask that question and then be still and wait for an answer. When he didn’t answer, I would count how long I waited and then would ask and wait. For five minutes I would go back and forth in this way and over the next months my heartfelt aspirations to get an answer to that question were deepening. One evening, I asked again and went into inner stillness. A subtle vibration of love passed through my heart. Again and again, I felt the same subtle response.
“In the echo of devotion, teach me to hear Thy voice. “ Master had been answering me all the time, I just had never been still enough to hear his response. “
We can say anything we want to God. “My love, my love, my love!” and churn the ethers, and let that inspiration dictate how many times of churning the ether and stillness.
Master told us, “He is silent in the beginning, but if you are persistent, he will reply. I can see that some of you are nearing the place where he is about to whisper to you.” Find something that’s natural for you.
Question3: The ministers tell us to go into the inner stillness after the techniques. How do I do this?
In “The Autobiography of a Yogi”, there is a footnote that states, “The goal of the science of yoga is to obtain that necessary inner stillness by which we can know God, so that in inner quietness of soul intuition can awaken and we can have a direct personal experience of God. “
We need to perform interiorizing actions. We act to attain inaction of the body and restless mind. First we need to interiorize. Then we pray. But after the techniques, when we go to sit in the stillness, we must remember that stillness and surrender are vital. Just center into this stillness and sit there. Here there is no restlessness, no searching or striving there. Come into the silence of solitude and the vibration will take you into the silence of God, and you will know that the visible has become invisible.
It is recommended that we sit in the silence for a minimum of ten minutes. It’s something that we need to practice.
Master often compared the mind to a glass of muddy water. After a little while, the mud particles settle to the bottom of the glass. If a person does not stir up the water, the mud will not rise again to the surface. He advises the devotee to patiently await His coming. Just concentrate at the Christ center and let the attention rest there.
What happens when we’re focused on the Christ Center? When the list of our shopping needs, groceries and so forth float by, and we think,” I need to buy laundry detergent.”
Then comes a memory thought. Your wife said that there was something really important that you needed to get at the store, and you’ll be in trouble if you don’t get it. Pretty soon, your consciousness is filled with mud. So if we notice this, usually the gaze has dropped and we need to put our concentration at the Christ Center, and then we wait.
It takes tremendous patience to do this. Blessed are those who keep striving to get to that inner stillness by which we can know God.
Master said, “Learn to be still in body and mind, for when the motion ceases, when the normal sense thoughts are banished and we are in an interior state of calm consciousness, divine consciousness. To commune with God, we need to go into silence. There is a vital point of meditation that is often misunderstood.
Question 4: Even when regularly practicing Master’s teachings, I still feel new on the path. What happened? How can I deal with these feeling of discouragement?
When we first come on this path, God and guru stimulate us. God and guru awaken us to the sweetness that can be experienced in Divine Communion. This is the honeymoon stage, and remember that honeymoons don’t last forever. Then the work begins. Gradually we replace our materialist tendencies with spiritual tendencies. Master wrote to Gyanamata ,” You would be amazed. Sometimes it requires a long time to get results. But the joy of realization, when it does come, is worth it.”
Our guru had no compulsion to come back to this world. At the request of Divine Mother he incarnated again. He did this so that his life could become a living scripture for his disciples. Master took on a great deal to get acclimated when he came back to the physical body. He wrote, “As often as the mind tries to trick me into abandoning the meditation, I will trick the mind. I say, ‘No matter what comes, I will keep on to the end.’”
This is the thought we must strengthen in our consciousness so it becomes part of our DNA. When tremendous struggles come, maya will plant discouraging, sad thoughts in the mind. Instead of planting those seeds. Plant positive seeds. “God will come to me! He will come!
“WHEN WILL HE COME?
When every heart’s desire pales
Before the brilliancy of the ever-leaping flames
of God-love,
Then He will come.
When, in expectation of His coming,
You are ever ready
To fearlessly, grieflessly, joyously
Burn the faggots of all desires
In the fireplace of life,
That you may protect Him from your
freezing
inner indifference,
Then He will come.
When no inclinations or unfulfilled cravings can be sure of your stability toward them:
When He shall be certain you will never leave the guru,
Then He will come.
No matter how you feel– helpless, forsaken,
Tortured by temptation, karma or tests–
If you ever keep hoping He will come,
He will come.
When your mind says piercingly,
When you think to have Him,
You don’t deserve having Him;
Still, if your soul, disregarding all this,
Shall ever keep chanting within,
He will come,
He will come.
When He shall be sure nothing else can claim you,
Then He will come.
Even if you are the sinner of sinners,
Still, if you never stop calling Him deeply
In the temple of unceasing love,
Then He will come.
“Songs of the Soul” Paramahansa Yogananda
I read an inspiring story. One day, a very brave woman, Florence Chadwick, enter the water to swim the Catalina Coast. The water was very cold. There was a blanket of fog. Her coach and family were in a little boat that followed her. She swam for one hour, then two, three… ten, 12, 14. She looked up and there was still fog. She didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t tell how much progress she had made. After 15 hours of swimming, she gave up. The fog was so thick. Actually, she was only a half a mile from the shore, and that‘s when she quit.
She told reporters, “If I’d know how close I was, I wouldn’t have quit, but all I could see was the fog.” Two months later she decided to attempt the swim again. She became the first woman to swim the channel and broke the men’s record.
Master reminds us, “I will keep on until the end. In our own lives the fog of maya tells us that we are lost, and that we’ll never make it. The truth is we are very near the heavenly shore. Our final freedom is at hand if we keep on trying. Say to yourself, “I will keep on until the end. We don’t come to the kriya path at the beginning of the path, but at the end. We should never underestimate the power of our guru. We need to keep on swimming; keep on trying.
Master told us that it is necessary to observe Divine Laws. He tells us , “Blessed are those who continue to follow Self Realization to the end of life. “
He also told us, “It is not Jesus and a few others who alone know God,. If you make the right kind of effort, you will find God.”
2018 Convo – Bro. Saralananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Make Your Meditations Come Alive ~ Brother Satyananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Brother began the session with a meditation.
He then asked, “What did we just experience? At first we were relaxed until we experience stillness in the body. Did you notice how the mind becomes still?”
Master said that when the mind becomes still, you are in the kingdom of the Infinite. Would you like to quietly enter the sanctuary of inner stillness and enjoy the stillness of body, heart, and mind.
This is really an experiential workshop that I call, “Relaxing Into God”. We will experience how to begin ending with our journey into the kingdom of the Infinite. The gurus teach ways to explore or metaphysical relaxation, and there are three secrets to be revealed.
First:
- Tense the whole body
- Relax
- Inhale slowly
- Exhale slowly
- Relax and feel
Daya Ma often held discussions about the organization. She was working to involve the younger monastics in the discussions. I noticed some patterns between the discussions and the decision made there was often a short meditation.
On one occasion, I watch Ma during a time when she had a very difficult decision to make. She looked old and quite weary. I could tell that she was tired. I thought, “Why does she have to bear this weight and burden in this stage of her life?”
Then she said, “Well dears, let’s just meditate a little.”
I kept my eyes open, watching her. I’m glad that I did. She took a deep breath and exhaled. It was a sigh. Then she was perfectly still. Then, after about three minutes, I saw a gentle smile, and then a laugh. She opened her eyes, and she looked radiant and was young again.
I wasn’t sorry for her anymore. I was sorry for myself. I thought, “I must learn to do that too.”
She could experience conscious relaxation with a single breath, and stillness in about two to three minutes. It was perfect, a relaxation into joy in the middle of a business meeting.
We can train ourselves to calm the inner storm and enter into the land of stillness. I am training myself to make a quick transition from restlessness to peace. Lessons 70-72 in the SRF Lessons provide relaxation techniques specific to meditation. I call it “the silence of stillness”. A song is really a sutra. Becoming still is really a science, and knowing is the fruit of the silence applied consciously and with intention.
Brother led the group through another meditation with these instructions:
- Keep your mind on your body
- Feel yourself experiencing it
- Feel the mind relaxing emotionally
- Feel yourself transcending body and mind
- Feel yourself reaching the soul level
We need to create an environment of stillness by which we perform pranayama. With the last breath, we remain relaxed and motionless. At first, we feel the relaxation. Then a new sensation comes—the relaxation of stillness.
Master said that by complete relaxation, man can with the arrow of his consciousness draw the life force throughout the physical body. It happens naturally, and it feels really good. It feels like a burden being lifted, like Daya Ma’s exhaling sigh. Spirit is that vast stillness that is behind all created things. With stillness, the energy and consciousness are withdrawing from the muscles and nerves into the spine. This has a tremendous effect the mind. When still, the mind automatically relaxes and begins to disengage from the body in complete stillness and silence.
Here are three secrets:
- When the body is tense and restless, the mind will be filled with restless thoughts.
- If the body is still, you can control your mind. The energization exercises help us to take the body into stillness.
- Metaphysical relaxation is full absorption of the divine mind and your true identity in spirit.
Brother then led another meditation.
See how effective this is? You just silenced your mind on command.
Science is sequential. First the body, then the mind. Those who can quiet their thoughts on command at once will find the whole system relaxes into stillness. Quiet the body and you’ll find the mind is quiet. The techniques are then fully enabled to do their work. As we perform the techniques, our stillness deepens. Our attachment to the body relaxes. We start to know ourselves not as the body, but as the Immortal Soul, going from the restless ego-bound to the body to the Immortal Soul in cosmic spirit.
Stillness produces wonderful sensations. Enjoyment is integral to the process. If we can relax into stillness from the very beginning, we will find that in perfect stillness of body and mind, the yogi experiences the soul. The devotee who experiences unity with everything has experienced God.
A Zen master was reprimanding his students telling them to let the mind relax. He told them to let the mind relax when you drink tea. The next morning, the students saw the same master drinking tea and reading the newspaper.
Three Tibetan nuns were watching colorful flags waving in the breeze. One said, “Look how many flags are moving.” Another wise nun said, “The flags are not moving. The wind is not moving. Your mind is moving.” In stillness, all maya melts away.
Phase 2 of my project is called, “Hurry up and relax”.
Master relays this story in “The Autobiography of a Yogi”.
“The mosquitoes one evening were especially virulent. But Master failed to issue his usual instructions. I listened nervously to the anticipatory hum of the insects. Getting into bed, I threw a propitiatory prayer in their general direction. A half hour later, I coughed pretentiously to attract my guru’s attention. I thought I would go mad with the bites and especially the singing drone as the mosquitoes celebrated bloodthirsty rites.
No responsive stir from Master; I approached him cautiously. He was not breathing. This was my first observation of him in the yogic trance; it filled me with fright.
‘His heart must have failed!’ I placed a mirror under his nose; no breath-vapor appeared. To make doubly certain, for minutes I closed his mouth and nostrils with my fingers. His body was cold and motionless. In a daze, I turned toward the door to summon help.
‘So! A budding experimentalist! My poor nose!’ Master’s voice was shaking with laughter. ‘Why don’t you go to bed? Is the whole world going to change for you? Change yourself: be rid of the mosquito consciousness.’
Meekly I returned to my bed. Not one insect ventured near. I realized that my guru had previously agreed to the curtains only to please me; he had no fear of mosquitoes. His yogic power was such that he either could will them not to bite, or could escape to an inner invulnerability”
Here are three steps to achieve stillness:
- Relax the body into stillness. Enjoy it.
- Enjoy the stillness of the mind.
- Enjoy the stillness of the body and mind.
The results have been transformative. Every single time, no matter how I feel in meditation, I can still have that freedom and stillness. When I do it this way, the body and mind become still.
Master said to practice faithfully what has been taught to you about muscular relaxation and the path of realization will open up before you. As enjoyment increases, it prepares the way for joyous communion with joy. The experience of enjoyment during stillness is the beginning of God’s bliss. If we are consciously enjoying stillness, we are entering into the joy of Spirit. The conscious enjoyment of spirit expands into bliss.
Master said to sit quietly and meditate on the joy of silence. Nothing can give you that deep joy like silence. This would be easy except for the ego. The ego and body have a long friendship. We are strongly attached to our body-bound restlessness. Even though a habit is quite strong, we can overcome it. But distracting worldly thoughts find their way in.
It’s like we’re under a waterfall of worldly thoughts. We’re on the hill enjoying the restless thoughts below. You must vaporize them with your will power. Allow one restless thought and you find that whole horde of invaders is coming up the hill.
Sometimes, restless worldly thoughts come disguised as an important responsibility. You are meditating, and then you think about your daughter who is in her first year of college. You become distracted, restless. Soon, you realize the deception. The eyes have come down, and the body is tense. When this happens, go back into relaxation. Lift the gaze and feel the body. Relax and follow the sequence. Even in the stillness, there is temptation.
The third secret to deeper meditation is training ourselves to enjoy the stillness over the restless thoughts and body. All we have to do is assertively train ourselves. You are the one who can make this choice. Choosing stillness over restlessness is your 25%. We can gain the spiritual high ground and you can gain your spiritual advantage there.
Daya Ma performed a spiritual refresher in the middle of a business meeting. We have to find ways for dealing with stress. Stress is one of the most consistent torments in life. I think about a day in my life. I begin with meditation, and often engage in daily traveling. As I engage in worldly activities the pressures do build. I experience stress, but I don’t have to live with it.
What are the sources of stress. There are many: sustained physical attention, moodiness, a feeling of being overwhelmed….These can easily escalate into serious anxieties. When I start to feel impatient, I know I am tense. It can be between or during daily conversations in daily life. We can integrate it into our daily lives.
How do we get rid of stress? Exercise.
Brother led the group through a relaxation exercise.
- Tense the body gently. Now remain still.
- Like Daya Ma, let out a sigh. (4,000 devotees then sighed.)
- Feel the peace of the morning meditation as it begins to flow back in, and you can feel it there with no stress. It feels very, very good.
What do you do with your cell phone or computer when they are acting out. You reboot. The system then takes out the trash, and you’re good to go. This is my sixty second spiritual reboot. If the body is relaxed, I cannot be in anger. I cannot be in fear. These are primal, toxic emotions with which stillness cannot co-exist. All we have to do is feel the peace. We can’t be angry and relaxed at the same time. If you choose relaxation of body, heart , and mind, it will heal you. I’ve tested it, and it works.
So the secrets are that by conscious will, relax the body into stillness. Total relaxation brings the body and mind into stillness, and this is the beginning of God’s ecstatic bliss. We are training ourselves to choose the refined stillness over the habit of restlessness. Once they are in your control, how do you feel?
We’ll end with a story and a quote. On one occasion, I asked Sailsuta Mata, who was at Mother Center about her favorite recollections of Master. She often came out into our kitchen. She was always so friendly.
She answered, “As a matter of fact, I do. On a number of occasions, I saw Master come out of these doors after a long day of counseling. He would walk the grounds. He always went to this little gardenia. He would twist off a gardenia blossom and take a deep breath of it. He would then walk down the long drive in front of Mother Center. Every now and then he would stop, sniff and smell the gardenia blossom, smile, and then keep walking.”
Master told us, “Even as the touch of sandalwood makes the hand scented, let the mind be scented wherever you go. You will live in ecstasy. You will be in constant peace with the joy of your soul.”
2018 Convo – Bro. Satyananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Seeing God in All People and Conditions ~ Brother Sevananda
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
An important part of our sadhana is seeing God in all people and all conditions. We’ll begin with a healing affirmation:
“Whatever conditions confront me
I know they represent the next step in my unfoldment.
I will welcome all tests
because I know that within me
is the intelligence to understand
and the power to overcome”
How does the affirmation start off? “Dear Father”. We are seeing Him as loving, kind, and dear. A father who would never do us harm.
Then, “Whatever conditions confront me”. Now, it’s starting to get a little tense.
We can breathe more freely when he says, “I know they represent the next step in my unfoldment. This makes sense of the conditions in which we find ourselves. It might actually have been sent by God. It may be something that will give you greater strength. Another possibility is the conditions might not just be there by accident. They might be the result of our own karma.
Master points out where in the past we mistakenly used our free will, our free choices.
“I will welcome all tests.” Now we can all agree that that’s just going too far. “Welcome?” That just doesn’t make sense.
Then Master says, “Because I know that within me is the intelligence to understand and the strength to overcome. “
We can be victorious. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for? We’re at a point where we know the purpose of life. There’s only going forward. We must strive and bring forth that strength and intelligence within us.
We also know that those are doors leading to the Divine Intelligence and the joy we’re seeking. We’re not only seeing God in all conditions but in all people as well. (Maybe you thought, maybe I can just skip over the latter about seeing God in all people.) That might be a little more difficult. Substitute the word “people” for “conditions”.
“Whatever people confront me, I know they represent the next step in my unfoldment.”
It might be the case more often than not. When any person complained about a difficult person to Master he would say, “If that person didn’t exist, I would have to create someone just like him.”
When dealing with a person you consider difficult, ask yourself first, “Do I have a problem or am I the problem. Why is this person in my life? Is this something I can change? What does this require? Can I be loving? What does being loving mean? Can it also mean being perfect?”
During summer day camp one little girl was using her will power. She was nine years old. She meditates every day. Whenever there is free time in school she looks for a quiet place to meditate. On one occasion there was another child being bullied by a student who was much bigger than she was.
She went up to the bully and said, “Don’t tease her, tease me. I know who I am. You don’t.”
This was a tiny little girl, the smallest in her camp. Hearing that story, I know that the future of YSS is in good hands.
Sharing kindness is always important along with strength and courage, as Brother Jayananda was talking about with you. We need to do whatever is the right thing depending on the situation. Maybe it means that we respond humbly. We know what it takes. It also may mean resisting.
We all face a great variety of daily problems and events. We find the scope for the development of good judgment as we face them. We aren’t just responding to a list of rules, then. We start to gain an understanding through attunement. We need to learn what to do and how to act because when we leave here, Divine Mother will not ask about the other person and what they did to us.
She’s just going to ask one question. “How did you respond?”
And when the other person shows up, she will ask him, “Why did you treat him like that.” So we just need to look at did we act in a way that is pleasing to Her.
St. Therese de Lisieux faced many instances of mean spiritedness in the convent. There was one particular nun who was really mean. She was mean and intolerable to everyone. St. Theresa wrote,” I continued to treat this sister as if she were the person I loved most in the world. And in prayer, I told Jesus of all of her virtues. Jesus wants us to reach his inmost sanctuary and see the beauty of that.”
One day, the nun said to Therese, “Tell me what it is about me that attracts me you much?”
She explained, “I told her that I saw Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul, Jesus, who makes the bitterest potion taste sweet. I always told her that it was good to see her. “
Because of her sweetness to this nun, the other nuns assumed that this was St. Theresa’s best friend in the convent. That was another step in her unfoldment. Now this doesn’t exist in our ashrams… ever. (Laughter)
It is common in our ashrams for us to routinely e-mail each other. I was exchanging emails with a brother monk about a particular matter. Often when we write, we start with, “Dear Brotherji”.
After a certain point one email reply of his omitted the first “r”, and read, “Dear Botherji”.
I emailed back. I realized we hadn’t gotten to the bottom of this matter.
I wrote back to him, “ I hope I’m not being a bother to you. “
It was a mistake. There was no problem.
Let’s all be a “brotherji” or “sisterji” to each other.
I do know the idea is universal. In the Fall SRF magazine, there are excerpts from an article called “The Power of Nice”. Most of us don’t mean to be inconsiderate; we’re just so busy starring in our own movie that we don’t realize that they are starring in theirs. We don’t realize that we are supporting actors. We may think everything revolves around our particular point in the Bonaventure ballroom.
We play many roles in our movies; sweet, supportive friend, office trouble shooter, drama queen, loving supportive daughter. Write down five ways to improve your roles. It comes back to the most basic law of right human behavior.
Master said, “Change yourself, and you will change thousands.
Recently, SRF was invited to participate in the Parliament of Religions. A few of our monks and lay people attended. One of the attending monks noted that among the free literature that SRF/YSS offered was a copy of Daya Mata’s pamphlet, “How to Change Others.”
That is the one that the most people took. They took more of this little pamphlet than any other hand out.
Then he said, “They were in for a big surprise. Ma said that the first rule on how to change others is change yourself.”
The brother said, “There’s a good chance that if we had gone around to different trash containers, we would have found a lot of those pamphlets”.
Sometimes life’s conditions are anything but fun, especially if there is a terrible condition caused by serious disease in the body. We hardly need to be reminded that we are living through a disturbing time. We’re often scared to read the news in case we read that someone has been a victim of some mindless violence.
Mrinalini Mata did check in on the news in order to know what was going on in the world. She said that those involved in the violence were often those most in need of prayer. It is her spirit that we should all conspire to emulate her and give much as much love as we can to those in need. Pray for love, understanding, and healing that we might help our loved ones. The world will get through these trying times. The secret is to just keep on trying, never giving up. Remember that difficult people and conditions represent the next step in our unfoldment. If we keep trying, with the guru’s ever present help, we’ll find that understanding and acceptance to help us to get through.
In the word, “guru”, “gu” means darkness. “ru” means that which dispels. The guru is nothing more and nothing less than the dispeller of darkness.
Our recent President, Mrinalini Mata once said, “That is how gurudeva was with us, and that is the relationship he wants you all to have with him; that you might approach him as the dearest, divine friend. “
Guruji used to tell us, ‘I don’t care the slightest how many times you stumble and fall on the spiritual path. I am watching one thing. I want to see how many times you pick yourself up.: Each time you make a mistake in sadhana You may become careless, slothful, forgetful, indifferent, that is all right, my child. But know that I never become careless, slothful, or indifferent with you.’”
Master would say that we need to rouse that sleeping God within us. We need to be a warrior, not a worrier. See how changing just one letter changes the meaning. Then, whether people and conditions seem difficult, we go forward. We have to develop our faith in God and guru ourselves, and know that we’re going to get through it with their help. We can depend on them even though mountains come crashing down.
There is a Chinese Proverb that goes something like this…
A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the mares and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The villagers cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, still recovering from his injury. Friends shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
When something happens in life, you may say, “I have no idea what any of that means, but intuitively, I know something is there.” I know that if we follow these teachings and align ourselves with the great masters who sent these teachings, we will know what that something is.
I am reminded of a story told in the ashram. Brother Premamoy was in charge of our beginning training. There is a wonderful article by him in SRF magazine. He said, “There were many times on the spiritual path when I couldn’t figure it out. I said, ‘Well, Divine Mother, I don’t know why this is happening to me, but you do’. Then a calm and peace would settle over me as I surrendered to Her. That surrender is often the greatest intelligence and wisdom we can have.”
It is a challenge to see guruji in all people and all conditions. As many of us know, the difficulties involved can be huge, but it’s also the lessons in all of them. It is not just about having tests, but also about seeing the beauty and the loving hand of God in all things which can exist, even in the most trying times. The following story explains.
The man whispered, “God, speak to me.”
And a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear.
So the man yelled, “God, speak to me!”
Thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen.
The man looked around and said, “God, let me see you.”
A star shone brightly. But he noticed it not.
And the man shouted, “God, show me a miracle.”
And a life was born. But the man was unaware.
So, the man cried out in despair, “Touch me, God, and let me know that you are here!”
Whereupon God reached down and touched the man.
But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
Moral: Don’t miss out on a blessing because it isn’t packaged the way you expect.
Source Unknown
Master often said, “Now I discover God everywhere. Each gust of my prayer opens a new entrance to the vastness of Thy presence.”
The ultimate goal is the state of samadhi where we don’t just believe that one thing. This is what our Master teaches, not only the right attitudes and the yamas and niyamas, but the techniques that lead to the ultimate perceptions of this truth and that constitute the greatest power over our indestructible soul.
Ma told us, ”Each of us needs time for deep meditation to partake of the indescribable peace and sweetness of God’s presence. It is in the crucible of our daily experience that we learn that every hardship that comes will serve to strengthen us. Devoted meditation and cheerful, dutiful action — thereby we shall reclaim and manifest our omnipotent divine soul-nature. “
Perhaps you have experienced this. You feel that you are in a difficult place, or after meditation something happens to disrupt your peace. These are God given opportunities to learn to reclaim our divine soul nature. When you can hold the consciousness of God within you in truly difficult experiences, that is when you know you have God within.
Guruji said, “God helping God: That is what the world is all about, so that in the end we realize something so unfathomably. At the end, in the heart of the creator there is one Consciousness drawing everything back into Himself. All of the misery, fears, and difficulties in life are but catalysts attempting to bring us back to God.”
There is a footnote in “The Autobiography of a Yogi”. Buddha asked why a man should love all persons equally. “Because,” the great teacher replied, “in the very numerous and varied life spans of each man, every other being has at one time or another been dear to him.”
We are part of that universal family. God in essence is just masquerading as various human beings. Our guru knew that each person was a part of his own self.
To summarize, Mrinalini Mata compare the states of dharma and adharma to the highest steps of the eightfold path. After achieving the states of deepened awareness one attains the next step, Dhyana, or true meditation. Dhyana is the conception of the magnitude of God as not only experienced within this little body temple, but ask His universal or cosmic manifestation. Dhyana is the conception of the magnitude of God as not only experienced within this little body temple, but as his universal or cosmic manifestation. In other words, if we are concentrating on the state of dharana on God’s love, we feel it as a bursting feeling of deep satisfaction and love within the heart and within the mind. However, in the deeper state of dhyana, we see: “Oh! That love is not just something that God is giving to me. His love is that which is sustaining and flowing through all human hearts, through all expressions of creation- indeed it is that universal force which is slowly and gradually unseen by human eyes, drawing all creation back into his divine heart.”
“Again, these interior experiences overflow into our everyday life. One who has attained that state in meditation can no longer make any distinctions between any human being as a naughty or good child of God: or being different in appearance and form, as having black, white, red, yellow, green, purple, whatever color skin you want to talk about! Such distinctions that human beings make as to race, caste, nationality—one can no longer feel these at all because he sees God in all universal nature, that universal form, dwelling in all. He experiences that God in every breath of the breeze and every leaf of every tree, in the sky, in every created living form, in every atom. And so he attains perfect understanding of, a perfect sense of harmony with, all of God’s creation. “SRF Magazine Spring 2018*
We must find God within our own selves as well. Master, in describing the results said, “Finding Thee within in, I shall find Thee without, in all people and all conditions. You will see Him behind the beauties of nature, in the love, kindness and goodness of people, and also in all of the difficulties of life…but finding Him you will find the happiness you are seeking.”
Affirmation (For group: Again, I know we will bring out the Divine Power within us.)
“Whatever conditions confront me
I know they represent the next step in my unfoldment.
I will welcome all tests
because I know that within me
is the intelligence to understand
and the power to overcome”
*Self Realization Magazine is available through the website (Bookstore) : https://www.yogananda-srf.org/ or YSS (Yogoda Satsanga Society) can be reached through https://www.yssofindia.org/
2018 Convo – Bro. Sevananda Lecture Notes PDF
2018 Convocation ~ Mastering the Techniques of Meditation-Part II ~ Sr. Vinita
(DISCLAIMER: These notes are our best attempt to capture the essence of what was said at this class. There is always a degree of human error involved when taking notes and we have transcribed them to the best of our ability.)
Guruji often talked about the far reaching benefits of the Om technique. In Lesson 29, he gives many examples of the blessings that will come from practice of this technique. He wrote, “Words cannot convey to you the wonderful benefits that the om technique will bring to you . If you practice patiently and reverently, in time you will be here in the cosmic vibration. The om techniques will give you unparalleled command of your mind. This is as true as the statement that the sun rises in the east. The technique will also help you tremendously to increase your power for the accomplishment of great work in life. Above all, It will enable you to contact the super-consciousness of the soul, and through that cosmic consciousness of Spirit, giving you the wonderful peace, harmony, and poise of mind inherent in the higher life. It helps to soothe and rest the nerves and bring about the most desirable body conditions. “
“It is in stillness that you feel God. The divine vibration of OM gives you the ability to be in the world but not of the world. You can dive deep at any time to express your love to God and feel his love and then you can’t help but give that love to all”
What is this cosmic vibration? Om is the first manifestation of God in creation. Eons after the unmanifested Spirit determined to create the cosmos.
In “God Talks with Arjuna” there are many names for Om: cosmic aum, the word, mother name, cosmic Virgin Mary, or the cosmic intelligent consort of God.
Sri Yukteswar said, “So the word (becoming flesh, the external material) created this visible world. So the Word, Amen, Aum, being the Om being the manifestation of the Almighty Father, or His Own Self, is inseparable from and nothing but God Himself; as the burning power inseparable from and nothing but the fire itself. “ (“The Holy Science” pg. 24)
The nature of God is to dream the cosmic universe and the creatures in it. It gives the Lord an opportunity to play with the dream souls in his vast cosmic dream. We’ve been doing this for endless lifetimes, enjoying the show. Sometimes the dream show is unbearably sad or acutely painful. We begin to wonder, “How do we get out of the dream? “ And here we are, learning to consciously unite ourselves with Spirit.
The techniques work together to prepare us for Kriya Yoga. The Energization Exercises help us to control the life force and to keep the body still during meditation. Without being able to deeply concentrate, we’re unable to meditate. With the Hong Sau practice, we can also help deepen our practice of the Om technique. Our guru told us, “Practice the techniques and I will establish within your souls an immortal temple of God realization. “
Concentration helps us to focus the mind on any line of thought. In meditation, the application of concentration is solely to know God. On this path, concentration is achieved through specific techniques. God is Om. So we can experience definite realization of the Infinite in God realization through this technique.
Swami Shyamananda, an amazing YSS monk who, together with Daya Mata, helped build YSS into the organization it is today, told this story during his satsanga in 1969.
“When we are seeking earnestly, some encouraging spiritual experiences do come. The first time I heard Aum was over thirty years ago. I did not know Guruji’s technique then. I was in the Himalayas, at the edge of a forest, and suddenly heard that wonderful sound everywhere. It started with the ringing of bells, the ocean roar, and then all the sounds, so sweet, everywhere. I thought, “What has happened?” I searched in all directions, trying to find where the sound was coming from. Then it started inside also. Inside and out —everywhere. And, dear ones, it lasted for three days. I had no wish even to eat; my heart was too full. I was living with a saint at the time. After the third day, when the sound had stopped, I asked him about it.
All he said was: ‘It comes.’
“How?”
He couldn’t tell me. There are many who have become saints, but don’t know how to teach others. How wonderfully Master has explained the deepest truths and given us the techniques by which we can experience them.”
The soul goes past the physical body and realizes this vast body as God. Meditation is the only way to know God. The only way to know God is right activity, learning how to behave and communing with God. If we practice right behaviors our mind is with God. Then, when we meditate, our mind is already with God.
If we go back to the closing days of the life of Jesus Christ, we can only imagine the anguish of His disciples, knowing that he would no longer be with them. Jesus tried to reassure them. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another comforter to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.”
Guruji said this meant that we must faithfully follow the commandments required to manifest the Consciousness of Christ in our consciousness.
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.”
The Holy Ghost Comforter is right within us.
And Jesus said, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
Our guru says this is not as easy as it sounds. It doesn’t mean that if you say, “In the name of Jesus, make me as spiritual as St. Francis”, that this will come to pass. The devotee must know the technique of listening to the cosmic vibration and be able to feel the vibration with his Christ Consciousness. The Christ intelligence expresses itself as cosmic light and sound. Light is epitomized in the body in the third eye. Sound is epitomized with the sound of Om. “
In the following story about Dr. Lewis, it is important to know that Dr. Lewis met Master just three months after he arrived in America. This event happened several months later.
“The next incident that I want to relate to you is perhaps one of the most astonishing happenings in my relationship with the Master. I thoroughly believe that it was through his intervention that I am here at this time telling these stories.
It happened on a hot Sunday afternoon in July, 1921. We had gone to my father’s summer place on Plymouth Bay, in fact in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and had gone out in a small boat, three of us, my father, my brother, and myself. We were about two miles offshore when it was quite evident that a very severe squall was about to break. The sky had a very foreboding look, and huge thunder heads had risen in the Northwest. And, and then the darkness began to settle in that region. The wind had died down, and seeing our predicament, we started to row back toward the shore. The boat was not too large a boat so that two, one at with each oar, could make some headway. And so we rowed like mad in the direction of home.
We were unable to reach the shore, being about a half mile offshore, when that terrific squall broke. Luckily we had a huge anchor, which was thrown over with a great rope, but in spite of that, unless there had been some intervention, I know that we would not have survived such wind, and rain, and hail, and thunder, and lightening. I remember as I peeked out under the canvas which we were holding over the cockpit, that I wondered just what it would be like when the end came.
And then I remembered the family, the children came into my consciousness, the thought of leaving them. And then came the thought of the Master. And we had just started on such a wonderful spiritual relationship, and now that had to end. And I remember there was a decided pang in my heart as those things came into my consciousness.
And then I remembered the words of the Master. He had said, not too long before that, he said, “Remember Doctor, when you are in the Om vibration, when your consciousness is centered in the Christ Center in the forehead, and you merge in that Om vibration, no, nothing can harm you.” And so I lifted my eyes and looked there where he had told me, and behold a Great Light, a Great Light, in the shape of a large Spiritual Eye came, right in the midst of that star, and with it there descended upon me such a consciousness of peace and security that I knew nothing could touch me. In due time the storm broke, and a large motorboat had put out to rescue us and tow us ashore. There was great rejoicing.
The whole colony had gathered together on the shore fearing that, that we would be lost. And there was great rejoicing and reunion. The rest of the day was spent at the, my father’s home. And late that night I arrived back in my own home in Somerville, Massachusetts. And just as I entered the door, the telephone rang. I answered it, and the Master’s voice said to me, “Well, Doctor, you came near getting wet today, didn’t you?.” Of course, I didn’t grasp the meaning, or realize, just what he meant by those words until the second time he said it. Then I realized that he must have known something of what had happened, although he never said another word about it.
It was not until several years later, when I happened to be talking with Sister Yogamata, who, by the way, was the first Sister created in America in Boston, I was talking with her, and she told me that at that precise time, about 3:15 on that Sunday afternoon, several years before, the Master was and she was seated in the parlor. He was reading Emerson’s essay on the sea, when she said, suddenly he threw down the book, and jumped to his feet, and began pacing the floor saying, “Sister, the Doctor’s in trouble, serious trouble, serious trouble I tell you.”
Well, when I found out that, at the first opportunity I proceeded to pin the Master down, so to speak, and I at last gained an admission that he had seen just what was happening. And this story shows that a true Master, as Paramahansa Yogananda, is without doubt, one with God’s Omniscience. And as His Omniscience knows all things, sees all things, so one who is one with that Omniscience can likewise be cognizant of all things that are happening. “ (This version of the story is from yoganandasite world press as told by Dr. Lewis.)
Our guru is watching out for us in our time of need. This is the value of meditation. Now I know you are eager to know the Om technique and to experience the value of meditation. And through you, “Yes, I am eager!”
Sister Vinita then explained and demonstrated the om technique.
Note from the note taker: This technique is available through the SRF Lessons. If you are not a Lessons student, but would like to send for the Lessons, you can find them using the SRF website at this link: https://www.yogananda-srf.org/ Press Meditation and Kriya Yoga button and then Home Study. If you are interested in SRF/YSS lectures and events, closer to where you live, press at the button, Centers and Programs and you will find information on retreats, lecture tours, youth programs (including summer day camp: how to live school), Convocation, as well as information on centers or circles near you. These events are held all over the world, so you might be surprised to find a lecture or retreat located in a country or city that you are able to travel to. The site also includes a telephone number if you need to call for counseling on your sadhana or, if you have a circle or center, a number for Member Services so that you can access the extensive SRF/YSS library for members on their website but will need to go through your Center and Member Services for the user name and password for service readers and leaders. If you live in or close to India, the website for YSS (Yogoda Satsanga Society) can be reached through https://www.yssofindia.org/ You might also consider giving back if you consider SRF/YSS the source of your spiritual good. In that case, clip the About SRF button and then the To Support SRF button. SRF/YSS is sweetly subtle about requesting support although it is very much needed to run this inspirational organization whose goal is to get us to God. . At some events you have to ask around a bit to find out how to donate and what the requested donation is. (All day I have been prompted by Spirit to include this note.)
(Additional Note: Some of the guidance provided by Sr. Vinita, including answers to questions she often hears at retreats, does not reveal the techniques and I am therefore including it below. )
What if I don’t hear anything? If you don’t hear anything, ty to listen deeper. Remember that om also manifests as a profound peace. It can manifest even if you don’t hear any sounds.
I hear Om frequently. Is it okay to stop the Om techniques. No. We are striving to merge our consciousness with cosmic consciousness. By practice of this and the higher lessons, you should apply yourself until you learn to hear the om sound in all space.
Practice with reverence, not automatically. Tell the vibration that you are contacting the great vibration that is in your soul: Bliss. The guru wants us to merge with the sound. It comes about naturally. In time, we become deeply involved in devotion.
Q: I have a significant hearing problem. Will this interfere with the om technique. No, because om is not heard by the physical ear. Om is inaudible to human ears and unutterable to the human voice.
Swami Shyamananda of YSS advises us: “The results he promises will come. The Divine will test your patience. Say, “Lord, I have enough patience. Take away the curtain of maya. I want you. You! I will never forget Thee. I will never forsake Thee. “
Practice Om 20 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. The minimum would be ten minutes in the morning and evening. Consistent and deep practice is necessary. After meditation, try to hold on to the calmness of meditation. Don’t be impatient or disturbed by what doesn’t come. Try to remember that calmness.
Mrinalini Mata told us, “It is in stillness that we realize the nearness and tangibility of the guru. When you taste the divine manna then you have that that satisfies. That Divine Vibration lifts you above all things. You live as guruji did in the world , but not of the world. And you dive again and again to find the pearl of great price, as you go deeply into that world. And when you have that love and caress it, you can’t help but know His love.”