I know I should be able to let go more. I try to develop equanimity, but feel like the harder I try, the more comes and attacks me from the outside. I am a father, have a wife and children. The youngest is seven years old. I’m doing everything possible to protect them. The political situation about ukrain made me fear for a war. Our kids are happy and full of love. I fear about their security. I only want the best for them.it drives me crazy to hear all the news about "possible war"
—Marcel, Germany
Dear Marcel,
I feel for your dilemma. Love is the greatest protection you can offer. Not just love for your children, for that is natural enough, but be a child yourself: a child of God whose love for God is as innocent as the joy of your children at play. The innocent do not suffer as much as we might imagine.
Paramhansa Yogananda exhorted audiences, quoting Krishna’s words to Arjuna: “Get away from my ocean of suffering!” But he didn’t mean to literally run away. He meant to live for the love of God; truth; righteousness. If man is a soul but has a body, then be a soul, not a body. Our bodies will die one way or the other but our souls are eternal.
Yogananda taught that in the vibration and consciousness of AUM one is protected. Many examples of this occurred among his disciples during his life and afterward. Chant AUM inwardly and outwardly when you can; teach your children, too, if they are open to it, to chant AUM! Strengthen your aura (your magnetic body) by chanting AUM TAT SAT (equivalent to “Father, Son, Holy Ghost”) as your arms move in opposite directions around your body! Teach your children to do this, too, if they are open to it.
From a wisdom perspective, it is undeniable that life on this planet is forever rife with war, disease, disaster, and economic depression. There are self-balancing periods of peace and prosperity, too, but the cycles are unending and unpredictable. Until we accept the inevitability of such cycles, we cannot really turn inward to God for the peace and love our hearts know are our birthright.
Bathe your children in chants, stories of the saints and the masters, a love for God in these forms, and encourage their natural devotion. Practice yoga and simple forms of meditation and prayer. This will help re-awaken their souls’ memory of purity and grace. This is the greatest gift you can offer them. Leaving Germany, building a bomb shelter, such things are possible for some people but are not the real solutions because karma and duality chase us relentlessly through the years.
Be of good cheer! “Tat twam asi!” Thou art Brahma: the infinite Spirit taking form in you, your children and all beings. The soul is eternal, changeless, and ever in bliss. Divine Presence provides protection from “the crash of breaking worlds.”
Blessings to you and your children,
Nayaswami Hriman
