Where Two or More Are Gathered Together

Nayaswami Devi reads her latest blog post and shares this beautiful Christmas inspiration during a community satsang at Ananda Village. Recorded December 15th 2021 in the Temple of Light.

"This is called where two or more are gathered together. Christmas, the season of social gatherings gift giving wonderful food, glittering decorations, hustle and bustle. And yet, it is so much more than any of these things. Paramahansa Yogananda said that at this time of year, the Christ consciousness is especially close to Earth, and more accessible to those who reach for it. And he gave a mystical explanation of Christ's statement, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Christ wasn't referring merely to his physical presence here. The deeper meaning is that when two or more of our thoughts are gathered together to focus on Christ, we will experience His presence within us.

So during this time of heightened spiritual opportunity, how do we focus more fully on him? First, we can try to follow Jesus' example of unconditional love and forgiveness. In a beautiful prayer poem Yoganandaji wrote of Christ, "O thou great lover of all error torn brothers, an unseen monument of the mightiest miracle of love was established in every heart when the magic of thy voice uttered, 'forgive them, for they know not what they do.'" Now is the time to forgive all those who have ever hurt or offended you. Realize that when people hurt others, no matter how grievious their offense, it is done out of ignorance. Find forgiveness and compassion for them and pray that God show them the way out of their darkness. Next, try to transcend any sense of division and separation from others, though their race, religion or beliefs may be different from your own. Remember that the one spirit of God animates us all.

In the prayer poem quoted earlier, Yoganandaji went on to write, "Teach us to conquer the Satan of dividing selfishness, which prevents the gathering of all our brothers souls into the one fold of spirit calling to one another by the watchword. Love him who loves you, and love all who love you not. Let us rally beneath the canopy of the universal oneness of Christ." Then, live with deep faith in God's constant love and protection. In today's uncertain times, it's all too easy to grow anxious about what the future may hold, banish any such thoughts by recalling to mind and heart Christ's immortal words in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, take no thoughts saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "How shall we be clothed?" For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

Swami Kriyananda once told us faith is the greatest thing Jesus wanted us to learn, not blind faith in mere words, but faith born of the experience of his inner presence. Finally, try to make Christ a living reality in your life by expressing him in your thoughts, words and actions, your consciousness then will expand who embraces presence in each moment. Yoganandaji wrote, do whatever you do with a thought and peace of Christ. This Christmas behold Christ born anew in the beauty of all nature, in your awakened wisdom in everything which wears true beauty, and in everybody who saturates themselves with the fragrance of Christ qualities. If you strive to gather your thoughts together in these ways, you may share with Christ's disciples their experience when he appeared in their midst after the crucifixion and said, Peace be on to you. May you have a blessed Christmas season with joy in God, Christ, and Guru. Nyaswami Devi.

So, I don't really have much else... You don't have much else to add. Other than Swami also pointed out, I didn't want to go into it in too much detail. But when Christ said, when two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I. And so Swami said it's not something that happened in the past. So, he was telling the disciples when you come together, I'll be there. He was saying, I am. It's the eternal now, that when we focus our thoughts on the Christ, then he is come and master called his mission, the second coming of Christ, and it was no words fell from his lips or flowed from his pen that were idle. They all were wrought with deep meaning. And so for him to call his mission, the second coming of Christ. What he was saying was, I am teaching you how to have Christ reborn within you, the Christ consciousness. And that's the goal of our path. That's the purpose of our lives. And so I just want to say it's such a wonderful time of year to go deeper, and to really try to make spiritual inroads into the restlessness of our mind. But whether we can or not, it doesn't matter. It's our enthusiasm, our desire to do so that's important. So, lets not think about what we are or what we aren't. Let's just think about what we can give, and how we can be a channel for Christ's love and blessings in all that we do just as Master said, in every thought and action, be expressing the Christ consciousness."