Emotions are harmful if they keep us from what we really want. Very often jealousy destroys love. Very often fear destroys the ability to succeed. All emotions in a sense are harmful if they upset the mind. Therefore, what we need to understand is that emotions themselves are upset or ruffled feeling. Feeling is the intuitive part of our nature, … Read More
Attaining the state of Jeevan Mukta
I bow to that infinite guru, in all forms including your forms because that infinite one, although playing at being a man or a woman; playing at being a certain age; playing at having a certain role in life; it’s all a play. Who you really are; is the infinite Brahman. You are that supreme spirit, dwelling momentarily in this … Read More
Overcoming Worry
Well worry is like static. Worry is like that distortion which distorts reality and keeps you from being able to see and take care of whatever it is that you need to face and overcome in your life. But there’s another aspect to it too and that is whatever power you have, needs to be brought to bear on whatever … Read More
Stories about the Master
Of course, my memories of him are only the last years of his life, whereas I heard many stories about him from early, early on. And they also were thrilling stories- how he would come on the lecture platform, full of energy! He would demand that his audiences greet him! Rise to his level of energy! He didn’t want any … Read More
The Need for a Guru
We are discussing the Bhagavad Gita – the greatest scripture of the world because there’s all Truth condensed in so few pages. The Bhagavat Gita is a colloquy, a dialogue, between Krishna who is the Divine Guru and also the Representative of God and the disciple Arjuna. And how does the Guru represent God? I needed help I remember when … Read More
Practicing the Presence of God
We don’t really understand things with our mind. We can know reasons for them but understanding comes from the heart. Usha has written a beautiful book in which she points out the importance of the heart. A woman had a heart transplant. No one was supposed to know whose heart it was. She found certain things happening to her that … Read More
How should we worship God?
There are many fine points to be considered here. The first is love is centered in the heart, so we should concentrate on developing the energy in the heart but then what do you direct that energy to. The Srimad Bhagavatam gives this technique to think of the heart as the lotus and turn the petals of the lotus upward … Read More
Leadership
The structure is much less important than the spirit. I haven’t really paid much attention to structure. The reason for that is that when I was in SRF, that was the monastery I was in for 14 years, and I was in charge of all the monasteries in the world and quite naturally I tried to create a system of … Read More
Ananda’s Role in Master’s Mission
So what is the purpose of Ananda? We have a beautiful community and people say well then, we must make a more beautiful community. Maybe and maybe not. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if we were in mud huts and walking on mud roads if we all meditated and loved God individually. The purpose of Ananda is not to create a … Read More
