THE JOURNEY
You may have had days or moments where you felt God was speaking to you with special insights. I would like to share one of the days when the Lord spoke to me through nature regarding meditation.
I took a day trip with the monks of Ananda Village to Table Mountain in Northern California in the late spring of 2023. The hike is mostly over flat terrain, highlighted with beautiful canyons, creeks and waterfalls.
We trekked for a few hours, enjoying the landscape and the small flowers, and stopped by one of the valleys to eat a light lunch and watch some birds. The highlight of highlights was a trek down a narrow and fairly steep canyon, to rest at the bottom of a waterfall.
We took turns standing underneath the waterfall. It was warm and pleasant, and its sounds were very soothing. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun was bright in the sky. The previous winter brought heavy snowfall, so the waterfall was flowing strongly, fed by the faraway snowmelt. It moved periodically from left to right over a distance of about 15 feet, making it hard to catch. Doesn’t it often feel that God plays hide-and-seek with us?
Standing at the foot of the fall, bathing in the warmth of the water, listening to its pleasant, rhythmic melody, and looking up through the water into the light of the afternoon sun, it felt as if Divine Mother had led me to a nature scene that reflected the inner experience of yoga meditation.
THE INNER JOURNEY
Table Mountain
First, a little inner anatomy. The Kriya Yogi works with the energetic channels in the spine. The ida and pingala are, respectively, the rising and descending currents of energy in the spine that correlate with the inhalation and exhalation of the physical breath. It is possible to still or “neutralize” these currents through pranayama techniques, such as Kriya. The stilling of the ida and pingala correlates with deepening interiorization; the gradual slowing of the physical breath, the cessation of mental restlessness, and the onset of inner calmness.
This leads to the mystic key of yoga practice, the awakening of kundalini energy, which is locked at the base of the astral spine, or sushumna. Once kundalini is awakened, it rises up the sushumna, giving the yogi a concomitant experience of bliss in the deep spinal channel. This is why the spine has been called a river of energy, and why Jesus spoke of offering living water as the true source of inner rejuvenation.
This provides a model of yoga anatomy as a guide for meditation practice, but it is still only a model. The model of an atom is conceptually useful, but it fails to reflect the energy and activity of a single drop of water, which is composed of an unfathomable number of atoms. Likewise, with Kriya, we benefit from understanding our inner anatomy, but the truth of yoga (union with God) must be explored, discovered, and realized through the yogi’s dedicated and devoted practice.
Sculpture of Lahiri Mahasaya
AS WITHIN, SO WITHOUT
Let’s return to Table Mountain. Standing at the base of the waterfall, I imagined myself as a yogi poised to sit in meditation. The waterfall was a few hundred feet high, impressing me with a sense of dimension. Bathing in its steady (albeit swaying) column of water felt like being centered in the energetic river of the inner spine. Looking up to the sun and trying to glimpse its rays through the distortion of the falling water mirrored the effort of focusing at the spiritual eye in meditation, of trying to perceive the Divine Light through the restlessness of the mind.
A puzzle has many pieces. Once they are all put together, it is best to enjoy the entire picture and disregard the separating lines. Once we become familiar with all the different components of meditation, it is best to let go of their separateness and enter into the experience as a single, intuitive flow.
I am ever with those who practice Kriya. I will guide you to the Cosmic Home...
There are times when I feel a special blessing from one of the gurus. On this day, I felt that Lahiri Mahayasa’s blessings were with us. He was a Yogavatar with a special mission of bringing Kriya Yoga to truth-seekers in this age, and he also gave close, intimate guidance to disciples in their Kriya practice. Lahiri offered this consolation to those disciples who could not travel to be with him, “I am ever with those who practice Kriya. I will guide you to the Cosmic Home through your enlarging perceptions.” This was an eternal promise, as true today as when he uttered it.
We spent a good amount of time in that little cove, but that period of meditation was brief compared to the time it took for us to trek there. So too in our lives, the time we spend in meditation is short compared to the hours we spend in activity and sleep. Nevertheless, it is time well spent. We could do our best to weave together our meditation and activities.
If we bring God into everything, we will find that our activities feed into our meditation practice, and the fruit of our meditation practice will naturally feed into our activities.
Life itself is a pilgrimage, and each day we can make the inner trek into divine bliss. We will discover what Yoganandaji called a portable paradise, a divine joy that accompanies us everywhere and can be shared with all.
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24 Comments
Thank you for sharing this reflection. Yes, God’s lila can be truly entertaining and enlightening!
Beautiful! Thank,you for sharing Prashad.🙏🏻
Inspiring words, Beautiful example of taking God with us wherever we go with our portable paradise. thank you!
Deeply inspiring. Thank you for your insight.
Thank you, I can never meditate in the Mountain or nearby a waterfall but find God in my meditationroom.
I feel very blessed with my own meditationroom to be in stilnis of my meditations with God and Gurus.
Dear Brahmachari Prashad,
Thank you for a beautiful reflection. I found it to be helpful and supportive. 🙏
Thanks for sharing this inspiration, dear Prashad!
Thank you for sharing. Very inspiring.
Beautiful, Prashad! When you come up to Truckee with the monks, we hope you’ll discover the peace and magnificence of these forests.
I have a harmonium and 2 guitars and you are welcome to enjoy them, too!
Beautiful journey. God/dess is found everywhere.
Creative weaving of nature and Kriya. Your words were so descriptive, I could feel being there at the waterfall. I have spent much time in nature and have been blessed to have moments such as these, as well.
How do I know for sure that the things I read on these books are true? I mean, how can I without doubt can know this? Ofcourse you’d say by practise and meditation.. but I am doing it, and yes it is really peaceful and blissful even(at times) but that does not prove any of these stories, it may just be a hormonal secretion, right? I mean, I don’t know dear teachers.. Please do not find me arrogant or defiant.. Im just confused on what to, who to believe. Spirituality has become the easiest way to make a fool out of anyone these days, as we all can easily see. Gurus and followers and stuff..
Or is it like, blind belief on something is a necessity to go down the path of self enquiry..? How can I believe in something without the direct experience..? Negate my intelligence? My consciousness??
Then you read Swami Vivekananda who said in Rajayoga, “Experience must be our only Guru”
Maybe he was also as confused as I am. I don’t know..
Dear Akhil,
Thank you for commenting. You raise many good questions.
It is important to differentiate faith from belief. Faith is the spiritual conviction that is born of direct experience, per Vivekananda’s quote, and the peace and bliss which you have experienced in meditation. On the other hand, it is fine to believe or not believe in miracles and phenomenon for which you have no experience to compare it to. Here it comes down to attitude. It is better to put these things on a mental shelf rather than to dwell on them too much and develop a habit of intellectual doubt. A more positive approach would be to choose to believe in them for their inspiration, while maintaining a healthy skepticism. This can be spiritually beneficial, because inspiration can uplift your consciousness. It may take practice, but as you go deeper, some stories and miracles which seem unbelievable at first may blossom over time into true understanding.
You’ve raised the question of the fallibility of gurus and spiritual teachers, a very valid point. It is surely disappointing when spiritual authority figures behave adharmically. I suppose the question is, can we expect perfection from anyone, given what we know about human nature?
I place my trust in Yogananda and his words because I believe that he was an avatar, or a liberated soul who was completely free from ego, and hence in tune with the divine will. This is a status that is accorded to few people. Lord Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ramakrishna Paramhansa are a few examples. Until someone is free from the ego, they are fallible.
To amend your quote of Vivekananda, “Experience of God must be our only guru.” Yogananda played the human role of guru to his disciples, but he even said that God was the Guru, not him. Through your meditation, you are tuning in to the spirit of God, for which human beings can be more-or-less perfect channels.
To negate your intelligence would be wrong. Your consciousness cannot be negated because consciousness itself is the underlying reality of all Creation. I understand the questions you are having, but having too many questions can lead to the problem of doubt. Intellectual doubt can be overcome by developing devotion. Sattwic chanting is an excellent devotional practice.
Swami Kriyananda, who himself struggled with intellectual doubt, once said that the only cure for doubt is Divine Love. In your meditations, you can pray for God’s Love (and Bliss) to come to you as the answer to all of your seeking.
Joy to you,
Prashad
Thank you Prashad ji, for your reply. I didn’t expect a reply actually. Whenever I am terribly confused about all these, I try to reach someone. Because, where I live, I have no one to discuss spiritual matters with. And to the extent I do discuss it with them, my wife has started to call me Pseudo-Akhil (because I believe in Pseudo-science she says!!) and my brother refers to a story with me which goes like: I am searching for a dark ball in a completely dark room, expecting to find it someday. And more to it, there is no ball in there!! Yes!! I’m searching for a ball that is not even there!! Haha, I’m not complaining. I do love the story by the by. But what is sad is that I have nothing to tell them otherwise.. no, not to tell them, at least to tell myself, I have nothing. No experiences, no nothing. Apart from some books about others’ experiences. Books that I am not sure whether they were day dreaming or hallucinating.
And to add more to it, even when you convince yourself that maybe, maybe there is God, and meaning to all this, then you see immense pain being poured onto people who do not deserve it. I mean, I saw a little boy Rehan crying with pain because he has bone cancer, and needs bone marrow changing. And his parents are asking for financial help. You see, he is what, 3 years old? 4 years maybe.. Prashad ji, what divinity is there then? What eternal bliss are we talking about? An eternal bliss that lets billions die of hunger, to let many suffer of inmense, inexplicable pain, making them beg, to rot..? To let 5 or 6 year olds get raped? What eternal divinity is that?? That lets some to die, and some to have everything there is.. Maybe rather we call it eternal cruelty, no?
I don’t know Prashad ji, maybe when you read this you are probably thinking what is this guy blabbering about, I don’t want to do this either sir, I also want to believe, but how can I in this utter confusion..? Maybe I’m just idiotic.
Dear Akhil,
I’m glad we could make a connection. The time I have to reply directly to your messages are limited, but Swami Kriyananda has filmed many hours of videos on the entire breadth of the spiritual path. You may find this one helpful regarding your questions about the suffering that we all witness in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlmZkajvNA
Joy to you,
Prashad
Thank you Prashad ji, for your time.
Joy to you too..
Ohm
Sublimely Divine🙏
Thank you so much, Prashad. I felt blessed and inspired by your experience. Bless you in your service.
Virya
I like the portable paradise. You’re a good storyteller, I felt like I was there. Thank you
Very inspiring Prashad (yes I meant you) :D
This is beautiful Prashad. Thank you for sharing this experience of God and Guruji.
Prashad
Very inspiring- thank you for sharing this along with the deeper reflections!
Thanks, Neil. I heard you had a wonderful pilgrimage to India!
I see you in several of the you tube videos Prashad. Thank you for sharing your meditative experience during your hike in the woods.