“I behold the world with eyes of calmness and of faith. For I know that, as I view others, so will I myself become.”
(from Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda)
Learning to Love Everyone
by Nayaswami Pushpa
In 2005 I went on pilgrimage to India. It was our last day and we were in Kolkata. I had an earlier flight than my fellow pilgrims, who were off to Mother Theresa’s hospital for most of the day. I had received permission to visit 4 Gurpar Road, Master’s boyhood home, for a second time.
After meditating in Master’s attic room I asked if Master’s nephew, Hare Krishna Ghosh, was available. Hare Krishna was very gracious and we visited for a while. I asked him what was the most remarkable thing he remembered about our guru. He responded, “Master loved everyone. Everyone!”
I am awed every time I try to imagine what it would be like to love everyone—to have that expanded awareness. With that goal in mind, I started practicing fully listening to people—with my heart as well as my ears—when they were talking, instead of planning what I was going to say next. When I looked at them I gazed at their spiritual eye, at the point between the eyebrows, endeavoring to expand my awareness that I was speaking not only to a physical being, but a soul. I endeavored to talk half as much and listen twice as much as I had previously.
It is by expanding our awareness and acknowledging other people’s realities that we increase our capacity to love.
Prayer
“Infuse me, from my deepest center, with Thy joy. Make me aware of Thee, my divine Beloved, in all that I behold.”
(from Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda)
The Eight Aspects of God
an interview with Swami Kriyananda
Awareness
by Nayaswami Pushpa
Awareness is a shift in consciousness from identifying with the physical body and mind to recognizing a deeper connection with the divine. As awareness expands, consciousness rises. As we mature spiritually we expand from just being aware of our own needs and reality to gradually including family, friends, our community, and eventually, all of humanity.
Nayaswami Jyotish said, “There is an innate yearning in each of us to expand our awareness to what we really are, and to experience union with the endless love and bliss of God. At a certain stage in this eternal quest, we feel drawn to explore inner stillness through the practice of meditation.”
Practicing the Hong-Sau technique of concentration focuses our awareness inward through the vehicle of the breath. As our breath calms, our awareness expands so that we may experience a higher state of consciousness. We can then welcome God as an experience of one or more of His manifestations: Love, Joy, Peace, Calmness, Power, Light, Sound, and Wisdom.
