All my life and, indeed, one of my earliest memories, was suddenly being unable to find some object I had just had in my hand! As a small child, I still recall jumping up and down with great frustration having had some object, no doubt a toy, just "disappear" in front of me! I swore aloud that the "Devil must have taken it." (Naturally, being a good Catholic fellow, all such things were the work of the devil. When Cannery Row went up in flames on Thanksgiving Day in the 50's, a few blocks from our home in Pacific Grove, I was sure the devil had come up from the center of the earth--so great were the flames shooting high into the air and thick black smoke enveloping the town.)
I recount this story so you won't be tempted, when reading my account below, to think, "Ah, gee, the guy's gettin' old and forgetful!" (While that may, in fact, be true, it is not, by any means, the big picture here.)
Once, in my forties, Padma and I took a trip to Orcas Island. I think we gave a class on Education for Life at the Indralaya Retreat. While sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful ferry ride through the narrow San Juan straits, in and around its many islands, I had (as so many men do) taken the wallet out of my back pocket because sitting on it was uncomfortable. I placed it next to me on the bench and later just got up and walked away leaving the wallet where I had placed it.
When I got to our hotel room at the famous and classic Rosario's Inn, I suddenly discovered I couldn't find my wallet. I called the Ferry dock (long before cell phones existed) and, sure enough, it had been reported found. They said, however, that I would need to come down to meet the next Ferry a few hours hence. Everything was there, intact--even a $100 bill that had been part of a birthday gift!
Well, a month or so ago, we hosted visitors from the Ananda Center and Church in Palo Alto, CA. After picking them up from SeaTac on a Saturday afternoon, we stopped to visit the East West Bookshop in Roosevelt Square (corner of 12th and 65th, upper plaza). Afterwards, we sat outside at the adjacent Starbucks to enjoy a cool drink and chat some more. I had my usual blue shoulder bag with me, containing all my valuables, so to speak. In fact, let me digress....
The night before I had, for some unknown but intuitive reason, reorganized all my two-thousand credit cards and shopping cards, library card, etc. etc. etc. At the moment of completing this task, long overdue, I had the distinct thought: "I shouldn't carry all these things around with me all the time!" Well, I was in a hurry and too busy to know how to divide them all. So I simply put them all back into the shoulder bag.
Now, continuing.....by now you've guessed that upon leaving Starbucks I left my blue should bag right there in the open (outside seating) next to the table and chairs we had been sitting at. But, did I notice? No! I had this odd feeling a few hours later going to dinner that something was missing but amidst the chit-chat with our friends there was no time for reflection or listening to that funny feeling in my gut.
It wasn't until the next morning, Sunday morning, on the way to church, that I knew the bag was missing. There was, in my view, at least, nothing I could do. That afternoon we were scheduled to go up to Camano Island for an all afternoon gathering of core Ananda members for lunch, chanting, meditation and discussion. There wasn't a moment to do anything. It wasn't until evening that we got home. Again, nothing I could really do. In fact, I had a friend at East West check in at Starbucks but with a casual inquiry like that, well, why would I be surprised if none of the clerks knew anything about it?
Late that night I sat on the floor of my living room with my banking records in front of me ready to call all the credit card companies. Padma and I checked online: no activity anywhere: checking accounts or bank cards. She suggested that I wait until the morning and come to bed. I did just that.
By now many hours, a day and a half had passed. No phone call, nothing. Still I had this funny feeling: mostly of disbelief that I was going to have to go through this whole process related to two checkbooks and a fistful of cards, driver's license....the whole "nine yards!" Just couldn't believe it. Was I just in shock? Lazy? Frustrated? Or, was there some intuition here?
The next morning I was up early. I was NOT going to waste my time with a phone call to Starbucks during their busiest few hours. I drove back to East West and sat in Starbucks waiting for the line to thin out. But all I saw were the young and very busy clerks: oblivious to anything but waiting on customers. I was about to leave when suddenly out from the back (a door I hadn't noticed) came a woman of "authority!" Right away I knew SHE was the one to ask. But, she was in a hurry to get out of there. I hesitated, and then stepped in her path. "Sorry to bother you, but ...... " Right away before I could finish my sentence, she said, "Oh yeah, I was about to call East West about the blue bag."
Puzzled, I asked, "Why East West?" She said I saw all the Ananda stuff and figured East West was the best bet! I said, "Well, you're in a hurry or I'd kiss your feet!" Needless to say, I bought an expensive hot coffee drink and sipped it contentedly all the way home in the car to join my friends at breakfast!
All my life I have found that I need to clasp my car keys to my pants (through a belt loop); clip my cell phone to my belt and hang on to that wallet....I've tried everything: shoulder pouch under my shirt; a tiny wallet with a leather or metal clasp.............let's not even talk about my glasses!!!! Maybe I just move too fast and clearly don't pay sufficient attention to putting things down. I am hardly alone in this.
On a trip to India with my daughter Gita (we did the pilgrimage known as the "Char Dham," visiting the holy headwaters in the Himalaya of the Ganges and other holy rivers), we were leaving the Himalayas driving downstream along the Ganges. We stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant. There again, hung on the chair, I had again left my small day pack with everything I own in it! When I discovered it many miles downstream as we were racing to the Dehra Dun airport for a flight to Calcutta, our guide uses his cell phone to call the restaurant. He finds a cab driver to get the bag and drive in our direction as we drive back toward him: in hopes we'd see each other! OMG! Well, we did see each other, and I got everything, and I mean everything (cash included) back!
Not sure when my "good" karma will run out but I try my best to stay present with my "things!"
My sense is not so much of "Thank God" for such favors, it is, rather, the quiet, calm, knowing smile that, though I do my best, somehow, at least for now, Divine Mother makes "good," as Krishna puts in the Bhagavad Gita, "my deficiencies." For me the blessing isn't a material one, it is that sense of divine play; the sense that the world we inhabit is far more than we think it is; that "magic" (divine magic) exists for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. It is the playful sense of God's presence in even the littlest of things.
Joy to you!
Swami Hrimananda
Showing posts with label Ananda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ananda. Show all posts
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Friday, July 22, 2016
Kriya Yoga for the Evolution of Human Consciousness
(This letter was sent to Ananda members and students in the Seattle area in anticipation of a kriya initiation ceremony on Saturday, July 23, 2016)
This weekend we will conduct kriya initiation: the
sacred ceremony in which the technique(s) of kriya meditation are taught to
those who have undergone the requisite training and preparation. In Paramhansa Yogananda’s
famous life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” Chapter 26 (called Kriya Yoga),
he explains the basic nature of kriya yoga as a meditation technique: how it
accelerates our spiritual evolution by dissolving psychic blocks which reside
deep in the subtle spine of the astral body.
Obviously not every member or student at Ananda has
been or seeks to be initiated into kriya, nor is that expected or required.
Ananda means many things to different people: for some, the practice of hatha
(“Ananda”) yoga; others, serving and sharing through their talents and
interests with others of like-mind, others, yet, the study of spiritual
teachings east or west; others are devoted to God or gurus in the heartfelt
practices of chanting, prayer and constant, inner devotion; others, find
inspiration in friendship and community; others are engaged in the practical
application of their ideals ranging from growing food to teaching children at
Living Wisdom School, serving at East West Bookshop or the Living Wisely Gift
and Thrift Store! Food, health, healing, teaching, sharing, studying, playing,
supporting, chanting, prayer, counseling and so many, many activities are
doorways to fellowship and spiritual awakening!
Nonetheless, the centerpiece of the science of yoga for
which Paramhansa Yogananda was sent to the West and to the world is the
ever-increasingly popular practice of kriya yoga. Why is this, a relatively
simple meditation technique, so central to the work of a world spiritual
teacher and to a worldwide work of yoga?
In Yogananda’s autobiography he writes that “The
ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately
linked with breath mastery. This is India’s unique and
deathless contribution to the world’s treasury of knowledge. The life force,
which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for
higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of
the breath.”
Consider now for a
moment how many of you, and millions of others, have turned away from orthodox
religion and/or are committed to reason and the evidence-based findings of
modern science. In effect, SCIENCE is the religion of modern times. We get
excited when science pushes the envelope of knowledge and hints at cosmic or
subtle realities. No more do we turn to religion or theology or priests for
describing or defining reality.
Next: consider if you
could achieve health, vitality, calmness and happiness by working with the psycho-physiological
and biological realities of meditation techniques. Researchers are falling all
over themselves in studying the techniques and effects of meditation. Not a
week passes without a new study discovering yet another amazing and
demonstrable benefit from meditation.
And what is that
biological reality that offers so much promise? Yes, you’re right: the breath!
The most elemental necessity and evidence of life itself!
Science and society is
steadily and inexorably moving towards the same discovery that yogis and rishis
made thousands of years ago: that the relationship of breath to mind (and mind
to breath) holds the key to unlocking our own highest potential.
Any thoughtful person knows
that we cannot always control the circumstances of life and that, in
consequence, our happiness and health depends, rather, on how we respond to
life. In the scientific and provable fact that our reactions to life produce
responses in heart and breath rate, AND, that heart and breath control can, in
turn, re-direct and calm our reactions to life holds for us the greatest
promise of health and happiness in an age of constant turmoil, change, and
uncertainty.
But, we all know that
there’s more to spiritual awakening than doing breathing exercises! Devotion,
wisdom, kindness and generosity (the “yamas” and “niyamas” as Patanjali teaches
in the Yoga Sutras) is, of course, the foundation for spiritual consciousness.
But the greatest obstacle to actually achieving a superconscious state of spiritual
awakening is the monkey mind and its obsession with the body and ego. The
relationship of breath to mind (and mind to one’s state of consciousness,
happiness, contentment, and awareness) holds a key to a rapid acceleration of
higher consciousness.
This is where kriya
comes in. Kriya operates directly upon the nervous system, brain, and breath to
safely and gradually slow the breath and heart rate that the higher states of
divine awareness may appear on the horizon of the mind’s inner, or spiritual,
“eye.” This is why Yogananda called kriya yoga the “airplane route” to God. Good
deeds, rites and rituals are what he called “the bullock cart route” to the
release of the ego into soul consciousness. The mystic key to the doorway of
higher consciousness has been re-discovered to accelerate our spiritual
evolution in an age of rapid change and growth.
So we ask for your
blessings upon this sacred weekend where the light of kriya yoga with the grace
of the guru spreads person to person. If you find yourself inspired to learn
more, we welcome your interest and offer free classes to explain more about
kriya yoga and even have several videos on our website that you might find
helpful!
Blessings and joy to
you!
Nayaswamis Hriman and
Padma
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Bhagavad Gita : "A New Scripture Has Been Born!"
These were the words exclaimed by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1950 (PY) to his disciple whom he called "Walter" (later, Swami Kriyananda "SK") when he, PY, completed his commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita. PY declared "a new scripture has been born. Millions will find God through this book. Not just thousands. Millions. I know. I have seen it." ("The New Path," Chapter 31, the Bhagavad Gita).
At Ananda in Bothell, WA, we just completed an eight week course on PY's commentaries. The text we used is that written by SK in 2004. PY's commentaries, though he announced they would be published later in 1952 (he died in March, 1952), were not, in fact, published for fifty years. When they were published, they bore little relationship to the powerful and inspired commentaries he dictated decades ago.
Consequently, at age 78, SK felt the inspiration to share his memory of that great scripture by writing his own version. The result (out of nearly 150 books he wrote in one lifetime) is clearly his magnum opus. For exhaustive esoteric details, replete with ample scholarly footnotes, you can later turn to the two-volume version put out by his organization but for inspiration, practical personal guidance, and depth combined, SK's work, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, is unsurpassed.
In our 8-week course we only covered the first 7 chapters of "the Gita" but these are more than sufficient to convey the breadth and depth of that great work and PY's commentaries as given to us by SK. Anyone inspired by the highest aspirations of meditation and resonant with the teachings of India will find a lifelong guide in this "new scripture" for a new age.
Among the themes expressed in the Gita and the insights of PY for our times, we find:
At Ananda in Bothell, WA, we just completed an eight week course on PY's commentaries. The text we used is that written by SK in 2004. PY's commentaries, though he announced they would be published later in 1952 (he died in March, 1952), were not, in fact, published for fifty years. When they were published, they bore little relationship to the powerful and inspired commentaries he dictated decades ago.
Consequently, at age 78, SK felt the inspiration to share his memory of that great scripture by writing his own version. The result (out of nearly 150 books he wrote in one lifetime) is clearly his magnum opus. For exhaustive esoteric details, replete with ample scholarly footnotes, you can later turn to the two-volume version put out by his organization but for inspiration, practical personal guidance, and depth combined, SK's work, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, is unsurpassed.
In our 8-week course we only covered the first 7 chapters of "the Gita" but these are more than sufficient to convey the breadth and depth of that great work and PY's commentaries as given to us by SK. Anyone inspired by the highest aspirations of meditation and resonant with the teachings of India will find a lifelong guide in this "new scripture" for a new age.
Among the themes expressed in the Gita and the insights of PY for our times, we find:
- Why is life a struggle?
- With what intentions and attitudes should we work towards spiritual awakening and freedom?
- Have we lived before?
- If this world is a "dream," is it best simply to "drop out" of this world?
- If we must act, how must we act?
- How did the Infinite Spirit create this great drama? And, why?
- What is the best path? Is knowledge enough?
- Is God personal, or impersonal? How can one best worship or "find" God?
- What is yoga? Is it physical, mental or spiritual (only)?
- What are the stages of creation?
- What qualities reflect higher awareness? Which are delusive?
- Where does one focus in meditation?
- What is kundalini and how is kundalini awakened?
- What are the chakras, the energy centers in the body?
- What is the significance of the mantra, AUM?
- Can one hear AUM in meditation? How?
- What is kriya yoga and why does PY say it is the "airplane route?"
- What are the stages of awakening?
- Guidance regarding preparing for death
- Do we ascend by self-effort alone? Grace? Or?
- Is satan real?
- The stages of creation from idea, to energy, to form.
- What are the qualities of consciousness and matter? How do they manifest?
- Does heaven exist? Is hell real? Is it eternal?
- Are there really angels? Demons? "Ghosts"?
- Does possession really occur?
These are just some of themes. The book, Essence of Self-Realization, can be purchased in softbound form and even "on tape" (read by SK). Visit the publisher's website: https://www.crystalclarity.com/product.php?code=BEBPB ; for the "on tape" CD visit
For a YouTube series of short videos by Swami Kriyananda on the Bhagavad Gita go to:
The videos and audio recordings of our 8-week class will be released in the near future. Contact friends@anandaseattle.org or call our office and center at 425 806 3700.
Blessings to all in sharing this "new" scripture for a new age,
Nayaswami Hriman
Monday, July 4, 2016
July 4th Reflections
This note was first given as a note to residents of Ananda Community in Lynnwood. It has been adapted for the larger audience of members and friends of Ananda Sangha in the greater Seattle area and is reproduced in its entirety here in this blog.
Dear Friends,
Students, Members and Ananda Supporters:
Padma and I are at
Ananda Village: Ananda’s very first and largest community founded nearly fifty
years ago: 1969. On July 4th
each the community here celebrates its anniversary for it was July 4th
that the first parcel(s) of land in Nevada County (northeast of Sacramento, in
the Sierra Nevada foothills, just under 3,000 feet elevation).
The early years of
Ananda World Brotherhood Village (its formal name) were in the height of the
back-to-land movement at the dawn of the Age of Aquarius (so-called). Oh, how
the movement of Ananda has grown: 9 communities including India and Italy! Yoga
and meditation students by the thousands!
Padma and I are here
on “leave” to help our daughter Gita with her two young children. Gita (and her
brother, Kashi) were born and raised here at Ananda Village. She now directs
the Development Office for Ananda nationwide. Her husband, Badri Matlock, is at
our community in Italy (outside the medieval and sacred town of Assisi) at the
first conference of future leaders of Ananda. He is involved with the
management of the Expanding Light Retreat at Ananda Village and is the
understudy lead trainer for Yoga Teacher Training. So Gita asked if we might
come and give her a hand. Two little ones are a handful! “Early to bed, early
to rise, run around until your demise!”
On Saturday, a panel
of speakers from the early “pioneers” of Ananda (which includes: Jyotish and
Devi Novak who were recently visiting us in Seattle, and others) spoke of the challenges
and joys of the early days of Ananda. It was quite fun and inspiring. Our
Ananda "story" is a story of faith, will power and attunement
accomplishing the impossible: "banat, banat, ban jai" (doing, doing,
soon done)
The “good ‘ol days”
are recreated with each generation. In Seattle, in the last few years we’ve
started the Camano Farm, finished the temple, constructed the Yoga Hall, moved
East West Bookshop, started the Thrift Store, and are now in the process of
moving the Living Wisdom School. We already have lots of stories.
The committed members
of Ananda worldwide have access, by attunement, to the power and grace of one
of the spiritual giants of the new age: Paramhansa Yogananda. Ananda is blessed
to have been given birth by one of Yogananda’s most prolific and committed
disciples who, at the Beverly Hills garden party, July 30, 1949, was the only
one (of 800 present) so stirred to his depths at Yogananda’s powerful message of the need for
intentional communities to have actually manifested not just one, but nine (so
far).
Our biggest challenge
hasn’t, then, been the energy and courage to do what we are asked (internally
or externally) in our service of Yogananda, it's more likely to remember that
God is the Doer. Our frustration, self-doubt, and stress arises only to the
degree of our own self-involvement.
Surveying the
craziness around us in America and in the world, we either also become crazy with
frustration, worry, or despondency, or we affirm and feel that this is God's
world; we agree to do our part, such as it is, but that we have to let the
drama unfold in its own mysterious, and sometimes cuckoo, way.
It's difficult to
hurrah much about July 4th this year. Yogananda says our country has
good karma, despite our not so good karma. The craziness we see in the body
politic can only help wake up snoozing souls of goodwill, the silent majority
of good hearts, to resurrect our nation's ideals. We must do our part, too.
Skepticism and giving up will not help. This is a time, more than ever, for
each one of us to make our “ideals practical:” these are Yogananda’s words when
training the young monk whom he called “Walter” (aka Swami Kriyananda).
Ananda represents and
symbolizes both in our communities and in the ancient but timely precepts of “Sanaatan
Dharma” (the ancient name for the Vedantic ideals) the unifying principles so
needed in the world today: cooperation, respect for all, and the intuitive
understanding (especially based on regular meditation) that we are One:
children of our One, Father-Mother, Beloved Friend, God! While far from alone
in today’s world among the millions of individuals and other organizations
espousing peace and freedom, each of us should feel the inspiration and
obligation to align ourselves with others of like mind. Believing is not
enough!
Krishna in the “Bhagavad
Gita” reminds us that doing nothing will not free us, nor bring us happiness.
We are compelled by our very bodies and very nature to act. Only by action can
we become free from the compulsions to act; only by action (which includes the
act of meditation) can we achieve the transcendent state of the soul. One saint
in “Samadhi” pours more peace and enlightenment into thirsty hearts and souls than
all the books and lectures combined. (Of course, BOTH are needed in this
relatively unenlightened world.)
Let us celebrate the
ideals of our nation’s founders. It is our nation's destiny to spread of the higher
aspects of a new age of freedom: liberty balanced by enlightened self-interest
(cooperation), respect for the rights of all, and a sincere interest in the
greater good of all.
Not a year goes by
when I don't appreciate ever more deeply the significance of these intentional,
spiritual communities as models of integration of all races and nations in
harmony and cooperation. If you visit Ananda Village in California or Ananda in
Italy, you will find every imaginable race, religion, and culture represented
there. The significance isn’t that all people should live in such communities
but, rather, it is the example that it is possible (indeed, necessary for our
survival as a race).
America was founded in
the name of freedom. There is no greater spiritual principle and destiny than
this. It does not matter that freedom has been defined primarily in terms of
personal self-interest because ours is an ascending age of greater awareness. Spiritual
growth and human evolution towards maturity is always directional, never
absolute.
So let us celebrate
the ideals of freedom for all souls; equality of all souls as children of the
One, Father-Mother, Beloved Friend, God.
Hriman and Padma
…
Friday, June 17, 2016
Why We Need Community
Note to friends: Ananda Community
Open House: Tomorrow! http://www.anandawashington.org/event/solstice-open-house/?instance_id=132275. Stay tuned for a follow up article with some reflections about American society. "Just sayin' "
Our nation
mourns for the latest victims of violence in our country even as calls go forth
for finding preventative solutions for the future. Could this Saturday’s annual
Open House and Solstice Celebration held by Ananda Community in Lynnwood be relevant to the serious challenges in our
time?
We certainly
think so. The modern trend of globalism is neither all “good” nor all “bad.” It
is complex and besides being an historical fact and a cultural fait accompli,
it is, among other things, a trend that is bringing people of every race and
nation in contact with one another.
What we see
in decline, however, is a sense of community. Our urban and suburban neighborhoods
tend to be a transient admixture of people and families with little in common,
and their paths rarely cross.
On July 30,
1949, at a speech given in Beverly Hills, Paramhansa Yogananda proclaimed that
“I am sowing into the ether” the seeds of the community ideal for the future.
He predicted that a new pattern of conscious, intentional and sustainable
living would “spread like wildfire.” The “wildfire” part still awaits a future
ignition but the increasing violence in the world will unquestionably be one of
the sparks. Economic challenges, no doubt, will be another.
The stage is
being set and Ananda’s founder, Swami Kriyananda, who was present in the
audience that fateful day, vowed to do his part. Before his passing in 2013,
Swami Kriyananda had founded nine such communities throughout the world, including
the Ananda Community in nearby Lynnwood.
The concept
of intentional communities is not limited to its residential forms. Virtual
communities or associations of those inspired and committed to serve their own
local area or the world at large, all count as “communities.”
Our
invitation to you, therefore, for this Saturday’s Solstice Celebration and Open
House is an opportunity for all of us to register “our answer” to mindless
violence by coming together to affirm our kinship with one another and all life.
The power of harmony and friendship will always win, but it takes conscious
efforts on our part.
Since time immemorial, the Summer Solstice has drawn
people together, recognizing intuitively that the powerful rays of the sun at
its diurnal zenith symbolize the healing and energizing rays of the Divine
Light within and without.
Blessings to
all,
Nayaswamis
Hriman and Padma McGilloway
Note details
of the Open House:
Come
rain, sun, thunderstorms! It will be fun and memorable no matter what!
Saturday,
June 18, 3 to 7 p.m. 20715 Larch Way, Lynnwood 98036
3
p.m. Grounds are open; parking in the back. Tours, refreshments, childrens
activities, music, summer fun faire booths with food, organic produce,
clothing, gifts, books and healing services!
5
p.m. Solstice Celebration : a theme of family featuring music & ceremony
6
p.m. Vegetarian dinner (free)
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Bhagavad Gita : The Voice of the Ancients “Calls to Us to Awaken in Him”
Once again, the following article is taken from an email to Ananda members in the Seattle-area Sangha:
Each Sunday
at the weekly Service we read a stanza from the Bhagavad Gita. What is this text, this “The Song of God,” quoted by
so many great people of influence?
Ralph Waldo
Emerson said of the Bhagavad Gita: "It was as
if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene,
consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate
had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.”
Henry David Thoreau wrote, "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the
stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern
world and its literature seem puny and trivial.”
Mahatma Gandhi confessed that "When doubts haunt me, when
disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the
horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I
immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who
meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every
day".
And finally, J. Robert Oppenheimer,
American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project (that created the
world’s first atom bomb), learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original, citing it
as one of the most influential books in his life. Upon witnessing the first
nuclear test in 1945, he quoted the Gita: “Now
I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
What is this extraordinary work of
literature, allegory and divine inspiration? The “Gita” is the most beloved of
the great scriptures of India. It is one chapter in the midst of the world’s
longest epic, the Mahabharata (over
100,000 couplets). The Gita itself has about 700 verses arranged in 18 chapters:
not very long in itself. The Mahabharata makes
an allegory of an actual historic and apocalyptic battle that took place not far
from what is now New Delhi sometime after the first millennia B.C. It’s a “good guys” vs the “bad guys” story,
with the good guys winning, but just barely.
The Gita itself consists of a dialogue
between Lord Krishna, the charioteer and guru for Prince Arjuna (a good guy),
one of the fiercest warriors of the two opposing clans. Their conversation
takes place on the eve of battle.
Arrayed against his own cousins (who
usurped his and his brothers’ rule of the kingdom), Arjuna asks his guru, “What
virtue, what victory is there to be found in killing my own family? They are
far from perfect, but I don’t seek riches or power? Why must I fight?”
And thus begins the greatest story ever
told: your story, and mine. This is the story of the challenges we face, the
victories and defeats we experience, and our quest for the Holy Grail of
Happiness.
The greatest work ever written by Swami
Kriyananda, “Essence of the Bhagavad Gita,” was inspired by the commentary on
the Gita dictated by Paramhansa Yogananda in the early months of 1950 at his
desert retreat in 29 Palms, CA. This book will change your life. At the
completion of his dictation efforts, Paramhansa Yogananda declared to Swamiji
“Millions will find God through this work. Not just thousands: millions! I have
seen it. I know!”
Joy to you,
Nayaswamis Hriman and Padma
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Ananda : Who Are We?
This is an email sent to members of Ananda in Seattle, WA (USA) (today, May 20,2016)
|
We understand that Ananda is seen in various ways, some of which seem at opposites: to some, we are a specific spiritual path (kriya yoga) following the inspiration of a modern spiritual teacher (Paramhansa Yogananda). In this view we are not unlike churches or temples everywhere and in most faith traditions. Indeed, our legal name is Ananda Church of Self-Realization of Seattle! We are, in fact, recognized as a “church” by the I.R.S.
This message was sent to hrimananda@gmail.com from:
Hriman & Padma | friends@anandaseattle.org | Ananda Seattle | 23305 Bothell-Everett Highway | Bothell, WA 98021
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Friday, May 6, 2016
Divine Mother's Day!
Sunday, May 8 we celebrate "Mother's Day." It may interest you to research the history of Mother's Day. It is interesting though it is not my subject today.
Somewhere in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna laments the consequence to society when gender roles and energies are out of balance. Well there's good news and there's bad news and both are based in the same reality: gender roles on this planet ARE out of balance, but the good news is that society is heading in the direction of balance and equality.
Imagine if you were to step away from this earth and see the hot spots and troubles we face on this planet in an entirely new light. Conflicts in our homes, offices, schools, battlefields, cities.....anywhere where arguments, violence, disagreements and fighting take place ...... and ..... then .... Imagine these conflicts as reflecting an imbalance of male and female energies. I won't take the risk to attempt to define the positive and negative aspects of each gender. We know it when we experience it. Just take any conflict anywhere and see if you can't view the conflict as having its roots in a gender imbalance (one way or the other).
Just some of the ways today's conflicts can be viewed in gender terms:
At the Ananda communities, centers and groups, we honor the Indian tradition of approaching God in the feminine form (though not exclusively). Paramhansa Yogananda worshiped the goddess Kali of his Bengali heritage. "The mother," he said, "is closer to the children than the father." But these archetypal roles are changing, too. Nowadays, hardly a nod is given to that father who plays the role of "mom" while mother goes off to work.
However, it must also be pointed out that the highest view of gender roles is to transcend them altogether. This trend, too, in society can be seen: the trend toward gender neutral. One notable characteristic of the Ananda Communities (there are nine throughout the world) is the natural way men and women relate to one another without pretense or competition.
Let's, then, celebrate Mother's Day not only to honor our own mothers but to honor the Divine Mother who has descended to earth in many forms (both male and female) to invite us to live together with respect, harmony, and cooperation.
Happy Mother's Day!
Nayaswami Hriman
Somewhere in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna laments the consequence to society when gender roles and energies are out of balance. Well there's good news and there's bad news and both are based in the same reality: gender roles on this planet ARE out of balance, but the good news is that society is heading in the direction of balance and equality.
Imagine if you were to step away from this earth and see the hot spots and troubles we face on this planet in an entirely new light. Conflicts in our homes, offices, schools, battlefields, cities.....anywhere where arguments, violence, disagreements and fighting take place ...... and ..... then .... Imagine these conflicts as reflecting an imbalance of male and female energies. I won't take the risk to attempt to define the positive and negative aspects of each gender. We know it when we experience it. Just take any conflict anywhere and see if you can't view the conflict as having its roots in a gender imbalance (one way or the other).
Just some of the ways today's conflicts can be viewed in gender terms:
- Hierarchical political and leadership models being replaced by more cooperative approaches
- Warfare as a solution being mitigated by efforts to dialogue, respect, and appreciate differences
- Movement toward social, economic, and legal equality between men and women
- Religion vs spirituality (the latter being viewed as universal)
- Sustainable utilization of natural resources
- Holistic approach to health and healing
- Each of the above has multiple applications: e.g.: in sports, science, military, earnings
At the Ananda communities, centers and groups, we honor the Indian tradition of approaching God in the feminine form (though not exclusively). Paramhansa Yogananda worshiped the goddess Kali of his Bengali heritage. "The mother," he said, "is closer to the children than the father." But these archetypal roles are changing, too. Nowadays, hardly a nod is given to that father who plays the role of "mom" while mother goes off to work.
However, it must also be pointed out that the highest view of gender roles is to transcend them altogether. This trend, too, in society can be seen: the trend toward gender neutral. One notable characteristic of the Ananda Communities (there are nine throughout the world) is the natural way men and women relate to one another without pretense or competition.
Let's, then, celebrate Mother's Day not only to honor our own mothers but to honor the Divine Mother who has descended to earth in many forms (both male and female) to invite us to live together with respect, harmony, and cooperation.
Happy Mother's Day!
Nayaswami Hriman
Monday, February 22, 2016
TAMING THE MONKEY MIND – PART 1 – “Name that Monkey!”
Last Fall (2015), I held a one-night class on the subject of “Taming
the Monkey Mind.” Suffice to say, one class was far too little time to work
with the meditator’s (seemingly) greatest obstacle. At the time I promised
(something of a sop, I’m afraid) to write a few blog articles to make up for the
woeful lack of time. As it has been many months, they may have thought I
forgot, but I have not.
Where does one begin? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to be introduced
to that monkey. We find quickly that he’s not just one; he’s a whole family of
monkeys. They inhabit our brain and are in constant motion.
Practical, playful,
even mischievous, at times. Our first acknowledgement we must make is for the
debt we owe to the monkey brain family for keeping us alive. Of the family tree
identified by Charles Darwin, this family of monkeys is highly trained at
protecting us from threats, both seen and unseen, and helping us to develop
many useful skills.
It is axiomatic in metaphysics and Yoga-Samkhya-Vedanta philosophy
that the source of all matter is consciousness. Chapter 1 of Swami Kriyananda’s
excellent book on the subject of meditation, Awaken to Superconsciousness, dedicates its first chapter to this
precept (much to the dismay of its unsuspecting readers—for it is intellectual
and abstruse). Similarly the thrust of the entire and vast body of Indian
thought is that it is our soul’s destiny to transcend the delusion of material
existence to contemplate and to become one with this ever-present, eternal, and
omniscient reality (Consciousness). Our destiny it is because our brain and
nervous system have evolved over eons of time for this very purpose. Slugs and
snails, indeed, monkeys themselves, are not fully hard-wired to transcend the
brain-body-nervous system!
While we are thus (seemingly hopelessly) body-sense-ego
bound, we also, as yet and simultaneously, transcendent. While that which binds us (brain, nervous
system, senses) is as yet and simultaneously that which can free us. We are,
thusly, existentially conflicted. We have two directions, seemingly, to pursue:
the one, at once familiar and the other seemingly foreign and distant.
Even at the expense of reason (which tells us our life is
short and our fate uncertain), we can pursue —intensely or lazily — whatever
life in the body offers us, complete with its joys, sorrows, pleasures, pain
and predestined demise into oblivion. Our monkey-ness keeps us so busy that
most people don’t even consider there’s a choice in the matter. For those upon
whom nature showers its gifts, most slumber in the forgetfulness of the moment,
unheedful, ignorant or indifferent to the vast majority of others who are not
so benighted.
The other path is towards transcendence. This is the path of
Buddha, Jesus, and the prophets and masters down through ages. The panacea of
lasting happiness and freedom from suffering, whether in heaven beyond, or in
our hearts here and now, is the path of Light. In our age a new dispensation
has been given to all people, regardless of status, race or nation, who seek
the path of transcendence. It is the practice of meditation. Never mind that at
first, millions will use meditation for its physical and psychological
benefits, as if to only improve their circumstances during their predestined
and brief sojourn in their human body. This is the stage of awakening such as
one sees in the life of Jesus when crowds sought him for his healing powers
alone.
Once a taste of monkey-less-ness is achieved, the
monkey-less-MIND exercises a magnetic call to “Be still and know that I AM God.”
(Psalm 46:10).
Samkhya darshana (philosophy) identifies four aspects of the
monkey mind: its functional ability and purpose to interact with the body and
senses; its ability to make rational or intuitive conclusions and connections (whether in the abstract and conceptual or in relation to the senses); its
tendency to identify personally with either strata of mental activity; and,
lastly, its embrace or rejection.
In the first, it is valuable to know that fire can burn your
hand; that there’s a difference between a rope and snake; that spoiled food
looks and tastes a certain way. In the second, our intelligence, whether merely
logical or inspired from unseen heights, equips us with great power, good, bad
or neither. In the third, we are able to identify mental activity (thoughts,
emotions, actions) in its relationship to “Me.” This allows for selectivity,
prioritizing and ownership or detachment. This me-function is closely related,
then, to our emotional life for herein lies our tendency to identify with
and desire, or reject in repulsion, the circumstances, people, or ideas that
engage our daily life.
To list these characteristics, then, they are: manas, buddhi,
ahamkara, and chitta. Transcending each of these aspects takes specialized
tools of meditation. (We’ll come to these much later.)
These four aspects of our ego-mind can play out unseen by us
in their subconscious functions, consciously, or superconsciously. It is the
superconscious mind that is closest to the transcendent mind. The subconscious
mind is but a domestic servant whether programmed by pre or post-natal
tendencies. It holds the key to the function of habits; it serves to protect
the ego by looking for threats even in the nuances of the words of other
people; it reacts by instinct according to “fight or flight;” and, lastly, it
is, by itself, passive and generally uncreative. It can be re-trained by the
conscious intention and efforts of the conscious mind, guided by the innate and
intuitive wisdom of the superconscious mind.
The conscious mind, being awake and aware of the world
around us, sees mostly foes everywhere; or, at least obstacles and problems to
overcome but it is too often seeing the world through subconscious filters of
which it is, well, unconscious! It tends to be cautious, analytical and even
wary. The conscious mind can also be insensitive to others or to more subtle
signals and realities, as it is so focused on only what is right in front of
it and related to "Me."
That which first filters the transcendent mind is the
superconscious mind. Being in touch with a larger reality and not yet gated by
subconscious filters and past actions, it sends us, to the degree we draw from
it, answers, solutions, new ideas, and inspirations. It is filtered at least to
this degree: Einstein didn’t hear symphonies in his head nor did Beethoven see a beam
of light shooting through space. We receive the guidance apropos to our needs.
I’ll end this part with the link between body-mind-spirit:
the breath. The “Holy Ghost” (or ghast, breath)
signals the appearance of life in the new born and the disappearance of life at
death. In between it acts as a direct link and reflector of the state of
consciousness on which we sit at every moment. “The ancient yogis discovered
that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery.
This is India’s unique and deathless contribution to the world’s treasury of
knowledge.[1]”
[1] “Autobiography
of a Yogi,” by Paramhansa Yogananda, 1946 edition, Chapter 26: The Science of
Kriya Yoga.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
"Oh God" - How to Get Over the "God" Word!
Teaching meditation and the spiritual teachings of raja yoga for many years, I have come to experience, frequently, the negative reaction and association that students have to the word "God."
I appreciate their dilemma and sometimes chide a class of students to "get over it" because I intend to use the term in part because it's so easy to use as shorthand.
The question is, though, "God" is shorthand for what, exactly?
My prior blog article spoke of a new dispensation wherein a growing understanding is evolving of "God" as something far different than the anthropomorphic "man" on a throne far away who watches our every move, eager to toss most of us into the fiery dustbin at the slightest infraction!
So if you, or a friend or family member, bristles at the notorious "God" word, I have a few simple suggestions:
1. Should we use a new word? That's been tried and like the gender thing (she, he, "they" etc.) it's still a bit awkward. Fellow teachers I know often like to use the phrase "the Divine," and I use it too, but it seems so lifeless, so pallid. God isn't a mere "thing" or dumb "force" like "the Force" or electricity. There IS a personal element to "the Force." Who can love the Cosmic Ground of Being? At Ananda we often follow Yogananda's lead (and Swami Kriyananda's, our founder) in referring to God as Divine Mother. I do too but that's most comfortable among fellow members and less comfortable in public settings (though I still use it there, too). But it can prompt further questions of its own.
I appreciate their dilemma and sometimes chide a class of students to "get over it" because I intend to use the term in part because it's so easy to use as shorthand.
The question is, though, "God" is shorthand for what, exactly?
My prior blog article spoke of a new dispensation wherein a growing understanding is evolving of "God" as something far different than the anthropomorphic "man" on a throne far away who watches our every move, eager to toss most of us into the fiery dustbin at the slightest infraction!
So if you, or a friend or family member, bristles at the notorious "God" word, I have a few simple suggestions:
1. Should we use a new word? That's been tried and like the gender thing (she, he, "they" etc.) it's still a bit awkward. Fellow teachers I know often like to use the phrase "the Divine," and I use it too, but it seems so lifeless, so pallid. God isn't a mere "thing" or dumb "force" like "the Force" or electricity. There IS a personal element to "the Force." Who can love the Cosmic Ground of Being? At Ananda we often follow Yogananda's lead (and Swami Kriyananda's, our founder) in referring to God as Divine Mother. I do too but that's most comfortable among fellow members and less comfortable in public settings (though I still use it there, too). But it can prompt further questions of its own.
2. I am of a mind to simply educate others and help them to "get over it."
3. Think of God, then as the pure joy of a smile; the pure joy of pure joy; the beauty and harmony of nature; kindness; the innocence and wonder of a small child or young pet or animal; I see all these pet and animal and nature pictures on Facebook: see the face of God in such as these!
4. Think of God as the pure love of true friendship: respectful, considerate, sympathetic, yet wise, and mutually serviceful. You may have to imagine such friendship for it is rare. But the exercise is worth it!
5. Think of God as the intelligence, bounty, and joy of the life "flowing through your veins!" The heartbeat of your life, or the vitality, health and energy, within in you; in others, in nature and in the cosmos itself!
6. Think of God as the summation of all the sound and power in the universe, like a mighty roar, the power, awe and beauty of thunder and lightning!
7. Think of God as the light of the sun, all suns, stars, galaxies and the colors of the infinite rainbow of color. A thousand million suns into One!
8. Think of God as the seemingly infinite space of the cosmos: deeply calm and expanding toward infinity in all directions; in which all objects float like island universes! Feel your awareness of space expanding outward spherically. Yogananda wrote, the body of God is space. If you want to feel God's presence feel the space all around you and expand it outward to infinity. Feel the space within your own body, knowing that science tells us that the quantifiable matter of our body, emptied of the space between all particles, would fill but a thimble!
9. See the presence and hand of God in all circumstances, positive or negative; all life flows to and through us according to the magnetism of our own patterns, past and present, in its unending process of becoming. Through life's experiences God is talking to us: have a "conversation with God."
10. Hear God's voice in the voice of His messengers; read His words in the true teachings of saints, masters and avatars; see His actions in the lives of such great souls and apply their lessons to your daily life. Call on those great ones whom your heart feels attuned to for inner guidance. These more than any other manifestation of God in this world are the purest channels and guides to our soul awakening.
Like a hippie friend once said: "Good God, man, get over "It!" "
Or as I like to plagiarize: "There's no god but God. There's no good but God; there's no thing but God; God alone, God in All."
Or, as Jesus put it: "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God."
Joy is within you,
Swami Hrimananda
Sunday, January 17, 2016
The Devil Made Me Do It? Someone's gotta be blamed!
At a class the other night that I gave on the basic precepts of yoga and Self-realization, I pointed out that no true spiritual teaching can omit addressing the question of "Who is responsible for evil; for ignorance; for suffering?"
In a few days we honor the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each year, Ananda Seattle presents a tribute program (this year, 2016 will be the 14th year!). We combined the tribute to Dr. King with Mahatma Gandhi. We add music and audio-video clips for an inspiring program that is updated and re-scripted almost every year.
An article I wrote about both of these men and what we can learn from them was kindly published by Krysta Gibson of the New Spirit Journal. You can read it online at: http://newspiritjournalonline.com/what-we-can-learn-from-mlk-and-gandhi/
Most people are practical and don't give much thought to the "big questions" like suffering, evil and ignorance. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil (the problems) thereof," said Jesus Christ! Why bother our little heads about these things -- as my mother more or less said to me when, as a child, I would pester her with questions.
We all have our problems; we all die eventually. End of story. Get over it! Well, I like this kind of pragmatism too, but my little head has a mind of its own! So I snuffle around the cosmic forest like a pig looking for truffles!
Whatever you may think about the theology of original sin, no spiritual teaching can be called such if it doesn't encourage us to be better people and to never give up hope ..... whether for being "saved," or "redeemed" or achieving God realization. (The end goal may be expressed variously but hope and effort spring onto us an eternal message.)
And why not? You don't have to be consciously spiritual to see the value in using will power and having hope. Even if we fail, such attitudes are help build strength and character, regardless of outward success.
Paramhansa Yogananda was not the first saint to say, in effect, "A saint is a sinner who never gave up!" Or, as more than one Christian saint put it, "A sad saint is a sad saint, indeed!"
But, all well and good, but can we really understand with our minds this issue of suffering? It's all academic until it's not: which means, when WE suffer (or someone close to us). Suffering and evil challenge especially the faithful in our (seemingly) nauseating cheeriness and faith in the goodness of God and the rightness of all things, including the "bad" things that happen to "good" people.
Do we tell the victims of racism and to the loved ones whose child or father has been lynched or shot for no other reason than the color of his skin that "It's all for the best?" I hope to God, not!
I heard Larry King interview Maharishi Mahesh Yogi right after the fall of the Twin Towers in New York city on September 11, 2001. I hope I only offend a few of you, but I was aghast to hear his highness' squeaky voice explain the law of karma on T.V. at such a time of grieving. No doubt he meant well, but, egad, I can never imagine my teacher, Swami Kriyananda, nor yet the great yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, responding with anything but compassion at such a time.
Love (and compassion) is a higher law than the law! It's not as though Sri Yogi was wrong per se but his words were, in my view, at least, simply not appropriate at that time and place. His need to represent the Hindu view of life and to play the role of all wise teacher seemed to eclipse the needs of his listeners. ("Just sayin')
We do need, however, to step back from the human drama if we are see the cosmic drama and have an impersonal insight into suffering, evil and ignorance. The birth, life, and death of stars and planets, and the "eat or be eaten" law of survival among animals are generally accepted by us as a part of the ups and downs of the cosmos. A tiger eats for food and because she's a tiger doing what tigers do. She's not a murderer.
But why are there "bad" people anyway? And why do "good" people suffer? Selfishness, self-protectiveness, ego affirmation: these have a natural appeal in a world of struggle and uncertainty.
That the golden rule is transparently a better way to live is evidently not as transparent as some of us would think. When the light of a greater awareness that includes the needs and feelings of others and of the world of nature is so dimmed that only threatening silhouette shapes of strife, competition, and opportunity can be seen, "golden rule" becomes "What's in it for me?"
We are conditioned by the struggle of life to either recoil in self-defense and aggression or expand in cooperation and harmony.
Either way, we are still "we." Our only option lies in which direction we choose. Materialism is that choice that puts the needs of ego (and body) first and the needs of all others second (or not at all). Spirituality is that choice which finds nourishment and protection in peace and harmony.
The broader our reality the more strength and stability we have. "Love thy neighbor AS thy Self." By contrast, imagine trying to live in a world where animals and other humans compete for survival. Few would last weeks or even days.
The law of conservation of energy says that energy cannot be destroyed: it only changes from one form to another. Applied to a higher reality, the world of consciousness, this offers some interesting parallels to various teachings that we humans have a soul. Our soul inhabits, for a time, a body, and then moves on to another state or body.
Energy, not matter and not our body, is our more essential nature. It has no limiting form and thus shares reality with all others as equals.
We cheerful and ever positive yogis (and others) drink our cheerful "spirits" from the comfort, support and wellspring of inner silence. It is easier to face death or cope with grief or suffering when our life is lived calmly from our own center where we are relatively free from the hypnosis that our body and personality is our reality.
Knowing that suffering, old age and death comes to all, and finding within ourselves "the kingdom of heaven," it becomes gradually easier to experience the pleasures and pains, the successes and failures that are inevitable in life as passing stages or states of mind. But, this detachment from our ego and body DOES NOT (or should not) induce indifference or aloofness towards the sufferings of others. Else, why do Buddhists, and people everywhere, especially the saints, feel such compassion for others even as they, themselves, endure what for many would be an unthinkably self-sacrificing life?
When I am less concerned about ME (and how people treat ME or view ME), I am free to be more loving, interested, and compassionate towards others. I have nothing to lose, for the I AM is not the little "i."
This is, in effect, the secret of the power of Dr. King and Gandhi. You and I don't need to be bookmarked in the pages of history for our great deeds for humanity because "sufficient unto the day" are our stresses, pains, betrayals and hurts. Everyone's path to greater awareness is unique. The outer forms of our struggles and our efforts is secondary to how we handle them.
In the lives of each of these men, their invisible source of courage and inspiration came from a powerful practice of prayer, faith, and meditation. Yes, they had a destiny and role to play. But they each struggled with the energy, will, confidence and endurance to fulfill their roles. Just as you and I do. Their source, their wellspring of the healing waters of peace is as available to us as it was to them.
Yes, we can blame God for creating this universe and for putting into motion the necessary dualities of dark and light, positive and negative, good and evil, male and female polarities which, because always in flux, must necessarily alternate on the stage of history, life and consciousness. It is necessary in order for this "mechanism" -- the illusion of the world -- to be created and sustained: it's akin to the quick "now you see it, now you don't" hand of the cosmic magician. This magic "hand" never seems to stop moving. Panthe Re: all is flux!
But for having written the play; for running the reel of the movie from the beam of light projected from the booth of eternity, God is untouched by good or evil. God is no more evil than Shakespeare for having created the villain of the play. Good and evil are the necessary characters in the drama if it is to seem real, even to (indeed, especially to) the actors.
Those actors who mistake their on stage role for who they are get type cast as B grade actors. Those who play their roles with vim and vigor, always present to the reality of who they really are inside, become the greats of all time.
The impulse to "play" has its source in God's "impulse" to create the dream of creation. Just as we dream unwittingly (rarely lucidly), so God's bliss instinctively projects out from its Joy the waves of creation which, endowed with an echoing impulse and innate pure joy, begins to intelligently create and reproduce....all while the seed, the germ, of divine intelligence and motivation silently hides and guides from the still heart of all motion.
As forms become more self-aware, this impulse becomes increasingly personal and increasingly forgetful (in fact, even disdainful) of the invisible reality that it is, in truth, a spark of the infinite reality. Bit by bit, both in the macrocosm of satanic consciousness and in the microcosm of human consciousness, the process of separation and rebellion creates a veil and the divine light becomes progressively dimmed.
But it is always there even if the darkness of evil or ignorance cannot or will not recognize it. Nothing and no one is ultimately separate from God. But it is we, individually, who must, like the prodigal son, decide to turn away from our separation to return home to the light. We do this because we have suffered the famine of separation and the pangs of the unceasing monotony of duality.
Thus suffering, though inextricably embedded in the cosmos and in our separated consciousness, has a divine role also: to eventually guide us toward the transcendent state at the center of the opposites.
While we can't truly appreciate the "Why" God created this universe (that has given us so many so many temptations and troubles), we can know that, apart from God's initial impulse, we have made countless decisions to "play" in the tar baby of duality.
It is up to us to decide to get off the wheel of samsara (suffering). As we have lived and played for untold lifetimes, so we must accept that escape isn't going to be easy or immediate. We have to pay our dues.
God descends into the human drama through those avatars (saints) who have become his "sons" (who by the self-effort of previous lives attracted His grace until they achieved soul freedom). They are His messengers and they come in every age and time to awaken souls who are ready to "come follow Me (home)." This is the great drama of life whose meaning is, simply, that it IS a drama (and nothing else).
So, go ahead and blame God but don't stop there in self pity. Pick yourself up and do the needful to improve, to transcend ego, to seek the help of one who knows the "Way," and to offer help, as you can, to others. No more sniveling about your troubles. We all have troubles. Lots of people have more troubles than you. Let's get up, stand up, support one another. Act with courage and fortitude, hope and will power.
No act of sincere seeking and openness to the One who is "One with All" will be unrewarded. Faith, hope and charity. Meditation is the single most direct and efficient path to the state of consciousness in which knowing is believing.
Joy to you,
Nayaswami Hriman
In a few days we honor the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each year, Ananda Seattle presents a tribute program (this year, 2016 will be the 14th year!). We combined the tribute to Dr. King with Mahatma Gandhi. We add music and audio-video clips for an inspiring program that is updated and re-scripted almost every year.
An article I wrote about both of these men and what we can learn from them was kindly published by Krysta Gibson of the New Spirit Journal. You can read it online at: http://newspiritjournalonline.com/what-we-can-learn-from-mlk-and-gandhi/
Most people are practical and don't give much thought to the "big questions" like suffering, evil and ignorance. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil (the problems) thereof," said Jesus Christ! Why bother our little heads about these things -- as my mother more or less said to me when, as a child, I would pester her with questions.
We all have our problems; we all die eventually. End of story. Get over it! Well, I like this kind of pragmatism too, but my little head has a mind of its own! So I snuffle around the cosmic forest like a pig looking for truffles!
Whatever you may think about the theology of original sin, no spiritual teaching can be called such if it doesn't encourage us to be better people and to never give up hope ..... whether for being "saved," or "redeemed" or achieving God realization. (The end goal may be expressed variously but hope and effort spring onto us an eternal message.)
And why not? You don't have to be consciously spiritual to see the value in using will power and having hope. Even if we fail, such attitudes are help build strength and character, regardless of outward success.
Paramhansa Yogananda was not the first saint to say, in effect, "A saint is a sinner who never gave up!" Or, as more than one Christian saint put it, "A sad saint is a sad saint, indeed!"
Do we tell the victims of racism and to the loved ones whose child or father has been lynched or shot for no other reason than the color of his skin that "It's all for the best?" I hope to God, not!
I heard Larry King interview Maharishi Mahesh Yogi right after the fall of the Twin Towers in New York city on September 11, 2001. I hope I only offend a few of you, but I was aghast to hear his highness' squeaky voice explain the law of karma on T.V. at such a time of grieving. No doubt he meant well, but, egad, I can never imagine my teacher, Swami Kriyananda, nor yet the great yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, responding with anything but compassion at such a time.
Love (and compassion) is a higher law than the law! It's not as though Sri Yogi was wrong per se but his words were, in my view, at least, simply not appropriate at that time and place. His need to represent the Hindu view of life and to play the role of all wise teacher seemed to eclipse the needs of his listeners. ("Just sayin')
We do need, however, to step back from the human drama if we are see the cosmic drama and have an impersonal insight into suffering, evil and ignorance. The birth, life, and death of stars and planets, and the "eat or be eaten" law of survival among animals are generally accepted by us as a part of the ups and downs of the cosmos. A tiger eats for food and because she's a tiger doing what tigers do. She's not a murderer.
But why are there "bad" people anyway? And why do "good" people suffer? Selfishness, self-protectiveness, ego affirmation: these have a natural appeal in a world of struggle and uncertainty.
That the golden rule is transparently a better way to live is evidently not as transparent as some of us would think. When the light of a greater awareness that includes the needs and feelings of others and of the world of nature is so dimmed that only threatening silhouette shapes of strife, competition, and opportunity can be seen, "golden rule" becomes "What's in it for me?"
We are conditioned by the struggle of life to either recoil in self-defense and aggression or expand in cooperation and harmony.
Either way, we are still "we." Our only option lies in which direction we choose. Materialism is that choice that puts the needs of ego (and body) first and the needs of all others second (or not at all). Spirituality is that choice which finds nourishment and protection in peace and harmony.
The broader our reality the more strength and stability we have. "Love thy neighbor AS thy Self." By contrast, imagine trying to live in a world where animals and other humans compete for survival. Few would last weeks or even days.
The law of conservation of energy says that energy cannot be destroyed: it only changes from one form to another. Applied to a higher reality, the world of consciousness, this offers some interesting parallels to various teachings that we humans have a soul. Our soul inhabits, for a time, a body, and then moves on to another state or body.
Energy, not matter and not our body, is our more essential nature. It has no limiting form and thus shares reality with all others as equals.
We cheerful and ever positive yogis (and others) drink our cheerful "spirits" from the comfort, support and wellspring of inner silence. It is easier to face death or cope with grief or suffering when our life is lived calmly from our own center where we are relatively free from the hypnosis that our body and personality is our reality.
Knowing that suffering, old age and death comes to all, and finding within ourselves "the kingdom of heaven," it becomes gradually easier to experience the pleasures and pains, the successes and failures that are inevitable in life as passing stages or states of mind. But, this detachment from our ego and body DOES NOT (or should not) induce indifference or aloofness towards the sufferings of others. Else, why do Buddhists, and people everywhere, especially the saints, feel such compassion for others even as they, themselves, endure what for many would be an unthinkably self-sacrificing life?
When I am less concerned about ME (and how people treat ME or view ME), I am free to be more loving, interested, and compassionate towards others. I have nothing to lose, for the I AM is not the little "i."
This is, in effect, the secret of the power of Dr. King and Gandhi. You and I don't need to be bookmarked in the pages of history for our great deeds for humanity because "sufficient unto the day" are our stresses, pains, betrayals and hurts. Everyone's path to greater awareness is unique. The outer forms of our struggles and our efforts is secondary to how we handle them.
In the lives of each of these men, their invisible source of courage and inspiration came from a powerful practice of prayer, faith, and meditation. Yes, they had a destiny and role to play. But they each struggled with the energy, will, confidence and endurance to fulfill their roles. Just as you and I do. Their source, their wellspring of the healing waters of peace is as available to us as it was to them.
Yes, we can blame God for creating this universe and for putting into motion the necessary dualities of dark and light, positive and negative, good and evil, male and female polarities which, because always in flux, must necessarily alternate on the stage of history, life and consciousness. It is necessary in order for this "mechanism" -- the illusion of the world -- to be created and sustained: it's akin to the quick "now you see it, now you don't" hand of the cosmic magician. This magic "hand" never seems to stop moving. Panthe Re: all is flux!
But for having written the play; for running the reel of the movie from the beam of light projected from the booth of eternity, God is untouched by good or evil. God is no more evil than Shakespeare for having created the villain of the play. Good and evil are the necessary characters in the drama if it is to seem real, even to (indeed, especially to) the actors.
Those actors who mistake their on stage role for who they are get type cast as B grade actors. Those who play their roles with vim and vigor, always present to the reality of who they really are inside, become the greats of all time.
The impulse to "play" has its source in God's "impulse" to create the dream of creation. Just as we dream unwittingly (rarely lucidly), so God's bliss instinctively projects out from its Joy the waves of creation which, endowed with an echoing impulse and innate pure joy, begins to intelligently create and reproduce....all while the seed, the germ, of divine intelligence and motivation silently hides and guides from the still heart of all motion.
As forms become more self-aware, this impulse becomes increasingly personal and increasingly forgetful (in fact, even disdainful) of the invisible reality that it is, in truth, a spark of the infinite reality. Bit by bit, both in the macrocosm of satanic consciousness and in the microcosm of human consciousness, the process of separation and rebellion creates a veil and the divine light becomes progressively dimmed.
But it is always there even if the darkness of evil or ignorance cannot or will not recognize it. Nothing and no one is ultimately separate from God. But it is we, individually, who must, like the prodigal son, decide to turn away from our separation to return home to the light. We do this because we have suffered the famine of separation and the pangs of the unceasing monotony of duality.
Thus suffering, though inextricably embedded in the cosmos and in our separated consciousness, has a divine role also: to eventually guide us toward the transcendent state at the center of the opposites.
While we can't truly appreciate the "Why" God created this universe (that has given us so many so many temptations and troubles), we can know that, apart from God's initial impulse, we have made countless decisions to "play" in the tar baby of duality.
It is up to us to decide to get off the wheel of samsara (suffering). As we have lived and played for untold lifetimes, so we must accept that escape isn't going to be easy or immediate. We have to pay our dues.
God descends into the human drama through those avatars (saints) who have become his "sons" (who by the self-effort of previous lives attracted His grace until they achieved soul freedom). They are His messengers and they come in every age and time to awaken souls who are ready to "come follow Me (home)." This is the great drama of life whose meaning is, simply, that it IS a drama (and nothing else).
So, go ahead and blame God but don't stop there in self pity. Pick yourself up and do the needful to improve, to transcend ego, to seek the help of one who knows the "Way," and to offer help, as you can, to others. No more sniveling about your troubles. We all have troubles. Lots of people have more troubles than you. Let's get up, stand up, support one another. Act with courage and fortitude, hope and will power.
No act of sincere seeking and openness to the One who is "One with All" will be unrewarded. Faith, hope and charity. Meditation is the single most direct and efficient path to the state of consciousness in which knowing is believing.
Joy to you,
Nayaswami Hriman
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