What Is Yogananda's Highest Prayer?
Nayaswami Jyotish shares this deep inspiration during his Sunday service at Ananda Village, February 6th 2022.
"What happens if you do see a vision of Divine Mother or do see a vision of Krishna?" Why do you want to see a vision? Only because they will help change your consciousness. And so pray, "Reveal within me that state of consciousness in union with Thee, and then let me share that consciousness with all." Jyotish talks also about what mantras are good to use on the path of Self-realization.
You can find the complete talk here.
Transcription
Nayaswami Jyotish:
That chant that we did, "Reveal Thyself," as we took that into meditation: That's more than just a chant. It is, of course, a chant.
But it is one of the two highest prayers of Master. Master said to pray to the Lord, "Reveal Thyself. Reveal Thyself to me, that I may reveal Thyself to all." He said, "That's the highest prayer," that prayer of 'Reveal Thyself.'
You know, we can think of that as "Reveal Thyself; O Krishna, appear to me," or "Divine Mother, manifest in a vision and come to me." But that's an interim thing.
What happens if you do see a vision of Divine Mother or do see a vision of Krishna? Why do you want to see a vision of Krishna? Why do you want to see Divine Mother or Master?
Only because they will help change your consciousness. And so, yes, "Reveal Thyself"—it's fine to pray to have Divine Mother or the Lord reveal Himself/Herself in a form, but God is consciousness.
The real prayer of "Reveal Thyself" is: "Let me feel... reveal within me my own state of consciousness of union with Thee. Reveal to myself Thee within myself, in that state of consciousness, and then," as Master said, "reveal that state of consciousness, and then let me share that consciousness with all."
Swami occasionally was asked for by people for a mantra. You know, our path doesn't really have the practice of receiving a mantra. Usually, it's a Sanskrit phrase that you repeat over and over. We don't have that so much as we have kriya yoga as our primary technique.
So Swami would occasionally be asked for a mantra. And he didn't give mantras in the traditional sense.
But if somebody really wanted something, a kind of a focal point for their mental processes, then he would say, "Well, repeat 'Reveal Thyself' over and over again... 'Reveal Thyself' or repeat 'Om Guru, Om Guru' over and over."
