Listening to God is possible only in silence: the more our emotions, the less we can we hear Him; the more our thoughts, the less our divine perceptions are; and more our physical movements, the less it is possible to listen to Him. In daily life the same principle of silence holds true: worries, tension, waves of emotion, rushing about … Read More
My Tryst with Seclusion
My initial attempts at seclusion My first seclusion was in company of fellow devotees at Mt. Abbot in Uttrakhand, Himalayas. A wonderful experience, but I came to sad realization that I can’t meditate for more than an hour at a time. With the crash of my dreams of achieving Yogic greatness, I was embarrassed and ashamed to be the cause … Read More
Sandhyakal (Dusk) – Time to return Home
One evening, I was walking in a park near my apartment in Gurgaon. In spite of being in the city, it is quite a large park, home for many birds of different kinds. I was enjoying my walk, looking at the sunset. The Sun almost went away, leaving the pleasant light of dusk. At that very moment, I heard a … Read More
A Divine Shortcut to Freedom
Freedom is a goal desired by truth seekers throughout the ages—but freedom from what? Paramhansa Yogananda simplified human behavior to the basic desires of “finding happiness and avoiding pain.” Our every action is based on its potential for happiness or reduction in suffering. It follows that we seek freedom from suffering or pain. Suffering is threefold in nature: physical, mental … Read More
A Fun Experiment for the Technological Yogi
A few years ago, I was being filmed for an advertisement. The clip was a high definition video of me meditating. No problem, I thought, I meditate every day. When the video was released, I was appalled: there was an up-close high definition video of me fidgeting about, instead of meditating! This experience made me wonder two things; one, where … Read More
Stillness is the Altar of Spirit
As a child in Los Angeles, Nayaswami Dhyana, Ananda Sangha India’s Spiritual Co-Director, attended church every Sunday with her mother. African American congregations are noted for their exuberance and lively spirit and her church was no exception. Dhyanaji once laughingly commented upon her minister’s Sunday discourse on the oft-quoted Biblical verse, “Be still and know that I am God.” “I … Read More
Superconsciousness – 5 Minutes Away
It was my first year at Ananda. I heard many people talking about the importance of seclusion. So I decided to go on one myself. I booked a nice remote cabin at The Meditation Retreat at Ananda Village. I was to be there for 5 days. All by myself. The first few hours after reaching there were very nice. It … Read More
Two Best Friends – Mind and Breath
Bharat and Milind were the best of friends right from early childhood, through teenage years and adulthood. Everyone called them buddies for life. Hand-in-hand they would walk, keeping pace with each other, and just imagine how one of them would feel instantly the other’s moments of pleasure and pain. Their laughter melting into tears of joy would take the two … Read More
Proof of God
We read about God in the various scriptures. We hear of His presence and hear Him praised in the sermons of religious men and saints. We imagine Him behind the veils of beauty in Nature. We think about His existence through the logic within us. But all of these windows through which we try to see God are fitted with … Read More
Practices to Reinspire Your Spiritual Life
“Are three hours of meditation possible?” This was a thought running in my mind when we decided our routine in the monastery in Khandala. Three hours of group meditation supported by time for individual meditations! This, to me, didn’t sound difficult, but my concern was: “how can I keep my practices inspiring and regular?” To my amazement, however, it’s been … Read More
Kriya Yoga and My Expectations
When I started to practice Kriya Yoga a couple of years ago, it was with a backdrop of the Autobiography of a Yogi and its miracles of Kriya highlighted in it: levitating, fighting tigers, materializing in two bodies, surviving without food and so on. My expectations – if not the same but on similar lines – touched the sky: I … Read More
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