A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, starts with these immortal lines: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” These words ring as true today as they did in the time of the French Revolution. Times of adversity push people toward the extreme ends of the spectrum, into wisdom or ignorance.
It is natural to think that the coronavirus is the enemy. But Paramhansa Yogananda said that “essentially, conditions are neither good nor bad; they are always neutral, seeming to be either depressing or encouraging because of the sad or bright attitude of the mind.” If our reaction to the pandemic is to shrink in upon ourself and think, “Me first,” then this will seem to be a disaster. But we have a golden opportunity to resist that temptation. We can push back against adversity, expand our sympathies, and loosen the grip of ego. In fact, this year may well be the greatest spiritual opportunity of our life.
We already know what to do. In truth, the upward path is quite simple. Through the ages, the guidance has been spoken to us by saints and whispered to us through our own conscience: Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. We really don’t need any more advice than this. We just need to do it.
The goal of the spiritual path is to dissolve the ego, which happens automatically when we open our hearts through empathy, kindness, and love. Try to feel the reality that others are experiencing. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine yourself as an exhausted doctor on a coronavirus ward, or a single mother stuck at home with no job and little food, and facing eviction. Reach out in both prayer and action to those in need now. As we do so, there will be less of “me” and more of God.
Keep your mind strong and positive. Thoughts create magnetism, expansive or contractive. We can fill them with courage and compassion or with fear and selfishness. Devi and I can attest, from the personal experience of having our own home and possessions destroyed in a forest fire when our baby was eleven days old, that staying positive in the midst of adversity will mold your life. As you pass from this life you will look back and see that this period has been one of the greatest opportunities for growth of this whole incarnation.
The best news of all: We don’t have to go through it alone. We have one another, and we have God and our Gurus. Use this time to strengthen your bonds with family, friends, community, and strangers. And most of all, use this time to meditate deeply and open yourself to the light that shines within you and all around you.
If you do so, this will, indeed, be the best of times.
In the light,
Nayaswami Jyotish
P.S. If you want to learn more about how to bring about inner change, please join Devi and me for a live two-part webinar called “Creating and Destroying Habits at Will.” We’ll be offering it April 17 and 24 from 6:00–7:30 p.m. Pacific time through Online with Ananda.
Subscribe to the Touch of Light podcast. Download the audio recording of this week’s blog by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (4:13):
11 Comments
Very helpful piece of wisdom
So nice ..thanks for sharing
Thankyou for sharing your toughts.
.My prayers to God and Gurus to keep you all in His Protection and love.
Om
Thank you, Jyotish! FYI, we had a Zoom meeting with Sadakas, and I’ve never heard a more positive, upbeat group or meeting. We’ll lick this rascal maya, by golly, and adventure forth…!
Thank you for your perspective and words of wisdom. What we focus on grows and I agree that this is likely the greatest spiritual opportunity for growth in our lifetime. AUM – Blessings!
Thank you. This is exactly what I needed to hear. Many blessings!
So many of us are uplifted by your online insights, however, the faint type that’s used in the emails we receive is very hard to read — not because it’s too small, but because it’s almost invisible. I’ve been waiting for it to return to solid black, but it’s been so long, that I felt I should write. Please help us to SEE your words of wisdom. Many thanks!
Thank you Ji for the inspiration to meditate and pray more and bond with our Gurubhais in being warriors of Light. Thanks to Ananda online broadcasts round the clock we are uplifted each time we tune into them.
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for this wonderful blog. The guidelines are very useful
The last lines are very encouraging…, We have one another, God, Gurus…
What a blessing to be part of Master’s family.
In Master’s love
Prem
Thank you Jyotishji
Very inspiring and strong words. Very true that we need to reach out to people in prayer and action and need to stay positive during these times.
Thank you again
Ritu
thank u for the mails
it is indeed motivating and uplifting
we get angry in a moment
we sit in our own shell
but we also need to be in touch wtih our freinds and people who need support in this time by talking to them or writing to them