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

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).

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Friend,

In your note above you’ve brought up several subjects and it may be helpful to be clear about what they are:

1. Does material abundance flow from (what you term) “Divine abundance internally”?

2. How does karma affect #1?

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Peter,

Many years ago when Swami Kriyananda was new to meditation and living with Paramhansa Yogananda, Kriyananda complained to his guru that he didn’t think he was getting anywhere with meditation. Yogananda replied that "You are trying to hard!" Relaxation is the key!

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Friend,

In a close relationship, candor (fact-telling) will sometimes backfire and cause more harm than good. Knowing, as you indicate you discovered, that your friend tends toward cleverness, it might have been best for you simply to accept that trait and learn to work with it positively.

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!

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Friend,

God’s love is always there for us. God knows our soul and our soul is ever perfect, ever-free. Affirm your love for God, for freedom from delusion, and your ever-joyful Soul inheritance and nature.

You can mitigate the karmic push back of the past actions you’ve described in a number of ways: making good to those you may have hurt (beginning with prayer and intention and extending into outward words and actions where feasible and appropriate); extending friendship and love to others (esp where those whom you may have hurt are no longer around or for whatever reason you cannot approach them); deepening your love for God and service to God through your daily activities;

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Mary,

While I do not know specifically what "grave injustice" you might be referring to, there is a difference between righeous indignation and anger or upset.

As Arjuna conducted his part in the battle of Kurukshetra and as Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple in Jerusalem with a whip, and as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King expressed with great force their campaigns for social justice, there is a place, in principle, for responding with great energy.

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Faith,

Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita makes this immortal promise: "Even a little practice of this (meditation and right attitude) will free one from dire fears and colossal sufferings."

I, too, used think of myself as fearless. As the years rolled by I realized that, though not especially plagued by fears, everyone is challenged (aka stressed) by life's many seeming obstacles and opportunities.

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

Dear Friend,

One key precept well worth practicing, even if at times not easy to do, is to distinguish between how others respond to you and how you respond to them.

What I mean by this is simply that we can make our lives miserable if we concern ourselves too much with how other people treat us, and, all too often, what we "imagine" they may think of us. We cannot help or control the behavior of other people. The sooner we can accept that, then we can be begin working on our own behavior. As Mahatma Gandhi said so well and now famously: "Be the change you seek."

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

Answer

James,

Being mindful during daily activity after meditation begins as soon as one gets up from meditation as you have indicated in your question.

How to do it depends on both temperament and circumstances. For starters, as you walk about and go about your daily routine, do so slowly and mindfully. Hold your feeling at the spiritual eye or in the heart as best you can. If possible, mentally chant a mantra or phrase that you feel inspired by.