Who is Jesus Christ?

 

Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the 20^th century spiritual classic, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” stated that “Jesus Christ was crucified once but his teachings have been crucified daily ever since.”

Consider how each person you know perceives you differently and so differently than how view yourself!

To your enemies you are a schmuck. To those who love you, you are ever theirs through thick and thin. But to most who only know you casually, you are a two-dimensional wraith passing through their lives in forms such as co-worker, neighbor, or fellow church goer. You are defined by others largely based on your appearance, age, gender, education, social status, and income.

Jesus Christ was ridiculed, feared, beloved, and ultimately crucified for his crimes. His crimes? Really? What crimes? If Jesus Christ could be so maligned both then and daily ever since, what chance does this give you and I to be understood and accepted?

The very words of Jesus were not contemporaneously recorded, not even in his own language. They were reported decades after his death and the accounts of his life contain many variations and even conflicting details. Other accounts of his life and teachings were discarded from the canon of scripture as false, inaccurate or heretical. In recent times some of these discarded works such as the Gospel of Thomas are being studied anew. Questions have arisen about the real reasons some of them were rejected.

Controversies of the nature of Jesus Christ plagued the first thousand or so years after his death. The so-called Arian heresy was among the most famous and it was settled at the insistence of Emperor Constantine who demanded unanimity across his empire for the newly installed religion.

Some say St. Paul created the foundations of Christianity. Among the apostles there is recorded disagreement on important questions. In the gospel of Mark, it is generally accepted that the story of the resurrection of Jesus was added later! Some doubt the ascribed authorship of the canonical gospels!

My point is not to declaim or deny the divine nature of Jesus Christ: according to the gospels Jesus himself proclaimed himself “son of God.” My point is that I don’t think we really know the true nature of Jesus’ soul or consciousness.

We don’t even know one another; more importantly, we don’t even know ourselves. Spiritual traditions East and West exhort us to “know thyself” as the great quest of humankind. No one who embarks on that journey says that “finding myself” is easy or obvious! We are many things, real, imagined, actual and potential. We play many roles in one lifetime.

The Old Testament of the Bible has five references to “sons of God.” The New Testament has three such references. Nor is it clear what those terms mean even in their own, specific context. What then IS a “son of God?”

Twice in Genesis (Old Testament) God says He has made us in His image. Whatever is the “image” of God if God is something more than an anthropomorphic projection of human perception? Jesus himself said “God is a Spirit.”[1]

The testimony of the greatest saints of Christianity is where we should turn. Yogananda taught that the “saints are the true custodians of religion.” They are, however, often viewed with suspicion by religious authorities—at least until they are safely buried.

The testimony of St. Therese of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Francis (just to name a few of the most famous) affirms the divinity of Jesus Christ not only in the past tense of his human life long ago but in the present, living sense of omnipresence. “Before Abraham, I AM” Jesus declared.[2]

And Jesus’ response to being challenged for this statement was to quote the scriptures themselves when he said, “Do not your scriptures say, ‘Ye are gods?’[3]

The beloved disciple of Jesus (St. John) wrote in the first chapter of his gospel that “as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become the sons of God”[4] Jesus is never quoted as saying “I am the ONLY son of God.” Other uses of this phrase in both the Old and New Testaments suggest a broader meaning of this term may be appropriate. Nor does the term, given the various contexts where it is used, require that all “sons” of God be the same.

Are we, too, perhaps as old as Abraham? Have we, too, come down from heaven?[5] And, if not, are those who “receive” Him at least given the power to become “the sons of God?” (The gospel says as much, doesn’t it?)

I am not averring the obviously blasphemous thought that any of us are on a spiritual par with Jesus Christ: only that we have that potential as children of God, made in the image of God. Only in our case we have “fallen” and forgotten our divine nature.

Nor am I suggesting that by our own efforts that we can become “sons of God.” From the words of Jesus as reported in the canonical gospels, Jesus came to redeem souls and sacrificed his bodily life to do so.

Instead, I am suggesting that the consciousness of the Christ lives in all persons, perhaps in every atom of creation and it appeared fully in human form in the man Jesus as a true and fully realized “son of God.” Yogananda taught that the only reflection of God (a Spirit beyond and untouched by creation) that exists within the creation is a spark of intelligence and calm joy that is centered at the still point of all motion. God manifests the creation through intelligence and vibration: intelligence is the “son” and vibration is the “Holy Spirit” and mother of creation. The son exists in the womb of the mother.

But once we open the door to this omnipresent Christ—a consciousness greater than any limited by a singular human life, we are confronted with the same question Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do men say I AM?

Is it perhaps that the omnipresent, ever-living and ever present Christ is the ultimate redeemer of all souls and that the Christ-consciousness is not limited to its appearance in human form in the body of the man called Jesus? If we, too, have that potential why should only one such human expression exists through all time and space (if its potential exists in each of us)?

Nor does this possibility limit the status, worthiness, and appreciation of the life of Jesus the Christ. That there may be other Christs seems far more likely in the context of the universe and the earth as we know it today: impossibly ancient and vast. That your mother is beloved to you does not diminish the love that others have for their respective mothers. Mothers share in their roles a universal quality not unlike that of living Christs in respect to their followers.

The redeeming Christ then might be a potential within us but one which requires the human Christ for its potential to be activated. Why would that be so? If there were no actual examples of a living, human Christ then why should we have the audacity to imagine we can aspire to be one also?

Given the depth of the hypnosis that we are but a sophisticated high-bred animal, it surely would take the power of grace of such a one to inspire us toward our own soul’s potential. Nor does the power of grace dismiss the herculean effort that it takes to “follow Me.”

We see in many areas of human life the process and acceptance of the transmission of knowledge, experience and authority. We accept that training by proper and competent authorities is the prerequisite for being commissioned to perform certain public functions, both sacred and profane—from an airplane pilot to a priest. In former times a father would train his son, and the skills and arts of the father would be transmitted down through generations.

As God ordains and commissions the prophets and as sincere souls look to such messengers for guidance, why would we not need a redeemer whose “touch,” whose grace even beyond his words and instructions, would be necessary for redemption? And would the power of that grace vanish when the human form that expressed it is gone from sight?

What, then is redemption? Redemption is the release from the hypnosis that we are anything less than the son of God! Here I speak not of an intellectual concept or affirmation but of transformation towards realization. We see this redemption in the lives of the saints.

Having rejected the precept of reincarnation early in Christian history, Christian dogma was forced to leave the final redemption to the afterlife since so few could achieve sanctity in a single lifetime.[6] The sacraments were energized to affirm our potential for sanctity even if only after death.[7]

Taking a step, indeed a giant leap of faith, from Jesus the ONLY Christ to the acceptance of Christ consciousness appearing in multiple forms, is to me the only “way, truth and life” by which Christians can enter the new world of the twenty-first and future centuries. Otherwise, their beloved dogmas silo themselves to the exclusion of billions of other sincere, faith-inspired peoples with religions equally infused with saints, miracles, and redemptive grace.

Just as we reserve a special love for our own mother without needing to reject other mothers, let those of the many faith traditions continue to remain loyal to their faith while yet also accepting that the Christ has incarnated in other forms to guide devotees of other faiths. Let the mantra of the Twenty-first century be “BOTH-AND” rather than “EITHER-OR.”

Blessings to all,

Swami Hrimananda

---

[1] John 4:24

[2] John 8:58

[3] Psalm 82:6; see John 10:34

[4] John 1:12

[5]   John 3:13 (KJV): “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

 

[6] Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD

[7] But reincarnation makes far greater sense in considering both the justice and the mercy of God, but that topic is another topic.

 

He said; She said; the world goes 'round

Scene: sometime after the novelty of a new relationship has worn off:

"Can you give me a hand here? I can't lift this thing?"

"I'm busy, can't you see. I need to finish this."

or is it: "When will you be back?" "Hard to say, depends on when I get things done."

He prizes his independence, freedom and self-sufficiency and doesn't feel he needs permission or approval for his plans. Focusing on his work and/or interests, he is self-absorbed and sometimes forgetful. She sees the two of them as partners, working together, planning and sharing; she's considerate, articulate and organized.

He doesn't like being held to perform according to someone else's expectations as to time, place or satisfaction. She expects him to know or support what she needs and to view her as his first priority just as she feels he is hers.

[Genders could be exchanged; used only for illustration.]

Independence vs commitment! Is one better or a higher priority than the other? We need to learn to stand on our own two feet and yet, we need to give and receive help. We are born helpless and need parents, teachers and mentors for the first two or three decades of life! And, truthfully, much longer even this.

Both represent important aspects of the experience of human life and the soul's journey towards freedom. Free will and independence are the core and the center of human life but connection and oneness is the soul's journey and goal.

The conversation I am framing is actually not really about men and women but using these archetypes or, if you prefer, stereotypes, as labels which make good handles for (static) conceptualizing--though poor handles for the reality of life's ceaseless ebb and flow.

When we are born and as infants we have yet to reacquire a strong ego self-identity. Gaze into the eyes of an infant and you see luminous consciousness, but very little ego. For the first few months of life, the infant is happy no matter who holds her. But as the months pass, an attachment forms to (usually) the mother.

The very growth and interaction with its parents could be described as a process by which the child is taught day after day that she is a separate entity and her likes and dislikes, the essence of ego, is inextricably linked to who and what she is. This includes her name: her handle. "Do you like this?" "Do you want that?" Incessant programming of likes and dislikes. Partly, this programming is instinctive survival and growth training.

I have heard it said that you teach a child the name of a bird, the child will never see the bird again: he'll only repeat the name of the bird and imagine that he now knows the bird because it has a name. Names are the mental handles by which we pour the essence of reality into a neatly and tightly sealed jar.

No sooner than this child grows through adolescence and towards adulthood and he is attracted to someone with whom he falls in love and, for a time, feel one again with another. This is short-lived yet the desire is strong enough that nowadays people will attempt it multiple times during their life. 

We are born as One. We grow as two. We seek to be One again. I suppose most people eventually simply accept one another's differences and take from the relationship the best they can and leave the rest. This is a realistic approach but it doesn't erase, though it might suppress for a time, the impulse for union, for completion, for expansion beyond the ego into a greater awareness. This impulse is the spiritual remembrance or impulse.

It has been said that "It may be a blessing to be born into a religion but it is a misfortune to die in one." Religion, like relationship, should teach us how to love purely and unselfishly and, eventually, how to love all as a part of ourselves.

The commitment needed in a relationship is similar to the commitment on the spiritual path. Both can sharpen our skills and depth of commitment but from the depth and safety of learning to love we can grow to love all as One. (This does not imply that we marry "everyone" only that we can expand our love impersonally, which is to say, without thought of self, to all.)

While remaining true to our commitments (both spiritual path and human relationships), we expand to appreciate, respect, and indeed love all as extensions of our soul-Self.

Spiritual journey is similar: we "date" by trying on different religious or spiritual costumes and ideas. Then we marry and become one (of those or one of "them").

If we are sincere and our chosen path is true, we will go beyond the support of the outer forms into the center of our soul's being. Later we emerge appearing perhaps to be as one (of those). Like the Zen saying: before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water!

The spiritual path is necessarily an "inside job," so comparisons are tentative at best. Thus it is some of the mystics of Christianity, though persecuted by their own religious hierarchy, nonetheless emerged in support of the very same structure through which they passed beyond. I think in this regard of St. Theresa of Avila, St. Joseph of Cupertino, and the more recent Padre Pio.

In marriage too there can be a mid-stage of hurts, betrayals, persecution or conflict, and a later stage of acceptance and reconciliation.

The lesson is to understand that, whether from the soul's perspective or the ego's, we ebb and flow between the need to be apart, centered in the Self or in our own needs and realities, and other times to be giving, serving and self-forgetful. This is as true in our relationship with God as it is in our marriage or partnership.

Even the most devoted lover (whether of God or spouse) will have times when struggle, inner conflicts, outer demands preoccupy one's thoughts, emotions, energies and actions. And other times when absorbed in the love and contemplation of the beloved.

Only in enlightenment does the distinctions wholly cease, the inner and outer having merged into one.

Hope for a Better World? The Bunny & the Bird

The other day at our home on Camano Island I was standing in the kitchen brooding about this topic about which I am slated to give a talk at Spiritual Renewal Week (Ananda Village, CA) on Tuesday, June 29. As I was half-looking out the window immersed in thought, a furry brown movement out by the hedge along the street caught my attention. I looked more closely to see a small rabbit there munching away. Rabbits are the norm out on our lawn but this one was so small I couldn't see it well even with my glasses on. Then, suddenly, a small bird with an orange-colored breast appeared near the rabbit. At first, I thought it was a coincidence. Then as I watched, I saw them taking turns chasing one another playfully around a nearby bush: first one way, then back the other way. The bunny disappeared in the hedge and the bird hopped about along the edge poking its beak in the edge as if they were playing hide and seek!

This amusing scene snapped my deeper thoughts from their well but when I finished watching my mind announced: "Yes, THIS is the Hope for a Better World! A playful rabbit and a bird!

As Gandhi put it, "For, in the midst of death, life persists; in the midst of untruth, truth persists; in the midst of darkness, light persists.

In the year 2000, Padma and I, enroute to the Frankfurt Book Faire, stopped in Holland to visit her brother and some friends. Her brother had organized a family reunion of sorts except that their family, being Jewish, were decimated during WW II in the Nazi concentration camps. For several years, Padma's brother carefully researched the whereabouts of the few remaining extended family members. He collected photos and memorabilia, published accounts such as he could secure, and then invited their descendants and what few remained to a reunion. As I walked about the gathered photos, one photo caught my eye and has stuck with me all these years.

The year was 1945. Holland suffered greatly in the last year of the war with shortages of food and supplies. The Jewish population had all but vanished. Europe at large was destroyed and destitute. Yet here was a photo of a wedding. It was probably held in some small hotel in Amsterdam. Two people, one of which was a surviving member of the Gobets family, was getting married. What struck me as astonishing was that here amidst ruin was a tangible affirmation of life and love. How many who survived the war must have found, apart from relief that it was over, it incongruous to feel joy; to experience love; to dare to hope!

But if in pre-Covid days you've attended as many wakes, funerals or celebratory memorials as I have you see that amidst the tears are bursts laughter and gentle remembrances. Family and friends come together who would otherwise not see each other and their affirmations of friendship and love cannot be suffused by their loss. Joy, too, springs eternal.

Hope begins at a very human and not especially enlightened level. The hope that things will simply improve remains firmly fixed in the ceaseless flux of duality. This kind of hope is more like the carrot on the stick that keeps the donkey of the ego always pressing on for the green grass that surely must lay just beyond the next turn. But the ups and downs of this mundane kind of hope must eventually seek a more lasting reward. It's a good beginning, however.

Upwards four million have perished during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many did so with no loved ones allowed to be present. Many perished with little advance warning. Some were not even obvious candidates at risk. But out of the clouds of suffering and death, millions more, staying home, began to re-think their priorities. Many were happy to leave behind the daily grind of the commute to work; they found the satisfaction of being at home with children, spouse, or partner; of having time for yoga and meditation; the fulfillment of reaching out to neighbors; to staying more in touch with families and friends at a distance; to cooking fresh food rather than fast food. Many have come to the realization that they'd been living in a squirrel cage of ceaseless activities; For those who have survived the pandemic (and that's by far many MORE people than did not), a shift of priorities has been offered to them in the direction of a more fulfilling life.

But "hope springs eternal" because it is rooted in eternal truth. Nonetheless, the great drama of life must go on and our hope should aspire to something deeper than temporary relaxation from today's troubles. At this time in history, hope is what we seek because so much of what surrounds us bespeaks its opposite. I don't need to list the challenges to humanity and to our earth that we ourselves as a race of humans have created.

Furthermore, predictions made by Paramhansa Yogananda for the future did not include tiptoeing through the tulips of life. Many challenges await humanity and I cannot help but feel we are moving inexorably, like the Titanic plowing full-speed toward the iceberg of its demise. In our instance, Yogananda didn't predict we would "sink" but much suffering lies ahead especially for those who refuse to change. 

And yet, I remain hope-filled. Why? Not only did Yogananda predict that future challenges would eventually end and a period of peace would follow but that "the time for knowing God has come!" Sensitive study of human history through the eyes, stories and teachings of the masters reveals God's participation and aid continually offered to those who reach up to seek it.

As Yogananda wrote in his autobiography about Mahavatar Babaji:

The Mahavatar is in constant communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined masters — one with the body, and one without it — is to inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds, religious sectarianism, and the boomerang-evils of materialism. Babaji is well aware of the trend of modern times, especially of the influence and complexities of Western civilization, and realizes the necessity of spreading the self-liberations of yoga equally in the West and in the East.

Hope for a Better World rests upon those who seek God first, God alone. Hope for a Better World exists notwithstanding what humanity has failed to do in terms of dharma. God and the angels are there to help us. The avatars are God's messengers in human form. Ananda Moyi Ma replied to a questioner's concern about the fate of this crazy world by saying "Don't you think that He who has made the world knows what best to do?"

Padma and I have been sharing excerpts and inspirations from the original lessons written by Yogananda. In one recent lesson whose topic was how to contact departed souls, Yogananda made a passing comment that "astral inhabitants study and help one another" and people on various planets. He went on to make the amazing statement that if it were not for the help extended to people on Earth humanity and the earth would "explode with sin." 

Let me recount a strange story that can be found in the Old Testament: Exodus, chapters 18 and 19. There was old Father Abraham sitting outside his tent in the heat of the day. The Lord appears to him along with three men (The Lord and two angels). Abraham invites them to stay and his wife Sarah provides a meal to them. Hiding in her tent she overhears the Lord saying that when he comes back in about a year Sarah will have given birth to a child. In the tent she laughs out loud because both she and Abraham were about 100 years old; but the Lord hears this and calls out to her to ask why she laughed, after all he was the Lord and if he says she will have a child...... But Sarah denies that she laughed! Charming, eh?

Then the three men go walking away and Abraham goes with them part of the way as a host often does when the guests leave. The Lord muses to himself out loud whether he ought to tell Abraham what he plans to do, for the Lord heard that Sodom and Gomorrah were very wicket and he was going down there to see for himself. Abraham is very surprised and questions the Lord whether he would destroy these towns which might include righteous people. Would he do it if 50 could be found who were loyal and righteous? The Lord admitted that for 50 he would not destroy the towns. 

So Abraham goes on like this openly questioning and chiding the Lord for lack of mercy as he "beats him down" bit by bit: first 50, then 45, then 40, then 30, 30, and finally 10 righteous souls!

Not only do these stories reveal an intimacy of conversation between God and Abraham and not only does Sarah feel she can lie and Abraham feel he can chide the Lord God, but God agrees that if even as few as ten righteous souls can be found the towns would be spared notwithstanding their evil!

How often I have doubted that God is paying attention or is willing to help. But it is not so. 

Although my topic is not primarily about Swami Kriyananda's book by the same name, his thesis is that the appearance and proliferation of intensional spiritual communities will uphold examples of "how-to-live" in Dwapara Yuga." I'm not going to examine this new age and its many futuristic implications for I want to focus on this idea that such communities are an integral part of the hope for a better world.

Partly this hope is based on the less than hopeful nature of human consciousness in these times: a nature and tendency towards personal self-interest that is only going to grow stronger. Examples of enlightened self-interest are necessary but such examples must be relevant to the culture in which they appear. In a time when people from all parts of the world will increasingly live together in urban, suburban, and rural locations, an intentional community grounded in spiritual ideals hold great promise to serve as examples.

Swami Kriyananda makes the analogy to the monasteries of the early and middle Ages. During what used to be called the Dark Age (somewhere between 500 and 1000 A.D.), the Christian monasteries served as beacons of spiritual light, learning, culture and art. Might intentional spiritual communities offer a similar example in this age? I think it possible. Much depends on just how deeply the otherwise unsustainable consumption lifestyle is impacted. While I doubt we will be blown back into the Dark Ages, I think it is possible that widespread economic depression, wars, earth changes, and pandemics can deal a major blow to "business as usual."

One of the persistent questions that surround the communities movement is to ask "To what degree do communities need to incorporate spiritual ideals in order to be sustainable?" The reason the answer is elusive is that one cannot easily define the term "spiritual." Swami Kriyananda leaves no doubt that without the force of a spiritual, ego-transcendent "glue," communities that nurture only the individual ego will end up being contractive. But as he asks relentlessly in the book, "Will it work?" We shall see.

Part of the answer to that perennial question revolves around the extent to which a community has a group purpose and not just the intention to fulfill the needs and development of the individual. Here's an excerpt from the book:

"To return to cooperative intentional communities: Their real purpose should be to inspire people toward actual ends, both communal and individual. Intentional communities would be of little practical service if they encouraged people merely to live together as friends on the same property. Goals are needed to inspire the whole group. If their boat – to return to our former analogy – lacks both a rudder and a compass, it will simply drift. And if the group has no positive purpose, even though its members enjoy their friendly interaction together, it will bring most of them, after a time, the feeling that something is amiss.

Communities offer an especially practical path to self-conquest. They require outer goals, also, toward which their members can aspire together. If it were only a question of everyone’s exploring his own potential, people might as well become hermits. But people need one another. Good company and good environment: Both are needed – as much so as the body needs nourishing food. Communities that are dedicated to high principles are an important way of inspiring people to make an effort that few would make on their own.

With the confusion of opinions, the raw emotions of divisiveness, there still stand out the stories of someone who paid for another's groceries at the supermarket. Among those who embrace conspiracy theories, among those who rail against vaccines, are still souls who love their families, do good work, and aspire to idealism. General Robert E. Lee chose out of loyalty to fight for his home state in the Confederacy and yet he was no less a noble soul.

I'd like to segue into some thoughts about the book, Hope for a Better World, by Swami Kriyananda. The talk I gave and the subject with the same name isn't necessarily focused on the book but it has much to offer. This book is a companion to another book, Out of the Labyrinth. Swami's analysis of the leading lights of Western science, economics, psychology, politics, and philosophy is extraordinary in its simplicity and wisdom. Like the child proclaiming "The emperor has no clothes," Swami asks each one, "Does your philosophy work?" He shows that their cups of conflict are not half-empty, but at least half-full, or, as I would like to put it, hope-full. You and I may feel little to no interest in or influence from the nihilistic likes of Machiavelli, Adam Smith, Freud, Karl Marx or Charles Darwin, but they have profoundly impacted history, especially in the twentieth century with the gospel of conflict and competition.

The mechanistic and materialistic worldview of the West has more than shown its flaws in the hundreds of millions killed in wars and genocide; in exploitation, poverty, economic depressions, suicide, drug and addictions of all kinds. At the same time, the sectarian dogmas of religion echo this same gospel of conflict and competition rather than offer humanity a scripture of peace and harmony. The West was trapped in its own aggressive success. Having conquered the world, we lost our soul. It was from the East that a new dispensation of hope was to come in 1920.

As the prior speaker has shown us, we have entered an age where individual self-interest, awakening intelligence, and awareness of gross and subtle energy characterize our slowly advancing civilization. This is the foundation of hope for a better world: we are getting smarter. And I don't mean we are getting more technological! 

Increased intelligence, awareness of the world around us, and a greater degree of vitality and energy cannot but help, in time, to bring the world together. At first, however, we are like teenagers eager to party. Selfishness, sensuality, and high-risk behavior would seem to suggest a lessening of intelligence and awareness of others and so it is when energy leads the trio. But travel, social media, education and the admixture of races, religions, and cultures feed a growing and sobering awareness. Even if at first, the reaction is repulsion, in time, by force of practical necessity and common sense, we cannot help but see ourselves and our world in a new and inclusive light.

But something else is needed. I think of the nearly two millennia after the life of Jesus Christ. For all the woes and barbaric inclinations of those times, what would have been the fate of peoples if Christ's teachings and the lives of the saints had not existed? The Christian religion had, itself, plenty of internal corruption but for all of that, not even historians deny its civilizing influence.

We today also need our version of Jesus Christ. This promise of hope is clearly expressed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: "When virtue declines and vice predominates I incarnate into human form to destroy evil and re-establish virtue." (B.G. 9:7-8)

Since this new age, Dwapara Yuga, is still fraught with materialism and only stands halfway to dharma, we can expect that self-interest will strongly default to selfishness and that intelligence will follow the selfish emotion while greater awareness will show but new opportunities for self-enrichment. Ours is a mercantile age where the "business of humanity is business."

Yoga: raja yoga and kriya yoga: have been sent to the West in scientific forms to offer sensitive hearts a way out of narrowness, pride of pedigree, nationality or religion, into the blue skies of universality. As we are personal, so too universality must be personal, too. Not narrow, but committed and individually creative.   

Putting Meditation To Work!

If meditation helps us to live our life more calmly, think about its opposite. Imagine that you're late for an appointment and can't find your car keys or your phone. Maybe you are burdened by a deadline at work. Your movements are jerky and your mind is going "a mile a minute!" You can't focus and you are distraught!

Then, before you know it, you knock over your cup of coffee. It spills all over your papers, perhaps your clothes. Things go downhill from there, right?

Remember this tip: "Restlessness is the precursor to failure (disappointment, mistakes, and/or negativity)."

It, therefore, holds that "Patience is the quickest road to success." This well-known axiom encourages us to "do it right the first time!" But only by calm and quiet confidence can we ever truly succeed. And what is success? It is more than accomplishing a goal. True success is the satisfaction of one's conscience and peace of mind. Nor is peace achieved by passivity or fear or refusal to engage in what must be done!

I want to share with you a "peace" of counsel given to me by my yoga teacher. It has guided my life:

The more you seek rest as the consequence of doing, rather than in the process of doing, the more restless you will become. Peace isn’t waiting for you over the next hill. Nor is it something you construct, like a building. It must be a part of the creative process itself.

This brings us, therefore, naturally to the one human activity that most effectively brings to our mind, heart, and body relaxation, calmness, and confidence: MEDITATION! The mental and physical benefits of meditation can be sought for their own sake or as a stepping stone to higher consciousness or spiritual growth. But here, for my purposes, I want to focus on meditation for true success and happiness. In India from which comes to us the science of meditation, there is a famous saying (so representative of its traditional culture): "To the peaceless person, how is happiness possible?" (And I would add: how is success possible?)

Meditation isn't complicated but neither is it easy. Like exercise and diet, it takes will power and intention. But like all other valuable habits, it won't work through guilt or tension. You have to WANT to meditate in order to get to the point where it is ENJOYABLE. Enjoyment and results are achieved after learning how to meditate and persisting in developing the art of it, not just the science of it.

Sit upright but in a relaxed but alert natural posture: chest up slightly; head level; shoulders relaxed; palms upward on the thighs. Open or close your eyes as you feel. (As you internalize it will be natural for most people to close their eyes.)

Take a few long, slow but enjoyable breaths. Let the "stomach" (actually, the diaphragm) expand out as you inhale slowly. As the inhalation progresses you will feel your rib cage expand outward to the sides. Then, finally as you complete the inhalation, the upper chest may rise just a little. Don't force it, however. Like the strokes of the brush of an artist, your controlled breathing should feel "right" not forced.

You may pause briefly at the top of the inhalation but it is not necessary. Exhale with a controlled release. The exhalation can be slightly longer (if you were timing it) than the inhalation. You can pause or not pause after the end of the exhalation but just continue this controlled breathing for at least three to five breaths.

Usually, three to five breaths will trigger a sense of increasing calmness, but if not, continue for a while and learn to anticipate a sense of peace and quiet satisfaction coming over you. Then cease your controlled breathing, and sit quietly. Relax not just your body but your mind. Since the mind is happier if we give it a focus, let that focus be on your natural (no longer controlled) breathing. Observation of the breath is a time honored and universally effective practice. Your observation can be in the chest (lungs etc.) or in the flow of inhalation and exhalation in the natural channels of the nose.

If your mind needs a bit more to chew on, create a word formula or a personal affirmation. I am peaceful; I am calm; I am confident.....etc. etc. Don't TRY to concentrate. Relax into interested attentiveness on your practice. It's the same attentiveness you might apply to watching a movie, reading a book, engaging in a sport or exercise, or cooking--anything, in short, that you WANT to do!

At the end of your time (it's not length of time; it's QUALITY of calm focus and resulting peacefulness), ask your intuitive self a question that might be on your mind. Ask in positive, not negative terms. In your calm state, be open to a variety of responses, even one that your mind otherwise might reject. Feel for what is the right action or attitude to take in that situation. Pose alternative solutions to your intuitive mind.

Or, at the end just bring to your mind the image of a loved, friend, neighbor, or co-worker who could use a little "peace of your mind" for their health or daily life. Send that "peace" to that person without any consideration of desired results. It's a peace gesture, in other words.

You see: it's THAT simple.

Ananda Visits SRF Shrines

During the week of October 7-11, twenty-six Ananda members from the Pacific Northwest visited the places in southern California where Paramhansa (Paramahansa) Yogananda lived and taught. Prior to the years of the pandemic, such pilgrimages were common every few years. In fact, the week before our group traveled, another such group from Ananda in the San Francisco Bay Area visited as well.

Mt Washington

Our stops were as follows: Self-Realization Meditation Gardens in Encinitas; SRF International Headquarters on Mt. Washington in Los Angeles; Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale; SRF Hollywood Temple; and SRF Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades. We stayed two nights at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. This is the sight where Paramhansa Yogananda left his body on March 7, 1952, in a crowded banquet hall in honor of the newly appointed ambassador from India to the United States.

In addition, we had meditations in Encinitas at the Temple of Joy owned by Casey Hughes. 

The SRF shrines are beautifully maintained and enveloped in meditative silence and peace. The outdoor gardens that surround these locations are exquisitely beautiful. The monastics (monks and nuns plus volunteers) who curate these shrines are generally very calm, kind, and inward. The buildings, though aging, appear to be immaculately maintained. In short, these shrines are a Disneyland of divine consciousness for a meditator and follower (disciple) of Yogananda.

Encinitas bluff

We were privileged to take turns in small groups going upstairs to the third-floor rooms where Yogananda lived at Mt. Washington, overlooking downtown Los Angeles. The atmosphere is deeply hushed, and the sense of timelessness and transcendence is as tangible as Yogananda’s overstuffed chair draped with his ochre-colored shawl. His adjacent bedroom also vibrates with his presence and emits an aura of simplicity and peace. The downstairs chapel—site of kriya initiations, meditations, and ceremonies where Yogananda experienced God and various saints—drew us like a giant magnet to sit and meditate.

SRF Hollywood Church

When so deeply committed to maintaining these shrines, the task is not unlike operating a museum. The atmosphere is hushed. Indeed, any loud talking or group activity is generally nipped in the bud by the nearest docent or monastic. Even sitting on the floor in one of the chapels (as is common with meditators) is not allowed. This is not surprising since thousands visit these places every year and without clear oversight (aka rules) visitors would likely create disruptions and attract attention to themselves by practicing yoga exercises out on the lawns, expressing excessive devotional postures, chanting aloud and so on in time, if not monitored and even suppressed, create a very un-museum like atmosphere. 

Lake Shrine

This kind of strict control blends harmoniously with traditional monastic attitudes such as obedience, silence, and humility. The monastics are all neatly attired: monks in simple high-collar short-sleeved shirts; and nuns in yellow saris.

We were privileged to watch a silent video of Yogananda conducting the dedication ceremonies at the Hollywood Temple (August 30, 1942). In that video, one could see the energetic, creative, and dynamic way Yogananda related to the public at large. At that location, he started a Mushroom Burger stand and held Indian cultural events, and in Encinitas, he experimented with what he called a “world brotherhood colony” as a pilot program for future intentional communities, he had a carrot juice processing plant, and a small farm, among other how-to enterprises to provide support for the work and for the residents. He created many vegetarian recipes, shared healing techniques, and spoke on topics such as material success, leadership, social justice, politics, marriage, and child-raising to mention just a few. The mission of preservation began some years after Yogananda’s passing in 1952 and after the passing of his non-monastic male successors. While SRF also conducts public teaching, retreats, and outreach, none of that comes even close to matching Yogananda’s expansive energy and consciousness. Most notably, then, SRF has embraced the Vishnu or preserving aspect of creativity and has done a wonderful job of that. 

We visited Forest Lawn Cemetary in nearby Glendale and chanted and meditated in front of where Yogananda's body is interred. We also stayed two nights at the grand hotel the Biltmore where Yogananda left his body on March 7, 1952 at a banquet he held in honor of the newly appointed ambassador from India to America.

Biltmore Hotel 
Where Yogananda
left his body

 

Yogananda's crypt

Ananda, by contrast, is more akin to the spirit of Yogananda during those dynamic years of his life of constant travel, creativity, and outreach. Ananda was founded by Swami Kriyananda who came to Yogananda in 1948 and was accepted by Yogananda into the ashram as a monk in their very first meeting at the Hollywood Church. Within a year the young “Rev. Walter” (as Yogananda addressed Swami Kriyananda) was giving kriya initiation and was given the position of head monk (even though many of the monks were twice as old as Kriyananda (22 years old in 1948), and was giving classes and Sunday Services at both Hollywood Church and the San Diego SRF Church. By the late 1950s, Kriyananda was on the SRF board of directors.

Swami Kriyananda took seriously the thundering call to action by Yogananda on that day in July 1949 at a Beverly Hills garden party for the establishment of world brotherhood colonies which he predicted would someday spread like wildfire. Swami Kriyananda was the only one out of nearly 800 people in attendance that day who later established such a community.

So, in contrast to the SRF mission of preservation (Vishnu-like), Ananda’s mission is the “Brahma-like” aspect of the outflowing creative force (Holy Spirit or Aum vibration).

The group’s visit to Casey Hughes’ “Temple of Joy” in Encinitas was primarily for the purpose of finding a place for group meditation and chanting. Casey’s is the “Shiva-like” energy of dissolving outward forms of organization to affirm the universal aspects of Yogananda’s mission in seeing in all faith-forms the central and sole reality of God. Casey’s Temple of Light seeks to honor all forms of worship and practice.

These three represent what is taught in India and by Yogananda as the three faces of the Holy Spirit, or Divine Mother as the creative vibration that makes possible and visible all creation and consciousness. One aspect brings into manifestation the forms of creation; another, preserves those forms; yet another dissolves them. None can exist without the other.

 Yogananda called his temples “churches of all religions” but unsurprisingly few people understood his intention in using that phrase. He didn’t mean that each faith tradition would be practiced there; nor yet that his was a syncretization of all faith traditions. Rather, the practice of meditation, and especially advanced forms of meditation such as the Kriya Yoga he brought to the public, works directly on our consciousness through the vehicle of breath and life force to reunite with soul force with the goal to achieve God-realization: the very purpose of our creation. Such upliftment and the goal of Self-realization is the “religion” underlying all faith traditions.

Each of these three expressions were beautifully expressed by Yogananda during his life. His years of “barnstorming” around the country, his printed lessons in meditation and yoga philosophy, and his writings represent his Brahma aspect. His cultivation of celebrities and “influencers” and his promotion of cross-cultural appreciation and racial integration were part of his socio-political activism.

At the same time, he established in southern California his headquarters and later branch churches and a monastic order of monks and nuns to be the nucleus of his organization in his Vishna-aspect.

His Shiva-aspect was his insistence on the universality of the teachings of Sanaatan Dharma and the practice of Kriya Yoga for all sincere people and as the “religion” of the dawning new age (of “Dwapara Yuga”). 

Casey's Temple of Joy

There has been and perhaps always will be some tension between these three aspects. However, even when one aspect appears more dominant than another, all three aspects must be nurtured at least to some degree for the specific expression to maintain its integrity and attunement to Yogananda’s vibration and mission. Too much Brahma becomes restless and scattered. Too much Vishnu becomes rigid. Too much Shiva loses vitality and identity. Thus, SRF has tried to energize a lay order emphasizing community. Ananda has established a religious order, and Casey’s Temple of Light strives to maintain harmonious relations with the other two and with many other spiritual paths!

In our group’s pilgrimage I could see that some members of the group resonated more with one or the other aspect. SRF’s expression is so neat and beautifully maintained as to seem perfect, even if, people being people, one imagines that behind closed doors are the usual challenges inherent in a rigidly controlled way of life. Ananda is fun-loving, inclusive, and creative but the individual discipline, inwardness, and dignity needed for attunement and the practice of meditation might seem lacking to some people. Casey’s Temple of Light mission seems free from all limitations imposed by self-definition but compared to SRF or Ananda is limited to few people. It is free and open to all (wonderful) but carried (mostly I assume) by Casey and his partner alone.

All in all, our group had a deeply blessed experience and all are grateful for those devotees who greeted and hosted us at each location as representatives of our guru, Paramhansa Yogananda. May we each keep marching on the “only path there is” (inward and upward) in our own unique way.

         

How to Outwit Bad Karma!

 How to Outwit Bad Karma! 

 

There is a way out of bad karma, but the “way” is narrow and straight and “you” get left behind. You want to hear more? 

What is karma? Karma is the self-balancing after-effects of previous actions, including thoughts and emotions, not just physical deeds. Thus, the term “karma” includes what is ordinarily considered “good” karma as well as “bad.” However, most casual uses of the term “karma” tend to assume “bad” karma.  

What, then is “bad” karma? Bad karma is the unwanted boomerang effects of your previous not-so-laudable actions. If you purposely hurt someone (physically or emotionally) you might expect the law of karma to dictate that you will be hurt in return (whether by the person you hurt or another person). Good karma would be the kindness that returns to you for having been kind to others.  

The law of karma can be seen in the law of physics that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In nature, we would refer to the law of karma as the principle of cause and effect. Whether in science or human behavior, our expectations assume the law of causation even though we often cannot see the chain of causes that lead to a specific effect. We would go crazy if our world was not so governed. Life would not be worth living if we could not reasonably expect to exchange good habits for bad habits; if we could not improve our skills, our health, or our relationships. Science wouldn’t exist to improve our lives if experiments could not be duplicated dependably.  

This fundamentally important aspect of human life is akin to the law of gravity. Our lives would be in disarray if gravity did not hold sway on our planet. 

The justice system metes out greater punishment to evil deeds that are done intentionally as compared to accidental misdeeds. This recognizes the importance of intention. Intention reflects consciousness and the implicit participation of doership. Thus, karma is tied to the degree of conscious intention and awareness.  

Doership therefore holds the key to karma: good or bad. Accidents that I cause generate karma (effects) that cannot be changed but their boomerang impact on me sometime in the future is lessened for not having caused the accident intentionally. If I accidentally kill a pedestrian with my car on a dark and rainy night, I certainly incur karma but it is not the same as my committing “first-degree” murder.  

So how to beat my “bad” karma? There are several stages each of which relates to the degree of my ego involvement. 

Stage One: Practice Stoicism Practicing “stoicism” or non-attachment and non-reactivity reduces the tendency to ADD more karma while, at the same time, mitigates the impact of “incoming” or “ripening” karma. Stage One is therefore very efficient.  

Whether “good” or “bad” karma, the solution is the same. I’ll explain why we want to address “good” karma and not just “bad” karma. 

For my purposes, Stoicism is synonymous with non-attachment. One of the most famous aphorisms of the Yoga Sutras is stanza two which defines enlightenment as the neutralization of the mental reactive process to circumstances, thoughts, emotions, memories, and imagination.  This does not imply one becomes an automaton. Rather, to be non-reactive means to be calm and non-attached. There are countless layers of this state, but in the yoga tradition deep meditation is the key. But as the philosophers of Stoicism counsel us, it can begin with seeing life philosophically, meaning, from the God’s-eye point of view. 

Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the now-famous life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” gave this advice: “What comes of itself, let it come. Conditions are always neutral; they may seem happy or sad owing only to the attitudes of the mind.” 

Calmness and non-attachment are not the same as apathy, however. Apathy dulls the mind and awareness, and, to a degree, apathy steals from us the power of self-control. It thus undermines our ability to act calmly. Calmness and non-attachment require presence of mind to uphold their power when circumstances become intense, whether with success, failure, pleasure or pain. Presence of mind requires willpower and centeredness.  

Using will power and the power of habit to remain neutral is easy for the small things but close to impossible for most people when the big tests come.  

Meditation is a far more effective practice for developing consistency in achieving non-attachment. There are, however, many degrees and types of meditation. Meditation that is practiced devoid of spiritual attitudes and wisdom is far less effective than when practiced in its traditional context of devotion, selflessness, self-control, and openness to wise counsel. 

The reason I include “good” karma is that “every coin has two sides.” How can we achieve even-mindedness if we get excited over good fortune but pretend to remain even-minded in misfortune? You will find that the practice of non-attachment will impact your response to both good and bad circumstances. Non-attachment is the steady development of calmness under all circumstances. There is a deeper reason for this equality, however.  

The deeper purpose and power of Stage One is that it prepares us to detach the sense of doership from all actions: both good and bad. While intentional calmness can take us to the brink of what I will call Stage Two, it cannot by itself, cannot carry us over the finish line. 

Stage Two: Soul Consciousness. Human beings have the power to withdraw beyond the realm of causation, away from the play of opposites and boomerangs! The soul is forever free of karma for it is made in the image of God. As we accept divine guidance from within, we achieve freedom from karma. Daily meditation and inner communion with God, attuning one’s human will to the silent voice of intuition is the way out from the soul-degrading serfdom to habits and the reactive process. 

Moral reasoning; scriptural interpretations; pleading emotions; these are rooted in ego consciousness and ego consciousness is the problem. When the ego is transcended in soul-consciousness, the law of karma is transcended also. When there’s no whirling vortex of “I” and “mine” the chain of causation is cut. Our actions, guided by the divine will, accrue to the benefit of others. 

God who created the law of karma suspends the sentence of judgment for those souls who are united to Him. The way to escape the decrees of cosmic law is to live in divine consciousness.  

No matter how busy we are, we should strive in the inner silence to attune ourselves with God. By silent devotion we can deepen our awareness of divine love and wisdom. God is above the law. 

(Note the text above includes excerpts from the Wisdom of Yogananda: Karma and Reincarnation. Published by CrystalClarity.com) 

Joy to you! 

Swami Hrimananda