“The legend of Adam and Eve is allegorical. It describes how the first human beings dissipated their spiritual energy centred in the spine. The spine is the channel through which flows the river of baptism and of spiritual life. The Bhagavad-Gita tells us, the wise speak of an eternal Ashwatha tree with its roots above and its branches below. The … Read More
The Gita is compassionate towards us
The verse we will focus on today is verse 11 of Chapter 12 from “The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita”. However, we will also be looking at some of the preceding verses because they are connected. These verses highlight how kind and compassionate Gita is towards the devotees. All devotees like us are trying our best to find God. Paramahansa … Read More
The Mystery of Avatara, or Divine Incarnation
Avatar – “the descent of God into human form”. In English, avatar literally translates to “descend – coming from above”. God’s intention behind sending an avatar is to fulfill a divine mission. People need help and God wants to help them. So he has to send someone who is already free and who already has the answers. Just as when … 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
A Tale of an Ancient Monastery
Once upon a time there was a remote monastery in the desert. The temple was carved out of the stone. There were a dozen simple monks who spent their days in prayer and meditation. One evening they were having dinner in silence as usual. Suddenly the silence was shattered with a cry of agony from the head monk. His eyes … Read More
Overcoming Harmful Emotions
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
Live like Yogananda Series: Generosity
We are discussing the chapter on Salient characteristics of Yogananda from Swami Kriyananda’s Biography of Paramhansa Yogananda. We are calling it ‘Live like Yogananda Series’ and will be discussing Generosity today. What Swami writes here is “Master’s generosity extended far beyond mere money or material gifts. It included, also, for example, allowing others to have the last word, deferring to … 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
Rajarshi Jankananda – A Modern Saint (Part 2)
This week has been a very inspiring week for me, because in the last few days I have been reading from Rajarsri’s life. And I have felt deeply moved not only for what he brought to the world, to the work, to Yogananda’s mission, but for what he brought personally to Yogananda. We know that we are all equal in … Read More