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

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Sana,

You ask if science can be defied by the power of thought, enabling one to do such things as walking on water, levitating, or other such so-called miracles.

The answer is yes, but these things are not done by the power of thought — rather by the power of Divine Energy, through which the material world can be manipulated in amazing ways. This is easily done by the Avatars, the Great Ones. And it is very important to remember that powers like these will only be used when they are guided by God to do so.

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Dear Mike,

God sometimes communicates through dreams, but if so, they are superconscious dreams, full of light, inspiration, beauty, upliftment. Horrible nightmares on the other hand come from our subconscious mind, never from God.

Yes, all our difficulties are karma which we ourselves have created, and which has to be worked out. It is best worked out by giving strength to its opposite positive quality: fill your day consciously with whatever is the antidote to your nightmares. It might be calmness, love, joy, courage, or peace. Use affirmations, songs, thoughts, your behavior, to strengthen that quality. In this way you consciously oppose this nasty "inner warrior" which causes you nightmares with the good soldiers of the soul, with its divine qualities. The good news is: the soul wins in the end, always. But it is not effortless.

Nayaswami Pranaba

Ananda Village

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Dear Shalin,

It’s important that we not be attached, even to spiritual goals. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives Arjuna the emphasis of “nishkam karma”, which means simply, action without the attachment to the fruits of one’s actions. The same can apply to spiritual goals. We need to do the best we can while offering it all to the Divine.

If your sincerity is there in purifying your heart, then God will respond. But God will respond in his time, not always in “our” time!

Continue to meditate daily, but also activate the devotion of your heart through chanting and feeling God’s presence. Paramhansa Yogananda said that “chanting was half the battle”.

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Dear Nandini,

It depends on the type of your "intuition", of that feeling: if it is a calm feeling in which you are emotionally uninvolved, then it might well be a true intuition, a premonition; and if it is an undesired event, you might call it a "warning".

Nayaswami Gyandev

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Michael,

What you are thinking is coming from neither your conscience nor God. It comes from your ego, which tends to switch into high resistance mode when we get serious about God; it tries to throw up a smokescreen so we can’t think clearly. And it can do a very good job of that.

Nayaswami Devarshi

Ananda Village

Answer

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matthew 21:22)

Paramhansa Yogananda taught that we should go to God not as beggars, but as children of God demanding our divine birthright. He called the prayers in his book, Whispers from Eternity, "prayer-demands," to reflect that attitude.

Nayaswami Diksha

Ananda Village

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Dear Nirja,

In the practice of meditation, when you experience “hurting eyes,” it is generally caused by tension or eyestrain, from trying to position the eyes awkwardly. Avoid straining the muscles of your eyes, trying to look between your eyes brows.

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Friend,

Many people suffer from the problem you describe: we want success but we don’t want to put out the effort that it takes to become successful.

One of the keys to success is to start small: start with things you can do today! Right Now! With day-to-day duties, if you say you are going to do something, SIMPLY DO IT!