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Living in the Presence of God (with Nayaswami Jaya)

Nayaswami Jaya
December 11, 2022

Sunday Service with Nayaswami Jaya and Brahmachari Sagar at Ananda Village, recorded December 11th 2022.

This week's reading is:

Living in the Presence of God

(From Rays of the One Light - Weekly Commentaries on the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Kriyananda)

Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.

The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 25, we read of a King – capitalized, for the reference is to God – who welcomes certain devotees to the divine consciousness, saying, “I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

The elect asked him when it was they had served Him in these ways, and the King answered, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

To see God as residing in every human being, as indeed He does, is to open oneself to limitless opportunities for serving Him. Paramhansa Yogananda, in Autobiography of a Yogi, described a saint who lived in this consciousness as “the greatest man of humility I ever knew.” He described a seemingly chance encounter with this saint:

Another day found me walking alone near the Howrah railroad station. I stood for a moment by a temple, silently criticizing a small group of men with drum and cymbals who were violently reciting a chant.

“How undevotionally they use the Lord’s divine name in mechanical repetition,” I reflected. My gaze was astonished by the rapid approach of Master Mahasaya. “Sir, how come you here?”

The saint, ignoring my question, answered my thought. “Isn’t it true, little sir, that the Beloved’s name sounds sweet from all lips, ignorant and wise?” He passed his arm around me affectionately; I found myself carried on his magic carpet to the Merciful Presence.

If you would see God, watch for Him everywhere. If you would hear His voice, listen for it in all sounds and also in their supporting silences. If you would know God, seek His wisdom behind merely human knowledge.

The Bhagavad Gita, in the sixth Chapter, states:

One who beholds My presence everywhere,

And all things dwelling equally in Me,

He never loses loving sight of Me,

Nor I of him, through all eternity.

Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.

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