Ask Ananda’s Experts
Questions and answers about meditation, yoga, the spiritual life, and more

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Dear Bina,

Yes, karma is unerring. For every action there is an exact and precise reaction. However, above that law there is another: the law of love. God’s love permeates everything and everyone. It permeates all creation, as Yogananda said, "like the oil permeates the olive."

Nayaswami Gyandev

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Ela,

Nicotine is harmful to your spiritual practices, in part because it diminishes one of your most important faculties: Willpower. Nicotine is a depressant, so it has a calming influence, but the yogi needs to learn to become and stay calm through conscious inner processes, not external influences. Nicotine is also a stimulant, but the yogi needs to learn to raise his or her energy level, again, through conscious inner processes, not external influences.

Kristy Fassler-Hecht

Ananda Maine

Answer

Dear Nirja,

You ask a very profound question? What is Love? Swami Kriyananda wrote a song entitled, "What is Love?" and you can listen to it on the Philosophy in Song CD. Listen to it again and again. See if it has a message for you. You may also enjoy his song "Love is a Magician".

Nayaswami Diksha

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Peter,

The time to meditate is when you can do it regularly.

Recommended are dawn (just after awakening), twilight, high noon, and midnight. Another time is in the evening, just before bedtime. It’s also easier to meditate on an empty stomach 2 – 3 hours after meals. So set aside the same time or times each day for your meditation.

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Namashkar Nina,

Yes, God is one, and in “His” true essence He is beyond any human understanding. To understand His eternal essence we have to go beyond our human level, and meet Him on His own level, by expanding with our formless soul into in “heaven”, into Eternity, beyond time, space, gender, and definitions.

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Dear Ela,

These are your first six month of meditation. Meditation for you is still young, like a child. It needs some time to grow up. One of the secrets of success is patience. Patience, it has been said, is the shortest way to God. “Keep going” is the best advice I can give you.

Mary Kretzmann

Ananda Village

Answer

Think of it this way — it is like an equation. Just as 50+50 =100, so does 99+1=100. The "99" might represent enlightened Masters who can always heal, as long as they feel it is Divinely ordained for the person involved.

So do your best. Sometimes the receptivity can simply be a quality in the heart center, some good karma from the past, but seen only by God and Guru.

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Andy, may I assume that this tingling sensation continues during your waking activities, and not just during meditation?

The experience of a tingling sensation is not at all uncommon in the practice of yoga and pranayam and meditation, though to have it all the time is a bit unusual (you didn’t say exactly how long, however).