Gyandev McCord

Ananda Village

Answer

Hello Jeff,

The response you've described, while not the "average" experience of people chanting, is not pathological, either. It seems to me that you are going into a highly internalized state of awareness, and as a result, some prana is beginning to flow in ways that you don’t normally experience, which makes the body pulsate (or at least, it may feel that way -- perhaps someone watching you wouldn’t be able to observe any movement).

Seva Wiberg

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Deepak,

I will answer your question, as though you were asking about the love one finds on the spiritual path, as a devotee.

The love I feel on this path of Paramhansa Yogananda, is a calm, clear and deep joy. A joy that I want to share with everyone; a joy that encompasses all; and a joy that is not afraid or defensive.

Seva Wiberg

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Mansi,

I've noticed that Swami Kriyananda has lately been weeping in his talks when he is discussing God and Guru.

As he is in great joy, I can only assume that speaking of the Divine brings this joy into his heart. In feeling this kind of grace, how could one not weep?

Seva Wiberg

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Vinay,

Swami Kriyananda was just talking about renunciation yesterday during video recording of the Essence of the Bhagavad Gita interpretations for Indian TV.

He’s done 52 20-minute segments, and they’re wonderful. In this particular talk he encourages married and single individuals to open to God’s love first, but he doesn’t exclude the human love element in our lives.

Anandi Cornell

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear George,

Please forgive me for taking so long to answer your question. It is a very important question.

Swami Kriyananda writes that when he came on the spiritual path and heard about the importance of love for God as the Divine Mother, he found this difficult at first. But then he remembered his godmother. She was a very sweet and loving woman and yet more distant from him than his own mother. So, he began to focus on the Divine Mother by imagining Her in the form of his godmother. That helped to open his heart, and he was then able to direct that love to the Divine Mother, which is also AUM, the Creative Cosmic Vibration (a much more impersonal concept, yet one that is imbued with love.)

Savitri Simpson

Ananda Village

Answer

Swami Kriyananda defines devotion as the ruling passion of your life. Devotion to God and Gurus comes naturally when you want God as a drowning man wants air or as a thirsty man wants water. We all truly thirst for a heart full of love for God, even if we don’t know it. But if you know it enough to ask how to increase your devotion and to awaken the natural love of your heart, then that’s got to put you a long ways towards achieving it. Congratulations!

Pranaba Hansen

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Maria,

Deeper attunement is one of the most important aspects of the spiritual path and is also a subtle and personal development. If you’ve chosen Paramhansa Yogananda as you’re guru try to feel his constant presence with you; you can do this by visualizing, or even feeling, him in your own thoughts and in your words and actions.

Gyandev McCord

Ananda Village

Answer

Gaze toward your spiritual eye while you meditate with the same wholehearted, unthinking absorption that one of the flowers in your garden gives to its efforts to absorb the sunlight.