In this world of duality, if we identify ourselves with waves on the ocean we will rise and we will fall. And that is the rhythm of duality. The spiritual path is not a linear way forward. Yogananda ji said, it is a spiral staircase, and we can find ourselves on higher octaves or on lower octaves of the spiral … Read More
The Attitude of The Healer
One aspect of the service of channeling healing to other people that we render as we try to transmit the power of God’s infinite love and healing energy to people whom we know and people who have asked for this service is how our thoughts affect our own health. “We are what we think.” Master talks about our mental diet … Read More
In Aum, Nothing Can Touch You
I’d like to just say how wonderful it is to listen to Swamiji chanting AUM. That’s something we can do every day…. just play that in our car, our house, however and whenever we can. Here are a couple of wonderful quotes on Om. These first two are from Master: When you are immersed in om nothing can touch you. … Read More
Accepting People As They Are
Some time ago, I read a quote by Ram Das, a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba. He said in a very poetic way, “Just the way when we go in a forest and we appreciate different trees and different shrubs and different bushes, and we don’t go and discriminate between each one of them, deciding which one is better or … Read More
Winter – A Time for Spiritual Awakening
This time of year is very special for a variety of reasons. Think of what most people do during winter, when it’s more quiet and darker outside earlier. Maybe people sleep more or maybe they watch more movies, television. Maybe they go out more because of boredom. But for a devotee and disciple it can be a very special time. … Read More
India Makes It Much Easier
There was a time when Yogananda had an extraordinary experience here in India. When he came back for that brief period of time in the mid thirties, and he met Yogi Ramaiya. Yogi Ramaiya was also a self-realized soul, free of all karma, like Yogananda himself and the other avatars. Yogananda said that when he met Yogi Ramaiya and they … Read More
From Mischief to Meditation
Inspired From A Classic Tale Once upon a time, there was a baby elephant named Ramu. He led a very happy and carefree life in the south Indian kingdom of Vijayanagara. This kingdom was ruled by the noble King Krishnadevaraya, who’s good deeds had earned him the undying love and respect of his people. Ramu was very cute and the … Read More
The Mission and Dharma of Realised Masters
Each one of us comes with a mission. We come with past karma: we have things that we need to complete; and we come with a dharma: which is a pathway to our growth. When we arrive, we are at a particular point in our evolution, from ignorance and unawareness to complete awareness. When we are awake and ready especially … Read More
Deceiving the Unwillingness Monster – Part Two
The thought of playing football is one of the few things that makes me excited and very enthusiastic. It’s fun to contemplate what Swami Kriyananda said : “Most people are willing or unwilling according to their likes and dislikes.” If you think about that, you realize how true it is. If somebody asked us to do something that we like, … Read More
Deceiving the Unwillingness monster – Part One
This topic of willingness is one that we try to emphasize in our own spiritual training, right from the moment that we come into the path. If most of us did a little bit of introspection at the beginning, what we probably noticed is that there’s a ton of resistance that comes up. Just something simple like meditating five minutes … Read More
Does God Hide The Truth
Does God hide the truth? I don’t think so. I think we hide from the truth. Swami Kriyananda says, that we depend and we live a lot by our reasoning faculty. That if we are not able to make sense of things, we think there is something wrong. And we try our best to arrange circumstances in a reasonable way … Read More
God! God! God!
These words are by Yoganandaji, from the book Practicing the Presence of God; “There cannot be any excuse for not thinking of God – Day and night, rolling in the background of your mind, God, God, God. Whether you are washing dishes or digging a ditch, or working in an office or a garden, whatever you may be doing inwardly … Read More