HOW CAN I HAVE A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS?
Nayaswami Ananta: I think a spiritual Christmas is a really important goal. It would be an absolute shame to have [only] material Christmas and miss the real gem that we are offered every December 25, also at Easter, and the celebrations of avatars of any religion. Christmas is a cultural event. The world celebrates Christmas. We can have a spiritual celebration and really have a deep ‘Joy to the world and peace on earth to men of goodwill’ celebration by penetrating into the spiritual dimension of Christmas.
I used to live in Sacramento, California. We lived in the Ananda center in Sacramento. We were celebrating Christmas but the entire city was celebrating Christmas with Christmas trees and lights. We incorporated that into our celebration by noting the beauty of the Christmas lights and the Christmas trees.
The Christmas tree, Yogananda said, is a symbol of the astral spine, and the lights on the Christmas tree reflect the beauty of the lights of the chakras. So keeping that in mind, note also that the star is always at the top of the Christmas tree. This is the star of the Christ center at the sixth chakra center.
We would incorporate as we went through the city, that beauty as part of our celebration. You’ve got to make the best of this because it’s going to be all around you if you live in the modern world. Santa Claus—giving and rewarding good karma, repelling bad karma… incorporate the cultural celebration into your spiritual practice, but anchor your celebration of Christmas with an inner practice of meditation, inner prayer, and chanting or singing the spiritual Christmas hymns like “Silent Night” and all the other hymns.
I was raised Catholic so I was brought up with all of the spiritual gifts. We were not a wealthy family, so the spiritual Christmas was the anchor of Christmas anyway because there was not much material Christmas to be had — a little, but not excessive. So, a spiritual Christmas—you need to drive that because the world is going to drive a material Christmas. There’s going to be a lot of Santa Clauses selling used cars. It’s not quite the same as Mary and Joseph in the inn.
This [a spiritual Christmas] is a big opportunity. Go about the practice of daily meditation and prayer. Yogananda’s book Metaphysical Meditations has meditations for Christmas, Christmas morn, Christmas Eve. Incorporate a prayer into your meditation.
Meditate on the symbolism of the birth of Christ in the simple surroundings — of the manger, of the angels bringing the shepherds to the Christ, of the kings coming to the Christ, of the animals being there, and Christmas songs. Sing the spiritual Christmas songs and lengthen your meditation if you can [in the days] coming towards Christmas. Celebrate Advent—the preparation for Christmas.
It does not matter what tradition or traditions you have or establish in your own life, but celebrate a spiritual Christmas by engaging, on the spiritual level, your life and consciousness. And build [your spiritual life], towards Christmas and then through Christmas towards the New Year, new consciousness.
And bring that gift of Christ’s teachings of divine love, joy, and peace [into your life]. You are going to hear those themes in the public. You are going to hear them from car dealers, casinos, stock exchanges, etc. I received a Christmas card from my insurance agent. I love it! I mean, it’s better than nothing. You know you’ve got to go with what’s on the table.
You will be able to use the exterior cultural symbolism of Christmas, and Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and all the traditions if you establish [spiritual Christmas] within your own heart and consciousness and increased receptivity to the Divine, to divine love, and inner stillness through whatever meditative practices you can use. “Be still and know that I am God.” Be still and know that Christ is a reflection of [God] the Father.
WHY DO WE GIVE GIFTS FOR CHRISTMAS?
Nayaswami Ananta: The giving of gifts, as I always heard, was because The Three Kings brought gifts [to the Christ child]. The Christ Consciousness invites us to share what we’ve been given with our brothers and sisters, so it’s natural that there will be gift-giving.
In the Catholic tradition, The Three Kings brought gifts to Mary and Joseph and the baby. They were symbolic gifts that indicated the kings knew that the life of Christ would be played out on the world stage and there would be suffering. One of the gifts was myrrh for preparing the body, the deceased body.
But The Three Kings represent the traditions of the various religions. Kriyananda used to point out to us that The Three Kings coming to the birth of Christ represented an interfaith satsang. This is the mystical tradition of the gifts. We want to share the gifts that we’ve been given with each other, because we are brothers and sisters of the Divine Mother.
We are the brothers and sisters of the Christ Consciousness in Christ Consciousness and that loving energy is to be held in Yogananda. In our tradition [Kriya Yoga and Self-realization], those Three Kings are represented by Babaji, Lahiri, and Sri Yukteswar.
The meaning of the gifts becomes even more touching to [and for] our Kriya Yoga path. We see that as the Masters coming with gifts to celebrate the launching of Christ’s mission to the world of true Christianity—Divine Love, world brotherhood, the unity of all religions, sharing, giving, and the affirmation of the soul, in Christ Consciousness—being the underlying reality of the whole world.
The challenge for us, as true seekers of all paths, is to see that behind and throughout all the traditions, all true religions, and paths is the one realization of God’s Omnipresence.
The goal for us is to share the whole world—all the gifts, both material and emotional, and spiritual—with each other, so that we can move forward towards the realization that we are all part of the Christ Consciousness, the Mystical Body of Christ, as it’s referred to; we’re all part of that body. We are all part of all that is.
The gifts definitely move us in that spirit. It’s wonderful that the tradition of gifts persists. It’s unfortunate that the materialism of the modern world makes that a major part of Christmas. The business people and corporations see Christmas as a shopping holiday, which to the spiritual world is…You take what you’re given. Okay, we can tolerate that because it is the giving of gifts. It’s not selfish, but the buying…there’s still a little too much materialism.
A little more spirituality would probably benefit all of us. That was a major component of Yogananda’s celebration of Christmas and, of course, Kriyananda and Ananda, as the saying goes, put the Christ back in Christmas, and put the Christ Consciousness back in Christmas…and just push with all of the other churches, sanghas, and all the religious traditions to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas – the giving of gifts, especially Divine Love, world brotherhood, peace, joy, and kindness, which I think we need more of.
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The full video “Spiritual Christmas: Questions & Answers” will be available here shortly. We will post more excerpts from the interview with Nayaswami Ananta in the weeks ahead.
Photo Credit: Banner image by Coleur on Pixabay
10 Comments
Thank you for sharing your amazing, deep thoughts. It made me think of how wonderful it will be if all people celebrate all the traditional celebrations of the world together, and live the Divine Unity that is behind all Celebrations. I think all of us would be celebrating all the time, and from our own homes!! Each time in a different way, and with a different master.🙂
Sharing gifts is a very nice tradition because it teaches us the art of giving and when one learns the art of giving he will know what LOVE means.
May the Christ-Consciousness awakens within us all, for it is the best gift for all times. 🙏
Christmas is the season where we share love, Unconditional love!
Namaste!
Thank you, dear Ananta! What a beautiful blessing to read this today. Looking forward to more of the interview.
AUM CHRIST OM!
Thank you for reminding us about the true meaning of Christmas
This is a beautiful reminder of what Christmas really is. Thank you for sharing :)
I am guest by you since many years.
I thank god , that you give me with your words very very much!My husband is “going to GOD”.
MANY GOOD WISHES FOR YOU!
ANGELA HÜNKE VON PODEWILS
in Lüneburg/Germany
Great approach to dealing with a commercialization that, as you say, we cannot avoid just walking down the street. Like seeing the beauty in some of the world’s most ferocious creatures. It’s all in how we choose to perceive things. See past the veneer of corporate spin. Gaudy as much of it is, we can ‘incorporate it’ into our own spiritual understanding of Christmas. So true. Thank you!
Thank you for helping us return to the true meaning of Christmas. Your talk inspires me to look at outer examples as a return to divinity within.
Much gratitude and blessings,
Therese Smith
Just like the days of old when you were in Sac, Ananta. Your usual profound viewing of the miracles of Divine Brotherhood and Holy Days. Thanks, all ways!
Am in the spirit don’t disturb me