In the reading at the Ananda Sunday Service for July 11, Jesus explains that as a branch of a tree cannot bear fruit unless it remains part of the tree, so life itself comes (and comes more fully) as we consciously live in the awareness of God’s presence within. Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, declares that all who are glorious are but a spark of the glory of God.
Some of us have just returned from the July 4th weekend at Ananda Village where we welcomed Swami Kriyananda back from India and Italy. His life is a dynamic illustration of what it is to live consciously as an instrument of God.
Swamiji (the suffix “ji” expresses respect and closeness) frequently recounts the story of how he, as a young minister being trained by Paramhansa Yogananda, experimented with how to have God act through him. Once, while giving a Sunday Service talk, he paused to see if God would speak through him. While the audience was gripped in suspense thinking he had frozen out of fear (of public speaking — he had not), he waited for God to speak for upwards two full minutes! Well, you can guess that God did NOT speak.
He realized in this dramatic experiment that he had to do the speaking but, while doing so, he had also to invite God to speak through him: through his thoughts, inspirations, and understanding. As a popular and effective public speaker who speaks from inspiration and without prepared notes he has demonstrated the power of this approach thousands of times.
Swamiji has composed over four hundred pieces of music but once, when a student commented on the strong need and desire that the student had to compose music. Kriyananda remarked that he felt no such need. Music, he said, simply came to him when he needed it for the purposes of his ministry. In fact, his first foray into composing songs came when he visited Yosemite National Park and sang folk songs with others. He knew that devotional chants would not touch these young people but the usual folks songs had no message he felt in tune with.
So, on the drive home to San Francisco, a song suddenly came to him. While driving (he admits this was unwise) he scribbled the words and melody on a napkin. Thus began several decades of composing music. The songs came in response to the desire to serve God in tune with the teachings of his guru, Paramhansa Yogananda. The inspiration was not, in other words, driven by his own desire to compose music for its own (or his own ego’s) sake.
This illustrates beautifully how we can each act as a divine instrument. “How may I serve Thee, Lord?” is the prayer that opens the floodgates of divine power and inspiration. Most of the time we think in terms of what I want to do; how I feel right now about this or that.
As Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita, we are compelled by nature to act. “I will reason, I will will, I wll act, but guide Thou my reason, will, and activity in everything that I do.” This prayer Yogananda has given to us shows us the spirit with which to act.
Paramhansa Yogananda wrote in his famous life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," that divine vision is center everywhere, circumference nowhere. God is not to be found in some antiseptic corner of distant space. God is within us. All we need to do is to improve our knowing and realization of this simple fact. Daily meditation is the most effective way to experience God’s presence on a consistent and ever deepening way. In an experience of cosmic consciousness Yogananda said “I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart.”
We can no more “kill” the ego than can consciousness itself ever be extinguished. For God, who is consciousness itself, exists at the heart of every atom. Thus to “know thy Self” is to reach that center and dwell there. The more frequently we commune with God within ourselves the more we begin to identify with that center and to act from and in harmony with its innate intelligence (which includes love, joy, and peace).
At the same time we must also work at re-directing the deeply embedded tendency of ego to assert itself and to want to steal the center stage of our attention. Humility is not self-effacement. Instead it is self-honesty! How small we are in size; how brief our lifespan in relation to the universe around us; how few are our talents; scant, our knowledge. In tune with divine grace, however, we are infinite: infinitely wise and unconditionally loving.
The constant reference of all actions, feelings, and perceptions to the false self of the ego is what we should re-direct. I saw a New Yorker Magazine cartoon of a down-and-out man sitting at bar saying to a fellow patron, “I’m nothing, yet I’m all I can think about!” It is not easy to expand our consciousness beyond self-interest. Nishkam karma (action without self-interest) is how Krishna counsels the devotee to act.
A story from India that Swamiji frequently tells is one he heard Yogananda relate. A man who was pestered by a demon came upon a mantra that would get rid of the demon. So one day the man recited the mantra onto a special powder and when the demon appeared the man threw the powder at the demon. The demon laughed saying “Before you could say the mantra I entered the powder!”
One day Swamiji awoke to discover that after working assiduously to develop humility, he was suddenly infected with the (thankfully passing) thought of how “proud” he was of his newly found humility!
You see, we are infected by the demon ego and cannot extricate ourselves from its influence by the mere wishing. We must introduce into the magnetic aura of our consciousness a current of energy from above. This current (shakti) is the awakening of our latent divine memory which is transmitted by the guru directly or through living disciples. Yogananda once remarked to some others “Look how I have changed Walter.” (Yogananda called him "Walter.")
So when we receive, or fail to receive, praise we must learn to re-direct our attention to where it belongs: God. Don’t laugh AT people but laugh WITH them! Another New Yorker cartoon shows two hyenas walking along and one says to the other, “You mean all this time you’ve been laughing AT me, not WITH me?”
Swamiji has often told the story how one evening he hosted a dinner party for well known authors during the course of a conference on communities. Though he was the host and the only one among them who had actually started a community, the others were better known to the public. During the party they completely ignored him as they talked with each other about their upcoming books and programs. Kriyananda simply chuckled to himself and enjoyed the experience of being ignored.
“But you’re famous!” someone once objected to Swamiji when, during a casual sidewalk conversation he introduced himself. Most famous people act self-important creating and perpetuating a cycle of ego affirmation.
Stilling the ceaseless flux of thoughts, emotions, and restless actions is the essence of meditation. Refocusing our attention from the ego-self to the divine Self in the I-Thou relationship using whatever form of God we hold dear (whether guru, deity, or divine attribute) is the key to Self-realization.
Swamiji's life has been one of intense service and meditation. He has shown enormous creativity and inspiration in the arts, in organizational matters and deep wisdom in lecturing and writing. Through him has come the sacred chants, ceremonies, and music that comprises Ananda's devotional services. Creativity and enthusiasm have too frequently been suppressed and condemned in the religious life as being pride filled and assertions of ego. This is an error, if an understandable one.
In his over sixty years of public service, Swami Kriyananda has demonstrated the power, the grace, and the bliss of living for God alone. What he, or anyone else has done, we can do! For as Krishna promises us, “even a little bit of this practice will free us from dire fears and colossal sufferings.”
Joy to you, Hriman
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Independence Day!
Dear Friends, hundreds of Ananda members are travelling to Ananda Village in northern California to welcome Swami Kriyananda (Ananda's founder) back from Europe and India. July 4 is also the anniversary date of the founding of Ananda Village in 1968.
So this is an auspicious moment to consider what is freedom and what is Ananda's relationship to it! Most readers of this article understand that from the soul's perspective freedom means freedom from untruth and ignorance. Freedom from delusion also is the doorway to the one thing we all seek: happiness (or more accurately and absolutely, we would say immortality and unalloyed, ever-new bliss - the soul's permanent and true state of Oneness with God).
The principal of duality (the existence of the opposites which, like an engine, drives the great drama of life) dictates that truth lies at the center of those opposites. But to land with pinpoint accuracy upon that center when we and everything in creation is in ceaseless flux means that this still point is not easy to find and tends to seem like a moving target. Thus it is that on the spiritual path truth cannot be expressed in precepts or examples except by imperfect analogy and with a certain taint of irony and paradox.
To return to the subject of freedom, then, we find that to achieve soul freedom appears to require entering into a kind of voluntary servitude! At least from the ego's standpoint, the spiritual life, with its daily disciplines, ego-submission to inner or outer authority, and the giving up of pleasures and comforts is like going off to jail. But that's the irony and the price of admission. To most people the need and reasons for such giving up are obvious.
The problem we have is that "we" don't want to. Or, to be perhaps more fair and reasonable, we are not sure whether the brass ring on the "other side" is worth the price of the ride! Thus to assuage modern sensibilities, much of what passes as spirituality has been quietly sanitized of the vestiges of "cross-carrying" burdens.
There is a positive side of this, lest we wax too cynical. According to Paramhansa Yogananda and his astrologically oriented guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, planet earth is in a long and upward arc of rising consciousness. We naturally tend to be upbeat and want to look for the positive. We don't find inspiration hanging from a cross (mea culpa, mea culpa).
Indeed, even in past centuries when suffering was the summum bonum of the spiritual life, one Christian mystic proclaimed that "a sad saint is a sad saint indeed!" Or, as Swami Kriyananda wrote in the poetic and inspired Festival of Light ceremony (performed on Sunday's at Ananda temples throughout the world), "And whereas in the past suffering was the coin of our redemption, for us now the payment has been exchanged for calm acceptance and joy."
It is important in these times to emphasize that a life of moderation, simplicity, devotion to God and his saints, service to humanity, and silent inner communion with the soul brings to us a satisfaction that no outer success or pleasure can ever offer.
Nonetheless, the pearl of great price cannot be debased. Freedom is not won without sacrifice. When I read about the Revolutionary War which gave birth to America I cannot be but astonished how few people sacrificed so much and how fragile was their margin of victory. Our political and military leaders never fail to remind us that freedom must won again and again, generation after generation.
And so too our soul freedom. Ananda Communities differ from many intentional communities in what seems a glaring absence of democratic and consensus driven decision making. This is because these communities are also ashrams where individuals willingly work together, cooperate, and attune themselves to "what's trying to happen." This includes listening and tuning into the guidance offered to us through what we describe as the "ray of light brought to earth by Paramhansa Yogananda and his line of gurus as represented through Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple."
It's not that we treat Kriyananda's guidance or that of the leaders appointed by him as infallible. But we do practice the art of discipleship to divine guidance by listening first rather than reacting first; by drawing upon inner guidance and intuition rather than mouthing mere opinion or likes and dislikes.
The path to freedom involves a "give up" and a "take up." The giving up is of inclinations and tendencies inherited or brought over, or which affirm our ego and separate identity. The take up is the taking up of listening instead of talking, of serving without thought of self, and of loving without regard to being loved.
Freedom and Independence to each of you, from Ananda,
Hriman(anda)
So this is an auspicious moment to consider what is freedom and what is Ananda's relationship to it! Most readers of this article understand that from the soul's perspective freedom means freedom from untruth and ignorance. Freedom from delusion also is the doorway to the one thing we all seek: happiness (or more accurately and absolutely, we would say immortality and unalloyed, ever-new bliss - the soul's permanent and true state of Oneness with God).
The principal of duality (the existence of the opposites which, like an engine, drives the great drama of life) dictates that truth lies at the center of those opposites. But to land with pinpoint accuracy upon that center when we and everything in creation is in ceaseless flux means that this still point is not easy to find and tends to seem like a moving target. Thus it is that on the spiritual path truth cannot be expressed in precepts or examples except by imperfect analogy and with a certain taint of irony and paradox.
To return to the subject of freedom, then, we find that to achieve soul freedom appears to require entering into a kind of voluntary servitude! At least from the ego's standpoint, the spiritual life, with its daily disciplines, ego-submission to inner or outer authority, and the giving up of pleasures and comforts is like going off to jail. But that's the irony and the price of admission. To most people the need and reasons for such giving up are obvious.
The problem we have is that "we" don't want to. Or, to be perhaps more fair and reasonable, we are not sure whether the brass ring on the "other side" is worth the price of the ride! Thus to assuage modern sensibilities, much of what passes as spirituality has been quietly sanitized of the vestiges of "cross-carrying" burdens.
There is a positive side of this, lest we wax too cynical. According to Paramhansa Yogananda and his astrologically oriented guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, planet earth is in a long and upward arc of rising consciousness. We naturally tend to be upbeat and want to look for the positive. We don't find inspiration hanging from a cross (mea culpa, mea culpa).
Indeed, even in past centuries when suffering was the summum bonum of the spiritual life, one Christian mystic proclaimed that "a sad saint is a sad saint indeed!" Or, as Swami Kriyananda wrote in the poetic and inspired Festival of Light ceremony (performed on Sunday's at Ananda temples throughout the world), "And whereas in the past suffering was the coin of our redemption, for us now the payment has been exchanged for calm acceptance and joy."
It is important in these times to emphasize that a life of moderation, simplicity, devotion to God and his saints, service to humanity, and silent inner communion with the soul brings to us a satisfaction that no outer success or pleasure can ever offer.
Nonetheless, the pearl of great price cannot be debased. Freedom is not won without sacrifice. When I read about the Revolutionary War which gave birth to America I cannot be but astonished how few people sacrificed so much and how fragile was their margin of victory. Our political and military leaders never fail to remind us that freedom must won again and again, generation after generation.
And so too our soul freedom. Ananda Communities differ from many intentional communities in what seems a glaring absence of democratic and consensus driven decision making. This is because these communities are also ashrams where individuals willingly work together, cooperate, and attune themselves to "what's trying to happen." This includes listening and tuning into the guidance offered to us through what we describe as the "ray of light brought to earth by Paramhansa Yogananda and his line of gurus as represented through Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple."
It's not that we treat Kriyananda's guidance or that of the leaders appointed by him as infallible. But we do practice the art of discipleship to divine guidance by listening first rather than reacting first; by drawing upon inner guidance and intuition rather than mouthing mere opinion or likes and dislikes.
The path to freedom involves a "give up" and a "take up." The giving up is of inclinations and tendencies inherited or brought over, or which affirm our ego and separate identity. The take up is the taking up of listening instead of talking, of serving without thought of self, and of loving without regard to being loved.
Freedom and Independence to each of you, from Ananda,
Hriman(anda)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Not WHAT but HOW!
Secret of Right Action! For those who seek to act with integrity and in harmony with Divine will it is far from easy to know what is right action. It is so common, even (perhaps especially) in religion, to justify the means by the ends. How much injury and wrong has been done in the name of a worthy goal, a high ideal, or for the glory of God? How is easy it is to justify oneself. Is it not commonly said, "Even the devil quotes the scriptures."
Not only is it difficult to know what course to pursue but it is even difficult to know which consequences constitute success or failure! Is it "success" if we get by cheating? And don't we sometimes learn from our failures. How many have said that a seeming failure was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
For the secret of right action, and by extension, of success itself lies in the intention and the consciousness that motivates it. In cases (such as losing one's job) where we do not initiate the act, the same can be said for our reaction. If we respond with faith, calmness and creative energy, a seeming failure can be a life-transforming turning point.
We see a similar pattern in criminal or civil law. For example, the punishment for the crime of injuring another person may depend on whether the act was intentionally or accidentally inflicted. But note that punishment is not necessarily waived just because the act was unintended.
Many a high-minded soul is at a loss to know which choice is the spiritually right one. In the great scripture of India, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna admits to his disciple Arjuna that it is very difficult to know what is right action. In Chapter Two of the "Gita" Krishna prescribes the wisdom of achieving union with God as the true and highest path. But in Chapter Three, Arjuna expresses his confusion for the fact that Krishna counsels Oneness with God (through meditation) while also enjoining Arjuna to take part in the great (albeit metaphorical) battle against his cousins (his lower nature) who have stolen his (soul) kingdom.
Krishna then explains that to achieve Oneness one must act. This appears to be a paradox, at least to the intellect. But it is right action that leads us to the actionless state, and right action starts as one performed without selfish motive. But Krishna goes further. Right action is not only one which lacks self-interest but in its highest octave proceeds from, and is expresses the consciousness (and intention) of, God and godly purposes.
It is far less important what we do than how we do it. No legitimate job or task is greater than another. Neither are outward spiritual works greater than mundane jobs as it relates to one's own consciousness if the latter is one's proper duty in life. Regardless of the "what," the how is with intensity of love for God, clarity of purpose, creativity and inner, divine awareness. This is as true for washing dishes as for sharing spiritual teachings. That which pleases God is that which pleases our own higher Self in the manifesation of greater of inner peace, soul joy, perception of God, and unconditional love.
The more that we open ourselves to God's presence in our life the more God will guide us toward right action and to true, soul freedom. Swami Kriyananda in his inspired account of Paramhansa Yogananda's teachings on the Bhagavad Gita (in his book, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita) counsels that to achieve God contact we should learn to relax our awarenness "upward" (to the point between the eyebrows) in meditation. Struggle and tension are self-defeating. To learn devotion to God isn't a matter so much of "trying" as it is to open oneself to receive God's love. By degrees we "fall in love" with God, who IS love!
Daily meditation, combined with right attitudes of self-offering, selflessness, integrity in fulfilling one's worldly responsibilities, creativity, and, perhaps most of all, the joy of God: these are the secrets of right action. Such action leads to freedom from (past) karma and increasing identification with God and soul qualities.
Not only is it difficult to know what course to pursue but it is even difficult to know which consequences constitute success or failure! Is it "success" if we get by cheating? And don't we sometimes learn from our failures. How many have said that a seeming failure was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
For the secret of right action, and by extension, of success itself lies in the intention and the consciousness that motivates it. In cases (such as losing one's job) where we do not initiate the act, the same can be said for our reaction. If we respond with faith, calmness and creative energy, a seeming failure can be a life-transforming turning point.
We see a similar pattern in criminal or civil law. For example, the punishment for the crime of injuring another person may depend on whether the act was intentionally or accidentally inflicted. But note that punishment is not necessarily waived just because the act was unintended.
Many a high-minded soul is at a loss to know which choice is the spiritually right one. In the great scripture of India, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna admits to his disciple Arjuna that it is very difficult to know what is right action. In Chapter Two of the "Gita" Krishna prescribes the wisdom of achieving union with God as the true and highest path. But in Chapter Three, Arjuna expresses his confusion for the fact that Krishna counsels Oneness with God (through meditation) while also enjoining Arjuna to take part in the great (albeit metaphorical) battle against his cousins (his lower nature) who have stolen his (soul) kingdom.
Krishna then explains that to achieve Oneness one must act. This appears to be a paradox, at least to the intellect. But it is right action that leads us to the actionless state, and right action starts as one performed without selfish motive. But Krishna goes further. Right action is not only one which lacks self-interest but in its highest octave proceeds from, and is expresses the consciousness (and intention) of, God and godly purposes.
It is far less important what we do than how we do it. No legitimate job or task is greater than another. Neither are outward spiritual works greater than mundane jobs as it relates to one's own consciousness if the latter is one's proper duty in life. Regardless of the "what," the how is with intensity of love for God, clarity of purpose, creativity and inner, divine awareness. This is as true for washing dishes as for sharing spiritual teachings. That which pleases God is that which pleases our own higher Self in the manifesation of greater of inner peace, soul joy, perception of God, and unconditional love.
The more that we open ourselves to God's presence in our life the more God will guide us toward right action and to true, soul freedom. Swami Kriyananda in his inspired account of Paramhansa Yogananda's teachings on the Bhagavad Gita (in his book, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita) counsels that to achieve God contact we should learn to relax our awarenness "upward" (to the point between the eyebrows) in meditation. Struggle and tension are self-defeating. To learn devotion to God isn't a matter so much of "trying" as it is to open oneself to receive God's love. By degrees we "fall in love" with God, who IS love!
Daily meditation, combined with right attitudes of self-offering, selflessness, integrity in fulfilling one's worldly responsibilities, creativity, and, perhaps most of all, the joy of God: these are the secrets of right action. Such action leads to freedom from (past) karma and increasing identification with God and soul qualities.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Will Jesus Come Again?
Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the world renown classic, "Autobiography of a Yogi," spoke and wrote frequently in respect to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Many of his students and followers have wondered why he did so, especially in light of his emphasis upon respect for and the need to seek a deeper understanding of the underyling truth of all true religions.
He explained that there exists a special link between the lives of Paramhansa Yogananda and Jesus Christ. Though Yogananda himself gave little by way explanation about the nature of this link, his extensive commentaries on the Bible (especially the New Testament) strongly suggest it. At least once that we know of, he was asked directly why he gave special emphasis to Jesus' teachings. His only comment was "It is Babaji's wish that I do so." (Babaji is the Himalayan Christ-like sage who, indirectly, sent Yogananda to the West.)
In respect to his writings on the New Testament, he claimed to have received endorsement from Jesus Christ in vision for his interpretations. Yogananda would usually get a chuckle from audiences when he commented, tongue-in-cheek, that "Jesus was crucified once but his teachings have been crucified daily ever since" by dogmatic and ignorant followers. (He also added, however, that ignorance, East and West, is "50:50", meaning similar distortions of true teachings exist everywhere!)
But what has become of Jesus Christ since his incarnation in Palestine some two thousand years ago? Where is he now? Will he come again? When will be his second coming?
Curiously, Yogananda termed his work in the West the "second coming of Christ." Did he mean that HE is Jesus Christ? Many disciples of Yogananda report they have experienced a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through Yogananda's teachings. During his lifetime, he was frequently "mistaken" for Jesus Christ by his American students and even passers-by.
When Swami Kriyananda (founder of Ananda) asked Yogananda this question directly to him, Yogananda replied brusquely, "What difference would it make?" When I commented to Swami Kriyananda that Yogananda could not have been Jesus in a past life since Yogananda had a vision (more than one, in fact) of Jesus, Kriyananda replied in a similar manner saying, in effect, "What difference would THAT make?" (Apparently, the ability to bring into manifestation the living presence of a saint of past times is independent of subsequent incarnations, including his own!)
Let us put aside, however, this question of whether Yogananda is a reincarnation of Jesus. For we cannot answer that and, as Swami Kriyananda put it, what difference would it make to us!
Yogananda explained that the term "Christ" is a title, not a name. It means the "annointed one." It is a reference, he said, to the God-realized consciousness that the soul named Jesus had attained through self-effort and grace over many lifetimes of spiritual effort. This indwelling, latent, and innate divinity which is our own soul's true nature can be called "the Christ consciousness." The divinity of which Jesus' consciousness partook is therefore infinite and omnipresent. When he spoke using the personal pronoun "I" ("I am the way, the life, and truth and no one achieves the Father but by Me.") he was speaking in the impersonal voice of that universal Christ consciouness, fully conscious and fully realized. It is the indwelling Christ that is our spiritual guide to the heavenly realm of Bliss in God.
This divinity is most realizable in human beings, with our highly advanced nervous system and energy centers known as the chakras. It is latent and can be reawakened by the touch or living presence of one who is an awakened Christ, or savior (or guru). So it might be said that the "first" coming of the Christ is in the form of the guru. The "second" coming therefore would be its consequent awakening in true disciples.
Thus any soul who has achieved this liberated, enlightended state is a Christ. The coming of Christ is as much true in one God-realized soul as another. It is not limited to the person known as Jesus, who lived only thirty-three years long ago in a remote outpost of the Roman empire. In India it has long been taught that God descends into human form via a divine incarnation known as the avatar in response to the call and need of souls in every age. But even accepting that such a one as Yogananda came to earth as an avatar, it remains true that his special mission was to give the "keys to the kingdom." The keys he offers are the techniques of meditation (as well as the spiritual power of grace transmitted through those keys).
These keys include access to the special role in the divine plan for the Holy Ghost. Jesus taught that after his earthly passing he would send the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, to guide his disciples. For it is the role of the Holy Ghost to play a part in the process of the devotee's path to the Father. Once the preceptor has re-awakened the disciple's memory of his divinity, the disciple must seek to enlarge his identification with it within himself. For, as Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is neither 'lo here, or lo there.' It is within you."
In the yoga teachings, the Holy Ghost is referred to as the "Aum vibration." In the gospel of St. John it is referred to as the "Word." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him (the Word)." The Holy Ghost is that first appearance in the creation of God at the inception and as the essence of creating, sustaining and dissolving all things. In Genesis this is explained poetically when it says the "Spirit of God moved across the face of the waters." So the first, or virginal, or primordial vibration of God's creative intention is the Word, or Holy Ghost. It is this vibration that initiates the world of duality through which the seeming appearance and separateness of all things created from their Creator is maintained. This vibration has a sound and is called in various traditions "Amen," "Amin," "Aum," or "Ahunavar." From this vibratory stem cell of creation comes the multitude of differentiated objects both gross and subtle. Each is endowed with the innate intention of the Word to create and the intelligence of God to do so independtly, with free will.
This vibration has both an audible and visual manifestation which the meditator can perceive in the inner silence. The sound usually is generally easier to perceive than the light. God is referred to in forms of sound (lightning, rumblings, many waters etc.) and light perhaps one hundred times throughout the Old and New Testament. It is by inner communion upon the holy Word of God that the devotee begins, in earnest, his ascent toward God. The Aum Vibration is referred to as feminine in many traditions, as it is the mother vibration of the universe.
The meditation technique of communing with the Aum vibration was brought from India by Yogananda. It is taught in the context of discipleship, as the gift of the guru that the devotee might achieve actual divine contact and, by degrees, Self-realization. This technique involves using a mudra (position of the hands) and an arm rest. It enables the devotee to more quickly hear, with "ears to hear," as Jesus put it, this blissfully comforting sound which is the actual presence of God in creation. Communion with Aum reveals to us the remembrance of the truth (that we are children of God) that shall make us free. It also brings great comfort and joy.
Meditating upon Aum is a step towards the next level of Self-realization. By prolonged inner communion with Aum, the devotee comes to the next stage which is to commune with the vibrationless state of the Christ consciousness itself. This sphere of pure consciousness is the only "begotten son of God." It is the only pure reflection of the infinite consciousness of God which is otherwise beyond and untouched by the creation. It is first experienced at the quiet, still center of all vibration IN creation. It can only be accessed through communion with Aum, which witnesses its presence like the sound of motor which reveals that the motor is running. Yogananda explains it this way: the "Mother" of creation is the Aum vibration. In her womb, unseen by others, is the Son of God (whose Father is the Spirit beyond creation). This Son reflects the character of the Father. It is His only begotten because it is the only appearance of the Infinite Spirit which can be found emmanent (in the midst of) the creation itself. It is not Jesus the man who is the only begotten son of God, but Jesus as a Christ who manifests Divine consciousness in human form. As St. John writes in the first chapter of his gospel, "as many as received Him gave He the power to become the sons of God." We are all, potentially, capable of reacquiring our sonship through this process of ascension.
The final stage of liberation (after communion with Christ consciousness in all creation) is to enter the Bliss-state of God the Father that lies beyond all creation. In this way is the "son" (the Christ intelligence IN creation) reunited with the "father" (in the vibrationless sphere BEYOND creation).
So where is Jesus now? Within you, and in all creation. But he can be summoned at any time from the ether of eternity by the devotion and concentration of a true devotee. This has been proven time and again down through ages, just as St. Francis (among many others) walked with Jesus at La Verne, the mountaintop where Francis received the blessed stigmata, over a thousand years after the human life of Jesus.
Jesus can walk with us, too. And Yogananda and many other saints and sages.A true savior comes to earth and directly, or through the lineage of his disciples, to awaken us to the promise of our immortality in God.
Blessings to you,
Hriman
P.S. I will conduct a two part class on the yoga teachings of Jesus, from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursdays, June 17 and 24 at the Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell. Go online to www.AnandaSeattle.org to register. Prepay and receive a 10% discount.
He explained that there exists a special link between the lives of Paramhansa Yogananda and Jesus Christ. Though Yogananda himself gave little by way explanation about the nature of this link, his extensive commentaries on the Bible (especially the New Testament) strongly suggest it. At least once that we know of, he was asked directly why he gave special emphasis to Jesus' teachings. His only comment was "It is Babaji's wish that I do so." (Babaji is the Himalayan Christ-like sage who, indirectly, sent Yogananda to the West.)
In respect to his writings on the New Testament, he claimed to have received endorsement from Jesus Christ in vision for his interpretations. Yogananda would usually get a chuckle from audiences when he commented, tongue-in-cheek, that "Jesus was crucified once but his teachings have been crucified daily ever since" by dogmatic and ignorant followers. (He also added, however, that ignorance, East and West, is "50:50", meaning similar distortions of true teachings exist everywhere!)
But what has become of Jesus Christ since his incarnation in Palestine some two thousand years ago? Where is he now? Will he come again? When will be his second coming?
Curiously, Yogananda termed his work in the West the "second coming of Christ." Did he mean that HE is Jesus Christ? Many disciples of Yogananda report they have experienced a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through Yogananda's teachings. During his lifetime, he was frequently "mistaken" for Jesus Christ by his American students and even passers-by.
When Swami Kriyananda (founder of Ananda) asked Yogananda this question directly to him, Yogananda replied brusquely, "What difference would it make?" When I commented to Swami Kriyananda that Yogananda could not have been Jesus in a past life since Yogananda had a vision (more than one, in fact) of Jesus, Kriyananda replied in a similar manner saying, in effect, "What difference would THAT make?" (Apparently, the ability to bring into manifestation the living presence of a saint of past times is independent of subsequent incarnations, including his own!)
Let us put aside, however, this question of whether Yogananda is a reincarnation of Jesus. For we cannot answer that and, as Swami Kriyananda put it, what difference would it make to us!
Yogananda explained that the term "Christ" is a title, not a name. It means the "annointed one." It is a reference, he said, to the God-realized consciousness that the soul named Jesus had attained through self-effort and grace over many lifetimes of spiritual effort. This indwelling, latent, and innate divinity which is our own soul's true nature can be called "the Christ consciousness." The divinity of which Jesus' consciousness partook is therefore infinite and omnipresent. When he spoke using the personal pronoun "I" ("I am the way, the life, and truth and no one achieves the Father but by Me.") he was speaking in the impersonal voice of that universal Christ consciouness, fully conscious and fully realized. It is the indwelling Christ that is our spiritual guide to the heavenly realm of Bliss in God.
This divinity is most realizable in human beings, with our highly advanced nervous system and energy centers known as the chakras. It is latent and can be reawakened by the touch or living presence of one who is an awakened Christ, or savior (or guru). So it might be said that the "first" coming of the Christ is in the form of the guru. The "second" coming therefore would be its consequent awakening in true disciples.
Thus any soul who has achieved this liberated, enlightended state is a Christ. The coming of Christ is as much true in one God-realized soul as another. It is not limited to the person known as Jesus, who lived only thirty-three years long ago in a remote outpost of the Roman empire. In India it has long been taught that God descends into human form via a divine incarnation known as the avatar in response to the call and need of souls in every age. But even accepting that such a one as Yogananda came to earth as an avatar, it remains true that his special mission was to give the "keys to the kingdom." The keys he offers are the techniques of meditation (as well as the spiritual power of grace transmitted through those keys).
These keys include access to the special role in the divine plan for the Holy Ghost. Jesus taught that after his earthly passing he would send the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, to guide his disciples. For it is the role of the Holy Ghost to play a part in the process of the devotee's path to the Father. Once the preceptor has re-awakened the disciple's memory of his divinity, the disciple must seek to enlarge his identification with it within himself. For, as Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is neither 'lo here, or lo there.' It is within you."
In the yoga teachings, the Holy Ghost is referred to as the "Aum vibration." In the gospel of St. John it is referred to as the "Word." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him (the Word)." The Holy Ghost is that first appearance in the creation of God at the inception and as the essence of creating, sustaining and dissolving all things. In Genesis this is explained poetically when it says the "Spirit of God moved across the face of the waters." So the first, or virginal, or primordial vibration of God's creative intention is the Word, or Holy Ghost. It is this vibration that initiates the world of duality through which the seeming appearance and separateness of all things created from their Creator is maintained. This vibration has a sound and is called in various traditions "Amen," "Amin," "Aum," or "Ahunavar." From this vibratory stem cell of creation comes the multitude of differentiated objects both gross and subtle. Each is endowed with the innate intention of the Word to create and the intelligence of God to do so independtly, with free will.
This vibration has both an audible and visual manifestation which the meditator can perceive in the inner silence. The sound usually is generally easier to perceive than the light. God is referred to in forms of sound (lightning, rumblings, many waters etc.) and light perhaps one hundred times throughout the Old and New Testament. It is by inner communion upon the holy Word of God that the devotee begins, in earnest, his ascent toward God. The Aum Vibration is referred to as feminine in many traditions, as it is the mother vibration of the universe.
The meditation technique of communing with the Aum vibration was brought from India by Yogananda. It is taught in the context of discipleship, as the gift of the guru that the devotee might achieve actual divine contact and, by degrees, Self-realization. This technique involves using a mudra (position of the hands) and an arm rest. It enables the devotee to more quickly hear, with "ears to hear," as Jesus put it, this blissfully comforting sound which is the actual presence of God in creation. Communion with Aum reveals to us the remembrance of the truth (that we are children of God) that shall make us free. It also brings great comfort and joy.
Meditating upon Aum is a step towards the next level of Self-realization. By prolonged inner communion with Aum, the devotee comes to the next stage which is to commune with the vibrationless state of the Christ consciousness itself. This sphere of pure consciousness is the only "begotten son of God." It is the only pure reflection of the infinite consciousness of God which is otherwise beyond and untouched by the creation. It is first experienced at the quiet, still center of all vibration IN creation. It can only be accessed through communion with Aum, which witnesses its presence like the sound of motor which reveals that the motor is running. Yogananda explains it this way: the "Mother" of creation is the Aum vibration. In her womb, unseen by others, is the Son of God (whose Father is the Spirit beyond creation). This Son reflects the character of the Father. It is His only begotten because it is the only appearance of the Infinite Spirit which can be found emmanent (in the midst of) the creation itself. It is not Jesus the man who is the only begotten son of God, but Jesus as a Christ who manifests Divine consciousness in human form. As St. John writes in the first chapter of his gospel, "as many as received Him gave He the power to become the sons of God." We are all, potentially, capable of reacquiring our sonship through this process of ascension.
The final stage of liberation (after communion with Christ consciousness in all creation) is to enter the Bliss-state of God the Father that lies beyond all creation. In this way is the "son" (the Christ intelligence IN creation) reunited with the "father" (in the vibrationless sphere BEYOND creation).
So where is Jesus now? Within you, and in all creation. But he can be summoned at any time from the ether of eternity by the devotion and concentration of a true devotee. This has been proven time and again down through ages, just as St. Francis (among many others) walked with Jesus at La Verne, the mountaintop where Francis received the blessed stigmata, over a thousand years after the human life of Jesus.
Jesus can walk with us, too. And Yogananda and many other saints and sages.A true savior comes to earth and directly, or through the lineage of his disciples, to awaken us to the promise of our immortality in God.
Blessings to you,
Hriman
P.S. I will conduct a two part class on the yoga teachings of Jesus, from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursdays, June 17 and 24 at the Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell. Go online to www.AnandaSeattle.org to register. Prepay and receive a 10% discount.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Bottom Line
[This should be my last post for a while on American life].
The Bottom Line
Now that financial regulation is looking like it will pass the gauntlet of Congress and politics, I'd like to share a few simple thoughts drawn from the writings of my teacher, and friend, Swami Kriyananda, and especially from his dynamic course, Material Success and Happiness through Yoga Principles.
The idea that we can take our savings and invest in the stock market and make money by doing absolutely nothing creative or participatory is not a far step from superstition, or gambling, at best. Trading on the efforts of other people is just shy of exploitation. Now, don't worry, I know the basics of investing as much as most people. And it could be said that my savings represents MY energy and investing it represents putting my energy into action cooperatively (as capital) with those who contribute their time and creative efforts.
The problem with saying that "I am earning my return, too, and legitimately" starts with one's intentions and ends in the overall or macro effect of millions of people doing this and the combined effect of their intentions and actions. Investing in a stock, e.g., brings no current capital to the benefit of the creative and productive efforts of that particular company. Your buying and selling is simply among other people like you, hardly different than gamblers assembled on the casino floor. It is true that have an active and liquid market for stocks enables and facilitates the raising of new capital for ventures, but the former outpaces the latter by a huge margin.
These days you can trade or bet on just about anything, perhaps even the weather, through the stock markets. With electronic trading and borrowed money and the terms of investing in certain types of hedge instruments, you can go wild with speculative trading. It is this "something for nothing" and gambling pyschology that is, ethically and pyschologically (and "karmically"), hurtful to both individuals and society. (Adding to it the consumerism that has given rise to mountains of debt and we have the makings of a "perfect financial storm.")
I seriously doubt the new regulation amounts to much of anything. You can't legislate greed and the scheming that greed incites. If the act of regulated investing, nationally or globally, were re-directed and restricted to discourage speculation and encourage long term investing (of savings, not borrowed money) we might achieve far greater stability. Too much human creative and energetic capital is, I believe, invested in the financial markets around the world. The riches sought and produced by this giant industry is nothing less than obscene. If the industry can be reduced in size by half or even two-thirds, back to a dull, conservative "invest-for-retirement" purpose in relative simply-to-understand stocks and bonds, the markets could return to their most socially beneficial function of raising capital for worthwhile public (both governmental and corporate) ventures. Such would stabilize jobs, new technology, and the proper act of saving for retirement. Only those who have "long" holdings in certain commodities or stocks have anything legitimate to hedge. Mortgages shouldn't be bundled and sold unless the issuers remain primarily responsible for their collection and who legitimately raise funds by essentially borrowing (not selling) against their mortgage portfolio. Limits on size and incentives to be localized, serviceful, and involved with local communities or regions should be imposed. Global movements of capital should be cooperatively regulated to minimize speculation and rapid turnovers.
Similarly with basic investing: short term and rapid turnovers should be taxed or otherwise regulated in favor of true investing that sees in a company a long-term (well, medium term at least) positive potential.
Of course none of this will happen. So, instead I favor and encourage us to look to the creation of new communitiy investment vehicles where people who know each other or at least live in the same area and share common ideals can invest their savings in worthwhile projects of mutual benefit.
Blessings,
Hriman
The Bottom Line
Now that financial regulation is looking like it will pass the gauntlet of Congress and politics, I'd like to share a few simple thoughts drawn from the writings of my teacher, and friend, Swami Kriyananda, and especially from his dynamic course, Material Success and Happiness through Yoga Principles.
The idea that we can take our savings and invest in the stock market and make money by doing absolutely nothing creative or participatory is not a far step from superstition, or gambling, at best. Trading on the efforts of other people is just shy of exploitation. Now, don't worry, I know the basics of investing as much as most people. And it could be said that my savings represents MY energy and investing it represents putting my energy into action cooperatively (as capital) with those who contribute their time and creative efforts.
The problem with saying that "I am earning my return, too, and legitimately" starts with one's intentions and ends in the overall or macro effect of millions of people doing this and the combined effect of their intentions and actions. Investing in a stock, e.g., brings no current capital to the benefit of the creative and productive efforts of that particular company. Your buying and selling is simply among other people like you, hardly different than gamblers assembled on the casino floor. It is true that have an active and liquid market for stocks enables and facilitates the raising of new capital for ventures, but the former outpaces the latter by a huge margin.
These days you can trade or bet on just about anything, perhaps even the weather, through the stock markets. With electronic trading and borrowed money and the terms of investing in certain types of hedge instruments, you can go wild with speculative trading. It is this "something for nothing" and gambling pyschology that is, ethically and pyschologically (and "karmically"), hurtful to both individuals and society. (Adding to it the consumerism that has given rise to mountains of debt and we have the makings of a "perfect financial storm.")
I seriously doubt the new regulation amounts to much of anything. You can't legislate greed and the scheming that greed incites. If the act of regulated investing, nationally or globally, were re-directed and restricted to discourage speculation and encourage long term investing (of savings, not borrowed money) we might achieve far greater stability. Too much human creative and energetic capital is, I believe, invested in the financial markets around the world. The riches sought and produced by this giant industry is nothing less than obscene. If the industry can be reduced in size by half or even two-thirds, back to a dull, conservative "invest-for-retirement" purpose in relative simply-to-understand stocks and bonds, the markets could return to their most socially beneficial function of raising capital for worthwhile public (both governmental and corporate) ventures. Such would stabilize jobs, new technology, and the proper act of saving for retirement. Only those who have "long" holdings in certain commodities or stocks have anything legitimate to hedge. Mortgages shouldn't be bundled and sold unless the issuers remain primarily responsible for their collection and who legitimately raise funds by essentially borrowing (not selling) against their mortgage portfolio. Limits on size and incentives to be localized, serviceful, and involved with local communities or regions should be imposed. Global movements of capital should be cooperatively regulated to minimize speculation and rapid turnovers.
Similarly with basic investing: short term and rapid turnovers should be taxed or otherwise regulated in favor of true investing that sees in a company a long-term (well, medium term at least) positive potential.
Of course none of this will happen. So, instead I favor and encourage us to look to the creation of new communitiy investment vehicles where people who know each other or at least live in the same area and share common ideals can invest their savings in worthwhile projects of mutual benefit.
Blessings,
Hriman
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Age of Energy
Dear Friends,
I'd like to veer back to the mainstream of American life. The basis for my thoughts lies in the perception that humanity has been steadily transitioning from a tribal consciousness towards a self-actualized consciousness. I won't dwell on the objective basis for this but I would like to state simply that advances in communication, health, education and travel are the result of and in turn have stimulated the creative thinking, dynamic energy, and heightened awareness of millions of individuals to seek a better life.
Consider all the various "freedoms" for which people have struggled, and even died for: freedom from racial prejudice, religious freedom, social injustice, economic freedom, gender equality, to name a few. Steadily throughout the world it is as if, over the last few centuries (and at an accelerating pace), people all over the world are "waking up" to their personal identity and their potential as individuals. This constrasts with the medieval or tribal mindset that our station in life is fixed by birth or circumstance (not merit), that privilege and power is inherited or appointed, and that we must fulfill our duties according to our superiors or tribal elders.
The world wide web both symbolizes and epitomizes the latest form by which information and knowledge is being made available to the general public as part of a process that has been taking place for centuries. With growing awareness and the power of technology has come both increasing compassion and instances of wholesale destruction and genocide. I would venture to speculate that, in time, compassion will grow faster than destruction, even if, by necessity, it will do so only after great suffering.
Paternalistic attitudes, such as reflected in colonialism by the Western powers, are a hold-over from the medieval mindset of monarchy and hierarchy. By this I mean the idea that the rulers or elite must look out for the interests of the unfortunate, uneducated masses who in turn are expected to serve their masters. Charity and relief work have steadily moved towards greater sensitivity to the needs of people served and away from a sense of "we know best what you need." But an awkwardness remains in the act of dispensing charity by governments and large organizations. It is the awkwardness of potential judgment, pity, and the dehumanizing impact of large scale administration of charity with its legitimate needs to assess eligibility and enforce its conditions in an effort to steward its responsibilities to the general citizenry.
Western nations may vary in the degree to which their respective governments provide health, education, and welfare benefits to their more needy citizens, but it remains a fact that the worldwide financial recession threatens to curtain their ability to continue at past levels. Thus a crises is pending whereby new approaches to social benefits may need to be tried.
I question whether charity can ever be dispensed appropriately by a government. Caring is something individuals do for one another. The relatively high level of social benefits offered by many governments creates, by necessity of administration, a culture and attitude of entitlement. No matter how loudly we may insist that every citizen has a "right" to health care, legal defense, food, or shelter we cannot mask the equally true reality (one that we take pains to teach our children) that one must take responsibility for his own actions and their consequences. No matter how much we proclaim that "all men are created equal," the fact that individuals possess a remarkably wide range of talents, energy, and atitudes shows that if this platitude has any meaning at all, it must be in the sense that we are all children of God. Reward and punishment, and truth and consequences still rule the affairs of men. To ignore the individual in dealing with people is to court failure in one's communications and joint efforts.
It seems the more societies spend on social benefits the greater the need becomes. Past a certain safety net that a society insists upon for the sake of compassion or guilty avoidance, the result must be to sap the dynamic will, initiative, responsibility, and self-respect of those whom it helps. The consequence will inexorably be to foster resentment, blame, and greater demands by those demeaned (by handouts) in a subconscious and collective attempt to affirm individual self-worth.
Individuals respond to poverty and hardship in many different ways. Some do only what they have to in order to get by. They may not even mind, especially, living in conditions others would find intolerable. Their plight may be due to injustice, abuse, a sense of hopelessness for lack of opportunities, lack of education or simply unawareness of other possibilities. For some, blaming others, including society at large, can be an excuse not to make an effort to improve oneself. For others, it might also be a mere matter of familiarity, or a habit based on the exigencies of day-to-day survival. Some even become quite clever at surviving and self-protection. Others strive arduously to improve their lot, such as parents who work hard to send their children to school and higher education. Some, though probably not as many, set about helping their fellows cope with such circumstances. A rare few become shining examples of peace and goodwill, bestowing their quiet inner peace and comfort upon any who would receive such gifts. Such straitened circumstances can bring out the best, and the worst, in human nature.
In this age when individuality, with its concomitant potential for self-initiative, self-improvement, cooperation, and compassion, is in the ascendant, it makes sense to me that government-provided social benefits emphasize and encourage self-help. Education and training (in all aspects of living, not just academic) is one of the greatest examples of how a society, through its government, can improve the standard of living of its citizens.
Why is it, then, that we bemoan a steady deterioration in the quality of that education? Is not the well meaning but blind emphasis on giving everyone the same quality of education resulting in no one getting a decent education? It strikes me, for example, that notwithstanding the obvious reasons for doing so and the good intentions behind it, that bussing children to school and providing meals via subsidized cafeterias robs parents of basic responsibilities and participation in their childrens' education and life. Though I don't know the facts it is easy to imagine that the cost of just these two aspects of social services alone is enormous and that such funds might be better employed in improving the quality of education itself. For that matter, why is education compulsory anymore? Imagine schools filled with children who actually WANT to have an education!
Obviously some families may need help to get their children fed and to school. Wouldn't this be more sensitively done in cooperation with other families and with local service organizations? Would the not cooperation needed to help families on the ground level of their neighborhood help build more viable and compassionate community? Bussing and meals is just one example. It may be an imperfect one. But I have no doubt there are others.
If the central government provided overall guidance, training, and standards for charitable work and perhaps some facilities or other infrastructure but let local organizations to work out the details and solicit funds from their various interest groups or communities, the results could only be an improvement to everyone.
Whether seeking job training, finding work, or taking responsibility for one's health, the equation for success for disadvantaged citizens is a combination of personal effort and appropriate opportunity. The ratio of self-initiative to straight charitable handout will vary widely, but it strikes me that governmental assistance should focus primarily upon people who want to improve themselves. Let charities focus on helping those who are essentially helpless or who have potential but need personal training or motivation tailored to their circumstances and tied to individual effort. For the latter, government can still have a role in funding and guiding such efforts, but it should leave the caring to caring individuals (presumably part of some NGO, local government, or community based organization).
We live in an age which some call an age of energy. It seems so obvious (as we seek new and rewewable energy sources, struggle with fatigue, memory loss, and the demands of the fast and complex pace of modern life), that helping people cope with these demands is the best social service a government, representing the will of its people, can offer. Let charity be the domain of the charitable and let charity be fostered and encouraged at all levels of civic life. Lastly, the individual is the core motivating energy behind society and improvements to society. To ignore Individual consciousness is to ignore the seed of life itself. One size will never fit all! Let us foster creativity, talent, leadership, and compassion in individuals and we will all benefit.
Blessings,
Hriman
I'd like to veer back to the mainstream of American life. The basis for my thoughts lies in the perception that humanity has been steadily transitioning from a tribal consciousness towards a self-actualized consciousness. I won't dwell on the objective basis for this but I would like to state simply that advances in communication, health, education and travel are the result of and in turn have stimulated the creative thinking, dynamic energy, and heightened awareness of millions of individuals to seek a better life.
Consider all the various "freedoms" for which people have struggled, and even died for: freedom from racial prejudice, religious freedom, social injustice, economic freedom, gender equality, to name a few. Steadily throughout the world it is as if, over the last few centuries (and at an accelerating pace), people all over the world are "waking up" to their personal identity and their potential as individuals. This constrasts with the medieval or tribal mindset that our station in life is fixed by birth or circumstance (not merit), that privilege and power is inherited or appointed, and that we must fulfill our duties according to our superiors or tribal elders.
The world wide web both symbolizes and epitomizes the latest form by which information and knowledge is being made available to the general public as part of a process that has been taking place for centuries. With growing awareness and the power of technology has come both increasing compassion and instances of wholesale destruction and genocide. I would venture to speculate that, in time, compassion will grow faster than destruction, even if, by necessity, it will do so only after great suffering.
Paternalistic attitudes, such as reflected in colonialism by the Western powers, are a hold-over from the medieval mindset of monarchy and hierarchy. By this I mean the idea that the rulers or elite must look out for the interests of the unfortunate, uneducated masses who in turn are expected to serve their masters. Charity and relief work have steadily moved towards greater sensitivity to the needs of people served and away from a sense of "we know best what you need." But an awkwardness remains in the act of dispensing charity by governments and large organizations. It is the awkwardness of potential judgment, pity, and the dehumanizing impact of large scale administration of charity with its legitimate needs to assess eligibility and enforce its conditions in an effort to steward its responsibilities to the general citizenry.
Western nations may vary in the degree to which their respective governments provide health, education, and welfare benefits to their more needy citizens, but it remains a fact that the worldwide financial recession threatens to curtain their ability to continue at past levels. Thus a crises is pending whereby new approaches to social benefits may need to be tried.
I question whether charity can ever be dispensed appropriately by a government. Caring is something individuals do for one another. The relatively high level of social benefits offered by many governments creates, by necessity of administration, a culture and attitude of entitlement. No matter how loudly we may insist that every citizen has a "right" to health care, legal defense, food, or shelter we cannot mask the equally true reality (one that we take pains to teach our children) that one must take responsibility for his own actions and their consequences. No matter how much we proclaim that "all men are created equal," the fact that individuals possess a remarkably wide range of talents, energy, and atitudes shows that if this platitude has any meaning at all, it must be in the sense that we are all children of God. Reward and punishment, and truth and consequences still rule the affairs of men. To ignore the individual in dealing with people is to court failure in one's communications and joint efforts.
It seems the more societies spend on social benefits the greater the need becomes. Past a certain safety net that a society insists upon for the sake of compassion or guilty avoidance, the result must be to sap the dynamic will, initiative, responsibility, and self-respect of those whom it helps. The consequence will inexorably be to foster resentment, blame, and greater demands by those demeaned (by handouts) in a subconscious and collective attempt to affirm individual self-worth.
Individuals respond to poverty and hardship in many different ways. Some do only what they have to in order to get by. They may not even mind, especially, living in conditions others would find intolerable. Their plight may be due to injustice, abuse, a sense of hopelessness for lack of opportunities, lack of education or simply unawareness of other possibilities. For some, blaming others, including society at large, can be an excuse not to make an effort to improve oneself. For others, it might also be a mere matter of familiarity, or a habit based on the exigencies of day-to-day survival. Some even become quite clever at surviving and self-protection. Others strive arduously to improve their lot, such as parents who work hard to send their children to school and higher education. Some, though probably not as many, set about helping their fellows cope with such circumstances. A rare few become shining examples of peace and goodwill, bestowing their quiet inner peace and comfort upon any who would receive such gifts. Such straitened circumstances can bring out the best, and the worst, in human nature.
In this age when individuality, with its concomitant potential for self-initiative, self-improvement, cooperation, and compassion, is in the ascendant, it makes sense to me that government-provided social benefits emphasize and encourage self-help. Education and training (in all aspects of living, not just academic) is one of the greatest examples of how a society, through its government, can improve the standard of living of its citizens.
Why is it, then, that we bemoan a steady deterioration in the quality of that education? Is not the well meaning but blind emphasis on giving everyone the same quality of education resulting in no one getting a decent education? It strikes me, for example, that notwithstanding the obvious reasons for doing so and the good intentions behind it, that bussing children to school and providing meals via subsidized cafeterias robs parents of basic responsibilities and participation in their childrens' education and life. Though I don't know the facts it is easy to imagine that the cost of just these two aspects of social services alone is enormous and that such funds might be better employed in improving the quality of education itself. For that matter, why is education compulsory anymore? Imagine schools filled with children who actually WANT to have an education!
Obviously some families may need help to get their children fed and to school. Wouldn't this be more sensitively done in cooperation with other families and with local service organizations? Would the not cooperation needed to help families on the ground level of their neighborhood help build more viable and compassionate community? Bussing and meals is just one example. It may be an imperfect one. But I have no doubt there are others.
If the central government provided overall guidance, training, and standards for charitable work and perhaps some facilities or other infrastructure but let local organizations to work out the details and solicit funds from their various interest groups or communities, the results could only be an improvement to everyone.
Whether seeking job training, finding work, or taking responsibility for one's health, the equation for success for disadvantaged citizens is a combination of personal effort and appropriate opportunity. The ratio of self-initiative to straight charitable handout will vary widely, but it strikes me that governmental assistance should focus primarily upon people who want to improve themselves. Let charities focus on helping those who are essentially helpless or who have potential but need personal training or motivation tailored to their circumstances and tied to individual effort. For the latter, government can still have a role in funding and guiding such efforts, but it should leave the caring to caring individuals (presumably part of some NGO, local government, or community based organization).
We live in an age which some call an age of energy. It seems so obvious (as we seek new and rewewable energy sources, struggle with fatigue, memory loss, and the demands of the fast and complex pace of modern life), that helping people cope with these demands is the best social service a government, representing the will of its people, can offer. Let charity be the domain of the charitable and let charity be fostered and encouraged at all levels of civic life. Lastly, the individual is the core motivating energy behind society and improvements to society. To ignore Individual consciousness is to ignore the seed of life itself. One size will never fit all! Let us foster creativity, talent, leadership, and compassion in individuals and we will all benefit.
Blessings,
Hriman
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Happy Birthday, Divine Mother!
Creation is our Mother in the form of nature. God, through the power of intelligent vibration, has created and sustains the universe, and is seated at the still heart of all flux. In celebrating Mother's Day, let us include God as Mother, housekeeper of creation. The Bible tells us that God gazed upon His creation and called it good! We, too, should celebrate the manifest beauty, power, and intelligence in all nature, and, most importantly, witness God's loving presence at the heart of all things and all beings.
Endowed with God's desireless desire to create and the intelligence to do so, we are "like gods." The intelligence streaming out from the heart of infinity begins to stretch like a rubber band until it begins to assert itself separate and apart from Divinity. This outgoing force is called "maya," the measurer, or the satanic intelligence and power. It manifests in the larger sphere of creation, and in the hearts of men. Individuality is compelled to seek continued existence, to perpetuate that existence, and to enjoy its existence.
The delusive and suffering-laden consequences of this process are in no way, however, a condemnation of the glory of creation and of God's presence within it. No matter how "far" it seems we may go from our Oneness in Infinity, God remains our sole substance and only reality. Regaining our glory as children of God is a matter of reestablishing our contact and identity with our divinity which, as Jesus put it, "is within you."
In the New Testament story of Martha and Mary, Jesus Christ reprimands Martha for her fussiness (in the kitchen), saying that her sister Mary had chosen the better part (sitting at his feet, quietly, communing with her Lord). But Jesus was not telling her to get out of the kitchen (after all, he was probably going to get a meal from the deal)! Rather, he was saying that when we are active and serving, we should be mindful, joyful, and acting as an instrument of God's power, calmness, and wisdom.
In this stressful culture of America, we have much to gain from daily meditation and from bringing the peace of meditation into daily life. Breath breaks, mental "japa" (silent, inward devotional chanting), and attitudes of joy and servicefulness can make work a meditation, and meditation the divine work of seeking God.
Blessings to you!
Hriman
Endowed with God's desireless desire to create and the intelligence to do so, we are "like gods." The intelligence streaming out from the heart of infinity begins to stretch like a rubber band until it begins to assert itself separate and apart from Divinity. This outgoing force is called "maya," the measurer, or the satanic intelligence and power. It manifests in the larger sphere of creation, and in the hearts of men. Individuality is compelled to seek continued existence, to perpetuate that existence, and to enjoy its existence.
The delusive and suffering-laden consequences of this process are in no way, however, a condemnation of the glory of creation and of God's presence within it. No matter how "far" it seems we may go from our Oneness in Infinity, God remains our sole substance and only reality. Regaining our glory as children of God is a matter of reestablishing our contact and identity with our divinity which, as Jesus put it, "is within you."
In the New Testament story of Martha and Mary, Jesus Christ reprimands Martha for her fussiness (in the kitchen), saying that her sister Mary had chosen the better part (sitting at his feet, quietly, communing with her Lord). But Jesus was not telling her to get out of the kitchen (after all, he was probably going to get a meal from the deal)! Rather, he was saying that when we are active and serving, we should be mindful, joyful, and acting as an instrument of God's power, calmness, and wisdom.
In this stressful culture of America, we have much to gain from daily meditation and from bringing the peace of meditation into daily life. Breath breaks, mental "japa" (silent, inward devotional chanting), and attitudes of joy and servicefulness can make work a meditation, and meditation the divine work of seeking God.
Blessings to you!
Hriman
Is Trade Free?
I'd like to walk in a different park today than meditation and spirituality--have a change of pace, perhaps.
Our country and this world face so many challenges and changes it's difficult to make sense of what is happening, what to mention what we think should happen. Seeing the paralysis in the U.S. Congress even in the aftermath of a sweeping victory by Barack Obama and despite his party's control of the Congress, makes one wonder how this nation (what to mention other nations working together) will ever make the substantive changes in economics, attitude, lifestyle, and ecology that are required for life to survive on this planet..
Over the years, perhaps like you, I more or less accepted the doctrine that free trade was good for America and good for everyone else as well. But with the trade deficits, government deficits, real estate foreclosures, personal, corporate, state, and municipal bankruptcies, I have come to the conclusion that when free trade is neither free, nor trade, it can't be good for anyone!
Trade is not free when its consequences destroy entire industries, cause widespread unemployment, or wreak devastation on whole cities and regions. Trade is not free if it exploits people who earn so little that they are virtually enslaved, trapped in a subsistence cycle of work that is unhealthy or otherwise unsustainable and humanly degrading. Such people have no voice, no rights, no practical means to meet their basic needs.
Trade is not free if its environmental consequences are devastating. Though hardly devastating, even just the example of flying in apples from South America to Washington State is like both carrying and burning "coals to Newcastle." It seems wasteful. Trade is not trade when it is not equal because one party has nothing to trade in return but simply goes further into debt. The result is an ever mounting debt spiral that ties both debtor and creditor into an economic tailspin. Trade is not trade when it enriches the rich at the expense of ninety-some percent of everyone else.
I have said many times and in different contexts, and no doubt have many others, that sustainable living goes far beyond not harming the environment. Trade may indeed be "free," meaning markets can be accessible to the conduct of worldwide business, but not without some basic and sustainable parameters or solid basis.
The mature economies such as America's should have sufficient internal production and productivity that we do not rack up trade deficits unendingly month after month. A growing and quickly maturing economy like India or China should, in their turn, attend to the infrastructure and consumer needs of their own people. Trade among us can then be built upon sustainable and balanced economies and can be truly an exchange of goods and services of equal value.
Nations whose primary productivity takes the form of natural resources are already in an unbalanced economic situation. Building for them a healthy economy is not so easy. This goes beyond my subject but I would simply say that if the income they earn from their exports cannot find its way back to their nation in the forms of imports that are useful, relevant and which contribute to at least a long-term greater self-sufficiency, it would seem better for them, at least, to reduce such exports. Easier said than done and, as I say, a different subject. In the case of oil exporting nations, a reduction of supply would certainly add further incentive to consuming nations to work towards greater energy self-sufficiency. In the end we'd all work towards economies that are more sustainable.
The imbalance between mature economies, developing economies and subsistence economies of course fuels the migration of people from the latter to the former. Again we therefore have an issue of unsustainability as witness the current (and long-running) controversary around immigration to America. Balanced and sustainable national and regional economies can benefit all nations.
Coming back to America, it would take some courage and political will to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing and production back to sustainable levels. This is because such steps would appear to be anti-free-trade (superficially but still symbolically) and would probably have to include, among many measures, some degree of "protectionism." Hopefully incentives and cooperation can lead the way and punitive or restrictive measures can be avoided or minimized. Communication and cooperation with those nations who think they depend on exports to America would be of utmost importance.
One way or another, and admittedly, mostly the hard way, America and other nations in a similar unbalanced debt and trade position, will be forced to re-balance their economies. Why not do it intelligently and efficiently, and avoid at least some of the pain and humiliation of bankruptcy and worse.
Look forward to some other thoughts on the financial industry. Blessings, Hriman
Our country and this world face so many challenges and changes it's difficult to make sense of what is happening, what to mention what we think should happen. Seeing the paralysis in the U.S. Congress even in the aftermath of a sweeping victory by Barack Obama and despite his party's control of the Congress, makes one wonder how this nation (what to mention other nations working together) will ever make the substantive changes in economics, attitude, lifestyle, and ecology that are required for life to survive on this planet..
Over the years, perhaps like you, I more or less accepted the doctrine that free trade was good for America and good for everyone else as well. But with the trade deficits, government deficits, real estate foreclosures, personal, corporate, state, and municipal bankruptcies, I have come to the conclusion that when free trade is neither free, nor trade, it can't be good for anyone!
Trade is not free when its consequences destroy entire industries, cause widespread unemployment, or wreak devastation on whole cities and regions. Trade is not free if it exploits people who earn so little that they are virtually enslaved, trapped in a subsistence cycle of work that is unhealthy or otherwise unsustainable and humanly degrading. Such people have no voice, no rights, no practical means to meet their basic needs.
Trade is not free if its environmental consequences are devastating. Though hardly devastating, even just the example of flying in apples from South America to Washington State is like both carrying and burning "coals to Newcastle." It seems wasteful. Trade is not trade when it is not equal because one party has nothing to trade in return but simply goes further into debt. The result is an ever mounting debt spiral that ties both debtor and creditor into an economic tailspin. Trade is not trade when it enriches the rich at the expense of ninety-some percent of everyone else.
I have said many times and in different contexts, and no doubt have many others, that sustainable living goes far beyond not harming the environment. Trade may indeed be "free," meaning markets can be accessible to the conduct of worldwide business, but not without some basic and sustainable parameters or solid basis.
The mature economies such as America's should have sufficient internal production and productivity that we do not rack up trade deficits unendingly month after month. A growing and quickly maturing economy like India or China should, in their turn, attend to the infrastructure and consumer needs of their own people. Trade among us can then be built upon sustainable and balanced economies and can be truly an exchange of goods and services of equal value.
Nations whose primary productivity takes the form of natural resources are already in an unbalanced economic situation. Building for them a healthy economy is not so easy. This goes beyond my subject but I would simply say that if the income they earn from their exports cannot find its way back to their nation in the forms of imports that are useful, relevant and which contribute to at least a long-term greater self-sufficiency, it would seem better for them, at least, to reduce such exports. Easier said than done and, as I say, a different subject. In the case of oil exporting nations, a reduction of supply would certainly add further incentive to consuming nations to work towards greater energy self-sufficiency. In the end we'd all work towards economies that are more sustainable.
The imbalance between mature economies, developing economies and subsistence economies of course fuels the migration of people from the latter to the former. Again we therefore have an issue of unsustainability as witness the current (and long-running) controversary around immigration to America. Balanced and sustainable national and regional economies can benefit all nations.
Coming back to America, it would take some courage and political will to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing and production back to sustainable levels. This is because such steps would appear to be anti-free-trade (superficially but still symbolically) and would probably have to include, among many measures, some degree of "protectionism." Hopefully incentives and cooperation can lead the way and punitive or restrictive measures can be avoided or minimized. Communication and cooperation with those nations who think they depend on exports to America would be of utmost importance.
One way or another, and admittedly, mostly the hard way, America and other nations in a similar unbalanced debt and trade position, will be forced to re-balance their economies. Why not do it intelligently and efficiently, and avoid at least some of the pain and humiliation of bankruptcy and worse.
Look forward to some other thoughts on the financial industry. Blessings, Hriman
Saturday, April 24, 2010
How High Should We Aspire?
This topic is based on a reading from the book by Swami Kriyananda, "Rays of the Same Light." (We use these readings at the Ananda Sunday Services around the world.) This particular reading begins with Jesus Christ counseling his disciples that their spirituality ought to be something greater than that of his (self-styled) enemies, the Pharisees, who were religious leaders in Israel in his time. Kriyananda comments that surely surpassing the superficial sanctity of these hypocrites could not have been the yardstick of spirituality Jesus was offering his disciples! It is their self-righteousness that Jesus was warning his disciples concerning, Kriyananda explains.
There are many approaches to this topic but one certainly has to do with the "holier-than-thou" spirituality that masquerades throughout religion everywhere. It is all too common the tendency of religionists to condemn others, sadly those of other religions more adamantly than unbelievers! Or, to preen themselves on the regularity of their church attendance, the size of their gifts to the church, or, closer to home (at Ananda), the length of time they sit in meditation (in full view of others, of course!).
These are the most obvious, almost comical, examples of what is simply religious hypocrisy. More subtly and presumably more useful to most of us is the value in understanding what true spirituality means. One could even take this in the direction of "What is right action?" Or, "What is good (vs. bad) karma?"
Paramhansa Yogananda tells the story of a man who was bothered by a demon and who was given a mantra to say in blessing upon a special powder that he was then instructed to throw upon the demon. When he tried it the demon laughed derisively saying that before the man could intone the mantra he, the demon, entered into the powder! Yogananda explained that the meaning of the story was that we are infected with the very disease we are attempting to rid ourselves of: the ego!
A joke one hears from time to time (with variations) goes something like this: one afternoon in the synagogue the rabbi and his assistant were praying while the janitor quietly went about his work in the room. Suddenly, the rabbi, infused with spiritual zeal, leapt to his feet, ran to the altar, and prostrated himself crying aloud, "I am nothing, I am nothing!" His assistant, suitably impressed and feeling similarly inspired, then leapt to his feet and ran to the altar with the same cry. As they both lay prostrate, the janitor then came rushing to the altar and prostrated himself next to them, saying "I am nothing, I am nothing." In the quiet that followed, the rabbi turns to his assistant and says, "So, look who thinks he's nothing?"
Swami Kriyananda tells the story on himself (in his autobiography, "The New Path") that after working to develop humility he woke up one day to find himself proud of his (new-found) humility!
We caught in the bondage of ego and it is impossible to lift ourselves up, to redeem ourselves by our power alone. This is what St. Paul meant when he famously wrote that "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." He did not mean that we should not strive, indeed, with heart, mind, soul and strength, to do that which is right, and to love and seek God. For, in the sentences that followed that more famous quotation, he writes that we are God's handiwork, created to devote ourselves to the good deed which God has designed for us.
In the centuries from which we have come most orthodox faith traditions portrayed the goal of a God-fearing life to enshrine the ego for eternity in heavenly realms, strumming harps, praising the Lord, or enjoying all manner of heavenly delights (which sometimes bore a curious resemblance to sensory indulges here on earth).
Religion in the past, and to a large degree today still, emphasized carrying one's cross, of giving up pleasures and eschewing an ordinary worldly life. How often one hears how this sect forbids smoking, another drinking, another eating meat, another dancing, and on and on. It is the ego, not the soul, that sees the giving up as a burden. The soul thrives on freedom. It seems that making the distinction between our outward acts and our inward consciousness (intention) has been perhaps just too subtle a point to make to the masses. Yet saintly souls have been known to live in palaces or ruled kingdoms both in the East and the West. Some religious leaders, by contrast, have lived in luxury and self-indulgence, contemptuous of others and arrogantly asserting their authority and demanding obedience of others.
The same Sunday reading from "Rays of the Same Light" ends with a stanza from the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna extols that rare, wise sage who achieves the realization that "All is Vasudev!" The goal of religion is to find God; to achieve union with the Divine by love for God and by love for God through selfless service to all. Union with God is achieved through our efforts and God's grace applied to the inextricably linked processes of ego-transcendence and devotion.
Blessings to you from Ananda,
Hriman
There are many approaches to this topic but one certainly has to do with the "holier-than-thou" spirituality that masquerades throughout religion everywhere. It is all too common the tendency of religionists to condemn others, sadly those of other religions more adamantly than unbelievers! Or, to preen themselves on the regularity of their church attendance, the size of their gifts to the church, or, closer to home (at Ananda), the length of time they sit in meditation (in full view of others, of course!).
These are the most obvious, almost comical, examples of what is simply religious hypocrisy. More subtly and presumably more useful to most of us is the value in understanding what true spirituality means. One could even take this in the direction of "What is right action?" Or, "What is good (vs. bad) karma?"
Paramhansa Yogananda tells the story of a man who was bothered by a demon and who was given a mantra to say in blessing upon a special powder that he was then instructed to throw upon the demon. When he tried it the demon laughed derisively saying that before the man could intone the mantra he, the demon, entered into the powder! Yogananda explained that the meaning of the story was that we are infected with the very disease we are attempting to rid ourselves of: the ego!
A joke one hears from time to time (with variations) goes something like this: one afternoon in the synagogue the rabbi and his assistant were praying while the janitor quietly went about his work in the room. Suddenly, the rabbi, infused with spiritual zeal, leapt to his feet, ran to the altar, and prostrated himself crying aloud, "I am nothing, I am nothing!" His assistant, suitably impressed and feeling similarly inspired, then leapt to his feet and ran to the altar with the same cry. As they both lay prostrate, the janitor then came rushing to the altar and prostrated himself next to them, saying "I am nothing, I am nothing." In the quiet that followed, the rabbi turns to his assistant and says, "So, look who thinks he's nothing?"
Swami Kriyananda tells the story on himself (in his autobiography, "The New Path") that after working to develop humility he woke up one day to find himself proud of his (new-found) humility!
We caught in the bondage of ego and it is impossible to lift ourselves up, to redeem ourselves by our power alone. This is what St. Paul meant when he famously wrote that "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." He did not mean that we should not strive, indeed, with heart, mind, soul and strength, to do that which is right, and to love and seek God. For, in the sentences that followed that more famous quotation, he writes that we are God's handiwork, created to devote ourselves to the good deed which God has designed for us.
In the centuries from which we have come most orthodox faith traditions portrayed the goal of a God-fearing life to enshrine the ego for eternity in heavenly realms, strumming harps, praising the Lord, or enjoying all manner of heavenly delights (which sometimes bore a curious resemblance to sensory indulges here on earth).
Religion in the past, and to a large degree today still, emphasized carrying one's cross, of giving up pleasures and eschewing an ordinary worldly life. How often one hears how this sect forbids smoking, another drinking, another eating meat, another dancing, and on and on. It is the ego, not the soul, that sees the giving up as a burden. The soul thrives on freedom. It seems that making the distinction between our outward acts and our inward consciousness (intention) has been perhaps just too subtle a point to make to the masses. Yet saintly souls have been known to live in palaces or ruled kingdoms both in the East and the West. Some religious leaders, by contrast, have lived in luxury and self-indulgence, contemptuous of others and arrogantly asserting their authority and demanding obedience of others.
The same Sunday reading from "Rays of the Same Light" ends with a stanza from the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna extols that rare, wise sage who achieves the realization that "All is Vasudev!" The goal of religion is to find God; to achieve union with the Divine by love for God and by love for God through selfless service to all. Union with God is achieved through our efforts and God's grace applied to the inextricably linked processes of ego-transcendence and devotion.
Blessings to you from Ananda,
Hriman
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
What is Ananda?
The following was written for those who have not visited or experienced Ananda. It is a general overview. Our reference here is to Ananda in the Seattle area and located at the Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell. Visit http://www.anandaseattle.org/ for more details.
Welcome to Ananda!
Welcome to Ananda!
What IS Ananda? Ananda is more than a teaching center for meditation or yoga. Ananda is different things to different people. Most of all, at Ananda we aspire to see that people are more important than things: even so-called “important” things like the classes we give, the projects we undertake, the services we offer, the buildings we occupy, or whether our efforts meet with success or acceptance. So, speaking of people, then, who are we?
Ananda members and students tend to be well educated, compassionate, and ardent supporters of conscious, healthy, sustainable, spiritual living. Differing points of view, backgrounds, and nationalities can be found here and are typically expressed articulately, respectfully, thoughtfully, and, perhaps most importantly, with a desire to share and learn.
You’ll find students coming every week to take hatha yoga classes. Ananda Yoga uses classic postures (asanas) and directs their use in an uplifting way, towards greater Self-awareness. We begin with relaxation, move to energy control and awareness, and then flow upward toward inner peace. Each student learns to develop his or her own strength and unique expression of the postures.
You’ll find students taking classes in how to meditate. Ananda meditation techniques emphasize the spiritual purpose of meditation but just as many students come for stress reduction, concentration, calmness or health benefits. Our most popular course is the Raja and Hatha Yoga Intensive: a 3-month weekly program that combines hatha yoga, diet, healing, breath work, meditation, chanting, and much more under the timeless and timely umbrella of Patanjali's famous Yoga Sutras (the 8-Fold Path of Enlightenment).
People come from a variety of traditions to meditate because the upstairs, high-domed meditation and yoga space beckons the soul to soar into skies of inner freedom!
First-time visitors come daily to the Meditation Temple in Bothell. They are attracted by the beautiful, blue-tiled 8-sided dome that so dynamically communicates a sense of joy and high aspiration. They want to know, "What IS this lovely place and who are you folks?"
In nearby Lynnwood there is an intentional, spiritual community where some Ananda members live and support one another in a lifestyle of meditation, service, simple living and high ideals. Residents have started a CSA: community supported food growing coop. Ananda is known throughout the world for its network of independent, intentional communities which are among the most successful in the world today.
You'll find students coming to the Ananda Institute of Living Yoga to receive certification in teacher training programs for hatha yoga or for meditation.
Ananda is also part of a worldwide work of self-supporting teaching, residential, and retreat centers. Aspects of this worldwide work exist in the Seattle area as well. For example, local members have founded the Living Wisdom School for children in Shoreline, WA. It is affiliated with the worldwide Ananda network of the same name. Other members have established the East West Bookshop in Seattle which was patterned after the first Ananda East West Bookshop near San Francisco, California.
Legally, the local ministry is organized under the Ananda Church of Self-Realization of Seattle which is a Washington state nonprofit organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a church. Ananda Church is locally governed by its ministers and senior members, and is supported by pledges and tithes from local members. (Income from classes and products constitutes only 25% of total general revenue.)
The spiritual philosophy and meditation techniques taught at Ananda are based upon the teachings of the world renowned spiritual yoga-master, Paramhansa Yogananda (author of Autobiography of a Yogi). The ministry of Ananda is guided by its founder, Swami Kriyananda and those who work closely with him. He lives in India now but is American and is one of the few remaining (and best known) direct disciples of Yogananda. Swami Kriyananda is the author of some one hundred popular books and hundreds of musical compositions (which figure prominently in programs and services at Ananda).
The primary focus of Ananda is what might be called realized spirituality! By this we mean that we feel it is more important to experience our higher Self rather than only talk about or believe in it. This comes with the greatest clarity and consistency through daily meditation. Once having tasted the nectar of soul-bliss, it is our nature to share it with others in service and fellowship. Thus we combine “Self-realization” with “fellowship.” This is shorthand for the two basic commandments of the Old Testament and of Jesus Christ: love the Lord Thy God with heart, mind, soul, and strength, AND, love your neighbor AS your Self!
Ananda has evolved from an ancient tradition whose roots are in India but whose essence is universal and nonsectarian. We honor our guru-preceptor, Paramhansa Yogananda, who came to the West (America) with this tradition. He brought with him the science of Kriya yoga through which we might commune inwardly with the divine presence in us and in all creation.
Yogananda’s teachings reflect a special connection between the yoga science taught by Krishna (in the Bhagavad Gita, India’s beloved “bible”) and the teachings of Jesus Christ. You will therefore find that at Ananda we make frequent references to Jesus’ teachings as illumined by Yogananda and the line of Kriya yoga masters in India who sent him to the West.
Strictly speaking, however, Ananda is neither Christian nor Hindu. Rather, we see in the original teachings of these faiths, and, indeed, in the teachings of the saints of all religions, universal precepts that are timeless. For this, we use the Sanskrit term, Sanaatan Dharma: the eternal religion. Sanaatan Dharma avers that we, and indeed, the entire cosmos, are a manifestation of the consciousness of the Infinite Spirit. Those who have realized Oneness with Spirit teach us that we were created to achieve realization of our “son-ship” as children of God and to reunite our seemingly separate consciousness with that of our Creator. There is a “high road,” or “airplane” that can accelerate this realization and it is meditation, especially the advanced “pranayama” known simply as Kriya yoga. This technique (which includes its wisdom-teachings and other supportive techniques) was resurrected in modern times by the Self-realization masters in India from centuries of neglect, indifference, and priestly secrecy to fulfill the spiritual needs of millions of souls in this modern, and new age.
But the practice of meditation is not only a science. It is an art. There is a subtle, powerful, and necessary transmission of consciousness that takes place through the receptivity of the meditator to the grace of the preceptor, or guru. Kriya yoga is thus taught not only as a meditation technique but is given in the bond of discipleship. Discipleship refers to a personal connection to God through an inner relationship with one who knows God and who can transmit that knowing. It was the purpose of Paramhansa Yogananda, at the behest of those who sent him to bestow the kriya-key that unlocks "the power to become the sons of God" to all those who sincerely and humbly seek it with devotion and attunement with him.
So, Ananda is different things to different people. The word “Ananda” means “joy:” the joy of our true, divine Self! If the practice of (hatha) yoga is your interest, come for a "stretch"; if you want to learn to meditate, Ananda meditation techniques are available to all and can help you to establish an effective daily practice. If you seek fellowship in worship, in timeless and universal wisdom, or in selfless service, Ananda has opportunities every day of the week! If finding friends who share high ideals, who prefer living simply and sustainably, or families who want a wholesome and Spirit-centered education for their children, then the Ananda spiritual family welcomes you. If you are drawn to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, then Ananda can help you deepen your connection to God through them. And, if you seek the kriya-key to soul freedom, the doors are open!
Nayaswamis Hriman and Padma McGilloway are the spiritual directors of Ananda's work in the greater Seattle area and were appointed to this position in 1993 by Swami Kriyananda. As Ananda reflects a community and family spirit, you'll find an entire staff of ministers and teachers who take turns with Sunday Services and classes. Each of the core members and leaders of the Ananda Seattle Sangha (Fellowship) have been part of this spiritual heritage for decades and reflect a calm and joyful commitment to this way of life and a respect for all. Ananda would not exist without the many volunteers who staff the desk, answer phones, teach classes, sing and play music, sweep and clean, prepare meals and who enjoy meeting new friends. A typical Sunday Service involves some twenty volunteers alone!
We invite you, therefore to come and explore whatever aspect of Ananda inspires or appeals to you. Each person who participates has a unique relationship to this work and to this spiritual family. We are not membership driven and have no interest in converting anyone except to his or her own higher Self! We treasure harmony, inspiration, fun, and sharing, perhaps a meal, a conversation, a service project, practicing meditation or yoga, or the timeless wisdom we have been blessed to share. If you would like to experience this growing family of joy-affirming friends, come by for a visit. Better yet, come on any Sunday at 10 a.m. and experience Ananda in action!
Blessings to you, from Ananda......
Saturday, April 3, 2010
A New Dawn - Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010
On this day (the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox) each year, we celebrate Easter as a commemoration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his death by crucifixion some two thousand years ago.
This event though distant in time and space remains for millions of people worldwide, a day of joyful celebration. I wonder, however, how many give any thought to its meaning. I imagine that for most it is a holiday replete with church-going, sartorial splendor, colorful decorations, family gathering and, of course, eggs, chocolate, and feasting. No harm in any of this, of course, considering what else most people usually do with their free time, but surely there's more to it than that!
I believe that the Easter holiday persists due to some deeper joy, some deeper celebration, that we feel even if we do not take the time to contemplate it. The sunrise symbolizes a new dawn, a new beginning. The Vernal Equinox during which Mother Nature puts on her colorful array brings hope for new life, for success in our efforts, and for harmony and cooperation in our lives. The fresh buds of Spring hint of the promise of a bountiful harvest to come.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ goes far beyond the diurnal awakening of nature, however! While appropriately coincident, the latter remains locked into the cycles of unceasing flux while the former reveals a transcendent and eternal Spring. It is not easy for us, armed with our college degrees, our rational science, and our skeptical pragmatism, to seriously accept that one who is pronounced dead can rise again after three days into a living body that, at the same time, can be de-materialized at will or transported over space and through walls. Yet do not the invisible radio, television, and cell phone waves resurrect life-like to our sight and hearing the living presence of others far away? Do not even these, however familiar though not well understood, hint at a power far greater than the power of the five senses? Do not the wonders of the invisible atom and its entourage of quirky quarks and pesky particles hint of undreamed of worlds and powers? Does not the vastness of space, the existence of billions of galaxies, and the fathomless epochs of time awaken in us hints of immortality?
In the Self-realization line of Christ-like masters, the immortal Babaji has lived in his physical body for untold centuries and promises to retain his form for the duration of this age (which he does not define but which can only be far beyond our lifespan). Babaji's life is chronicled in Paramhansa Yogananda's famous life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," in which he describes the deathless Mahavatar's consciousness as beyond comprehension. In that same book, he describes how both Lahiri Mahasaya and his disciple Swami Sri Yukteswar (the latter being Yogananda's guru) appeared to close disciples after their deaths, Lahiri's body having been cremated and Sri Yukteswar's, buried. In 1952, the director of Forest Lawn Mortguary attested to the fact of Yogananda's own body remaining uncorrupted by decay for nearly a month -- a first in the annals of modern mortuary science. In Europe and throughout the world are revered the undecaying remains of saints, testimonies, albeit shocking to see, to the saintly consciousness of their former inhabitants!
Despite the extraordinary testimony of such Christ-like souls, we, each and individually, have an opportunity to contemplate the mystery and the gift of resurrection in our own lives. For surely the celebration of Easter must have some personal, and indeed redemptive, significance in our lives?
Swami Sri Yukteswar counseled thusly: "The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now." Easter resonates with us joyfully because on a higher than conscious level we know that we are not bound forever to our past actions and to our present self-limiting definitions. We yearn for redemption from egoity, from suffering, from limitations of all kinds. Even science with its continuous advances in the speed and distance of travel and instant communication offers hints of our potential for omnipresence and expansion of consciousness. Our successes and past pleasures, too, are but fleeting and are no guarantee for the future. Their ephemeral nature incites in us sadness and remorse as well as ever fresh desires.
We seek a lasting peace, an Eternal knowing and security, an unbroken and ever-new joy. We know instinctively that disease and failure and suffering are but temporary (even if self-inflicted) impositions on the fulfillment that surely is our very own.
Even if in Christian theology the resurrection of Jesus was but a miracle, there exists an inextricable link between his crucifixion and his resurrection. Even if the crucifixion has more greatly occupied the inspiration, devotion, art, and imagination of Christians, the resurrection remains its fulfillment. In Chapter 30 (The Law of Miracles) of the aforementioned "Autobiography," Yogananda explains the process of life force control by which a true master can materialize a physical body, or bring back to life one who has died. As our modern inventions, which we take for granted now, would seem like miracles to a medieval peasant, what we think of as the miracle of Christ's resurrection is understood by the scientific men (and women) of God-realization.
The crucifixion, for all of its drama and shocking intensity, nonetheless symbolizes for us the manner in which we should accept the tests, trials, tribulations, and suffering that comes to our body, mind, and ego through the experience we call living. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." When on the cross, he cried out "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus knew of the manner of his impending death and, for a moment, attachment to the body and human nature, prompted him to take pause. On the cross, too, he had a fleeting experience of the withdrawal of his omnipresent Oneness with the Father and felt the bleakness of mere egoic consciousness, as well as, of course, the intensity of physical pain. Nonetheless, the triumph of his Spirit did not have to wait until the resurrection three days later. From the cross itself he gave blessing to those who humiliated and killed him. From the garden itself before that, he humbly submitted to the will of the Father. He did not require, for himself, the testimony of bodily resurrection but did so for the upliftment and faith of true disciples then and for the ages.
It is in this manner that resurrection comes to all of us: faith in God, acceptance of God's will, and blessing to all, even those who misunderstand or dislike or hurt us. While Jesus' story is obviously high drama, our own, however invisible or uninteresting to others, is surely high drama for us. How little it takes to upset us or to trigger in us fear, irritation, or anger. How self-preoccupied are our thoughts and the motivations behind our words and actions.
The resurrection is no mere miracle. It is the fruit of love for God. Our innate response of celebration in the "light" of the Easter holiday is our soul's response to the promise of our immortality and our ever-new joy as children of God. For this we were created, for this we seek, and to this shall we be re-born forever. The daily free-will, faith-guided, and love-inspired crucifixion of our body-attachments and ego-protective affirmations is the price for everlasting glory in God-consciousness. Our journey to God-realization is the greatest story ever told, the grandest spectacle ever beheld, and has the happiest of endings.
Happy Easter to you this and every moment of every day.
Om, Christ, Amen........Joy to you, Hriman
This event though distant in time and space remains for millions of people worldwide, a day of joyful celebration. I wonder, however, how many give any thought to its meaning. I imagine that for most it is a holiday replete with church-going, sartorial splendor, colorful decorations, family gathering and, of course, eggs, chocolate, and feasting. No harm in any of this, of course, considering what else most people usually do with their free time, but surely there's more to it than that!
I believe that the Easter holiday persists due to some deeper joy, some deeper celebration, that we feel even if we do not take the time to contemplate it. The sunrise symbolizes a new dawn, a new beginning. The Vernal Equinox during which Mother Nature puts on her colorful array brings hope for new life, for success in our efforts, and for harmony and cooperation in our lives. The fresh buds of Spring hint of the promise of a bountiful harvest to come.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ goes far beyond the diurnal awakening of nature, however! While appropriately coincident, the latter remains locked into the cycles of unceasing flux while the former reveals a transcendent and eternal Spring. It is not easy for us, armed with our college degrees, our rational science, and our skeptical pragmatism, to seriously accept that one who is pronounced dead can rise again after three days into a living body that, at the same time, can be de-materialized at will or transported over space and through walls. Yet do not the invisible radio, television, and cell phone waves resurrect life-like to our sight and hearing the living presence of others far away? Do not even these, however familiar though not well understood, hint at a power far greater than the power of the five senses? Do not the wonders of the invisible atom and its entourage of quirky quarks and pesky particles hint of undreamed of worlds and powers? Does not the vastness of space, the existence of billions of galaxies, and the fathomless epochs of time awaken in us hints of immortality?
In the Self-realization line of Christ-like masters, the immortal Babaji has lived in his physical body for untold centuries and promises to retain his form for the duration of this age (which he does not define but which can only be far beyond our lifespan). Babaji's life is chronicled in Paramhansa Yogananda's famous life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," in which he describes the deathless Mahavatar's consciousness as beyond comprehension. In that same book, he describes how both Lahiri Mahasaya and his disciple Swami Sri Yukteswar (the latter being Yogananda's guru) appeared to close disciples after their deaths, Lahiri's body having been cremated and Sri Yukteswar's, buried. In 1952, the director of Forest Lawn Mortguary attested to the fact of Yogananda's own body remaining uncorrupted by decay for nearly a month -- a first in the annals of modern mortuary science. In Europe and throughout the world are revered the undecaying remains of saints, testimonies, albeit shocking to see, to the saintly consciousness of their former inhabitants!
Despite the extraordinary testimony of such Christ-like souls, we, each and individually, have an opportunity to contemplate the mystery and the gift of resurrection in our own lives. For surely the celebration of Easter must have some personal, and indeed redemptive, significance in our lives?
Swami Sri Yukteswar counseled thusly: "The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now." Easter resonates with us joyfully because on a higher than conscious level we know that we are not bound forever to our past actions and to our present self-limiting definitions. We yearn for redemption from egoity, from suffering, from limitations of all kinds. Even science with its continuous advances in the speed and distance of travel and instant communication offers hints of our potential for omnipresence and expansion of consciousness. Our successes and past pleasures, too, are but fleeting and are no guarantee for the future. Their ephemeral nature incites in us sadness and remorse as well as ever fresh desires.
We seek a lasting peace, an Eternal knowing and security, an unbroken and ever-new joy. We know instinctively that disease and failure and suffering are but temporary (even if self-inflicted) impositions on the fulfillment that surely is our very own.
Even if in Christian theology the resurrection of Jesus was but a miracle, there exists an inextricable link between his crucifixion and his resurrection. Even if the crucifixion has more greatly occupied the inspiration, devotion, art, and imagination of Christians, the resurrection remains its fulfillment. In Chapter 30 (The Law of Miracles) of the aforementioned "Autobiography," Yogananda explains the process of life force control by which a true master can materialize a physical body, or bring back to life one who has died. As our modern inventions, which we take for granted now, would seem like miracles to a medieval peasant, what we think of as the miracle of Christ's resurrection is understood by the scientific men (and women) of God-realization.
The crucifixion, for all of its drama and shocking intensity, nonetheless symbolizes for us the manner in which we should accept the tests, trials, tribulations, and suffering that comes to our body, mind, and ego through the experience we call living. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." When on the cross, he cried out "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus knew of the manner of his impending death and, for a moment, attachment to the body and human nature, prompted him to take pause. On the cross, too, he had a fleeting experience of the withdrawal of his omnipresent Oneness with the Father and felt the bleakness of mere egoic consciousness, as well as, of course, the intensity of physical pain. Nonetheless, the triumph of his Spirit did not have to wait until the resurrection three days later. From the cross itself he gave blessing to those who humiliated and killed him. From the garden itself before that, he humbly submitted to the will of the Father. He did not require, for himself, the testimony of bodily resurrection but did so for the upliftment and faith of true disciples then and for the ages.
It is in this manner that resurrection comes to all of us: faith in God, acceptance of God's will, and blessing to all, even those who misunderstand or dislike or hurt us. While Jesus' story is obviously high drama, our own, however invisible or uninteresting to others, is surely high drama for us. How little it takes to upset us or to trigger in us fear, irritation, or anger. How self-preoccupied are our thoughts and the motivations behind our words and actions.
The resurrection is no mere miracle. It is the fruit of love for God. Our innate response of celebration in the "light" of the Easter holiday is our soul's response to the promise of our immortality and our ever-new joy as children of God. For this we were created, for this we seek, and to this shall we be re-born forever. The daily free-will, faith-guided, and love-inspired crucifixion of our body-attachments and ego-protective affirmations is the price for everlasting glory in God-consciousness. Our journey to God-realization is the greatest story ever told, the grandest spectacle ever beheld, and has the happiest of endings.
Happy Easter to you this and every moment of every day.
Om, Christ, Amen........Joy to you, Hriman
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Planting a Garden of Self-Realization!
The Spring Equinox is here and the promise of the returning warmth of the sun and the emerging delights of nature's colors thrills us! Some years ago I wanted to make a garden out of the patch of ground behind our apartment at the Ananda Community in Lynnwood (WA). But, not being skilled at gardening, I was encouraged when I saw these cans of spring flower seeds at the check out line in the nearby Lowe’s Hardware Store. So I told my wife, Padma, about this idea of an instant garden where you just open the can, sprinkle the seeds around, and voila, you have a colorful garden! Well, “Hriman,” she said politely, “I don’t think that’s one of your better ideas!”
Fortunately I was rescued from my predicament by the good graces and generosity of our next door neighbor – Susan - who is a real gardener. She offered to re-do our backyard garden with some low maintenance, hardy, but also colorful shrubs and plants. It was a lot of work on her part and since and over the years I do my part by weeding, trimming, and bringing touches of Spring and Summer color with annuals. And, you know, that is a lot like life itself: to be successful and to find satisfaction in life, we have to have high ideals, make wise choices, seek good counsel, plant the right seeds, and then tend and care for them with loyal, loving, and disciplined effort. Our efforts draw the life-sustaining support and love of God, and God through His children!
Recently at one the classes in meditation that I teach, I described how often I'd heard students say how they had been spiritually inspired earlier in life (perhaps having read Paramhansa Yogananda's now famous story, "Autobiography of a Yogi") but had gotten distracted from their spiritual quest by the demands of daily life, marriage, family, work, health and so many other things. Often it would be twenty or more years later when their former, but short-lived interest would return with enough inspiration to give them the energy and will to begin meditating again. A discussion among us ensued and one of the students asked whether or not the seeming detour that I described mightn’t in fact be simply part of the spiritual journey. And, of course, that’s true also, isn’t it. Sometimes seeds sprout but don’t blossom because they came up too early before the last frosts of Winter.
And thus we come to the dilemma of good (life) gardening: is it nature, or nurture? Does life just happen "if it's meant to be" or do we have to step up and in to make it so? Perhaps life is a bit of both, for at times we observe the operation of one or the other. Still, we could not be human and dismiss the necessity of our acting consciously and wisely on the basis of some measure of free will and ability to choose, lest we sink into a pit of pre-destined apathy. Besides, in my own experience of such students, they almost all feel that something in their life was lost by their detour, even if it was perhaps also true that at an earlier age they weren't ready to pursue their spiritual inclinations and interests.
Springtime is a time of renewal, rebirth and hope. I will never forget attending the very first reunion of Padma's Jewish relatives in Europe. Not since World War II had the family been in touch or together. The tragic memories of the Holocaust, and the disapora that followed for the few who survived it, meant that some fifty years had passed without meaningful contact. In a collection of family photographs that had been assembled I came upon one of a wedding held just after the end of the war (in 1945). I was touched and moved for the fact that after so much loss, cruelty, hatred, and suffering, love could still flower and with it, the promise and hope of a better future. As Gandhi often stated, in the midst of death, life persists; in the midst of hatred, love survives. This surely hints to us that life is good and love is our true nature.
We are faced today with the rising tide of two great forces, one balancing the other. On the grand scale of national and international forces, we see that coping with global warming and ecological issues, economic depression, spreading diseases, universal health care, immigration reform and other such issues requires the emergence of strong and centralized leadership and power. But this in turn triggers questions of individual liberties and privacy. One of the responses to the privacy issues can be seen symbolically portrayed by the rise of reality TV and social networks like Facebook. These symbols effectively cry out, “Look, I have nothing to hide!”
Apart from privacy issues, however, are the challenges themselves and how to meet them. Even as growing power coalesces into the hands of government, institutions, and multi-national corporations, they are hampered by inefficiency, political competition, corruption, and an alarming lack of resources and mounting debt. Ultimately the challenges that humanity faces will be most effectively addressed by a change in consciousness in the hearts and minds of individuals and not by legislative fiat or monetary muscle. The real solution is one of individual choice, initiative, and intention.
A recent article in TIME Magazine ("The Dropout Economy" by Reihan Salam) described the growing possibility of millions of dropouts from school who see only futility in pursuing their education. The writer predicts that the long term fallout of a generation of young adults dropping out will be large scale changes in lifestyles. People living "off the grid," living cooperatively together in intentional communities, trading goods and service off the tax grid, homeschooling their own children, and engaging in occupations mostly from home and in jobs never before dreamed of. Much of what he describes has been happening below the radar of public awareness, but the pace and size of it will soon accelerate and grow. Indeed much of what the author of the article describes is reflected in the lifestyles of residents of the Ananda Communities for the last forty years.
Paramhansa Yogananda, sent by Jesus (of the West) and Babaji (an incarnation of Krishna from the East), brought a ray of divine light that the powers acquired by humanity through science might be guided by wisdom and the spiritual power made manifest on earth through God’s incarnated instruments. Just as Springtime is the time for planting and nurturing the flowers of Self-realization, so now is the time become instruments of Light. The time is now to sow seeds of a new and superconscious lifestyle.
Blessings to all, Hriman
Fortunately I was rescued from my predicament by the good graces and generosity of our next door neighbor – Susan - who is a real gardener. She offered to re-do our backyard garden with some low maintenance, hardy, but also colorful shrubs and plants. It was a lot of work on her part and since and over the years I do my part by weeding, trimming, and bringing touches of Spring and Summer color with annuals. And, you know, that is a lot like life itself: to be successful and to find satisfaction in life, we have to have high ideals, make wise choices, seek good counsel, plant the right seeds, and then tend and care for them with loyal, loving, and disciplined effort. Our efforts draw the life-sustaining support and love of God, and God through His children!
Recently at one the classes in meditation that I teach, I described how often I'd heard students say how they had been spiritually inspired earlier in life (perhaps having read Paramhansa Yogananda's now famous story, "Autobiography of a Yogi") but had gotten distracted from their spiritual quest by the demands of daily life, marriage, family, work, health and so many other things. Often it would be twenty or more years later when their former, but short-lived interest would return with enough inspiration to give them the energy and will to begin meditating again. A discussion among us ensued and one of the students asked whether or not the seeming detour that I described mightn’t in fact be simply part of the spiritual journey. And, of course, that’s true also, isn’t it. Sometimes seeds sprout but don’t blossom because they came up too early before the last frosts of Winter.
And thus we come to the dilemma of good (life) gardening: is it nature, or nurture? Does life just happen "if it's meant to be" or do we have to step up and in to make it so? Perhaps life is a bit of both, for at times we observe the operation of one or the other. Still, we could not be human and dismiss the necessity of our acting consciously and wisely on the basis of some measure of free will and ability to choose, lest we sink into a pit of pre-destined apathy. Besides, in my own experience of such students, they almost all feel that something in their life was lost by their detour, even if it was perhaps also true that at an earlier age they weren't ready to pursue their spiritual inclinations and interests.
Springtime is a time of renewal, rebirth and hope. I will never forget attending the very first reunion of Padma's Jewish relatives in Europe. Not since World War II had the family been in touch or together. The tragic memories of the Holocaust, and the disapora that followed for the few who survived it, meant that some fifty years had passed without meaningful contact. In a collection of family photographs that had been assembled I came upon one of a wedding held just after the end of the war (in 1945). I was touched and moved for the fact that after so much loss, cruelty, hatred, and suffering, love could still flower and with it, the promise and hope of a better future. As Gandhi often stated, in the midst of death, life persists; in the midst of hatred, love survives. This surely hints to us that life is good and love is our true nature.
We are faced today with the rising tide of two great forces, one balancing the other. On the grand scale of national and international forces, we see that coping with global warming and ecological issues, economic depression, spreading diseases, universal health care, immigration reform and other such issues requires the emergence of strong and centralized leadership and power. But this in turn triggers questions of individual liberties and privacy. One of the responses to the privacy issues can be seen symbolically portrayed by the rise of reality TV and social networks like Facebook. These symbols effectively cry out, “Look, I have nothing to hide!”
Apart from privacy issues, however, are the challenges themselves and how to meet them. Even as growing power coalesces into the hands of government, institutions, and multi-national corporations, they are hampered by inefficiency, political competition, corruption, and an alarming lack of resources and mounting debt. Ultimately the challenges that humanity faces will be most effectively addressed by a change in consciousness in the hearts and minds of individuals and not by legislative fiat or monetary muscle. The real solution is one of individual choice, initiative, and intention.
A recent article in TIME Magazine ("The Dropout Economy" by Reihan Salam) described the growing possibility of millions of dropouts from school who see only futility in pursuing their education. The writer predicts that the long term fallout of a generation of young adults dropping out will be large scale changes in lifestyles. People living "off the grid," living cooperatively together in intentional communities, trading goods and service off the tax grid, homeschooling their own children, and engaging in occupations mostly from home and in jobs never before dreamed of. Much of what he describes has been happening below the radar of public awareness, but the pace and size of it will soon accelerate and grow. Indeed much of what the author of the article describes is reflected in the lifestyles of residents of the Ananda Communities for the last forty years.
Paramhansa Yogananda, sent by Jesus (of the West) and Babaji (an incarnation of Krishna from the East), brought a ray of divine light that the powers acquired by humanity through science might be guided by wisdom and the spiritual power made manifest on earth through God’s incarnated instruments. Just as Springtime is the time for planting and nurturing the flowers of Self-realization, so now is the time become instruments of Light. The time is now to sow seeds of a new and superconscious lifestyle.
Blessings to all, Hriman
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Mahasamadhi of Paramhansa Yogananda
On or around March 7 of each year and around the world, disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda commemorate his dramatic death on that day in 1952 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles at a banquet he gave in honor of the recently appointed ambassador to the United State from India. But the commemoration is more than a remembrance: it is a celebration. For in life and in the manner and circumstances surrounding his death, Yogananda demonstrated his realization of God as the sole reality of life.
By his foreknowledge (which he communicated to numerous close disciples and friends), and by his actions that evening, and by the testimony of officials of Forest Lawn Mortuary as to the subsequent incorruptibility of his body, he taught us that death is not the final curtain of life. In the great tradition of saints and sages since time immemorial, he upheld the promise of our soul's immortality. As St. John the Apostle writes in the first chapter of his gospel, "To as many as received him, gave he the power to become the sons of God."
On the playing fields of earthly life, duality and maya (delusion) hold sway, the opposites of life and death vying alternatingly for supremcy. With our mortal eyes hypnotized by the seeming reality, though ever changing, of human life, we cannot see the unchanging Spirit hidden and eternal. Paramhansa Yogananda was sent by Jesus Christ and by Babaji (masters of west and east) to remind us that we are more than a physical form: we are children of God, made in the image of God, as light, as joy! Yogananda, as so many before him, demonstrated this power to those with eyes to see. Time and again he showed his ability to know their thoughts, the power to assist them in untying the knots of their karmic destiny, and in at least two dramatic instances, the power to bring the living back from the dead. It was not to show his power but our own potential that that God-realized souls are empowered to perform such "miracles.".
St. Francis praised God while wracked with pain; He sang with joy upon his deathbed; the Sufi mystic, Omar Khayyam, revealed the secrets of life, death, and destiny through the veiled imagery of the tavern of meditation, the bliss-intoxication of wine, and the divine romance of the soul with God; Swami Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda's guru, resurrected in flesh and blood, months after his burial; Lord Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and discovered the secret of how to overcome suffering; Moses gave his people the law that led to the Promised Land of divine attunement; Jesus proved the victory of unconditional love from the cross, the love of God appearing in human form and the victory of Spirit with his bodily resurrection. In the lives of these and many other great saints and avatars, we see the testimony of the redeeming power of God's love and the promise of our soul's immortality in God.
This is what we celebrate! And although the struggles of mortal existence will never cease upon this playing field of duality, we also celebrate the beginnings of a new age of increasing awareness of life's threads of connection and unity with an ever growing number of souls on earth. Growth in education, knowledge, life span, health, travel, communication, economic, governmental and social interdependency and cooperation and general awareness of other races, nations, and religions cannot but offer hope for a better world. This increase in awareness has its source in the divine energy being offered to souls on this planet.
But at times, and for now, contact among nations produces as much heat as light. But the devastating and mounting cost of competition, exploitation, greed, prejudice and war dictate that these trends cannot triumph (or we shall perish). A balancing is needed and a higher level of understanding is all but assured, though the cost to achieve it is most certainly going to be great for there are many, still, who resist the rising tide of harmony and connectedness.
Yogananda sometimes spoke in terms of world unity. There are those who are threatened by such concepts as an affront to national sovereignty. But his vision was of a world of united hearts, not a one-world government. He recognized that each nation had specialized in its language, customs, dress, cuisine and attitudes on behalf of other nations, and that the faith traditions of earth suited the needs and temperaments of different people. Rather, therefore, than achieving unity in an outward, organizational sense, he saw unity as flowering from within people as a sconsequence of greater awareness and understanding. Hence, cooperation would supplant competition. Peoples and nations would work together to solve mutual problems and create a better, though never a perfect, world. He forsaw no mere utopia but a higher age of awareness, suitable and necessary for the evolving circumstances of our planet.
Disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda and sincere, committed devotees everywhere are the light-bearers of this new age and level of consciousness. It is valuable and helpful that individual souls understand the nature of their discipleship to life, to God, to Guru. For we are not alone in this world or in this life. It is not a time to remain apart from others of like-mindedness. Communities, both real and virtual, must form that this light become visible to all and that it be a guide out of the labyrinth of conflict that threatends to engulf our planet.
The message of our Oneness in God and the promise of our soul's immortality is a universal and timeless message but it needs repetition and context at the dawn (and throughout) each evolving age of consciousness. In celebrating Paramhansa Yogananda's life and mission, we celebrate our own and honor that of all world teachers and of the divine love which is the source and goal of creation.
Blessings to you,
Hriman
By his foreknowledge (which he communicated to numerous close disciples and friends), and by his actions that evening, and by the testimony of officials of Forest Lawn Mortuary as to the subsequent incorruptibility of his body, he taught us that death is not the final curtain of life. In the great tradition of saints and sages since time immemorial, he upheld the promise of our soul's immortality. As St. John the Apostle writes in the first chapter of his gospel, "To as many as received him, gave he the power to become the sons of God."
On the playing fields of earthly life, duality and maya (delusion) hold sway, the opposites of life and death vying alternatingly for supremcy. With our mortal eyes hypnotized by the seeming reality, though ever changing, of human life, we cannot see the unchanging Spirit hidden and eternal. Paramhansa Yogananda was sent by Jesus Christ and by Babaji (masters of west and east) to remind us that we are more than a physical form: we are children of God, made in the image of God, as light, as joy! Yogananda, as so many before him, demonstrated this power to those with eyes to see. Time and again he showed his ability to know their thoughts, the power to assist them in untying the knots of their karmic destiny, and in at least two dramatic instances, the power to bring the living back from the dead. It was not to show his power but our own potential that that God-realized souls are empowered to perform such "miracles.".
St. Francis praised God while wracked with pain; He sang with joy upon his deathbed; the Sufi mystic, Omar Khayyam, revealed the secrets of life, death, and destiny through the veiled imagery of the tavern of meditation, the bliss-intoxication of wine, and the divine romance of the soul with God; Swami Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda's guru, resurrected in flesh and blood, months after his burial; Lord Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and discovered the secret of how to overcome suffering; Moses gave his people the law that led to the Promised Land of divine attunement; Jesus proved the victory of unconditional love from the cross, the love of God appearing in human form and the victory of Spirit with his bodily resurrection. In the lives of these and many other great saints and avatars, we see the testimony of the redeeming power of God's love and the promise of our soul's immortality in God.
This is what we celebrate! And although the struggles of mortal existence will never cease upon this playing field of duality, we also celebrate the beginnings of a new age of increasing awareness of life's threads of connection and unity with an ever growing number of souls on earth. Growth in education, knowledge, life span, health, travel, communication, economic, governmental and social interdependency and cooperation and general awareness of other races, nations, and religions cannot but offer hope for a better world. This increase in awareness has its source in the divine energy being offered to souls on this planet.
But at times, and for now, contact among nations produces as much heat as light. But the devastating and mounting cost of competition, exploitation, greed, prejudice and war dictate that these trends cannot triumph (or we shall perish). A balancing is needed and a higher level of understanding is all but assured, though the cost to achieve it is most certainly going to be great for there are many, still, who resist the rising tide of harmony and connectedness.
Yogananda sometimes spoke in terms of world unity. There are those who are threatened by such concepts as an affront to national sovereignty. But his vision was of a world of united hearts, not a one-world government. He recognized that each nation had specialized in its language, customs, dress, cuisine and attitudes on behalf of other nations, and that the faith traditions of earth suited the needs and temperaments of different people. Rather, therefore, than achieving unity in an outward, organizational sense, he saw unity as flowering from within people as a sconsequence of greater awareness and understanding. Hence, cooperation would supplant competition. Peoples and nations would work together to solve mutual problems and create a better, though never a perfect, world. He forsaw no mere utopia but a higher age of awareness, suitable and necessary for the evolving circumstances of our planet.
Disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda and sincere, committed devotees everywhere are the light-bearers of this new age and level of consciousness. It is valuable and helpful that individual souls understand the nature of their discipleship to life, to God, to Guru. For we are not alone in this world or in this life. It is not a time to remain apart from others of like-mindedness. Communities, both real and virtual, must form that this light become visible to all and that it be a guide out of the labyrinth of conflict that threatends to engulf our planet.
The message of our Oneness in God and the promise of our soul's immortality is a universal and timeless message but it needs repetition and context at the dawn (and throughout) each evolving age of consciousness. In celebrating Paramhansa Yogananda's life and mission, we celebrate our own and honor that of all world teachers and of the divine love which is the source and goal of creation.
Blessings to you,
Hriman
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
How to Know God!
How to Know God!
We have inherited a medieval mindset when we unthinkingly relegate “God” to some distant universe of indifference or even some unfathomably vast distance from our own daily life and concerns. Yet the life and teachings of God-realized saints and masters are vibrant testimonies to God’s being our closest, and our nearest and dearest friend. God, Yogananda and others have reminded us, has everything, indeed, IS everything in creation. The only one thing God doesn’t possess is our love, our interest, and our attention. This only we can give of our own, free will.
We do not “see” God, or feel God’s presence in our lives, because of our preoccupation with our own thoughts, fears, desires, and activities. As Swami Sri Yukteswar noted in a meeting with a skeptical chemist who couldn’t isolate God in the laboratory, if you could but watch your thoughts for one day you would know why you haven’t “found” God!
In the chapter, “An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness” (in Autobiography of a Yogi), Paramhansa Yogananda was given that supernal experience by the grace of his guru, Sri Yukteswar. He was given the key to entering that blessed state at will, and to bestow that state upon others whose intuition was sufficiently developed to handle the experience. He would enter that state, he wrote, for months at a time. (Incredible to even think of it!).
Nonetheless, after some time, he asked his guru, “When will I find God?” Sri Yukteswar chuckled and commented that surely Mukunda (Yogananda’s pre-monastic, birth name) didn’t expect some bearded man on a throne in some corner of antiseptic space? Sri Yukteswar explained that meditation furnishes a two-fold proof of God: ever-new joy, convincing to one’s very atoms, and His adequate guidance to our every need. Yogananda replied that indeed he had found the joy of meditation bubbling up from the subconscious during daily activities, guiding him even in the smallest detail of his actions.
In fact, the superconscious state of our soul manifests itself to us in eight distinct forms of consciousness and feeling (Chitta): peace, wisdom, energy, love, calmness, Aum sound, light, and bliss. Each of these corresponds to the one of the chakras in ascending order (the sixth chakra has a negative pole at the medulla and a positive pole at the spiritual eye, hence “eight”). Each of these levels of consciousness gives us a gift, both an inward beatitude and an outward one.
For example, peace, the guardian of the higher seven states, washes us clean in meditation of the attachments of daily life, even while, outwardly it blesses us with peace emanations in our work and at home: such emanations are sometimes felt and appreciated by those around us. Wisdom is more than mere intellectual knowledge. It is grace. It is the vibration of purity and knowing: gnosis. The highest wisdom is to know the Self as the soul. Energy is the fire element that ignites our desire to find God in meditation and to walk the path of daily life with integrity. Love is devotion to God and love for God through our fellow man. Calmness gives us confidence and insight under stress and deep expansive vistas of space in meditation, as well as the beatitude felt when restless thoughts at last subside during meditation. The Aum vibration begins the last stage of our ascent to Oneness, for communion with Aum is entrance to higher realms, including communion with its companion, light, and final entrance into the final state of union in unalloyed Bliss.
When we contact any level of these eight aspects of God when are in direct contact with God. Thus even the beginning meditator can access the Divine presence easily. “The time for knowing God has come” Paramhansa Yogananda declared.
Blessings to you,
Nayaswami Hriman
note: this was taken from a Sunday Service talk I gave on February 21. See http://www.anandaseattle.org/ to listen to the audio version.
We have inherited a medieval mindset when we unthinkingly relegate “God” to some distant universe of indifference or even some unfathomably vast distance from our own daily life and concerns. Yet the life and teachings of God-realized saints and masters are vibrant testimonies to God’s being our closest, and our nearest and dearest friend. God, Yogananda and others have reminded us, has everything, indeed, IS everything in creation. The only one thing God doesn’t possess is our love, our interest, and our attention. This only we can give of our own, free will.
We do not “see” God, or feel God’s presence in our lives, because of our preoccupation with our own thoughts, fears, desires, and activities. As Swami Sri Yukteswar noted in a meeting with a skeptical chemist who couldn’t isolate God in the laboratory, if you could but watch your thoughts for one day you would know why you haven’t “found” God!
In the chapter, “An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness” (in Autobiography of a Yogi), Paramhansa Yogananda was given that supernal experience by the grace of his guru, Sri Yukteswar. He was given the key to entering that blessed state at will, and to bestow that state upon others whose intuition was sufficiently developed to handle the experience. He would enter that state, he wrote, for months at a time. (Incredible to even think of it!).
Nonetheless, after some time, he asked his guru, “When will I find God?” Sri Yukteswar chuckled and commented that surely Mukunda (Yogananda’s pre-monastic, birth name) didn’t expect some bearded man on a throne in some corner of antiseptic space? Sri Yukteswar explained that meditation furnishes a two-fold proof of God: ever-new joy, convincing to one’s very atoms, and His adequate guidance to our every need. Yogananda replied that indeed he had found the joy of meditation bubbling up from the subconscious during daily activities, guiding him even in the smallest detail of his actions.
In fact, the superconscious state of our soul manifests itself to us in eight distinct forms of consciousness and feeling (Chitta): peace, wisdom, energy, love, calmness, Aum sound, light, and bliss. Each of these corresponds to the one of the chakras in ascending order (the sixth chakra has a negative pole at the medulla and a positive pole at the spiritual eye, hence “eight”). Each of these levels of consciousness gives us a gift, both an inward beatitude and an outward one.
For example, peace, the guardian of the higher seven states, washes us clean in meditation of the attachments of daily life, even while, outwardly it blesses us with peace emanations in our work and at home: such emanations are sometimes felt and appreciated by those around us. Wisdom is more than mere intellectual knowledge. It is grace. It is the vibration of purity and knowing: gnosis. The highest wisdom is to know the Self as the soul. Energy is the fire element that ignites our desire to find God in meditation and to walk the path of daily life with integrity. Love is devotion to God and love for God through our fellow man. Calmness gives us confidence and insight under stress and deep expansive vistas of space in meditation, as well as the beatitude felt when restless thoughts at last subside during meditation. The Aum vibration begins the last stage of our ascent to Oneness, for communion with Aum is entrance to higher realms, including communion with its companion, light, and final entrance into the final state of union in unalloyed Bliss.
When we contact any level of these eight aspects of God when are in direct contact with God. Thus even the beginning meditator can access the Divine presence easily. “The time for knowing God has come” Paramhansa Yogananda declared.
Blessings to you,
Nayaswami Hriman
note: this was taken from a Sunday Service talk I gave on February 21. See http://www.anandaseattle.org/ to listen to the audio version.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Should one reject religion?
Sorry if this first post is longer than blogs usually offer, but this is new to me:
Religion vs. Spirituality
It is increasingly common to hear a distinction made between religion and spirituality. In general, spirituality refers to an individual's personal relationship with God while religion is considered organized spirituality. For some people the two are opposites (and in opposition!). There can be no definition of spirituality but I would tentatively describe it as having either its goal or its source in a personal experience of God or some transcendent state of consciousness. When this connection is sought through specific disciplines and practices such as daily prayer and meditation it may be described as "my spiritual path." But sometimes the experience comes to a person unexpectedly. It might then become the turning point for a lifelong spiritual journey or it may be simply treasured in one's heart without an additional effort to recapture it.
Humans need more than food, shelter, and the usual comforts that occupy such the vast percentage of our activities.There exists also a need for wisdom. Not the kind of wisdom that we think of as being "smart" or knowledgeable. Rather, true wisdom is nothing less than the experience of Oneness, the true and sole truth of all creation. While, so far as we know, plants, rocks, and animals are content to merely exist or to operate on instinct alone and presumably never question their own awareness or existence, at the human level there exists the capacity to become self-aware and the concomitant desire to seek the source and meaning of our awareness and existence.
In the experience of transcendence, the usual ego-affirming and ego-protective instincts are sublimated and absorbed into an overarching experience of Oneness. This produces ineffable joy, intensity of Being-ness, and great vitality, among other things. In any case, beyond any necessarily feeble attempt to describe it, essential spirituality has its roots in this experience whose levels are unendingly vast, indeed: infinite. But the history of spirituality in individual lives shows that there are gradations of transcendence and therefore saints, seers, prophets, masters, rishis, and sages express different levels or different aspects of this essential truth that we are One.
But, regardless of gradations, it is the testimony, the teachings, and the example of the lives of such witnesses that form the seed that germinates into what we call religion. Accepting that the seed grows up and outward from its roots in transcendence, it is obvious it moves progressively away from its origins. In the process, many souls are inspired, redeemed, and helped even if, in certain circumstances, varying degrees of harm or betrayal of the seed revelation also occurs.
Thus it is that the transcendent experience of saints and sages in every age functions to refresh, re-inspire, and re-direct the impulses and forms of religions. Though the representatives of religion claim for themselves the protection of their particular seed revelation and the right to interpret, teach, and otherwise keep it “pure,” it is only those in whom transcendence flowers for this specific, divine purpose who are the true custodians of religion.
Transcendent experiences draw from Infinity and can never be fixed into a single credo or ritual. The needs of humans, both individual and groups, change over time and the wisdom guidance of transcendence can take many directions, though none that are true can ever be essentially contradictory, for all should point back to Oneness. It would be no surprise, therefore, that different faith traditions , teachers, teachings, and techniques will exist at any one time or down through the ages according to the spiritual needs and levels of maturity of the souls they serve to uplift.
But many who are aware of this distinction (between religion and spirituality) reject religion. But perhaps it is a mistake to reject what religion has to offer. Is it not the impulse of the One to become many? And does not the impulse to love but the impulse of One to draw the many back into One? To serve the One in many is the duty and necessity of the individual soul in its journey to become reunited with Infinity. Still, it is not difficult to understand why some people are reluctant to expand their personal spirituality into the seemingly complex social strata of religion. Such people decry that too many orthodox religionists have betrayed their founders' revelations and teachings. But sometimes spiritual dillettantes revel in their critique of orthodoxy only to justify their refusal (or fear) to commit to any form of spiritual discipline.
To believe in an ideal or cause but refuse to take action to manifest or support it, is either cowardice or ignorance. As Lord Krishna proclaims in the Bhagavad Gita we cannot achieve the actionless state (of transcendence) without taking action (without ego-directed motivation). It is our nature and duty to participate in the great drama of creation bringing into manifestation the divine in human form. In India, this is called the avatara. When we have an idea, an inspiration, or, in meditation, a potentially life transforming experience, we naturally seek to manifest or express it, lest it become stillborn and its vital glow wane into darkness.
We see in the lives of saints the general tendency to endorse the rituals, beliefs, and customs into which he (she) is born in order to help others. Sometimes, a saint comes to deliver a course correction to the errors of orthodox religion. But even, so, such a saint would clothe his inspiration in some form recognizable to his culture. Jesus, for example, initiated the sacrament of the Eucharist by using bread and wine - common everyday forms of material sustenance which served to convey both the symbol and the means for divine, inner communion. Jesus also declared that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets (and not to destroy them), and yet, for all of that, he declared something radically new, so radical in fact, that he was condemned to death by the religious leaders of his time! Saints will often uphold the valid and helpful traditions into which they are born even if they, personally, are not dependent upon those rituals and credos for their own inspiration. Yet others enter states of superconscious in performing such rituals!
Bear in mind that we cannot bind transcendence to any rules. But as the saints speak the language of their culture taking that which is common and elevating it to the divine, so too might we responsibly express our spirituality using the symbols that speak to us and others. Thus in our commitment to sharing, we expand our hearts and our consciousness.
Therefore what is needed today, in this age where old forms are being rejected is the understanding that the new dispensation of spirituality which is sweeping our planet must take new forms. Not necessarily radical or unrecognizable forms, however. Whatever forms we choose, the result and the intention should not be sectarian. We must attempt to understand that although the form and language we use may be specific (just as our name, body, and personality are specific), the intention can still be a universal one. There need not be a contradiction or irony in this. It's just that we have grown accustomed to associating specific beliefs, rituals, devotions, and practices with sectarianism. Consider that the process of the ego offering itself into God consciousness might be reflected in the way that an enlightened religion in its teachings and practices might invite its adherents to individually seek Oneness. Think BOTH-AND, rather than EITHER-OR!
The other modern tendency that stems from the rejection of the forms of religion is the the temptation to view spirituality as only personal or simply democratic, as though truth were subject to vote or merely subjective. Instead, let us look to those great souls who have been sent into our age by the divine for that specific purpose for guidance in creating new expressions. In this way the sacred tradition of incarnation, or avatara (divine descent) is upheld and strengthened offering great blessings to those of us who serve its cause.
While there has been no lack of spiritual teachers in the 20th century, few combine tradition with a new dispensation, and who demonstrate the tangible spiritual power to uplift many souls. For this power is the hallmark of the avatar who is a world teacher. In 1920, Paramhansa Yogananda came to America from India. He took up residence in Los Angeles, California, a world center of innovation and creativity. Yogananda was a swami and a master of yoga. He demonstrated publicly and to his disciples power over life and death! Though he was raised in India as a Hindu, he did not reject his roots, nor yet did he stick doggedly or rigidly to Hindu customs and orthodoxy. Indeed, he was criticised by orthodox Hindus both in India and in America. He taught yoga (both the physical culture of "hatha yoga," and meditation, "raja yoga"). He brought to America (and to the West generally) the technique known simply as Kriya Yoga, an advanced breath control technique for individual spiritual evolution. He said he came not to convert people to Hinduism, but to their own, higher Self.
He wrote, taught, and experimented on all aspects of modern daily life, from home life, to education, to business, politics, leadership, the arts, and, of course, religion and spirituality. He openly took on the traditional role of a guru, even if, at the same time, his charm, charisma, kindness, and transparent humility made him a friend and a servant to all. His religious services were not Brahminical but were simple and recognizable to anyone who attended a church, temple, or mosque. His message was unreservedly an affirmation of transcendence but also practical. He encouraged the customary practices of scriptural studies, fellowship, sefless service, financial support, and devotion. His was an all-mbracing life and teaching that co-existed comfortably based upon meditation and Self-realization. His message of universal fellowship of all races, creeds, and nations was hardly unique but it was clearly, creatively, and powerfully affirmed both by precept and by example. He taught what he called the "science" of religion: a science based on breath awareness, which he called India's unique contribution to humanity, which could be practiced by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation.
In what he taught and by his personal example, there was nothing lacking for the upliftment of humanity in our new and modern age. To be his follower is not to turn one's back in rejection of any other faith tradition. Yogananda is admired by millions and is acknowledged by many as the world spiritual teacher for this new age of globalization. For those who are personally attracted and committed to what he taught, discipleship is the form of their spirituality. But his is not a path of yet another sect. It is a (but not "the") doorway to the Infinite consciousness of God.
In this seeming dichotomy lies, then, the new dispensation for our age. Spirituality must take a form just as our soul, eternal and changeless, takes the form of our human body. When Yogananda was a young monk in training with his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, his guru asked him why he disdained organizational work. Had not he too come to these teachings through a line of teachers who gave of themselves to teach others? Yogananda said he vowed from that moment on to do what he could to disseminate the kriya yoga teachings of the line of masters through whom it had been resurrected in the modern era. He did so knowing the disappointments, betrayals, and overwhelming odds and prejudice to be faced by a lone Hindu swami coming to the West.
This idea of universal spirituality taking specific form while not losing either its universality or its form, is a new teaching, not seen ever before on a mass scale in known human history. We urge those of goodwill who affirm their own spirituality not to reject religion or association with others of like mind. We need not fear the enclosure of form so long as, armed with a new understanding, we see all forms as potential windows onto Infinity. The need for this new age is for people of high-mindedness to become visible and strong by association and commitment to one another. If a million people meditate privately and on their own, the impact on society might be felt over time but if they form a conscious, harmonious association in service and devotion, imagine the much greater impact.
Religion vs. Spirituality
It is increasingly common to hear a distinction made between religion and spirituality. In general, spirituality refers to an individual's personal relationship with God while religion is considered organized spirituality. For some people the two are opposites (and in opposition!). There can be no definition of spirituality but I would tentatively describe it as having either its goal or its source in a personal experience of God or some transcendent state of consciousness. When this connection is sought through specific disciplines and practices such as daily prayer and meditation it may be described as "my spiritual path." But sometimes the experience comes to a person unexpectedly. It might then become the turning point for a lifelong spiritual journey or it may be simply treasured in one's heart without an additional effort to recapture it.
Humans need more than food, shelter, and the usual comforts that occupy such the vast percentage of our activities.There exists also a need for wisdom. Not the kind of wisdom that we think of as being "smart" or knowledgeable. Rather, true wisdom is nothing less than the experience of Oneness, the true and sole truth of all creation. While, so far as we know, plants, rocks, and animals are content to merely exist or to operate on instinct alone and presumably never question their own awareness or existence, at the human level there exists the capacity to become self-aware and the concomitant desire to seek the source and meaning of our awareness and existence.
In the experience of transcendence, the usual ego-affirming and ego-protective instincts are sublimated and absorbed into an overarching experience of Oneness. This produces ineffable joy, intensity of Being-ness, and great vitality, among other things. In any case, beyond any necessarily feeble attempt to describe it, essential spirituality has its roots in this experience whose levels are unendingly vast, indeed: infinite. But the history of spirituality in individual lives shows that there are gradations of transcendence and therefore saints, seers, prophets, masters, rishis, and sages express different levels or different aspects of this essential truth that we are One.
But, regardless of gradations, it is the testimony, the teachings, and the example of the lives of such witnesses that form the seed that germinates into what we call religion. Accepting that the seed grows up and outward from its roots in transcendence, it is obvious it moves progressively away from its origins. In the process, many souls are inspired, redeemed, and helped even if, in certain circumstances, varying degrees of harm or betrayal of the seed revelation also occurs.
Thus it is that the transcendent experience of saints and sages in every age functions to refresh, re-inspire, and re-direct the impulses and forms of religions. Though the representatives of religion claim for themselves the protection of their particular seed revelation and the right to interpret, teach, and otherwise keep it “pure,” it is only those in whom transcendence flowers for this specific, divine purpose who are the true custodians of religion.
Transcendent experiences draw from Infinity and can never be fixed into a single credo or ritual. The needs of humans, both individual and groups, change over time and the wisdom guidance of transcendence can take many directions, though none that are true can ever be essentially contradictory, for all should point back to Oneness. It would be no surprise, therefore, that different faith traditions , teachers, teachings, and techniques will exist at any one time or down through the ages according to the spiritual needs and levels of maturity of the souls they serve to uplift.
But many who are aware of this distinction (between religion and spirituality) reject religion. But perhaps it is a mistake to reject what religion has to offer. Is it not the impulse of the One to become many? And does not the impulse to love but the impulse of One to draw the many back into One? To serve the One in many is the duty and necessity of the individual soul in its journey to become reunited with Infinity. Still, it is not difficult to understand why some people are reluctant to expand their personal spirituality into the seemingly complex social strata of religion. Such people decry that too many orthodox religionists have betrayed their founders' revelations and teachings. But sometimes spiritual dillettantes revel in their critique of orthodoxy only to justify their refusal (or fear) to commit to any form of spiritual discipline.
To believe in an ideal or cause but refuse to take action to manifest or support it, is either cowardice or ignorance. As Lord Krishna proclaims in the Bhagavad Gita we cannot achieve the actionless state (of transcendence) without taking action (without ego-directed motivation). It is our nature and duty to participate in the great drama of creation bringing into manifestation the divine in human form. In India, this is called the avatara. When we have an idea, an inspiration, or, in meditation, a potentially life transforming experience, we naturally seek to manifest or express it, lest it become stillborn and its vital glow wane into darkness.
We see in the lives of saints the general tendency to endorse the rituals, beliefs, and customs into which he (she) is born in order to help others. Sometimes, a saint comes to deliver a course correction to the errors of orthodox religion. But even, so, such a saint would clothe his inspiration in some form recognizable to his culture. Jesus, for example, initiated the sacrament of the Eucharist by using bread and wine - common everyday forms of material sustenance which served to convey both the symbol and the means for divine, inner communion. Jesus also declared that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets (and not to destroy them), and yet, for all of that, he declared something radically new, so radical in fact, that he was condemned to death by the religious leaders of his time! Saints will often uphold the valid and helpful traditions into which they are born even if they, personally, are not dependent upon those rituals and credos for their own inspiration. Yet others enter states of superconscious in performing such rituals!
Bear in mind that we cannot bind transcendence to any rules. But as the saints speak the language of their culture taking that which is common and elevating it to the divine, so too might we responsibly express our spirituality using the symbols that speak to us and others. Thus in our commitment to sharing, we expand our hearts and our consciousness.
Therefore what is needed today, in this age where old forms are being rejected is the understanding that the new dispensation of spirituality which is sweeping our planet must take new forms. Not necessarily radical or unrecognizable forms, however. Whatever forms we choose, the result and the intention should not be sectarian. We must attempt to understand that although the form and language we use may be specific (just as our name, body, and personality are specific), the intention can still be a universal one. There need not be a contradiction or irony in this. It's just that we have grown accustomed to associating specific beliefs, rituals, devotions, and practices with sectarianism. Consider that the process of the ego offering itself into God consciousness might be reflected in the way that an enlightened religion in its teachings and practices might invite its adherents to individually seek Oneness. Think BOTH-AND, rather than EITHER-OR!
The other modern tendency that stems from the rejection of the forms of religion is the the temptation to view spirituality as only personal or simply democratic, as though truth were subject to vote or merely subjective. Instead, let us look to those great souls who have been sent into our age by the divine for that specific purpose for guidance in creating new expressions. In this way the sacred tradition of incarnation, or avatara (divine descent) is upheld and strengthened offering great blessings to those of us who serve its cause.
While there has been no lack of spiritual teachers in the 20th century, few combine tradition with a new dispensation, and who demonstrate the tangible spiritual power to uplift many souls. For this power is the hallmark of the avatar who is a world teacher. In 1920, Paramhansa Yogananda came to America from India. He took up residence in Los Angeles, California, a world center of innovation and creativity. Yogananda was a swami and a master of yoga. He demonstrated publicly and to his disciples power over life and death! Though he was raised in India as a Hindu, he did not reject his roots, nor yet did he stick doggedly or rigidly to Hindu customs and orthodoxy. Indeed, he was criticised by orthodox Hindus both in India and in America. He taught yoga (both the physical culture of "hatha yoga," and meditation, "raja yoga"). He brought to America (and to the West generally) the technique known simply as Kriya Yoga, an advanced breath control technique for individual spiritual evolution. He said he came not to convert people to Hinduism, but to their own, higher Self.
He wrote, taught, and experimented on all aspects of modern daily life, from home life, to education, to business, politics, leadership, the arts, and, of course, religion and spirituality. He openly took on the traditional role of a guru, even if, at the same time, his charm, charisma, kindness, and transparent humility made him a friend and a servant to all. His religious services were not Brahminical but were simple and recognizable to anyone who attended a church, temple, or mosque. His message was unreservedly an affirmation of transcendence but also practical. He encouraged the customary practices of scriptural studies, fellowship, sefless service, financial support, and devotion. His was an all-mbracing life and teaching that co-existed comfortably based upon meditation and Self-realization. His message of universal fellowship of all races, creeds, and nations was hardly unique but it was clearly, creatively, and powerfully affirmed both by precept and by example. He taught what he called the "science" of religion: a science based on breath awareness, which he called India's unique contribution to humanity, which could be practiced by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation.
In what he taught and by his personal example, there was nothing lacking for the upliftment of humanity in our new and modern age. To be his follower is not to turn one's back in rejection of any other faith tradition. Yogananda is admired by millions and is acknowledged by many as the world spiritual teacher for this new age of globalization. For those who are personally attracted and committed to what he taught, discipleship is the form of their spirituality. But his is not a path of yet another sect. It is a (but not "the") doorway to the Infinite consciousness of God.
In this seeming dichotomy lies, then, the new dispensation for our age. Spirituality must take a form just as our soul, eternal and changeless, takes the form of our human body. When Yogananda was a young monk in training with his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, his guru asked him why he disdained organizational work. Had not he too come to these teachings through a line of teachers who gave of themselves to teach others? Yogananda said he vowed from that moment on to do what he could to disseminate the kriya yoga teachings of the line of masters through whom it had been resurrected in the modern era. He did so knowing the disappointments, betrayals, and overwhelming odds and prejudice to be faced by a lone Hindu swami coming to the West.
This idea of universal spirituality taking specific form while not losing either its universality or its form, is a new teaching, not seen ever before on a mass scale in known human history. We urge those of goodwill who affirm their own spirituality not to reject religion or association with others of like mind. We need not fear the enclosure of form so long as, armed with a new understanding, we see all forms as potential windows onto Infinity. The need for this new age is for people of high-mindedness to become visible and strong by association and commitment to one another. If a million people meditate privately and on their own, the impact on society might be felt over time but if they form a conscious, harmonious association in service and devotion, imagine the much greater impact.
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