In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda describes the scene in which he had his first experience in this lifetime of cosmic consciousness. It occurred when Swami Sri Yukteswar, his guru, tapped him lightly on the chest over the heart, and the breath was drawn out of him.
Yogananda writes: “An oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my soul. The Spirit of God, I realized, is exhaustless Bliss; His body is countless tissues of light. A swelling glory within me began to envelop towns, continents, the earth, solar and stellar systems, tenuous nebulae, and floating universes.”
Swami Kriyananda exp
lained that when Sri Yukteswar tapped Master on the chest, what occurred was the complete interiorization of his prana, or life force. When our prana is totally interiorized, we become breathless, and can then enter a state of deep stillness. All restlessness ceases, and we become absorbed in awareness of God’s presence.
For most of us who practice meditation, the restless mind is our greatest obstacle. No matter how sincere we are, or how hard we try to overcome intruding thoughts, it seems nearly impossible to achieve calm, focused concentration. Yoganandaji’s experience, however, offers us a clue for how to accomplish this.
Unwanted, restless thoughts are only energy patterns in our mind. Like weeds in a garden, we can keep pulling them up, but as long as we continue to water them, they will persist. It doesn’t help to blame the garden or feel guilty that we are bad gardeners. The secret is to cut off the “water,” the life force, that is feeding them.
When we interiorize our prana through attunement with the guru and the practice of techniques like Kriya Yoga, we begin to transcend the restless mind. Kriya Yoga and other similar techniques enable us to direct our prana inward and upward to higher centers of awareness.
For most of us, this doesn’t occur right away, but over time we can “reverse the searchlights of the senses,” as Yoganandaji described them. Eventually we become accustomed to being in a state of focused, inner awareness, and the molecular structure of our brain even changes to support our efforts.
But as long as our prana is moving predominantly outward, we are plagued not only with restlessness, but with all the desires and longings for outer fulfillment that it awakens. We live in the perpetual thought: “I know I would be happy if only. . . .” You fill in the blank.
In Swami Kriyananda’s beautiful song, “God’s Call Within,” he writes:
Friend, how long will you wander?
Friend, as long as you seek your home
In a land where all are strangers,
Love locks her door. . . .
Turn, turn, turn within:
In silence of soul, in cave of love
Find My abode.
In divine friendship,
Nayaswami Devi
16 Comments
Beautiful explanation as to the wandering and restless mind..Lovely reading..Thx..
Dear Nayaswami Devi Ji,
Thank you for the blog :). This restlessness and worrying about the circumstances is what I am trying to get rid off. Basically cut off the water .
With Gurus Blessings and the techniques , i am looking forward to achieve that state of complete interiorization .
Aum,
Prem
I read Autobiography of Yogi and simply fascinated. I am a God fearing person and by reading this book not only strengthen my faith and confidence in God but my thirst to meet or realised God became goal of life. I am planning to visit Ananda Kriyayog Ashram at Pune for further guidance and inspirations.
YESSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!
Thank you Deviji, for the inspiration.
This beautifully adds on to what i learned while listening to a Talk by Nayaswami Nirmala, where Swamiji was telling her once, “Did you know that we can reach God through Hong Sau alone!”.
She was saying that one must joyfully explore each of the techniques, like Energization, Hong Sau, Om, Kriya, and even Yoga Postures, Affirmations so that we have all these things to go deeper with in the process of interiorization (practices to do in the “silence of soul, in cave of love”). Om! :D
It beautifully ties with the withdrawing or cutting off the water. Thank you. Jai Guru.
thank you
Pranam Ji
Thanks for the Inspiration Ji , In the resent Past Self Enjoying the Peace and Bliss with in Aum.
Gratitude
R Sundararajan
Thank you, Devi. Perfect timing. Joy!
Beutiful!
Thank you Deviji, for the beautiful, timely reminder:)
Love,
Sharmila
Beautifully said- that God’s body is countless tissues of light for that is how He is Omnipresent! He is the Light in which we walk. How amazing is that!
Thank you Deviji,
Inspiring and helpful reading!!
Aum,
Neela
Well,what kind of love is it then,for a father or mother to put in bondage & suffering from birth,into the clutches & cunning evil traps of satan,all of the soul children?
Karma…birth and re-birth means working through one’s karmas. Therefore the need for spiritual growth in order to finally liberate the soul…AUM Guru.
Dear Devi ji
Thanks for sharing this need for interiorization. It happens and happens, but for short spell of time.
Sustained work is obviously needed to go past this stsge. This sharing is an inspiration to me, making me feel assured that I am on the right path.
Syamal
I love the part about it changing the mind, passageways of our brain to make it more possible for us to be calmer, more tranquil during meditation and our everyday lives. Perhaps when enough people are able to reach these inner states of quietude during their waking hours it will create beneficial changes in the world. Maybe because of the presence of these calm people, others will also seek ways of having more serenity in their lives.
Love this reminder, Thank you, Janet