Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root and all, in my hand. Little flower — but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson) A child born into slavery, growing up during and after the … Read More
As we kneel before those acting as channels for our great line of Masters, we each one pray aloud, “I seek purification by the grace of God.” And the answer comes, “The Master says, ‘Open your heart to me, and I will enter and take charge of your life.’” * * * * * * * The Roman emperor Tiberius, … Read More
In a recent seclusion, this one in a little bungalow below the Ananda monastery, I felt especially close to Christ and our line of Masters. Occasionally footsteps could be heard approaching, then receding— outside the door I would find food, and an aura of kindness, self-offering and divine friendship so palpable that tears would come to my eyes. Into my … Read More
The back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s and 1970s produced a compilation of related products and how-to advice called The Whole Earth Catalog — resources for living off the grid, homesteading, organic gardening. Threading its way through pages of product information is a Bildungsroman for the hippie era — the journey of self-discovery of a young man driving across America in his VW bus (which … Read More
In 1820, in Maryland, a girl was born into slavery and given the name Harriet. She was the great-great-granddaughter of a woman kidnapped from the African plains and sold to the highest bidder in Baltimore. At the age of seven Harriet was charged with caring for Miss Sarah’s baby. One time the baby cried out just as Miss Sarah entered … Read More
“Master’s arms are around me. He is guiding me and supporting me every moment of my life. . . . I am never alone, nor will I ever be alone, for he is with me.” Brother Bhaktananda, “Protection Prayer” “I am responsible! If I, a doctor, will not do it, who will?” So speaks the protagonist of Stefan Zeromski’s Homeless … Read More
Mukunda, as a boy of sixteen, determined to see Krishna, meditated and prayed all night, with increasing intensity and devotion, until at last Krishna himself, walking on clouds of gold, appeared to his inner vision. Weeping with divine joy, Mukunda cried out his prayer of gratitude: “O Divine Krishna, lead all thy lost children, as thou hast led me, to … Read More
“Lord, we left You countless eons ago. Ours was a holy mission. You charged us to learn great lessons from life: to be fruitful in the gifts You had given us; to expand and multiply them.” When Yoganandaji, meditating in a storeroom of his Ranchi boys’ school, saw in vision a sea of faces staring intently at him, he knew … Read More
In the autumn of 1861, Lahiri Mahasaya, then in his 33rd year, undertook the 30-day, 500-mile journey to Ranikhet in the Himalayas, there to meet for the first time Babaji, who materialized for his beloved disciple a golden palace and there initiated him into Kriya Yoga. Far away in America a terrible civil war was raging. But here in these … Read More
When Lord Krishna played the role of a boy chela in the Avanti ashram of Guru Sandipani, He formed an intimate friendship with His fellow disciple Sudama, a Brahmin boy so impoverished that his clothing was in tatters, and so free of material attachment that he paid no attention. He was affectionately known as Kuchela, meaning “poverty-stricken” or “dressed in … Read More
