2006ConvocationNotes[1]

Convocation 2006

Table of Contents

Sunday Service at Hollywood Temple -

2 to 6

Los Angeles Times Article about Self-Realization Fellowship

7 to 9

Sunday 7:30pm

Experiencing our Divine Potential

10 to 19

Monday 2:30pm Recharging the Body with Cosmic

Energy 20 to 22

4:30pm Afternoon Satsanga

23 to 31

7:30pm Balancing our Material and

Spiritual Goals 32 to 40

Tuesday 10:30am Tuesday Morning Satsanga

41 to 49

2:30pm The Hong-Sau and Aum Techniques

of 50 to 57

Concentration and Meditation

7:30pm The Importance of Developing a

Personal 58 to 67

Relationship with God

Wednesday 2:30pm How to Create a Spiritual Routine

68 to 74

Brother Pranavananda

7:30pm Moral Strength: The Foundation of

75 to 82

Thursday 7:30pm The Guru: A Divine Gift of

Unconditional Love 83 to 90

Sister Priya

Friday 7:30pm Embracing All Our Life’s

Experiences With 91 to 98

God Awareness

Brother Anandamoy

Saturday 1:00pm Expanding Your Convocation

Experience 99 to 106

Brother Satyananda

Awakening our Divine Nature

Sunday Service at Hollywood Temple – Brother Ishtananda

On the Sunday morning before convocation, many devotees gather at the Hollywood Temple for services as a way to start the Convocation week. Master makes this no ordinary service, but a pilgrimage - a way to set the tone for the week. In this sacred temple, Master spoke, taught classes on Patanjali and other subjects, and gave Kriya. Make special effort to contact Master here at this place of pilgrimage, where he was and is - where his sacred vibration resides, and stay with him throughout the week. Pick him up here and carry him with you wherever you go.

In the later years of Buddha’s life, someone came to him and asked, not who are you, but

“What are you?”

“Are you a god?”

“No,” Buddha answered. “Are you an angel?” “No.”

“Are you a saint?” “No.”

“Then what are you?”

Buddha replied: “I’m awake.”

Our topic for today is “Awakening our Divine Nature”. At Mother Center, at the base of the wishing well, Master inscribed: “Awake! Sleep no more!” And Jesus said, “Know ye not that ye are gods?” That divine consciousness is within us – it just needs to be awakened. What is this Divine nature? It is the joy of God, the bliss of God, ecstasy, samadhi. It’s not just the nature of the saints; our own divine nature is the same as the saints. Within us is the same Bliss consciousness. It just needs to be awakened. We may not be saints, but we can awaken that Divine nature within us.

only that, but he asked permission to perform his Kriyas more than two times a day. I asked him why he wanted to do that, and he told me, “For twenty-three years I practiced Kriya, but only in the last two years has it become the most important thing in my life. There is such joy!!”

He told me that he’d been able to attain the breathless state, and I asked him how long he was able to stay in that state. He said, “It’s hard to say, because there is so little awareness of time, but I would estimate about twenty or thirty minutes.” Then I asked him, “What do you experience at those times?” and he answered, “Brother, I don’t know where you draw the line between joy and

bliss. Every day is bliss. Some days are more intense than others, but every

day is bliss.”

It’s not just the exalted saints and masters who experience this state – it’s us too. So don’t put it off in the distance; don’t relegate it to only the saints, because it is our nature too. That divine nature is right there within us, but in order to experience it, it takes time and commitment to the practice of the teachings and techniques. When Master talked about contacting God, he made you feel that if you made just a little more effort, that God was just around the corner - but it may take many years of devoted practice of meditation.

There was a man who lived on an island in the South Pacific. The island had only one small store that sold only the basics, and so the man lived very simply. One time he was invited by a friend to visit the U.S. One day his host thought, “I’ll take him to the grocery store for a treat.” As they walked down the many isles in the store, the man was overwhelmed at all the choices. He pointed to a box and asked, “What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s powdered milk,” his host explained. If you want milk you just add water and presto, you have milk.”

The man was wonderstruck. Then he picked up another container and asked, “What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s instant coffee. You just add hot water and presto, you have coffee.”

Again, the man was in awe. They continued on, and the man picked up another item and asked, “What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s powdered eggs. You just add water and presto, you have eggs.” The man could hardly believe all these modern conveniences existed. He picked up one more container, read the label, and exclaimed to his friend, “Oh, you Americans are too much!!! Baby powder!!”

(Laughter)

Especially here in America, we want everything instantaneously. Master made an important point about this in The Second Coming: “Absolutes light the way, though attainment be less than instant.” By setting that goal for us, he didn’t

say the goal would be attained instantly. In the Gita, Master talks about the 26 soul qualities that make man God-like, and I was glad to see that Master said this - he prefaces the list of those 26 qualities by saying, “Divine spokesmen always speak in absolutes, not to describe what is beyond the aspiring devotee, but as a measure for striving.” In other words, it’s not something that’s beyond our attainment, but he’s not lowering the goal for us either. Always keep the goal in mind. Master said, “You should conceive of God as the highest necessity of life.” So make everything you do in life serve that goal. Recently I talked with a man who was very busy pursuing his chosen career. He said that right from the beginning he had known exactly what he wanted to do, and that everything in his life was geared toward accomplishing that goal. That’s how it should be for us as we strive toward our divine goal. Don’t make the mistake of separating your regular life and your spiritual life into

compartments. Don’t try to live your regular life and then tack meditation onto it. Make everything your spiritual life. Your sadhana is your life. Look at

everything in terms of your spiritual life and the divine goal.

There was a woman who told me about one time when her husband was in excruciating pain, and how she had rushed him to the emergency room. Her husband was also a devotee, and very shortly after this happened he came to see me and asked, “What lesson are we to learn from intense physical

suffering?” Now this is a real devotee!! The ideal is to always turn our

awareness toward the spiritual, and use everything in life toward attaining that divine goal. Otherwise we find we have our feet in two different boats – and this leads to inevitable grief and suffering.

Milarepa, one of the great yogis of Tibet said, "All worldly pursuits have but the one unavoidable end, which is sorrow: acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births, in death. Knowing this, one should, from the very first, renounce acquisition and heaping up, and building, and meeting; and set about realizing the Truth, which has no birth or death." In ancient Vedic India they knew the body is just the vehicle, and they knew the goal of life: to free the consciousness back to the Source it came from. So they adapted a life geared to this goal, termed the “four ashrams”, or shelters. During the course of life, an ordinary individual passed through each one of the “ashrams”. Every child at a young age left his family and entered a hermitage of spiritual discipline under the tutelage of a guru. As the second stage or ashram of life began, the individual married and left the hermitage to become a householder. He begot children and carried out all the responsibilities of caring for a family. The third ashram began at about age fifty, when he and his wife became “vanaprasthas”, or forest-dwellers. Together they retired from society and the world to seek and concentrate more on the goal of life of full communion with God, through additional spiritual training from the guru. In the fourth and final ashram of life, they became sannyasis, wandering

mendicants. To them it didn’t matter where they were. Absorbing the mind in God was all that mattered to them. Thus, each person throughout the four stages lived a full life and had responsibilities, but each stage still had the focus of getting back to God as the ultimate goal.

Now, most of us can’t literally follow the four ashrams, but we can still keep that focus of attaining the divine goal of life. Some devotees come to me and they talk about wanting to start another career, or a new relationship, or some such thing. Now, I’m not saying this is wrong, but when we make those

decisions, we need to ask ourselves a question: do we have that primary goal of finding God in mind?

There is a story in the Mahabharata about Arjuna. His archery instructor, Drona, was very much pleased with Arjuna, and showed preferential love and favor toward him. This caused a natural adolescent jealousy in the heart of Drona’s son. One day he openly criticized his father for favoring Arjuna, arguing that he also was skillful in archery. In reply, Drona arranged a test to decide the best archer amongst all his students.

A wooden bird was placed on a branch of a distant tree, and arranged to be partly hidden by foliage. A prominent artificial eye was painted on the wooden bird. Drona called all his disciples and said to them, "Look, my children, a bird is sitting on that far off tree. The challenge is to shoot the arrow exactly into its eye."

All the disciples took aim at the target, their bow-strings drawn back. Just then Drona said to his son, "Tell me, what is visible to you at this point in time, my son?"

"I am seeing the sky, the tree, the leaves, and the bird," replied the son. The same question was asked of each student as they took aim at the bird, and Drona received similar answers from all of them. Lastly, Drona came to Arjuna, his bow and arrow readied, his body in perfect stance. Then the Guru asked him, "O Arjuna, tell me, what is being observed by you?"

"Sir, I see nothing but the center of the eye of the bird,” Arjuna replied. Arjuna had that tremendous focus. That’s what we need in order to see the center of the eye of God – which is our goal. Obstacles are what we see when

we take our eyes off the goal. That man in the emergency room who was in all

that pain saw that experience not as an obstacle, but as a stepping stone, and he introspected about what he was to gain from the experience.

Keep the focus, even while carrying out your responsibilities. Gyanamata once wrote a letter to Daya Ma, and she gave Ma four basic rules of spiritual life that we should live by. The first one was: “See nothing, look at nothing but your goal shining before you.” Ma took this to heart, and that’s why Ma is who she is – always that one-pointed devotee, because she had her focus on God as her goal.

But maya tries to deflect our gaze. The world constantly conspires to distract us from the goal, and it rests with us to keep our focus on that divine goal. How to do this? Brother Bhaktananda used the word “casual”. “You have to be

casual about things,” he used to say. The right attitude is not to get all excited and involved in this outer changing show of creation, which is always changing. There was a young monk who came to Brother Bhaktananda complaining about his concerns about how the SRF work was going. Brother listened and then said simply, quoting from the Bible, “Well, this too shall pass.” In his later years, when people would call him and ask how he was doing, even when he was having trouble with the body Brother would always say, “Everything is fine.”

So be casual - but not with your relationship with God, and the teachings and techniques of meditation - that’s where your enthusiasm, interest, and

intensity needs to be. When we do that, we will find that all other things will fall into proper place.

In the Gita Krishna says, “Unattracted to the sensory world, the yogi

experiences the ever new joy inherent in the Self. Engaged in divine union of the soul with Spirit, he attains bliss indestructible.” Master said of this quote: “The yogi learns to control his chitta (primordial feeling), overcoming all likes and dislikes relative to external objects. Detaching his attention from the outer world into his true inner Self, he perceives the ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new joy of the soul. When the Self is fully established in union with Spirit, his ever new joy becomes immutable.”

Some people, instead of having enthusiasm for the spiritual life, are all involved in the excitement of the world – they are interested in the latest current events, the latest diets, the latest scientific theories and discoveries, and all kinds of energies are devoted there. But when you ask them about their spiritual life and their meditations they say, “Well, ya, I’m meditating,” – but it’s not with the same energy and enthusiasm that they have for those outer things. The bottom line is, we think about what we love. “This is the choice we have: do we want the Divine? Or do we want the trinkets of this world?” Daya Ma said. “The choice is ours.”

That’s why meditation is so important, because only in meditation can we have a deep enough experience of God to counteract the pull of the world. If we are going deep in meditation, then that continuity of the Divine Presence will be there, and it will remain with us even when we return to our activities in the outer world. Even if we are not feeling anything, remember what Master said: “Yearning for God is being with God.” Why? Because we’re thinking of what

we love.

Especially the Kriya yoga that Master gave us – this is the greatest blessing, because then we feel the power of God as the prana within us, and ultimately know we are the consciousness and not the body. Master has given us a tremendous teaching in the Kriya technique so that we can interiorize the consciousness in order to worship God on the altar of the spine and brain in divine communion. Never let it become mechanical. Remember and

want to live, move, and have our being in that Divine consciousness.

It takes time – even if it’s ten, or twenty-three, or thirty years – you can’t put a time frame on it. Remember the man I told you about at the beginning of my talk who had meditated twenty-three years without much result? He told me, “I give no thought to those twenty-three years because it’s all been worth it.” There’s no samadhi powder we can pull of the shelf.

(Laughter)

Kriya is the closest thing we have to samadhi powder. So forget the world this week. Immerse yourself in divine love, peace and joy, and waves of bliss. But don’t think about it. Thinking chops up the consciousness. Feel it. Be it. Be it.

(Together we performed the healing service for body, mind, and soul.)

One time after a meditation and prayer service, Daya Ma asked Master, “What do you say to Divine Mother when you pray for them?” Master replied, “I pray to God that their heart’s desire be fulfilled by His special grace.”

Blessings to you all.

The following article from the August 6th _{edition of the L.A. Times was posted at}

various locations in the Bonaventure Hotel during the week of Convocation:

Self-Realization Fellowship Celebrates

60th Anniversary of 'Autobiography of a Yogi'

The Self-Realization Fellowship is holding its annual convocation in L.A., honoring the 60th anniversary of the yogi's Autobiography. By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer

August 6, 2006

Indian swami Paramahansa Yogananda strode onto the sunny canvas of Los Angeles in 1925 with tales of magic in a far-off place and a meditation technique he said could liberate the soul. The charismatic founder of the religious organization headquartered in Mount Washington went on to

introduce America to yoga and, with his "Autobiography of a Yogi," become the 20th century's first superstar guru.

More than 4,500 people from around the world will gather at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles today for the Self-Realization Fellowship's annual convocation, featuring a full week of group meditations and evening classes with titles that include "Balancing Our Spiritual and Material Goals."

"The bliss you feel in meditation is proof of God's existence," Yogananda liked to say. It was a potent message that attracted fans, as varied as housewives and President Coolidge, who once met with him in the White House. It also spawned a global religious empire of publications, recordings and valuable real estate that has figured in recent bare-knuckles court battles.

This year, the fellowship is honoring the 60th anniversary of "Autobiography" with a series of projects designed to promote the legacy of the man thousands of disciples still refer to as "master."

Today, there are 639 fellowship temples and meditation centers in 62 countries. The organization recently translated the yogi's book into its 26th language, Finnish. "We hope to next translate the 'Autobiography' next into Slovenian and Russian," said Brother Chidananda, a senior manager of the fellowship, "although I hear there are already bootleg versions in those places." In addition to establishing a worldwide organization, the California guru

developed lush meditation centers on prime real estate in Pacific Palisades, Hollywood, Encinitas and San Diego.

"Yogananda was unique in his time; he seemed to be genuinely sincere," said J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara. "He also had a corner on the market. It wasn't until the Beatles hooked up with the Maharishi Yogi in the mid-1960s that Yogananda had any real competition."

The dark-skinned yogi with shoulder-length hair and flowing robes held court in almost mystic salons at his landscaped retreats. Among his close friends were

symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski, who had an active interest in mysticism; famed horticulturist Luther Burbank, who encouraged plants to grow by speaking to them in soothing tones; and Goodwin Knight, who was a California governor and lieutenant governor in the 1950s and an avid

astrologer.

Residents of the Mount Washington complex still talk about the time in the late 1960s when Elvis Presley showed up at their door. "Elvis looked at one of our monks and said, 'Man, you made the right choice,' " recalled Brother

Paramananda, who left a promising acting career to devote his life to the fellowship. "Elvis said, 'People don't know my life or that I sometimes cry

myself to sleep because I don't know God.' “Fellowship leaders encouraged him to continue singing.

Yogananda's teaching blended Christianity and the 2nd century Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a yoga school of philosophy stressing nonviolence, self-discipline, physical exercises, breath control and meditation.

In a recent visit to the small study on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Encinitas where Yogananda penned "Autobiography," a monk named Brother Jayananda said, "You can feel his vibrations in here." The room — off-limits without an appointment — has been preserved as a shrine since the yogi's death in 1952. The desk is topped by a framed photograph of Yogananda at work on the book, pen in hand. A big brass Aladdin's lamp sits on a leather seat a few feet to the right. Large white spiral-shaped seashells are strewed across the floor in front of the fireplace.

At Mount Washington, Yogananda's bedroom has been turned into a shrine, where his unfinished last meal of fruit and tea remains wrapped in cellophane. Just around the corner, his collection of stones and minerals sits on a wooden bench in a hallway decorated with portraits of the guru at various ages.

There is hardly a patch of wall anywhere in the Mount Washington or Encinitas compounds without a prominent photograph or portrait of Yogananda, whose visage gazes out in dens and hallways, kitchens and studies, even gazebos. Critics say fellowship members go overboard in venerating their yogi as a godlike figure. They also point to a spate of recent legal problems as signs that the society Yogananda founded is all too human. In one case, DNA samples were needed to dismiss an attempt to take over the fellowship by a man who claimed he was Yogananda's illegitimate son.

In 1990, the fellowship filed a lawsuit against a splinter group known as Ananda to secure exclusive rights to Yogananda's teachings, name, likeness, voice and use of the term "self-realization." That case was resolved in 2002 with a unanimous jury verdict determining that Ananda had infringed on certain copyrights. But it also said the terms "Paramahansa Yogananda" and "self-realization" could not be trademarked.

which fellowship officials say sells about 50,000 copies a year. It was, as religion scholar W.Y. Evans-Wentz once noted, one of the few books about yogis by a genuine yogi.

The book chronicles Yogananda's life from his birth in northeast India through his search for a guru and ultimate bliss. Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in 1893 in Gorakhpur, India, into a well-to-do Bengali family.

As a young man, he toured India and made pilgrimages to the Himalayas before at last finding the teacher who fulfilled his spiritual needs, Sri Yukteswar. That teacher gave him the title Paramahansa, which means "highest swan," a vehicle of the Supreme Spirit.

He arrived in America from India in 1920, when he was invited to serve as a delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston.

In 1925, he moved to Los Angeles and established the international

headquarters of his spiritual society and a monastic order of monks and nuns who take vows of chastity, obedience and simplicity, living for the furtherance of self-realization.

At Mount Washington, 66 monks and 76 nuns dedicate themselves to the fellowship. Lay members are encouraged to attend Sunday sermons, enroll in a 3 1/2 -year mail-order course and start and end their days in meditation in their homes.

The monks and nuns arise to a ringing phone at 5:30 a.m. and live, work and worship in cell-like apartment rooms — also festooned with images of the guru — and surrounded by 12 acres of shady manicured gardens with a spectacular view of downtown Los Angeles.

Much of their day is spent in supporting members worldwide through

counseling and letter writing and in disseminating Yogananda's literature. They also practice "Kriya meditation," Yogananda's technique of breathing and concentration of the gaze to control "life energy," realize one's true self, or soul, and achieve perfect attunement with God, or samadhi.

It's not easy, according to fellowship senior spiritual counselor Uma Mata, 71, who was only 9 when Yogananda invited her to join his society. "I haven't experienced samadhi," she said. "It's what I'm working toward."

Experiencing Our Divine Potential

Sunday Evening – Brother Achalananda

Greetings and love to all of you. It is always a joy to be with you. This evening we have a happy announcement for Convocation 2006 - an audio recording of Sri Daya Mataji. Let’s all be still and hear her words of wisdom: (paraphrased)

Dear Ones,

It is such a joy to welcome you. I wish I could be there with you, but know that I remember you all in my prayers. With the greatest interest I will be following you and all of your activities this week, and asking God and Master to bless you. Warm greetings to the Germany and Portugal devotees. How thrilled Master is to see so many sincere souls here seeking to realize God. May each one of you know how much you are loved by God and Guru. That is what I want all of you to experience this blessed week. The world is suffering with so much strife and uncertainty that it is hard not to become engrossed. The longing in every heart is, “How can I be happy in these circumstances and be able to help

others?” The answer lies in cultivating an ever-increasing loving

relationship with God. As you meditate; as you dwell deep upon Guru’s teachings, you will strengthen one another. God’s presence will become more and more real to you. Remember that no matter how busy you are, you can choose where you focus your mind and heart.

Master said to just keep your mind centered in God, even in the midst of your activities. When you take a little time every day for meditation, you will find therein a peace that does not depend on outer conditions. You will be able to reach out and uplift others. That sweet relationship with God sustains me every day.

Remember always that we are not the body, but the soul. How blessed we are to be drawn to a guru who can lead us to that experience of God. Sixty years have passed since Guruji’s Autobiography of a Yogi was published, and it warms my heart to know how your lives are changing. You are among those souls that Guruji saw who would come to this path when he said, “I am with them and they are with me.” May you take with you a deep assurance that he is watching over you always. God

bless you dear ones. Jai Guru

I was going to ask you all a question, and our beloved Daya Mataji just gave

you the answer. What was this the 60th _{anniversary of? Autobiography of a}

Yogi. It has touched the hearts and minds of so many then, and continues to

do so today. The living vitality of its truth has not dimmed.

There was a man and wife who traveled to Germany with their teenage son and daughter. The man wanted to discover his roots and meet his relatives who were living there. As they were on the plane, the movie which was showing was horrible - the man wasn’t interested in it, so he started looking around for something to read. He happened to look in the seat pocket in front of him and found a book entitled Autobiography of a Yogi. He picked it up and glanced at the book cover, saw Master’s picture there, and thought it was some lady.

(Laughter)

Then he turned the book over and read the back cover, and then he read the first few pages. There he found page after page of raving reviews from individuals all over the world. He thought, “Well this sounds interesting. I think I’ll read this.” And he did …… and he was mesmerized.

He told his wife about it, but she wasn’t interested. After they arrived in Germany he and his family were invited to a gathering of seventeen of his relatives. At the gathering he asked if any of them had ever heard of the book. One of them gave him a high five. It turns out two of his relatives were already SRF members! After discovering this, his wife got curious, and his kids got curious. “Let me see the book,” they all said. “Not till I’m done,” the man told them.

(Laughter)

On the return flight home each one had their own copy.

(Laughter)

After that, the man returned to work and to life as usual. Then one day he was invited to the wedding of a friend’s daughter. Guess where the wedding was held? Lake Shrine.

(Laughter)

The man signed up for the Lessons, and later on he told one of the monastics, “Yoganandaji didn’t just arrange for the book, but he arranged for me to visit one of the places where he lived. In the Autobiography, Guruji tells of his spiritual journey. Now my spiritual journey begins.”

That’s how it began for me, too. It was either late 1952 or early in 1953 when I first read Autobiography of a Yogi. At that time it was published by the

became friends with the person who had suggested I read the book, and one day I happened to notice him putting a paper into the top drawer of his desk. “What’s that?” I asked him, and he told me, “Oh, it’s about yoga classes,” and he showed me a 1953 Convocation pamphlet. I looked it over and saw that there were six main topics to be addressed: Energization Exercises, Hon-Sau technique, Om technique, etc. The classes all sounded interesting, and when I read that there were Lessons available, I applied for them.

Then one night I went to India Hall – my first time. I arrived just as they were having the opening prayer – and I noticed that everyone was standing with their hands clasped together. Now, I’d never seen this before, and my skeptical mind said, “That’s weird.”

(Laughter)

But at the same time came this overwhelming feeling: “I’m home. Thank God I’m home at last.” And I’m still home, meditating and studying the Guru’s teachings. It’s been a wonderful journey.

Yes, I’ve had some struggles – and highs - along the way, like all of us do, but they are always opportunities to develop our divine potential.

Master said, “God did not want matter to become something different from Himself, so He had imbued it with a dreaming intelligence which, by a process of evolution, would gradually awaken and realize that matter and mind (the idea vibrations of God) are one.”

In material creation there is this oneness of being. Locked in the elements and minerals of inert matter, intelligence and consciousness sleeps - it can’t

express. Then what had looked like inert matter begins to take living form - in plants we see a semblance of life, a hint of life. In animals we find

consciousness, but not self-consciousness, or only a hint of it. In humanity we find both consciousness and self-consciousness and the potential for God-realization. Think of what a gift we have received!!

As the lower forms of life go about their drama in nature, we see the law is survival of the fittest. Everywhere you look you see that the stronger prey on the weaker. But notice how usually when a predator grasps its prey, the animal being preyed upon often gives up instantly. So often there is no

struggle – so often the animal just accepts its fate. It seems to us to be a cruel and terrible law, but in the final analysis it’s not, because it’s only a dream form. When the animal dies, its soul dissolves back into God’s consciousness, and then the individualized spark of God within it comes back in a higher form. In the Autobiography, Master tells the story of his beloved baby deer, which, after being overfed by one of the young boys at the school in India, lay dying. Master prayed fervently to God to spare its life. But then the deer appeared to Master in a dream and made its plea: “You are holding me back. Please let me go!" “All right,” Master answered in the dream, and the fawn passed on

Master said, “Death is the means by which dream matter changes back into the consciousness of God, releasing the soul within it for the next step in its progressive return journey to God. Thus death is a part of the process of salvation. The upward cycle of evolving intelligence in potentially more

efficient instruments of expression continues until it reaches the ultimate form in man.”

Death is another aspect of life. Birth and death are doors by which we pass from one dream to another dream aspect of life - the means for us to go from the gross physical dream of God to the finer, more evolved dream of God in the astral world.

One time there was a woman who came to Master and asked, “Is there really such a thing as hell?” Master’s eyes were twinkling as he said, “Where do you think you are now?”

(Laughter)

This place is our hell. Reincarnation of these individualized bodies is a series of

dreams within a dream. Reincarnation is the soul’s individualized dream within God’s greater dream. We arrive at last and become reunited with the Dreamer who has dreamed it all. A man is born in Denmark to poor parents, goes off to war and dies in battle. Next time he may be born in Italy to rich parents and become a priest or monk who spends his life in prayer. Then he takes rebirth in Asia, and after many struggles becomes a powerful king. And when he dreams death again, he is reborn a poor man in India; he finds his guru and finds God.

So hate no one and be attached to no nationality, because we’ve been all of those nationalities. Sometimes we have dark skin, sometimes light skin, but in each case it’s you each time. Each race, each nationality, thinks they are correct – they think their ways are justified, its customs the best. Until one gains wisdom, reincarnation is troublesome, a painful process of events that are full of shattered hopes.

Someone said, “Why is it old age comes so fast and smartness comes so slow?”

(Laughter)

I was fascinated by the concept of reincarnation. Then I got to thinking, “I wonder - how many human incarnations do we go through until we get

freedom?” Then I thought, “Probably thousands.” As I thought about it more I upped the ante, “No, tens of thousands!” Then as I continued to observe humanity …

(Laughter)

I thought, “No, hundreds of thousands!!” Then I saw something in Guruji writings. He said it takes millions of incarnations for the average person to

gain freedom!! It’s shocking! But there’s a happy side – there is hope for us - and that is Kriya Yoga. Master said that you do not gain a great technique such as Kriya Yoga at the beginning of your spiritual evolution; you get it at the

end of your search for God. With practice of Kriya you can find God in one

lifetime, or if you are a little bit lagging, a few lifetimes. Master encourages us – he’s telling us, “Hey, keep at it! You’re almost there.” Just stay with it and that divine potential will begin to express more and more in our lives.

These are interesting times we live in. Suppose a man is struck by a bomb and killed instantly. On the battle field he was filled with fear; but after death he joyously realizes he is free from fear and from the tomb of the body. One need not go through some ordeal to attain this knowledge. It is better to acquire wisdom through conscious spiritual effort in your life now. You can evolve through spiritual practice rather than by having to go through every experience.

But the world trains our minds in a different way. This world gets us caught up in materiality – it gets us accustomed to having too many things, and then we think we can’t be happy without them. “Make your life more simple,” Master said. “If you don’t do it, life’s experiences will teach you through bitter disillusionment.”

In 2000 and 2001 Ma sent me back to India. Then when I came back from India, I found I was having a problem - it was extremely difficult adjusting to life in the U.S. I was kind of puzzled by this, because I was born and raised here, so why should I have trouble adjusting? Then it hit me: sensory overload. It’s very common in the West. Life is much simpler in India, especially in the ashram. My room with its sparse furnishings was calling me. It’s so easy to overcomplicate life here and get involved in too many things. In India it’s easier to avoid getting caught up in the things of the world, either because it doesn’t exist, or not to the same degree. When I returned to Lake Shrine, many of the devotees told me, “You’ve changed,” and I thought, “What do they notice in me that I’m not conscious of?”

I started thinking back to my experiences in India, and remembered what had transpired one day in Ranchi. We had arrived at Ranchi just before Sharad Sangam, which is the Indian equivalent for Convocation. We hold classes and give counseling, and Thursday is Guru’s Day, with a special ceremony with chanting that goes on for hours.

The ceremony was to begin at 9 am and go on for hours, but one of the other monks said it would be okay for me to arrive late. So I arrived around 10 am and joined the rest of the devotees who were outdoors. There was a seat for me at the side of the altar, and I was completely focused on finding my seat. As I was winding my way through the crowd, and as I saw those devotees approaching the altar and pranaming - it hit me. The love and devotion of those devotees had supercharged the atmosphere with divine vibrations during that first hour of chanting, and the feeling was overpowering. Tears began to flow from my eyes, and I cried like a baby. I couldn’t stop, and didn’t want to. I remembered the words of the great Indian saint Ramakrishna: “Tears wash

away the mud of delusion.”

This state went on for a long time. Finally the tears subsided, and I sat down cross-legged. I think that was the moment when it happened – that must have been when the change took place within me. That’s what meditating together and chanting together and seeking God together can do for us. Never

underestimate this.

Bring up your children in this philosophy. Don’t pamper them. Give them good training. Keep their lives simple. Teach them not to cater too much to the body. Why enslave them in delusion? Give them true freedom by keeping their lives simple and cultivating in them inner peace and happiness. Do the same with your own life. Don’t be bound by anything. “That philosophy will save you,” Master said. Don’t be attached to things, because then when you can’t have it anymore that attachment will only lead to unhappiness, pain, and sorrow.

When I was thirteen I had a very interesting experience. I became absolutely convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that my parents were not my

parents. I was pretty sure that my real parents lived far away, maybe on some other planet,”

(Laughter)

…and that some day they would come back for me. As far as I knew, those people that were supposedly my parents were just nice people taking care of me. I never said a word about that to them. Later I realized - that was God calling the soul. Who is our parent? God is our Parent! He never forsakes us. He always looks after us. Who is behind our parents? God.

Master urged us not to take this life too seriously. We have to learn to accept the experiences of life that come and try to learn what they are trying to teach us. When I was in India, one time we were traveling by train – it was a 27 hour trip. The decision to travel by train was a last minute decision, and we were

assigned to 2nd _{class seats. There were long chairs facing one another that}

folded down to make a bed so that four people could sleep there, though it made for only very narrow beds. But across the isle there were two

unoccupied seats that would fold down to make a wider berth. At 10pm when we were retiring for the night, one of Swamis said to me, “You sleep over there, in the bigger birth.” I said, “But it’s not my birth.” But Swamiji was insistent, and he told me, “That’s okay, you sleep there. The person should trade with you.”

I wasn’t so sure…

(Laughter)

… but then I thought, why argue? So I lay down and fell asleep. Around midnight the other passengers who had those berths came aboard, and I awoke to loud voices arguing with the conductor and with Swamiji. I decided

to feign sleep.

(Laughter)

Pretty soon I got a good jab in the ribs, and opened my eyes to a man who was more than a little perturbed that I was in his seat.

(Laughter)

Without any argument, I got up and moved across the isle to the narrow berth. The man was so surprised at this – I guess he thought he was going to have a big argument. When I gave no argument, he was so completely nonplussed, that he kept arguing and muttering to himself for three or four more minutes, even though he had the berth. The lesson is that if we let a little thing like that disturb us, how are we going to keep calm when life really deals us a big

problem?

Master said, “God’s dream creation was not meant to frighten you, but to prod you to realize finally that it has no reality. Refuse to be intimidated by this dream. Affirm: “I will not be frightened by ill health, poverty, and accidents. Bless me, O Lord, that when You put me through trials, I realize their delusive nature and become victorious over them by positive action and by remaining inwardly united to You.”

Master said that if this creation wasn’t a dream, then you couldn’t get away from it. But in sleep you don’t remember who you are – it’s all vanishes. It’s all gone. It’s the same with this life. This life is not real.

Guruji gave us an interesting technique for going into the superconsciousness. As you start to fall asleep, or just as you are beginning to wake up in the morning, your consciousness goes to a place where it touches the

superconsciousness for a moment.

If you think of the three states of consciousness - waking consciousness, subconsciousness, and superconsciousness - as the three lines that make a

“Y”,

connecting point for a moment whenever you are just falling asleep or just waking up. If you can lengthen that time and remain alert and calm with no thinking, you can cross over into superconsciousness. But if we start to think, we go to waking consciousness.

At the Convocation last year I told you the story about my 5½ year dry spell, and how at the end I found there had been a sudden shift in my consciousness. This type of experience can come without any effort. I had found that as I was falling asleep I could get to that juncture point where the three states of

consciousness met for a little while, but I couldn’t hold it very long – I would either lapse into sleep or wake up. This went on for some time. I realized that I needed to stay in that state longer, so I tried to attain that state of

consciousness every time I was going to sleep. The music that comes in that state of consciousness is unbelievable. It’s so etheric - so beautiful, it’s beyond

human inspiration. There is no thought - just calmness. Finally I got there one time, and was able to hold on to it, and later I wrote down how I felt.

It’s hard to remember back – it was so long ago. “I finally got into it,” I wrote. “My whole being was tingling, pulsating with life and joy.” Eventually of course I came out of it, and it never happened again, but I had drank the experience of that state, and I had realized the truth of Master’s words: “Without falling asleep or losing consciousness, keep your mind calm and peaceful in deep meditation – just as it is in dreamless subconscious sleep – and enter the finer world of the superconsciousness. There the body is

forgotten, and you enjoy the peace and bliss of your soul, your true Self, and of the soul’s oneness with God.” That’s what we are all looking for.

Going back to India and the trip by train, we arrived for the dedication of the new mandir for Guruji. Three of us monks lived in a devotee’s home, and a number of devotees had gathered there to walk in a one-mile procession from their homes to the new mandir where the inauguration ceremony was to be held. At the front of the procession were a few devotees carrying a large picture of Master. I guess the other monks had decided I was too old and decrepit to walk …

(Laughter)

and so someone drove me ahead about ¾ of the way and dropped me off. I sat down, and from this point I could still see the procession coming slowly toward me from several blocks away. I looked around and found myself before a temple that had a flat roof, on top of which were various statues representing an incident in the life of a particular saint. One of the statues portrayed the saint sitting cross-legged in a cave. There was an opening to the cave above his head, and standing over it was a cow was milking herself, sending milk to the saint who had his mouth open to receive it. This was representative of God feeding His devotee. I pranamed to the saint, and when I got up I felt higher state of consciousness stealing over me. But I fought it off, thinking, “No, it’s not supposed to happen here!”

(Laughter)

In a little bit the procession arrived with some musicians - I joined them, and we began chanting and walking. After about two blocks that feeling began to steal over me again - but again I thought, “No, it’s not supposed to happen here.” Luckily I was able to fight it off.

(Laughter)

The procession came to a pundal (a colorful open-sided Indian tent) next to the mandir, where about 600 people were assembled. I was to perform the Arati ceremony, but the moment I began, the devotion pouring out from all those devotees was so powerful that I cried the whole time. Finally the ceremony was finished. I sat down and we had a short meditation. As we began to

chant, that higher consciousness stole over me again. “Okay, this is the place,” I thought. “Let it happen here.” Some of you may know that with those who go into that state, often the head is drawn back – you have no control over it – and if you see someone like that you may wonder why they don’t fall over backwards. I found myself having the experience of being half in and half out of normal consciousness – and I found out later that it is called “bhava samadhi”. I found that in this state I could focus either on the inner world or on the outer world. After a while Sevanandaji came over and whispered in my ear, “You’ve got a talk to give now.”

(Laughter)

It was exceedingly difficult. It was a real struggle to talk, but finally, slowly some words came. These are experiences of our divine potential that will come to us. Looking back, I can’t believe I fought off a higher state of consciousness!

(Laughter)

What happened was beyond my control. These kinds of experiences can come to us.

Later on that year in February I was in Dwarahat. It’s a wonderful place, but it gets quite nippy at night. I awoke very early one morning and sat for

meditation until 8:30. I had a bite to eat, then went back to my room, brushed my teeth, and then thought, “What to do now?” There was really nothing to do, so I sat to meditate some more.

But my room was pretty cold, and I thought it might be nice to meditate at the mandir. The air was brisk, but the sun was warm, so I decided to meditate in the sun just outside the mandir. I sat in meditation posture, and since I had just eaten and couldn’t do Kriya, I thought, “What technique should I do?” Hong-Sau was a favorite of mine, so I began the Hong-Sau technique. I observed my first breath coming in, and half way in I was gone!!

That state is hard to explain. There was not a tremor of thought in the mind – the mind was completely still. On a deeper level I was aware that the body was not moving, and this went on for some time. Finally I began to come out of it. You find that there’s no sense of time in those experiences. I wondered what time it was and looked at my watch. It was 12 noon! I’d started at 9 am, so I must have been in that state for three hours. Three hours time had flown by, just like that. Then I remembered Master’s chant:

Sitting in the silence,

on the sunny banks of my mind, Sitting in the silence,

with the Master by my side,

that’s the time I see him best, O ‘tis lovely sitting in the silence.

I thought, “Ah, that must have been what he was talking about.” Later I tried to write something down to explain it: “The connection to the body and to this creation had vanished. Only being remained. There was complete

contentment – no desires, no needs, no thoughts – it was a completely peaceful, satisfied existence.” We wonder why yogis can sit for hours in

meditation, without moving. That’s why. They are completely absorbed in the silence.

There were some other people working near the mandir who saw me in that state, and two of them came over to me. They were hill people who were used to seeing this kind of thing, so they don’t pay it much mind, but they must have seen me sitting without moving for so long, and they gave me deep pranams.

Such experiences change us in a positive way. They leave a lasting impression - the experience doesn’t fade with time. That’s how one can tell if it’s a true experience, a genuine experience.

I have shared these experiences with you with the hope that you will be inspired to keep on keeping on. Never give up! You never know from one moment to the next, when by the blessings of the Guru and the grace of God suddenly some inner door will open. Usually we don’t speak of such things in public, but because it happened in public I felt I could share this with you. Don’t seek spiritual experiences. Seek God. Seek to become spiritual, and if those spiritual experiences happen, one sees that our life changes. We

become more peaceful, more calm, more resolute, more compassionate, more wise, more loving. We all want that - because that is our true nature.

Master said, “Break out of the mental cell of ignorance that has you confined. Think differently. Refuse to be limited by thoughts of weakness or age. Who told you that you are old? You are not old. You, the soul, are eternally young. Impress that thought on your consciousness; “I am the soul, a reflection of ever-youthful Spirit. I am vibrant with youth, with ambition, with power to succeed. Your thoughts can limit you or they can free you. You are your worst enemy, and you are your best friend. You have all the power to accomplish what you want, if you motivate yourself, if you remove the mental kinks that are blocking the flow of conviction.

“I have seen persons who, despite ill health, have made up their minds to achieve something. Their ailing body was always trying to divert their

attention, but they overcame that physical barrier and undeterred went on and on, realizing their goal by sheer strength of mind. And I have seen others with wonderful health, but peanut brains. No matter how you try to convince them, they say, “I can’t do it.” They are stopped by the mental barrier of feeling inadequate. And some people have both health and intelligence but they do not succeed because they have spiritual barriers of bad habits. Whether from

physical, mental, or spiritual causes, failure starts with the avowal, “I can’t do it.” Such is the force of the mind and the vibratory power of words. When you say to yourself, “I can’t do it, no one else in the whole world can change that decree. You must destroy that paralyzing enemy, “I can’t.”

“There is an antidote for “can’t consciousness”: The affirmation: “I can!” Create that antidote with your mind and administer it with your will. “If there is a devil that devil is “I can’t do it.” That is the Satan that has disconnected your dynamo of eternal power; it is the main reason you do not succeed in life. Throw that demon out of your consciousness by your

indomitable conviction, “I can do it.” Mean it, and affirm it as often as you can. Mentally believe it and energize that belief by acting on it with will power. Work! And while you work, never give up the thought, “I can do it.” Even if there are a thousand obstacles, do not relent. If you have that determination, then what you go after must inevitably come to pass and when it does you will say, “Well, it was so easy!”

“So why should you surrender to inertia and live in a crust of ignorance? Isn’t it better to burst that shell of “can’t” into the free air of “I can”? Then you will know that mind is all-powerful.” Anything your mind can think can be

materialized. There is no obstruction but your “can’t” consciousness. See how wonderful is the way of expansion I am showing you. The words, “I can, I must, and I will”-that is the way to change yourself and achieve absolute victory.

“You will never win unless you make the effort. God has given you mental dynamite sufficient to destroy all your difficulties. Remember that. It is the most effective force you can use to be victorious in life, to break free of limiting weaknesses and habits into an all-accomplishing expansion of your

consciousness. Are you going to remain a walking dead person, ready to be buried in the grave beneath the debris of your efforts? No! Do something in this world - do something wonderful! Whatever you do will be recognized by God. And even if the world fails to recognize you, if you have done everything you can, that infused mental power will remain with your soul. Wherever you go—in this life or beyond—you will have with you that invincible spirit. As the Lord Krishna exhorted the warrior-prince Arjuna: “O Scorcher of Foes, forsake this small weak-heartedness. Arise!”

“I have used that power of mind throughout my life and I have seen it work. You, also, when confronted by ill-health and failure, should meditate deeply and mentally affirm: “Almighty Father, I am Thy child. I shall use my inherited divine powers of mind and will to shatter the causes of failure.” Rally those mental forces at night when the distractions of the world recede and your mind is highly focused and recharged in meditation, prayer, and God-communion. “What more shall I say to you? These thoughts are practical; they work. And if you make up your mind to use them and get busy, they will work. You can demolish your difficulties; you can break down the ramparts of ignorance that

have enclosed you for incarnations. You will know that as an immortal child of God, death cannot kill you, nor can birth in this fleshly cage completely inhibit the transcendent power within you. By the soul, you must redeem the soul; that no matter where you are, you have at your command the irresistible divine powers of mind and will to vanquish every obstacle in our path!” If you go at it, and if you refuse to give up, success must come. Sometimes you say, “I can, but I don’t want to.” So let’s not be lazy. Let’s get on with the show. Remember all those millions of incarnations? Haven’t you had enough of them?

(Laughter, along with a long whispered “Yessssss!” from the audience)

The world is a mess. Who made it the big mess? We did. Don’t we want to break the mold and be free from these forced incarnations? Break free. Meditate. Love God. Seek God. Find God … and you will be free.

God Bless.

Recharging the Body with Cosmic Energy

Monday Afternoon – Brother Naradananda

How feels everyone?

(From the audience: “Awake and ready!!”)

No matter how often we read Master’s text about the theory and purpose of the Energization Exercises, we all interpret it differently. “Picture worth a thousand words”, as the old adage goes, so a demonstration of them, as we will have today, is extremely beneficial. Paramahansa Yogananda discovered the principles of the Energization Exercises in 1916, and began teaching them in 1918 at his boy’s school in Ranchi for overall well-being of body and mind. Master wrote in the Autobiography: “Realizing that man's body is like an electric battery, I reasoned that it could be recharged with energy through the direct agency of the human will. As no action, slight or large, is possible without willing, man can avail himself of his prime mover, will, to renew his

bodily tissues without burdensome apparatus or mechanical exercises. I therefore taught the Ranchi students my simple ‘Yogoda’ techniques by which the life force, centered in man's medulla oblongata, can be consciously and instantly recharged from the unlimited supply of cosmic energy.

“The boys responded wonderfully to this training, developing extraordinary ability to shift the life energy from one part of the body to another part, and to sit in perfect poise in difficult body postures. They performed feats of strength and endurance which many powerful adults could not equal.”

We’re talking here about the energy or prana that is all around us and within us that we can tap into. We have to learn to tap into it, and then we realize that we are not just flesh and bones; we are the divine Spirit. Normally we get energy from the UV rays of sunlight, oxygen which is converted into energy, and nourishing food and liquids such as water and juices. We also get energy from our thoughts. How? Have you ever been in an emergency situation where you had to do something seemingly impossible such as move something very heavy - and you found you were able to lift it? And isn’t it true that if we’re not particularly fond of doing something, we find that we don’t seem to have enough energy to do it - but if it’s something we want to do, we seem to have all the energy we need? Where does that energy come from? It comes from thought, which gives us the motivation we need.

Now, all these are indirect ways of getting energy. With the Energization Exercises, we have a direct connection to the source of energy. We are

surrounded by this energy at all times - we have a halo of energy around us at all times. The medulla oblongata is the antenna that receives the energy. When we learn to live more by this energy, we will begin to realize the truth of what Jesus said: “Man does not live by bread alone.”

Master said that you can prove this to yourself. When you are feeling tired and are thinking that you need something to eat, practice the Energization

Exercises instead. Perform them slowly, with deep concentration, and you will find that you do feel recharged. It may not happen right away - it takes time and continued practice, but eventually you will tap into that unlimited source of energy.

These exercises are not just physical exercises; they are a form of pranayama, or life energy control. All the techniques Master gave us are forms of

pranayama. When we master them, then we obtain the states of awareness that the saints had. Through mastery of the senses we will learn to direct the energy inward and upward to the higher centers in the spine, and awakening these centers will make us aware that we are more than just the body and mind – we will realize that we are a divine spark of God.

Though we may not be aware of it, the Energization Exercises help us to spiritualize ourselves to the same degree as the Hong-Sau, Om, and Kriya techniques. Sometimes people wonder, “Well, I do them because I’m supposed to, but I don’t feel much. Do these exercises really have any

spiritual benefit?” Yes! Listen to what Gyanamata wrote in her diary in 1926: “I see the little star constantly. At any moment of the day when I close my

eyes it may flash upon me. This morning while doing the Energization

Exercises it came in exactly the right place.” So just by doing the Energization Exercises she was able to see the spiritual eye. I think that’s a pretty good motivation!

Our bodies are made of energy, and the Energization Exercises stimulate the five currents in the body, and this keeps us healthy so that we can more easily calm the mind and concentrate within, thus facilitating our meditation. In September of 1926, Gyanamata wrote to Master after her son, Rex, had an accident: “Rex was brought home last Saturday. He is steadily improving. It is expected that in two weeks he will be able to sit up in a chair, and about the first of November commence to walk with crutches. I do not know how much muscle and tendon he has lost. The doctor says that when standing erect, with legs apart, he will not be able to draw the right leg up to the left, because the necessary muscles for that action are gone. Another doctor says that when sitting, he will not be able to cross the right leg over the left. He has suffered from nervous indigestion, and has to be very careful about his diet, but that is better now.

“Rex says that he often thinks of you, and that he attributes his freedom from fever and pain to your help. He believes that without you, the history of his case would be very different. He is even now exercising the left leg, and says that he feels sure that his practice of the SRF Energization Exercises will do much to help him regain use of the right. His nurses have commented on his unusual muscular control and strength, due of course to the exercises.” The editor’s note at the bottom of the page in God Alone says that Rex eventually recovered completely from this injury. That’s what these Energization Exercises can do for us!!

Full concentration on the exercises is a must. From experience, I know I

haven’t always concentrated as well as I should, but if I do my best, performing them slowly and as correctly as possible, I can see that there is a benefit that comes, and that benefit carries over into the practice of the other techniques. Master used to do the Energization Exercises with the monks every day. One day as they were performing them, one monk was thinking, “Master is doing them too fast.” They finished, and as they entered the chapel for meditation, Master turned to the monk and whispered, “That’s because I have more concentration than you do.”

(Laughter)

Willpower is the vital mover of cosmic energy. Do the exercises with

concentration and willpower. The medulla is the floodgate, the entry point for the energy. The spiritual eye is the center of willpower. When we do the Energization Exercises, we lift our gaze and focus at the spiritual eye,

concentrating on the medulla and sending the energy to the particular body part. This is the switch that lets the energy come in.

Master gave a number of points:

A. Perform them outside in the fresh air, or before an open window. B. Perform them slowly and with deep concentration.

C. Perform them in the order given. You can see how each exercise is related to the next one.

Some years ago I had the opportunity to spend two or three years with Brother Turiyananda at Lake Shrine. Perhaps many of you have heard numerous rumors and stories about Brother Turiyananda. One time he was to give a class on the Energization Exercises, and, typical of Brother T, prior to getting ready to teach this class he practiced the Energization Exercises eight times a day!! I was quite inspired by this, and so when I was asked to give this class I started practicing them three or four times a day. It was subtle, but it really did have an effect on me; I felt calmer, more clear, more awake.

If for some reason you cannot do the exercises physically, then do them mentally. This has a wonderful effect. The use of our willpower is essential part of the Energization Exercises. We use the will to bring the energy in, and by doing this we strengthen the will. Using our willpower is absolutely

essential in order to keep going even when we don’t feel like it.

Master set an example by doing them twice every day. He didn’t need to. But no matter what time it was when he finished his work, even if it was midnight or in the early hours of the morning, he would go outside to do the Energization Exercises before meditation. Daya Ma said that she knew he didn’t need to do them, but that he was setting an example for the devotees.

One time Master was on a trip to Northern California with some of the

devotees. They were going up the coast, and it was late at night when they finally stopped. They pulled the house car over, and he had the devotees get out and begin the Energization Exercises right there on the sidewalk. Two policemen came by and were looking at them, wondering what in the world they were doing. Some of the devotees got embarrassed and stopped. But Master told them, “No. Continue on.” When one of the policemen asked what they were doing, Master told them, “Oh, we’re just exercising.”

Embarrassment was not an excuse for not doing them!

(Laughter)

Master said, “The methods I teach show you how to recharge every part of your body with life energy coming direct from the omnipresent vibratory power of God that surrounds you and is within you. It is that power which has created your body and which sustains it. By practice of the Energization Exercises and especially by Kriya Yoga, you can enliven your whole being with Divine Life.”

Monday Afternoon Satsanga

Sister Mridani

Good afternoon! It’s wonderful to see you all. Guruji has given us a vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom in his lessons, poems, recordings, and writings. We have an unbelievable richness of words from the Guru through which we can look to for help and guidance. An hour for this class is a very short time. Each one of us has questions, and on some days there are many questions. Ultimately we have to go within to find the answers to our

questions – that is what will give us true understanding.

We are all fighting the battle of Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra, trying to align ourselves with the virtues of the soul’s discriminative intelligence to win the victory on the inner field of the subtle cerebrospinal centers where the interiorization of God-communion takes place, defeating the opposition of mental restlessness and sense attractions. This inner war is the subject of the great allegory of the Bhagavad Gita – it’s a textbook for living - and it gives us supreme instruction and direction of how to interact with this material creation on the levels of body, mind, and soul, so that we can win the battle. (This

paragraph is paraphrased from the Gita to approximate what Sister said)

Not all of Guruji’s writings are translated into all languages, but know this: whatever writings you have available to you, the Guru will always be with you to give you all the knowledge and understanding you need. We need to learn to go inside to realize intuitively the answers to our questions. God does talk to us, as long as we are willing to listen. Guruji’s teachings are both repetitious and multifaceted in order to catch each one of us, because we all look at things differently. He said he would come again and again to help us and to teach us. Today we will touch on just a few questions, but you can find the answers to all your questions by attuning your consciousness to the Guru’s teachings with your intuition.

D. I am wondering about finding God without the benefit of a meditation group. My contact with other SRF members is infrequent; the nearest meditation group is three hours away and so I am only rarely able to attend. I thought I could do it alone, but now I am wondering - is this bad karma? Can I really find God without a meditation group?

E.

come to this path. You wouldn’t even want to come otherwise. This is Raja Yoga, the highest of all yogas. You have been led to an avatar, and an avatar can make us what he is. For some karmic reason, you are not near other devotees. Train the mind to think this way: “An avatar came for me.” Remind yourself often: “I have prayer, affirmation, meditation techniques, and a Guru ready to help me. God has given me everything I need. He has given me the power to know Him.”

pay them. But the blessing is that it’s easier and quicker for us because we follow a spiritual path, and we have the tools that we need to

mitigate our bad karma and make our good karma better. What if you don’t have Kriya? Master said that Hong-Sau is the baby Kriya. The end results are the same if it is deeply and sincerely practiced.

Guruji does stress the power of group meditation. Keep your

consciousness attuned to the thought that there is no time, no space, no distance between us. You are never alone, never without a group. We have a worldwide family, and those who are in group meditations, when you sit to meditate, include one another in your meditations, and

especially those who might be alone. Pray for them, and include all in your meditations, especially those who don’t have a group.

Master said, “In seemingly empty space, there is one Link, one Life eternal, one wave of life flowing through everything.” This is the great creative vibration of Aum that flows through and connects everything and everybody in the universe - this is the connection between us. There is no distance, no space between us and our Guru.

Master gave us some practical measures, and in the first Chapter of the

Autobiography he gives us an important technique. Lahiri Mahasaya

had entered mahasamadhi shortly after Guruji had been born, but his picture always graced the family altar, and as a child Guruji often had his daily meditations before his picture. In the Autobiography, he wrote:

His picture had a surpassing influence over my life. As I grew, the thought of the master grew with me. In meditation I would often see his photographic image emerge from its small frame and, taking a living form, sit before me. When I attempted to touch the feet of his luminous body, it would change and again become the picture. As childhood slipped into boyhood, I found Lahiri

Mahasaya transformed in my mind from a little image, cribbed in a frame, to a living, enlightening presence. I frequently prayed to him in moments of trial or confusion, finding within me his

solacing direction. At first I grieved because he was no longer physically living. As I began to discover his secret omnipresence, I lamented no more. He had often written to those of his disciples who were over-anxious to see him: "Why come to view my bones and flesh, when I am ever within range of your kutastha (spiritual sight)?"

When you sit in meditation, look at the Guru’s picture, or one of the param-gurus, and focus

on it. Master says in the Gita: “Sincere spiritual effort (regardless of inner struggle) sends

forth positive spiritual vibrations. Deeply meditating disciples should concentrate on their

guru, or meditate with him if possible. Those who are spiritually advanced do in fact