Convocation 2004Enjoying Life’s Challenges _____________________________________________________2Sunday Service at Lake Shrine - Brother Atmananda ___________________________________________ 2

The Second Coming of Christ_______________________________________________________ 5Special Opening Event - August 1, 2004 _____________________________________________________ 5 Brother Achalananda ____________________________________________________________________ 5 Mrinalini Mata _________________________________________________________________________ 5

Notes from the Video “The Second Coming of Christ†�__________________________________ 8(Paraphrased notes) _____________________________________________________________________ 8

Monday Afternoon Satsanga _______________________________________________________ 9Brother Brahmananda____________________________________________________________________ 9

Compassion and Understanding: Cornerstones of Spiritual Living ______________________ 17Monday Evening Lecture – Brother Achalananda _____________________________________________ 17

Tuesday Morning Satsanga _______________________________________________________ 23Sister Parvati _________________________________________________________________________ 23

The Hong-Sau and Aum Techniques of Concentration and Meditation ___________________ 28Brother Ishtananda _____________________________________________________________________ 28

Creating a Joy Filled Life _________________________________________________________ 31Tuesday Evening Lecture – Uma Mata _____________________________________________________ 31

Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World __________________________________________ 37Teen/Young Adult Class – Brother Mitrananda_______________________________________________ 37

Intuition: The Soul’s Unerring Guidance ___________________________________________ 43Wednesday Evening Lecture – Brother Satyananda ___________________________________________ 43

Thursday Morning Satsanga ______________________________________________________ 49Brother Nakulananda ___________________________________________________________________ 49

Cultivating a Deeper Attunement with God and Guru _________________________________ 57Thursday Evening Lecture – Brother Vishwananda____________________________________________ 57

Developing Courage and Endurance ________________________________________________ 65Friday Evening Lecture – Brother Santoshananda _____________________________________________ 65

Taking God with You Through Life ________________________________________________ 70Saturday Afternoon Closing Class – Brother Anandamoy_______________________________________ 70

Jai Guru!

Convocation 2004

Enjoying Life’s ChallengesSunday Service at Lake Shrine - Brother Atmananda

Life is a veil of tears – and sometimes it may seem like on the road of life you just got run over by a truck! As we follow the spiritual path and strive for right attitude in all that comes into our lives, when we encounter difficulties we come to realize, “Okay, I must try to enjoy itâ€. It’s like that philosophy of the old familiar childhood� song: “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily; life is but a dream....†We have to �recognize and deal with life’s challenges, but through meditation we can also recognize that life is just a dream. Life is over in a flash – close your eyes and poof! It’s gone. So we need to make that inner connection with God because we will need that inner reassurance at death. Our perception of time when we are in the body is very different than after we leave the body. Guruji’s teaching is not about reading books or forming churches; it’s not about dogma, it’s not about rules; it’s about establishing an inner church where we can have direct, personal experience of God. It’s about knowing yourself, knowing that God is real and that he is right within us. We have a mind and a body, but we are pure soul. Joy, peace, wisdom, light, energy, bliss - these are the tangible manifestations of God that we can experience right within ourselves. By going into the spine in meditation we can feel it. And we need it - we need these experiences, because life is so wearying, so wearing. We need to touch, to connect with God. If we form the meditation habit we will begin to feel stillness in our life. The little moments count - it’s in the little moments, the little quiet wisps of time that we can connect this is real intimacy with God. And you will find that if you are attuned, God is guiding you, talking to you – we will become aware of God in each moment and realize that He is giving us little messages all the time. To be receptive to that is wonderful, and it is very real. Why do we have problems and challenges? One reason is because of the wrong choices we have made in the past, both in this life and previous lives - and this plays out karmically. Our challenges are shadows of what is wrong. It’s a mathematical flow of karma. Those challenges are God ordained. The good news is that they are rich territory for spiritual growth and understanding if we are attuned. This is how the soul looks at challenges – for growth. Through meditation and introspection we can learn to use the latent spiritual powers within us. When the soul interfaces with material human existence, the purpose is to rouse latent spiritual energy – and the result is joy – freedom from bondage and limitations. When tests come, take a look and ask, “What is for me to learn from this experience?†�Behind every difficult test is the loving hand of God. Sometimes God corners us, and He doesn’t let us out until we deal with it. And then it’s like giving birth - it doesn’t come easy! We can take God to task about it when we meet Him! (Laughter) God is saying, “You need this, my child.†It may seem like a really rough experience - like the �end of the world. But when you look back at what you were forced to do, you will find it was a blessing in disguise. Sri Gyanamata had the right attitude when she wrote: “I shall always remember the words of someone to me when I was undergoing the greatest suffering of my life. He was not a friend, but a complete stranger, who had the impulse to speak to me one day when I was out for a walk. He said, “It had to be. It was all necessary for you.†And I answered, “Yes, I know that what you �

say is true. I needed it.†His reply came quickly, and like a blow from� the shoulder: “Then glorify it!�

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That is the point. Since it is suffering that teaches us the truth and turns us toward God, why do we not thank and praise it for the work it does for us?†(God Alone, pg 81) Transform and reframe how you are �looking at what is happening, and realize: “Wow, this is here for a reason – thank you God! What is happening is for a reason; there is a hidden blessing.†When we can look beyond to the blessings it takes �some sting out of the challenges of human life. Even if you don’t understand, just say, “I don’t understand God, but You do, and I accept it.†That is maturity - spiritual maturity. One definition of �maturity is to be able to hold two conflicting thoughts in your mind at the same time. And that’s what it is like sometimes, isn’t it? My life – it’s perfect, it’s a lesson – and, yes, it’s a train wreck. (Laughter) In the middle of adversity say, “It’s okay. I’m alright. Everything is alright.†Our troubles are limited; they are �temporary. Everything is fine. Say it from a place of depth and understanding. Realize it is from what we have sown in the past - wrong actions in the past. God doesn’t reward or punish anyone. But He will not interfere when we make choices that will cause suffering. Master said that God has sent us out and we can only reunite with God through the power of our will – and that it is through the misuse of our free will that we suffer. So it’s a blessing and a curse! Gradually through our sincerity, we are drawn to a true Guru, and then we learn to consciously cooperate with our karma. We can choose to make right choices - now. Our choices are all happening now - not in the future. So make your “nows†in order. Master said that just seeing the light of �the spiritual eye or hearing the Aum is not a gauge for judging our spiritual achievement. You may be progressing nicely with none of these signs. Master said that spiritual achievement is to be judged solely by the depth of peace and bliss you feel in meditation. Stilling the restless mind is the problem. When we first begin on the spiritual path our minds have been so long on automatic pilot that we are not aware of the current of our thoughts until we begin to meditate. Then we begin to see how restless the mind is. It’s a struggle, but keep on and push through that period to the period of peace and quietness and that connection with God. We have been drawn to a true Guru, and as we begin to make right choices we begin to find harmony and peace in our lives. Make your connection with the Guru now. Don’t think of it as something that happens down the road. The soul has but one huge hunger - to recall, to get back to that peaceful bliss, which is what we truly are. That one desire is in our subconscious and we know it at a soul level, and in the world we are trying to satisfy that hunger. Then through the grace of God and the sincerity of our hearts, the Guru comes, and he stays with us until we are fully liberated – that is his promise to us. Master is a Jagadguru - a world Guru. He has a role to play in many lives. Many who are not even in SRF, he helps. But for those who commit themselves to this path, he is our Guru forever, and he watches over us until we make it. His love is there unconditionally, no matter where we are or what we’ve done. We are the ones who punish ourselves when we’re bad. Master said his favorite quote from the Autobiography are the words of his Guru, Sri Yukteswar: "Forget the past. 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." We are so blessed - we have Kriya Yoga, and we have the promise of the Guru to stay with us until we are free. And he will usher us into God at the end of this

life. His love is unconditional. Guilt, shame, feelings of unworthiness - all those negative responses to things we’ve done in the past God doesn’t require those kinds of responses. It’s all within our minds and it’s all so unuseful - it’s just a strange personal torture system! (Laughter) We do it to ourselves. So if you have those kinds of emotions - meditate, analyze, introspect - and then chuck it! Drop those loads. They areEnjoying Life’s Challenges

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not necessary. Live in the present. We are given continuous new experiences to make good choices, and as we grow - we learn. We can see new opportunities coming - we learn to make right choices as we grow spiritually, as we become conscious inside. Meditation is the most worthwhile activity we can do in life - it uncovers who we truly are. The Second Coming of Christ is about you awakening in the Christ Consciousness. Selfrealization is not getting something – it’s awakening to it. It’s in our destiny – it could be tomorrow! We are Self-realized right now, but we are dreaming that we are not. Gradually we become more light, more free, more peaceful – we find we are living from a place within that is more steady and sure - and that is how faith develops. Jesus gathered his disciples together at the last supper and he told them, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.†Nothing can touch you as a child of God. We have a� portable paradise within. Troubles will still come - they may come and slam into you, but they won’t soak into that sacred place, that inner sanctum you’ve created where you and God are. Then the troubles are seen for what they really are - learning opportunities. Master said that when troubles come, it is your religious duty imposed upon you by life itself. “Whatever comes your way and needs attention must be considered as a duty. Duty is not imposed upon man by some superior power. It is the inherent urge of life toward progression.†(Lessons, �S1, P-12, pg 5) As crazy as your life may be right now, it’s exactly where you need to be. When tests come, it is often a time of great spiritual growth. Life is worth nothing if it is not a continuous overcoming of problems. Look with deeper eyes into challenges. God is talking to you – understand that! You may be feeling that you just slammed into a brick wall, but remember the divine reason behind it. Drop the guilt and shame – just do the work. Your life is just right – just look at what you are to learn this is your next step. Pray to God - ask God for help – “Guide me, show me.†God does not want us �to waste time in this life. Go inside, find the divine paradise, see the hidden harmony of life. You will get buffeted around, but when you’ve found the inner harmony you have a way to protect yourself. This world is a testing ground for souls. Master said, “This world will always have trouble and turmoil. Go to the shelter of God. That is where the Masters dwell.†We ended the service by chanting together, “Row, row,� row your boatâ€.�

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The Second Coming of ChristSpecial Opening Event - August 1, 2004

The first evening of Convocation was an exciting, sacred, holy ritual in the unveiling of a new scripture – our Guru’s long-awaited revelatory explanation of the words of the blessed Lord Jesus; the original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ; the “hidden yoga of the Gospels†– The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the �Christ Within You.

Brother AchalanandaAt these Convocations there is a sense of history being lived. In late 1949 Master called Daya Mata and said, “We should have a Convocation and you should organize it.†So in 1950 we had our very first �Convocation. Master greeted and blessed each one. And this continues today - we, too, receive that same blessing if we are receptive. Master predicted of future Convocations: “They shall come from all parts of the world, thousands and thousands of them.†And so it has come to �pass. This is the role the Great Ones play in the upliftment of humanity, so that people of all religions can and shall follow the highway to the infinite – a way never before given to the world. You shall leave a spiritual footprint – walk with peace and love in your heart, and you shall. We are making history tonight, as we bring forth to the world that which it needs for the upliftment of mankind – the release of our Guru’s interpretation of Christ’s words in the Bible The Second Coming of Christ. The time is right. The time is now. The Gurus are celebrating in the heavens - their spirits are heavily permeating through the ether to be with us here at this Convocation.

Mrinalini MataMrinalini Mata quietly came on stage, took her seat, and for some moments looked around lovingly at all of us. â€Lord, Thou hast given �this monk, Yogananda, a large family!" she said. Master often said, “I love souls, but I love crowds of souls.†Tonight our Guru reaches out �to bless you all – this divine “crowd of souls.†Mrinalini Mata �began to speak of tonight’s inauguration of The Second Coming, and of the state of consciousness Master was in when he wrote it. All of a sudden we heard a phone ringing out of nowhere, and very loudly! Mrinalini Mata looked a bit puzzled and she said, “Well, I must have been put on phone duty tonight,†and she pulled a phone out from behind� the podium. We all started laughing. What was going on? Who was on the phone? But of course - none other than our beloved Daya Ma. Ma spoke over the speaker phone, offering words of welcome and blessings to us all. Mrinalini Mata finished the call with "Jai Guru! Jai Ma!" and Ma replied, "Goodbye, dear." We all applauded with joy. Mrinalini Mata then continued with her talk: A central goal of Gurudev’s mission was to bring the sacred scriptures of the East and of the WestThe Second Coming of Christ

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together - to show the harmony between the original science of yoga given by Bhagavan Krishna and the original teachings of Lord Jesus. The seed of Gurudev’s future mission began decades previous when Sri Yukteswar had written, at the request of his paramguru Mahavatar Babaji, an amazingly compact analysis on the underlying unity of the Hindu and Christian scriptures: The Holy Science. Gurudev came to Sri Yukteswar years later for training and was sent to the West to bring the science of religion, the yoga science which tells us how we came from Spirit and how we must one day turn from this dream of maya to be united once again with Spirit. Master tells us the why and the how. Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.†Master spoke from that same elevated consciousness �of Christ of the eternal truths of yoga. Master said that behind the simple words, the simple parables of Jesus, is the divine ocean of Truth and that the words of Jesus are an expression of the nectar of Truth. The disciples asked Jesus, “Why is it you speak to the masses only in parables?†And Jesus told them, “Because it is given unto you to know� the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given because they seeing, see not and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.†In that darkened age Jesus drew around him those disciples� who would record and preserve his words, that someday they would be known in their fullness. In his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus it was Master’s wish to convey the thoughts and consciousness of Christ that were behind his words when he uttered them. Gurudev is unique. Most masters come and they share a few divine pearls of wisdom, and then they leave. But Master is different. He not only poured out an ocean of divine wisdom, but he keeps urging us to drink of it. “God is yearning for you, and I’ve come to take you to God. I’ll show you the way again and again until you get it,†Master said, “Until your �ears hear it, until your eyes see it.†He doesn’t give up! There is �such a treasure trove in his writings. They are so extensive, so thorough, and he repeats these truths for us in volumes of his wisdom. Whenever Master would speak, invariably it was Daya Ma who was present with him. And in her role during all these occasions she recorded all of Master’s words. Master said, “You must know my teachings backwards and forwards.†Treasure each book of Master’s even if it seems �difficult to comprehend. Read it anyway. It will make sense eventually. Don’t pick and choose from the teachings. “In the twelve years working on The Second Coming, I cannot stress to you enough how much it changed my consciousness,†Mrinalini Ma said. It’s the whole science �of the universe, and of what you are. Even if a passage seems obscure, ask God – ask Master to help you understand. Don’t get intimidated or think you have to be able to repeat it all. Don’t think you have to memorize all the metaphorical symbology. Just read it, and you will see this point and that point - you will get it. Guruji will catch you in his net. So don’t put aside any of Master’s writings and think it is beyond us. Master wrote them for you. Feel that he is speaking to you personally. Read them, digest them, even if you don’t think you understand them. He gave so much that is so simple, so beautiful, so practical - there is so much wisdom there. Just keep reading. He put them in writing to be given to you. Keep reading. People often say, “After I do that, I don’t know what’s happened, but I feel my consciousness has changed.†If you keep reading his books, a spiritual �blessing will be there, and more understanding will come. Master said, “I’ll show you the way again and again.†And one time he said, �“Someday I will wash my hands of all this work, all these teachings,

and then no more am I teaching - I am Everything!†This is the message �of Krishna, of Christ – one’s consciousness becomes omnipresent and infinite. No

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more clearly does the guru manifest to you than when you sit at his feet and read his scriptures and feel he is speaking to you personally. They are the words of an avatar, united with the omnipresence of God. Master is living in these books – he is living in these words. Come to this Convocation to receive his teachings - read his words and you will see how your life changes.

“Get away from this ocean of suffering,†Krishna said. There is no �other way except by going within in meditation. When the Pharisees demanded from Jesus to know when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘lo there!’ for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.†(Luke 17:2021) Jesus was saying that� the kingdom of God will not come just by perception with the senses, but it is right within you – this is pure yoga. Everyone desires a relationship, communion with God. You will find it when you go within. Gurudeva has given us the wisdom, the teachings, the way, the techniques as Jesus taught. The Holy Ghost must come upon you - the Aum – that is what became you and me. When we meditate and practice the Aum technique we are receiving what was promised by Christ when he said: “I will send you the Comforter.†He will send the Comforter - the Aum – that �soothing divine comforter - so that you can rise above the suffering and evils of this world, of this duality. You will truly enter that Kingdom of God within, that divine consciousness. The “dove of heaven†that �the Bible speaks of which descended upon Jesus at his baptism was the opening of that spiritual eye. Each time you meditate or read his writings and attune yourself to the Guru you will contact the living stream of consciousness of Master and you will receive the baptism of purification of your consciousness. “It was a blessed opportunity to edit Gurudev’s works,†Mrinalini Ma said. “We are only his �instruments.†Then she unveiled a copy of The Second Coming on the �podium and everyone applauded. She held it up high in all directions so all could see it. “This work is the companionate to Master’s interpretation of the Gita, fulfilling the foundation of Gurudev’s mission,†Mrinalini Ma said. “You will find within these pages �Master’s great attunement, love, and appreciation for Jesus. We are the first to follow this path of the resurrection of the Christ within us. Take this commentary and make your acquaintance with the Christ of the East and the Christ of the West.†An Arati ceremony was performed �to offer The Second Coming publication at the feet of Gurudev to be blessed as it goes forth into the world to touch the hearts and bless those souls ready to be awakened. The Sanskrit word “Arati†means �“lightâ€. It is a time for reflection and thankfulness to the Guru for� the blessings showered upon us. Brother Vishwananda and Brother Achalananda placed the new scripture in front of Master’s picture, next to the Gita. They garlanded the large picture of Master with a huge marigold garland, and then Brother Vishwananda and Uma Mata performed the Indian Arati fire ceremony, dropping rose petals over the books and around Master’s picture, ringing bells, and rotating an Arati lamp with incense and candle lights around Master’s picture. Brother Vishwananda blew one long loud tone on a ram conch horn, and then we chanted “Cloud Covered Christ†and “Jai Guruâ€. The evening class � �ended early, so the Hollywood Room was opened early to begin selling ‘The Book’! Brother Vishwananda led the volunteers in a prayer before opening the doors. The room was uniquely set up and it was

amazingly efficient! The Books lined the back walls like a sturdy brick wall, with many pre-bagged for pickup. They were able to process 130 people every ten minutes for an hour, and then it tapered off. The sales event scheduled from 9pm thru 12 midnight ended at 10pm!The Second Coming of Christ

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Notes from the Video “The Second Coming of Christ�(Paraphrased notes)

Sri Daya Mata related the experience in the old days of bringing a typewriter into Master’s study each morning to take down his words and how Master was so inspired that he would stay up very late dictating, and then Ma would go trundling off to bed at 2 in the morning, saying “good night, Sister†to Gyanamata who was just arising for the day, �and Sister would reply, “Good morning, dears.†Daya Mata said of �Master: “The world will be thrilled and transformed by his understanding of Christ.†The one thing Master constantly stressed to �Mrinalini Mata, who was destined to be the editor of his writings: “Get my thoughts – understand what I mean - get the meaning behind my words.†Master: “My wish is to present to you the thoughts and �consciousness of Jesus that is behind the simple words that he spoke to the masses in the three short years of his ministry. These few verses have contained an eternity of truth, wisdom filled with love and the life that comes to us when we try to walk in his footsteps.†If you �want to love God, you must meditate. It is the only way to know the soul, the universality of that vast Christ consciousness with which we are all endowed if we would but seek it through daily, deep meditation. When Jesus spoke those simple words that the masses of that darkened age could understand, behind his words was that wonderful yogic philosophy – the science of knowing God, of how to let Christ be born in you. Jesus said he would send the “Comforterâ€, the Aum, which will sooth �all human sorrows and limitations. Daya Ma told the story of how Jesus Christ appeared often to Master, and one time she and a few others were present as Master was talking with him. “If you could see the glow in his eyes and face,†Master said to them, and he started describing what� he looked like - the beauty, the radiance and the love, the consciousness of Christ. Of all the pictures of Jesus, Master said the renderings by Heinrich Hoffmann, (18th century German artist) comes closest to the accurate features of the incarnate Jesus. When Master landed on these shores he came with a tremendous mission of tying together the East and West as one philosophy, one truth that God had given - the whole sum and substance of the universe - to unite original Christianity and original yoga as taught by Krishna. Master said: “Let Christ be born in you as the great joy of God. Then true Christianity will begin. Become the ocean of joy, the ocean of light, the ocean of Om. Become a spiritual alcoholic drunk with the joy of God. I am speaking from that space, not from the body.†Sometimes Master �described Christ as walking among them with such understanding of each sick and suffering person who came. Jesus as the savior would always speak as though the whole universe was trembling in those eyes waiting for the command of Christ consciousness.

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Notes from the Video “The Second Coming of Christ�

Convocation 2004

Humbly, as he had completed his interpretation of Christ's teachings, Master asked Jesus, “Have I interpreted them as you would have it done?†and Jesus, with such love, the universes upon universes �glistening in his eyes gazed upon Master, and a chalice descended from his lips down to Master, and Jesus said to him, "Thou dost drink of the same cup of which I drink.†Master was overcome with sweet humility. No� one has loved Christ more than Master. Master prays “Saints of all religions†- No one else does that. He is the forerunner of that �universality, of that Christ Consciousness. We are all in it now if we will but see it through deep meditation. Daya Ma said that in the future, all religions will come to realize the true and original Christianity and the teachings of Yoga, and understand that those divine qualities of Christ consciousness God has expressed through all the different saints, each with their unique message that God wanted to express in the world. All religions will have this understanding someday and honor “the saints of all religionsâ€, and she said that our �beloved Master is the forerunner. At the end of the video we hear such power in Master’s voice as he says: “I prophecy that Christians will follow read this book and you will know that you never read Christianity before.â€�

Monday Afternoon SatsangaBrother BrahmanandaQ. In order to reach final liberation it is said that 25% is the devotees own effort, 25% is the blessing of the Guru, and 50% is the grace of God. What does ‘grace’ mean in this context? A. From the dictionary, ‘grace’ means “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.†For us - it means �liberation. Grace is a gift from God. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.†�(Ephesians 2:8) Faith alone is not enough. We must put that faith into practice - faith grows as you exercise it. Master says in The Second Coming, (pg 114-115): “The surest way to find God is to learn about Him from one who knows Him. To follow a master whose path has led him to God-realization is to reach assuredly the same Goal. The scriptures of India speak of the liberation of the soul in terms of a calibrated formula, which, providentially, seems to favor the “spirit is weak†�syndrome in man. Of the total requirement to achieve salvation, it is said that 25% is the disciple’s spiritual effort, 25% is the blessing of the guru, and the remaining 50% is the grace of God. The aspirant should not be tempted into complacency, however, waiting to be moved by the spirit of the blessings and grace, for it is the catalyst of the devotee’s effort that makes the formula work.†There is a story about� a little girl who was walking to school one day when suddenly a thunderstormMonday Afternoon Satsanga

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blew in with lots of thunder and lightening. The mother became concerned that her daughter was in harm’s way and set off in her car to look for her. Pretty soon she spied her daughter walking on the road ahead, and noticed that she was behaving rather strangely. She would walk a little way, and then stop and smile, then walk on a bit further, and then stop and smile again. The mother drove up beside the girl and asked, “Honey, what are you doing?†“I’m trying to walk to school, �Mommy,†the little girl replied, “but God just keeps taking my �picture!†(Laughter) That’s the grace of God for you!!�

Q. Regarding the stages of evolution, why are we all in different stages of evolution? Were individualized souls created by God all at once or were they created at different times? A. People progress at different speeds and at different times. Spirit freezes into solid matter, and then mineral progresses to vegetable and then to animal and finally to a human being. This process is always going on, but there are cycles of creation and dissolution, beginning and end. In this world there are a great variety of human beings who are all at different levels of spiritual evolution. We all have one thing in common - the desire for happiness, the desire for soul bliss but most people seek it in the material world and in the senses, which ultimately fails us. After many, many incarnations, through this evolutionary process, we finally come to realize that the holy grail of true happiness is inside. There is a story often told in India about the musk deer that lives in the Himalayas. When the deer reaches a certain age, the ravishing scent of musk oozes out of a special pouch around the deer’s belly. The deer seeks everywhere for it, sometimes for weeks, and finally becomes so desperate that it jumps off the mountain cliffs and dashes itself on the rocks below, never realizing that the elusive musk was right within its own body the whole time. And so it is with us. Some people go through their whole lives that way. They look for happiness everywhere except within themselves and so they never achieve what they were looking for. But we who are gathered here know better, and in that stillness inside we find that elusive musk of divine joy. Q. Please explain the world population explosion in relationship to reincarnation. Are there a set number of souls? A. Over time, the number of souls is infinite. Creation is infinite in duration, but goes in cycles of creation, preservation, and dissolution. Advances in medicine and in economy are giving opportunity for many souls to be on this earth plane simultaneously for soul development and to advance toward liberation. Q. Does the soul leave the body immediately after death, or does it linger for a time? A. At death the soul with its astral body exits the physical body, but what happens after that depends on individual karma, attachment to family, attachment to material things, etc. Some souls depart immediately: “I’m out of here!!†(Laughter) Others linger. Master never said �they linger near the body, but it is a good idea to wait 72 hours before cremation, just in case the soul lingers. After death, each soul has a life review - this is the ‘last judgment’. In The Second Coming, (pg 639-640) Master writes about the last judgment, and he says that the superconscious mind never forgets anything one has ever done:

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“At the time of death, when life force and consciousness are withdrawn into the spine and brain in order to leave the mortal frame, the tabloid karmic “recordings†of every act, thought, feeling, and desire since �childhood are activated and made visible. In a flash, the soul is presented with a review of that entire incarnation - all of the good and all of the evil that person has done, no matter how thoroughly he has “forgottenâ€. Viewing the sum total of the use he has made of that �incarnation, the dying person is overwhelmed by a concentrated composite of his predominant feelings and desires. If he has led a basically good life, there will be consciousness of happiness or satisfaction; if the primary “accomplishment†of his life has been to cause pain to �himself or others, his mind will be overcome by great remorse or guilt. The overriding impression - whether strongly positive or negative or somewhere in between - created by this life review is the “judgment†�that determines where he will go in the astral interlude between incarnations as well as the conditions of his rebirth in a physical body.†There is a well-known true story about a man named Howard Storm,� who in 1985 while in Paris with his wife suddenly felt acute abdominal pain, as though he’d been shot. He was rushed to the hospital in tremendous pain, but due to understaffing at the hospital he did not receive immediate care. It turned out that his duodenum had been perforated. After a time, he began to feel that death was near and much to his surprise soon felt himself standing beside his bed looking down at his body lying on the bed. His first reaction was, "This is crazy! I can’t be standing here looking down at myself. That’s not possible. This has got to be a dream.†But at the same time he was strangely �aware that he felt more alert, more aware, more alive than he had ever felt in his entire life. All his senses were extremely acute and everything felt tingly and alive. Then he began to hear voices, and he saw the forms of malevolent creatures mocking him, biting him, tearing his astral flesh. He was terrified. In his mortal life he had always been a skeptic, but now he heard an inner voice say, “Pray to God, pray to God!!†His mind responded, "I don’t pray. I don’t know how �to pray!" The only thing he could think of to pray was the 23rd psalm and the Pledge of Allegiance. (Laughter) Then a most unusual thing happened. He heard very clearly, in his own voice, something that he had learned in Sunday school: it was the little song, "Jesus loves me, yes I know ..." and it kept repeating. Suddenly he wanted to believe that, and not having anything left, wanted to cling to that thought. Inside, he screamed, "Jesus, please save me!" Suddenly he saw, off in the darkness somewhere, the tiniest little star. Not knowing what it was, he presumed it must be a comet or a meteor, because it was moving rapidly. Then he realized it was coming toward him. It was getting very bright, rapidly. Its brilliant radiance spilled over him and he was lifted up. The light conveyed to him that it loved him in a way he had never known that love could possibly be. He was in a concentrated field of energy, radiant in splendor indescribable, more loving than one can imagine. He knew that he was in the presence of Jesus and the angels. Facing all the splendor made him acutely aware of his lowly condition, and he said, “I don’t belong here.†“Oh yes you do,†came the reply, “We don’t make � �mistakes.†(Laughter) He was given a whole life review, always feeling �a tremendous unconditional love. Then he came back to the body. The doctors had operated successfully. Back home in Kentucky he went to church and saw hundreds of golden angels clustered at the roof, glowing with light as the chorus sang. In summing up his experience, Howard

wrote: “God loves each of us more than we can possibly imagine. He loves us as we are, but he gives us the choice either to accept that love or turn away from it. He’s just waiting for each of us to say yes to it. It sounds so simple, this idea that God isMonday Afternoon Satsanga

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love, and that He wants us to realize this on our own. But I believe it’s the most challenging - and important - truth there is. Compared to it, nothing else matters.†Q. What is astral and causal karma? �Please give examples. A. “I can’t remember!†Brother replied, which� brought much laughter from the audience. Brother quoted the definition of ‘karma’ from The Second Coming: “The equilibrating law of karma, as expounded in the Hindu scriptures, is that of action and reaction, cause and effect, sowing and reaping. In the course of natural righteousness (rita), each man, by his thoughts and actions, becomes the molder of own destiny. Whatever universal energies he himself, wisely or unwisely, has set in motion must return to him as their starting point, like a circle inexorably completing itself.†God-given reason and free �choice can never be withdrawn. The Law is exactly the same in the astral and causal worlds as in the physical world. “Nevertheless, God in His mercy does not leave suffering souls in any region of creation bereft of help. In the astral world there are advanced good souls who help repentant bad ones to work out their karmic penances – as also do the prayers and goodwill that reach them from their loved ones on earth. Only those who have sufficiently developed their spiritual consciousness and the enlightenment of intuition during their earthly incarnations are consciously able to devote themselves to the good works of helping others in the astral world, and are also able to give invisible assistance to souls on earth.†(Second Coming, pg 1152) The Bible says,� “In my Father’s house are many mansions.†In Master’s �Autobiography in the chapter about the resurrection of Sri Yukteswar, Master wrote that all is shining and beautiful in the higher realms of the astral world, but in lower regions of the astral, friction and war take place in order that those beings dwelling there can work out their karma. Q. I’ve heard tell of a “league of souls†that governs the �earth. Did Master ever speak about this? A. The only reference Brother could find of Master mentioning a “league of souls†was in �Metaphysical Meditations, in his Prayer for a United World: “Let us pray in our hearts for a League of Souls and a United World. Though we may seem divided by race, creed, color, class, and political prejudices, still, as children of the one God we are able in our souls to feel brotherhood and world unity.†“And isn’t that what we have here �with you all?†Brother said. “It’s a start!†This league of souls � �is not a political entity, but a spiritual one - souls who are joined in their Self-realization and love for God. In his Autobiography, Master wrote: “The Biblical story of Abraham's plea to the Lord that the city of Sodom be spared if ten righteous men could be found therein, and the divine reply: "I will not destroy it for ten's sake," gains new meaning in the light of India's escape from the oblivion of Babylon, Egypt and other mighty nations who were once her contemporaries. The Lord's answer clearly shows that a land lives, not by its material achievements, but in its masterpieces of man.†Master said, "Hundreds of thousands, not �dozens merely, of Kriya Yogis are needed to bring into manifestation the world of peace and plenty that awaits men when they have made the proper effort to reestablish their status as sons of the Divine Father." Q. Is it right for Christians to try to convert others to Christianity? (And in particular, their attempt to convert Muslims)

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A. Brother answered, “All I can say is, ‘Good luck’!†(Laughter) �Master writes about this in The Second Coming (pg 1521-1522): “The brand of a particular faith is put on man by birth, geography, or dogma, and if one or more of these determines a person’s religion he has very little to boast about. An imposed myopic perspective disdains as heathenism the use of any different form of prayer or worship or terminology than one’s own in approaching the Deity. Heathenism, rather, lies in the absence of expression of soul qualities, no matter ones’ faith. If man would feast his mind fully on the soul qualities, the goodness in his fellow beings, there would be no appetite left for indigestible differences. This appreciation is the foundation of tolerance, which underlies the recognition of the brotherhood of man under the one FatherMother-Friend Beloved God. This is Christ’s teaching. This is the universal spiritual undertone of Jesus’ command to his apostles, “Go and preach my message to the whole world.†�Whether his message is rudimentally understood as a way to salvation based on a spiritual morality and love for God and one another, or comprehended in its highest intent as extolling the science of soul ascension, it is inclusive of the expression of soul qualities fostered in all good customs, traditions, and faiths.†Q. What is the �relationship between the concept of being ‘born again’ and psychotherapy? What is the meaning of being ‘born again’, and do we need some sort of psychotherapy to achieve it? Are our Gurus a source of psychotherapy? A. In the third chapter of The Gospel of St. John, Jesus tells Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.†And Nicodemus, not �understanding what Jesus meant asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?†Jesus answered him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a� man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ‘Ye must be born again.’ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.†To be ‘born of �water’ means ordinary human birth. Jesus said that we must reestablish our connection with Eternity – we must awaken the faculty of intuition and be born again. From The Second Coming (pg 251): “Human birth is given by one’s parents; but the spiritual birth is given by the God-ordained guru. In the Vedic tradition of ancient India, the newly born child is called â€kayasthaâ€, which means “body identified.†The two � � �physical eyes, which look into alluring matter, are bequeathed by the physical parents; but at the time of initiation, spiritual baptism, the spiritual eye is opened by the guru. Through the help of the guru, the initiate learns to use this telescopic eye to see Spirit, and then becomes dwija, “twice-born: - the same metaphysical terminology used by Jesus – and begins his progress toward the state of becoming a Brahmin, one who knows Brahman, or Spirit.†Master also wrote (Second �Coming, pg 114): “This spiritual baptism is threefold. First, when the teacher bestows initiation, he sees the Light himself as he baptizes the disciple. Second, when the teacher sends that Light into the initiate, which the devotee may or may not see himself, it remains a little while with its full vibratory power to effect a spiritual change in the devotee; but it is temporary. A master’s blessings can for some time

hold that Light within the disciple, but the devotee must also make the effort to retain it. Third, to keep the Light permanently, the devotee

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has to make it his own through conscientious endeavor in meditation and in following the spiritual guidance and practices, the sadhana, given by the master.†So, do we need some sort of psychotherapy to achieve that?� No, of course not. To prevent mental disease, Master says (in Scientific Healing Affirmations): “Cultivate peace and faith in God. Free the mind from all disturbing thoughts and fill it with love and joy. Realize the superiority of mental healing over physical healing.†Our Gurus are� a source of tremendous inspiration in many fields! Q. Please talk about the role of Jesus as the Messiah and his declaration as a self-proclaimed divider, which seems to be what has come to pass. A. The word “Messiah†comes from the Hebrew Mashiakh, “Anointed,†the expected� � King and deliverer of the Hebrews. Translated into Greek, “anointed: became Christos, “Christâ€. From The Second Coming: “People �throughout different ages have sought the Messiah, many believing he would be a temporal king who would reign in a golden age of opulence and well-being, free from travesties of suffering and oppression. Few were to understand that the purpose of a Messiah, a Christ, would be to turn their soul’s attention from the consciousness of attachment to little portions of the matter-world – country, society, family, possessions – to the omnipresence of Christ Consciousness.†Jesus as a self-�proclaimed divider is referenced in the 12th chapter of Luke: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in low, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.†Master comments on this passage and tells us (Second Coming, pg �791-792): “Jesus is speaking not only of the divisive conditions that will accompany the establishment of his message of spiritual reformation, but also of the inevitable obstacles faced by those who seek to tread the singlehearted path to God in a world intent on human relations and material values.†“If a devotee finds his family �members dissuading him or trying to obstruct his efforts to cultivate God-consciousness, he should not yield but continue undeterred and undismayed. The devotee should remember that he alone has to reap the consequences of his actions; he should not let any perversity on the part of his earthly family turn him against his Heavenly Father.†And �Master wrote in his introduction to The Second Coming (pg xxiii): “The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the “Christian†Bible,� for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all.†Master� is standing at the door of the East and West fostering the unity that is vital for today’s world. “Jesus Christ was crucified once; but his teachings are crucified daily at the hands of superstition, dogmatism, and pedantic theological misinterpretations. My aim in offering to the world this spiritual interpretation of his words is to show how the Christ Consciousness of Jesus, free from such crucifixion, can be brought back a second time into the souls of all who make the effort to

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receive it. Surely, with the dawn of this more enlightened age, the time has come to stop the crucifixion of the Christ teachings as given by Jesus. His pristine message should be resurrected from its entombment by Self-realization, the inner enlightened experience of truth.†Jesus �Christ is a living reality, ready to give help to us as individuals as well as to all of mankind. St. Anthony, in the fourth century, spent 80 of his 105 years in complete solitude in a tomb out in the Egyptian desert. He was tormented by demons, forces of darkness who beat him into unconsciousness. Then the devil himself came and the tomb was collapsing in upon Anthony. Just when he thought the end had come, Jesus appeared in radiant light. Anthony cried, “Lord, where were you?!†Jesus �answered him, “Anthony, I saw your struggles and I was with you all the time.†St. Anthony later prevented a disintegrating schism among �Jesus’ followers by the sheer power of divine realization in his simple words: “I have seen him!†Sixteen hundred years after St. �Anthony, Master came and he tells us the same about Jesus the Christ: “I have seen him!!†It’s time for this to be taken seriously by the� world. Q. How can one practice desireless devotion? A. The practice of devotion is essential to find God. Loving God is the foremost of all cosmic laws. Remember the Bible story about the rich man who asked Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?†Jesus answered that� he should keep the commandments and to go and sell all that he owned and give it to the poor and come follow him to have treasure in heaven. This is the kind of devotion God craves: devotion with sincerity and truly wanting nothing but wisdom, peace, and bliss from Him. Through the portal of one’s love, God enters. How can we love God unconditionally with divine love? God has everything except our love. Our unconditional love is all He wants in this universe. When you touch God in any way, it evokes this kind of unconditional love for God. Meditate, and then you will be able to feel that desireless devotion in many ways. Devotion comes too, by seeing Him in nature. Emily Dickinson wrote a beautiful poem expressing the perception of God in nature: She Sweeps With Many-Colored Brooms She sweeps with many-colored brooms, And leaves the shreds behind; Oh, housewife in the evening west, Come back, and dust the pond! You dropped a purple ravelling in, You dropped an amber thread; And now you've littered all the East With duds of emerald! And still she plies her spotted brooms, And still the aprons fly, Till brooms fade softly into stars And then I come away. Devotion comes through the heart, which is the center of love. Dr. Lewis, when asked how to truly love God, replied: “Through willpower.†Take that �feeling in the heart, grab it, and offer it upward to God. “Try it,†�Brother told us.

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There is a story about Ernest Borgnine, the actor who played the Roman centurion in the film Jesus of Nazareth. When time came for the filming of the crucifixion scene, the camera was to be only on Borgnine looking up at Jesus on the cross, so it was not necessary for the actor playing Jesus to be there. Instead, the film’s director, Franco Zeffirelli, put a chalk mark on the cross where Borgnine was to look. Borgnine asked for someone to read aloud the words that Jesus had uttered as he hung on the cross. Zeffirelli found a Bible, opened it to the Book of Luke, and signaled for the camera to start rolling. As Zeffirelli began reading Christ's words aloud, Borgnine stared up at that chalk mark, thinking about what might have gone through the centurion's mind at that moment. “That poor man up there,†he thought. “I met him when he healed my �servant who is like a son to me. Jesus says he is the Son of God, an unfortunate claim during these perilous times. But I know he is innocent of any crime.†"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." �The voice was Zeffirelli's, but the words burned into him - the words of Jesus. “Forgive me, Father, for even being here,†was the centurion's� prayer that formed his thoughts. â€I am so ashamed, so ashamed. “ �"Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise,†said� Jesus to the thief hanging next to him. “If Jesus can forgive that criminal, then he will forgive meâ€, Borgnine thought. “I will lay �down my sword and retire to my little farm outside of Rome.†As �Borgnine stared upward, instead of the chalk mark, he suddenly saw the face of Jesus Christ, lifelike and clear, the most beautiful, gentle visage he had ever known. Pain-seared, sweat-stained, with blood flowing down from thorns pressed deep, his face was still filled with compassion. He looked down at him through tragic, sorrowful eyes with an expression of love beyond description. Then his cry rose against the desert wind, not the voice of Zeffirelli, reading from the Bible, but the voice of Jesus Himself: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." In awe he watched Jesus' head slump to one side, and knew that he was dead. A terrible grief welled up within, and completely oblivious of the camera, Borgnine started sobbing uncontrollably. "Cut!" yelled Zeffirelli. Olivia Hussey and Anne Bancroft were crying, too. He wiped his eyes and looked up again to where he had seen Jesus. He was gone. Borgnine later wrote, “Whether I saw a vision of Jesus that windswept day or whether it was only something in my mind, I do not know. It doesn't matter. For I do know that it was a profound spiritual experience and that I have not been quite the same person since. I believe that I take my faith more seriously. I like to think that I'm more forgiving than I used to be. As that centurion learned two thousand years ago, I too have found that you simply cannot come close to Jesus without being changed.â€�

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Compassion and Understanding: Cornerstones of Spiritual LivingMonday Evening Lecture – Brother AchalanandaBrahmachari Terry introduced the evening lecture with a joke: A little girl was afraid of the dark. Her Mom tried to comfort her, and assured her not to be afraid because God was with her. The little girl replied, "Mommy, I know God is with me, but I need somebody with SKIN!" (Lots of laughter) Let us clarify in our minds three definitions: Compassion - sympathetic concern for the suffering of another, together with offering support - kindness, brotherhood toward others Love Understand - to “stand underâ€, to know, to be tolerant of, to be sympathetic toward �So in essence, one word covers all three: Love. Compassion, understanding, and love are the same, as is wisdom. The saints speak of the path of wisdom (jnana) and the path of love (bhakti) as being essentially the same; at the end of each path they merge and become one. Spiritual wisdom is needed for this to happen. Jesus said that the most important thing was to “love the Lord with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy strength†– to love God completely with every �aspect of our being – and to “love thy neighbor as thyselfâ€. We all� want that kind of love and compassion – but do we treat others with that same kind of love and compassion? It’s an interesting fact of human behavior that we often don’t. People of all cultures, all creeds, all nationalities – everyone wants happiness, compassion and understanding. And the very nature of karma is that which we send out eventually returns back to us – sometimes instantly, or after 5 years, 10 years, or after a long time – perhaps even lifetimes. To mitigate that karma we have to go through that same experience. The Gita says, “The best type of yogi is he who feels for others, whether in grief or pleasure, even as he feels for himself.†And to love our neighbor as �our self, we first have to understand what our “self†is. It is not �the ego. It is our soul – our real Self. And the soul is compassionate – it automatically thinks of others. The ego thinks of itself first – “I, I, Iâ€. We have to get rid of that ego-self. Jesus didn’t �mean that we should love our neighbors in a narrow sense - narrow attachments, narrow personalities – that’s human love. Human love demands human meriting. Divine love is completely different. Divine Love gives, gives, gives, and asks nothing in return. Not remembering to think of God is ingratitude. Daya Mata said, “Think of all that God endowed us with that sets us apart from the tree or animal … no matter what I’m doing I can recollect my thoughts and say inwardly, ‘I love You, God.’ … I ask You always to give me enough strength, understanding, courage and compassion, that I might love my fellow beings in the same way as I feel Your love flowing over my consciousness.†(Paraphrased) Brother had been in the ashram for only a� short time when they built new quarters for the monks at Mount Washington. Daya Ma joined them for a meditation in the new chapel. Brother said that during that meditation she went into a deep state of consciousness. “She must have known by intuition the undeveloped devotees she was with,†Brother said, “because for our benefit, she �expressed verbally her inward prayers to Divine Mother, pouring out her heart with such love and devotion and yearning that I felt my own heart would break. To hear someone crying out that way to God in a plea so palatable – you would have to be a rock not to feel it.†Brother �found himself thinking, “Lord, why can’t I love You that way?†�Suddenly he started crying – sobbing just like a

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child. “But then something happened,†Brother said, “The ego reared� its ugly head and I thought, ‘What will the other monks think of me? They will think I’m faking it, putting on a show.’†So he tried to �stifle the sobs, but he could not stop. After the meditation was over Daya Ma blessed each one, and when she came to Brother she told him, “Never be ashamed to cry for God.†The great master, Ramakrishna once� said, “Love for God, those tears for God, washes away the mud of delusion.†Those tears will prepare the devotee to express in his life �greater understanding and for unfoldment of the twenty-six soul qualities that make man God-like. (See Gita, Chapter XVI) Daya Ma says, “We have within us the power to change this world. We must begin with ourselves through deep meditation.†But the usual human response is: �“Why don’t they change? Why must they treat me that way?†But �meditation goes hand-in-hand with how we behave. It starts here we must change. How often do we forget after practicing the techniques to talk to God and guru? Even devotees who have been meditating for a long time – sometimes they think, “Okay I’ve meditated, I’ve done the techniques. I took care of that and now I can go ahead with my business.†But no! After practicing the techniques, now you’ve �prepared yourself – now you take time with God and Guru now you pour out your heart and give your love to God and ask for help. You’ve made the connection – now take advantage of it! Master said there is so much we don’t receive because we don’t ask. But ask for wise things! Master wrote in the Autobiography about an encounter he had with a wandering sadhu in Calcutta’s Kalighat Temple. As they stood silently before a temple image of Kali, this conversation ensued when the sadhu spoke to him: "God is simple. Everything else is complex. Do not seek absolute values in the relative world of nature." "You have indeed penetrated the bewilderment of my thoughts!" I smiled gratefully. "The confusion of benign and terrible aspects in nature, as symbolized by Kali, has puzzled wiser heads than mine!" "Few there be who solve her mystery! Good and evil is the challenging riddle which life places sphinxlike before every intelligence. Attempting no solution, most men pay forfeit with their lives, penalty now even as in the days of Thebes. Here and there, a towering lonely figure never cries defeat. From the maya of duality he plucks the cleaveless truth of unity." "You speak with conviction, sir." "I have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely painful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one's thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes the stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates to produce seers. The way of 'self-expression,' individual acknowledgments, results in egotists, sure of the right to their private interpretations of God and the universe." "Truth humbly retires, no doubt, before such arrogant originality." I was enjoying the discussion.

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"Man can understand no eternal verity until he has freed himself from pretensions. The human mind, bared to a centuried slime, is teeming with repulsive life of countless worlddelusions. Struggles of the battlefields pale into insignificance here, when man first contends with inward enemies! No mortal foes these, to be overcome by harrowing array of might! Omnipresent, unresting, pursuing man even in sleep, subtly equipped with a miasmic weapon, these soldiers of ignorant lusts seek to slay us all. Thoughtless is the man who buries his ideals, surrendering to the common fate. Can he seem other than impotent, wooden, ignominious?" "Respected Sir, have you no sympathy for the bewildered masses?" (“You see,†Brother Achalananda commented, “the sadhu was �pulling out of Mukunda his soul’s compassion.â€) The sage was silent �for a moment, then answered obliquely. "To love both the invisible God, Repository of All Virtues, and visible man, apparently possessed of none, is often baffling! But ingenuity is equal to the maze. Inner research soon exposes a unity in all human minds - the stalwart kinship of selfish motive. In one sense at least, the brotherhood of man stands revealed. An aghast humility follows this leveling discovery. It ripens into compassion for one's fellows, blind to the healing potencies of the soul awaiting exploration." "The saints of every age, sir, have felt like yourself for the sorrows of the world." "Only the shallow man loses responsiveness to the woes of others' lives, as he sinks into narrow suffering of his own." The sadhu’s austere face was noticeably softened. "The one who practices a scalpel self-dissection will know an expansion of universal pity. Release is given him from the deafening demands of his ego. The love of God flowers on such soil. The creature finally turns to his Creator, if for no other reason than to ask in anguish: 'Why, Lord, why?' By ignoble whips of pain, man is driven at last into the Infinite Presence, whose beauty alone should lure him." This seems like quite a condemnation of human nature! But Brother said that is exactly what drove him to the spiritual path – pain – and he wasn’t so much seeking God as he was seeking escape from suffering, from those “whips of pain. “ Now, love is not the most powerful feeling we can have. Love is but the harbinger, the calling card of Bliss – of Joy indescribable. “The satisfaction of love is not in the feeling itself, but in the joy that feeling brings. Love gives joy. We love love because it gives us such intoxicating happiness. So it is not the ultimate; the ultimate is bliss.†(The Divine Romance) Brother �worked in the print shop in the early days. He worked long hours, and found himself resenting it, in part because he was the only one working those hours. Brother said, “As long as I resented it, I was miserable.†Then finally he surrendered to it. “Okay Lord, if that is� what You want me to do, so be it,†he thought. And when he changed his �attitude he saw that things changed for him. One night, late at night, he was alone setting type at the print shop. Suddenly he felt such joy that he couldn’t contain himself and he started singing at the top of lungs. (Laughter) He was so full of energy, working so fast, that he practically broke the type-setting machine! (More laughter) “So that’s it!†Brother said to us, “Surrender to God.â€� �

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God is: Sat – is-ness, life, being, existence Chit – consciousness, awareness of that existence Ananda – Bliss Sat-chit-ananda – God is ever existing, ever conscious, ever new Bliss. As souls, we are individualized rays of that. How often do we see someone reflecting that? Not often. This is because of delusion – there is always a fly in the ointment – and we might as well accept it and make peace with it. The more we keep our consciousness centered on God, the closer we draw to Him. Every thought either takes us further away from Him, or brings us closer to Him. He alone is real. He is all compassion, joy, all fulfillment. Don’t think you must wait until New Years to change your life. Make the effort now to become more focused in your spiritual efforts, more willing to express your feelings to God – and to express compassion for others. If we can do this, our lives will begin to change. Our true nature is infinite. Joy comes from expanding yourself, your love and understanding. “He who is everywhere is joyous.†(Hindu� sutra) Break the cage, let the soul go out - joy is a natural result of that. “From joy we came, in joy we move, live and have our being, and in that sacred joy we will one day melt again,†Master said. Meditation� is the best foundation. Our Guru gave us the tools, but we have to make the effort. And Master tells us, “You must live differently than the ordinary man, who is in touch only with sense consciousness. Spiritual consciousness lies in absolute victory over human consciousness.†Sri �Yukteswar said, “Learn to behave.†That’s a hard one! (Laughter) We� may find that we want all the other things we think will make us happy, even if they go against our spiritual growth. We must learn to be forgiving. Often times it may be that we can forgive others, but not ourselves. Don’t do that! Don’t cling to mistakes. Learn from them and move on. Some people think so much about the mistakes they have made that they actually worship their mistakes. They place them on the altar and worship them, and then sometimes take them down and beat themselves with it! (Laughter) Instead, learn to forgive yourself. Learn the lesson and move on. Never deceive or be treacherous. It is the worst thing we can do because it is deliberate, premeditated. As a result, it’s the one thing that is unforgiven – meaning you have to work it out the hard way - Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! (Laughter) One man was treacherous with Master. He talked some of the early disciples into leaving the ashram and following him. He took money, furniture, and some devotees left the Guru. Imagine that kind of treachery! But every year Master sent him a Christmas present – and every year the gift was returned, unopened. This man forsook his swami vows, married, and became a professor of a university. But Master continued to offer his hand of friendship. Daya Mata once asked him, “Why do you keep on extending your hand of friendship when he keeps slapping you?†Master replied, “Because he �is my disciple and someday he has to come back – it’s the only way he can get free. No matter what he does, he will have to go back to God through this channel.†Master did not just give his teaching in words -� he walked the path! We think we love God, we try to love God, but we’re still fickle because our own negative traits haven’t yet risen above maya. Master said that God is so great, He doesn’t know it. He has an inferiority complex. And He will test us. He will test our love for Him through our very own desires. He holds out a candy - dangles toys of worldly interests and material things right under our nose to see if we become distracted. Sometimes our material desires are granted in order to test us. He offers all kinds of things: “You can have this........†“Oh, I can??†we say. (Laughter)� �

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So then, understandably, God is a bit shy. Lesson: strengthen your love for God. Love God with all your soul and strength. There is a story about a man who was smitten by a beautiful girl – love at first sight - and he told her, “Oh, you are so beautiful! I’m in love with you - marry me!†The girl, however, wisely tested him, saying, “But I have �a sister and she is more beautiful than I. You should go and meet her.� Immediately the man left to seek out the sister. Later he returned and said to the girl, “Your sister was not more beautiful than you. You lied to me!†“And you lied to me!†the girl replied. “You told me � �you loved me, and then you left me.�

How many times have we done that to God?Meditation plus devotion – practice these two, and divine realization will come. Follow the Guru’s path to the best of your ability, and sooner or later, it will come. Someday you will realize, “Oh! It’s working!†Calmness and patience are the spiritual qualities we must �develop, as well as learning to accept unpleasant experiences and not be upset by them. There will always be unpleasant situations caused by other people, so don’t become upset or angry. Brother said that during his trip to India in 2001, due to increased airport security it was difficult to travel into the country. There were many more newly-trained security inspectors and they were really being tough. Brother described a lengthy detainment he had in customs when one obstinate inspector continued for some time to search through his suitcase, questioning everything in it. The inspector found a can of mosquito repellent, but refused to believe that it was an innocent can of insect spray. Brother, in his attempt to convince her by demonstration, began to push the button to show her. He pushed, and pushed, but nothing happened. Finally he turned the angle of the can a bit and tried again – and this time it worked, only it sprayed her right in the face! (Laughter) “Somehow I got through it all and she finally turned me loose.†Brother said. �“But then in Calcutta I got nailed again in immigration.†The �immigration officer kept going over his things over and over – and detained him until everyone else was gone. Brother realized after a while that for some reason this particular officer was trying to make him “lose it†so he wouldn’t have to let him into the country. So �Brother just stayed calm. Eventually a second officer came, wondering what was taking so long. He asked a few questions of Brother, and then let him go. “Some people will test our patience, good reasons or not,†Brother remarked. “Don’t be discouraged – just be able to �accept unpleasant experiences and don’t be upset. Keep working at it.†Finally Brother was ready board his flight, and believe it or not,� the man who was taking the boarding tickets was the very same man that had detained him in immigration! (Laughter) When the man reached to take his ticket, Brother withdrew it out of his reach. Then he extended the ticket again as if to give it to the man, but every time he reached for it Brother would remove the ticket from his reach. (Laugher) Brother said he did this a few times just to let the man know, “I’m on to your game.†Brother said it took him eight years to overcome anger - he� was always losing it. He kept praying to Master, “You have to help me with this.†Then the idea came to him to pray for the other individual �– to pray for those who were pushing his buttons. “When you pray that way,†Brother said, “a very interesting thing happens. You find �that you have to give up one or the other. You can’t keep on feeling

bad about them when you pray for them. It may or may not affect the other person, but it will change you.�

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Don’t become discouraged if the results aren’t immediate. Keep on keeping on, and eventually you will see that you don’t react as you used to – you will realize that your consciousness has changed. After Brother came back from his trip to India, some of the devotees at Lake Shrine told him, “You’ve changed.†Brother said that something �happened while he was in India which helped him to open up to love and compassion and understanding. Another roadblock on the path is the rationalizing intellect which thinks it knows it all. God doesn't care about our social status or career status. He wants to know how much we love Him. He looks to see - are we kind, compassionate, loving, helpful to others? Brother quoted the following from The Second Coming (pg 800-801): “I thank Thee, O heavenly Father, Thou infinite Lord pervading as Cosmic Consciousness behind all heavenly manifestations and in the vibrationless region beyond creation and as Christ Consciousness existing in all vibratory creation, that although You have hidden Yourself and Your omniscience from egotistically wise and theoretically prudent individuals, You have revealed the mystery of truth unto Your simple, guileless children, even though they are but babes in wisdom before Your incomparable Infinite Mind. Heavenly Father, the revealing of Yourself and ultimate truth unto Your devotees who are humbly simple and sincere – spiritual babes who surrender their sensate intelligence unto the unlimited intuitional inspiration that comes from Thee – is in accord with Thy proper judgment.†“Divine realization, perception �of the Infinite, is unrelated to academic degrees. It is good to have knowledge befitting a professor in preference to a doltish brain of an ignorant man; but if one’s intellect is so complacent in its scholastic distinction that one feels no need to seek wisdom in God, the evolution of that soul is laggardly compared to an illiterate who has devotion to the Lord.†In the Autobiography, Master tells of the simple� little postman, Brinda, who through his purity of heart and devotion to God was swimming in the sea of Spirit, filled with such intoxication that he could not deliver his letters. Master wrote of him, “The postman, who was an uneducated man, later developed his insight through Kriya to such an extent that scholars occasionally sought his interpretation on involved scriptural points. Innocent alike of sin and syntax, little Brinda won renown in the domain of learned pundits.†�From The Second Coming, pg 801: “By drawing his disciples from among the common populace – even “publicans and sinners†and unlettered �fishermen such as Peter, James, and John - Jesus showed that it was possible for any devotee to attain divine realization, for God is not a respecter of persons as to their status. Whoever approaches Him with pure devotion will attain Him.�

God chooses those who choose Him! Even though we receive the techniques, even if we practice perfectly, we cannot force God to come to us. If we could, that would mean that the technique was more perfect than God. Kriya Yoga will take you to the door, but only your devotion and surrender opens the door.“God reveals Himself unto those who completely surrender themselves unto Him, those who have no intellectual or emotional resistance to Him. Before God, the most accomplished of humans is but a child; even the most brilliant scientist does not know why or how God created this world. The Lord is not interested in how much one knows, but in how much one loves Him. The only way to touch Him is by ardent devotion of the heart. That devotee finds God.†(The Second Coming, pg 801) �

“Attunement with the guru through devotion enables the devotee to progress steadily toward Godrealization; doubters and habitual criticizers fall by the wayside. A guru does not seek to silence the disciple’s reason; but he can only help those who are willing to be taught, not those who self-

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assertively “know it all.†That devotee becomes filled with intuitive� wisdom who is childlike in guilelessness, free of presumption and doubt, full of sincerity, humble and receptive. That devotee finds God.†(The �Second Coming, pg 801) “Be that devotee,†Brother said. “There is �not one devotee here who cannot do this. Banat, banat, ban jaiâ€. �(Striving, striving, one day – behold!) Keep on keeping on. Love your Guru. Don’t let him become just a picture on the wall. Let him become a reality in your heart.â€�

Tuesday Morning SatsangaSister ParvatiQ. Sometimes I feel so devotional that I don’t want to do the Hong-Sau and Aum techniques. A. “Well, this is not an uncommon question,†�Sister said. It is good to remember what our goal is. God is our goal. And in all our activities, including meditation, it is important to go with the right attitude. It is all sacred, and all God with whom we have to do. If we do the techniques with the right attitude of reverence, and our full attention and consciousness of God’s presence in all that we are doing, we will get the highest results. Each technique has its place, and right performance of the techniques increases our devotion and inner quiet. Remember, in each technique we are working directly with God. Master says to approach everything with reverence and focused concentration. The techniques are a form of pranayama. Meditation begins with the techniques, and as you do them the mind goes within. But maya likes to make us forget and confuse us, so we need to remember what we are doing when we practice the techniques. Each technique has its place. The Energization Exercises are a spiritual technique of life force control and when you perform them correctly the mind is already going within. The body is surrounded by a halo of conscious cosmic energy. The vital sparks of the cosmic energy sustains cell life and they are but condensed thoughts of God. The medulla is the antennae for the inflow of cosmic energy. It is your focused attention, not the muscular control, which renders the Energization Exercises a form of pranayama, of life force control. When mastered, you will conquer restlessness. Master called Hong-Sau the “baby Kriyaâ€. Hong-Sau deals with the breath and �the life force and it has a remarkable calming effect. ‘Hong’ and ‘Sau’ have a vibratory connection with the incoming and outgoing breath. Master said that one hour of Hong-Sau equals 24 hours of prayer and meditation. When man transcends the need for breath he ascends to the celestial spheres. When Master gave us the techniques he emphasized that it takes perseverance and regularity, and to remember that they are not beyond our scope, or he wouldn’t have given them to us. You can practice Hong-Sau before or after a meal, and any time when the mind is not engaged outwardly – for instance when you are a passenger in a car or waiting in the doctor’s office. But do not practice Hong-Sau when walking because it is a conflict – we need energy in the muscles in order to walk, not to take the energy inward.

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Regarding the Aum technique, every sound in the universe has a different correspondence to thought and mental effect. The Aum Technique takes one even deeper to do the work in the spine. Listen with reverence and feel in calmness the vibration of bliss. Now, you may say, “But I practice and get no results.†Don’t worry – it comes with practice. You are �deepening and changing your consciousness every time you practice, even if you don’t experience phenomenon, or see or hear or feel anything. Master says it is not the phenomenon that is important, but what is important is to progress to the state of consciousness that the phenomenon represent. In an advanced state, the Aum is felt as all life. You are contacting your soul, which is a vibration of Bliss. Master said you must practice faithfully, earnestly, regularly, and continuously, and eventually you will know God and will know that you know God. The meditation techniques help to develop devotion – the techniques and devotion are two sides of the same coin. But you can’t find God if you are on automatic pilot. If you are not feeling devotional at any particular moment, then performing the techniques may become mechanical and you loose the spirit necessary the make the connection. Our attitude and consciousness of practice is most important. Sister said that one night she was saying a prayer, invoking the gurus, and suddenly she realized that her mind had drifted away, so that she hadn’t even been aware of what she was saying. So she started the prayer over again and said it with deep attention. As she said the prayer, she thought deeply about what she was saying: What does “Father†mean to me? Love, �protection, strength. What does “Mother†mean to me? Unconditional �love, compassion, tenderness. What does “Friend†mean to me? �Understanding. Don’t be absentminded or let things become automatic. Go into meditation with the right devotional attitude. If you sit to meditate and find that you are already in a devotional mood, this is wonderful – you will feel that the techniques are expressions of God, light, Aum, etc. This is direct contact with God. Practice meditation with loving reverence and focused attention, because if you are mechanical or absentminded you won’t get the right results. If you are feeling the results, you may want to linger a little longer in that technique. If you are feeling very devotional, you may not need to practice the techniques as long as usual. Pray to God with a loving, reverent attitude with concentration. Remember the story in the Autobiography of Lahiri Mahasaya’s disciple, Brinda the postman? One day a certain chela, convinced that his worth was not being duly evaluated, gave voice to his discontent. "Master," he said, "surely I am ready now for the second initiation." At this moment the door opened to admit a humble disciple, Brinda Bhagat. He was a Benares postman. "Brinda, sit by me here." The great guru smiled at him affectionately. "Tell me, are you ready for the second technique of Kriya?" The little postman folded his hands in supplication. "Gurudeva," he said in alarm, "no more initiations, please! How can I assimilate any higher teachings? I have come today to ask your blessings, because the first divine Kriya has filled me with such intoxication that I cannot deliver my letters!" "Already Brinda swims in the sea of Spirit." At these words from Lahiri Mahasaya, his other disciple hung his head. "Master," he said, "I see I have been a poor workman, finding fault with my tools."

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Respect the tools God and Guru have given you and they will take you into His presence.Q. What does “omnipresence of the Guru†mean? How can one keep the �Guru alive? A. We can infer omnipresence from all that is around us. Masters are one with God, and they see and feel as God does. From her own experience, Sister said that when the disciples were in Master’s presence they recognized a vibration of great love – they knew they were in the presence of a divine soul. Master was an expression of Divine Love. When he left his body, he did not leave us without his presence. But we have to tune in with him. He is saying to us, “You will have to come now where I amâ€. One time a student, while at �Convocation, fell critically ill. She was hospitalized, and Sister went to visit her in the hospital. The devotee told her, “Oh, but Master is here!†When Sister had just returned from India, sleeping one night, �she felt Master’s presence beside her bed. “How did I know?†she �said. “By trying to keep the right attitude, the state of mind of knowing that Master is with me just the same as when I was in his physical presence, even if I don’t see him.†Everyone who has been �drawn to this path will have this experience. It is not for just a few. But you have to make it real in your own consciousness. Otherwise maya clouds things, cloaks the truth and makes us forget. All human thoughts and feelings interfere, like static on a radio. Don’t allow it. Make God your own – that’s our part of the effort. The more you do this, the more you will feel God and Guru with you. Invoke the Guru, visualize him at the Christ Center, and you will know he is always with you. Your feeling of him, your feeling of his presence may come and go but your knowing will stay with you because you’ve had the experience. Do not permit any doubt to enter. What we feel and know inwardly is real. The Great Ones are here right now, and they are very interested in these Convocations! (Laughter) We have free will. When you feel his presence, merge into that, with faith and reverence. You have to make the effort to keep attuned to him all the time. The more you meditate and have faith, the more you will experience his omnipresence. God is the energy and the power behind the energy. We have to hold with these truths. If you have feelings of “I’m not worthyâ€, of guilt – these are �delusive thoughts. Recognize that, and don’t allow it to be real. Be still; place your burdens and gratitude at God and Guru’s feet. When you nurture that with your love and attention, you will feel His response. It is not imagination. We will not understand omnipresence until we experience it. If we meditate and practice the presence, then someday you will become one with God you will see and feel as God does – you experience omnipresence - and then you will understand omnipresence in your own consciousness. Have faith. God and Master are ever with us. What is real is what we know inwardly, not what we can touch and feel. Knowing is always the same. Feeling varies. God is in everything. He is the intelligent guiding power in everything. Master said that if God withdrew his attention for even one moment, all this world would disappear. Q. Please discuss the importance of communication with God in stillness after practice of the techniques. Master says this is the most important time in our meditation.

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A. Master said that after filling the pail of your consciousness with the milk of peace and bliss that comes from practice of Kriya, to sit long in meditation enjoying those results. To get up immediately after practice is like kicking over the pail and spilling the milk. This happens if we don’t take the time to absorb the benefits of the techniques. Take time to sit still and receive. Stillness after meditation is the most important part of your meditation. There are changes going on in all the cells of the body – purification - and there is an upliftment of consciousness every time we meditate. It is then that your cells are absorbing that purification. (This reminds me of how plants actively absorb the nourishing rays of the sun during the daytime, but it is in the stillness of the dark night, when nothing seems to be happening, that they actually grow.) Even if it is not a good meditation, even if you are restless, still these changes are happening. We will not be aware of them on a daily basis – the changes are quite subtle – but just look back on your life and you will see that you are calmer, more peaceful, and better able to deal with problems that without meditation would have been overwhelming. That’s real results. Regular, steady effort gives definite and permanent changes as you come into contact with your soul - peace, happiness, calmness, joy, love, wisdom, and the ability to cope with daily problems. Then the negative emotions of moodiness, anger, jealousy, and so forth, just fall away. Steady effort frees us little by little. Think, “This is my time to be alone with God.†Don’t permit �thoughts to enter. Forget all the stresses and problems of the world for those minutes. Master tells us to “close the bulging thought-pressed door.†(Whispers from Eternity) Make up your mind to shut everything �else out. Daya Ma inwardly thinks: “I’m only with God now. I have died to the world.†Plunge into His presence and you will be refreshed,� uplifted and changed. That is when you contact your soul. Do we enter into meditation with the attitude of giving ourselves fully to Him? If we do, then reverence will well up naturally in the soul, and He cannot help but respond to that. We have to do our part – and God and Guru are always there waiting for us. Keep the goal ever before you - have a clear picture of your goal. He is the goal. Otherwise you are just wandering around, absentminded. He is love, joy, wisdom, peace, beauty, stillness, calmness. Sister said she wished to tell us some stories, and a little about Master’s appearance. His eyelashes were very long, shiny black, and they did not curl up – they were very straight so that when he looked down they rested on his cheek. One time Sister came by Master’s study in Encinitas to deliver a message to him. She saw him working at his desk which was facing the French doors where she was standing. She waited patiently for a few moments and then Master looked up, but when he did this he didn’t lift his head, but just raised his eyes up to look at her. Just at that angle, Sister could see his eyes through those long eye lashes – magnificent black eyes – and she inwardly gasped, so beautiful they were in seeing them through those eye lashes. Sister said, “Master was divinely beautiful, both inwardly and outwardly.†Another time Sister was standing at the far end of the �drawing room at Encinitas, near the dining room, when Master came out from his bedroom and walked along the hallway. It was nighttime, and dark, but as he turned and gazed at her she saw a circle of light encompassing Master’s face from his forehead to just above his upper lip. Sister said that you will see this in some of his pictures. It is not the lighting. It is an inward light that Master radiated. “Master

is all light within,†Sister said, “and it was a sublime experience �to see it.†The training Master gave was unique. Sister was age 13 when� she came into the ashram. One time she was standing on the driveway in Encinitas, and there were a group of disciples nearby, but Master was standing apart from them, gazing down the driveway. Sister looked down the driveway

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in the direction of his gaze and noticed a little piece of wadded up paper lying there and so she walked over and picked it up to throw it away. It was just a tiny errand, but Master noticed. He noticed everything! He smiled at her and said so sweetly, “That’s what I like to see.†Master was so appreciative of anything done to help the �work. He never took anything for granted, and he didn’t miss anything anyone did to help. He said that his consciousness was like an iceberg - 10% above and the other 90% below the surface of our outward knowledge. Master said that God blesses you for everything you do to help the work - however great or small - God repays a hundred-fold. Shortly after Sister first came to the ashram she was in the kitchen in Encinitas when Master came into the room. It was only the second time she had ever been in his presence. All the other nuns called him “Masterâ€, but she was �having trouble with that title, and thus found herself unable to speak to him because she was hesitant about what to call him. In her Christian upbringing she felt it would be disloyal to call anyone “Master†but �Jesus. Just then Guruji walked over to her, aware of her inward thoughts, and he humbly said, “Just call me “little sir.†�(Laughter) It was then that it became apparent to her that she was in the presence of a great master. He was always balanced and natural, and his consciousness was always with God. “Guruji’s training was unique,†Sister said. “In his presence we felt great love, but he �could be fiery and strict with discipline when necessary. If we were receptive to that discipline then he never mentioned it again. He didn’t dwell on our faults, except to help us overcome them. He only saw the good in you. It made you want to be your best self - to be what he saw in you. Master always emphasized never to identify yourself with momentary flashes of errors from the past.†“Master was endlessly �inventive, and he tested us to see how we responded – and he still does this today with all of us!†Sister said. “Don’t doubt – he �is still in charge!†(Laughter) “I know every nuance of your �thoughts,†he told us. You will see this happening every day. If you �look closely you will see his hand in all that occurs. Your part is to be receptive to his guiding hand. If we are receptive, it will be a great blessing. If we resist, it will be harder and painful. The grace of the masters are waiting to help you and the world.†When �Autobiography of a Yogi was brand new – the first edition had just been published - one day in the Encinitas kitchen two monks rang the bell to call everyone to announce that the very first shipment of the books had arrived. The monks brought in a large wooden crate, opened it with a crowbar, and stacked all the books on the kitchen table. Guruji was very joyful and he asked for his fountain pen and signed each one as he handed them out to everyone. “Now, this was a very important event in SRF,†Sister said, “but Master was so humble - he just handed them� out so informally there in the kitchen.†In Sister’s copy he wrote, �“With blessings†and the date “December 10th, 1946†and he signed � �it. Some years later, in 1950, she asked Master to add a thought to her copy, and he added her name and wrote: “Find the infinite hidden on the altar of these pages.†Sister said that this was a profound truth �that he had written because she has found throughout the years that even just opening randomly to a page of the book and reading a line or two, she invariably finds just what she needed to hear at that moment in her life. Now we have Master’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, The Second Coming, and so many of Master’s other writings. All of his writings contain the infinite hidden on the altar of their pages. His

words are permeated with his presence and with his consciousness. They are not just words, but living waters for our souls.

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The Hong-Sau and Aum Techniques of Concentration and MeditationBrother IshtanandaThe most vital part of meditation – the whole crux of the matter in attaining the ultimate goal of God consciousness is stillness. When we are still and knowing God as peace, bliss, and love, then the normal sense thoughts are banished and we are in an interior state of consciousness. To commune with God, we need to go into silence. There is a vital point of meditation that is often misunderstood. “Consider what the desired goal of meditation is: pure God consciousness stillness.†(God Alone) Ordinarily our consciousness is vibrating with �thoughts and emotions, and cannot merge with the calm consciousness of divine consciousness. Stillness of meditation means being absorbed and feeling God’s presence at the spiritual eye. It is in this stillness that we experience communion with God as peace, as joy, as love. Brother Anandamoy said, “In stillness there is conscious awareness, a deeply alert state without thoughts.†Jesus taught: “But thou, when thou �prayest, enter into thy closet (withdraw the mind into the silence within), and when thou hast shut thy door (the door of the senses), pray to thy Father which is in secret (in the inner transcendent divine consciousness); and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly (shall bless you with the ever new Bliss of His Being).†(The �Second Coming, pg 495) Master said, “True prayer is an expression of the soul, an urge from the soul. It is a hunger for God that arises from within, expressing itself to Him ardently, silently.†(The Second �Coming, pg 491) Don’t be discouraged if you can’t yet enter into this state of stillness - it is a very lofty state. But always set aside a portion of your meditation to try to attain this goal of stillness. It will come through the grace of God and Guru. Our job is to make the effort with the techniques. Recognize and appreciate what that stillness is when it comes, and don’t feel you have to move on in your meditation if you attain this state. Master said, “In the devotee’s silence God’s silence ceases.†(The Second Coming, pg 495) How to �achieve that state of stillness? Concentration. Master said, “When the activating power of the mind is stilled by concentration, restlessness ceases and we become absorbed in the transcendental Bliss of the soul.� Brother Anandamoy once told Brother Ishtananda that there are two concepts of what concentration means. On a sheet of paper he drew a circle to represent the subject of concentration and inside the circle he drew many dots and dashes, which represented all the different thoughts about that subject. This is the common understanding of “concentration†in the West. Then he drew another circle and poked �one tiny dot in the center of it. “That,†Brother told him, “is �yogic concentration.†It is one-pointed focus on the object of �concentration, holding the mind steady and absorbed in one object only. The yogi holds the mind still on an object, absorbing the essence of the object of concentration. Master said that meditation is concentration used to know God. We have to be able to achieve this one-pointed concentration to truly meditate. Don’t be discouraged – it’s not always so simple to achieve this state. In the Gita, Arjuna laments, “Verily, the mind is unsteady, tumultuous, powerful, obstinate! O Krishna, I consider the mind as difficult to master as the wind!†�(Chapter VI, verse 34) And Krishna answered Arjuna thus:

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“Undoubtedly the mind is fickle and unruly; but by yoga practice and by dispassion, the mind may nevertheless be controlled.†Hong-Sau is �one of those great techniques of yoga for pinpointing the mind. Daya Ma has praised Hong-Sau so much over the years and she says that whenever she has a few moments she practices. Hong-Sau means “I am He†– �“I am Spiritâ€. “Hong†and “Sau†are sacred Sanskrit words that � � �have a vibratory connection with the incoming and outgoing breath and they have a calming effect on the breath. Breath and mind are very much interrelated. Calm breath automatically brings about a calm mind. Restless breath creates a restless mind. Just observing the breath will quiet it down. Hong-Sau is a mantra. It is very simple – basics are simple! What to do when thoughts come? St. Teresa of Avila gave good advice: “When unwanted thoughts come, pay no more attention to them than to the words of an idiot.†(Laughter) If the mind wanders, don’t� berate yourself – use it as a reminder to bring it back to the practice of the technique. If during the first few moments of meditation you can get a hold of the mind there will be far less problems. When practiced correctly the breath may slow down - it may even stop – and this is a very desirable state. That is a deep state of stillness. Just enjoy that deep feeling of peace when the breath is not flowing. Don’t be concerned – the body will breath when it needs to, so don’t fret. And don’t get excited either, thinking, “I did it!!†Just relax and� enjoy it. But don’t try to create it. Don’t try to control the breath – that is not practicing Hong-Sau. We are trying to be the soul – the silent, conscious witness. Daya Mata says of Hong-Sau: “I didn’t waste my time; I practiced it in spare moments of the day.†�Remember, the techniques are just a means to an end. Don’t waste time. Whenever you have a few moments practice Hong-Sau and then feel the peace – talk to the Guru. What should we do with our calm mind once we are there? How to concentrate on the transcendental God beyond creation? The bridge, the link has existed since creation came into being. Two minute history of creation: Before creation, there was only undifferentiated Spirit. Someone said, “In the beginning God created … and this has been widely regarded as a bad move.†(Laughter) Before� creation, God was just Blissful consciousness, but as soon as it began to think, to dream creation, it manifested as both light and sound. That was the holy vibration of Aum. This vibration devolved – it became grosser and grosser until it became what we call solid matter. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.†(Isaiah 55:11) In manifesting �creation, Spirit becomes: God the Father – existing transcendentally untouched by any tremor of vibratory creation The Son - the only begotten Christ Consciousness inherent in all creation The Holy Ghost – the Cosmic Vibration, the Word, the Aum

This is the bridge - the Aum. This is our link back to God – it is God Himself. The Word, Amen, Aum - being the manifestation of the Eternal Nature of God or His Own Self, is inseparable from and nothing but God Himself; as the burning power is inseparable from and nothing but the fire itself. Communion with the Holy Ghost is the purpose of the Aum technique. The technique gives us the means to connect with God.Read everything about Aum. Understanding helps practice. Master talks about the Aum technique in The Second Coming (pg 123-124): “As the

devotee concentrates on Aum, first by mentally chanting Aum, and then by actually hearing that sound, his mind is diverted from the physicalThe Hong-Sau and Aum Techniques of Concentration and Meditation

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sounds of matter outside his body to the circulatory and other sounds of the vibrating flesh. Then his consciousness is diverted from the vibrations of the physical body to the musical vibrations of the spinal centers of the astral body. His consciousness then expands from the vibrations of the astral body to the vibrations of consciousness in the causal body and in the omnipresence of the Holy Ghost. When the devotee’s consciousness is able not only to hear the cosmic sound of Aum, but also to feel its actual presence in every unit of space, in all finite vibrating matter, then the soul of the devotee becomes one with the Holy Ghost. His consciousness vibrates simultaneously in his body, in the sphere of the earth, the planets, the universes, and in every particle of matter, space, and astral manifestation. Through the expanding power of the Holy Ghost, the all-spreading Aum-vibrating sound heard in meditation, the consciousness then becomes immersed, or baptized, in the sacred stream of Christ Consciousness.†This is a �tremendous technique that Master has given. The techniques Master gave came down from India’s golden age. It is very effective for creating that actual communion with God. Let the techniques work. The ego is used to doing, controlling, making it happen. Our job is just to practice and let the techniques do the work.

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Creating a Joy Filled LifeTuesday Evening Lecture – Uma Mata(Uma Mata is known as “Mother of joyâ€) Brahmachari Terry introduced �the class. “Masterâ€, he said, “told a monk newly entered into the �ashram, ‘If you ever want something we don’t have here, come and see me about it and I’ll teach you how to get along without it.’†(Lots� of laughter) There is nothing more beautiful than to be able to seek and love God together. Sister said she loves the idea of simplicity, and creating a joy filled life is simple. “This subject is vastâ€, as �Master would say. What does Master say about Joy? It is unending, inexhaustible, ever-new. You can never grow tired of it. “Ever-new Joy is God,†Sri Yukteswar said. “He is inexhaustible; as you continue �your meditations during the years, He will beguile you with infinite ingenuity. Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God never dream of exchanging Him for any other happiness; He is seductive beyond thought of competition.†Master’s deepest desire is to help each one �of us to have that lasting joy of God. We can find permanent happiness only in God. But we tend to look outwardly for happiness. As a young girl, Sister used to wonder, “Isn’t there more to life than this?†�“Master’s teachings gave me the answer,†Sister told us. That joy �is already ours within our souls. “You don’t have to acquire it; that joy is yours, only you have to rememberâ€, Master said. “Self-�realization is the knowing - in body, mind, and soul - that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.†We �have to work for that joy. Don’t get distracted. Put first things first. Remember what is truly important: to change ourselves and to make regular effort to find God - and that will give us the joy we crave. Master was a wonderful example of a joy filled life, of living always with the thought of God. He was a living scripture – a perfect example of how to live life with the thought of God every moment. Even in the most mundane tasks, he was immersed in God consciousness. The devotees could always feel his consciousness as with God in inner communion. Meditation is our greatest priority and it brings the divine security. Meditation was the first and foremost priority in Master’s life. Sister said, “My first impression of Master was, ‘This person knows God. I have come home. This is what I’ve been searching for all of my life.’ Whenever we meditated or were around him we felt something of the joy of God. We were so blessed to be in his presence. It was real - and you just became absorbed in it.†Sister said that at the all day �Christmas meditations, Master would frequently break out in heartfelt conversations with Jesus and Divine Mother, and how incredibly sacred those times were. The disciples tried to be attuned with him. And Master told them he could help them more when he was no longer in the body. We have to work with our consciousness to learn to be still and calm. We must meditate regularly and faithfully, more and deeper – we need to work to become calm and still. “Once you gain control over the mind, half the battle is won,†Master said. Every effort is acknowledged by �God.

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Sister said she had an intense yearning to experience God’s love. Master once told her, “Never give mental boundaries to your perception of Love and Joy.†One time she had a dream: She was in a large �auditorium and Daya Mata was giving a talk on divine love. Sister was filled with divine love from Daya Ma – and she was overcome by that joy of God that kept on expanding and expanding. Suddenly she realized that she had absorbed as much love as she could. This showed her that we can only hold as much as our consciousness is ready to receive. There is no limit to the joy – never give boundaries to it. It is ever-new unending Bliss. Daily meditation brings spiritual freedom, and divine security. Meditate more and more deeply to become still and calm. By meditation we gradually increase our capacity to hold God’s great joy within and expand it. Lasting joy comes from making continued efforts to know God. Never give up! Even when you don’t have long hours to meditate, still you can put all your heart into meditation, even if time is short. When you sit, make it as deep as possible, even if it is only for five minutes. Make those moments count! Progress and lasting joy comes through continued effort. And if you receive no results? Just make it an unconditional offering to God. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get results right away. God tests His devotees in various ways to determine if we are sincere, to see how much we want Him, and to test that our love is unconditional, just as His love for us is unconditional. The greatest way to feel that peace and contentment is to practice the meditation techniques that Master gave us. Practice the techniques; express your love for God, and gradually you will feel peace and contentment within. It is our good karma and blessing that we have been drawn to these teachings. “These are the most advanced techniques to realize God,†Master said. He said it was the “airplane routeâ€, � �but these days he might have called it the “super sonic jet routeâ€. �Over and over, Master encourages us to keep on faithfully. He tells us again and again, “It’s worth the effort!†He understands our �struggles and he knows our hearts. “I was once like you,†he said. �“I walked the earth searching for truth and happiness, but everything I thought I wanted gave me misery and so I turned to God.†Master said �to practice the presence, and then you can carry that joy ever with you. God first, God last, and God all the time. Use the little gaps of time to be with Him, mentally chant to Him. Express your love to Divine Mother, chant her name, keep your consciousness on Divine Mother. Inwardly repeat the name of God or ask, "How can I serve thee, God?" Or chant, “I Love You, Lord." Master said, "Joy lies in continually thinking of God … Is that not wonderful? to live and think and feel God all the time? to remain in the castle of His presence, whence death nor aught else can take you away?" Daya Ma lives this way. She always radiates joy because she has meditated deeply and made the contact of God-Joy. She has boundless enthusiasm for the work. She is full of energy. Whatever Master asked of her, she did. She has been more than 70 years serving this work, and her thought is always, “How can I serve God and Guru? How can I serve others?†She intuits people’s needs –� and she’s so thoughtful. That comes from loving God and practicing His presence. Ma says, “Every so often just close your eyes and say ‘I love you, my Lord.†This simple act will bring much peace during a �stressful day and the Lord will be with you because you are remembering Him and including Him. Master said that to do for others, helping them, reaching out beyond ourselves is another way to attain joy. It is the way to freedom. Serving others is an unmistakable source of joy, for joy

and love multiply when you give them away. “We are serving God when we help anyone who crosses our

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path,†Master said. “Let your heart beat with love for others. Forget� yourself; melt your heart in all. Break the barriers of your ego – banish selfishness – that is what releases the joy of the soul so the joy can shine through us.†From early morning until late at night �Master was always serving others. He never had a day off … and he still doesn’t have time off! (Laughter) We keep him busy non-stop! (More laughter) He always put God first, giving to all that love, joy, and strength of God that filled his being. It was such a joyous experience to be in his presence. Master was so thoughtful. He would often call us young ones to share a sweetmeat or mango, or some other treat. When you were around him you felt enveloped in happiness and a feeling of total acceptance. He was so appreciative of the devotees, and he expressed it in speaking and writing to them. Serving this work is also serving God. Know that Master has deep appreciation for the way you serve this work. There was always a sweet expression on his face, and each of you receives that blessing too, when you serve this work and when you serve others. Joy also comes from love and acceptance of all God’s children. People intuitively feel what is in our hearts. We can't be happy if we have ill will towards anyone. Everyone has tests and trials in their relationships with others. Love and forgiveness are of paramount importance. We must try to resolve them, and above all to hold the peace and joy of God gained in meditation within. Master was a beautiful example of this, with even those who acted against him. Just three days before his mahasamadhi, a man came to the hermitage, and Master told him - to one who gave him much trouble - “Remember that I will always love you.†Master said, “Love is the most powerful force �in the universe." “Love is a divine cleanser and a lastingly effective way of winning one’s enemies. Hatred may temporarily suppress and put down an enemy, but he will still remain an enemy. The poison of hate increases by hatred and can be counteracted and neutralized only by the chemical of love. Inimical persons burn themselves with hatred and anger, consuming their inner peace. One who returns their enmity likewise burns up his own inner equanimity, his peace which offers to his entire life absolute protection from the devastation wrought by human miseries. So to hate anyone is against one’s own interest. Without any expression or feeling of malice or sarcasm, a wronged person should just say within himself: “I forgive you.†It is such a �healing, elevating experience. That mental expression of love also travels through the ether into the heart of a wrongdoer. It is one of the most effective ways to change an enemy. To hate an enemy is to make him stronger, whereas his enmity is weakened by kindness until he may finally realize his fault. God is ever merciful, solely because He considers all souls as His children, placing no conditional demands on them in return. So should God’s children try to act divinely toward one another without ulterior motives.†(The Second Coming, pg 480) �“It hath been said that the continuation of the species is due to man’s being forgiving. Forgiveness is holiness; by forgiveness the universe is held together. Forgiveness is the might of the mighty; forgiveness is sacrifice; forgiveness is quiet of mind. Forgiveness and gentleness are the qualities of the Self-possessed. They represent eternal virtue.†(The Second Coming, pg 507) Joy is the commodity that �multiplies when you give it away. As you forget self in service to others, you will find that without seeking it, your own cup of happiness will be full. We can find joy by being God’s instruments. There is a story called, “Does God still speak to us?�

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A young man had gone to a Wednesday night Bible Study where the Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?" After the service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different people talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about 10 pm when the young man got in his car to drive home. Sitting in his car, he prayed, "God, if you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey." As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought: Stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that You?" He didn't get a reply and continued on toward home. But again, the thought came: Buy a gallon of milk. "Okay, God, in case that is You, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk anyway. He stopped and purchased a gallon of milk and once again headed off toward home. As he passed 7th Street, he again felt an urge: Turn down that street. This is crazy, he thought and he drove on past the intersection. But once again, he felt that he should turn down 7th Street, so at the next intersection, he turned back and then headed down 7th. Half-jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will." He drove several blocks, when suddenly he felt that he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best neighborhood, but it wasn't the worst either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark, like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something: Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street. The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or were already asleep. He started to open the car door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them, they are going to be angry and I will look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give them the milk. "Okay, God, if this is You, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here." He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man and a man was standing there in his jeans and a t-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this for you." The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk with the man following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. Half crying, the man said: "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk." His wife who was in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask Him to send an Angel with some milk …. are you an Angel?" The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it

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in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car, tears streaming down his face. Now he knew the answer to his question. God still answers prayer and God still speaks to us. Beware of your own thoughts because all of our thoughts and actions have a ripple effect that send out vibrations throughout the world. Daya Ma said, “Prayer has an immense power to help others.†It counteracts the balance of �good and evil. Each one of you, by serving others and by sincerely seeking God in deep communion, has the capability to accomplish much good through meditation and prayer. Master said we must create the right attitude of positive thoughts and stay anchored in God. “Our class tonight is entitled ‘Creating a Joy Filled Life’â€, Sister said, �“and ‘creating’ is the key word.†It is so important in today's �world to repel the negative thoughts and keep very positive thinking, positive attitude, and evenmindedness which comes from faith in God. One of Master’s favorite quotes came from Abraham Lincoln, who once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.†�Daya Ma tells the story of once when she woke up in a gloomy mood and tried so hard to conceal it from Master. She put on a cheerful face and spoke some cheerful words, but Master knew! He knew the mood she was trying to hide and scolded her; “Out of my presence! Don’t come into my presence when you are in a mood!†And so she stayed away, feeling �more and more miserable as time passed. After three days she realized that she was the only one responsible for her moods that she had a choice - and that it was up to her to change. By an act of will, she was able to cast off her low moods forever. Master taught, “No one can make you happy if you choose to be unhappy, and no one can make you unhappy if you choose to be happy.†You must learn to carry all �conditions of happiness within yourself. Never let your inner peace be subject to outside influence, even in the face of trying situations. It takes courage and inner strength to do this, and it has to do with undying faith and total trust in God. Say, “Everything will be alright. It’s all in God’s hands.†Our lives are saturated by Him �every moment. Master taught us to find good and wholesome things in life. There were two sides of Master - he was divine - yet childlike; pure in heart, spontaneous, carefree, and able to enjoy everything because his consciousness was absorbed in God. He enjoyed nature and the simple joys in life. If you look at his photographs you can nearly always detect a little smile in the corners of his mouth. Master encouraged the disciples to smile. If you can smile through thick and thin, it gives you strength, courage, joy and happiness. “Become a smile millionaire!†Master told us. “Against all odds you must smile �through thick and thin. Try to smile within. And if you feel you can’t smile, then stand in front of a mirror and turn your mouth up with your fingers!†(Laughter) A genuine smile sends energy and life current �throughout every cell of the body. Joyous enthusiasm will come with a genuine smile. “Go forth with the courage of a hero and the smile of a conqueror,†Master said. Don’t take life too seriously or be too �sensitive. As Daya Ma says, “Let the ego hang loosely around the soul.†Instead of thinking about what others are thinking of you, �think, “What can I do for them?†They say it takes 26 muscles to �smile; 62 to frown. So make it easy on yourself! (Laughter) since it is much easier to smile than not to smile. Smile a smile that comes from faith and love of God. Try to associate with positive people, but in whatever environment you find yourself, don’t let it touch your inner peace. Your happiness should never be subject to any outside influence.

This is not always easy – it can be a real challenge. Don’t be too sensitive – always laugh at yourself. Never take anything or anyone too seriously.Creating a Joy Filled Life

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Relate to God knowing that He loves you unconditionally – relate to Him as your most personal, your most intimate, dearest friend. It can be such a sweet relationship. Make it personal and informal. Talk to Him in the language of your heart. Think of Him as if you were talking to your mother or father or your best friend. Master lost his mother when he was quite young, but then, as he relates in the Autobiography: “The bitter separation of my mother's death I had thought the measure of all anguish. Now an agony at separation from my Divine Mother was an indescribable torture of the spirit.†“Seeking the seclusion of my �small attic, I remained in meditation until ten o'clock. The darkness of the warm Indian night was suddenly lit with a wondrous vision. Haloed in splendor, the Divine Mother stood before me. Her face, tenderly smiling, was beauty itself. "Always have I loved thee! Ever shall I love thee!" The celestial tones still ringing in the air, She disappeared.†This is� how we should talk to God. It becomes a close, trusting relationship. Daya Ma said, “The beloved of the universe never disappoints us.†�Develop the habit of positive thinking and having total trust in God. Have faith that all is in God's hands. Trust God more to guide your lives. Master said, “Be so drunk with the love of God night and day that you won’t know anything but God; and give that love to all.†We �will never be satisfied until we have this love. “Master had a wonderful sense of humor,†Sister said. “One time he went to Delmar, �near Encinitas, with some of the younger devotees and spent the day at the ocean under a huge grove of Eucalyptus trees. Eventually it came time to leave and we started to walk towards the car. We noticed that Master was already in the car with the driver and so we hurried to catch up. But just as we reached the car Master told the driver to drive off a little ways. So we ran to catch up but every time we were just reaching the car Master would have the driver drive away again. Everyone was laughing, trying to catch up – and this went on for a while!! At the end we were totally out of breath! It was the best exercise we ever had!!†(Laughter) What joy comes when we truly know and believe in �God’s love. You will feel it as you strive to be in attunement with God and Guru. Though most of you never met Master in the body, we can see that you know him by your attunement with him. And the Guru will always be by your side whispering, “I will be your friend from now until Eternity, no matter whether you are on the lowest mental plane or on the highest plane of wisdom. I will be your friend if ever you should err, for then you will need my friendship more than at any other time.�

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Living a Spiritual Life in a Material WorldTeen/Young Adult Class – Brother Mitrananda

Brother said, “The best news about this subject, ‘Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World’, is that my world is about as big as this (Brother pointed to his head) … it’s called my head. Beyond that it’s very subjective. What is reality? It’s just my own private perceptions about what I think, what I believe, what I fear, what I doubt. And then we take all those things and try to project them on to others – which is hard because they are always busy trying to project theirs onto us! (Laughter) So what is reality? It’s very personal. I often sense more than one person in my head, and sometimes both are speaking at once. There’s the soul and there’s the ego. There’s the adult and there’s the child. There is love and there is fear. There is responsibility and there is blame. The adult starts the sentence and the child finishes it – all this fluctuation. So who am I? Essentially what we are looking for is continuity, stability. It all comes down to identity – who I am.†A recent Teen Magazine article �was entitled ‘Secrets of the Teen Brain’. “As if you’re wired differently,†Brother said to the young ones who were all seated up �front. (Laughter) “But who knows, you might be a different species.†�(Laughter) Brother held up another magazine that contained an advertisement by Microsoft picturing a whole bunch of young people standing together, and the caption read: “We see nothing small about these people. They see the future.†We are living in fragile times. �It’s a transition time and the paradigm is changing. There are many world uncertainties, and it can be frightening because we don’t have all the answers right now - but they are coming! And it will be new - and it will look different. Someone once asked a great scholar, “How are young people different today?†His answer: “Our youth now love �luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.†The great scholar was Socrates – 5th Century BC! �(Laughter) “Kids have always been a pain!†Brother said. “They’re� supposed to be!†(Laughter) When the Soviet Union broke into new �emerging nations there was one country (The Republic of Abkahzia) that put out its first postage stamp. After so many years of the yoke of communism, what did they choose? Marx and Lenin ……… Groucho and John! (Laughter) Brother held up a picture of the postage stamp and he said, “Anyone who could do that - are they cool or what! When I saw that, I knew there’s lots of hope for this world!†Brother told a �story about a man who works at the maintenance department at Mother Center who is a single parent with a seven year old son. One day he started telling his son how many people love him – “Your Gramma and I do and your aunt and the lady next door loves you ………†etc. The� son listened and then he replied, “You know Dad, that’s great … but it’s also important that I learn to love myself.†So you see, �it’s all about what is coming from the inside out instead of the outside in – and giving oneself permission to love oneself is vital.

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Alvin Toffler, the well known futurologist and author of Future Shock and The Third Wave said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.“ There’s a whole lot we need to unlearn. We are entering a renaissance. Renaissance means ‘rebirth.’ It will have to do with gaining a sense of self – an objective ground on which to build our consciousness and identity. It’s the name of our organization - Self-Realization! In the past we’ve built our identity on assumptions, on society, on what other people think. Ask yourself, what are you most excited about? That will be the motivational fuel to help you find yourself. It’s easy to say “no†to many things if you� have a deeper “yes†burning within you. That “yes†is the � �motivational fuel in your tank. The root word for ‘education’ is the Latin word ‘educare’, which means ‘to draw out from within’ – not to cram knowledge in like stuffing a sausage. In our old education process we were told what to think, not how to think. Master was just the opposite. “Test it!†he would often say. Education is becoming �more about learning and testing it – is it true for me? Master knew kids. When people asked questions, he didn’t pontificate, he didn’t give classes. A true master is one who creates another master - by encouraging people to know themselves on their deepest soul level. So it comes down to instruction verses indoctrination – there’s a big difference! Sri Yukteswar said that our current educational system mostly teaches ‘avidya’, which means, literally, ‘non-knowledge’ – ‘ignorance’. Master said of the children who were staying at the ashram, “My heart goes out to them when they enter public school.†He� knew what they were facing. He would tell them, “Don’t be a doormat. Dare to be different.†If you ask a class of Kindergarteners, “Who is� an artist?" they will all raise their hands. But if you ask a class of 4th graders, they will look around to see if others would approve if they raised their hands. A newborn baby has two innate fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noises. All others are learned – “taught†�to us throughout life by society, family, etc. It’s normal, but not natural. Master was always challenging the conventional way of thinking. He loved challenges. “Tell me the worst possible astrological day to start a venture and I’ll start it on that day!†he would say. And �that’s his message to us. Master said that all the fundamental traits and habits of a child are formed between the ages of three and seven. They watch their parents all the time and they are very good at imitating. Kids imitate because they’re not clear who they are. They watch to see if what we do makes us happy. If you’re radiant, okay, but if you aren't happy, if there is some disparity, the child will think, “Hey, I want to be happier than you.†They will not want to �follow your example – they won’t be satisfied to do what you do - they will want more. Ask yourself, "Would I be satisfied being as happy as my parents?" We are in an ascending age, and that’s great news. When Master ran the boy’s school in India it was the boys themselves who ruled many areas of their own life there by autonomous committees. He let them rule themselves! A little boy was interviewed recently for an article in his school newspaper. The interviewer inquired, “What do you do?†“I help God to heal peopleâ€, the boy answered matter-of-� �factly. “How do you do that?†asked the interviewer. “We put up �pictures of people who need healing and then we chant “Aum†and send �light to their spiritual eye,†the boy told him, “and so far there �

was one lady who had cancer six times and a boy who had a serious illness and they were both cured. We’re on a role here!!†(Laughter)�

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Who do we think we are? Are we not co-creators? Are we part of the process or is God controlling everything? Brother asked us to take a minute and write down six words that define “Who I Amâ€. He said not �to ponder too much, just quickly write down the first six words that come to mind. Then he said to circle the two that were most important and then write down why. Each of us identifies with a quality of God like truth or light or love, and that is the basis of who we are. That’s the kind of introspection we should do. Master’s spiritual recipe: If you read one hour, write two hours and meditate three hours. Brother said he does this for hours and hours when he is on retreat. One time there was a lady from Phoenix who came to visit Master in Encinitas with her eight year old daughter. They were seated among a large gathering of guests in the dining room having dinner together with Master. The little girl was just fascinated with Master and she kept scooting her chair closer and closer to him. Finally she started stroking his long hair and finally asked, “Are you a man or a woman?â€� “Neither,†Master replied. He wouldn’t acknowledge that he was man �or woman because he thought of himself as both! Master was natural, even though it wasn’t normal. It’s a good question to ask yourself: Am I natural or normal? There’s a big difference! Master wouldn’t tell his age – he wouldn’t be pigeon-holed – he had the wisdom of the ages but the spontaneity of youth, and his native land was omnipresence. We all have a blind spot – some part we can’t see no matter which way we turn. Master said, “God made every nation incomplete so only in their union could they become whole.†Looking back, Brother said he �realized his life as a young kid was almost totally ruled by fear. There was a component of fear in everything he did. Interestingly, the very first quality that makes man god-like is fearlessness. “Ask yourself,†Brother said, “How do you live? We either live in, out, or� on the box.†Asking questions, taking risks, meditation – all these �are ‘on the box’. Brother said, “As a child I believed I was little, powerless. I was also a “bad†person, I had a dark side. And �I was a beggar, because other people had the power. I was a “little bad beggarâ€!†(Laughter) “I figured that I was on a path – and it � �was a long, uphill, winding path – and that maybe someday I’d be complete, and then this judgmental God would stamp me as okay and I’d be able to go heaven. This was truly how I thought of myself. But we are gods!! “Thou art That†– it says it all. “ During meditation a �question came: “Am I mortal or am I a soul?†We’re pieces of God �all the time. We were united with God, but then separated from Him in our knowing – and now we are coming home. Realize that there is no future. The future – it’s a fantasy. There’s no past, either. There is only the eternal now. Now is potentially as good as it gets. If we can stay in the present, that’s when we can really start meditating because now is in the realm of intuition, and that is where our power resides. The opposite of Self-realization is Self-rejection. How often do we think of ourselves as unworthy? Guruji saw the pure soul and the pure gold of your soul. Everyone else sees the mud that we’re trying to peel off. Master was always trying to shake us up. “You don’t know who you are,†he used to say. Master’s mission statement: �balanced recklessness. How often do we lose courage in facing life because of past failures or fear that we may fail in the future? Defeats are part of life. There is a story of a famous man who serves as an eloquent example of one whose whole life was a litany of defeats. He failed in business in 1831. He was

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defeated for state legislature in 1832. He failed in business again in 1933. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836. He was defeated for Speaker in 1838. He was defeated for nomination for Congress in 1843. He was defeated for nomination for Congress in 1848. He was defeated for U.S. Senate in 1854. He was defeated for nomination for Vice President in 1856. He was defeated again for U.S. Senate in 1858. In 1860 … he was elected President. Who was he? Abraham Lincoln. “My question is,� Brother said, “is this a story of failure and defeat or is it a story of success?†In reality this is the story of every life – defeat �after defeat after defeat. Master said that only ambitious people try continuously in life. Master had many defeat stories in his life and yet he was so ambitious. Paramahansa Yogananda was perhaps the biggest story of defeat – because he accomplished so much against such terrific odds. He knew the one thing he had inside him and he wanted to give it to others at any cost. Brother once saw a video about Mother Theresa in India. The lady journalist who did the interview was very slick - perfect makeup, perfect dress. All her questions to Mother Theresa were superficial: “Are you happy with your career choice?†she asked. �(Laughter) Mother Theresa answered the question and then asked the woman, “And how happy are you with your career choice?†The questions� continued for some time, and then the cameraman did something interesting: towards the end of the interview he panned down to under the table where the two were seated and you could see Mother Theresa’s hands. In them was a rosary, and she was busy praying on that rosary. She didn’t waste time. JP Morgan Advertisement: A picture of a very intelligent looking person speaking of their commitment to excellence: “I will assume nothing. I will challenge everything. I will rush to the defense of facts.†Brother wrote a mission statement of who he is: �“I am creating my own experience. When I fall back into irresponsibility, I will breathe deeply. And, at all costs, I will be the change I want to see in the world. I will trust in the God that I AM. I will assume nothing, but will accept everything. I will always rush to the defense of what love looks like. I will strive for fearlessness, above everything. This will allow me to listen, to learn and to laugh. I shall value my integrity as the measure of my fearlessness.†It’s easy to talk about Master, but what about these �“I†statements? Who are you? How much responsibility are you willing �to take? Gandhi said, "I will be the change I want to see in the world." Brother said his first exposure to Hindu philosophy was when he was a student at USC. A swami came to talk to his class and everyone was captivated by him. After the lecture was over he told the group that if anyone wished to stay he would answer some questions. So great was his spiritual magnetism that no one in the room wanted to leave - but no one was asking any questions. Minutes went by, yet no one had a question – they just wanted to remain in the presence of this great soul. Realizing that if someone did not ask a question soon it would be over, the silence was finally broken when one young man stood up and blurted out, “I don’t know what I want to ask. I only know that what you’ve got is what I want.†This was followed by a great collective sigh of �consensus from the rest of the group. Love: when you see it, you know it – Master influenced people like that. Thoughts are things – and like a magnet thoughts draw that energy to us. It’s a fact that if you’re positive, you’ll draw that positive energy. In 1954 British track star Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile – and in the same year 52 other people did it too – because, thoughts are things.

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If you say it’s impossible, it is! Brother’s favorite quote of Master’s is: “While small-minded men cry “Impossible!†the �pathfinders of the world calmly pursue their goals and demonstrate that the impossible was, instead, inevitable.†A good psychiatrist will �encourage you to place responsibility for your troubles on yourself. A good definition of maturity is: stop blaming others. Brother said he is making his own dictionary and so far he has defined over 1500 words that fit his world. The first word in his dictionary is “courageâ€, which �he defined as “moving at the speed of fearâ€. “I’ll make you a �bet.†Brother said. “In Master’s writings – the Autobiography and� his trilogy of lectures, – I’ll bet you can’t guess what word is used more than any other. This word is used 4438 times – and we could sit here all afternoon and you’d never guess it. The word is “yourâ€� – as in your responsibility, your effort, your Self-realization. Responsibility - Master knocks it right back into your own court. The spiritual path is about you – it is about coming to your own Self-realization.†If you met Master today you would go into total shock –� because Master would worship you! He would see the god in you and he would say, “This is unbelievable! Do you know who you are?!†And �he’d believe it so much that you’d believe it too, and it would change the whole direction of your life. One nun told Brother that Master regularly told her about something that she had accomplished in a past life. He would praise her, saying “You did it and it was so hard, everything was stacked against you, but you did it anyway and I’m so proud of you†- on and on like that. But he would never tell her what �it was! (Laughter) In the video Glimpses of a Life Divine, Elaine Wright expressed very well how Master regards us: “You could have been a criminal and he really wouldn’t have seen it.†Master had a blind �spot too – a reverse blind spot – he saw your unique soul and he saw what only you have – he only saw your divinity. And he would be in awe! “Know ye not that ye are gods?†– can it be any clearer than �that? Who do we think we are? The guru is the perfect mirror. Can we accept that? If we could, why is it we don’t place our own picture on the altar? No, that’s too scary! Why? Because of those fears we have, fear of thinking outside the box. The way to define what means the most to us is very simple: We have beliefs, and under that are our values, and under that are our core beliefs. There at that core belief level, inside the bull’seye, is the one quality, the one virtue that makes us distinctive. We each have very specific gifts. And we’re trying to express that gift unconsciously all the time. Every soul is created uniquely. Do something new every day. Put out the gift. To find it, ask yourself, “What gives me goose bumps?†Doing certain things, saying �certain things, thinking certain thoughts, what movies touch you, and what scenes specifically? What enrages you? When our deepest core value is being violated it will put us into a rage – because we aren’t doing what our soul knows we are supposed to do. But Master saw the pure gold of the soul. But we don’t know who we are!! And if we don’t know who we are, we are blown by the winds of doubt and confusion, and the world takes over our lives. “Most people don’t live their lives; their lives live them,“ Master said. Master said, “You must be prepared to withstand the critical opinion of the world in order to succeed in a great way in any vocation. You must stay away from one-horsepower people in order to be original – to think differently, to speak a little differently. Do little things in an extraordinary way; be the best one in your line. You must not let your life run in the

ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world.�

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This is Master’s language! And this can be your language. Test it! Affirmation: “I and my Father are One. I can create anything.†The �question is - do you really want this kind of power, to create anything? Take responsibility in the now. Make your motto: “If not you, who? If not now, when?†"Sing songs that none have sung, think thoughts that �ne'er in the brain have rung, Walk in paths that none have trod, weep tears as none have shed for God, Give peace to all to whom none other gave, claim Him your own who's everywhere disclaimed. Love all with love that none have felt and brave the battle of life with strength unchained." ~ Paramahansa Yogananda ~ Brother, noticing that the cameraman videotaping this lecture was taping our faces in the audience, remarked, “You know, the only reason he’s doing this is so in you next life you can come back and see yourself!†(Laughter) Master said, �“First and foremost you must learn truly to appreciate and love yourself. But when I say love yourself, I do not mean love for your egotism, selfishness, and self-interest. Love yourself because you are a child of God with divine potentials; it is your love and concern for this potential self that inspires and inspirits unfoldment of your true soul-nature.†It is love of God in me, the piece of me that is God. �Without it you will become so predictable. The message of The Second Coming message is about you! Not about Jesus. Think of it! Two volumes just about you! (Laughter) It’s a giant ‘how to’ book. Jesus came for us. When you have doubts – remember - the impossible is inevitable! “I’d like to leave you with one last thought of Master’s,†Brother said. You will need to dwell on this for a long, �long time to let it sink in. And what will happen is that most likely we will filter it out; we will block it out, because we’re not ready to assume that level of responsibility:

~ “You are something greater than anything and everything you are seeking.†~�

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Intuition: The Soul’s Unerring GuidanceWednesday Evening Lecture – Brother Satyananda

Brahmachari Terry quoted Will Rogers: “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.†(Laughter) �Brother Satyananda began with a story: At the end of Treta Yuga there ruled a great king, Muchukunda. He was a champion of righteous dharma and ruled his kingdom very wisely. One day the Lord of the Devas, Indra, came to Muchukunda and said, “We are grateful for your service here on earth and want to give you a boon – anything you would like, short of liberation.†Muchukunda answered, “I am very tired. I would like to �sleep for 1000 years.†So Indra hid Muchukunda in a remote cave in �Northern India, placing him on an astral couch for his long sleep, and he protected the entrance to the cave with vibrations so that nothing could awaken him. Muchukunda slept, and Treta Yuga passed into Dwapara Yuga. One thousand years passed, and the time came for him to be awakened. The one appointed to awaken him was Bhagavan Krishna and he approached the cave, dispelling the protective vibrations at its entrance, and woke him. Muchukunda’s eyes were full of sleep, and he could not see clearly who was there with him. “Is it Indra?†he �thought. “No, greater – Brahma. No, greater even than he – it is Krishna!†He pranamed to Krishna, and Krishna smiled a smile of �compassion, and he was radiant like the sun. Muchukunda offered a confession: “O Lord, I slept 1000 years, and still I am tired. I was seeking worldly fortunes. Now I have just one wish – a place at your feet. No more fear. No more suffering.†Then Krishna gave him spiritual� diksha. “You and I are old soulsâ€, Brother said. We have a sense of �weariness. We are tired of worldly experiences and struggles – tired even of working for noble causes. We are weary of this world. And so we retire into this cave of sadness, of sleep. Then the Guru comes – and yes, we cannot see at first – but we come to recognize that we are in the presence of Divinity. It is then that the Guru gives diksha, spiritual initiation. In the Bible (Matthew 16), Jesus gives credit to Simon Peter for recognizing Jesus for who he is: “Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do men say that I am?†And they answered, “Some �say you are John the Baptist: some Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.†Jesus asked them, “But whom say ye that I am?†And� � Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.†Master says of this quote in The Second Coming: �“Jesus’ words to his disciples were a sincere inquiry into their understanding and attunement: ‘I care not what the populace in general thinks of me, but tell me what you realize.’ Jesus responded to Simon Peter’s answer: “You are blessed by your own good karma and the grace of the Father that through your intuition He has revealed unto you the truth about me. No one whose consciousness is limited by identification with the body (‘flesh and blood’) can realize the Spirit hidden within the physical form; such a one could never perceive the Christ Consciousness within me. It was not through any bodily instrument of knowledge that you have received this understanding; rather, through your exalted consciousness, the Father, omnipresent in His heavenly Cosmic Consciousness, has made known to you the manifestation of His presence as Christ Consciousness within me.â€�

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Self-realization is the highest branch of all human knowledge. Thousands of people may meet an avatar but few recognize him for what he is. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.†These are beautiful moments, those sparks of intuitive �recognition between disciple and Guru. There are many cases in this organization. Master recognized his own Guru, for he had seen him in a “thousand visions†and knew he would lead him to God. Daya Mata first� saw Master at a lecture in Salt Lake City where she saw a golden radiance around him, and her first thought about him was, “He is one who knows God. Him I shall follow.†So there is a timeless pattern in �God’s drama, His Lila – that moment of intuitive recognition, which is a beautiful gift that God loves to bestow! Recognition of the Guru is a spiritual insight – it’s a gift – and all of you have it. Could you be here tonight if you did not have it? And you all have an amazing story to tell. Do you remember that moment of recognition? There is a moment of intuitive recognition when you realize, “Here is the one who can lead me to God.†And it stays with you for a lifetime. Many things �can change, but this stays on forever. And then you give the Autobiography to a dear friend, and the next time you see them they are reading it … and you are hopeful! You are so excited for them … and then the next time you see them they are reading something else. (Laughter) They didn’t have that same uplifting reaction that you did. What’s missing? Intuitive recognition. Having a high IQ doesn’t help. As much as we’d like to impart the guru to our loved ones, it cannot be given by humans to humans. Intuitive recognition only comes as a gift from God. One time Brother was doing some work at a retreat in the mountains. He drove to the little nearby alpine hardware store for something he needed. As he approached the front door of the store, three old men sitting on the porch eyed him and one spoke to him: “Good morning, preacher man.†“And good morning to you,†Brother answered.� � “But why do you call me “preacher man�†The old man answered, � �“Well, you is, ain’t you?†(Laughter) The old man told Brother that� whenever he meets people he always gets a feeling and a picture in his head about that person, and he’s usually right. That is intuition. Intuition is a perception and it is a faculty of the omniscient soul. Soul consciousness liberated from the senses is intuition. In the astral we have no brain – we live by intuitive thought communication. But in the material world we rely more on the senses - intuition is overridden by the senses and the brain, and it slips into the background. But we can learn to tune our mental radio to the “station†that we want. The� intuition channel is station J.O.Y. (Laughter) We could even upgrade the analogy to say that our soul consciousness is like satellite TV – God is the provider for all the broadcasts, (Laughter) and there are two channels – the sensory channel and the intuition channel. Now, the sensory channel processes through the brain and it offers a constant barrage of all kinds of glossy promos, music, sports, politics, cooking, romance, sitcoms, weather – its entertainment! What’s offered on the intuition channel? Direct perception of Peace, the Aum vibration, Cosmic Light, Bliss, Truth. God gave us very sophisticated equipment to deal with the sensory world, but its all maya - it’s all delusion. Master said, “Intuition is the directly perceiving faculty of the soul which at once knows the Truth about everything.†There was a lady from �Honduras who had a long meditation once every week. One day during her long meditation, a strong thought kept coming that there was a church group that needed property to build a new church and that she should

donate land to them. So persistent was this thought that she decided to locate this church group and give them a piece of property that she owned. She found the home of one of the church members who told her, “Our priest asked us to find property for a new church and so we decided to pray for thirty days to find someone to help us. Today is the last day, and special petitions were made.†An interesting twist to the� story: some of the church members were directing their prayers to a wealthy landowner they knew of, but God found

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his own devotee who had a calm heart and who was able to receive that intuitive perception from Him. Master says in the Lessons that the feeling that makes you enjoy peace immediately after or during deep meditation is called intuition. If you keep exercising this power daily, it will develop itself and will be ready for your service every day. Intuitive perception requires no medium of sense experience or reason. Pure reason and calm feeling lead to intuition. The first requisite in developing intuition is to calmly reason and calmly feel everything. How to develop intuition? Start with what you know, a state of consciousness that you are familiar with – perhaps an activity you associate with calmness – reading a good book, poetry, walking, sitting outside, etc. Practice seclusion in order to find your calmness. After a day of activity, stop. Let it go. To switch channels we need to relax the body, let the mental conversation subside, dispense with emotions. Master said, “If at this moment you could completely calm your body, your thoughts, and your emotions, you would instantly become aware of your true Self, the soul, and of your great body of the universe, throbbing with the joy of God.†Meditate to develop a calm receptive heart and �mind. Then concentrate at the spiritual eye and the heart and ask God if there is anything you need to know. Pray, “Lord, what should I do next? Guide me.†The world demands activity. Ask yourself, “What �channel am I on? How can I make the switch?†Part of developing �intuition is knowing how to switch channels. Learn how to change the channel. Train yourself to be more attuned to your intuition. Learn to listen to those ‘out of the blue’ feelings, because often they will be the ones that give you a clue about something that is going to happen. When you get ‘attacked’ by such inexplicable feelings, change the channel - calm yourself first by breathing and then concentrate between the eyebrows and ask the Guru for guidance. One time Brother said he and another monk were driving to check on some unused property owned by SRF. They had been talking for some time in the car, and then fell silent. After a while Brother started to get a bad feeling. His mind took an assessment, but everything seemed okay. “Is the car okay?†he asked, and the monk who was driving answered that it �was fine. So Brother relaxed his body, closed his eyes, put his attention at the point between the eyebrows, and just breathed deeply, dismissing all the conversation he’d been having with his mind about the bad feeling. In that stillness of mind he mentally asked, “Master, is there something I need to know?†Then a message came. “There’s a� problem at the house you are going to. Be careful.†The property had a �long driveway leading to the house, so when they arrived Brother asked to monk who was driving to go slowly up the driveway, to stop at a considerable distance from the house, and to shine the headlights on the house. They waited for some time, which was a good thing, because when they finally went inside everything was on the floor – the place was completely trashed. The vandals who had been in the process of robbing the house had apparently fled out the back door when they saw the car headlights. Brother said that he tends to react emotionally and process information with his mind, but before he draws conclusions he knows he has to switch channels - by an act of discipline to stop and remain still and ask for inner guidance. “You can do it too,†Brother said. �“Through an act of will power you can do it - you have this power within you.†But we think we can’t. Use a little willpower and you �will learn how to change the channel on command. Take some time and let the self calm down. You will see how different your perspective is when

you take the time to unwind. You can use this for everything, for instance when you are entertaining a change of career, in your relationships, when you have some important decision or a problem to solve. Go little stages at a time. Eventually you will be able to change the channel at will. After you are calm, let the mind entertain it a little bit, and then let go mentally and let the heart reflect. Practice Hong-Sau, enter into the stillness –Intuition: The Soul’s Unerring Guidance

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no conversation, no dialogue, no debating, not building your case – you need to let all this go in order for intuition to flow. And then pray, “Lord, guide my intuition. Master, is there anything I should know?†Go quietly – and ask God’s guidance - just for a few �minutes. Then just let something quietly take shape. Two SRF devotees with a good spiritual marriage were debating whether the husband should go to the all-day Christmas meditation or accompany his wife to her best friend’s wedding. Together they meditated and prayed about what to do. Afterward the husband said he thought he should go to the Christmas meditation. But the wife thought he should come to the wedding. “Dueling intuition!†Brother said. (Laughter) “So, they decided to �call me and decided that they would do whatever I thought best.†“You� don’t want my job!†Brother told us. (Laughter) “I cannot tell you �what to do,†Brother told the couple, “but you have to defer to your �wife,†he said to the husband. “The wedding is one time in her life, �and you can make up the meditation. But,†Brother added,†your wife � �would benefit if you go to the all-day meditation.†The wife reflected �on this and in the end she decided that her husband should go to the meditation, and she was at peace telling the guests at the wedding about their decision. Situations in life may be complex. You may have issues with your spouse, your boss, your family members. We may calm our minds to seek a resolution but then find that we can’t implement our intuition. The answer: be patient. Don’t think, “I am a hammer and everyone else is a nail.†(Laughter) No - you have to be patient. When �we want to use intuition, we want to express love. Brother said he sees this in Daya Ma. Sometimes she will give an intuitive suggestion to others. They don’t always listen to her, but she watches and waits. We have to be patient and humble as we implement our intuitive perceptions. Say to God, “Lord, I think I know what’s right but you have to show me how.†We need proof that it is working. Brother said he was a real �worrier – a closet worrier. Through introspection he realized it was affecting his relationship and compromising his success in service to God and Guru. Introspection is a good tool for cultivating intuition. So he developed a new skill he started writing down in his journal the things that he was afraid of. Then he would write down the worst case scenario for each fear. Then he would get calm and wait for another option, another scenario, to come to him, and he would write that down as well. Then he would leave an empty box in the journal which he called “end of story†and later he would go back and write down what �actually happened. Brother said that at the end of one year it was amazing because again and again none of his worst fears were ever realized. In fact the actual “end of story†did not even come close �to his worst fears. He realized that it was a total waste of time to worry. Interestingly, he saw that his scenario of calm judgment was often the actual outcome. The lesson: Brother wrote in his journal: “When I’m mentally or emotionally excited I cannot trust myself but when I’m calm I can trust myself absolutely.†Use introspection to �prove you can trust your intuition. Master wrote in The Second Coming, “Any time you do wrong, it is because you were not calm. Pray that you may always have this inner soulcalmness.†Calmness is the voice of God �speaking to you through the radio of your soul. You can trust what comes through. Experiment and you will learn that it is true. There was a devotee, a newlywed, who had a prophetic dream. In the dream she was in a chapel and there was soft music playing. She saw a casket, and lots of flowers, and pictures of the Gurus. She realized that she was at a

funeral, and when she looked into the casket she saw her husband. At that moment she felt a profound peace and the thought came to her, “This is God’s will. It is what has to be.†Then she awoke from the� dream, but a foreboding memory of it continued to haunt her for weeks. Eventually, within one year, her husband died. At the funeral in the chapel

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she heard Divine Gypsy playing, she saw the faces of the Gurus, the coffin, the flowers – all white, the same as in her dream. Her dress was black and it had very distinct embroidery – the very same embroidery she had seen in her dream. Then looking into her husband’s casket, she felt the same profound peace that she had felt in the dream. This is just one of many, many stories from devotees. Intuition is working. Creative muse - Artistic muse – a transcendent intuitive aspect to good art. We are all creative! We can tune into the intuitive channel when we want to create: German composer Wagner, used creative muse when, calmly laying down in a moment of rest, he dreamt that water was flowing over him, as though he were lying on the bottom of a river. Then he heard a sound which he took to be a sustained E-flat major chord. The dream gave him the inspiration for the Das Rhinegold opera. In the opera's famous opening scene, deep in the waters of the Rhine River, Wagner unfolds an immense, rolling E-flat major chord. This inspiration came to him from within, not from without. Picasso was commissioned to paint Gertrude Stein’s portrait. She was not happy with the results and complained that it didn’t look like herself. “It will.†Picasso told her. And sure enough, twenty years later it �looked just like her. (Laughter) Someone asked JRR Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings, “Did you really write that?†Everyone around �them gasped, and then Tolkien told them that the story had been divinely revealed to him. It took Einstein years to prove mathematically vast cosmic laws that came to him intuitively. Master was a divinely inspired artist and he experienced God through his creations. The spectrum of his work is astounding – his poetry and writings, his musical cosmic chants; he designed buildings - and it is little known, but he was a plant collector, as well as a collector of minerals and other artifacts. He greatly appreciated beauty. Brother read one of Master’s poems from Whispers from Eternity: “O magic music of my soul, Hidden beneath the strings of my heart, At last I beheld Thy soft, gentle dawning, Spreading over the dark firmament of mind. Magic Voice, Thou hast made me forsake the slumber of ages, And here I come to offer all my songs unto Thee, Upon Thine altar of ever-solacing song.†“Our Guru was an �artist,†Brother said. “Does he appreciate your creativity? You bet �he does!†Many devotees send Brother poems they have written – �unpublished expressions from the heart. Brother read three selections of poems from devotees – “beautiful soul offeringsâ€, he called them, �and they truly were! Master said to always meditate before undertaking any creative endeavor. One devotee, a composer, came to Brother complaining that he had a creative block. Brother asked him his routine, and the devotee explained that first he has his morning coffee, then he composes at the piano for some time, and then he sits to meditate. Brother said, “Hmm… what’s the problem, here?â€, and we all �started laughing because we knew what Brother’s counsel would be. Brother advised him to switch things around a bit: meditation first, then compose - because after meditation is when the best stuff comes through – and then coffee. It worked!Intuition: The Soul’s Unerring Guidance

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Creativity is an offering of our human lives. You can take sorrow and tragedy and transmute it into acceptance and joy. Art can be a transforming experience. Take what you have to offer, deepen what comes to you through the intuitive channel, and making it an offering to God. “I honor you.†Brother said to all of us. “We see you converting �trials into works of beauty and grace, and you are walking in the footsteps of your Guru.†The most profound perceptions come only �through deep meditation. The mind and its attendant thoughts cannot ever know the soul. The soul’s nature is said to be imponderable, it says in the Gita. We must go beyond the mind to perceive God. In the Gita, (Chapter 2, Verse 25) Master says, “The body emanating from the soul is not conscious of the soul, but the soul is aware of the body. Just as a person can watch through a screen a crowd of people in front of him, without himself being seen by them, so the soul through the screen of intuition watches all its thoughts, but the unenlightened thoughts cannot know the soul. That is why the Gita speaks of the soul as imponderable – beyond thought.†We have two sets of instruments – �one is the sensory instrument and the other is intuitive instrument, which belongs to the soul, and is much more sophisticated equipment than the sensory it can give us the truth instantly about everything. On the intuition channel we can see everything including all that is on the sensory channel – but this works only one way, not vice versa. Master says in the Gita, (Chapter 2, verse 25): “Thoughts and sensations are like searchlights: they throw their rays in front on material objects; they do not reveal the soul behind them. Intuition is like a spherical light, with rays on all sides, revealing the soul and also its outward projections of thoughts and sensations connected with the ego. Intuition is the bridge between the soul and the ego’s thoughts and sensations.†Master says that within us there is a lake of calm �awareness, of pure perception. The bridge of pure perception is there, but so many go up to the bridge in meditation but do not cross because they try to analyze with their minds the incoming intuition. When the heart is calm, and they are breathing very little, many devotees ask, “What do I do now?†Master’s answer: patience. Be patient when you �are in that stillness. “In the lake of intuition, free from the waves of thought, the yogi can see the unruffled reflection of the moon of the soul. Forgetting his dreams of the body, he knows that the soul exists behind the screen of thoughts and is therefore unknown to them. When the yogi perceives the soul as made in the image of Spirit, he knows himself to be unchangeable, unmanifested, ever calm, like the Spirit. All devotees should meditate and interiorize their consciousness until they realize the true nature of the soul.†The mind cannot know the soul. So� meditate patiently, and through intuition you will begin to know your soul, the Guru, and God. It sounds lofty – and it is – but it’s so close! It’s not far away. There is a place in us where God can absolutely be found, where we are free, where there is no boss, no family, no issues, no problems, no role, no identity - only silence and God - and no one else can enter. Just take a few moments now and again to rest the mind and heart and think of God - only you and God. It sounds hard, but it isn’t. You just need to want to be alone with Him. When this life is over that is where you will be – alone with God. We can create a calm receptivity through willpower and concentration – we can create an interlude in the great chaos of our minds. Then you are alone with Him, and that is when pure perception comes and we find

ourselves alive with God. Brother said, “You and I have incredible gifts, each of us, and God wants to show them to us.†Pray, “Master,�

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guide me.†He will. He loves to guide us! So remember, when you are �calm, you can trust yourself – absolutely.

Thursday Morning SatsangaBrother NakulanandaBrother said it was in 1973 when he attended his first Convocation. “This is paradise on earth,†he thought. The Guru bows down to us �because he sees the presence of God in each one of us. In the new audio tape Master said, “I see the presence of God in you all,†and �lovingly encouraged all to so live the life of God that “earth will be heaven, and heaven will be earth.†That’s what we are creating in our� meditation centers, temples, and homes throughout the world. It is God serving God. It is God loving God. Q. How can I tactfully but firmly tell new devotees not to proselytize to other people how to live their lives? A. It’s a normal reaction, especially for devotees who are new on the path, when you’ve finally found the Truth to want to share your enthusiasm, and one may be overly eager to offer advice that may not be welcome. Even when the Guru gives advice it may not be accepted by the struggling devotee. In the Autobiography Master recounts how sometimes new disciples would join Sri Yukteswar in exhaustive criticism of others: “Wise like the guru! Models of flawless discrimination! But he who takes the offensive must not be defenseless. The same carping students fled precipitately as soon as Master publicly unloosed in their direction a few shafts from his analytical quiver.†Brother said that �when he was knew on the path he wanted to tell all his friends and family about the truth he had found which had given him such peace and happiness. But not one of them heard what he had to say, and he couldn’t understand why. But he came to understand that individual souls have to blossom forth in their own time. And it is not what we say to others, not our words that speak the loudest sermons, but the example of our lives that reveal what yoga is doing for us. There were four clergymen who were discussing the merits of the various translations of the Bible. One said he liked the King James Version because of its simple, beautiful, eloquent old English. The second preferred the American Revised Version because it is more literal and came nearer to the original Hebrew and Greek. The third minister favored Moffat's translation because of its up-todate vocabulary. The fourth minister was silent. When asked for his opinion, he replied, "I like my mother's translation best. She translated it into life, every day of her life, and it was the most convincing translation I ever saw." When he was new in the ashram, Brother told Brother Premamoy, “Brother when you see my faults, please point them out to me.†He said that Brother Premamoy �must have thought “poor boy†– because he knew that Brother �couldn’t take it. He knew that he would need to see how others were living in the ashram over time and learn by example.

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In 1946 Master wrote a letter to Ananda Mata, and really it is a letter to each one of us: You must never lose courage. Divine Mother sent me to pilot you out of the clouds of your mind. Everybody's difficulty is different, and he or she has to win that test of Karma and Divine Mother. Overcome all by constant inward calling on God and utmost devotion in words, thought, action, and obedience to Guru. God does not talk readily to the devotee, but a Guru does, and the easiest way out of all difficulties is to listen to Him and obey Him. Your troubles I do not mind. I will never give up my job about you. It is better to conquer evil and not go on living with it forever. Never for a moment identify yourself with momentary flashes of error. Have no fear, even when I'm gone and no longer visible to your eyes. You will never be alone. I may not scold you then, but I shall ever be with you, and through Divine Mother guard you from all harm, and will constantly whisper to you guidance through your loving self. So do not make life discouraged and tired, but be ever interested in doing for Divine Mother, no matter if wars, sickness and death dance around you. That is the secret of victory over delusion and all troubles. Be cut to pieces, but never give up. Be a divine leech-suck at the blood of wisdom even though torn to bits. A smooth life is not a victorious one. And I will give you lots of good karma, so you will get through. I will not only ever forgive you, but ever lift you up no matter how many times you fall. Keep unceasingly trying to conquer; that not only I invisibly help you, but visibly through many here, all of whom know your inner self and love you very deeply. They all know what I think of your spiritual qualities. It is in kindness and continuous good behavior that you shine with happiness. Divine Mother will help you to win, through your own efforts and the blessings of the great Gurus. I am not building a mansion for you, or giving you riches that will perish; but I am making an imperishable home with all riches for you in my Divine Mother's mansion. Unceasing blessings, (signed) Paramahansa Yogananda We do learn through example – through Master’s life and Daya Mata. Master once wrote to Daya Ma on her birthday, “May you be born in the Cosmic mother and inspire all with your spiritual motherliness only-only to bring others to God by the example of your life.†One morning a mother was preparing pancakes for �her sons, Ryan, 5, and Kevin, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson and she told them, “If Jesus were sitting here, he would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’†Ryan turned �to his younger brother and said, “Kevin, you be Jesus!†(Laughter) �One mother was teaching the Ten Commandments in Sunday school and when she read the commandment, “Thou shalt honor thy Mother and thy Fatherâ€, one child asked, “Is there a commandment about how to treat �brothers and sisters?†One boy quickly shouted, “Thou shalt not kill!�†(Laughter) “One’s words have little meaning unless they are �manifest in our own lives.†Daya Ma said. Master said, “Reform �yourself, and you will reform thousands.†In the Bible, at the Sea of �Galilee, Jesus told his disciples, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.†We have to do the same. Our duties in this �regard are to love God deeply, practice the teachings and attune ourselves

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to the Gurus, that we might exert a spiritual influence on the rest of the world and help uplift others through our example. Master says in The Second Coming (pg 388): “God is the goal of man’s existence. To find Him and share Him with others is the tremendous work He has placed before every man. As Jesus called his disciples to be fishers of souls by becoming teachers of his gospel, so God has charged everyone to perfect themselves in His love and wisdom and help bring others back to Him through unspoken sermons of their spiritual example. When one’s whole being is with God, others will be drawn to Him by the silent eloquence of that divine magnetism.†The monastics have heard that some� employees of the Bonaventure Hotel have become students of SRF after seeing the example of the devotees at Convocation. They notice how we help others, how we reach out, and they notice our honesty. They have seen lost wallets with lots of money in them turned in to the hotel lost and found. When Convocations were still being held at the Biltmore, one hotel executive noticed this same goodness in the devotees, and he told one monk, “I’ll just say one thing, my friend ……expand! It will be the best thing for the whole world.†What was Master’s greatest �challenge? What was the hardest thing for Master while he was living in physical form? He was both human and divine – and so had to take on some karma in order to incarnate here on earth – he had to become human in order to manifest in the body, and had to live through the same challenges and experiences that we do. He experienced much grief when his mother died. This was that humanness – it was Master’s human side expressing. He suffered (and was healed by Sri Yukteswar) from chronic indigestion when he was young. His greatest mission was to inspire and uplift and instruct mankind. Some misunderstood him or were treacherous. These were the most difficult tests, Master said - those trials with other human beings. People to whom he gave his heart sometimes misunderstood him. Now, if the Guru has to go through these experiences – so do we! But, Master said, “That has never created bitterness in me. If you don’t have understanding then you haven’t learned the lesson. Put yourself in all kinds of adverse situations, get yourself talked against, be the butt of ridicule and hate, and watch your reactions. If you are not inwardly disturbed, if you can dismiss all feelings of hurt and injustice and keep only love in your heart, that is real understanding.“ Brother added, “It’s up to us how we respond to all situations in life. And life will bring these circumstances – we don’t have to worry!†(Laughter) Two friends �were walking to work together when one stopped at his favorite curbside newsstand to buy a newspaper. The vendor was a rude and gruff old man who was neither friendly nor polite. But the patron remained very pleasant, thanked him, and treated him with utmost respect and courtesy. As they continued on their way to work, his friend asked him, “Does he always treat you that way?†“Well, yesâ€, replied the man. “Are you� � always so nice in return?†his friend inquired. “Yesâ€, the man said.� � “I don’t want others to decide for me how I am going to react.†In �the Autobiography Master tells of a question one devotee posed to him towards the end of his life: "Tell me truly, Paramahansaji, has it been worth it?" He gazed at me with an earnest sincerity. I understood his laconic question: "Have you been happy in America? What about the disillusionments, the heartaches, the center leaders who could not lead, the students who could not be taught?"

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"Blessed is the man whom the Lord doth test! He has remembered now and then to put a burden on me!" I thought, then, of all the faithful ones, of the love and devotion and understanding that lay in the heart of America. With slow emphasis I went on, "But my answer is: Yes, a thousand times yes! It has been worth-while; it has been a constant inspiration, more than ever I dreamed, to see West and East brought closer in the only lasting bond, the spiritual!" How fortunate we are that Master never gave up! He could see into the future – he could see all of us coming, and the seed that would grow despite all the struggles. How to deal with the inevitable challenges and conflicts that come to us in life? By maintaining our happiness in all situations we will find that we have the ability to cope with conflict, and that if we have right attitude they will bring out the qualities of strength, fortitude, forgiveness within us, and all the 26 ennobling qualities that make man god-like. Remember the story (on one of Master’s audio tapes) of the Hindu writer that always fought with others, making accusations, and one time he tried to pick a fight with Master? “How much money you are making?!†he yelled at Master. But Master did not �get angry or try to defend himself. He just listened and let the man blow off steam, and simply responded, “Maybe you are right …… Maybe you are right ……†Finally after an hour the man admitted, �“I am beatenâ€, just by Master listening and not criticizing. Then �Master told him, “Don’t think I’m not going to give it to you now!†With his “bag of air†deflated, the man was now ready to receive � �wise advice from the guru who told him, “Why be like a vulture, flying high above everyone else, thinking you are above the world, when really your mind is on the carrion in the dirt left by others. Whenever you feel like you want to fight, leave. Don’t fight back because in time that slap will burn in your hand.†If someone wrongs you, don’t dwell� on the wrong. Instead, make a mental list all the good things about that person and of all the good you have in your life. Communication is a key here. Learn to listen. When communication breaks down, the relationship breaks down, especially in close relationships, and particularly in marriage. Strive to have open, honest, frank communication every day. Just listen and understand. A man asked his wife what she would like for her birthday. “I’d love to be six again!†she answered. So off to �the theme park he took her, and she rode the “Wall of Fear†and the �“Screaming Wolfâ€. After five hours she wobbled out of the park and he� took her to McDonalds for a Big Mac, french fries, and a milkshake. Then it was on to the movie theater and he stuffed her full of peanuts, popcorn, and coca-cola. Finally they went home and the wife collapsed on the couch, exhausted. “So, what does it feel like to be six again?†�her husband asked. “You idiotâ€, she answered, “I meant my dress �size!†(Laughter) This is misguided, unused intuition. Until we develop� intuition, better ask more questions! (Laughter) Give your full attention to what you are doing to develop spiritual magnetism. When you are with someone, be a good listener and accept them for who and what they are. What is the supreme spiritual solution for getting along? Daya Mata said, “Whenever we went to Master with a problem he never lectured to us. Invariably he said, ‘Keep your mind here (at the Christ Center) and keep your consciousness with God.’ For those who were receptive, that was all we needed.†Ma trained herself to always �keep her mind on God. It is the greatest way to resolve conflicts.

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When we pray for peace, it seems to be a contradiction. We must be divine realists and accept that we are living in the plane of duality. It will never be a world of perfect peace – there will always be dark and light. World cataclysms, wars, and natural catastrophes are due to the accumulation of man’s wrong thoughts and actions. But still it is our duty to pray for world peace for the upliftment of mankind, to combat the ravages of man’s greed and selfishness on individual and national levels in order to keep that balance more to the good. That’s the value of the World Wide Prayer Center. Those healing vibrations help keep the world in balance so it doesn’t destroy itself. An old man in Jerusalem was every day praying at a wall. A journalist noticed, admired his perseverance, and asked him for an interview. The man told her that he had been praying for 25 years at the wall. In the morning he prays for world peace. Then he goes home for tea. In the afternoon he comes back and prays for eradication of disease and peace between the Palestinians and the Jews. “How do you feel praying day after day?†�the journalist asked, and the man sighed, “Like I’m talking to a wall!†(Laughter) Sometimes we may feel that way too - like we are �talking to a wall. We may think, “What good does my little prayer do?†But it is working. Prayers are of tremendous value. God hears us and �we need to pray, pray, pray anyway. It has to start here. Never think your prayers are of no value. They are important because we have the divine power within us to bring about changes. Our prayers are spread instantaneously throughout the world. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.†(Matthew �5:9) And Master comments on this in The Second Coming (pg 441): They are the real peacemakers who generate peace from their devotional practice of daily meditation. Peace is the first manifestation of God’s response in meditation.†Never think that you aren’t progressing if �you don’t see light, or hear the sound of Aum in meditation. You are progressing, because the feeling of peace is God – it is a tangible experience of God. “Having felt the nature of God as inner peace, devotees want the Peace-God to be always manifest in their home, in the neighborhood, in the nation, among all nationalities and races. Anyone who brings peace to an inharmonious family has established God there. Anyone who removes the misunderstanding between souls has united them in God’s peace. Anyone who, forsaking national greed and selfishness, works to create peace amidst warring nations, is establishing God in the heart of those nations. The initiators and facilitators of peace manifest the unifying Christ-love that identifies a soul as a child of God. (The Second Coming, pg 441) Q. If we have a personal need, should we ask only once, or should we continuously keep on praying? Or should we not pray at all? A. Master was balanced in everything. Sometimes he prayed very deeply for a personal need. In the Autobiography Master recounts how when he was about to leave for America, he was seeking God’s blessing and assurance that he would not lose himself in the fogs of modern utilitarianism. He prayed with adamant determination until he thought his brain would split. At that very moment Babaji came to him and gave him God’s message that he should go to America and that he would be protected. Then during his steamship voyage to America, Master was asked to give a lecture for the passengers. But he found that he could not organize his ideas into English and stood speechless forThursday Morning Satsanga

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ten minutes before the assemblage. The audience, realizing his predicament began to laugh at him. So Master sent a silent prayer to his Guru, who inwardly responded to him, “You CAN! Speak!†At once his �thoughts organized themselves in English and he delivered a beautiful lecture. So Master did pray, but for the most part he had that perfect attunement and surrender to Divine Mother. When his foot was crushed by the wishing well as it was being moved into place on the grounds of Mother Center, he sought neither medical help nor prayed for healing. “When you have divine Mother’s love and assurance, praise and blame have no effect on youâ€, Master said. Nevertheless, his foot was healed �instantaneously. Master said that was one of the greatest demonstrations of Divine Mother’s love – not because of the healing, but because of the Divine Presence. Master had that perfect attunement, that perfect surrender and faith. But until we achieve that perfect divine attunement and faith, we need to pray, using our prayer to demand our divine birthright. “Take your seed demand and plant it in the soil of faith – not as beggars, but demand your divine birthright.†Master said. �Know that we can’t do anything without help from God. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Our prayer is a heart search. It is a reminder to ourselves that we are helpless without God’s support. No effort is complete without prayer, without a definite recognition that the best human endeavor is of no effect if it has not God’s blessing behind it. Prayer is a call to humility. It is a call to self-purification, to inward search.†“Let Thy will be done†is the highest prayer. You � �come to a point when you are able to pray that way to God because you know He knows best what you need in life. Brother said he was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and he remembers the distinguished career of catcher Roy Campanella. His career was cut short however, after a car crash left him a quadriplegic. Roy wrote his autobiography, It’s Good to Be Alive, and in it he focused on the positive - everything good that came into his life. He tells the story about something he experienced at the physical therapy treatment center he frequented in New York City: “In the reception room there’s a bronze plaque riveted to the wall. During the months of coming back to the Institute for treatment – two and three times a week – I rolled through that reception room many times, coming and going. But I never quite made the time to pull over to one side and read the words on that plaque. Then one afternoon …… I did. I read it, and then I read it again. When I finished it the second time I was near to bursting – not in despair – but with an inner glow that had me straining to grip the arms of my wheelchair. It was called “A Creed for Those Who Have Suffered.†I asked God for strength, that� I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing I asked for – but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

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I am … most richly blessed! Q. What keeps people from changing? If we see that we are not happy, and we can see the benefits of changing, then why is it so hard to change? How can we keep on keeping on to change ourselves? A. Master said that this world will always have troubles and turmoil. The cycles of creation will continue on and on and on. In God’s plan, eventually we will become disillusioned with this world and then we will seek Him. We live in a world of maya, delusion and we are blinded it. Brother saw a sign in a store window of a loan company: “Now you can borrow enough to be completely out of debt.†(Laughter) �“Now, that’s maya, isn’t it!†Brother said. But, as the late �Laurence J. Peter put it, "In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until the status quo becomes more painful than change." Sri Yukteswar said in The Holy Science: “When man understands even by way of inference the true nature of this creation, the true relation existing between this creation and himself; and when he further understands that he is completely blinded by the influence of Darkness, Maya, and that it is the bondage of Darkness alone which makes him forget his real Self and brings about all his sufferings, he naturally wishes to be relieved from all these evils. This relief from evil, or liberation from the bondage of Maya, becomes the prime object of his life.†Maya, darkness,� delusion – we are completely blinded, and when we finally realize that this bondage causes all our suffering, we wish to be free. We all have responsibilities, but we can still make God the prime object of our life. One disciple had thoughts of, “I’ll never make itâ€. �Discouraged, he came to Guruji protesting that he couldn't be expected to succeed in using yoga to reach heights of spiritual success the way Master had because after all, "……Sir, you are a master!" Master replied, "All souls are equal. The only difference between you and me is that I made the effort." Master showed God that he loved Him. Love is the magnet from which God cannot escape. We are struggling against the stream to get back to God. And with Master, we are aiming for the highest. We shouldn’t get discouraged because we aim high. Keep on keeping on. A professor of economics once gave a test to his class which included three categories of essay questions. The students were instructed to choose one question from each section. He told them that the first question of each section was the hardest and worth 50 points; the second, less difficult, worth 40 points; the third, the easiest, 30 points. When the papers were returned, the students who had chosen the 50-point questions were given A's, those who chose 40 pointers received B's and those who chose 30 pointers were given C's – regardless of whether the answers were correct or not. "I wasn't testing your knowledge," the professor explained, "I was testing your aim." Madam Currie once said: “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.“ We are gifted! We each have a divine seed within us that we can know God. Life has two rules: Rule number 1: Never quit Rule number 2: Always remember rule #1. (Laughter)

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In the Gita (7:14) it says: “My maya is very hard to conquer. It is difficult indeed to go beyond the influence of My divine cosmic hypnosis.†Master said to never stop trying to overcome delusion �because we have unlimited powers within ourselves to be conquerors of ourselves. Winston Churchill went through the 8th grade three times because he had a lot of difficulty learning the English language. It seems ironic that years later Oxford University asked him to address their commencement exercises. Churchill arrived with his usual signature props: a cigar, his cane and his top hat. As he approached the podium, the crowd rose in appreciative applause. With unmatched dignity, he settled the crowd and stood confident before his admirers. Removing the cigar and carefully placing his top hat on the podium, Churchill gazed at his waiting audience. Authority rang in his voice as he shouted, "Never give up!" Several seconds passed before he rose to his toes and repeated: "Never give up!" His words thundered in their ears. There was a deafening silence as Churchill reached for his hat and cigar, steadied himself with his cane and left the platform. His commencement address was finished. (Laughter) “Perseverance is the whole magic of spiritual success,†Master said. Our only job is to try to make Master’s job as� easy as we can (Laughter) – not to resist but to allow him to help us. Keep on. Stay attuned to the Guru. Brother read Master’s poem from Metaphysical Meditations: Whether He replies or not, Keep calling Him Ever calling in the chamber Of continuous prayer. Whether He comes or not, Believe He is ever approaching Nearer to you With each command of your heart's love. Whether He answers or not, Keep entreating Him. Even if He makes no reply In the way you expect, Ever know that in some subtle way He will respond. In the darkness of your deepest prayers, Know that with you He is playing Hide-and-seek. And in the midst of the dance of life, Disease, and death, If you keep calling Him, Undepressed by His seeming silence, You will receive His answer.

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Cultivating a Deeper Attunement with God and GuruThursday Evening Lecture – Brother Vishwananda

Brother approached the stage with slow and humble dignity. For a minute or so he said nothing but was looking down with a very serious look. Then he lifted his head and gave a warm greeting and a smile with eyes that danced with inner joy. As his lecture proceeded one could see that he had this little bubbling overflow of joy right beneath the surface that he tried to contain as he spoke, but would often in the midst of a joyful passage chuckle this joy up to the surface. "Close your eyes," Brother said. "Now for the next few minutes think of the most loving experience you've ever had with Master,†… and together five thousand� devotees retreated in silence for a few moments into the inner private sanctum of their own heart to be with their Guru. Throughout history on this planet there have always been little groups of true seekers – often hidden in obscurity: Jesus in the countryside of Judea, Buddha in the forests of Nepal, Babaji high in the Himalayan solitudes, Lahiri Mahasaya in a remote corner of Benares, Sri Yukteswar at his humble seaside ashram in Puri. That all changed with Master, almost from the beginning. It was the message of a new age – it was a different time. Master has told us in the Autobiography: “Babaji is ever in communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined masters - one with the body, and one without a body - is to inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds, religious sectarianism, and the boomerang-evils of materialism. Babaji is well aware of the trend of modern times, especially of the influence and complexities of Western civilization, and realizes the necessity of spreading the self-liberations of yoga equally in the West and in the East.†Pick up any newspaper and see if this relates. It cuts right to �the heart of modern day life, to the problems of this age. Babaji knows! He is aware of the world and the need to spread equally the teachings to the East and West. In 1861 there was a significant happening – and it is why we are here today. It was in that year when Babaji deemed the time ripe to reestablish with his disciple, Lahiri Mahasaya, the neversevered Guru-disciple link. He called Lahiri to the Himalayan site of Ranikhet to receive initiation into the ancient science of Kriya Yoga. Master relates in the Autobiography a conversation that Babaji had with his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya during this time: "Bestow the Kriya key only on qualified chelas,†Babaji told Lahiri. “He who vows to �sacrifice all in the quest of the Divine is fit to unravel the final mysteries of life through the science of meditation.†"Angelic guru, as� you have already favored mankind by resurrecting the lost Kriya art, will you not increase that benefit by relaxing the strict requirements for discipleship?†Lahiri said, gazing beseechingly at Babaji. �(“Beseechingly†- I love this,†Brother commented. “This is the � �great consciousness that manifests in God-consciousness.â€)�Cultivating a Deeper Attunement with God and Guru

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“I pray that you permit me to communicate Kriya to all seekers, even though at first they cannot vow themselves to complete inner renunciation. The tortured men and women of the world, pursued by the threefold suffering, need special encouragement. They may never attempt the road to freedom if Kriya initiation be withheld from them.†"Be it �so.†Babaji said. “The divine wish has been expressed through you.†� �With these simple words, the merciful guru banished the rigorous safeguards that for ages had hidden Kriya from the world. “Give Kriya freely to all who humbly ask for help.†After their brief meeting near �Ranikhet, the selfless master banished his dearly-beloved disciple, Lahiri, releasing him for an outward world mission. Returning to his home, unknown to society in general, a great spiritual renaissance began to flow from a remote corner of Benares. Then in 1894 Lahiri Mahasaya’s disciple, Sri Yukteswar, met Babaji in Allahabad, at the Kumbha Mela, and Babaji asked him to write a book on the underlying basic unity between the Christian and Hindu scriptures. That book was The Holy Science. Babaji told him, "I saw that you are interested in the West, as well as the East. I felt the pangs of your heart, broad enough for all men.†(“This, Babaji said to the great ‘Lion of �Bengal’â€, Brother commented. “That’s the Christ Consciousness �between avatars talking to one another,†Brother commented) “That is �why I summoned you here.†Babaji said. “East and West must establish �a golden middle path of activity and spirituality combined.†Babaji �told Sri Yukteswar that he had a part to play in the coming harmonious exchange between Orient and Occident. “Some years hence I shall send you a disciple whom you can train for yoga dissemination in the West. The vibrations there of many spiritually seeking souls come floodlike to me. I perceive potential saints in America and Europe, waiting to be awakened.†And that disciple, as we know, was Paramahansa Yogananda. �Our Guru spent ten years with his guru, Sri Yukteswar in India. Then in 1920 Sri Yukteswar sent Master to the West to begin his mission here. Babaji and Christ knew the challenges mankind would face, and one by one, they began laying the cornerstones of their plan. In 1925 SRF was founded - and this was a major foundation stone in that plan. SRF marks the birth of a new era. Guruji began a monastic ashram, to spread the teachings and to keep the teachings pure. In 1946, Master’s Autobiography of a Yogi was published. How many here were drawn by that book? In 1995, Master’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita was released. And now in 2004, The Second Coming of Christ. So the major foundation stones of that mission we see, one by one, have been put in place. And the cement that holds them together: the guru-disciple relationship. The guru-disciple relationship: Master talks about loyalty, obedience, surrender, self-discipline. As you read The Second Coming, you’ll see that the thread of the guru-disciple relationship is very strong. Jesus drew many different disciples – young, old, men, women, fishermen, tax men. Master also drew disciples in great variety: Rajasi, a business man, school girls – Daya Mata, who didn’t want to be, but is a karma yogi, and Mrinalini Mata, who became editor for the Guru’s writings, Brother Anandamoy - Master told him, “You will teach and you will speak.†– he didn’t even know the language!�

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So what is this guru-disciple relationship? There’s a challenge in it - there is a transformation that takes place. The guru is not just a teacher; he doesn’t just bring guidance and inspiration. A true guru is sent by God and he has the Christ Consciousness. The guru to a large extent takes on our karma. He knows the story of our souls and he takes responsibility for our lives. No teacher can do that. One by one he opens the doors of our consciousness, until we can receive God-consciousness. The guru must be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He has to know our past lives and he has to know our every thought. He has the power to carry your karma. Even though Master is not in the body, he is very much with you now – or you wouldn’t be sitting here tonight. The power of his living consciousness has drawn you here. He is omnipresent and he is very much able to guide us today. Master said, “The more you are in tune with me, the greater you will be. I am only here to deliver His message to you. After my passing the teachings will be the guru.�

He will reach us by spiritual means. Read the lessons every day. They carry divine vibrations that will flow to you as you read them. Jesus knew Pilate would not understand when he told him, “My kingdom is not of this world.†It cannot be known by outer means, but only by inner �transformation.Master said, “The establishment of Self Realization Fellowship marks the birth of a new era. My spoken words are registered in the ether, in the spirit of God, and they shall move the West, just as Gandhi freed India, by spiritual means. Realize that! Know that I constantly think of you all and want to see you growing in every way. The more you are in tune with me and refrain from fussing about little things, the better you will be. A steady stream of divine power will flow to you, for the Great Ones sent me here.†There is one more chapter – and that’s �us! Think of this – Master called this divine blessing a “special dispensation†sent to the world. The Guru came to us with open arms. He� embraced us, brought us a teaching – the ancient science of yoga. So first and foremost in our lives - do not forget to be grateful. God and Guru have brought us to the door of the Divine Kingdom within – the spine – and they show us how to enter through the door. The Hindu scriptures talk about the three greatest blessings: 1. To be born with a human body (to have spiritual chakras) 2. To have the desire for God 3. To have a true Guru We have them all – we have fulfilled that great need of all mankind. The yogic science of the Bhagavad Gita is also an integral part of the path. Master wrote in his poem, ‘When I Am Only a Dream’: “I come to tell you all of Him, and of the discipline that brings His grace.†The disciple is one who allows himself to be �disciplined. We must accept this first. It doesn’t have to carry a negative connotation if we have understanding. “India is a land of great contrastsâ€, Brother said. “One time in Delhi I was waiting at a� stoplight – and on one side of me was a limo - on the other side a bullock cart driven by a man in a turban and dhoti - both waiting for the light.†(Laughter) During monsoon season in India there is flooding� due to the rains that fall nonstop. Six months later there is drought with 100+ temperature, crops dying, destruction. What do they do? They build dams so when it is raining hard they can collect the water, control flood damage, and then during the drought season they have a supply of water and it provides power to generate electricity.

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Do contrasts manifest in your lives? (Laughter) There may be a torrential downpour of problems and stress, followed by the dryness of having no energy, no enthusiasm. That’s what life is by definition – a life of duality, of ups and downs, of opposites. Having the Guru in our lives is like building a dam. The Guru gets us through the turbulence. Through yoga we get control over the floods, we get through the dry spots - we can control the situations of life and we generate energy. How many of you come here and say, “I come here to get recharged.†There’s an energy here, isn’t there? Yoga creates �energy – extra energy that helps us to control the situations in life, and if we understand the discipline we can learn to use that extra energy to go within to seek God – through Hong-Sau, Aum, Kriya. Meditation is the key if we are to know our Guru and be attuned to accept his guidance. In Calcutta there was one family who came to the ashram there frequently. They had one son who was four, five, maybe six years old. Now, they never encouraged him to meditate, but he came and played on the grounds. Then his father noticed that every morning the boy sat in lotus for five minutes. One morning the son was late for breakfast, and when he finally came he told his parents, “Mom, Dad – Babaji just came and gave me some guidance.†The father was skeptical, �thinking the boy was just imagining that he had seen Babaji. But the boy said to him, “No Dad, Babaji’s up here,†and he pointed to the �Kutastha. The kingdom of God is within you. If you really want to know the Guru and to know his love and peace, you must find him along the highway of the spine. A disciple is one who allows himself to be disciplined. We must be serious – very serious – about our meditations. We must be uncompromising. We have to have regular meditation morning and evening, every day and once a week have a long meditation. That’s the foundation. It begins and ends there. Master said, “By thinking deeply of the great ones you can receive their vibrations. Even if that great soul lives ten thousand miles away from you, if you think of him and concentrate on him with deep attention, you can receive his vibrations. You will begin to get something that is beyond mere words: you can receive another’s magnetism through the mental channel of thought. This attunement with divine ones does not come about by thinking of them for a few moments. It is only by meditating day after day on a great saint that you will begin to receive the spiritual vibrations of that saint.†The monks in India dye their �cloths in ochre earth, but they become quickly bleached by the sun and so they must dip them frequently in the dye. So must you dip your consciousness frequently – you must keep dipping the cloth of your consciousness in the vibration of the Guru time and time again, until nothing can disturb your consciousness. Some think that the monastics have secrets to spiritual success that are for them alone. Brother said that if there are any “secretsâ€, it would be these three: 1. Practice� 2. Patience 3. Perseverance It may take time. But we can’t meditate all the time, can we? There’s more to our lives and more to the divine plan of Jesus and Babaji. Part of that plan is that we must learn to overcome the challenges of our time that the world faces in this new age. When the Guru accepts us as a disciple he promises to love and guide us throughout this lifetime and beyond, no matter how long it takes. And the disciple also promises to follow the Guru to the

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best of his ability. This is the inseparable link of the Guru and disciple. The Guru takes charge of your life and from that moment on you must trust that whatever happens, everything that presents itself outwardly in your life, constitutes the next step in your spiritual unfoldment. The Guru is omnipresent, not omnipast or omnifuture. To cultivate a deeper relationship with the Guru we must discipline our minds to live in the present moment, because that is when we can use our free will to choose. We can spiritualize the moments of our lives. And behind them is the Guru – he has the power to change, to manipulate our karma to get us through it quicker. The Guru wants us to get through it really fast, (Laughter) and he can do that if we cooperate. Do not seek spiritual experiences, because they are bound, aren’t they? They begin and they end. God at times may give us certain experiences as a way to motivate and inspire us. But, as Master said, “The spiritual path is not a circus.†Seek Spirit in every day experience. Strive to �experience Spirit in every moment of your life. This is important – it is vital. It is the key to the Kingdom of God! Whenever you begin to feel anger, fear, etc., - STOP – and turn to that peace and calmness that you’ve gained in meditation. Ask Guruji, “What should I do? Help me.†When you do that: 1. You’ve turned within – you’ve �stopped reacting. When you find that inner place of calmness then you will see the benefits of your meditations. The Gita speaks of the ideal: while living in the midst of the world, to be in the world but not of the world. This is how it begins. 2. You are tuning in with your Guru – and then he can help you – then his guidance can flow through to you. “After I am gone the teachings will be the guru,†Master said. �Study the teachings every day. They are not just words – they carry a divine vibration that flows through the guru to you. Daya Mata said, we don’t always have to know or understand what we are reading, but because they are spiritual truths, they carry a tremendous vibration. Just read it, and it will come. Even Daya Ma, everywhere she goes she keeps with her one of Master’s books. And whenever a little break comes, a free moment, she doesn’t waste time – she reads her Guru’s words – she is constantly turning away from the world for a few moments to go within. Introspection is so valuable - it is the key to success. Introspect, preferably at night. Review your day, your actions, your thoughts, your feelings. If you encountered problems or challenges, meditate and then turn to the Guru’s teachings. Pick up a book or the lessons and you will find the answer. See what the Guru would say to do. If you do this, you will find that the next day you will carry it with you, and also the vibration of the Guru in your consciousness, and you will find the answers to all situations. Use chanting for inspiration – the chants have been spiritualized by the Guru. Brother said that he hated chanting at first. He tried, but he said, “It just wasn’t for me – you know, us macho Americans.†�(Laughter) But Brother Bolananda loved chanting – and Brother said he lived with him for two years. Bolananda would chant every night for an hour and would urge Brother to join him. “Vishwananda, you’re not chanting loud enough ……†Bolananda would tell him. “I can’t �hear you!†(Laughter) Week after week, he wouldn’t give up trying �encouraging him with the chanting. Then one day Brother Vishwananda went into the city – it was noisy and crowded and uncomfortable – elbow to elbow. And he noticed that there was a little song playing in the background of his mind that made him feel better. A little seed had been planted - he was “caughtâ€, and now he loves�

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chanting – he can’t live without it. “When you chant,†Brother �told us, “give your heart to that divine vibration. Chanting opens up your heart.†Look for Guruji in your life. Always look for the hand of �the Guru behind your experiences, and when you least expect it, he will appear. We tend to look for him during our trials and tribulations, but the Guru is also with when we experience joy and love in our lives, and we should acknowledge him in these experiences too. Back in 1986 Brother helped with the great task of rebuilding Babaji’s cave, which had been damaged by an earthquake. It was hard work - heavy construction work at an elevation of 8000 feet in rugged mountain territory, enduring rain, hail, and windstorms. Half of the hired labor ran away. Brother thought, “Babaji, you’re a pretty hard guy to work for.†(Laughter) He �became discouraged and entertained the idea, “Gee, I could just walk away from here and never come back.†Wallowing in his negative mood, �one day he looked down the mountain and saw a friend, a colonel in the Indian Army, coming up the mountain. He and a group of men were laden with big wooden boxes on their backs. Setting them down, the boxes became a table on which they placed a white linen tablecloth. Next, out came crystal glassware, fine china plates, silverware, and a cook stove on which was prepared a delicious full course meal of soup, salad, entrée and dessert. “So there we were, mud up to our knees, having a feast!†Brother said. (Laughter) Brother found himself filled with love� and joy and he knew where it came from – it was Guruji and Babaji. After that he didn’t have any more negativity about doing the work there. Guruji didn’t sit down and have classes or satsangas with the disciples. He would tell them to meditate and keep their attention at the Kutastha – in that way the Guru can work with us. When Master did respond to them, he responded to their thoughts, their consciousness. Two days ago Brother said he was at Hollywood Temple greeting those on pilgrimage there. Then he had to leave, realizing he was late for another engagement. He found himself behind another car that was going really slow and he became impatient, a bit upset. They approached a red light at an intersection and Brother pulled up along side this car in the next lane, thinking he would try to pass the other car when the light changed. He happened to look over and saw a young man and woman trying to get his attention. They were asking for directions and so he helped them. It was then that Brother realized, “Where had my consciousness been? I’d shut God out by my impatience. But the Guru was right there saying, ‘Wake up my boy, wake up.’†The Guru works �with you this way - just like when he was in the body - there’s absolutely no difference. “If we are looking for miracles,†Brother �said, “I cannot think of one greater than the little scene that occurred at that intersection – that woman trying to get my attention – Master trying to get my attention. This is the miracle of Master in our lives. You come to a point where you don’t care about having spiritual experiences when you realize that every moment is a spiritual experience.†“How many of you here have cell phones?†Brother asked,� � and a great many in the audience raised their hands. Brother admitted that he too has a cell phone. We encounter countless distractions – this is maya trying to keep our consciousness outward rather than inward in the divine state. “My point is this:†Brother said. “I know a �plan with unrestricted roaming, unlimited calls, no fees, and no overcharges.†(Laughter) “We always seem to have time to talk to just� about anyone who calls us on the cell phone, don’t we? So why not take time during the day to stop what you are doing, go within, feel the

Divine Presence, and just say a sweet word to God. Say "I love you, Lord" "I love you, Guruji", whatever moves your heart. The door is open - the Guru's arms are open wide.�

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The spiritual life will always bring you some slow and tedious experiences. When that happens, practice with perseverance. Don’t give up. There is a story often told in India about a young man who retreated to the forest in the mountains to meditate upon God. He spent much time in seclusion, but when after many years there were no results, he became disillusioned and decided to go back to the world. As he climbed down the mountain he became thirsty and looked for water. He came to a place where water was dripping over the edge of a cliff, and as he cupped his hands to catch some water he noticed a large outcropping of rock below the cliff, and saw there a hole a foot deep or more straight through the rock. “What caused that hole?†he thought. Then as he pulled his �cupped hand away to drink of the water he saw that it was the water itself that had cut the hole in the stone. “If something as yielding as water has the power to cut a hole in rock, then surely my mind, which is much more powerful than water can cut through delusion and find God,†he thought, and he went back to his forest seclusion to seek Him.� Know for certain beyond all doubt that Christ and Krishna and Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar and our beloved Guru live in that divine consciousness. They are omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Look at the great love they have expressed to each and every one of us in bringing this teaching to the world. How many of you were shopping for a Guru? (Laughter) It didn’t happen by chance! God chooses our Guru. “The Guru of Gurus, the Supreme Preceptor, always designates the channel through which the disciple shall receive instruction and liberation.†(The Second Coming, pg 40) Each and every one of us has �spent lifetimes asking, “What is true happiness? Where is true love?� After lifetimes of materialism and ignoring God, at one point we did something right, and our good karma and the true love and in our hearts earned us the blessing of a true Guru. “The only thing God does not have is our love,†Master said. Think of how He feels when out of the �masses – out of billions of people in this world - we seek Him. We’ve spent lifetimes trying to get God’s attention, and the sincerity in our hearts moved Him and He said, “Very good, my child. I think I’ll send you Paramahansa Yogananda.†(Laughter) It is the �yearning of the soul, life after life, that finally gets God’s attention. Our spiritual lives are not just beginning – it takes lifetimes of spiritual seeking and much good karma to receive the grace of God and be drawn to this path. We are at the end of our spiritual evolution. Remember that, and don’t take yourself for granted - your strength, your love, the yearning of the ages which has brought you all to the feet of the Guru. Never think your efforts are in vain. Spiritualize every moment. Express appreciation to the Guru. Cry to God – ask for His help every moment. Then stop and feel the love and the joy of the divine presence - you can’t describe it – there are no words. Live more and more in that joy, that love, and that wisdom. It’s there embracing us every moment of our lives. Brother ended by reciting Master’s poem, "When I am Only a Dream", which brought tears to our eyes in the way he read it to us, and then he quietly left the stage. I come to tell you all of Him, And the way to encase Him in your bosom, And of the discipline which brings His grace. To those of you who have asked me To guide you to my Beloved's silently talking mind, I speak to you through a gentle significant glance,Cultivating a Deeper Attunement with God and Guru

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Or whisper to you through my love, Or loudly dissuade you when you stray away from Him. But when I shall become only a memory or a mental image, Or silently speaking voice, When no earthly call will ever reveal My whereabouts in unplumbed space When no shallow entreaty or stern stentorian command Will bring an answer from me, I will smile in your mind when you are right, And when you are wrong, I will weep through my eyes, Dimly peering at you in the dark, And weep through your eyes, perchance; And I will whisper to you through your conscience, And I will reason with you through your reason, And I will love through your love. When you are able no longer to talk to me, Read my Whispers of Eternity. Eternally through that I will talk to you. Unknown I will walk by your side And guard you with invisible arms. And as soon as you know my Beloved And hear His voice in silence, You will know me again more tangibly Than you knew me in this earth plane. And yet when I am only a dream to you I will come to remind you that you too are naught But a dream of my Heavenly Beloved, And when you know you are a dream, as I know now, We will be ever awake in Him.

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Developing Courage and EnduranceFriday Evening Lecture – Brother Santoshananda

Brahmachari Terry introduced tonight’s talk with a quote from Brother Turiyananda: “The only way to learn humility is through humiliation.� (Laughter) Today we are facing and confronting new realities, both personal and collective. We are awakened spiritually, at least partially. And when we come to realize what is in here and out there, we need courage to face the tests of life. We must accept things as they are, without criticizing, judgment or condemnation. If we react emotionally to a situation we only add to the problem. It doesn’t mean that a threat or an abusive situation is unacceptable – we only prolong the problem if we allow it to continue. You mustn’t let yourself become a doormat, but you must act rightly also. Remember Master’s formula so you can do the right thing, to act with wisdom and to be guided by the Guru: “I will reason, I will will, and I will act, but guide thou my reason, will, and activity to the right thing that I should do.†Right attitude is perhaps the most important virtue of all.� Actually it is not a virtue – Master said it is a quality, and a very important one. In the Gita Master said, “Right attitude is the first born quality of spiritual progress.†As we meditate this quality is �born in us and we find a connection, an attunement within ourselves due to our spiritual progress. As we keep moving on the path in the right way we can use that attunement all the time. Looking for results in meditation is not right attitude. Some expect samadhi right away, but right attitude is born out of attunement in ourselves and with the Guru. Master said, “It is man’s response to the dualistic nature of things that causes men’s problems.†One time the monastics were looking �forward to a picnic, but it was rained out. Daya Ma commented that since God was sending rain that they should just enjoy His present. So they all took umbrellas of all different colors with them and had a wonderful, colorful picnic in the rain. We live in a dualistic world – there is nothing we can do about that. The only freedom we have is in our response to what happens. We can choose selfless acceptance and surrender, or we can choose the selfish way which leads to pain and suffering. It’s all up to us. (The air conditioning in the California Ballroom was not working during this evening’s lecture and it was uncomfortably warm in the room. A fan had been set up on stage to give Brother some relief, but even so he must have been sweltering in his robe under those hot stage lights. Just now as he was talking about right attitude the wind from the fan suddenly caught hold of his lecture notes and blew them off the podium, scattering them all over the floor. So now the fan had to be shut off, too. Brother, in his thick French accent, started mumbling something softly like, “Okay, Master … no air conditioning … no fan … papers flying all over … right attitude … okay … all the time…†Of course, everyone in the �audience was in stitches over this - and with his large captivating smile and wonderful sense of humor Brother demonstrated for us perfect right attitude – laughing along with five thousand admiring devotees as he stooped down to retrieve his papers.)

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One day as Buddha was seated in meditation under a tree a man came along and began to insult him. Buddha remained very calm, but this only enraged the man and he became abusive, demanding to know why Buddha did not take offense to his taunts and insults. Buddha held up an apple to the man and said, "If I give you this apple, and you accept it, to whom does the apple belong?†“Why it belongs to me, of courseâ€, replied � �the man. Buddha said, "But if I offer the apple to you, and you do not accept it, then whose apple is it?†"Why then it’s your apple.†� �answered the man. Buddha said, “You offer me anger and insults, but I do not accept them, so the anger and the insults remain yours.†Daya �Mata tells of one time when she was attending a dinner with the Guru. They were seated near each other at a table, and at another table some distance away, they heard someone say some mean remarks about Master. Ma looked at Master and said to him, "How can you stand it?" And Master reached out and plucked a rose from a vase on the table and he took the petals of the rose and ground them in the palm of his hand and then he gave his hand to Ma to inhale the fragrance, and he said, "See how this rose is? Even when crushed, it still gives off its fragrance. So should we all.†Master gave unconditional love, no matter what. The French �philosopher Montaigne once said, “Man is not hurt by what happens, but by his opinion about what happens.†The scriptures say how precious �life is – how precious an incarnation in human form is because it takes so long to attain it. Now, how are we going to use this special existence? Are we going to use it to free ourselves – to liberate ourselves? If we do, then our life becomes precious, both to ourselves and to others. Master wrote, “I want Thee, O God, that I may give Thee to all.†The way to do it is in the Gita and in the Bible – we can �use the teachings to reorient our lives so that it is used in a precious way. Master once wrote to Sister Gyanamata: “Your exemplary life, like the morning dew, is blessed by God to quench the thirst of seeking souls. God and the gurus have kept a seat for you in Heaven.†Because �she followed the guidance of her guru, her life had become precious to others. Gyanamata asked Master, “Do I have to come back?†Master told� her that this was her last life but that she should have the desire to return to help others. With Daya Mata it seemed that Master was always pushing her away, like a mother bird who pushes her babies out of the nest so that they will learn to fly. See, it’s like a bakery – you are standing looking in through the window and you can see Master inside, so you put your nose up against the window – and then Master is eating pastries with the other disciples (Laughter) – and you are outside – in the cold – alone. But … you are with God! The Guru wants us to realize our own God. If we go over the top and worship him rather than follow his teachings, he will push us away. He wants us to use him as the vehicle to find God. It’s why he wrote The Second Coming – to help us realize the guru within. He doesn’t want us to worship the messenger and forget the message. The Second Coming of Christ is Master's way of getting us to worship Jesus Christ's message that the goal is to realize the Christ Consciousness within us, instead of just worshiping him. Sri Gyanamata said, “In courage one sees the brilliant triumph of the soul over flesh.†We are here to fight the �holy war and we need courage to overcome ourselves.

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There is a story about Alexander the Great: He conquered all the lands, but then he got bored and became a drunk. When he was near death, realizing that even with all his worldly riches, still there was no one who could save him, he ordered that his body be placed in an open coffin and paraded through the streets with his hands turned upwards and outwards, signifying that even he, great as he was, had to leave this world empty-handed. He had conquered the whole world, except himself. Why do we need courage? Because we have fears within ourselves. The whole science of yoga is to attain awareness of God and in order to do that we have to conquer our fears. ‘Abhayam’ is the Sanskrit word for fearlessness. Fearlessness comes when we seek the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free from all fears. What is fear? Fear is a feeling, a vibration. Fear is a product of a memory of the past – it could be from a past incarnation. Fear is located in our heart center, and very often we have no control over it. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes once said, “Fear and I were born twins.†When we have fears we �don’t always know we have them – we are them at that moment. In his first inaugural address, Franklin D. Roosevelt told Americans, "The only thing to fear is fear itself." But this, too, is a fearful statement. It puts you in a catch-22 of being fearful of fear. The dictionary defines fear as “a feeling of disquiet, apprehension, danger.†We are at war �against terrorism. It’s a jungle out there! We are constantly bombarded by negativity and we reinforce it in the newspapers, TV, the 6 o’clock news – and in this way we are just reinforcing what we want to get rid of. But we are trying to get away from it on a subconscious level. We need to be aware of what we are doing at the subconscious level – and courage is more important now than ever. There was a little girl who watched TV and she saw something that made her afraid. A little later her mother called her for supper and asked her to say the blessing. The little girl prayed, “Dear God, please take care of mommy and daddy and my sister and my doggie and my kitty. But please God, please take care of yourself because if anything happens to you we are all sunk.†(Laughter) “Do you know what the biggest fear of all is?� � Brother asked. “Fear number 1: Just come up here behind the podium.†�(Laughter) The number one fear is stage fright. One time Brother had to give a talk at the Windmill Chapel at Lake Shrine. He was nervous as he went up to the podium, and then there were all these bright lights - he couldn’t see the audience, and he froze. He looked at his notes and saw that the talk was supposed to be on Genesis and the Bible. There was a long uneasy pause, and than suddenly he bellowed, “IN THE BEGINNING†with such force that one lady in the front row jumped up, so� scared, and blurted out, “Yes, I know!!!!†“Cure of fear,†Brother� � said, “scaring somebody else!†(Laughter) Fear number 2: Fear of �death. It is a consequence of our attachment to material things, things we are afraid to loose – and it’s a fear of the unknown. We’re afraid of death because we don’t know we are immortal. St. Paul said, “I die daily.†Through experience in meditation of “dying daily†� �where you don’t feel you have a body, you realize I exist apart from my body and mind. You will come to realize, I am existence Itself. Woody Allen said, “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.†(Laughter) Master said, “Why fear death? �There is nothing to fear, because as long as you are not dead you are alive, and when you are dead, it is over and there is nothing then to worry about. “

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Fears are self-created from the past. Not infrequently, devotees say, “I don’t want to meditate too deeply because I’m afraid I won’t come back.†(Laughter) Why do we meditate? To free ourselves from the �identification of the body and mind and discover that there is a consciousness that’s always with us. Meditation frees us from the fear of death. Jesus said something so beautiful: “Let not your heart be troubled.†Toxic emotions and negative thoughts create a troubling �vibration in the heart. It takes courage to face our shadow – to love in us what we hate the most. St. Francis said, “Where there is hatred, let me sow love.†Death of a family member, divorce – these things �trouble the heart. That is why right attitude is so important. Last year there were big fires in Southern California. Some died, and many lost their homes. It was very sad. The fire came close to Hidden Valley - the monks were praying very hard and the ashram was protected. One couple lost their home in the fire. The wife lamented, “We lost everything.â€� The husband told her, “But we still have each other.†And so they �were able to keep the right attitude. Certain values are more important than material things - to be connected to the higher principles in us and in life. If you can remember that, that is right attitude. Courage comes from the heart. The word “courage†in French has its root in �the word “coeurâ€, which means “heartâ€. We are separated from love � �in our own heart. God’s natural love is implanted in our hearts – and it’s always been there – we don’t have to create it. The thing is to connect to it, to experience it. If we only use the brain without the heart there is a separation and we will make wrong decisions. We need to learn to awaken the heart center - our hearts must be open, and that is done through meditation. “Door of my heart, open wide I keep for Thee†- Master chanted this for hours. The heart is where these �qualities are developed. But our heart, our feelings go away – to the world - and we become involved in the world and we loose contact with that love, and so we feel disconnected. “O, my heart, come back to the home of my Father,†Master said. “See the glowing, inner palace of my� soul. O, come back. I behold the beauty of inner resplendence.†The �Bliss of God trickled down to our hearts and became love. Then love went outward in expression and manifested as emotions, which was the trap of maya we fell into. To become aware of the heart center and have a conscious intimacy with our heart, we have to awaken the divine love in us. But as long as there are fears in the heart, there will be obstructions. Yoga opens the heart center and we uncover the fears and discover the love of God in our hearts. Master said that fear comes from the heart. And he gave a technique to help you when you are feeling fear: Put your hand over your heart, next to the skin. Rub from left to right and repeat, “Heavenly Father, I am free. Tune out this fear from my heart radio. Master said, “Just as you tune out static on an ordinary radio, so if you continuously rub the heart from left to right and continuously concentrate on the thought that you want to tune out fear from your heart, it will go; and the joy of God will be perceived.†A wonderful way to open the heart center is to sit in front� of the ocean and visualize the ocean as Divine Mother, and each wave is love breaking on the shores of your heart. Master said, “The whole world is pulsing with the power of God: indescribable, infinite happiness; wave after wave of bliss. Your heart is like the shore, and the Ocean of Infinite Love is breaking on the shores of your heart.†�“Mahato bhayat,†Babaji said of Kriya Yoga, “Even a little bit of �the practice of this religion will save you from dire fears and colossal

sufferings." Kriya erases fears, just as it erases bad karma. All fears are ego-based. The ego doesn’t want to die – it doesn’t want to commit hari-kari.

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(Laughter) But the ego must die if we are to become self-realized. “When I shall die, then shall I know who am Iâ€, Master wrote. The ego� is metamorphosed into the soul – it dissolves, it merges into soul consciousness. That is what Kriya Yoga is doing. To meditate more deeply, deeper and deeper in our hearts, is the only escape from our deepest fears. Think of the spine as a pendulum with the ego at the bottom where the swings back and forth are the greatest. As you move up the pendulum – up the spine – the swing becomes less and less, until at the top you’ve reached the spiritual eye where, as in the eye of a storm, you find the silence. Nothing can touch you there. You’re always centered in the world but not of the world. That’s the yoga path that we are blessed to have, and as we progress it makes our life more and more precious to ourselves and to others because they too will benefit by our Self-realization. Brother shared a wonderfully humorous story about how he got his name. ‘Santosh’ means ‘contentment’ and ‘ananda’ means bliss – so his name, Santoshananda, means bliss through contentment. “Not too badâ€, Brother said. (Laughter) When he �took his final vows he received a letter from Daya Ma explaining why she had chosen the name for him, and the deep spiritual meaning behind it. She told him it meant acceptance of everything that happens as coming from the Divine. Then it dawned on Brother that when Ma said “everything†– she meant EVERYTHING! (Laughter) So Brother thought,� “Well, now I have the name – what can I do? Go back to Ma and say can you please give me a new name?†(Laughter) Brother showed the �letter to Brother Anandamoy, and in great surprise he said, “Wow! Do you know what that means? You have to be in nirbikalpa samadhi all the time!†(Laughter) Brother told us, “I’m working on it.†(Laughter)� � Accepting everything means surrender to the Guru and allowing him to change our lives. The quote for today, August 6th in the spiritual diary is: “O Divine Sculptor, chisel Thou my life according to Thy design.â€� God is very clever, and he doesn’t take advice. (Laughter) If you want to make Him laugh, just tell him about your future. (More laughter) Jesus said, “Thy will be doneâ€. Krishna said, “I am the doer, not �you.†Surrender to the Guru, or he will find a way to make us accept. �(Laughter) When we receive Kriya initiation, we say “I do†– �meaning, “I accept the sadhana that the Guru gives us. One time Brother had to go travel to the Phoenix Temple and he had to wait in a long line at the San Diego airport. As he waited he was reading something of Master’s and trying to meditate. He wanted just to remain absorbed in that peace. But pretty soon he could hear two businessmen talking about how much money they were going to make on a business deal. He found that they were “stealing†his attention away from the �peaceful vibration, and he became a little irritated. Then after a while he started feeling somebody repeatedly poking him from behind and turned to see another fellow dressed in a Padres baseball hat, chewing gum, and chanting, “Go Padres! Go Padres! Go Padres!†emphasizing his chant by� thrusting his baseball bat back and forth, completely oblivious that he was poking it into Brother’s back. (Laughter) Now Brother really started to “lose itâ€, and he started silently but vigorously chant, �“Om Guru! Om Guru! Om Guru!†(Brother was so funny, the way he �imitated himself and the chanting.) Next came a group of teen-age girls and they were all chatting on their cell phones and with each other about a party they were arranging. “Did you ever receive answers to questions you never asked?†Brother asked us. “The answer I got was, �“That’s how things are.†That was it!! That was the answer! It was �

their reality. They have a right to be as they are.†It was all about �acceptance. Whatever is, IS. Whatever is to happen – it could not be otherwise. When we accept that, the problem evaporates.Developing Courage and Endurance

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Fears react. The mind decides to accept it, or not. If we resist, we perpetuate the situation. Acceptance helps us to surrender more and more to the Divine Will. When Jesus knew he was to be crucified, for a moment he lost courage and he prayed, “Father, remove this cup from me.†But� then he prayed again, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be doneâ€. He accepted it and he endured� the crucifixion. Even on the cross he was able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.†We all have to go �through that one way or another to realize the Christ Consciousness within us. Master wrote The Second Coming that we might bear in our hearts love and compassion, even for those who call us their enemies. Some words from Jesus which give us hope: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.â€�

Taking God with You Through LifeSaturday Afternoon Closing Class – Brother Anandamoy

Brother Chidananda began the evening lecture by reading a message from Daya Mata, part of which read: “We share an eternal bond of friendship. No matter if you feel God’s response or not, know that His blessings are flowing into you and from there to all those around you. God has so much love to give to his devotees that it will burst all boundaries of the heart.†Brahmachari Terry told a story: Students at a� theological seminary were served a big bowl of apples in the lunch line one day with a sign that said, "Take only one apple. God is watching." At the end of the line, there was a tray of cookies and one student had handwritten a sign which said, "Take as many cookies as you want. God is watching the apples." (Laughter) Brother Anandamoy came up on stage to give the evening lecture and said, “What did he say about cookies?†�(Laughter) “You have permission to eat as many apples as you like, but you have to balance it … with ice-cream. (Laughter) Brother asked us all to give applause for the translators, who were busy translating all of the talks into Italian and Spanish this year. It’s a terrible job because the English language is a very condensed language and it takes 25-30% more words to say the same thing in another language. Brother commented, “I don’t know how they do it.†Brother said. “I’m �going to tell a couple of stories†… (of course, everyone was �thrilled to hear Brother say this – everyone loves to hear stories about Master!) … “to review the practical points that will help you to have deeper meditations and deeper attunement with Master. His blessings are always flowing into our lives as our consciousness expands to embrace everyone in love, service, and understanding. He wants to pull us to the feet of Divine Mother. The human mind cannot understand an avatar. It’s impossible. This is exemplified in the Bible story when Jesus told his disciples he was going to be leaving soon. One disciple, Philip, was frantic, and he cried to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father!†And Jesus said to him, “But Philip, I have been so long �a time with you and yet you do not know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.†But the disciples didn’t understand what he meant.�

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It’s the same thing with our Guru. Master came to America in 1920, and he stayed in Boston for three years, most of the time in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Lewis. Dr. Lewis said that he and Master were the same age – both were age 27 when he came. “Master and I were like brothers,†Dr.� Lewis reminisced. “But if we knew who and what he really was we would have crawled on our hands and knees to him, we would have been in such awe.†But that wasn’t what Master wanted. He didn’t want that kind �of adulation. Master came to show us the way – that is the incredible love and compassion he has for us. He came down and played the role of a human being - with an infinite consciousness. Sri Yukteswar said, “Think of the Guru with great love.†But if you are considering who �or what Master was, his consciousness is here – he is here – he is always with you. Get into the practice of knowing that he is here! He is not gone. He is always here. When Lake Shrine had just been acquired there was much work to be done. The grounds had not been well taken care of and the monks were busy planting trees and shrubs and doing all kinds of heavy labor – working incredibly hard. “Now, working with Master was not exactly a picnic,†Brother said. (Laughter) “You’ve got to �work like lightening!†he would say. (Laughter) The monks were working �very long hours – there was no time for group meditations, no group exercise. In his room Brother kept a large picture of Master – no others, just Master. Every day he would sit to meditate and think, “Master is one with God. God is omnipresent. Therefore, Master is here.†After a few days Master cam up to him and told him, “If you �keep on like that, you will get there!†Brother told us, “I realized �what he meant and I’ve been telling devotees ever since to get in the habit of meditating with him.†Never meditate alone. When you have this� approach it makes all the difference.†“Now, I don’t want to give �you the impression that I was a perfect disciple,†Brother said. One �time when Brother was helping with the construction of a new building he fell and broke a rib. Yet he continued with the work they had been doing; and as one might imagine, the physical work was not exactly pleasant. Brother began to sink into a heavy, negative mood. “A whole lot of karma was coming out,†he said, “But I never thanked God.†� �Now, Master was away, out in the desert, and Brother figured that Master had forgotten that he existed. Then he got a letter from Master scolding him for doubting. “He is always with you.†Brother said to us. “You� have to cultivate that consciousness. You are never alone.†Consider �that someday will be your last. If you are in tune, Master will be there. In 1958 Brother went on his first lecture tour to Europe. He met many of the early members there in Europe. One devotee wrote to Brother about an experience she had. Thirty years earlier she got sick. She said, “I died and I left the body. And there was Master. I cannot tell you how I felt – Master was here – he knew I was coming.†Master �told her, “Life is not over yet for you. You have to go back.†�Brother said, “And she’s still here! She is now 97 years old and she’s still waiting to go home.†(Laughter) When you die, he will be �there – on the last day of your life, Master will be there. He said so in The Divine Romance. But you don’t have to die in order to be with him. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.†That is the core� of the teachings of Christ. Few understand what that means. Jesus came in Kali Yuga during the lowest, the very bottom of that dark age. People in that time could not understand what he meant – they didn’t know. They had lost their knowledge of the techniques and they didn’t know about the concept of energy and could not understand how to withdraw the

energy from the senses and go within. Their religious practices were mostly outer ceremonies and rituals, which are using the senses. The senses, the mind, cannot perceive God.

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That is why in this new age, God through Babaji sent three avatars to bring back the old teachings – the ancient science of yoga that helps us to go inside. Many devotees come to Brother and they say, “After we practice the techniques – now what do we do?†When the direct �disciples were with Master, they didn’t ask him what to do. After the techniques – love Him! Meister Eckhart once said, “Most people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love him as they love their cow - for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them.†�That’s not really loving God. If you really want to love God it has to be without selfish motives, without expectation of benefits. In 1950 when Brother was with Master out in the desert, Master told him, “Always remember: Kriya Yoga plus devotion: it works like mathematics – it cannot fail.†“Master, in one simple formula, in one sentence,� gave me the whole essence of the teachings.†Brother said. There are �obstacles on the path. One is impatience. Often devotees who are new on the path are wanting instant satisfaction. We are an instant satisfaction society, isn’t’ it? But when we think like that, what happens? Straining - trying to force. Never do that. Straining blocks intuition - so be patient. Many people are so used to the gross material perceptions of the senses that they expect something similar in meditation. As a result they often miss God when He comes in the subtle form as peace. “Learn to recognize Him as the quiet, inner peace that steals over your consciousness,†Master said. “In the highest �thought-realms of divine consciousness, spiritual experiences are very subtle – and therefore sometimes pass unrecognized by the devotee expecting dramatic manifestations. The greater the subtlety of one’s spiritual experience, the greater its relative physical and spiritual effect.†If you feel peace - and usually that is the first experience �– God comes as peace - be aware of these subtle manifestations of God. Remember, it is not just peace. It is God manifesting as peace. Then comes the second part of the formula: devotion. We’re all different and we all have different experiences, different sensations. Some devotees are more attuned to the light. Some are more attuned to the sound of Aum. Some are more attuned to the feeling aspect. Don’t expect visions, because it is very easy to project a vision which just comes from the subconscious mind. “The path to God is not a circus,†�Master said. Just remember, if you see the light – it’s not just light – it’s God. That is God manifesting to you! The sound of Aum you hear - it’s all His grace. He’s coming to you! Brother had a friend in Europe and he wrote to him about this path. The friend started taking the lessons and then began the meditation techniques. He wrote to Brother, “It’s nice. I see the light.†Brother wrote back to him �and told him, “It’s not just light. It’s God.†The friend �responded in another letter, “No way.†Brother waited a while and �then sent him another letter telling him the same thing. No reaction from the friend. Brother said, “Next time I was tough!†(Laughter) I �wrote: ‘strive to think of the light as an aspect of God. Otherwise you might as well look at a light bulb!’ (Laughter) “That was in my early years,†Brother commented. “I was tough, but I’ve mellowed a �little bit since then.†(Laughter) Finally, after quite some time, his �friend wrote back and told him, “You are right. I did what you said and it changed my life! It brought God into my meditations - it brought God into my life!†Brother said to us, “That is why I am telling you �– it’s the second part of the formula that’s often forgotten.†�Ask yourself, what does the word “God†mean to me? For most people, �

it’s just a word. Many people have a concept of a distant God – a judge sitting on a throne somewhere. “I could never love that kind of a god,†Brother said. “You can’t love a …… a judge!†� �(Laughter) “Unless

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perhaps you’re married to one.†(More laughter) This is dark age �religion, dark age thinking. “I couldn’t love God until I met Master. Then my concept of God became one of love, of compassion, of understanding, of willingness to help me. That is God.†Daya Ma said, �“It is vital to choose a concept of God that you can love.†For Ma, �it is Divine Mother. For Brother Anandamoy, it is Master. There was a sage in ancient India who said, “If you cannot think of the absolute,†(‘and you cannot’, Brother added) then think of Him in �the form of an avatar.†That is why they come down every so often. �“Think about it,†Brother said, “you cannot love what you cannot �think of, isn’t it?†You set the concept of God. Whatever concept �appeals to you – use it. Why is devotion so important? Because with our own efforts we cannot find God. The techniques are not enough. That is why Master put devotion into the formula. “I saw a drastic example in my early days in the ashram,†Brother said. One time on the grounds �of Mother Center a man came through the gate and approached Master, who was with a group of monks. This man showed no sign of respect or devotion for Master – and he was one of Master’s earliest members! The man told the group of monks, “I’ve done over a million Kriyas.â€� Brother said he was impressed because he hadn’t even started yet! (Laughter) Then Brother looked at Master to see what his reaction was, but Master didn’t seem impressed at all. The man made some small talk, and then he said, “so longâ€, and he left – no devotion at all. �Later Master told the monks who were there, “He still thinks he can do it all by himself. And I tried to tell him, but he won’t listen. Because of his faithful practice of the techniques, he will get to the door, but he won’t be able to go through the door.†That is why we �need devotion – to open the door for God to come in, to open the door for God’s grace. The devotion you give is flowing through the Guru to God, and that will take you through the door, and then you can merge into God. People ask Brother, “How do I become that light? How do I become that sound? How do I expand my consciousness?†You can’t. It �comes through the grace of God. After the techniques – you do nothing. God is the doer, not you. Your doing is love. If you are trying still to do something, the energy goes out through the body and you loose it, you ruin it. Just love and practice devotion. There are all kinds of degrees of devotion. In the beginning you may start a little here and there, and gradually that develops into real, deep devotion. It is a yearning of the heart. It is a yearning of the soul. It is the inner urge to become one with our source – and our source is God. Originally we were one with God. Then we did something stupid or something (Laughter) because we identified ourselves with the mind, with the senses, with the body. Still, we have a vague remembrance of this consciousness we lost, and we are looking for it desperately. But we are mistakenly looking to regain it through the things of the world. Finally we come to a point in our spiritual evolution when we understand that God is the answer – God is the solution. And with that deeper longing we finally are drawn to the Guru. The Guru comes and says, “I’ll show you the way. I’ll help you.†Eventually that yearning comes, and when the yearning is deep and� pure – not like that farmer and the cow - “Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee†�– then the door opens for His grace to come through. Master said, “God yearns for our love, and when that yearning comes to you, that is the sign that you are very close.†Now, some people ask, “Does it �mean we cannot love our family and friends anymore?†No, but that love �will be different. Sri Yukteswar said, "Ordinary love is selfish, darkly

rooted in desires and satisfactions. Divine love is without condition, without boundary, without change. The flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch of pure love."

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Only God can satisfy us. But so often in our relationships, in our attitudes, we are thinking, “That person will give me that perfect satisfaction.†It’s not fair to think that they can give you that �ultimate satisfaction. That attitude of “gimmee, gimmee†puts �enormous pressure on the other person, who cannot give you what only God alone can give. Divine Love is without conditions. And as we progress it becomes pure with our family and friends. Now, in meditation there will be times when we meditate – we do our best – and nothing happens – there is nothing but darkness. “Have you ever had this?†Brother �asked us. (Laughter) “If you haven’t … it will come!†(Laughter) �And it’s a great thing – it’s a great gift, even though God seems absent. A great saint said, “God cannot be absent. His absence too, is one of his manifestations.†God is present in His seeming absence �because He is omnipresent – He cannot be absent. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.†He didn’t say “once in a while.†� �(Laughter) When the darkness comes, it’s called the dark night of the soul – when you are getting no response, seemingly. Those times are very precious if you understand them because it teaches unconditional love. When those dark times come, just say, “I love youâ€, and mean �it! You might not feel emotions, you may not feel like you mean it, but remember what Master said: “Wanting to love God is loving God.†�Regardless of whether you are getting a response or not, you are progressing with each Kriya plus devotion. Even a wise man has to come back again and again. If you understand that God is omnipresent – the nearest of the near - if you choose to, you can know God instantaneously. Instantly you can be in His presence. You meditated, you had devotion – you made the connection. The Hindu scriptures say: “Know it now or after a thousand incarnations.†So the setup is �there. You might as well know it now! Going back to the thought that Master is one with God consciousness – God is omnipresent, therefore Master is omnipresent: the Guru is always present in the spiritual eye of the disciple. The Guru is always present in the heart of a disciple. “Most of you came on the path after Master’s mahasamadhi,†Brother �said, “and I have some words for you - and these are Master’s words – he is talkingâ€: “I know those souls who are destined to come in �the future and will follow this path steadfastly. I am with them and they are with me.†That promise is unconditional. Whether you spend �time with him or not, that’s your choice. But he is always with you. Take that home with you. If you practice this, it will become more and more real to you. The past and present are contradictions. The sense of time we have is an aspect of maya, delusion. There we have past, present, and future. You have to realize that Master was talking from a higher state of consciousness. In The Second Coming, (pg 997) Master speaks of this consciousness that was manifest in Jesus: “In the Christ Consciousness of Jesus, the divisions of past, present, and future were annihilated. Jesus could say, “By the eternal, ever present Christ Consciousness within me, I behold no division of past, present or future in my consciousness of the Eternal Now.†Jesus said, �“Before Abraham was, I am.†Many people misunderstood him and they �thought, “Either you are crazy or you make yourself God.†But Jesus �was talking from the Christ Consciousness – he was talking from the Eternal Now. Even Einstein said, “For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one.†This is strictly science – and it is a teaching �of the higher

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Taking God with You Through Life

Convocation 2004

ages. Now science is beginning to discover that those ancient teachings are true. Keep in mind that Master said, “I am with you†– and then� spend some time with him. “Another thought,†Brother said. “People �have been calling me a “direct discipleâ€. I’ve always hated that, �and I always think, ‘Why, this is a caste system!’†(Laughter) All �of you are direct disciples if you allow yourselves to be. Meditate with Master. Love Master, who lives inside of you. Be one with Master and you too are his direct disciples. All I did was meditate with the picture of Master in front of me, as I do now. So use a picture of Master to cultivate that relationship – affirm he is there. “I am with him.†�That is how you become a direct disciple. One time a disciple asked master, “How can I change emotion into devotion?†It’s a good �question. Some people are more emotional and they let it out. With others, it gets bottled up inside. Some say,†I can’t feel.†� �Nonsense! When devotees come to Brother and say that, he asks them, “Have you ever been angry, frustrated, lonely? That’s feeling!†�Master told the devotee, “It is the company you keep that determines whether you have devotion.†Then the disciple asked, “But what about �when I am alone?†And Master said, “Am I not always with you?†Keep � �this in mind. He is always with you. Spend some time with Master – a little less TV. And when you spend time with Master you have to consider – it’s not just that. It’s how you are in his presence. One time the monks were with Master, informally, and Master asked one disciple, “What are you thinking?†The disciple answered, “I’m sorry, �Sir.†And Master replied to him, “You see? I know. I know your �thoughts.†One disciple always asked Master intellectual questions, and� Brother used to think, “Why can’t that person shut up?†(Laughter) �Brother thought, “Here we have the opportunity to be with Master – why can’t we just be in his presence and love him?†It’s not just �to be in his presence. What do you do in his presence? Brother said he loved to watch other people with Master. One time Master was with a small group of devotees at the Temple, and they were just talking informally. A man approached Master but was totally indifferent to the Guru. Some people are totally lost in the thought of self. Others are lost in their love for God and Master. And that will come as a result of practice. Be with him and gradually you will learn he is not an ordinary person. He is with you. Some people say to Brother, “But you saw him.†Brother tells them, “Yes, I saw him, but that was 55 years ago!� What did I do in the meantime? You don't think I didn't have to work on this too?" Brother said he developed the habit to be with him. He worked on that – he cultivated love for Master – he kept his picture on his altar and he constantly cultivated the thought: “Master is here. I am in his presence.†And it became more and more real to him, even better �than when he saw him physically. Anybody can do it if you want to, and if you make the effort. So when you leave here – when you go home – don’t leave Master here. Take him with you. Feel he is there. Feel why you were drawn to him – because he is your own. His love is unconditional. Feel, “I am his own.†Unconditional love. If you do �that, more and more you will feel his love – you will see how close he is, how deep is his love, and you will feel how satisfying that love is. Spend time with him - love him. Be a direct disciple. Be a direct disciple.

Jai Guru!

Jai Guru!

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