Kriya Yoga & Discipleship in the 21st Century

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Swami Hrimananda

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

Truth is simple: all else, complex.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joy to you,

Nayaswami Hriman

Easter : Who was Jesus? Who am I?

The grand story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is ripe with spiritual lessons for all times and for everyone. I would like to share some thoughts that, while lacking in interesting history, or great moral lessons, or deep philosophical or Vedantic insights, are more personal to daily life and applicable to most, if not all of us.

Let me start by saying that in my many years of studying and sharing the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda on the subject of the Bible, including the life and teachings of Jesus, I have found the story of Jesus' conversation with his close disciples asking them the question, "Who do men say I am" to be among the most fascinating and fruitful of contemplation.

I have long and often stated that the question of "Who is Jesus Christ?" is nothing less than the question "Who am I?" One of the first modern Indian gurus whose teachings captivated me (before I even had heard of Yogananda) was Ramana Maharshi who was famous for teaching the technique of self-inquiry: "Who am I?" We all know the counsel inscribed on the temple in Delphi, Greece, "Know Thyself!"

In my sixty-five years of life I have come gradually to see that the greatest challenge to happiness faced by most sincere and intelligent people, including devotees, is self-doubt. Comparing oneself to other like-minded, sincere, energetic, creative, talented and intelligent people is far more often a cause of discouragement than it is for inspiration or gratitude.

Yogananda said that inferiority complex is simply the opposite of superiority complex. Each is a side of the coin of ego. He defined "ego" as the "Soul (mis)identified with the body." So while I will focus more on self-doubt than braggadocio, understand that the latter is simply a smokescreen for the former (and vice versa).

Dwelling on what others (may) think of you, or what perhaps someone has said to you (in criticism), or how you were snubbed or ignored occupies far too great amount of time and angst to prove productive or useful introspectively. Such musings rarely prompt positive changes in one's life. Instead it is like nursing a wound or favoring an injured limb. It becomes a habit. We all know someone who takes this tact to the point of becoming paranoid but far from reaching that stage of delusion, most of us surely find nothing redeeming from the exercise.

On the other hand, just as physical pain is there to warn us to stop doing something injurious, so guilt exists to prod us to make changes in our life. How often, however, I have observed that those who dwell habitually on guilt fail to make any changes because they imagine that by dwelling morosely upon their guilt they have exorcised their need for further recompense.

Jesus' resurrection showed his power over death itself. Spiritual or psychological paralysis, if not spiritual death, can occur by our habitual indulgence in self-doubt, unworthiness, and temptation to give up.

Yet is "self=love" the answer? Should we actively bolster our self-esteem by self-praise or boasting? Obviously not. Yet it is true that we can't really and truly love another person (what to mention love God), until we love ourselves. By "love ourselves" I mean until we have some degree of self-acceptance and contentment (including inner strength and calm confidence or faith), our self-doubt will eat like a cancer on any balanced attempt to love another. I say 'balanced' in contrast to co-dependent love.

I have seen self-doubt gnaw at a devotee's faith until the devotee leaves the spiritual path all together.

The solution to what I call our "existential" unhappiness is, as always, "God alone." Let me explain.

First: by "existential" I mean, by way of example, a person who seemingly has everything that most people would desire but is not happy. You don't know why, but there it is. This person might even be clinically depressed. In any case, definitely unsatisfied: but for no obvious reason(s). This can be a general state of affairs or related to a specific aspect, talent, or gift that he has. Take a successful artist or businessman. Such has the makings of what most others in his field would want for themselves. Yet, even in his success, he remains discontent; unsure of himself; unhappy.

The saints and masters are the only ones who show us how to find true happiness. Success in no other human endeavor consistently yields the Holy Grail of human happiness.

"Naughty or good, Divine Mother, I am yours!" Paramhansa Yogananda once wrote. When we see ourselves, our combination of successes and failures, talents and shortcomings, as a tiny piece of the great cosmic wheel of life and all things that we do as our efforts to seek the Holy Grail, we can better forgive and accept ourselves as "doing the best we can."

We should try, indeed, to do the best we can. We have to be sincere in that. But having done so, we "offer it up" as my dear, now departed, mother would counsel her children long ago. Living in the presence of divinity in human form (our form; the guru's form; the form of all others), we find it easier to resurrect our soul's memory from the intensity of the marketplace of buyers and sellers, flatterers, sycophants, and self=styled enemies.

Swami Kriyananda, founder of the worldwide work of Ananda, and direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, was my teacher, too. In his counsels and in his writings, e.g., the book "Sadhu Beware," he speaks about dealing with the inevitable (or merely perceived) criticism that everyone receives. ("No good deed goes unpunished" is a modern saying.) Among other things, he counseled to ask oneself if the criticism is deserved. If so, try to change yourself for the better. If it is not, then let it go; forget it. Most people are wrong most of the time, anyway.

Swami Sri Yukteswar counseled his disciple Paramhansa Yogananda to say, "Maybe you're right." And, then leave at that so far as one's response to criticism goes.

Meditation is the most efficient and fastest way to resurrect our identification with our eternal, changeless and ever perfect soul and to gradually dissolve our identification with the body and personality. For in this world of praise one day and blame another there is no end to the cycle. After all, they crucified Jesus Christ, didn't they; and he was blameless! So you and I, far from blameless or perfect, are naturally ripe candidates for censure.

"I am a child of eternity. I am ageless; I am deathless. I am the changeless Spirit at the heart of all change."

Be thou then, too, the resurrected Christ consciousness of your soul. Even-minded and happy should be our guide and our banner of victory over the death-infected ego.

Happy Easter!

Swami Hrimananda