Thursday, April 28, 2016

For Wisdom, too, We Hunger! The Battle of Life

Paraphrasing in the title above the words of Paramhansa Yogananda in "Autobiography of a Yogi," we are reminded that all the material success, pleasure, security and popularity in the world can never bring us lasting contentment and true happiness.

Long ago, in the mists of pre-history, on the eve of a great battle between the forces of light and darkness on the Gangetic plain of northern India, a warrior in his chariot, driven by his friend and mentor, pulled up to a stop between the lines of opposing warriors: thousands of warriors, war horses and elephants in armor, death dealing weapons, their sharp edged steel glinting in the sun, mighty chariots bedecked in regal symbols and flags of certain victory, all arrayed for the dreadful moment that was soon to begin.

Troubled by the sight of his own kith and kin against whom he must fight and the thousands he would send to their doom, this warrior, the famous archer, Arjuna, slumped in his chariot in despair for the ugliness, violence, and seeming uselessness of the pending slaughter.

"Why must life be such a struggle?" he, speaking for you and I, echoing humanity's ageless paradox, asked his guide and guru, the avatar and prince, Lord Krishna. Life is so unfair: sunny, today; stormy, tomorrow. Bright and promising in our youth; burdensome and complex in middle age; bitter tasting with regrets and ills in old age.

"I'm not greedy and don't need that much from life," he said. "Can't we just live in peace with one another?" "Can't we just talk this through?" But no, the Dark One is selfish and wants it all. He doesn't like you; he doesn't trust you; he wants you to disappear.

Oh think how easily the competition and rivalry among siblings, nations, the haves and have nots, and competitors could be settled to mutual benefit if we could just learn to get along! Can't the leaders of political parties and factions just sit down and work out compromises in the name of serving the citizens of the nation they are pledged to defend, protect and serve?

Why can't the Golden Rule hold sway over the hearts of all? I pray my way and you pray yours but we both pray our own way each and every day. So why are we not friends? Can we please the Lord of Life with our prayers at odds? Surely not!

Paramhansa Yogananda wrote: "The drama of life has for its lesson the fact that it is but a drama." It is not the destiny of this planet and its incarnate humanity to achieve ever-lasting peace. Who can persuasively say why this must be. But it has ever been so since dawn of time. He who rests comfortably on the laurels of his life may find his bed soon wreathed in the flames of destruction.

Life, earth, water, fire and air vie ceaselessly in endless ever-changing forms. Change is the constant of incarnate life.

The simple pleasures and goals of life all too often betray their true nature by overtaking our, at first innocent, enjoyment and modest intentions with ever increasingly obsessive indulgence and desire. The pleasure of drink becomes the horror of hangover and grows to a compulsive addiction; the pleasure of sex turns dark with selfishness, moods, fights and betrayal. The joy of romance may lead to family life, with its bills, screaming children, and fighting parents. The goal of financial success and security yields but ceaseless struggles to get ahead, the fruit of which is mounting debt and endless responsibilities eclipsing all hope of a balanced and stress-free life. Years of saving for retirement may bring early death from cancer. Such are in the insecurities inherent in material life.

Always the fly lands in the soup; the ants invade the picnic; the neighbor is a schmuck. Famine, war, plague and depression visit our lands with unpredictable predictability.

Yes: there are many moments of peace and enjoyment. But just as much, most people live for the future, always hopeful that things will be better. Self-reflection, however, and only a little is needed, prods us to stay focused and centered, for "you never know!" (My favorite saying!)

"The only way out is IN" it has been said. Not in an escape FROM reality but an escape TO reality. The center pole around which life swirls is our own self-awareness. When things are too good to be true, the "I" of the knowing Self knows this to be so. When things are bad beyond belief, the "I" knows this too "will pass." Only the Self endures all. You were you as a child; a teen; a young adult; and so, on to old age and to your deathbed. The great movie of your life is for your, and for others', entertainment. Have you enjoyed it (yet)?

We receive respite in sleep but no relief from the troubles that spring upon us by day. To those dogmatists of orthodox Hinduism who claim that bathing in the Ganges will forgive sins, the rishis, knowers of the Self, say that one's sins hide in the trees on the banks and jump on you when you come out of the Ganges! "There's no getting out of it, alive!" I like to say.

Is this all too pessimistic? Perhaps. But likely those content with life have either achieved the wisdom of which I speak, or simply haven't suffered in the way that millions, indeed billions, of others on this planet have or living in right now, today. Good karma, for now, but even now you are using up your storehouse of it.

When the soul awakens "to the anguishing monotony" of endless rounds of rebirth, then it cries out in rebellion for a way to freedom.

Imagine yourself gazing out at a glorious panorama: perhaps the Grand Canyon, a sunset at the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii or Big Sur, California! You gaze out, soon lost contemplation and enjoyment (meaning all thoughts have ceased), and suddenly the conscious enjoyment of the scene simply vanishes and there's nothing left but "I." Like staring out a window, daydreaming at first, but soon the daydream vanishes and you are simply "self" aware. No thoughts intrude, no object in the field of vision (or touch, taste, smell or hearing) is being studied......just "I, I, I, everywhere."

This is what it is like to return to your core; to your consciousness; to your spirit. It is not an end in itself; in fact, it's only a beginning. With practice, we call this meditation. Various techniques, especially using thought or focusing on the breath, exist to make this experience a regular and consistent foray into the land of Self-awareness.

As this experience deepens, our awareness of "I" grows beyond I and enters the field of being that encompasses past, present, future, all space and beyond. For many, indeed, most, this state of consciousness is approached in a devotional way. We seek the deep connection that we give a name, and even in image or symbol: God, Divine Mother, a deity, or our guru. Since "infinity" is a pretty large thing (being no-thing at all), there's no end to how it can approached or described, but, like good art and good food, we know it when we see or taste it!

To win the battle of life we need the right weapons; we need to be on the side of the good guys; and, we need to know what we are fighting for. Our most powerful weapon is the mind; it activates right attitude and right action. (To develop the power of the mind we have the tool of meditation.) The good guys are those seek harmony with all life and especially those souls who have achieved the goal. The goal is lasting happiness, unbroken by the vicissitudes, the ups and downs, and simple facts of material life.

Be not afraid, O Arjuna: take up the battle of life and be victorious!

Joy to you,

Swami Hrimananda


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Kriya Yoga & Discipleship in the 21st Century

[My apologies in advance for the length of this article. These opinions are not those of any organization but are solely my own.]

I am a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda (PY) and the line of preceptors who sent him. In this life, I did not know him as I was born in 1950 in northern California and he, PY, left his mortal frame in 1952 in Los Angeles.

I was greatly blessed to become a student and friend of Swami Kriyananda (SK) who lived with and was trained by PY in the last three and a half years of PY's life. Thus in a very real sense, I (and of course many hundreds, indeed, thousands) were blessed to receive PY's vibrations, wisdom, and joy through the channel of SK.

Commissioned and ordained by SK as a minister and, in 2009, as a kriyacharya (one authorized to initiate others into Kriya Yoga), I (and my wife, Padma) offer classes to prepare students to become disciples of PY and to receive kriya initiation (through the Ananda Center based in Bothell, near Seattle).

We do this twice a year and each time we see students struggle with the hurdle of taking discipleship as a prerequisite and a consequence of kriya initiation. In this training, we follow the pattern established by PY during his lifetime and given to us by SK.

During his very active and full lifetime of teaching, SK would regale us with stories of his time with PY. It was not to separate himself from us, as in, "lucky me," it was genuinely to help us understand what discipleship entailed and how important it is to achieving Self-realization. In turn, we share and train students in this same manner.

After SK's passing three years ago and during one of these classes, I was inspired to play an audio recording of SK speaking on the subject of discipleship. (SK gave many such talks during his lifetime.) I was shocked, however, when the students had no substantive reaction to the talk; they were not particularly inspired or touched. Listening to it with them in our living room (where we give these classes), I could feel that they were not able to connect to SK nor yet, more importantly, to either the precepts or the stories that SK shared with them.

It was then that my concerns arose and my thoughts have been evolving ever since.

Allow me to digress: PY's life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," (AY) describes Lahiri Mahasaya (the saint who brought the practice of kriya yoga back into public view) as giving kriya to all sincere seekers: Moslems, Christians and others (not just orthodox Hindus). Students sometimes ask us about this, especially with the hidden, unstated question of "Why, then, must we take discipleship vows?"

Yet in the AY, Lahiri is told by Babaji (who initiated Lahiri into kriya and commissioned him to spread kriya yoga) to quote from the Bhagavad Gita a particular stanza to all his "disciples" to whom he gives kriya. Thus Babaji states, without reservation, that those to whom Lahiri would give the kriya technique would be disciples.

I am not aware of PY doing this with any regularity but he was known to give kriya spontaneously and/or to those of other faiths. He quotes Lahiri's statements about the universality of kriya in AY, so he obviously accepted and approved it. However, notwithstanding his own example and teaching, I am told that in years after PY's passing, his own organization began to require students preparing for kriya to pledge their allegiance to that organization and to their discipleship to PY as being exclusive of other paths, gurus, etc. (I don't have the exact facts on this requirement but I've heard it repeatedly from others first hand.)

Returning to our subject, then, we are faced, here and now in the 21st century, with the simple fact that PY is NOT in the body; that kriya is being disseminated throughout the world through various lineages and organizations, and even in published book form; and that its worldwide spread was predicted and intended by this lineage. Yet, SK is no longer in body to guide us; and with both PY and most other direct disciples like SK, also gone from this earth, new potential disciples will not have the opportunity to have the blessing of PY's human presence, nor yet that of his direct disciples.

A variety of organizations and spiritual teachers, each of which claims transmission from the kriya lineage of Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar and/or Paramhansa Yogananda, offers training in the kriya technique. Each may have slightly different requirements in regards to training and/or initiation.

Even in following the training we have been given by Swami Kriyananda (the pattern follows the training PY employed), there are nuances in respect to the expectations and requirements that we hold out in respect to the meaning and form that discipleship should take.

Let's consider first a person of another faith? Can they receive kriya? Are they expected to be disciples of PY? At Ananda we've more or less considered that people of other faiths are eligible for kriya initiation on the assumption that their participation in that faith is for cultural, family and convenience reasons rather than as an act of deep faith. Is that, in fact, what the masters have intended? 

I, for one, have no reason to assume or believe that this assumption was intended by them. If such a one is loyal to his own faith, is he not a true disciple of PY? I think that such a person can be both loyal to his faith AND a disciple of PY (and this line of kriya masters). How can this be? "God is the guru" PY said often. If a person is sufficiently mature enough to not view his loyalty to his faith as being compromised by his discipleship to PY, and who views PY as an incarnation of God who has been sent to him for his spiritual growth, then why would PY have a conflict with that person's faith (and, if a true faith, why would he?)?

Imagine that this person, say, a Christian, is given personal instruction in his faith by a wise and spiritually mature or advanced minister, teacher or friend. Let's say this person is his spiritual guide. Is that a conflict with his discipleship to Christ? Of course not! The Kriya masters make it clear in their lives and teachings that they represent "Sanaatan Dharma," the eternal religion. Not some new sect! 

True, you might object, saying, "But this mentor is not the sat guru!" True, but how can any one of us know whether PY or any of the others are our sat guru? I don't think we will know until we are much closer to enlightenment. Even PY's guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, was a "proxy," he explained, for his sat guru, Babaji! We should know the teaching and the precepts but their application to our individual lives is necessarily directional and relative.

Would a self-professed atheist be eligible for kriya? I don't see how. Profession of atheism is as dogmatic as any narrow-eyed religious dogma. A sincere agnostic, on the other hand, who simply professes not to know whether God exists but otherwise is open, could certainly be. At first, his "discipleship" would be the commitment to practice kriya and study the teachings; in time, the descent of divine consciousness will baptism him in true faith and intuitive gnosis. Sri Yukteswar told his disciple, PY, that "joy is the proof of God's existence! (And His adequate response to our every need.)"

Can one who has taken a vow of discipleship to another guru and lineage take kriya? Hmmm, that hits closer to home, doesn't it? I'd say generally, "it depends." If that guru offers no kriya equivalent, is in all other respects compatible in the teachings, and the disciple mature and sincere.......Maybe? After all, the line between this circumstance and the situation of being of another faith can become a very thin line. Besides, PY's lineage is compatible both vibrationally and historically with a number of other saints. So, this is too close to call, at least for me. The issue of having only one guru has two aspects: practicality and principle. Practicality has to do with the admixture of vibration, teachings and techniques that potentially confuses the devotee; principle has to do both with the importance of loyalty (which PY emphasized as "the first law of God") and the principle of the sat (sad) guru: that instrument through which our salvation is destined to come. 

I know numerous devotees whose personal altar contains many true saints. What is the significance of this and the person's inner attunement and relationship to each saint? I generally have no idea. Why should I be the judge? Sincerity and maturity linked with intensity of effort, common sense and intelligence, are the magnets that attract the power of grace. 

Not everyone can integrate this bifurcation of loyalty and commitment so readily. In fact, and in general, our planetary human consciousness is not very evolved this way. We tend toward "either-or," rather than "both-and." One sees more genuine examples of this universality and integration in a culture like India than in the West. 

The downside can, however, be a lack of discernment and an eclectic approach for which no deep roots are nurtured. Nonetheless, we are not here to judge others even if, we must, by the requirements of our role, fulfill some degree of our own discernment of a person's readiness to take kriya and to accept discipleship.

As one trained and commissioned by Swami Kriyananda, I am committed to following the instructions and training he has given to us. My priority is to serve and build the work of Ananda rather than to be a vending machine for kriya. We could not offer kriya if there were not a committed group of disciples operating through genuine attunement to the guru(s) to support this work of kriya.

Yet, as I encounter students seeking kriya for whom very little personal connection, if any, exists in respect to PY (owing at least in part to the passage of time and the disappearance of direct disciples), I must wonder whether our description and training in discipleship which is wholly based on the example of PY and his own direct disciples, is unnecessarily too high a bar; too irrelevant to the daily lives of sincerely seeking men and women living in this conflicted world of ours; people for whom kriya was intended to uplift. How can kriya spread if every potential disciple is expected to accept and have the kind of relationship that direct disciples had with PY, or even what some of us had with PY through SK as our teacher (and who was a direct disciple)?

Is it, then, possible to reconcile these aspects of discipleship in regards to kriya initiation?

I believe it is. I believe we must consider the reality of discipleship for an ever widening circle of sincere souls. Few of these will become members of organizations founded to serve Yogananda's work; fewer still will live in a monastic life, or in Ananda Communities, or become ministers, acharyas, or reunciates or in any other way adopt the outer forms of discipleship and renunciation. Indeed, PY's teachings and Lahiri's own commission from Babaji clearly anticipate kriya for the common (but sincere) "man."

I believe that the simplest resolution of these questions lies in viewing the practice of kriya itself as the primary instrument of discipleship. Kriya, in effect, becomes the guru. Kriya (and its attendant practices like Energization, Aum, and Hong Sau) become the channels through which, by the disciple's sincere effort based on his or her training, inspiration and guidance from the guru comes. Yes the touch (and guidance) of the disciples is the primary vehicle of transmission but by and of itself it is, like the kriya initiation ceremony itself, it is only a beginning. So PY has taught us.

Sincere students should of course study the lives of direct disciples; they should learn the value of serving the guru's work; the importance of devotion; right attitude; the concepts of the teachings of the guru; and so much else. Sharing these essential elements of the spiritual path is important; but, as these students are fresh and new to this, and as the training we and others offer is generally less than one year, we cannot expect them to manifest these qualities overnight! Attunement takes time and practice. Nor, in fact, have we done otherwise, all these years. 

What we've done to-date, however, is to describe discipleship in such a way as hold aloft a high bar of expectations which lies beyond the current reach of understanding and experience of an increasing tide of otherwise sincere and potentially qualified kriyaban-disciples. As discipleship is unfamiliar to westerners and triggers doubt, fear, and confusion, I think we need a broader brush to meet them where they are.

I think, therefore, we should add to our training an emphasis that with right attitude and devotion, kriya itself can be an instrument through which attunement to the guru can grow naturally. It's not the only way, obviously, but as kriya spreads and as more and more come seeking kriya for whom service and satsang may not be accessible or of immediate and obvious appeal, this can be their legitimate starting point and as a starting point, it can be their guide.

I'd like to share some quotes from an unpublished course in discipleship that SK created for training the monks at Mt. Washington back in the 1950's:

In the West, the importance of the guru-disciple relationship is over-looked; one great reason being that it is not understood. Even the more familiar word disciple is not understood. Who were the disciples of Jesus, for instance? Those who followed the discipline of Jesus. There are several references in the Christian Bible to this relationship as a necessity for communion with God. Paramhansaji frequently explained that a disciple is one that follows discipline. Whose discipline? Certainly the blind cannot lead the blind. Neither can a human being steeped in delusion go on alone,as many think to be able to do. One cannot become a surgeon without studying under experts in surgery; no one can become a pianist without studying under a pianist. The same principle is involved in one’s quest for God. Without the discipline of following a true guru one may not find God.

......    Note: In all cases, in the ultimate sense, it is God who is the Guru: First,through His Law; second through books and teachers; third, through the most direct channel possible, a guru. Lesser teachers turn one to themselves. A guru’s wish is only to turn devotees to God; to lift them up to his own stature of spiritual realization.....

......  
The practice of the techniques is essential. Many times I have heard our beloved Master say to a disciple, “Practice your techniques. It is through the techniques that I can help you.”  He has given us these great techniques, but it is up to us to use them for our own salvation."  

When you read the AY and its frequent references to kriya, and the writings and lectures and lessons written by PY, it is abundantly clear that the principal, and most visible and objective legacy he has given the world is KRIYA YOGA. It seems inescapable to me that PY intended kriya to be the instrument of attunement for future generations and centuries, when little else other than books and a relatively few number of dedicated and attuned disciples exist to carry on the work.

The only other choice, apart from just printing the technique (as has been done) in a book, is to require commitment to an organization to receive the requisite training and support in satsang and service. This is precisely what PY's own organization apparently has done. 


It is understandable. I, too, find sometimes frustrating the mercenary and ignorant impulse in some seekers to come for our training, take the kriya, and "run." They do not understand the importance of satsang (fellowship), devotion, and seva (service) to the guru's work. Yet, SK has made it clear that we do not require membership or service to Ananda as a requirement of kriya initiation.

Nonetheless, when I survey some Ananda members who outwardly fulfill all of these things I don't always see true devotees, either. It takes time to grow our attunement to the truth. We who might be privileged to train and initiate others and therefore act somewhat as gatekeepers, must be careful not to create hurdles that are inappropriate or skewed by our loyalty to the organization we serve in our guru's name. 

Today's seekers have little exposure and sometimes a great deal of ignorance, misunderstanding or wariness regarding the meaning of discipleship. We can share what we've been taught; share what we have learned. But we must not impose either the ideals or our own experience on souls whose karmic pattern of unfoldment is uniquely their own. 

So long as they are sincere and are open to learning about the precepts of discipleship, I believe it is up each to approach and express their discipleship uniquely (so long as other requirements, namely, learning and practicing the other techniques that are part of the kriya path are fulfilled). One who goes to the altar of matrimony may be confident or have secret reservations but so long as they are sincere, the outcome must await the unfoldment of the resuls of their efforts and their karma. 

Let us make kriya yoga available for all who are sincere!

Swami Hrimananda




Saturday, April 16, 2016

Secret of Happiness: It's Directional; It's UP!

Truth is simple: all else, complex.

How easily we stumble into the darkness of confusion and doubt by looking down into the labyrinth of our troubles, indulging our fears and self doubts, accepting the judgmental verdict of others or what we imagine that judgment might be!

If our own happiness, satisfaction and contentment be our guide and our goal, no one condemns us more than ourselves: no distant deity, no colleague or intimate can do to us what we do to ourselves.

As Paramhansa Yogananda has said, "If we want to be unhappy, no one can make us happy."

The turning point in maturity and spiritual awakening can be said to take place when we know without a doubt that there exists a separation, indeed, a gulf, between what happens to us and our reaction to it. "All conditions are neutral. They seem positive or negative, happy or sad according to the attitudes of the mind." (P.Yogananda) Only as and to the extent we gain awareness and control over our responses to life (including our own thoughts and emotions), can we begin to be the masters of our fate and destiny............and HAPPINESS!

Recognition of the separation of the world around us from the "ME" is but the first step. It is by no means the last. A teenager will rebel or reject his his parents' values and upbringing, but may, in the years that follow, return to embrace those values consciously (like the prodigal son). In a similar way, the soul, in the form of the ego (defined by Yogananda as the "soul identified with the body"), may be inspired, at first, to wean itself from the attractions of material life in its spiritual search. But as the seed of spirituality grows into a mature tree, its leafy and lofty branches nourishes and protects all who come to it for shade and refreshment. The soul's very detachment from an ego-centric life is not the life negation that other egos assume. Life negation is not the consequence of a spiritually mature form of nonattachment! Indeed, quite the opposite. Nonattachment makes life affirmation truly possible because not biased by personal interest, likes, and dislikes but motivated by what is right and good for all.

Nor is nonattachment a recipe for boredom or for being a bore. Nonattachment brings a constant flow of joy, humor at life's ironies, strength in dealing creatively and positively with life and compassion for all beings. Self-involvement, by contrast, sees the world revolving around itself. Its centripetal force steadily makes one's life view very narrow and, ultimately, rather boring. Why, then, doesn't everyone seek to expand his sympathies to include others? Habit, first and the ego, second, protecting its turf and fearing the unknown! And: reinforced by the power from which ego separation came and which sustains it so universally in human minds.

As a young man working in the world of business, I was astonished to see that the most successful investors, inventors, and business types were those whose focus on making money was a distant cousin to doing what they loved and were good at. By contrast, the "losers" were inevitably those most attached to the results. The little guy buys high and sells low, moving with the crowd, trembling eagerly at the prospect of profit or panicking in fear at the prospect of loss. Thus even in the grubby realm of making money, the law of non-attachment to the results holds sway. (Krishna, in the scripture of the Bhagavad Gita, called this form of action: nishkam karma: acting without desire for the "fruits" of action.) Nonattachment is the secret of success in all things. This is one of the great paradoxes of life.

Financial success however is no guarantee of happiness. Far too many mistake the one for the other, and, if they succeed financially, they will find, after years of strain, the coin debased. 

Life's challenges will always be with us. In this world there are no absolutes. Ill health, death, disappointment, betrayal and failure alternate with their opposites. As we mature and grow spiritually we can take in long, even strides the vicissitudes of success and failure with increasing equanimity and calm cheerfulness. Ironically, this distance, this dispassion, allows us to embrace WHAT IS with humor, with compassion, with wisdom, and with creative vitality. 

This world is a world of energy and constant change. We never stand still and, unless we harness conscious intention and will power towards a given goal and in a specific direction, we will bob up and down like a cork on the ocean of life. Thus, our journey towards happiness must be seen in directional, not absolute, terms. If we learn to love another person, we may begin with human love, which is rife with attachment. But if we consciously try to leverage on our love-relationship to make it ever more unconditional, than our human love can grow towards unconditional, divine love. In this way, my ability to love even one person can be a doorway to perfect in me my capacity to love all without condition!

Being energetic, enthusiastic, willing, helpful, creatively engaged, and compassionate (while yet also wise): these are the simple steps that make for human happiness. A selfish person is never happy in her selfishness. A giving person finds satisfaction in helping others. Are these enough, however? No, but an excellent beginning. Imagine if enough people aspired sincerely to these merely human qualities, we'd be living in a paradise on this fair earth.

Where's the fly in the soup? Well, the problem is this "ceaseless flux" thing. The average person might affirm enthusiasm but life keeps score and wants to settle accounts. It prefers to keep the universe in balance. It has this annoying way of popping balloons. You see it goes like this: "whatever goes up, must come down." If we push the rope of attitude "up," it will have to come down, eventually.

Is there a secret escape: a skylight out of this dilemma? Yes, there is. But even if there wasn't, the effort to express enthusiasm would be worth it. Swami Kriyananda (my teacher) said of himself, "The reason I love is that I am happier loving than hating." To affirm enthusiasm does make us happy, even if just for a while. But it's at least the right direction, you see?

The skylight however is the discovery that enthusiasm isn't your invention. It comes from your own higher nature. This nature isn't personal: its universal. The secret of enthusiasm (and, therefore, happiness), however, is to know that happiness is an "inside" not an outside job. It is a product of our consciousness, not outside circumstances. Enthusiasm for vacuum cleaners (if you are a sales person for such) can't carry one very far by the nature of vacuum cleaners: nothing's perfect; competition may come up with a better one; too many people have one already; the one you are selling may be over priced etc.

Enthusiasm is larger than you: just as life and the universe are vaster than any one person. Enthusiasm (joy, peace, etc.) is like a radio station. All you need to do is to tune your receiver to that station. The more powerful your receiver the more happiness stations you can choose from. What if, "by nature," you are not an enthusiastic person? Then ACT enthusiastic and the power of your affirmation will automatically and magnetically turn the dial of your receiver to that station! Again, the direction of our efforts is vital.

Meditation offers the single most effective way to experience a state of mind where life affirming qualities like joy and peace can become increasingly your new and permanent self-identity. Living from your center is like having a box of chocolates where you know that each one has a creamy, yummy soft-center. Not like that box of chocolates like Forrest, Forrest Gump had. You know, the one where you "never know what you're gonna get."

Enthusiasm, like joy and peace, is an invisible and conscious force which, if we affirm that we do have it, will respond to support us. This is the anti-gravity serum that allows us to defeat the up and down-ness of the law of opposites which otherwise rules nature. This teaching is at the heart of the once popular pop movie, "The Secret." It's called magnetism. Our "energy" is like electricity: it generates a force field which attracts to it a like kind. Energy, then, based on attitude and reinforced by action, is the key to our destiny.

Yoga practice (by yoga, I mean primarily meditation but also its physical forms: postures) takes this a step further. Not only by "sitting" or "stretching" can one experience inner peace, but by consciously working with the life-vitality of the body to move this life force from the lower parts of the body up to the brain! A yogi learns to experience the body not merely as a physical mechanism, but as a creative vortex of vital, intelligent, life-giving energy.

Just as we look up when happy and look down when unhappy, so too yoga practice teaches us how to move the "energy" of the body upward. In the very process of this movement, we experience greater calmness and joy. It's not wholly mechanical for the mind has to cooperate rather than fight this process. As happiness (etc.) is a state of consciousness and not merely a "thing," it requires conscious intention, not just mechanical movements to attract it. But nonetheless it's amazingly easily to prove that a flow of energy in the right direction can change your consciousness. No belief system needed.

As we progress in the pursuit of true happiness, we gradually awaken to the reality that this joy exists not just within us but all around us: indeed: everywhere. We discover that this reality is conscious; it is self-evident to our own experience. This reality is super-conscious, meaning omnipresent and omniscient and, indeed, is the essence of life itself. It connects all matter and all people in one larger-than-life vortex of Consciousness and the reality of it becomes intuitively incontestable to your inner experience and sight. It is called: God! Divine Mother, or Father. or Holy Ghost or AUM.

Ultimately, this divine consciousness is both the source of, and the solution to resolving, all the opposites, both positive and negative. But that doesn't make negative as "good" as positive! Positive attitudes foster happiness far more effectively than negative ones. The bad guys go to jail; the heroes are honored. Our "job" is to move in the right direction (positive). When we discover the greater reality from which they come, then we are drawn magnetically towards our Source. It is in the baptism of our consciousness in that divine state where the opposites do not dwell that our efforts achieve both beatitude and increasing permanence.

To start this journey seeking the Holy Grail of happiness requires no dogma. Anyone, atheists included, may embark upon the adventure. The goal and the path are self-revealing, for, the secret of happiness, like the "kingdom of heaven," is, as Jesus Christ said it well enough, "within you."

Joy to you,

Nayaswami Hriman