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

Abiding in God

The title “Abiding in God” given by Swami ji made me close my eyes and sense the feeling coming from it. Yes, immediately I felt protected and safe within myself. Master gave us this meaningful poem:Thou and I are One Thy Cosmic life and I are one.Thou art the Ocean, I am the wave; We are one.Thou art the Flame, … Read More

Godliness in Giving

A beautiful pair of colourful birds came to have a bread-bite on my terrace, at the break of dawn one summer morning. Capturing the ensuing moments in the camera of my eyes, I saw the bird with a brighter plumage, possibly the male of the two, delightfully picking up a tiny bit that its beak could hold. But he was being … Read More

Change Me!

“Better change your ways for I hate the things you do!” A very familiar statement indeed, expressing disapproval over something we don’t like in someone. Many even lament about existing situations in life and expect them to change, without ever pondering at one’s own deficiencies that may actually need correction. Thinking of changing other people or situations, however, only reflects … Read More

Inner Transformation – Part 2

Earlier, Keshava was talking about the pilgrims coming and of course being concerned about their health when they arrived, because of the Delhi smog, and when they came back the smog was much worse than the day after Diwali, and then you ask yourself has anything changed for them during the pilgrimage? Even though, at the end of the pilgrimage, … Read More

Inner Transformation

Swami Kriyananda once said, “Self-transformation is the first and foremost thing that has to happen…” Many people wonder, “Is it really possible to change ourselves in a fundamental way? No matter what we do, do we eventually revert to where we started, to our old habit patterns—like the dieter who loses weight and then repeatedly gains all of that weight … Read More

Don’t be self-involved

It was December of 2009 and Swamiji had just returned from Italy. I was living at our Ananda Ashram in Gurgaon which we knew as B-10/8. As soon as Swamiji returned and was settling into his house known as Guru Kripa, I wrote to Swamiji asking him many questions about future directions I could take. I used to ask for … Read More