Brother Ishtananda spoke about how to develop intuition. He said that it is important to get your whole consciousness in the spiritual eye, for that is how you develop calmness so that intuition can come in. It is important to stay attuned – so often we ignore the intuitive voice.

Brother told a funny story about a man who one day began to hear a voice within, and it said, “Sell the house.” Initially the man ignored the voice. But the voice kept whispering to him inwardly day after day, week after week, urging him, “Sell the house.” So finally the man sold his home and moved into a small apartment. Soon after, he began to hear the voice again and it told him, “Quit your job.” The man was hesitant, but day after day the voice was persistent and so finally the man quit his job. Soon the voice spoke again, urging the man, “Sell all that you have.” The voice was unrelenting, and so the man eventually sold all that he had. Then the voice instructed the man, “Take all of the money and to fly to Las Vegas.” Now the man became hopeful that maybe a payoff was in sight and he dashed off to Las Vegas. The voice told him to go to a certain casino, and the man rushed down the street to find it. Now the voice advised him to go to a certain roulette wheel, and excitedly the man obeyed. Listening intently to the voice, he heard, “Put all of the money, on red 32.” The man immediately obeyed and the wheel was spun. Elated, he clenched his hands and held his breath in euphoric expectation as the wheel spun round and round. Gradually the wheel became slower and slower, and slower. And finally it stopped on…… black 6. Once again the man heard the voice and it said, “Darn.” This story was, of course, to illustrate that we need to learn to hear the genuine voice of intuition.

Opening Night:

Brother Bhaktananda told stories related to Master’s mahasamadhi:

In 1937, Master told Rajasi that he would pass away at the Biltmore during an Indian banquet after giving a speech. But Rajasi forgot all about his prediction, and even when Master reminded him about it just before the banquet Rajasi again forgot about it. It wasn’t until after the mahasamadhi that Rajasi recalled Master’s words of premonition.

Rajasi said that Master gave him this message after his mahasamadhi, “Now my body will not be in the way.” - meaning, not in his way but for us, due to our ignorance in limiting his omnipresence to a physical body.

There was a man in South America who was reading the Autobiography when he heard on the radio news of Master’s mahasamadhi. Disillusioned, the man threw the book across the room and said, “Who wants to read about a dead man!” Master then appeared to this man in flesh and blood and said, “Am I dead? Please finish reading the autobiography.”

Master told the disciples that he would leave when his writings were finished, which were to include an interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Rubiat of Omar Kayam, the Book of Revelation, and The Second Coming of Christ.

Recharging the Body With Cosmic Energy

Brother Ishtananda (minister at Hollywood Temple)

There are two types of energy – the ocean of cosmic energy that permeates and surrounds all living things, and the individualized specific prana pervading each human body. How to connect the two? Will. The medulla is the most vital spot in the human body – it is the divine entry point for the cosmic energy. The Christ Center, which is the opposite pole of the medulla is the switch – the pulling power to draw in the energy which is stimulated by conscious will.

The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy. During practice of the Energization Exercises the gaze should be at the spiritual eye, but the full attention should be at the medulla, visualizing the energy flowing in. The Energization Exercises are a form of pranayama. When done properly one will feel a soothing, tingly energy.

Brother Bhaktananda said that Master could see the energy in the body and he arranged the exercises in a certain order so the energy would flow in a certain way.

Concentration: Tapping the Mind’s Unlimited Power

Brother Nakulananda (minister at Pasadena Temple)

Master said, “In order to penetrate the hard core of consciousness, I employ repetition.” Master taught through repeating the teachings over and over. “It is through repetition of and meditation upon the truth that we learn the most”, Master said.

It is said that as Benjamin Franklin concluded a stirring speech on the guarantees of the Constitution, a heckler shouted, "Aw, them words don't mean nothin' at all. Where's all the happiness you say it guarantees us? Franklin smiled and replied, "My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself." It is a matter for each one of us to discover the way to happiness.

Master said that God gave us the ability to concentrate the mind and that we will never have happiness, inwardly or outwardly, until we learn the use that power. He said, “You have nothing if you have not God, and you have everything if you have God. He is joy that will never go away from the soul.”

A lion tamer uses a stool to make a lion “tame”. How is he able to do this with a stool? He holds the stool with the legs pointing toward the lion. The lion tries to focus on all four legs at the same time but he can’t concentrate on four things at once – the lion can’t figure out what to do and so he doesn’t do anything.

It is the same with us. Maya, Satan, is trying to make us focus on all the countless material things in this world of creation. This world has become increasingly a fast, high tech world; people are “multi-tasking” themselves, getting caught up in all the high-tech cell phones, personal organizers, voice mail, etc. Every one is so busy. But God’s line is never busy! Master says, “You can find Him in the jungle of daily life, in the cave of inner silence.” Man’s Eternal Quest

How thoughts work: Sensations arouse thoughts, which arouse memory thoughts. These are the bandits of distraction.

‘Hong’ and’ Sau’ are ancient Sanskrit words meaning “I am He.” But Master said don’t meditate on the meaning of it – just concentrate on the chanting of it.

Obstacles to Meditation:

Sleep – avoid “sleepatation”, use deep concentration to stay out of the subconsciousness.
Control of the breath – we must practice the techniques correctly
Wandering mind – we need to develop deep attention. As you practice the technique think, “This is the most important thing in the world.”

Making God Your Own

Sister Parvati (direct disciple)

Always ask yourself: “What is God to me?” Remind yourself each day that God is your goal, because maya tries to throw veils over the Truth.

God is both personal and impersonal. If our Creator was only an impersonal God, how could it be that he created personal beings? The Father can be personal to us when we permit it.

God loves us, but do we comprehend it in our hearts and every fiber of our being? Reject thoughts of inadequacy, of not liking oneself.

Master said, “Love is law. Love is the highest law.” And he also said, “The next step in the evolution of the world is ‘One World’. “ This will come because of you or in spite of you. Sister’s eyes twinkled and she said, “Of course we want to be on the side of because of, not in spite of!”

Don’t concentrate on the ego. Concentrate on getting to God, and the ego will fall away. Let God shine through you. Then He will go through you to the world. Master said, “The channel is blessed by what flows through it.” See God in everything. Refer everything back to God during the day. Then you will overcome the ego naturally.

Master said, “God is not a mute unfeeling being. He is Love itself. If you know how to meditate to make contact with Him, He will respond to your loving demands. You do not have to plead; you can demand as His child. But which of you will spend the necessary time? Which of you will persist?”

We have an embarrassment of riches. Who else has six gurus?!!! And each one has said they came to earth only to help us. We must do our part to connect with them. How we apply the techniques is how we make God our own.

Master said, “The minutes are more important than the years. If you do not fill the minutes of your life with thoughts of God, the years will slip by; and when you need Him most you may be unable to feel His presence. But if you fill the minutes of your life with divine aspirations, automatically the years will be saturated with them.”

We attain God in increments, little by little. It is what we feel minute by minute that makes God our own. Master said, “Be one hundred percent present in what you are doing.” Be here now. Don’t be ahead of yourself mentally. So often the mind is racing ahead. Watch your thoughts and you will see this is true. It is attention that creates habits and memories, both good and bad.

Ask God to guide and help you. Have patience. Perseverance is the whole secret of the spiritual life, the whole magic of spiritual success. Thomas Carlyle said, “Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” Our efforts may seem difficult at first because we haven’t made it a habit. We get discouraged too easily. Don’t give into that. Apply the minutes of your day. Some days will be hard. Don’t give up. There is no time limit.

We have meditation and we have responsibilities. We can bring those things into alignment with God. Be like water. Water doesn’t seem very strong, but it can eventually wear away stone. Just think - the Colorado River made the Grand Canyon! The minutes matter! They are very important. Don’t waste them. If we get discouraged and put off meditation until later, that time won’t come. There is no other time!

When you sit to meditate make a practice of throwing everything else out of the mind. Master this! It will become habit, and then as soon as you put your mind there, it will immediately obey. It is your attention that brings the results. This is a battle worth winning!

Don’t compare yourself to others. Master used to say, “Just keep your mind on your own plate.”

Master said, “Get into the spine where I can help you.”

Never meditate alone. Always meditate in Master’s presence. We are never alone unless we choose to be alone.

Don’t let meditation become mechanical. Don’t let it be just going through the motions. If we are not paying attention, why should God pay attention?

Find ways to stimulate devotion. Think of the Father – the One who protects me, the Mother – the One who loves me unconditionally, The Friend, Beloved – the greatest Friend you can imagine. In prayer, say the guru’s names and feel their presence. You must! You must make a real connection. Use simple things to rouse devotion. Find what works.

Think about what you are saying. Don’t let prayer become mechanical. It makes all the difference in how your meditation will go. Start the prayer over if necessary if your mind drifts away. Sister said that one night she was saying a prayer, invoking the gurus, and suddenly she realized that her mind had drifted away, so that she hadn’t even been aware of what she was saying. So she started the prayer over again and said it with deep attention. Don’t miss the opportunity to make that inner connection. Take for instance, the Prayer before taking food – think that everything is God, and we are a part of God.

Keep your mind positive. This is God’s nature – positive. The negative drives God away. Use the tools that Master gave us. Resist gossip, anything that pulls your mind down.

Sister said she was 13 when she came to the ashram. One time she had bad thoughts. She didn’t like them, but didn’t know what to do about them. So she told Master about it. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then he said, “Don’t dwell on it.” He gave no other detail – that was his way. To those who came for his training, he often said, “Just keep the mind here” (at the spiritual eye), or “Just keep your mind on God.” Master never spoke idly. Sister wondered what his advice meant. Finally she realized that Master’s meaning was that when we concentrate and put the needle of attention on our thoughts, we identify with them. But thoughts are just passing things. They aren’t part of us. We can feel great freedom in letting go of those negative thoughts.

Make room for God. Trust Him. Don’t doubt. Doubt is like static on the radio – we can’t hear the radio station if there is too much static.

The guru knows things about us that we don’t even know ourselves because he knows all of our previous incarnations.

Finding God has nothing else to do with other than yourself. You have free will. You can receive Him or not. Your environment may not be perfect outwardly, but you can create a good inner environment, and then you will become impervious to the outer environment.

Master said, “And if you must live with people who make you nervous, then once in a while you should change your surroundings. But it is better still if you can change your mental environment, so that you won’t be disturbed by others’ actions. Change yourself, and you can then live anywhere in peace and happiness.” (Man’s Eternal Quest, page 77)

When your mind is fixed on Divine Mother, everything runs smoothly. Keep a sense of humor. If you aren’t pleased with your efforts, determine to improve tomorrow. Stay open about your life. See what God has in mind. Don’t resist. Keep your faith that God is doing what is best.

Sister told a story: The night before she was to leave for India she was in her room doing last minute packing. She suddenly remembered she had forgotten to purchase an item that was absolutely essential for her trip. It was truly a necessity she could not do without. But it was too late to do anything about it. After fretting about it for a while she decided that she could not afford to worry any more. Inwardly she left it in the hands of Divine Mother. She went on packing her things, and put the issue out of her mind. A while later there was a knock at her door. It was another nun. The nun said she knew how busy Sister was and apologized for bothering her. But, she said, for some reason she had felt compelled to come to her room to bring her something she thought Sister might need for her trip. The item was exactly the one that Sister needed, to the last detail. Sister said when she got to India she wrote on an index card and kept it on her altar during all her years in India: “Divine Mother is my only necessity.”

Consciously every day think of all you have to be thankful for. Master was so appreciative of even little things. Sister remembered one day seeing him standing on the driveway in Encinitas. There were a group of disciples nearby, but Master was standing apart from them, gazing down the driveway. Sister looked down the driveway in the direction of his gaze and noticed a little piece of wadded up paper lying there and so she walked over and picked it up to throw it away. Master smiled at her and said so sweetly, “That’s what I like to see.” Even a little thing like that, Master was so thankful for.

Use acts of will when you don’t feel devotion.

See God in everyone you meet, even though they may not see God in themselves. Encourage them with universal spiritual principles. They may feel discouraged, depressed, fearful, have negative emotions. Share your joy with them. Life is mostly service.

There is a responsibility we have as devotees in this changing world. Master predicted profound changes are coming – great ups and downs, and then afterward a period of unparalleled progress. The only safety is God alone. Only our relationship with God counts. Our primary duty is to seek God in meditation. Our efforts, our meditations, will help the rest of the world, setting in motion new thought patterns all over the world which will spread with increasing momentum.

Meditation: Direct Communion with God

Brother Naradananda (serves at Encinitas)

Someone once said, “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.”

Successful meditation depends on:

Control of the body – learn to sit still, get away from the sense telephones.
Control of the mind – the mind is the controller of the life force.
Putting the attention on something – take that focused attention and put it on something – God.

How to love God? God chooses to remain hidden, so it is difficult to love Him. The first step is to tune in with the cosmic sound. When you can do this, everything begins to expand, to open up. You can learn to concentrate on anything, but concentrating on the Aum is to concentrate on God.

You don’t have to be perfect in the techniques. You just need to be doing the best that you can. Even after many years we may still find God elusive. That is where the heart comes in – devotion, yearning, creating a deeply personal relationship with God. That devotion will give us the motivation to keep going.

From Genesis, “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him.”

The ‘Word’ is Aum. Aum is the building block of creation. It is a very subtle astral vibration. Each of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether) are represented in our spine in the various chakras.

Om – Tat – Sat is the Hindu equivalent to the Christian Trinity:

Sat – the Father, beyond creation

Tat – the Son, omnipresent in creation

Om – the Holy Ghost

Remember, when you meditate – this is a sacred opportunity – it is a holy occasion – remember this. When you have the right attitude of reverence, of feeling, it is sacred.

Body posture must be relaxed because where there is tension, that is where our attention will be. Proper practice of the technique is very soothing.

How do you know you are hearing the Om? You will know because a deep feeling of peace and joy comes. And then you will know that you know. When we practice the Om technique we get control of the hearing and the sight, which are the two busiest sense telephones. Then the other sense telephones get turned off automatically, because we have become calm.

Practice for a long time. During longer periods of practice, that is when you really begin to enjoy it. The Amen – the Aum – is the comforter that Jesus said he would send.

Brother uses Om as a mantra throughout the day. The feeling that comes helps him to stay calm.

Don’t strain or force it. You can’t hear it if you are nervous or restless. Sometimes the best meditations are when we least expect it. You never know when samadhi will come!

We must develop a conviction that God is inside. We must feel it. We are so locked into the senses. When we realize we aren’t the body it makes a tremendous difference. Even if we don’t hear the Aum, we are still receiving the results and benefits when we perform the technique. The results are building up. Gradually your ear will become attuned to the sound of Aum.

Aum is not just a sound. It is an aspect of God. Even if you don’t hear it, it is enough to just sit and practice. How can this be? Imagine sitting with Master and he didn’t say anything and he didn’t want you to say anything. Wouldn’t you still want to be there? Don’t look for results. The more conviction, the more faith we have, the easier everything becomes. Master said that if the seeker, in spite of extreme restlessness, continues to practice, he will eventually hear the Aum.

The Power of Prayer and Affirmation

Brother Mitrananda (lives in Encinitas and serves in San Diego)

Master said, “For prayer to be effective we must have the right concept of God and the right concept of ourselves.” How to have the right concept of God is not easy. Of all concepts, God is the vaguest, and we are probably the second hardest!

Who are we?? Someone said, “What you are is the price you paid to become what you used to want.”

Thoughts are things.

Someone said, “Only man among living creatures prays…..and needs to.”

Behind our beliefs are our thoughts, and behind this our feelings, and behind that our core beliefs – a set of assumptions.

The word ‘prayer’ is based on the Latin word ‘precarius’, which means ‘obtained by begging’. Brother predicts that the word ‘prayer’ won’t last long - it will disappear in the higher ages because it is based on the idea of being a sinner, which is embedded in the whole thought system as a core belief. This core belief is bound to change as our evolution progresses.

Instead of praying to God, pray in God. Master preferred the word ‘demand’ rather than ‘pray’. From ‘Whispers from Eternity’, “Every begging prayer, no matter how sincere, limits the Soul.” Reclaim and demand. We don’t have to beg. Drop from your mind all the wrong thoughts of the ages.

Master taught his disciples not to believe blindly, but to experiment, to find out for themselves the Truth of the teachings. Master was an experimentalist. If someone asked a question Master would often say, “Test it.”

Remember the story of Mejda’s paper boats? Young Mejda’s father’s job was transferred and he was given only seven days notice to arrive in Calcutta. Just at that time a cyclone struck, bringing torrential rain. The storm was not expected to end for fifteen days, and the family feared they would not be able to reach Calcutta in time. Mejda was impatient to leave and asked his father if they would have to wait out the storm. When his father appeared apprehensive, Mejda announced, “I am going to stop this terrible rain.” When the household heard of Mejda’s ridiculous statement, they laughed.

Resolutely Mejda went to the doorstep overlooking a courtyard and sat a while watching the unrelenting rain pouring from the sky. Then he said, “Bring me some newspapers.” A stack of papers was collected and Mejda began to make little paper boats. One by one he tossed them into the pool of water that had accumulated in the courtyard. As he launched each boat his family could hear that he was saying or praying something, but they could not catch the words. After about half an hour the family expressed doubts that Mejda could muster any power against the fierce storm. He looked over at them, but said nothing. He continued making the paper boats and throwing them out upon the water, reinforced with his prayer. He did this for an hour without pause. Then, what wonder of wonders: the rain stopped! The clouds blew away, and a beautiful sunset lit the evening sky. No one in the family had witnessed a miracle like this. The next day they were able to begin their journey to Calcutta.

So experiment with the teachings. Find out for yourself!

Looking at prayer from a different aspect, we must also realize that this creation is a magnificent panorama of comedy and tragedy. We are living now the greatest story ever told! We are living a saga! In the ultimate sense, does anything need our prayers? Why would we want to change it?

This world is ruled by the iron law of duality. It will never be perfect. We must strive to change ourselves, not the world. It is totally unnecessary to pray. Instead, trust. Everything is as it should be. Someone asked Mother Teresa, “What do you do when you pray?” She answered, “I listen.” To which the person replied, “What does God do?” Mother Teresa answered, “He listens.”

Oscar Wilde said, “When the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers.” Your most fervent prayers and desires may be your greatest enemy. Thoughts are things! Master said, “Watch out what you pray for. Be very clear on what it is you want.” Better yet, enjoy only what the Lord gives you. He knows best.

Brother told a story about a woman who had a great longing for a Cadillac. She had just entered into a new business venture and was praying constantly that the business would do well so that she could buy that new Cadillac. She believed strongly in visualization and so every day she would concentrate deeply and visualize a Cadillac parked in her garage. But her business did not do well, and in time she was forced to sell her house and move into a small apartment. Several months went by, and one day she decided to drive past her old home. And there she saw, parked in the garage…….a Cadillac. (Her visualization had materialized, though not exactly in the way she had expected!)

As we progress on this path we may find ourselves unpopular. Expect it. Following the spiritual path is a hero’s journey. When you stick your head up and are different from the rest, this is bound to happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson was much misunderstood in his time. Many regarded him as crazy, revolutionary, or a fool. But he was a transcendentalist and he was making way for Master. As disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda, it is our sacred duty to become a channel.

Wasn’t it bold of our guru to call his organization not God-Realization, but Self-Realization! Guruji was a pioneer. He introduced people to concepts that were new. For instance, healing affirmations. These work because the vibrating sound of the affirmation causes a chemical change in our bodies. Now first of all, do we even believe these things, and secondly, have we even tried them?

One time Guruji decided to chant, “Oh God Beautiful”, despite advice from others that his American audience, who were not familiar with chanting, would not respond favorably. But Master did it anyway, and the chanting was contagious – it caught on and it continued for 1 hour and 25 minutes, continuing on even after Master had left the stage. Many healings took place that night. The people – they became part of the vibration – and they healed themselves and each other. Brother recommended that we try extended chanting sometime in our own meditation groups. (As Master would say, “Test it!”)

We are living in early Dwapara Yuga. Can we step out of living with all the labels we put on ourselves? All limitations are self-imposed.

To illustrate this, Brother told a story of an experience he had when he served in the military. Frequently in training the group of men would run 25 miles without stopping! The attitude was that you absolutely, positively, must run the entire 25 miles – quitting was absolutely not allowed. Brother was in good shape and confidently ran the 25 miles. But he abhorred, and refused to participate in the traditional military chants the men would chant to keep up their moral and fortitude as they ran. One day during a run Brother saw a rather overweight man in his group slump to the ground and begin sobbing that he could not go on. Two officers quickly approached him, hoisted him up, and were literally forcing him to continue. The man was balling like a baby, and Brother thought, “Wow, I will never allow that to happen to me.” But on their next 25 mile run, just a mile or two into the run, Brother started feeling weak and sick. A dreadful, sinking feeling came that he was not going to be able to complete the run. He became weaker and weaker until finally in desperation he started chanting one of those ‘stupid’ military chants.

The chanting was the only thing that kept him going and he was able to complete the 25 miles, which was truly remarkable – because the next day he was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 103.

The story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is not just a children’s story. It is a wonderful metaphor for the nature of the soul. Take, for instance, the Queen’s assertion, “I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (This quote actually comes from ‘Through the Looking Glass’)

"I can't believe that," said Alice.
"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long breath and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed, "There is no use trying," she said, "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
~ Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass ~

Can we? Can we believe ‘six impossible things before breakfast’? “The mind will not show its miracles unless you make it work. And it will not work so long as you continue to depend more and more on material things. That is why its marvels remain hidden from ordinary vision.” Man’s Eternal Quest, pg 107.

The blacks who stepped in chains from the slave ships and were sold into hard work, poverty and oppression in America – out of their pain came their spiritual songs. All of the galley slaves became mystics – this is how they were able to survive - they had no other choice in order to stay alive.

Become sensitive to the ‘Whispers from Eternity’. Yoga is the precursor to the ability to hear those whispers. This world – we can’t figure it out in our heads. It will never happen. How do we get in touch with the “still, small voice within?” Master said, “Just one thought may redeem you. You don’t realize how effectively your thoughts work in the ether.”

Do we believe God is real? Not only that, do we believe He is near? Our old, false belief systems are ingrained in us. In order to change that we have to think new thoughts. Using affirmation and the law of repetition we have to send those new thoughts round and round, until we finally realize the meaning in every fiber of our being. When we are able to keep a thought revolving around like that, persistently and effectively, the moment the thought reaches the superconsciousness and the inner intuitive conviction of the soul, a volley of energy will shoot down through the spine and into the body; the vibration of that current will heal body, mind, and soul, electrocuting disease, fear and ignorance into ashes.

What do we want? And how badly do we want it? Master said, “Perseverance is the whole magic of spiritual success.”

Thinking is a disease. Yoga says that the mind cannot control the mind. Control of the breath is the key to gaining control over the mind. We must slow the breath and gain control over the energy in order to control the mind.

An obstacle on the path is that our egos like being victims. We enjoy feeling sorry for ourselves. And so we cannot become gods because we love whining. God believes in us. When we believe in us – that’s the missing link. CS Lewis said, “There are only two types of people in the end; those who say to God, “Thy will be done”, and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”

When we meditate, it is then that the “veteran occult soldiers” (spoken of in the Gita) come to our aid in the spine.

Master said, “You must believe you have more power than your troubles.” You always have a choice. You can choose the way of worry - the way of the world, or the way of peace - accepting things as they are.

Satsanga

with Brother Bhaktananda (direct disciple, entered the ashram in 1940)

Master’s spiritual training was different than any other saint. When Brother heard Master give advice to others, he would always ask himself if he also could benefit by the advice.

In his early 20's Brother was floundering and a friend gave him the first six SRF lessons to read. After reading them he decided that this man knew what he was talking about and went to sign up to be a monk. When he got to Mother Center he told them he’d like to become a monk and he was told he needed to become a member first! Well, he persisted and got a meeting with Master and told him his desire. Master told him to wait a week and come back. After a week, the same thing happened, the same conversation. This went on a few more times before Master told him it was okay. He settled in at the Mother Center and was very happy.

One day Master invited Brother and another monk to the beach. They arrived to see a long stretch of beach with nothing else around – nowhere to sit. Brother was thinking to himself that he didn’t want to sit in the sand in his suit. But then Brother looked again, and a meditation bench had mysteriously appeared on the beach. The three of them sat down on the bench to meditate. After a few minutes, out of corner of his eye Brother noticed Master very slowly reach into his robe pocket, as if trying to hide his action, and Brother could see that he had a little bottle of Kriya oil. Master put some in his mouth, and then very slowly put it back under his robe, as if to conceal it from Brother. Then Brother realized that up until then he didn't think he needed to use Kriya oil. Later as they were leaving the beach Brother turned back to look, and there was no bench there anymore.

On the drive home, Master had them stop into a little café. Master walked into the café but he didn’t invite the monks in - he left them waiting outside. Pretty soon they could see Master inside the café, enjoying an egg sandwich. Brother was hungry and his mouth started to water. When Master was done eating, they all got back in the car and drove home.

Brother knew this was a test. Master was testing their reaction to see if they would be critical or upset. What would they think? What would be their reaction? Would they be angry? Would they leave the ashram?

Master always taught by example. Faults are obstacles to God. Master would use tests to bring them out. He knew all our faults, and wanted us to know what they were so we could correct them.

Brother told another story: “One day I was told, ‘Master wants to see you in the study.’” He was sitting at his desk, the drawer was open, and he was looking at a pair of glasses. He was looking through them, trying them on, much like an actor, admiring himself. He said, “How do I look in glasses?”

I answered, “Quite well, Sir.” Then I realized I had always held a prejudice against people who wore glasses; I felt that if they followed the right diet they would not need glasses. This was how Master helped me to eliminate this prejudice.”

One time Master wrote to Brother and asked him if he would help with construction of Hollywood Temple. Brother said, “I liked where I was, and so believe it or not, I wrote back to Master and said that I preferred to stay at Mother Center.” Then Master called for him, and when Brother walked into the room, there was Master standing there with his hair all sticking out and looking real fierce!

Master bellowed, “You don’t want to work at Hollywood Temple???” To which Brother quickly replied, “Yes Sir, I’ll go to Hollywood Temple.” It wasn’t until later that Brother remembered that when he was younger he wanted to build homes. He had that karma, and Master helped him to work out that karma.

This was the way that Master trained his disciples.

For a time, Brother wasn’t doing the Energization Exercises. He thought that he didn’t need to because he was working hard physically at Mother Center, tending the grounds. One day he was outside mowing the lawn and he looked up and saw Master on his porch, exercising. Day after day, Brother would be outside working on the grounds and he would see Master on the porch doing his Energization Exercises. Finally one day Master called out to him, “Michael, look! I’m exercising.” Finally Brother got the message.

Master often taught by example.

One time there were two new monks in the main hall at Mother Center talking to Master. Brother came along and stood on the side at a slight distance from them. He could hear the men talking about science. Brother had an idea that he wanted to share with the group, but as he was about to speak Master gave him a ‘serious look’, which meant that he didn’t want Brother to talk. Several times during the course of the conversation Brother would almost start to say something, but each time Master would give him that ‘serious look’ and so Brother would remain silent.

Then the next day the exact same scenario happened again. The same monks were talking to Master in the same exact spot, and there was Brother wanting to say something and Master giving him the ‘serious look’.

Later Master told Brother, “Each must go his own way.” Brother came to understand what Master meant. Those two monks were intellectual. Brother was more devotional by nature. The lesson – Master wanted Brother to remain quiet and practice the presence rather than engage in conversation – to talk as little as possible and only when necessary. Master set up two identical meetings. Two identical meetings were necessary to make a deep impression on Brother. (Brother commented that no one but a guru could have made this arrangement happen twice, but Master did it because it required two times for Brother to understand the lesson.)

Over the years, Brother would often come to Master with a work problem and Master would give him an answer. After ten years, one day Brother asked Master about a work problem but Master turned his back on him. This happened again a second time. Then one day Master was talking to a group of monks and he said, “Take your problems to God.” Then Brother understood why Master did that. It was because he wouldn’t always be with us in the body and did not want his disciples to depend on him being in the body, but to develop that inner attunement with him.

One time Master was walking with two disciples down the street in Encinitas. They passed several shops. Suddenly Master stopped and went back two doors, then went inside. The establishment was a toy store. Master began playing with the toys, taking one after another off the shelf – many of them were wind-up toys - and having delight in playing with them on the floor. Over and over he exclaimed, "American ingenuity! American ingenuity!"

The disciples did not know what to make of this – they felt a little embarrassed and were picking up the toys and replacing them when Master was finished with them. The owner of the store was watching them, sometimes smiling and sometimes looking sad. Then Master started driving around the store in a little toy automobile.

After a while, he looked at the owner of the store and then he took out his wallet and gave the man $250. The disciples were amazed because $250 was a lot of money back then. The owner said, "This is quite a surprise because the rent is due. It is $250 and if I didn't somehow find the money, I would have to close the shop tomorrow." The disciples realized that Master had sensed the vibrations of despair when he had passed the shop and had returned to help him.

There was a monk who was a very good speaker – he served at Hollywood Temple. In addition to speaking, Master gave him other work to do as well, but the monk spent all of his time preparing his talks and neglecting his other work. One day he showed Master the papers he had written – showing him all his wonderful ideas for the services – but Master showed no interest. Then he said, “You did not come here to lecture. You came here to seek God.” Brother said this is a lesson for all of us. We didn’t come here to this path for material things or for any other reason than to seek God.

At Hollywood Temple there is a new display of some of Master’s letters to Brother Bhaktananda and other interesting items. There is a set of beautiful cufflinks and a matching lapel pin that Master gave to Brother one Christmas. The story goes that Brother did not initially understand why Master would give him a present that was far too fancy for a monk to wear with an ochre robe! But then Brother remembered from his youth that he had always admired the kind of fancy jewelry men wore in those days, and he realized Master was fulfilling an old karmic desire.

An interesting tidbit – Master said that blue, white, and gold are the highest colors in the astral world.

Karma and Reincarnation

Brother Chidananda (serves at Encinitas)

From the Autobiography, “The equilibrating law of karma, as expounded in the Hindu scriptures, is that of action and reaction, cause and effect, sowing and reaping. In the course of natural righteousness, each man, by his thoughts and actions, becomes the molder of his destiny. Whatever energies he himself, wisely or unwisely, has set in motion must return to him as their starting point, like a circle inexorably completing itself. An understanding of karma as the law of justice serves to free the human mind from resentment against God and man.”

Bumper sticker: “Born Again. And again. And again.”

We can get caught up in all the curiosities of the metaphysical aspects, but really the only thing we need to know about karma and reincarnation is how to over come it – how to succeed in yoga.

Brother told a funny story of two eager divinity students who approached a woman who was sweating and slaving away on a washboard. One could see in her face and by her hands and withered body that she had endured a life of poverty and hardship. With big smiles on their faces the students appealed to her, “We can show you the way to eternal life!” To which she replied, “Thank you very much but I don’t think I could stand it.” Clearly, she was thinking that ‘eternal life’ meant in the body!

We have all had hard lessons through millions of incarnations. We have earned the good karma of finding this path. Don’t bemoan the law of karma; use it. The same law of karma which created our current situation also serves to help us to liberation.

Karma and reincarnation have traditionally been thought of as an eastern concept, but let’s approach it from the view of Jesus:

Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This is a pure description of yoga: the serpent refers to the reversing of the life energy – kundalini – up through the spine.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God’s “only son” is the universal Christ Consciousness – the cosmic sphere of creation as a pure reflection of Himself.

”For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world” (not to make us prisoners, not to bind us) “but that the world through him might be saved.

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Damnation is a reference to the consequences of our actions – karma. But often the wrong idea of ‘damnation’ generates a lot of fear and anxiety which causes people to avoid God.

Brother told a story: There once was a dogmatic preacher who fervently quoted from the bible to his parishioners, “So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”. One of the parishioners raised his hand and asked meekly, “But what about those who have no teeth?” The preacher’s face reddened and he bellowed, “They will be furnished with teeth that they may gnash them!” (We all laughed, and then Brother said, “Yes … and they will also be given hands and feet…. and a whole new body!”)

St. Therese of Lisieux says, "God is blind and he can’t count." His love for us makes him positively blind and He won't add our errors up – for He does not know arithmetic!

"He whom you have taken for your spouse is the perfection of perfectness; nevertheless he has one great infirmity, if I may dare say it - he is blind! And there is one thing he does not know arithmetic! If he could see and calculate properly, our sins would surely constrain him to annihilate us; but instead his love for us makes him positively blind.... But to produce this blindness and prevent him from making a simple addition sum you must know how to capture his heart.... That is his weak side. Advantage must not be taken of this divine weakness to sin with impunity; but if a sin is committed, then it must be trustfully confessed to him with loving generosity, and after that put out of mind, when he will forget it too.”

~ St. Therese of Lisieux ~

But we must do our part. Daya Mata once told of an experience she had as a young girl. She was with a friend in a department store and noticed that her friend had shoplifted a ring. Daya Mata cautioned her friend, “That’s not right!” to which the friend replied, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be going to confession soon and it will all be taken care of.” That’s not the way the law of karma works.

Brother referred to a passage in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus is teaching a crowd when he sees a crippled man being lowered down through the roof and when Jesus says to the man, “Thy sins are forgiven” the Pharisees got their dander up – they considered it blasphemy that Jesus was claiming that he could forgive sins.

And it came to pass on a certain day, as Jesus was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by… And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, what reason ye in your hearts?

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

The principle of forgiving sins is like healing the body. Just having sympathy for someone with a broken leg won’t cure him unless you have the power to heal. So too, it’s not just a matter of saying, “I forgive you.” When a person ‘sins’, there are karmic traces left in the brain – and that is where one has to deal with it.

In the Bible, John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh … he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire”. By ‘fire’, John the Baptist meant ‘energy’.

A Master can accomplish ‘forgiveness of sins’ and the second one who can is you by performance of the true spiritual fire rite – Kriya Yoga. Kriya initiates beneficial changes in the patterns of the brain. Master says, “Meditate upon the thought, “I and my Father are one,” trying to feel a great peace, and then a great joy in your heart. When that joy comes, say, “Father, Thou art with me. I command Thy power within me to cauterize my brain cells of wrong habits and past seed tendencies.” Command the brain cells to change, to destroy the grooves of bad habits in the brain – burn them up. You will actually see or feel that light of God baptize you.

The teaching of Jesus was blunt and powerful. What did Jesus mean when he said, “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men … but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”?

He meant that no matter what you have done through all of your lifetimes, all will be forgiven through communion with the vibratory power of God in meditation – the Aum. We will continue to suffer only if we are stubborn enough to refuse to get in tune with that vibratory power.

How to use Kriya to cleanse ourselves? It all goes back to Patanjali’s Eight-fold path of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dyana, Samadhi.

Kriya is the supreme form of pranayama.

Now, Patanjali said Kriya is:

1. Tapas (austerities)

2. Svadhyaya (self-study)

3. Isvarapranidhana (devotion, surrender)

(These are the last three rules of Niyama.)

Why did Patanjali say this was Kriya?

Kriya literally means “work toward yoga.”

Tapas are for the body – and this is the Energization Exercises.

Svadhyaya is for the mind – mental control - and this is Hong-Sau. Isvarapranidhana is for the soul – devotion – and this is the Aum technique.

Tapas - Master said Tapas summarized is, ‘Learn to behave’. (Sri Yukteswar)

Svadhyaya – the usual translation is ‘right study of the scriptures’, but Master said it is more than that – it is mental control. The repetition of scripture to oneself – the repetition of Truth eventually penetrates the subconsciousness and then the superconsciousness, and then becomes realization. Affirmation is integral to this concept. It helps to regroove the brain – regroove the consciousness. So in this way we can use that law of karma – at the level of cause – by using affirmation. Hong-Sau is an affirmation. It is repeating the scripture of “He I am”. Guruji said, “When you realize yourself as God, what karma have you?” God has no karma and you are made in his image so you have no karma.

Isvarapranidhana – devotion, surrender – it takes surrender to feel the Om. Then the baptism of the Holy Ghost becomes a realization for us. When we become calm we begin to feel that gentle, subtle vibration of Om bathing us, caressing us, and the harsh outer vibrations are neutralized.

Clay can be formed and reformed, but once fired it cannot be changed. In the same way, the mental habits of most people have become set, making it difficult for them to change. But Master says, “Whatever you have created or done you can undo.” And he says, “Those who keep their minds pliable through discipline and self-control can easily change. The mind should be like putty. Wisdom keeps the mind plastic.” This is what Aum does. Aum is the basic building block of matter. When we are absorbed in the Aum we become pliable and the karmic grooves in the brain are reverted back to fluid potentialities – and then that karma can be washed away.

So as yogis we need to build a good foundation in our spiritual life – and that foundation is Yama/Niyama. Someone asked Master what was the most inspiring quote in the Autobiography of a Yogi and he said it was what his own guru, Sri Yukteswar said - “Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.”

There was a devotee who wrote to Mother Center about an experience she had when she was traveling on a train to a weekend spiritual retreat in Encinitas. She had just endured a miserable week – nothing had gone right – and as she sat there on the train she told herself she needed to leave it all behind. So she started chanting “Thou art my life, Thou art my love” over and over to herself, and then after a while she started inwardly whispering, “Master, let me feel your joy.” She spent the entire train trip like that, inwardly immersed.

Towards the end of the trip she heard from across the isle, a grandmother speaking to her little granddaughter. The grandmother pointed to this devotee and said to the little girl, “Honey, I want you to be a good girl so you can be as happy as that woman looks.”

Run to the guru. There is no tiger of death or disease chasing you except in the dream of ignorance. The very act of going to the guru washes us!

In the 1930’s a swami teacher from India came to help with Master’s work. Master held him up to the other disciples as an example. But that Swami later betrayed Master. The Swami returned to India, but the guru always continued to send Christmas gifts to him each year – and each year they would be returned, unopened.

Daya Mata once asked Master, “Why do you keep on extending your hand of friendship when he keeps slapping you?” Master replied, “No matter what he does, he will have to go back to God through this channel.”

(Then Brother commented and said, “So don’t be too hard on yourself; Master can still use you as a bad example!”)

Remember the tremendous good karma we have, to have found this path. It is not necessary to run away to the Himalayas – we can get away from this world by going inward.

Master often used the expression ‘dear one’, which is an ancient tradition from the Upanishads. The Sanskrit word is (?)‘Shonia’ (might be “charya” or “Sahela” (I couldn’t catch the word) which means beloved friend, fair son, dear one.

How Your Thoughts Can Change Your Life

(a class for teens and young adults, though everyone was welcome to attend)

Many people shy away from self analysis because they think they can’t live up to the high standards. But the yogis say it is okay to make mistakes.

Ask yourself what special attribute you can develop. We must learn to express the unique music inside of us.

Master loved Shakespeare. “To thine own self be true; and as the night follows the day, so shall it follow that thou canst not be false to any other man" is a very yogic saying. What it means to be truly sincere – this was Master’s hallmark – because he was true to himself.

What prevents us from being sincere? The roles we play – the masks we wear, sometimes one mask over another. Master’s advice to avoid this: Live in the present. Forget the past. It is stored in the vault of time and cannot be changed. And don’t try to live in a future that has not arrived.

How to live a yogi’s life in a non-yogic world:

Know right from wrong.
Learn to make appropriate choices and friends.
Learn to make good life decisions and things to do.
Learn to deal effectively with problem situations.
Develop strength of conviction under peer pressure.

And as parents:

Be a good role model
Admit your mistakes
Provide a united Mom/Dad front
Be consistent
Be real – Be affectionate and loving

Reflect on acquiring these attributes. Even one meditation can change you.

To illustrate this, Brother told of an experience he had when he was younger. He had journeyed to India with a group of friends with the intention of hiking in the Himalayas. He was already a devotee, so along the way he stopped at Ranchi for a visit. He fell in love with the life there at the ashram and decided to stay on, while his friends departed for their hike in the Himalayas. As the weeks passed, so much did he love it there that he made up his mind he would never leave.

Then one day he got sick – very sick, with dysentery. As time went on his health continued to fail and he began to fear that he might have to leave Ranchi in order to regain his health. In an attempt to obtain guidance about the difficult choice he had to make, he visited a sage. The sage read his palm and foretold he would return to America.

Still he was confused and uncertain, for the thought of leaving Ranchi broke his heart. One night, his intense mental anguish drove him to storm into Master’s room (which is now a shrine), sit down not even looking where he was sitting, and meditate with an iron resolve not to leave until he had an answer from Master. He meditated and meditated, and suddenly the answer came to him – he should return to America. The answer brought complete relief from all the doubt and anxiety that had plagued his mind. One deep meditation had changed him!

A funny ending to this story: Afterwards as he was praying and giving thanks to Master, he heard the guru’s voice just as clear as if he was standing next to him, and in his Bengali accent Master said, “All right now, get off my bed!” Brother looked down and only then did he realize he had been meditating on the guru’s bed, which in India is considered almost a sacrilege.

Be strong and kind, but not a doormat.

All our experiences are for a reason. They are there to help and encourage us, or to challenge us to go to the next level. Looking back, you will see why things happen the way they do. If they hadn’t happened, you might not be here on this path, but off on some other tangent.

Change your environment if necessary. Master said, “The greatest influence in your life, stronger even than your will power, is your environment. Change that, if necessary. Until you are mentally strong, you can never be what you want to be without a good environment to help you. When you are having difficulty in trying to change for the better, spiritual company and other uplifting influences are essential.” (Man’s Eternal Quest, pg 79)

If you can’t change your environment outwardly, then do it inwardly.

Other than finding God, finding true friends was our guru’s greatest passion.

Making the Guru a Living Part of our lives

Brother Vishwananda

At the 1977 Kumbha Mela, Brother remembers seeing a well known Indian saint who he had a huge tent for the Mela. It was packed daily with the multitude who wanted to receive his darshan. But the saint had no technique to give to his disciples. YSS also had a tent, but it was much smaller.

Then came the 2001 Kumbha Mela. By this time the saint had died ten years earlier, and his tent was now smaller than that of YSS. This is because his following had been based mostly on personality worship.

But Master still lives in spirit. We have a true guru – and the work continues to grow even fifty years after his mahasamadhi.

Dwapara Yuga is characterized by a greater understanding of electricity. Despite many technological discoveries, man has not kept up socially or morally. September 11^th was an example of the result of this. This is not a stabile time. It is a period of change. That is why God sent this special dispensation – our gurus and this teaching – to bring to us the wisdom of the ages.

Yoga is an ancient science. In India, there are two thousand year old temples that are built upon the foundations of even older temples, and those original foundation stones have carvings of yogis meditating.

We have a divine library. Master was prolific in his writings. We are a part of this special dispensation. Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya to bestow Kriya only to deserving chelas – those ready to give up everything – complete renunciation. But Lahiri begged Babaji to lessen the requirements and make Kriya available to those who were receptive to the teachings, but not yet ready for complete renunciation.

Your relationship with your guru begins with gratitude. Reflect on the blessings you have received.

After 911, so many people would ask, “Why does God allow it?” God doesn’t allow it. We do. Master’s teachings give us the truth about life’s biggest questions. Daya Mata said, “It is not the will of God that man perish by the hand of his own ignorance.”

Indian culture teaches that the three greatest blessings are:

to have a human body – to have chakras, particularly the higher centers
to have the desire to know God
to have a true guru

Having just the first two blessings is not enough. We must also have a true guru to find God.

It is not by chance that we have been drawn to this path. We have much good karma. Not many people have the patience to sit still for very long. Many do not have the patience to sit still for even a few minutes! Why do we? This path – it may require giving up much.

It is because of much good karma. We have all sought God in the past. We are very near the top. Only those near the top who have the desire and good karma are drawn to this path. Don’t forget this – it is vital. No test – no trials are too great. You have been accepted by a true guru. Never underestimate or devalue your practice of meditation. Never loose faith that you can succeed on this path. You have made the effort and you have special blessings.

God is not omnipast or omnifuture. He is omnipresent. It is only the Now that you can change. You can only plan for the future.

Master has taken responsibility for your life. He takes on your karma and also plays with it and adjusts it so that you can work it out. Remember that. No situation is positive or negative in itself – every situation is neutral. It is what you make of it. You can spiritualize every moment. This will uplift your consciousness. The secret is, don’t do it alone. Bring Master into the moment. Think, “Master, what am I to learn? What would you have me do?” Then you don’t react – you reflect so you can do the right thing.

Read Master’s teachings over and over. Keep Master’s thoughts in your mind always. Daya Ma, wherever she sits, she has one of Master’s books nearby so that she can keep Master’s thoughts in her mind. Read the same little bit over and over again to internalize it.

Bring the guru into your life at every moment. You will receive a conscious response. It is not imagination.

Hang onto the results of previous meditations. Master said, “To those who think I am near, I am near.”

At the end of his talk, Brother said that Daya Ma is now 88 years old and asked us to think of Ma in our meditations and to pray for Ma that we may have her with us for many more years. Ma is well and full of vitality as always. He said we should read “Qualities of a devotee” (from ‘Only Love’)

Daya Ma came to us via a videotaped message recorded one week before convocation. Ma mentioned her experience in India, Babaji's cave, and the premonition of hard times, and the victory of God that followed. She mentioned the 911 tragedy and above all she urged that what we can do as devotees of Master is pray, and meditate and live by His guidance, as this is how life can change. She reminded us that this is not our home, but that our home is in God.

Living in the Present: A Spiritual Perspective

Brother Achalananda (minister at Lake Shrine)

As you read the Autobiography, observe the various experiences our guru goes through. Don’t just pass them by. They are all lessons for us.

Remember when Mukunda first found his guru, and Sri Yukteswar said to him, “How many years I have waited for you!” It is the same with us! How many years has Master waited for us?

Once the guru leaves his physical body, the organization becomes his body – his teachings become the guru.

God is the Eternal Now. You have only one need – God. Everything else is desire. We are all exactly the same in soul consciousness. We all have different lives, different ambitions, different goals. But all our ambitions and desires are just the means by which we hope to achieve our highest goal – which is Bliss.

Five Components to Happiness:

1 Immortality – Sat, is-ness, being. We crave to live forever. It is a natural craving put in us by God. The soul knows it is immortal. The ego is not so sure.

2 Knowledge – Chit, awareness. Our ambitions include obtaining knowledge by going to school, reading, etc. In one way or another we all seek knowledge.

3 Joy – Ananda, Bliss. The ego seeks happiness, and tries to avoid pain.

Sat Chit Ananda means ‘ever existing, ever conscious, ever new Bliss’ - and that is a name for God.

4 Independence – we wish to be our own Masters. We want ‘moksha’ -freedom from all forms of limitation – liiberty. The desire to be free is instinctive in us and in all animals. We crave liberty.

5 Sovereignty – this may seem to be contradictory to the previous component, Independence. We want everyone else to do exactly what we want. We want to be in charge. Children will try everything to get their parents to follow their wishes.

Remember the story of Mejda’s orange colored candies? As a little boy, he once spied some orange colored candies in a drug store. That night he began insisting he wanted some. So persistent was his resolve that finally his parents had to wake the pharmacist so they could purchase some of those orange colored candies.

“Parents!” Brother said, “Be glad you don’t have an avatar as a child!”

Think, “Master – he came to free me.” Just as the arrow goes into the target and becomes one with the target, so should the soul become one with its target – God.

We can only make changes in the Now. We cannot change the past. And we cannot make changes in a future that has not arrived.

When Master wrote about his experience in cosmic consciousness, he said that he had been seeking passionately. Are we seeking *passionately*? The experience of samadhi – it doesn’t come just by having intellectual willingness - that is not enough. Can you stand a million volts? The whole process takes time. The heart has to become pure. Don’t be impatient. All is preparatory to the divine experience. The divine experience will come as a natural inevitability.

Brother told a story about a prior Convocation back in the 1960’s. Convocations were much different back then – there was much work to prepare for it and there were no devotee volunteers to help. After the final day Brother was very much looking forward to having the day off. But Daya Ma unexpectedly invited some of the devotees to stay over through the next day and so Brother had to serve another day. All the preparations for Convocation had made him somewhat restless, and he was thinking to himself, “Now Ma will be giving this talk, and oh boy, I’ve heard it a million times.” Then he thought, “Well, never mind, just sit there and listen.” Daya Ma began her satsanga, and the longer Brother sat there, the calmer he got. Pretty soon he started feeling bliss. This, he said, is the blessing of “darshan” – the blessing that comes from merely being in the presence of a great soul.

One time just after Brother Anandamoy had just come back from India, Brother Achalananda volunteered to drive him out to the desert so he could have a rest. But Brother had an ulterior motive – he had seen in the newspaper that a certain movie was playing at a drive-in theater, and he thought to himself, “Gee if I offer to drive Brother Anandamoy out to the desert, then on my way back I can go watch that movie. I’ll be safe – no one will see me – I don’t even have to get out of the car.” So he went to the drive-in, but on the way home his conscience started bothering him.

The next day at Mother Center, Daya Ma called a satsanga. Brother was given the duty of ushering the devotees to their seats. Still feeling guilty about his little escapade, he planned a way to avoid being seen by Ma, who would be coming down the stairs in a few moments for the satsanga. He knew those old stairs would creak as she came down and so his intention was, when he heard the stairs creak, to hide in the little alcove just around the corner from the staircase, so as not to be seen by Ma.

Well, Daya Mata came down the stairs and immediately she rounded the corner to where the alcove was, and motioned with her finger for Brother to come away from there. Then she turned towards the chapel, but her shoe caught on the bottom of her sari and she couldn’t seem to loosen the snag. Brother felt he ought to help her and so he came forward, knelt down before her and said, “Ma let me.” He untangled Ma’s shoe from her sari, and then, still kneeling, he looked up at her. Just then she reached down and with her knuckles gave him a hard rap on the forehead at the spiritual eye.

Brother said he knew this was discipline – but it also came with a blessing, for at that very moment he also felt an immense flow of joy welling up within. Ma had given him discipline and guidance – with love.

To become a better person we must:

1. See where we need to change – this requires introspection and honesty with yourself.

2. Have deep meditation – turn to God with a receptive heart and He will help you.

3. Be in the Now – enjoy the experience of the moment fully. Even if it is painful. That is how we learn, if we are attuned. Zen is learning to live in the present.

4. Use the state of awareness gained through meditation – use it to guide what you are doing. This requires practice. Try to extend that time.

The spiritual eye is center everywhere, circumference nowhere.

In meditation, when we let the mind slip away from the Now – by thinking of the past or the future – that is when we loose it. Keep the mind at the Christ Center. Master said that this world will always have turmoil, but we can find safety forever in God.

Brother was at the Kumbha Mela in India in 2001 and he said that during his stay in India he had an ‘experience’. Master showed him that he is living.

He has never told anyone about his experience, but he said maybe someday he will write it down.

Fear is one of the greatest problems to cope with. It acts as a poison. Fear is the mind killer. It paralyses – it weakens the immune system – it keeps the mind from working as it should. Pain causes us to fear. You must discard all fear.

Master gave a technique to handle fear. Don’t let the simplicity of the technique cause you to doubt. Brother said there was a time when he needed to use this technique - he practiced it for about five minutes and it worked.

Put your hand over your heart, next to the skin. Rub from left to right and repeat, “Heavenly Father, I am free. Tune out this fear from my heart radio.” Do this for five minutes. It works.

Then at night, before sleep say, “The Heavenly Father is with me; I am protected.” Then chant “Om” three times and you will feel His wonderful protection.

Master said, “Just as you tune out static on an ordinary radio, so if you continuously rub the heart from left to right and continuously concentrate on the thought that you want to tune out fear from your heart, it will go; and the joy of God will be perceived.”

It is the ego that fears. The soul doesn’t fear. It is immortal.

Master said, “Fear is afraid of me. I am more dangerous than danger.”

Diksha (spiritual initiation) comes at the end of your spiritual search. God says, “You’ve played along in my delusion long enough. Now come along home.”

Think of God when you do your duties. That activity unites Him with you.

The only way to perfect this is to practice.

Victimhood is very popular – not taking responsibility for what is happening to us. What happens, happens because 1) we need it and 2) we deserve it.

Don’t resent your work. Master says work can become meditation if it is done as service – as an offering to God. It is the ego that is the great complainer.

‘Moksha’ means liberation of the soul. We don’t know what that is – to be FREE!!

We have been given everything we need to attain liberation except one thing and that is effort. That is the one thing that the guru can’t give us.

During World War II, Master said that only God knows what is best. He said, “What will be Thy decree, that is my desire.”

Don’t live in the past or in the future. The burden is too much for the mind to bear. The guru is always looking for ways to wake you up a little more. Keep on keeping on.

Brother Achalananda told a little story to a few of the devotees while they were on pilgrimage at Lake Shrine: Some time before he took his final vows he had selected a monastic name and had gotten the okay from Ma to use the name. But when the time neared for his final vows, the proposed name was brought before the board of directors but they did not approve the name.

He was disappointed and brought this to Ma’s attention, to which she replied, “Here is your first chance to practice renunciation.”

Closing Event

Brother Anandamoy

Brother began his talk by saying he was going to tell some stories about Master. He said there are three ways to listen to these stories:

You can listen to it as entertainment - but you don’t gain much from it.
You can listen to it as a sacred story. In the sacred writings of India, it is said that the stories of an avatar can be one of the means to find God if you concentrate and think with devotion, because then your spiritual tendencies are deepened and wrong thought patterns are weakened.
You can listen to it with deep devotion – plus try to identify yourself with that disciple who received the training. You don’t have to go through all experiences; you can learn from what others went through.

Master said, “It is not necessary to go through every kind of human experience in order to attain ultimate wisdom. You should be able to learn by studying the lives of others.” Man’s Eternal Quest, pg 245

Brother Anandamoy said he had been in America for just one week when someone gave him the Autobiography.

Master’s training was very tough. Nowadays we have “basic training” in the ashram, but in Master’s day there was no formal program. Everyone just got thrown into the workforce. To work with Master was very unique but it was not a picnic. It was hard work! The word ‘disciple’ comes from the word ‘discipline’.

Now for the stories:

Dollar Bill

It was Master’s custom once a week to give a dollar bill to each monk. One time he started to hand one to Brother but then he hesitated. He looked down at the dollar bill, and then he looked at Brother… and then he put the bill back in his pocket. Then Master pulled a quarter from his pocket. And he didn’t even hand it to Brother - he threw it on the ground in front of him. Week after week the same scenario occurred. Master would take out a dollar bill as though he were going to give it to Brother and then return it to his pocket and would instead throw a quarter on the ground in front of him. Then one day, instead of a quarter, Master asked someone for a dime and threw that on the ground in front of Brother.

Brother said, “I picked up each coin because to me they were precious because

he had touched them.”

(This reminds me of a story from “God Alone” about a guru who sometimes threw stones at his disciples, not playfully, but in anger. Those who, with devotion, picked up the stones and carried them home, found that they had golden nuggets. Those who left them lying on the ground missed the blessing.

An outstanding and marvelous truth was taught by the incident. If the guru “throws a stone” – that is, presents something that is disagreeable and painful to the disciple – the attitude with which he receives it determines whether he shall receive the blessing or not. If he “picks it up and carries it home” – that is, receives it humbly – he will find he has a golden nugget. All depends upon his attitude.)

Master/slave

Another time Guruji told Brother, “People call me “Master” but I’m really a slave to them. I’m taking their karma.” Then he looked at Brother with woeful eyes and breathed a long sigh. (I can’t describe in words how Brother Anandamoy told this story…it was so funny the way he imitated Master.)

Teaching Me/The Walk/The Questions

When Brother was building India Hall, Master said to him one day, “You will have to teach later on.” Brother thought he couldn’t possibly mean it – he thought it must be a joke. Why, he had been mostly meditating, not reading much, and he didn’t know English well. Then he thought, “Well if I’m supposed to teach, Master will have to teach me first.”

Then Master went out to the desert and one time he called Brother to come for the weekend and then asked him to stay on longer. Brother thought, “Oh boy, now he is going to teach me.”

Master invited him for a walk one day. He said to Brother, “You are from Switzerland, isn’t it?” Brother said, “Yes.”

Master asked, “There are lots of lakes and rivers there, aren’t there?” Brother said, “Yes.”

Master went on asking a whole bunch of questions; “Are there lots of fishes?” “They are all eaten, isn’t it?” “What do the Swiss eat for breakfast?” “Are they healthy?” Master went on and on with all sorts of questions – the entire conversation was no more than small talk.

Now Brother knew that Master had a purpose to all the questions and he tried and tried to figure it out.

Soon Master asked Brother to walk with him again and he asked the very same questions; “You are from Switzerland, isn’t it?” “There are lots of lakes and rivers there, aren’t there?” “Are there lots of fishes?” and on and on.

Now Brother thought he was just making fun, but Master was dead serious. And so Brother found himself going crazy trying to understand the lesson.

A third time Master asked Brother to walk with him. But before Master could say anything, Brother, anticipating that Master would ask the same questions again, blurted out, “Sir, I came from Switzerland.” Then he waited for a response.

Master said nothing.

Brother realized, “This is all I want - just to be with my guru, hand in hand.”

In this way Master gave Brother a blessing. He taught him the most important lesson about teaching: we have to teach not through the brain, but from inside. To study the teachings and then go out and teach is not enough, because then it comes just from the brain. It has to come from deeper inside.

Shortly afterwards, Master confirmed this when he said of another teacher, “Brilliant mind, but he is giving them nothing. It has to come from within.”

As you perform your duties, stop once in a while and become attuned with the guru. Otherwise you are getting involved with this crazy outer drama.

The Avocado

Another lesson story: Master wanted an addition built onto an existing building and Brother was helping with construction. One day he was working on the roof and he overheard Master scolding another disciple. The scolding seemed to be over a trifle, but Master seemed angry. Then Master came outside and slammed the door behind him. Brother crawled to the edge of the roof and looked down, and there was Master with the sweetest smile on his face – no anger. Just then he looked up at Brother and praised him for doing such good work on the roof, then walked away.

(Brother commented to us, “That was the setup”.)

Later, Master came outside again and called Brother down. He gave him a half an avocado and said, “Sit down and eat.” Then Master went for a walk.

Now Brother couldn’t stand avocados, and he knew that Master, being omniscient, knew this as well. But he ate it anyway, because it came from him, though his stomach was turning over.

But then Brother started to think about all these puzzling events – the scolding – the praise – the avocado – and that is when Satan came in. Doubt came.

“Why is Master behaving this way?” he thought. “Maybe he’s just playing with us, toying with his disciples, like a cat plays with a mouse.” Brother got mad. Then he realized he was doubting the guru, and he knew this was spiritual suicide. He knew should ask Master about it.

The next day he was working on the roof again. Master came out and called him. Brother was still angry and did not answer. Master had to call him three times before he finally crawled to the edge of the roof. Master said, “Come down”.

Brother climbed down from the roof and when he saw his guru standing there, instantly all his doubt disappeared. Suddenly he understood the lesson. Master’s motivation was not to toy with him without a reason, but to help him overcome likes and dislikes. (And in his fiery manner he had scolded the other disciple in order to help him. The guru can feel no real anger - when he disciplines the chela, that sacred anger is different from worldly anger. It is for the sole purpose of helping the disciple to grow spiritually.)

Brother felt great remorse for doubting the guru. Master was standing there with both hands behind his back. He held one hand out and gave Brother half an avocado.

Brother thought, “I will take anything you give me.” Then Master held his other hand out and gave Brother some dates and said, “Eat them together. Then you will like avocados.”

The next day Master called Brother to walk with him again. Brother thought, “Ah, I am just walking with my guru.”

Then Master stopped and said, “Never doubt your guru. Never doubt my love for you. The only reason I came is to bring you back to God. I would give my life for you.”

Brother suddenly felt a love overwhelming - and he cried like a baby - the bliss and the love was overpowering - more than he could take.

Joy Bliss and Kriya

Master once said, “If you knew how much God loves you, you would die of joy.”

The body of the average man is like a 50 watt lamp that cannot accommodate a billion watts. The body must be changed to take the full power of Love.

There is an astral transformation going on day by day by the practice of Kriya.

A subtle change of vibration is necessary to have the full experience of God. It is a very subtle process. You don’t realize what’s happening, but there is a tremendous speeding up of evolution.

Kriya Yoga is the real fire rite. Every religion has rituals and ceremonies, and people think that is all there is to religion. But the rituals, the ceremonies – they are symbolic of the deeper aspects of deep spiritual truths. The seeds of past bad karma are waiting to manifest, which leads to suffering. But Kriya destroys these seeds of bad karma every time you practice. It is subtle – you aren’t aware of the tremendous change on different levels, preparing you for God.

Last Days

Three days before the mahasamadhi, Master was with Ambassador Sen and they went to Hollywood Temple for lunch. Daya Ma was serving and she said that before Master left he told the disciples who were there, “Always remember, you have my unconditional love.” That was the last thing he said to them.

This unconditional love – what is it? In the consciousness we are in, we cannot understand what this is. Master wrote in the Autobiography, “The contemporaries of a sage are not alone those of the narrow present.”

You are a contemporary – if you think it so. Or if you think it not – then it is you that creates that distance.

Kriya

Master told Brother, “The guru is always present in the heart. The guru is always present when you practice Kriya Yoga. When you practice Kriya, I come into your spine to do the work there.”

Feel he is there with you. Never meditate alone. Visualize him with you. Be in the aura of his love and blessings. The more you cultivate that, the more you build that relationship – gradually it becomes a reality to you, and it becomes deeply intimate and personal. Master said, “You have to cultivate the desire for God. No one can give it to you. You have to cultivate it yourself.”

Desire for God

Master said, “You should conceive of God as the highest necessity of life.”

The Hindu scriptures say: “As soon as you feel the desire for God, immediately change your life and plunge into Him.” (Man’s Eternal Quest, pg 459)

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo said, “The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved.” Now combine that with Master’s quote, “Always remember, you have my unconditional love.” It is very hard to comprehend this. In this crazy world, this is very rare – this unconditional love.

Christmas

Every Christmas Eve, Tara Mata used to give a talk about her experiences. In 1960 she gave a talk on unconditional love and she said, “When we die – those that are closest to you – what can they do? Even your most cherished loved ones – all they can do is feel sorry and say good-bye.” Then Tara Mata quoted Master, “When death comes and there is no one there who can help you, guru is there.”

Unlitmate Love

We are talking here of the ultimate unconditional love. No mortal being can give us that. Take Master home with you, and the thought that he loves you unconditionally. Take that promise, and know that when death comes, for you it is no problem – Master will be there for you. Take Master with you always. Keep him close.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Quotes (as best as I can remember) from the film, “Glimpses of a Life Divine”:

“God is waiting, and you are dreaming about this dream.” PY

Daya Mata, speaking of Master said, “He was like someone who stepped out of the Bible.”

If at this moment you could completely calm your body, your thoughts, and your emotion, you would instantly become aware of your true Self, the soul, and of your great body of the universe, throbbing with the joy of God. PY

Mukti Mata spoke about when she first met her guru; “It was as if hundreds of thousands of veils were quickly being drawn away, one after the other. And then a voice said, “You’ve always wondered if anyone exists who is beyond human limitations” – greed, anger, selfishness. Then the voice said, “I am Yogananda.” And then the voice qualified that by saying, “Yogananda has become Me.”

Dennis Weaver: (paraphrased) When he read Master’s teachings it was like a light bulb turning on, and Paramahansa Yogananda explained that is the intellect accepting what the soul has always known. The Divine Intelligence is pulling us back. God says, “Okay, you cannot reach me in this state of consciousness; you are in delusion. So I will come to you in order to pull you up to my level.” So He reduces Himself down to our level. He comes in the form of a human being so that we can understand – so that we can reach Him. And that is the guru - God lowers himself down to our level so that He can lift us up to His level.

A nun said of Paramahansaji, “He treated me as if I was God’s gift to him.”

Master visited the pyramids and explained to the devotees that were with him the spiritual significance of the symbols carved into them.

Mukti Mata gave a satsanga at our pilgrimage to Mother Center, and she commented that during her ashram training she did many things that she never would have chosen to do, such as driving, cooking, and public speaking. (Taking this a step further, every disciple will undoubtedly find this happening during the course of their own sadhana.)

She said that on the morning of the first Convocation in 1950, which was held on the tennis court, periodically Master would ask the disciples, “Are they here yet? Have they come yet?”, so anxiously and joyously was he looking forward to having the devotees come.

In the bookroom at the Bonaventure there was a list of the songs that Master loved. Here is the list:

Title Composer Performed by

Clair De Lune Debussy Philadelphia Orchestra

Nocturne Chopin James Galway, flute

Liebeslied Kreisler Issac Stern, violin

Gymnopedia No. 3 Satie Issac Stern, violin

Song of India Rimsky-Korsakov

Clair De Lune Debussy D. Sipkai, harp, and J. Bilan, flute

Serenade Schubert Philadelphia Orchestra

Blue Danube Strauss Vienna State Opera Orchestra