It’s Christmas Eve as I write this, and I thought it would be fun to start with a little history before delving into more spiritual thoughts.
“A Visit from St. Nicholas” is one of the world’s best-known poems. It starts,
“’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;”
This poem was written in 1823 by Clement Clarke Moore, a professor of theology in New York City. As a theologian he was, naturally, more interested in St. Nicholas than in the mouse. St. Nicholas was a fourth-century Christian bishop in present-day Turkey, known for secretly giving gifts to those in dire need.
Moore portrayed him as a “jolly old elf” with a sleigh and eight reindeer, sliding down chimneys and giving presents to children. This, of course, has become today’s iconic image of Santa Claus. But deep spiritual truths are often hidden within popular imagery.
Christmas Eve and the visit of a saintly presence hold important lessons. Two of them are the stillness of the moment before certain events, and the act of selfless giving.
It is almost as if the universe itself holds its breath before an important occasion such as the birth of a savior. Artists have long recognized the power of the moment just before the action, which is why Michelangelo depicts David standing motionless and focused, just before the fury of combat.
To find the Christ consciousness within, we, too, must become still.
To find the Christ consciousness within, we, too, must become still. Individual waves of ego roil the surface of the ocean of spirit—rising, falling, and dying in a matter of moments. But the ocean itself is calm and eternal. To find our true Self, we must release our identification with our wave of individuality and realize that we are the ocean itself. God is not some distant entity, but the consciousness, our consciousness, that gives life to every atom in creation.
This connection cannot be felt while the mind and heart are agitated. Meditation is, in essence, a redirecting of prana from outer restlessness into inner stillness. And the moment before an event, Christmas Eve in this case, is when the universe is most supportive of that withdrawal.
The other important lesson of all sacred holidays is the ideal of giving. When self-offering is pure, removed from the marketplace of worldly thoughts, it becomes a pathway to Self-realization. When we give gifts to others, we lessen the grip of ego. Ultimately, we must give away everything, all that we have and all that we are. Then God can remake us in His own image. Yogananda stated it beautifully in a prayer-demand:
“Let every feeling that I have glow with Thy love. Let every act of my will be impregnated with Thy divine vitality. Let every thought, every expression, every ambition, be ornamented by Thee. O Divine Sculptor, chisel Thou my life according to Thy design!”
Happy Christmas.
Nayaswami Jyotish
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9 Comments
Every one of these blogs is a gem, but today, with this one, I felt delivered into that place pf perfect stillness and boundless heart.
God bless you both for walking us into these experiences of expanded consciousness.
AUM and Prem
Such a beautiful message . . .
Beautiful. Blessings to you and Devi.
What a beautiful and thrilling message filled with hope.
Thank you, Jyotish.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Devi, and to ALL.
God bless us…. every one.
Happy Christmas to Jyotish & Devi ji from India.
Thank you for sharing!
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for the blog!
Happy Christmas to you,Devi Ji and to all our Gurubhais
What a beautiful Poem by Master, thank you for sharing.
In Master’s love
Prem
Thanks for the beautiful message during the new year eve. You have rightly pointed out the importance of achieveing Christ consciousness which is possible only when we are still. ” Be still and know that I am God”
Namasthe
Abraham
Hi Nayaswami Jyotish: I am including part of this interview here because it is very compatible with
the points you made on finding the stillness within, the spiritual connection and how that manifests
outwardly in giving. May God bless you always, Jayne
from an Interview with Mother Maria Shimani de Montserrat:
“Jesus talked of the spiritual bases of solidarity, fraternity, knowing, feeling and accepting your neighbor as your brother.
We need to look at how corrections operate:
All of the politics, society, everything is for serving, not to be served by.
So everything needs to be stirred up within other deeper scopes, more spiritual ones.
From the spiritual point of view everything is created in the higher settings.
So that, for example, if you have an idea, you have a feeling, the two of us have a feeling…and these feelings cause us to create an idea to do something, and we begin to mature the idea, talk about it, give it form and then we perform the action.
So there you have 3 scopes, the spiritual sphere where you felt an inspiration, a concern that may be good or bad. Then you gave it form through your mental plane, you turned it into an idea and that idea became an action on the material plane. So, if you want to modify something that is being generated you need to change it at the origin. Because if you modify it at the origin then the idea is modified and then so the action is modified
So what the Divinity is trying to do is to reconnect the human being again with God, so that what changes will be the origin of how things work. So that people will have a meaning that is expanded, more loving, more compassionate, more collaborative, more fraternal, more human. So that ideas may be coated with these energies and actions too. So we have to create it where our expectations are created, where our hopes are created, where our human being is created.”
Dear Jyotish! Great story though I was surprised by the missing story. You did not explain the 8 reindeer and their relation to the eight aspects of God.
This is my guess –
Dasher Wisdom
Dancer Calm
Prancer Joy
Comet Peace
Cupid Love
Donner Sound
Vixen Power
Blitzen Light
Quick Look at All the Reindeer
Reindeer Personality trait Skill
Dasher He loves to go fast! Sewing
Dancer Completely extroverted All kinds of dance
Prancer A bit vain, though affectionate Prancing
Vixen Slightly tricky Magic
Comet Handsome and easy-going Good with kids
Cupid Affectionate Bringing people together
Donner Loud Singing
Blitzen Fast as a bolt! Can electrify others
Comet and Prancer to you!
Aumkara