I want to talk about the spiritual significance of Kriyananda’s passing for all of us. The qualities that Kriyananda expressed – his beautiful expression of love, creativity, and dynamism – were never his qualities. They are God’s qualities; Kriyananda simply channeled them. It’s now time for us to take the high consciousness that Kriyananda expressed and to express those same qualities more clearly and dynamically, in our own lives.
Those of us on Paramhansa Yogananda’s spiritual path have a certain responsibility to the world. Yogananda incarnated, not just as a beautiful soul but with the divine world mission of bringing the consciousness of Dwapara Yuga into manifestation on this planet at this time. He had an extraordinary life, but no individual, no matter how extraordinary and powerful, can do it all.
Swami Kriyananda came in part to further Yogananda’s mission, to bring it more powerfully into manifestation. Yogananda told him he had “a great work to do,” and as Rajarshi Janakananda said, “Master will give you the power to do it.” Kriyananda received great energy and magnetism from Yogananda. Now Kriyananda’s great work, in a sense, has finished because the chapter of his presence on this earth is over.
But the influence of his life is only just beginning. And it’s up to us to help further that influence. We must not delude ourselves by thinking if we don’t do it, it won’t happen. God doesn’t need us to usher in Dwapara Yuga. He’ll manage without us. But it’s our blessing to step forward and become more dynamically and lovingly attuned as channels of this light.
Yogananda said that when a great soul achieves enlightenment, his family members for seven generations before and seven generations after, achieve a degree of enlightenment that they could never achieve on their own. Kriyananda asked Yogananda, “Well, what about the disciples of a great master? Don’t they get something?” And Yogananda said, “Oh, they come first.”
As Kriyananda’s spiritual children, the blessings will come to us first. We are therefore in a very special and sacred period. We have a responsibility to do our best to become more powerful channels for the ray of divine grace that he channeled, and there’s a wind of grace that will help us do that.
But the real work is individual. It’s time for each of us to go deep within ourselves, to attune more deeply and more completely to God and Guru, and to rid our consciousness of those things that we know retard and limit us. As we do that, not only will Kriyananda’s extraordinary life have been a great gift to the world, it will become magnified by the thousands of souls dedicated to spreading that consciousness. Let’s not miss this moment.
After Yogananda’s mahasamadhi, Kriyananda went into seclusion for a few weeks. At the end of that time, he knew not only the direction his life should take, he had also received the grace and power to accomplish that direction. It would be very good for us to spend more time in meditation trying to feel the essence of Kriyananda, the essence of Yogananda, and the essence of each and every one of us as children of the Divine.
Kriyananda is no longer limited to the body. Yogananda is no longer limited to the body. We are limited to the body only to the extent that we buy into the delusion that the body is who and what we are. Let’s now try to get rid of that delusion. And if we do, we will be very blessed in this lifetime and also of great benefit to the world.
