Paramhansa Yogananda would sometimes gaze lovingly at his disciples and say, “If you only knew how beautiful you are. I see you all as beings of light.”
It’s often challenging to see the best in the world around us, faced as we are with life’s many contrasts: beauty and ugliness, wisdom and folly, integrity and dishonesty, kindness and cruelty, to name but a few.
Yet striving to see other people in their highest light helps them as well as us. I’ve read many stories about young gang members or hardened criminals who were able to turn their lives around because one person saw the goodness in them. They changed because someone saw them as God sees them.
I’ve taken up the practice of inwardly asking, when I see something or someone that evokes a negative reaction in me like judgment or dislike, “Master, how do you see this?” When I imagine my Guru looking at the world through my eyes, it’s amazing how my perception of everything begins to change.
The beautiful, positive things become brighter, clearer, more filled with light. The colors in nature become more intense; the new buds on a tree branch seem bursting with life; the radiant soul nature shines forth from people’s eyes.
On the other hand, there is also in this world a great deal of evil that confronts us. If we try to see it through God’s eyes, then even the darkness takes on a purpose and meaning in the greater scheme of things. Anxiety about the future is replaced by calm understanding that this is God’s world, and He is in charge.
There is a beautiful story from the life of the beloved Christian saint, Francis of Assisi. He was born in 1182, the son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi, Italy. In his youth he had a spiritual conversion, which ultimately led to a vision of Christ, who asked him to rebuild his church. Francis spent the remainder of his life as a humble, wandering beggar, but so great was his sanctity that thousands became converted to a life in God. His spiritual impact continues to this day.
One day as St. Francis was traveling through the countryside, he saw a leper approaching him along the road. Leprosy was something that still evoked revulsion in Francis, and this leper had most of his face eaten away by the terrible disease.
Every instinct in Francis told him to turn and run away, lest he himself become infected, but he controlled this impulse and tried to see the leper as God saw him. With this changed perception, Francis ran up to him, and embraced and kissed him on his disease-ravaged face. Immediately the leper he held in his arms was transformed: before Francis stood the living form of Jesus Christ!
When we try to see the world through God’s eyes, we are able to transcend our limited perspective, and our consciousness is lifted to a higher plane. Vision in God becomes vision of God—of His love and light everywhere.
As Yoganandaji wrote: “When my two eyes that behold both good and evil become single, and behold in everything only the divine goodness of God, I shall see that my body, mind, and soul have become filled with His omnipresent light.”
May God’s vision become your own.
Nayaswami Devi
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21 Comments
Simply loved the piece. Very well stated…”Vision in God becomes vision of God—of His love and light everywhere.” Thanks
Dear Nayaswami Devi ji,
Wow!!! Such a beautiful blog. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Very much required and to be practiced.
Jai Guru
Prem
Thank you…. just… thank you ?
Deeply spiritual article, Devi! Great wisdom. Thanks for sharing this great reminder that all is God. Many blessings, great soul!
This is sooo beautiful. I was on a sort of negative mood or had irritated feeling inside before I started to read this. After reading this, I feel uplifted and all these negative feelings vanished from me. Thank you !
Its Amazing , i zm exactly seeing this comment as i am doing it thru my deepest instict, I am a healer as well as a physiotherapist.I read a line from a Ramana Maharishi text,”There are no others” this made me interospect,.If there are no others than the pain i see in my patients is pain within me somewhere, and i wonf like to have pain in me.So i started seeing my chronically ill patiemt completely well and healthy as they would be as sparks of Divine and i have some astounding results.
Thank you for this Divine reminder! We recently lost a long time friend to unexpected suicide. He left a loving wife and two children. I have struggled to come to peace with this tragedy. Getting there step by step in God Christ Gurus…
Omshanti
thank you very much, do you have this information in Spanish?
Beloved Devi, thank you so much for your share it’s very much grabbed my attention and I am certain will significantly improve my Consciousness today
Beautiful insights that are most helpful in navigating
this world and these times in our history. God Bless!
Thank you for this beautiful blog post, Devi!
Thank you Devi, for allowing us to look at the world in a different and expanded way.
Many thanks Devji for the blog above. Part of it sets me thinking yet. I am sure liquefaction and evaporation rate in my ego content is very low, may be so also my conviction and shraddha at soul level needs rising much higher. I, too, am grateful to you. I have to work hard with myself. Love; God Bless you.
Devi- Thank you for this inspiring and profound message. These are the gems that help me in my work!
In HIs Divine Love,
Jennifer Sale
So inspiring.Thank you.
Thank you so much Devi. It’s beautiful.
So heart opening, Devi. Thank you!
In Divine Gratitude, I give thanks to the Giver of all Gifts. Namaste
Beautiful, Devi!
Thank you dear Devi ji for this blog. It has so beautifully conveyed that we must only see the Truth: that God is in all. St. Francis’ story of loving a leper with God’s love, was so touching. That is what we should strive to do…
Thank you!
Aum guru