Weaken a bad habit by avoiding everything that occasioned it or stimulated it, without concentrating upon it in your zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good habit and steadily cultivate it until it becomes a dependable part of you.
– Paramahansa Yogananda
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Watch this video which explains all
I asked the leaf whether it was frightened because it was autumn and the other leaves were falling.
The leaf told me, “No. During the whole spring and summer I was completely alive. I worked hard to help nourish the tree, and now much of me is in the tree. I am not limited by this form. I am also the whole tree, and when I go back to the soil, I will continueto nourish the tree. So I don’t worry at all. As I leave this branch and float to the ground, I will wave to the tree and tell her, ‘I will see you again very soon.’”
That day there was a wind blowing and, after a while, I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully, because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree. It was so happy.
I bowed my head, knowing that I have a lot to learn from the leaf.
–Thich Nhat Hanh
Demonic verily are the worlds which are enveloped in blinding
darkness. And to them go, after death, those who harm their inner selves.
Isha UpanishadIn the Bhagavad-Gita says Lord Krishna that the self
is the friend of the self and the self also is the enemy of the
self. In the same scripture we also come across a detailed
description of the demonic qualities. Those who harm
their inner selves are those who engage in wicked actions and
harmful qualities. This verse is a continuation of the same argument on karma that started in the first verse. Do we realize how much harm we do to ourselves each day by our actions and thoughts and what opportunities we fritter away in search of things that actually do not help us in our spiritual progress?
“If you are angry or in pain, separate yourself from anger and pain and watch them. Externalization is the first step to liberation.”
Nisargidatta Maharaj
Introspection
If you find that every day you are becoming either
touchy, finicky, or gossipy, then you know that you
are going backward. The best test is to analyze your-
self and find out whether you are happier today than
you were yesterday. If you feel that you are happier
today, then you are progressing; and this feeling of
happiness must continue.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons
“The real does not die, the unreal never lived. Set your mind right and all will be right. When you know that the world is one, that humanity is one, you will act accordingly. But first of all you must attend to the way you feel, think and live. Unless there is order in yourself, there can be no order in the world.”
Nisargidatta Maharaj
Introspection
You know when you are doing wrong. Your whole
being tells you, and that feeling is God’s voice. If you
do not listen to Him, then He is quiet; but when you
spiritually waken again He will guide you. He sees
your good and your evil thoughts and actions, but
whatever you do, you are His child just the same.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons
The Guru
When one has found his guru there should be
unconditional devotion to him, because he is the vehicle
of God. The guru’s sole purpose is to bring the disciple
to Self-realization; the love a guru receives from a
devotee is given by the guru to God.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Sayings of Yogananda”
It is because God wants you that I am here with
you, calling you to come Home, where my Beloved
is, where Christ and Krishna, and Babaji, Lahiri
Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswarji, and the other saints are.
“Come,” the Lord is saying, “they are all rejoicing in
Me. No worldly joys–the taste of food, the beauty of
flowers, the passing pleasure of earthly love–can
compare with the divine joys of My home.”
There is only one Reality. It is He. Forget every-
thing else.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Sayings of Paramahansa
Yogananda”
O my Guru! If all the gods are wroth, and yet
thou art satisfied with me, I am safe in the fortress
of thy pleasure. And if all the gods protect me by the
parapets of their blessings, and yet I receive not thy
benediction, I am an orphan, left to pine spiritually
in the ruins of thy displeasure.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Whispers from Eternity
Devotee: How can I obtain Guru’s Grace?
Ramana Maharishi: Grace is the Self. That also is not to be acquired; you only need to know that it exists.
The sun is brightness only. It does not see darkness. Yet you speak of darkness fleeing on the sun’s approach.
So also the devotee’s ignorance, like the phantom of darkness, vanishes at the look of the Guru. You are
surrounded by sunlight; yet if you want to see the sun, you must turn in its direction and look at it. So also Grace is found by the proper approach you make, though it is here and now.
Obedience to the guru is necessary for attunement
with his wisdom. It is not slavery to follow the wishes
of a God-realized guru, because his wish gives
independence and freedom. A true guru is the servant
of God, carrying out His plan for your liberation.
Realize this, and you will always obey, until you find
perfect freedom in Spirit.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”
Patience
Do not look for a spiritual flower every day. Sow
the seed, water it with prayer and right endeavor.
When it sprouts, take care of the plant, pulling out the
weeds of doubt, indecision, and indifference that may
spring up around it. Some morning you will suddenly
behold your long-awaited spiritual flower of Realization.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, in a “Para-gram”
No known comparison exists in the three worlds for a true guru. If the philosopher’s stone be assumed as truly such, it can only turn iron into gold, not into another philosopher’s stone. The venerated teacher, on the other hand, creates equality with himself in the disciple, who takes refuge at his feet. The guru is therefore peerless, nay transcendental.”
– Adi Shankaracharya
Patience
Your are your own enemy and you don’t know it.
You don’t learn to sit quietly. You don’t learn to give
time to God. And you are impatient and expect to attain
heaven all at once. You cannot get it by reading books
or by listening to sermons or by doing charitable works.
You can get it only by giving your time to Him in deep
meditation.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”
Patience
Let us forget the sorrows of the past and make up
our minds not to dwell on them in the New Year.
With determination and unflinching will, let us renew
our lives, our good habits, and our successes. If the
last year has been hopelessly bad, the New Year must
be hopefully good.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”
The Guru
In the beginning of one’s spiritual search, it is
wise to compare various spiritual paths and teachers.
But when you find the real guru destined for you,
the one whose teachings can lead you to the Divine
Goal, then restless searching should cease. A spiritually
thirsty person should not go on indefinitely seeking
new wells; rather he should go to the best well and
drink daily of it’s living waters.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons
When tilling the ground for the cultivation of crops,
one needs patience to destroy all useless weeds and
to wait, even though the ground then appears barren,
until the hidden good seeds sprout into plants. It
requires still more patience to clear the field of
consciousness that is overgrown with weeds of useless
attachments to sense pleasures, which are very difficult
to uproot. Yet when the field of consciousness is
cleared, and sown with seeds of good qualities, plants
of noble activities sprout forth, yielding abundantly
the fruits of real happiness. Above all, have patience
to seek communion with God through deep meditation
and to become acquainted with your indestructible
soul, hidden within your perishable earthly body.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, in a “Para-gram”
O Christ, take possession of my heart and mind!
Be thou reborn in me as love for all men. May thy
consciousness which is in every atom manifest in me
as unconditional loyalty to Guru and the Great Ones,
and to thee, O Blessed Jesus, and to the Supreme who
is the Father of all.
–Paramhansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”
Those who renounce life truly, in fact, enjoy life better than those
who do not, because the true sanyasis are not troubled by the fear
of loss or the possibility of gain. They accept their lot, what
comes to them without struggle and seeking and remain indifferent to what does not come to them or what has departed from them.
–Isha Upanishad (Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V)
Renunciation is not negation of life. It is not some morose and
lifeless experience. We should not renounce life because of despair
or depression arising out of our fears, frustration or personal
failures. True renunciation arises out of intense longing for the
divine, out of a state of mind in which attachment with the Divine
alone makes sense and out of a sense of freedom and fearlessness
that stem from unflinching faith in God and His supreme will.
–Isha Upanishad (Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V)
Life has to be enjoyed, but without seeking, without coveting, and
without struggling to get things done or get things for oneself. It
is the renunciation of seeking and of desiring things which
constitute the central feature of a life of true renunciation.
–Isha Upanishad (Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V)
You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need
Nisargidatt Maharaj
Coax Christ today with your songs and the devotion
of your heart, and then coax him with your deepening
Self-realization. With all the intensity of your zeal and
inner perception, merge your consciousness in the
happiness within. Forget time. When you feel joy
spreading within you, realize that Christ is hearing
your song. You are not identified with Christ if your
concentration is merely on the words. But if your joy
is singing within, Christ is listening to you.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”
Patience
The truth is, that which you want is with you all
the time, closer than hands or feet. Any moment it
may lift you above the world and personal depression.
Wait patiently for Him.
–Sri Gyanamata, “God Alone: The Life and Letters of a
Saint”
Choose which habits you are going to destroy
in the New Year. Make up your mind about them
and stick to your decision. Resolve to give more time
to God: to meditate regularly every day, and on one
night each week to meditate for several hours, so that
you can feel your spiritual progress in God. Resolve
that you are going to practice Kriya Yoga regularly
and that you are going to control your appetites and
emotions. Be a master!
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”
If I don’t see you, remember I am working for
you in some other place. My seeing you all the time
will not necessarily help you. You will receive more
by meditating deeply and regularly. I am not here
only to help you in this life, but in the beyond also.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, Lecture
There is a vast difference between imagination
and Self-realization. Through your imagination you
may have subconscious dreams and visions of Christ
every day. But such experiences do not mean that you
are truly in touch with him. The real visitation of Jesus
is the communion with Christ Consciousness. If you
are in tune with that Christ, your whole life will change.
–Paramhansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine
May the Christmas spirit you feel not end with
today; rather may it be with you every night as you
meditate. Then in the silence of your own mind, as
you drive away all restless thoughts, Christ
Consciousness will come. If we all follow the spirit
of Jesus we shall surely experience every day his
presence within us.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”
Read one letter, Alif, the only one,
The rest you can all forget.
Let thy spirit have a cleansing
No other study for you next.Shah Abdul Latif
In the lives of saints and mystics of the East, the claim to have derived knowledge directly from God, without scholastic training or education, is a recurrent tale. It is said that as a boy Shah Latif was sent to learn the alphabet from Akhund Nur Mahomcd Bhatti, but he refused to proceed after the first letter, Ali], to the next letter (Bai), saying that there was nothing beyond’ Alif, the One or Unity: He was then withdrawn from the school and never got any further scholastic training. This story is to be taken with a grain of salt. Long afterwards, Shah said in the above verse that has become well known.
Silence
From the depths of silence the geyser of God’s bliss
shoots up unfailingly and flows over man’s being.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Sayings of Yogananda”
Absolute perfection is here and now, not in some future, near or far. The secret is in action – here and now. It is your behavior that blinds you to yourself. Disregard whatever you think yourself to be and act as if you were absolutely perfect – whatever your idea of perfection may be. All you need is courage
Nisargidatt Maharaj
“Come, come, whoever you are,
Wanderer, idolater, worshiper of fire,
Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
…Come, and come yet again.
Ours is not a caravan of despair”.~Rumi
“Go not far, Sassi! nor give up the quest,
Walk not with your feet, yet sit not quite content
All connection with joys of life snap,
Walk with your heart, that journey may soon end.”
………Bhitai [Sur Sasui]
Christmas
To bring divine awareness into our human consciousness
we must outgrow the limited conventional concept of Christ.
To me Christmas is a thought of spiritual grandeur –
a realisation that our minds are an altar of Christ, the Universal
Intelligence in all creation. Jesus was born in a little crib, but
the Christ Spirit is omnipresent.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”
Silence
Be with people in silence; don’t spend precious time
and energy in idle talk. Eat in silence; work in silence.
God loves silence.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons
Christmas
Lift your eyes and concentrate within. Behold the
astral star of divine wisdom and let the wise thoughts
in you follow that telescopic star to behold the Christ
everywhere.
In that land of everlasting Christmas, of festive,
omnipresent Christ Consciousness, you will find Jesus,
Krishna, the saints of all religions, the great guru-
preceptors waiting to give you a divine floral reception
of everlasting happiness.
–Paramhansa Yogananda, “Metaphysical Meditations”