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 say, Lord, manifest to me, you are right here, you are in the sun, you are in the grass, you are in the water, you are in this room, you are in my heart”.

It’s so true and it’s so beautiful. This is what Yogananda came to share with us. It’s not in America, or Sweden or India. It’s not where you go. It’s who you are and what you’re thinking of.

If you’re thinking of God, there He is. He’s right here in our hearts. We do not have to ever feel that he’s not there. We have the choice in this life, and as yogis, as we meditate, the deeper we get into the spirit and recognizing who we are as souls, the deeper we have that wonderful feeling of the presence of God – every moment of our lives. 

How could it be otherwise? We came from God, we are part of God. And we look at our lives and it’s challenging, because we think it doesn’t really go together. We have all these things that we have to do. We have to raise our children, go to work, make money, make decisions in our life that are difficult. We are pressured by society. We have to make these challenging movements in our life.

All of a sudden, we think we’re alone and we’re doing it ourselves. We’re not doing it ourselves. We drew all of these things into our lives so that we can work out that karma with God, with Divine Mother, with the saints, with love, so that we can learn how to share that love with these souls in our life that we’ve been given with these circumstances.

It’s a blessing. Life is a gift. Life is a blessing when you do it with God and when you do it with love. It’s Divine Mother. The vibration is very high in India. So, for this incarnation, what a privilege to be in a place where the vibration is supporting that thought of God.

We were just in New York, where Master was. It’s a very worldly place, and it’s very materialistic energy. But we were in a bubble. Why? Because we’re devotees.

We would meditate every day. We would call master into our lives for all of the different activities that we had to do. We left the Autobiography of Yogi on the table so that we could go open it up during the day and get a little hit of Master.

We really looked at this excursion as being instruments for love. That’s all. It was very simple. While we were there, I realized, wherever we are, there God is. We cannot forget it.

We can’t go to work in the morning and forget him all day long and come home and meditate and think, oh, I’m so spiritual. And unless we’re sharing the blessings, we won’t receive that special blessing from divine mother because she’s using us right where she’s placed us, to share that love. That’s why we’re here. That’s the only reason we’re here – for love. We’re here to be instruments.

When you raise your children, don’t let them go all the way through the educational system without telling them about God, about love, about how they can be deeply happy, and the secret of life – which is to find God. Tell them while they’re young. It’s our responsibility to model that for our younger generation, because they look to us for the example. We can’t just say the words and then go off and be nasty and be materialistic and be in our own little bubble and tell them to do it.

When I would get off center, my daughter would always say, mom, you better go meditate. She knows that we meditate every day. And then when I was off my center, she’d say, well, how long did you meditate this morning, mom? They’re watching. They’re looking to us. We’re their channel for divine mother,  for love. All of us are.

A sangha and a spiritual family is the most beautiful gift that you can have, because we’re supporting one another through all of it, through illness, through whatever comes in our life. We support our families. We just support one another through prayer, love,  a conversation on the phone, whatever.

Don’t stay away from the family. Come to the center and feel the vibration of your brothers and sisters. Because we chose India, we chose our spiritual family, and we were sent by master and these great gurus to support and love and experience one another as devotees. This is what is important, that gives us the strength. It gives us the aura of magnetism, of love, and it just is what we’re here for. Don’t forget why we’re here.

We’re here to feel God’s presence and to share that. Just as master said, memorize the poem “Samadhi”, Jyotish had the idea a few years ago that we should memorize the words to this song. This is a poem that Yoganandaji wrote, and it’s called God. God. God. and Swamiji put it to music. And when you say it with music, it’s much easier to remember it. You can listen to it here  https://youtu.be/7VMCPeSqcc4?feature=shared