Meditation on Bliss

When we meditate, we often have a feeling of Bliss, Joy, Peace, or Ananda. This Bliss is one of the attributes of our own soul, as in Sat, Chit, Ananda; or ever Existing, ever Conscious, ever new Bliss.

This is important because in that state of Bliss, we are in touch with an aspect of our soul; we experience it in a real way, which leads us to the next question, what is its source or its origin? The answer is its creator, the Divine source. 

Why is this so? 

Because we know, that our soul is not alone. Everyone has a soul and what makes it so marvelous is that there are an infinite number of souls and each one has its origin in the same source.

We may recall our discourse on the Koshas or sheath that protect the soul, Self.

The most outer is Annamaya kosha, the next is Pranamaya kosha, then Manamaya kosha, followed by Jnanamaya kosha, then Anandamaya kosha and the Self, or Atman.

Each of the sheaths or koshas is only an appearance. In truth, all of the levels, layers, koshas, or sheaths of our reality are only appearances or maya (while also very real in the sense of dealing with the external world), and that underneath all of those appearances, we are pure, divine, eternal consciousness, or whatever name we prefer to call it.

While some view maya as meaning that nothing is real, and turn this into an intellectual practice, others view the illusion of maya as being Shakti or energy, the creative force of the universe. In this way, the maya of the koshas can be experienced both as unreal and, at the same time, as the beautiful manifestations of the universal oneness.

Anandamaya kosha is the most interior of the koshas, the first of the koshas surrounding the Atman, the eternal center of consciousness. Ananda means bliss. However, it is not bliss as a mere emotion experienced at the level of the sheath of mind. Ananda is a whole different order of reality from that of the mind. It is peace, joy, and love that is underneath, beyond the mind, independent of any reason or stimulus to cause a happy mental reaction. It is simply being, resting in bliss called ananda.

Yet, even this bliss, however wonderful it is, is still a covering, a sheath, a lampshade covering the pure light of consciousness. It is the subtle most of the five koshas. In the silence of deep meditation, this too is let go of, so as to experience the center.

According to Vedanta the wise should discriminate between the Self or the real and the koshas, which are the non-self or illusion.

Atman is the Self, the eternal center of consciousness, which was never born and never dies. Atman is light itself, though to even describing it as that is incomplete and incorrect. The deepest light shines through the koshas, and takes on their coloring.

Atman, the Self, has been best described as indescribable. The realization of that, in direct experience, is the goal of Yoga meditation.

Meditation Practice for Personal Benefit and Spiritual Growth

Meditation is a natural process of withdrawing attention from external conditions and directing it inward to a chosen focus of concentration.

The benefits of regular meditation practice have been widely reported in a variety of secular news magazines and newspapers. These can include stress reduction, strengthening of the body's immune system, better organized thought processes, improved powers of concentration, enhanced memory, refinement and enlivening of the nervous system, awakening of regenerative energies, slowing of biologic aging processes, development of the capacities of the brain to process perceptions and states of consciousness, and orderly functioning of the body's organs, glands, and systems. For these reasons, regular meditation practice is now increasingly recommended by many physicians and other health practitioners.

While the side-benefits can be welcomed and enjoyed, the primary purpose of meditation practice is to elicit clear states of consciousness and to facilitate progressive, authentic spiritual growth. The following basic procedure is easy to learn and practice:

Meditate once or twice every day.

Sit upright in a comfortable chair or cross-legged if this is convenient. Hold the head up, chin parallel to the ground and direct your attention to the point between the eye brows in the higher regions of the brain.

The take 3 deep relaxing breaths, remain still for a few moments until you feel centered; be aware of your natural breathing rhythm.

When inhalation occurs naturally, mentally speak a chosen word, such as "God," "peace," "joy," or any pleasant word. When exhalation occurs, again mentally speak the word. Feel that the sound of the chosen word is blossoming in your mind or your field of awareness. Do this without effort and without anxiety about results.

When a state calmness is experienced, discontinue listening to the word. Be still, letting that meditative calm persist for several minutes until you feel inclined to conclude the practice session.

This procedure is suitable for anyone. For relaxation purposes, it can be completed in approximately 20 minutes. This is the simple mantra meditation routine. A mantra (from Sanskrit manas, mind, thinking principal; tra, to protect and take beyond) serves as a focusing device to keep attention removed from involvement with random thoughts and emotional states.

When breathing is slow and refined, and when thoughts and emotions are calmed, clear states of awareness are experienced.

For best results, meditate daily for 20 minutes once or twice a day. Mornings and evenings are recommended. Do this for at least 30 days before evaluating the results.

If meditation is included in your daily spiritual practice, pray in your customary way until you are peaceful and somewhat immersed in the presence of God. It may be that meditation will naturally occur. If not, use your chosen word to keep your attention flowing inward.

When you acquire proficiency in meditation practice, you may wish to extend the session by calmly contemplating your relationship with the Infinite, or just sit longer in the conscious, calm state until you feel peaceful and fulfilled.

When involved in daily activities and relationships, maintain your calm state. Cultivate cheerfulness and optimism. Be emotionally stable. Maintain a balance of activity and rest. Exercise regularly and choose a nutritious food plan. For health purposes and to be kind to nature, a vegetarian diet is well suited. Let all of your thoughts, moods, relationships, and actions be positive and constructive.

Regular meditation practice and a harmonious relationship with nature and other people enables us to live effectively, enjoyably, and successfully.

Modern Mystics

What exactly is mysticism? Mysticism is that form of religious practice centering on firsthand experience of the divine. Mystic practices belong to the core of all religions, particularly those who retain a vital belief in a transcendent reality and the aim to communicate with that reality by direct experience. Insofar as everyone is potentially spiritual, one could say that there is a mystic in all of us.

The practice of mysticism has two essential elements that correspond to two meanings, to "discipline one’s senses" and to "enter the mysteries."

The truth in all mysticism springs from the fact that these two meanings are related. To be more fully open to the mysteries requires the purification of the mind and the discipline of one’s senses as explained in yoga teachings on pratyahara. (Pratyahara is the withdrawal of the senses (indriyas) of cognition and action from both the external world and the images or impressions in the mind).  

Mysticism in Christian tradition with regard to creation should be directed toward the Cosmic Christ which connects one not only to the world in a new way, but also to the entire cosmos. Christ being the first born from the transcendent Father God, expressing as the creative intelligence and ruler in all of creation can be experienced by man as the intelligence of all expressions. This consciousness was present in Jesus the Christ.

Through embracing the cosmic Christ individuals of all races would experience a connection with everyone and everything in creation, including the earth. No one, nothing would be excluded.

This fully expresses the Christ, "the first-born of all creation”. In him were created all things in heaven and earth: everything visible and invisible . . . he holds all things in unity" (Col. 1:15-17) This Christ is "the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of God’s nature, sustaining the universe by God’s powerful command" (Heb. 1:3) This is the cosmic ruler to whom every should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:10)

Embracing the Cosmic Christ, would expand the scope of Christian teachings and lend a greater understanding of its current teachings.

This is not to say that the Enlightenment’s quest for the historical Jesus should be ignored, any adherence of the Cosmic Christ must be grounded in the historical Jesus, his life and his liberating deeds.

But the time is for an extended direction that builds on the old one, but goes in a different direction, the direction of a living cosmology for Christians in our time. Such a move would renew the art of expressing awe for creation as an expression of the living Christ.

The heart of the Cosmic Christ is the figure of Jesus as Wisdom and love.

Unfortunately present Christian teaching is out of touch with its own mystical heritage. It does not acknowledge its own mystical roots.

What is needed is a global religious awakening without control. Such a transformation must also embrace the earth itself, after all everything in heaven and on earth is created. If we fail, Mother Earth will be dying before our eyes.

From the Mediterranean to Alaska to the Soviet Union to the California coast, we encounter news of ecological disaster. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Topsoil is being destroyed around the world at an alarming rate. The world’s forests are disappearing. In these forests dwell incredibly diverse species of plants, animals and birds. As forests go, species go. We are currently in the midst of an "extinction spasm of immense proportions. Species are disappearing at an alarming rate.

In this global crisis, political programs and voluntary activity will not be enough. A spiritual response is also required.

The earth will continue to bestow its blessings of soil, forest and rain, but are we responding as we should, with gratitude, restraint, appropriate reverence?

Western churches need a cosmological sense. Priests and ministers are reading rich cosmic biblical texts, or traditional prayers and then completely ignoring the cosmological dimension in their exposition or commentary.

Mysticism in Christianity is well documented in such names as: St. Francis of Assisi, Hildegard of Bingen, Theresa Neumann, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, Pierre Teilhard De Chardin and others. One could with conviction say, that authentic mysticism is what Jesus taught.

Christian mystics had little interest in Christian institutional practice.

Christians and non-Christians alike need to embrace the artistic, philosophical, social, political, economic, literary, scientific and spiritual life in order to enrich our culture.

Is the Second coming of Christ the Cosmic Christ who would usher in a new renaissance? 

Meditation with Propose

• What is this I and mine who claims to be and own things?
• Are these things, claims, and identities who I really am?
• What are all these things, these objects, this world?
• What is the stuff of which they are made of?
• And from where do all these many things arise?
• Who am I, really? Who am I?

One who is not able to refrain from asking such nagging questions is a candidate for the path of Self-Realization, wherein all of these questions are resolved in the direct experience of the Absolute Reality.

First, one must be aware of the external world, however broad that may be: universe, galaxy, earth, country, city, or home.

Be aware of the world in a peaceful, contemplative way.

Reflect on the nature of our relationship with that external world, cultivating and meditating on attitudes of love, compassion, goodwill and acceptance.

We need to ask ourselves: "What do I want, at the highest level? What is that one, what is the highest goal that is the guide for my decisions in life? Who am I? What do I need to let go of, or cease from doing? What do I need to do more of, or start doing? How will I do these things and when?

Gradually we bring our attention closer from the vast, external world, to the closer world of our daily life and finally we come to the space that our body is occupying.

We turn our attention inward, so as to systematically move through the layers of senses, body, breath and mind, intellect, to the center of consciousness.

We become aware of the individual senses and means of expression, indriyas that is, we explore our sensory awareness; smell, taste, seeing, touching, and hearing (the jnanendriyas).

We maintain mindfulness that those senses are the importers of information and insights from the external world.

Then, we close the temple doors called senses, and bring our attention further inward, so that we can explore within, through the levels of body, breath, mind, and beyond.

After making peace with the world and exploring our senses, we explore the body internally through a variety of methods of inner surveying.  

We survey the body from head to toe and toe to head. Do this systematically; so that the path we follow each time is similar, though the experience may be different.

In whatever way we experience the body is okay: parts, systems, sensations.

We do this as if we are really curious to explore within.

We remain mindful of only the body, not the breath, nor mind, only the body.

Then we shift awareness inward to the breath, then to the mind, and then into the silence and beyond, finally leading to the center of consciousness.

Next after exploring the world, senses, and body, we allow our breath to be smooth, slow, calm and serene.

Explore the breath. Explore it first at the diaphragm, eliminating jerks and pauses, and making it breath steady, smooth, and comfortable.

Then we do invigorating breathing practices or pranayama.

We breathe as though exhaling down from the top of the head to the base of the spine. Inhale as though inhaling up from the base of the spine to the top of the head.

We then bring our attention to the nostrils, feeling the air as it flows. Feel the touch of the flow.

We remain mindful of only the breath, not body, nor mind, only the breath.

Then we feel as if forgetting our are breathing, as attention goes deeper or more inward, beyond the breath to the mind itself, and then to silence.

After exploring the world, senses, body, and breath, we begin to allow the conscious mind to still itself.

First, we become aware of the process of mind, while continuing to focus on the breath; we become a witness to the inner functioning of the mind.  

We allow the streams of thoughts to flow naturally, without interruption, yet we remaining focused.

We place our attention to rest either in the heart or at the point between the eyebrows depending on where we feel most inclined.

We keep our attention in that space, not allowing it to wander.

Then we bring our attention to our chosen object of meditation (inside that space), whether a seen, heard, or felt object; whether gross, subtle, or otherwise. For example, it may be a point of light, an inner sound, a visualized object or a mantra.

We remain aware of only this inner focus. Not the body, nor senses, nor breath, nor the streams of the mind, only this one space or chosen object.

Now we allow the natural insights of the subtler mental processes to emerge, and to flow through the field of the mind.

We continue to allow thoughts to flow, cultivating two skills: remaining focused in the space, while at the same time letting go of the thought patterns.

Then, after the conscious mind is no longer a distraction or disturbance, the unconscious and latent aspects of the mind are allowed to come forward, are examined, and then let go. The mind is not stopped or suppressed, but rather it is gone beyond, into silence, the ocean of consciousness.

After systematically examining and letting go of the world, senses, body, breath, and mind, we gradually come to a place of deep inner Stillness and Silence.

As our meditation deepens, we watch out for the invisible source of all light, or listen for the silent source of all sound.

Gradually we experience the convergence of practices of mantra, prayer, contemplation and meditation. Allowing the inner peace or spiritual truth to come forward, experiencing the heights of Samadhi and Turiya, the fourth state, beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.

At some point we experience the awakening of the Kundalini, and 

its rising to the Sahasrara, or the crown chakra.  

Eventually, allow the meditations to converge on that innermost point out of which mind, time, space and causation have emerged.  

When we are finished with our meditation, we bring the depth of stillness and silence we have touched outward, into our world and allow it to guide and balance our daily life, being ever mindful of the higher realities within.

We need to resolve, that we often return to that place of Stillness and Silence in meditation

Preparation, Daily Life, Meditation in Action:

Silence: Yoga meditation deals systematically with all the levels of our being, including a direct effort to go to the silence, while systematically working with our relationship with the world and senses, body, breath, and mind. (See Yoga Sutras, including sutras 3.4-3.6 on Samadhi and Samyama, and 4.18-4.21 on Purusha, or consciousness.)

Everybody can find joy in Stillness and Silence: When one has a stable relationship with the external world, when the senses are turned inward, when the body is healthy and still, when the breath is smooth, calm and serene, and when the mind begins to settle down, there comes a stillness and silence from where one can effortlessly begin to practice meditation.

This silence rests on the foundation of balancing, coordinating, and integrating our relationships with the world, as well as with our own senses, body, breath, and mind.

Following our own spiritual inclinations

Yoga meditation as an art and science of self-awareness does not tell a person what God to believe in, or what religion to follow. All people of all faiths can practice yoga meditation. While yoga science encompasses the breadth and the means of going beyond, the specific choice of where and how to focus one's attention after dealing with the world, senses, body, breath, and mind, are personal matters relating to each aspirant as an individual, in the context of their own spiritual training and preferences or predispositions.

Mind

Vedanta and Western concepts

Perception is a process of the consciousness of an object. It is one of the means of valid knowledge in the world and consists in an inseparable relation of the perceptive consciousness with its content. The objects that are seen in the world are considered by the common man to exist outside his body and the senses, and he feels that the objects are reflected, as it were, in his mind in perception.

The object itself does not enter the eye, for example, in the act of seeing, but there is a transmission of vibration from the object, with which his consciousness comes in contact, which becomes a content of his consciousness, and on account of which he is said to know the existence of the external object. This perception is caused by the operations of the mind as a mediator between the Atman (Self) within and the object outside.

Sense-knowledge is the product of the connection between the mind and the sensory organs and between the Atman and the mind.“The mind is with parts and can move in space. It is a changing and differentiating thing. It is capable of moving from place to place and assuming the forms of the objects of perception. This going out to an object and taking its shape is actual. There is nothing static in Nature. Every modification of the root Natural Principle is active and moving. The mind, in particular, is always undergoing conscious and unconscious modifications. The mind is a radiant, transparent and light substance and can travel like a ray of light outside through a sense-organ. The mind is thus an active force, a form of the general active Power or Shakti (energy).

The mind is not something static, passive and merely receptive. It takes an active part in perception both by reason of its activity and the nature of that activity as caused by its latent tendencies (Samskaras or mental impressions).The following well-known illustration from the Vedanta gives an account of the nature of perception: ‘As water from a tank may flow through a channel into a plot of land and assume its shape (square, triangular or any other form), so the radiant mind goes out through the eye or any other sense-organ to the place where an object is, and gets transformed into the shape of that object. This modification of the mind-stuff is called a vritti (fluctuation of the mind stuff).

The external senses are only instruments in the process of perception. The real auditory, tactile, visual, gustatory and olfactory centres are in the brain and in the astral (subtle) body. These centres are the real senses which make perception possible. The intellect (Buddhi or intellect) receives material from the mind and presents them to the Purusha (spirit) or the Atman which is behind the screen. The intellect receives back the message from the Purusha, decides and determines, and transmits it to the mind for the execution of orders. The external organs of action carry out the orders of the master.

In ordinary persons the mental images are distracted and undefined. Every thought has an image, a form or a shape. A table is a mental image plus an external something. Whatever one sees outside has its counterpart in one’s mind.

The pupil of the eye is a small round construction. The retina is limited in its structure. How is it that the image of a huge mountain seen through such a small aperture is cast in the mind? How does this colossal form enter the tiny hole in the eye? The fact is that the image of the mountain already exists in the mind. All perception suggests the marvelous working of this immanent consciousness through the instrumentality of the mind, and later through the senses. The real seer and the sensor of things is this consciousness which is at the background of the perceiving subject as its existence and essence.

The ultimate knower of the world is an absolute being whose presence is by nature knowledge itself. In order to know the world fully, the knower must be independent of the laws governing the world; otherwise, knowledge would be impossible. One whose knowledge is controlled by external phenomena can never have real knowledge.

This shows that the knower is superior to the known to such an extent that the known loses its value as being, in the light of the absoluteness of the knower”

The eyes are only the external instruments of perception. They are not the organ of vision. The organ of vision is a centre situated in the brain. So is the case with all the senses. The mind is connected with the senses, the senses with the corresponding centres in the brain and these centres with the physical organs in the direction of the external object. The mind presents the sensation to the ego and the intellect (Buddhi); the intellect takes it to the Self (Purusha) which is pure Spirit and is immaterial. Now real perception takes place. The Purusha gives orders back to the motor centres or organs of action for execution through the intellect, ego and the mind.

The Vedanta theory of perception is explained by the existence of a universal consciousness in which the empirical distinction of subject and object exists, mediated by a process of knowledge. According to the Vedanta the only reality is the Atman or Brahman, which is supreme consciousness, and neither the subject nor the object nor can exist outside it.

According to Western medical science, light vibrations from outside strike the retina and an inverted image is formed there. These vibrations are carried through the optic tract and optic thalamus to the centre of vision in the occipital lobe of the brain in the hind part of the head. There a positive image is formed. Only then can we see the object in front of us.

The Vedanta theory of perception is that the mind comes out through the eye and assumes the shape of the object outside”

Consciousness behind Relation

The relation between the knower and the known in perception must be a conscious one, as any element of unconsciousness could not bring about knowledge of an object. And further, objects with dissimilar characters cannot commingle with each other and become one. Hence the cause of the relationship of the subject and the object in perception ought to be a consciousness lying as the common ground of the subject, the object and their relation.

Unless there is a spiritual background supporting the object, which, at the same time, is also the background of the subject and its union with the object, there can be no possibility of knowledge. If there were no consciousness behind the existence of the object, there could be no contact of a conscious subject with it, for consciousness does not mix with unconscious entities.

The Nature of Truth

An empirical perception is to be regarded as true when it stands the test of correspondence, coherence and practical efficiency, and is capable of satisfying the principle of non-contradiction.

According to the correspondence theory, truth is a relation between an idea and its objective content. The idea of an object should correspond or agree with the content of perception.

Realists hold that truth is independent of human cognition and remains unaffected by it. Reality does not depend upon our perception of it. Truth is here fidelity to reality, agreement with fact.

According to the coherence theory of truth, truth is the relation of consistency or internal coherence between all parts of our experience. Truth depends upon the harmonious constitution of consistency of the different constituents of a proposition or judgment with the parts constituting truth.

Logical coherence is the criterion of truth, and not mere agreement of idea with fact. The pragmatic theory of truth leans on practical efficiency, workability in experience, what leads to satisfactory consequences, what is useful in practice and in life. Truth is valid. What works as truth or satisfies us as truth is to be considered as truth for all human purposes.

It is true that there cannot be a correct perception unless there is a real object outside, to which our knowledge may correspond. But correspondence is not the only criterion of truth, for there can be correspondence even in the case of partial truths or even errors.

Correspondence has to be testified by the principle of coherence or the organic nature of knowledge, which satisfies consistently the perceptions of the different sense-organs and agrees with similar perceptions of the object by others.

Truth also has the character of practical efficiency or workability in actual life. Though the workable need not necessarily be true, the true is always workable. Though utility is not the test of truth, truth has always the utility that is unique to its nature. All these tests, however, are based on the fact of the self-evident and perfectly valid nature of one’s self-consciousness.

Consciousness is its own test and proof, and it exists as the basis of all proofs. The reality of dream perception is rooted in the waking consciousness of the individual, and the reality of this latter is the Turiya or the Atman. The truth of an object should correspond with its essential nature. But no human idea or concept can correspond to the reality of the Atman or Brahman, for here no relational category can be introduced into knowledge.

Empirical tests of truth cannot be applied to it, for all these tests are based on the notion of duality, while the Atman is non-dual, is its own proof and validity, and the test of its experience is its self-evident nature. This is the only experience which is ultimately non-contradicted and so the ultimate truth. In this highest being of consciousness the knower and the known are one, and in it all logical tests lose their significance.

Metaphysics on Existence

When we study Metaphysics, (Metaphysics is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world), we come to understand that the world is one. There is no separation between the spiritual, the material, the mental, and the world of energies. They are all one, but appear different.

Also, when we think of ourselves as a body, we forget the mind, and when we think of ourselves as a mind, we will forget the body. We see only one aspect at a time, either matter or body or mind or spirit depending where we place our attention. It is all a matter of perspective.

The same applies to birth, life, and death. No one was ever born, none will ever die; one changes one's position and that is all. We are existence and consciousness.

Western thought makes a lot of death; always trying to catch a little more life. We ponder life after death. We say, give us life! We are so happy if someone tells us that we are going to have an afterlife. Yet how can we ever doubt that we are eternal? How can we imagine that we are going to be dead?

Let’s try to imagine ourselves as being dead, yet we see that we are witnessing our dead body. We may as well doubt that we exist. The first fact of consciousness is, I am. Existence is the most self-evident of all truths. The idea of immortality is inherent in man.

We must learn to see the whole universe is a unit, from whatever standpoint we view it.  But it is not what it appears to be to our sense perception.  Just now, this universe appears to us as air and space, of force and energy. But like all other basic principles, this is also contradictory. For what is this force that which moves matter? And what is this energy which is moved by force? Some of the fundamentals of our reasoning are most curious, in spite of our boast of science and knowledge. In Sanskrit this state of things has been called Maya. It has neither existence nor non-existence. We cannot call it existence, because that only exists, which is beyond time and space, which is self-existence. Yet this world satisfies to a certain degree our idea of existence. Therefore it has an apparent existence.

There is however the real existence in and through everything; and that reality is caught in the meshes of time, space, and causation.

There is the real man, the infinite, the beginningless, the endless, the ever-blessed, and the ever-free. He has also been caught in the meshes of time, space, and causation. So has everything in this world. The reality of everything is the infinite.

This is not idealism; it is not that the world does not exist. It has a relative existence, and fulfills all its requirements, but it has no independent existence. It exists because of the Absolute Reality beyond time, space, and causation.

The Silent Voice of Prayer – Paramahansa Yogananda

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. Vocalized prayers are wonderful only if the attention is on God, and if the words are a call to God out of the abundance of the soul's desire for Him. But if an invocation becomes merely a part of an ecclesiastical ceremony, performed mechanically—concentration on the form of religion rather than its spirit—God doesn't much like that kind of prayer.

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly"
                                                                                                                                                (Matthew 6:5, 6).
These words of Christ refer to entering into the "closet" of inner silence. Through scientific techniques of meditation such as Kriya Yoga, one learns to "shut the door" to outer distractions by withdrawing the life force and attention from the sensory nerves. Only then is prayer truly effective, the mind having been freed to concentrate wholly on the Father who responds "in secret"—in silent communion with the soul.

One who prays loudly is liable to become hypocritical if his attention is focused on the practiced intonation of his voice falling on his auditory nerves—words spoken for effect, to attract and impress others. This is the tendency of many otherwise sincere spiritual people—to show off their love for God, rather than strive to touch the heart of God alone. Unless there is simultaneously an increasing intensity of zeal and love for God, loud prayer can thus be spiritually dangerous. No matter how wonderful it is within, spiritual realization loses something of its intensity when it is expressed outwardly.

When your prayer comes from deep within, and your words are tipsy with love for God, then others around you consciously enjoy your contact with God and drink of the contagion of your love for Him. But if you are not very strong, they may steal that love from you. They begin to praise you; and if you feel flattered that because you have inspired others, therefore you must be great, then you become weakened—your love is stolen from your heart, and pride takes its place.

Sometimes, no loud or even whispered words can I pray; for when deep feeling for God possesses you, you cannot utter any words. That love is sacred within, an inner communion, silently giving its oblations into the Spirit. Like a secret fire, that love burns the darkness from around the soul, and in that light you behold the mightiness of Spirit.

In all our pursuits we are seeking the fulfillment of love and joy. The motive behind the evil ways of even the greatest sinner is that he expects to attain there from something that will lead to happiness. God is that happiness. But the urge to seek Him is drowned in the urge to indulge in sense pleasures. When that sensory urge disappears, then the urge for God automatically appears.

Sensations pouring in through the sensory nerves keep the mind filled with myriad noisy thoughts, so that the whole attention is toward the senses. But God's voice is silence. Only when thoughts cease can one hear the voice of God communicating through the silence of intuition. That is God's means of expression. In your silence God's silence ceases. He speaks to you through your intuition. For the devotee whose consciousness is inwardly united with God, an audible response from Him is unnecessary—intuitive thoughts and true visions constitute God's voice. These are not the result of the stimuli of the senses, but the combination of the devotee's silence and God's voice of silence.

God has been with us all the time, talking to us; but His voice of silence has been drowned by the noisiness of our thoughts: "Thou didst love me always, but I heard Thee not." He has always been near; it is we who have been wandering away from His consciousness.

In spite of our indifference and pursuit of sense pleasures, still God loves us, and always will.


When we are in tune with God, we will hear His voice: "I have loved thee through the ages; I love thee now; and I shall love thee until thou comest Home. Whether thou knowest it or not, I shall always love thee."

Cultivating Real Love

The world as a whole has forgotten the real meaning of the word love. Love has been so abused and crucified that very few people know what true love is. To define love is very difficult, for the same reason that words cannot fully describe the flavor of an orange. We have to taste the fruit to know its flavor. So is it with love.

All of us have experienced love in some form in our hearts, yet we know very little about what it is. We have not understood how to develop love, how to purify and expand it into divine love. A spark of this divine love exists in most hearts in the beginning of life, but it is usually lost, because we don’t know how to cultivate it.

Love is not just in the feeling, but the joy that feeling brings. Love gives joy. We love because it brings us happiness. Love is not the ultimate; the ultimate is bliss. God is Sat-Chit-Ananda, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss. We, as soul, are individualized Sat-Chit-Ananda. From Joy we have come, in Joy we live and have our being, and in that sacred Joy we will one day melt again.

All the divine emotions, love, compassion, courage, self-sacrifice, humility would be meaningless without joy. Joy means exhilaration, an expression of the ultimate Bliss.

Our experience of joy originates in the brain, in the subtle center of God-consciousness in yoga terms the Sahasrara, or thousand-Petaled lotus. Yet the actual feeling of joy is experienced not in the head but in the heart.

From the divine seat of God-consciousness in the brain, joy descends into the heart center, and manifests there in the Anahata chakra.

Paramahansa Yogananda stated that our life and consciousness are maintained by the power and activity within the "tree of life." The trunk of the tree represents the Sushumna, in which the seven subtle centers or chakras are located. From these centers comes the power for all our physiological and psychological functions and abilities.

Yogananda stated that there is a definite connection between the physiological function of the heart and the subtle spiritual center of feeling in the heart. Working together, they express the great emotion of love, both human and divine.

That joy comes from God's bliss, being the essential and ultimate attribute of Spirit.

Though joy may be born in relation with certain outer conditions, it is not subject to conditions; it often manifests without any material cause. Sometimes we wake up in the morning almost as walking on air with joy, and we don't know why. When we sit in the silence of deep meditation, joy bubbles up from within, we are not roused by no outer stimuli. The joy of meditation is overwhelming. Those who have not gone into the silence of true meditation do not know what real joy is.

We feel happiness in the fulfillment of a desire; but when we were young, we often felt a sudden happiness that came as if from nowhere. Joy expresses itself under certain conditions, but it is not created by those conditions. In our human experience, certain events are often required to bring out joy, but the joy itself is the perennial state of the soul.

Love also is native to the soul, but love is secondary to joy; there could be no love without joy.

Universal nature of love

In the universal sense, love is the divine power of attraction in creation that harmonizes, unites, and binds together. It is opposed by the force of repulsion, which is the outgoing cosmic energy that materializes creation from the cosmic consciousness of God.

Repulsion keeps all forms in the manifested state through maya, the power of delusion that divides, differentiates, and disharmonizes.

The attractive force of love counteracts cosmic repulsion to harmonize all creation and ultimately draw it back to God. When we live in tune with the attractive force of love, we achieve harmony with nature and our fellow human beings, and are attracted to blissful reunion with God.

Divine Love

Divine Love

When a great master comes into this world, he comes to show us not who he is, but who we are. In trying to find who we are, it also helps us to understand who we aren't. Most of our self-definitions are false because they’re based on externals.

Different saints come to earth with different missions. In one way or another, all of them have love, but they don’t always show it because that may not be their mission.

Yogananda’s mission to was express divine love, and because of that he talked of God in a new way. He spoke of God as the Divine Mother. Now, in truth, God is neither mother nor father, but He’s that Absolute Consciousness beyond creation. However, God does manifest Himself in different ways, so we can say that God is also both father and mother.

There are two aspects to human nature, reason and feeling. Science has taught us, and unfortunately we’ve bought into this, that the only way to come to truth is to exclude feeling and be so objective that we’re primarily intellectual.

The truth is that if we get to know any really great scientists, even if only through their life stories, we find that they were passionate men and women. They were absolutely dedicated to the search for scientific truth. Nor could they have accomplished what they did without deep feeling and enthusiasm for what they were doing. It has been said that no great thing has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm.

There are Scientists who perform small experiments that go primarily by the intellect, but many particle scientists are people of deep mystical awe before the wonders of the universe. Awe is expressed in their experiments and their theories. Without that sense of wonder, they could not have discovered the great things they did and are still doing? This enthusiasm is a part of the heart quality. We, as human beings, have both heart and intellect, but we can never reach true understanding with only the intellect.

We also have to try to love our own potential, to have respect for who we are as children of God.

To understand how to live our life better, to understand other people, and to understand truth, we can’t do it without the heart. To think of God as the mother aspect, is a way of helping us to love from our heart and to approach God in an infinite way.

Yogananda used to say, “Mother, naughty or good, I am your child.”

God is unique to each one of us, because as we visualize Him, so will He come to us in the form we hold most dear.

We have to long for God. We have to reach that point where nothing means anything except God. That’s why the best thing we can pray for is devotion, the ability to love God more and more deeply.

Salvation is nothing without the love of God. If we achieve it, perhaps we go to another plane where we don’t have to eat food, or carry around a heavy body, but there still are problems. Without God, we’ve got problems. We need to think of God as the nearest and the dearest of the dear.

Each one of us is an example of the inner soul that’s at the center of life, striving to come out and discover who it really is. In a way, the life of any individual is the life of all individuals.

Characteristics of Divine Love

Divine love makes no demand. It is spontaneous and constant. It is unlimited in every way. It is like the sun. The sun is for everybody. Everybody enjoys the sunlight, but if we keep our doors and windows shut, what can the sun do?

It is God’s divine Love that expresses through our human love. But if we do not open ourselves to this love that is flowing around us and wants to flow in us, then the divine love cannot express in and through us.

Human love binds, Divine love illumines. Divine love starts with our awareness of a higher reality. It represents the highest truth. Divine love at every moment illumines us, and in this illumination we find total fulfillment.

God loves unconditionally each and every human being.

The very nature of human love is unfortunately reserved for only a small number of people, but in divine love, which is unlimited and infinite, the question of acceptance and rejection does never arise. In divine love there is no possession, but only a feeling of oneness.

Divine love tells us that our life is infinitely more important than we imagine. Divine love means constant transcendence toward God.

Divine love connects with our soul. It liberates and expands our consciousness. Love means oneness of divinity, oneness of reality, oneness of the individual consciousness with the unlimited Universal or Christ Consciousness.

When we enter into the Universal Christ Consciousness through our meditation, we do not think of human love. We think only of divine love and oneness and our capacity for divine love becomes unlimited.

Divine love will come from God and from our own meditation, but only when we do not cherish expectation which results in limitations.

When one becomes unconditionally surrendered in God’s Will, one gets infinite divine love. Everything will come in the form of love. We will get peace, but it will come in the form of love; and this peace we will need to share with our brothers and sisters.

God Himself manifests everything through Love, here on earth and in any other realm. God is the highest and most illumined influence in our lives.

Everything that comes from God is unconditional. His Love is given unconditionally; all we have to do is receive it with an open heart.