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
Saturday, April 3, 2010
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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