“I will live in the remembrance of what I am in truth: bliss infinite! eternal love!”
(from Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda)
Be Still And Know I Am God
a personal reflection by Nayaswami Pushpa
A few weeks ago I was attending a class and I had a profound experience that I would like to share with you. (I have written the words below in such a way as to bring you into that experience with me.)
I am suddenly aware that I am perfectly still inside. It takes me by surprise. I experience profound inner silence while in the midst of a group of people talking. I hear them, but they cannot touch this silence in which You gently hold me. I am beyond this.
There is a diaphanous dome of energy separating me from the earthly experience I am observing. Have I ever been so consciously aware of this simultaneous existence? One level of reality superimposed upon the other—separate but a part of. Your presence moves me. Enfolded in Your peaceful silence, I remember how exquisitely beautiful You are.
How could I ever forget?
Prayer
“Lord, Thou art always with me. Help me to feel, behind my thoughts, Thy inspiration; behind my every emotion, Thy calm, all-transforming love.”
(from Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda)
God! God! God!
Original poem by Yogananda, adapted by Swami Kriyananda, sung by Saiganesh
God-Remembrance
by Nayaswami Pushpa
Swami Kriyananda said, “There is one point that stands out in my throng of sweet memories, and it is the fact that what pleased [Master] always, above everything else, was devotion, and a constant inward remembrance of God. Philosophical truths were, for him, only avenues to the expression of divine love. Good work without devotion might have impressed him, but it never thrilled his heart.”
We should not think of ourselves as reaching out for God. He is not outside of us. He is not separate from us. He is the nearest of the near, the dearest of the dear. We just need to open our hearts to Him. He is ever in the present moment. We should always take Him with us, including Him in both our victories and failures. He wants to be part of our lives.
Yogananda shared the teaching from the Vedas that there are eight aspects of God: Light, Love, Peace, Calmness, Wisdom, Sound, Power, and Joy. We can become more aware of God by focusing on one of His qualities, feeling that quality within us, and then expanding it out to touch the whole world. We were made in God’s image and likeness, so these qualities are an innate part of us also. They help us to connect with Him, and also to feel Him as part of our very nature.
One day Krishna said to Draupadi (who, in the Mahabharata, symbolizes the kundalini energy), “Why don’t you practice yoga meditation?” “I would love to, Lord,” Draupadi answered earnestly, “but how can I do it? Every time I sit to practice the techniques, I become so absorbed in You that I forget everything else!” At those words, Krishna only smiled, blissfully.
May we all become so absorbed!
The Game of Eight
Jyotish and Devi share a delightful way to cultivate God-remembrance
