Lost in the Common Life of All Which Lives

There are so many things I love about what Mother brings to the path of realization. A big part of her focus is the practical approach she practiced and taught. You do not have to move to Kathmandu, shave your head, sell incense on the street corner or do any of a thousand other questionable things. And while I would have been willing to do any or all of these things if they were necessary to realize God, Mother taught us to practice Kriya Yoga, keep our minds on God, and remain in the world—living lives much as most people do.

A quote I read many years ago from the Bhagavad Gita made a lasting impression on me:

Whoso is fixed in holiness, self-ruled, pure-hearted, lord of senses and of self, lost in the common life of all which lives–a “Yogayukt” — he is a Saint who wends straightway to Brahm. Such an one is not touched by taint of deeds. “Nought of myself I do!” Thus will he think-who holds the truth of truths (The Song Celestial-Bhagavad-Gita; Chapter 5)

The notion, “Lost in the common life of all which lives,” living a normal life, yet spiritually freed, perfected and established in the Truth of truths—I found this to be so inspiring down through the years. I remember Mother inviting me out for lunch to one of her favorite restaurants, The Legend Room. It was a nice restaurant connected to the Bon Marche department store in the North Gate Mall. The wait staff were very pleasant with Mother, and each time her nearly full cup of coffee became cool they brought her a fresh cup (Mother always liked her drinks either very hot or cold; nothing tepid).

We then walked up through the department store, clerks would say, “Hello Mrs. Hamilton.” Mother said she once wondered how clerks remembered her name, then she realized it was because she used a credit card to make purchases and her name was on the card. So much has changed in the world since then; at that time, it was rarer to use a credit card; Mother was also the first person I knew who had a home answering machine. She was, well…. modern.

Now, those clerks may have thought that Mother was anything from a good customer to having a feeling that she was someone truly special. There were no big signs above Mother that said she was an incarnation of the Divine Mother. In fact, Mother enjoyed meeting people and getting to know them on their own terms. She also enjoyed having her privacy, she did not need or want to be kowtowed to—Mother was lost in the common life of all which lives.

When Lahiri Mahasaya first met Babaji, the Master said Lahiri Baba needed purification and immediately got to work. Lahiri Mahasaya commented, “Babaji’s practical wisdom, I reflected with a quick, reminiscent smile, was ever to the fore.” (A/Y Pg. 196) We could easily imagine Babaji walking a few feet above the ground, haloed in light and never quite human. It is interesting to think that on meeting Babaji we would be impressed by his practicality. I know with Mother I was always struck by the firmness of her step, not a few feet off the ground but solidly treading to her next destination.

Mother once told me that she had made a mistake in her checkbook, fortunately the error was in her favor, so she was alright (she was not going to be bouncing future checks). I think what is important about these observations is that, while Mother was the most spiritually powerful person I have met, attained the rare Sahaja Samadhi (the highest realization of God), she raised the dead and healed the sick and had the capacity to lift devotees into God-consciousness, she also lived a human life, and enjoyed it.

We can all relate to shopping, enjoying a good restaurant, and making a checkbook error. These are everyday events that to Mother were all part of knowing that the world is God, and she experienced it in common ways we all can connect with. This does not lower Mother down to a simple worldly person, rather it lifts us up to her view, her realization of the Divinity of life, all of life.

Mother worked outside the home, she was the first woman manager for the telephone company, she married, raised three children—and had surrogate children—friends of her children who came to the house and were so comfortable they called her “mother.” Mother had concerns about money, a challenging relationship with her father, the kind of things that we all interact with on an everyday basis. Mother not only stressed being practical in this world, but she openly proclaimed her humanity, as well as her divinity.

As Mother said:

When man knows the truth, he indeed shall be free. And the truth is that you and your Father are one, now. You always were, you are, and you always will be. How can you doubt it? When there is none but He everywhere; it is He, it is He. Open your heart now. This is the highest truth that can be taught to you—to do good, to see good, to purify yourselves in God. All of us fall flat on our face every now and then. I’ve read you a few of my own the other night. I thought afterwards (you know, the human part of me), I shouldn’t have read all that; it might create a bad impression. And I thought, well, it’s a good example, you see, on the way of man, or rather, of man on his way to the Infinite, because there isn’t anybody who doesn’t think a wrong thought or make a mistake in the whole universe. And the greatest saint, the greatest Christ, the greatest anything that ever lived, was born in a human body and therefore they made mistakes before they became one with the Divine within themselves. It is true…. But as long as you keep your love for God and you pick yourself up and you keep on trying, you can make it. And you know that’s true, because you have, many of you, watched me do it. You have seen it in operation. And if I can do it, being the smallest one in the world, then there isn’t one of you here or anywhere that cannot do it. You can become pure you can become holy, beautiful, wonderful, filled with joy and laughter. But when you’re one with Him, you’re anything He makes you. And sometimes you cry for yourself because you are weak. Sometimes you laugh, you take joy in yourself, you love. And this is God. (1970 The Christ Within)

This is what Mother brought to us: practicality, a human perspective and the total realization of God. Perfect for the modern Westerner, a perfect message for all. On this January 31^st, Anniversary of Mother’s Mahasamadhi and a celebration of our divine Guru’s life and mission, let us honor Mother by removing all false barriers between ourselves and God. Let us live the message she came to deliver when she took incarnation, that life is God, and God is life—all of life. Discover your divinity within and without, and be lost in the common life of all which lives.

Note: We have prepared a booklet of a talk, In Loving Service, I gave when Mother announced her retirement in 1990; it is being printed and it will also be available on the Cross and Lotus Website. Also, Cate will be leading a graveside service today, and this evening at 7:30 I will broadcast on YouTube a tribute to Mother Hamilton. Jai Guru!

I continue typing my notes from Anandashram, 20 years ago to the day. It has reminded me of my time there and the transformation I experienced. When it came to Mother’s Mahasamadhi Day, coming up on the 31^st, I had a very interesting thing happen that demonstrates how God works in mysterious ways. That even seemingly negative behavior by others can be an expression of His will.

January 31

Ram’s Play of Grace through Rudeness

Yesterday, I sat in a very crowded darshan with Swamiji. Gabriel came in and I patted the only space open, that happened to be next to me. Someone from the door wanted to pass a note through the crowded room and was looking at Gabriel to do it. This is a highly unusual thing to happen, but Gabriel being a pure soul immediately responded, got up and made his way forward with the note to Swamiji. It is to be noted that Gabriel has pain in his legs which makes sitting down on the floor and rising difficult.

An American devotee came in and headed for Gabriel’s spot. I signaled and said, “Gabriel is sitting here.” He responded, “Well, I am now!” and sat himself down. At first, I had a flush of anger, then came a resignation to God’s will. When Gabriel returned, I got up and signaled that he should take my place on the floor. I reasoned that these visitors had few opportunities, as I have had, for the darshan of this great saint—it felt good to give him my seat.

There was literally no space left in the darshan room, so I left. When I returned to my room, I discovered a half-written fax to be sent for Mother’s Mahasamadhi. The fax needed to be completed and taken to town for it to arrive in time for the Seattle Group. Somehow the fax had slipped out of my mind and I thanked God for enacting the play at Swamiji’s darshan so I could complete this important project for Mother.

No Explanation Is Necessary, But Here It Is

Today the friend who took Gabriel’s space came by. “I don’t suppose an explanation is necessary about yesterday, but here it is.” An odd way to start I thought. “When I walked in for darshan I was in one ‘space.’ You said the spot was for Gabriel and you were in another ‘space.’ I wasn’t thinking very quick, just intent on getting a place to sit; that was the ‘space’ I was in. Gabriel, up with Swamiji was in another ‘space.’ Anyway, that is how it all happened, we were all just in different ‘spaces.'” I think this was his way of apologizing! I assured him that it all worked out for good. This friendly response emboldened him to say that some shakti must have been working through him. Satisfied now with his own explanation he shifted on to other topics.

I knew he would have to say something to me about the darshan seating incident, but this was such an interesting explanation–I could not have anticipated what he had said in a million years! On a human level I could have made any number of observations about his “explanation,” but in the end—he was right. This was God’s shakti power working through him in the situation to maneuver me into completing my writing for Mother and still have time to take it into town and send it out to devotees. Jai Guru!

This play of God’s is a fun reminder that no matter the appearances of a thing, God is at work. Sometimes we are in on the plan, sometimes it is simply knowing there is a plan and it is all being worked out according to Divine Will. All is in His Keeping. All is in His will. May He lift us into the awareness that His all-loving, all-knowing Presence is with us no matter what ‘space’ we may be in, or what mask He may wear.

The desert moonlit scape is a beautiful sight; every bush and rock in sharp relief, a long-legged Jackrabbit lopes through the brush, and not far away coyotes yip. Even though it is Papa’s hour, nature’s world is wide awake! (3 a.m., I call it Papa’s hour because it was his waking time for so many years at the Ashram),

One of the projects I have been immersed in is typing my diary notes from my 1998-9 pilgrimage to Anandashram. Some days I am transcribing what happened on the very same month and day exactly twenty years before. So fully have I been taken back to that world there are times when looking up I half expect to see Ashram inmates and workers walking by. Perhaps the palm trees here in the Anza-Borrego Desert adds to this associative effect. It has been wonderful to go back to that time, especially my time with Swami Satchidananda.

What an effect he has had on me, how he helped me Godward! With undiminished gratitude I bow at Swamiji’s feet. I am sure that to many, bowing at another’s feet would seem an odd thing to do, yet to me it seems the most natural response to one who exudes such a powerful presence of God—so naturally flowing through his being.

And this is the purpose of spiritual masters being in this world—to be transmitting stations for the purifying and uplifting power of Divine Consciousness. I have had professors who have stimulated my brain, waking it up new thoughts and discoveries. Then there are wonderful people I have known who have impressed me with the quality of their being, making me a better person by my just being in their presence. Without taking anything away from these remarkable people, they are like burning candles compared to the sun-like presence of Mother and Swamiji.

It is always interesting when I sit and let God write through me as I am doing now; this is not what I had thought to write about at all when I started. But I am very happy to go anywhere God takes me because then I am in His Presence, and that is the most important part of any moment throughout the day. And that brings about a most salient point; we are so used to being filled with ourselves, our thoughts, desires, fears and habits, that we have a difficult time thinking about submitting our wills to anything or anyone else. But that is really the point, God is not anything or anyone else—He is you and me in the deepest sense.

So, one might then ask, how to distinguish what is God and what is me? And here may be a very unsatisfactory answer, “You know it when you experience it.” As with so many experiences (and this spiritual state of being is even more so because it is such a tremendous transformation), you can describe something, and your word-pictures will trigger someone else’s thoughts and feelings, but they are limited by their own experience.

I started out describing the night hours here in the desert, and if you were here with me, or have had similar experiences yourself, you would be full of close approximations to what I am talking about. But, if you have had no such relevant memories of being in the night desert, then you must fill in as best you can based on whatever experiences seem close. And if you have had a negative association with night-desert, fear of coyotes or rabbits for instance, then that will definitely color your picturing of what I am describing, producing fear instead of sacred mystery.

But here—this is very true with spiritual experience—there is an additional depth to word-power. Through my descriptions of Mother and Swamiji, latent spiritual awareness can be awakened in you. Not because you have recently had such an experience, but because a great spiritual potential is sleeping in you and is awakened by such descriptions. You need not have had any semblance of that experience, yet somehow you know the truth of it because it awakens that sleeping giant of your God-self and puts you into touch with previously unknown realms. The awakened giant in Mother and Swamiji wakes up the sleeping giant in you! Isn’t that remarkable?

When I first met Mother, and then later came into Swamiji’s presence, I recognized the awakened God-Self in them, and it stirred something deep in me. Meeting Mother and Swamiji came at two very different times in my life, but there were recognizable similarities in what they awakened in me. When I met Mother I had no reference for how she affected me; my mind took years to begin to intellectually understand who and what she was. By the time I met Swamiji, I had many years with Mother so it was easier in one sense to mentally understand what I heard, saw and experienced. Yet, even though that was true, it did not take away the mystery of what God is, or how He operates through His chosen instruments. It is in the nature of these encounters that they stretch, challenge and change the aspirant in ways that are unfathomable at the time—and all for the good!

So, in humble gratitude I bow at Mother and Swamiji’s feet. In my growing awareness I stand at a distance and appreciate the mountain-like statures of these two great masters. Through their grace they have also raised me to new heights of God-perception where I can share in their panoramic vistas. Through who they are in God they have vouchsafed me entry into the Divinity they have so thoroughly made their own. From their great sacrifices and striving they invite all of us to embrace this God-vision, and make it our own.  

Someone wrote, apologizing for “momentarily falling for the guise of (my being) a human, just like me.” But, why should I not be human? It is the mind only that divides up this world and says, “This is human and this other Divine.” To break the barrier between human and Divine is the greatest task we have before us.

A dualistic perspective tells us, “the human in me is not Divine, and the Divine I sometimes comprehend is not the human.” Our experience tends to bear this out—when you know the human self, you feel that you are only an individual, separate from God. When you are lifted up into God-consciousness it is something so completely different—better, higher, purer—that you cannot think of the human and Divine as being in the same category.

But, can a living branch ever say to the tree, I am not of you? If the branch were to really think on it—its life must come from the trunk, which has its source in the roots; in fact, they are all the same organism. This is to say, every individual soul is rooted in the Divine Essence and can never be separate—or else it would cease to live, it would no longer be.

It is the task of the mind to practice spiritual methods for realizing a fact that is already so. The mind is limited when it looks at the human and sees it as a separate thing. When the aspirant is devotedly focused on God, it is consequently lifted up through bhakti (aspiring for God-vision) and the devotee comes to experience God—sometimes within, sometimes without. The bhakta yearns for God with everything he or she has and strives to realize the object of his love and adoration.

Through the bhakta’s repeatedly touching the fabric of God’s Being, the mind is further purified and now the state of God-experience makes the world seem like a dream. In this uplifted state of the jnana the mind thinks of the world as an illusion that is not God. The jnana says, “Transcendent God alone is real, all else is false.” This high state of the jnana is tremendous, but it too is not our final destination—there is more.

We continue our quest for the universal-vision of God. Being immersed in transcendent God-experience the mind is further purified, lifted into the state of para-bhakti, the supreme state of Purushottama. The para-bhakti perceives the transcendent state manifesting as the world, the body and even as the expression of the ego; all are manifestations of a single, unified life. Now, God is seen operating in the highest consciousness and manifesting itself as all in all. In this supreme Reality everything is known to be  God—within, without and everywhere about. Established in this supreme Reality the soul fulfills its highest purpose.

Realized beings exist as living manifestations of these great truths. Saints manifest a bhakta’s great love for God and inspire that same love and dedication in others. Some saints become mystics of a higher order, they see the world as no longer real; it is not evil, it is not good, it is simply an illusion that stands in the way of perceiving transcendent Spirit, a thing of unreality. Then there is the universally realized Soul who knows that all is God, and God is all—that the branch is a flawless manifestation of the tree, just as the wave is a natural creation of the ocean.

The mistake is made when the branch thinks of itself as separate from the tree, or the wave from the ocean. This creates a false dichotomy that, in reality, can never be. Those on the upward path sees the spiritual master and encounters his humanness. The aspirant can project onto the master his own ignorance, seeing the master as a human being only. In truth, the master is working, through his or her humanity, to help universalize the vision of those around him by being both human and Divine. Mataji was disturbed by what she saw in Papa when he showed preference for some over others. She had not yet realized that God was working through Papa in the way he brought some in close, others he kept more at a distance. This did not represent ignorance in Papa—it was not that he did not see God in all—it is simply how God was operating in his form for the highest good of all.

In fact, to be able to function in this world a fully realized master must show distinctions, it is the nature of creation. For a fully realized master, whether one is close or far away, all are God. A master will even orchestrate difficult situations for the disciple, as did Master with Mother when he created an invisible barrier between them that lasted for three years. By doing so he was helping to purify Mother and prepare her for the universal vision. And, as Mother said of Papa, he loved me so much, he was willing to hurt me. This can sound strange, even wrong to one who has not experienced it. But it is true, even as a surgeon, when slicing you open, is working to cure you.

So, let us love and strive as bhaktas, discriminate as jnanas, and follow in the steps of great spiritual masters in attaining the universal-vision–becoming para-bhaktas; free in the ultimate realization when the human and the Divine merge. Then, no matter where we look, what we do, there is only One, only God. “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one.” (Mark 12:29)

There was a man named Harry, his nickname was Hurry Harry. Hurry Harry worked in keeping a large public park. His specific duties included raking a graveled walk and keeping his area looking neat and tidy. As you might imagine from his nickname, Hurry Harry was always a nervous, twitchy type of fellow who was easily frustrated by the lack of respect others gave his park. Children kicked rocks, people dropped wrappers and what-not on the ground. With frustration he kept his area spit-spot.

Over time Hurry Harry came to think that his job of repeatedly keeping the park clean did not matter, “Anyone could do this stupid job!” He daydreamed of doing something important in the world, a job others respected and would not trample upon. Now, each piece of trash and disrupted rock on the path he saw as a personal affront. Anger seethed beneath the surface and finally exploded one day when Hurry Harry walked off the job and did not come back.

Of course, with Hurry Harry not there his part of the park rapidly deteriorated. Other groundskeepers came to the Master Groundskeeper; they wanted to put in extra time to take care of Harry’s area until someone new could be found. The Master Groundskeeper was not only a master at keeping the park running smoothly, he was also a master psychologist. He had seen how Harry was building into a volcanic-existential-crises, but he knew that he must let things play themselves out. So, he took a risky stand and left that part of the park to take care of itself; without Harry or anyone else taking his place.

Hurry Harry cast about in the world for some time. He did not find that he was any more respected at other things he did than he was at the park. In fact, other situations only seemed worse to him. He thought back on the park—that he really did love—and how beautiful it was, how fortunate he was to work there and be a part of something as noble as facilitating nature’s splendor and enabling harried people to find peace and recreation under the trees and surrounded by flowering plants. Even the graveled path grew into something of a hallowed memory for Harry.

One day Harry visited the park with others from the city, fully expecting the duties of his area to be taken over by another. To his horror he saw everything topsy-turvy! The rest of the park was splendiferous, as he would expect. But his area was in shambles. Good people avoided his part of the park; hooligans had taken it over in its neglect.  Harry furiously stomped his way to the Master Groundskeeper demanding to know why that beloved part of the park had fallen into such a state of disrepair and disrepute!

The Master Groundskeeper patiently heard Harry out. When Harry wound down he simply said, “Why Harry, that is your job. Why blame me?” It dawned upon Harry that his role in the park was essential, that it was his neglect that made possible this nightmarish scene. It took time and determination for Harry to bring that part of the park back into order.

Now, instead of calling him Hurry Harry, others used his proper name, Harold. Harold means the ruler of an army, and the army he benevolently ruled was his part of the park. As he courageously brought back order and cleanliness the hooligans left and good people found it safe and inviting to return. Other groundskeepers were inspired by Harold’s calm, clearheaded approach to his work. And while he could occasionally be irritated (and mostly just found it sad) when others disrespected the park, he never again doubted that this is exactly why he was needed. The End. [Well, just the beginning for the renewed Harold!]

The importance of finding joy in life cannot be fully fathomed in a day, a month or even a lifetime. This is due to the fact that joyful-bliss is part and parcel of God’s Being. Since it is an inevitability that we one day discover God within and without, then joy-filled bliss must be in our future. That being the case and God being all goodness in life, then it only makes sense to accelerate our growth in God as fast as possible!

And that is the nature of living a spiritual life. It is, in its most simple form, the individual in union with the deepest sense of Self, and then knowing that the same divine Self is present throughout creation. It can range from a gentle nudge of joyful love in the heart to a powerful surge of bliss that makes you escape from the tiny prison of self and expands into omnipresence.

There are those who do not think they have the time or the interest to know God. But that is only because they have not been properly introduced. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to know Him in greater measure. Because others have spoken of a Deity that is still a stranger to them, listeners to these “Doctors of Delusion” have felt estranged from their Creator. That is a case of mistaken identity. If someone says you are doing something dastardly and you are not—it is a case of mistaken identity. It does not mean you are guilty of the crime, because the premise is false. There are those who have spoken and acted because, they have said, they know God. In reality, they have not done the real work and have no connection with Truth.

Master quoted St. Francis de Sales, “A saint who is sad, is a sad saint.” Of course, that does not mean we never suffer grief. Jesus, purveyor of all things God, upon meeting Martha and Mary in their grief for the death of their brother Lazarus cried in pain–it is said to be the shortest sentence in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Greif, pain and the heaviness of the world can sometimes be burdens we must carry. However, in finding God as our all and all, then the Divine Presence will be with us in good times and in bad. The more we are focused on our Heavenly Father and Divine Mother the more we will feel uplifting joy.

Joy does always need to be expressed through laughter and frivolity; in fact over-the-top hilarity is many times the opposite of joy—it is a simple release of tension or an attempt to fit in. A devotee once asked if there were any corrections I would make of her and I stunned her when I said she laughed too loudly, it did not come across as genuine. Well, a moment before she had professed she would do anything to realize God, but it was clear she was not in favor of this observation.

A dear friend from many years ago belonged to a “spirit filled” church with thousands in attendance each week. She was a bubbly personality and was disturbed when driving on the freeway and saw so many unsmiling faces. She would give a big smiles and wave at drivers and passengers alike, looking to cheer their days. But, if it is not in your personality to be so gregarious as that, then you might feel joy in a more quiet way. In fact, to expand in omniscient joy you will not be able to channel it all through your body as my friend did—it will draw you deeper within so that you might expand into this powerful experience of joy.

Most importantly, be observant of your own states of consciousness throughout the day. Do you experience a joy-filled Presence in your meditation? With your family and friends? In your work? And all through the day? Or do you limit your joy? Are you a complete stranger to it? Focus on that joyful-bliss that is less contingent on your outer world and streams from your inner world–your connection with God. If joyful-bliss is a stranger to you, make it your business to recover it—for it absolutely exists deep in your Soul as your natural state.

Bliss changes your life in all ways good; joy fills you from the inside out. So make your environment, your family and friends and your life align with God’s joy and He will guide you perfectly in all your ways. Blessings.     

Four years ago, I wrote several postings about the joy of tidying—being impressed with Marie Kondo’s methods and spirit for sorting and organizing. The results were amazing not only for me but for many others as well. The basic method is to gather everything of a kind—all your clothes for instance—and make a big pile of them. Then, handle each item individually, finetuning your awareness for what items bring you a spark of joy. When joy is felt, you keep it—otherwise you give gratitude for what it has brought to you and pass it on. That way you end up being surrounded with only those items that bring you joy.

Recently, Netflix released a series featuring Marie Kondo and the way her methods and her spirit produces results that are not only practical, but also changes relationships and lives in significant and positive ways. Having experienced the surprising power of tidying (a seemingly innocuous word for initiating such amazing results), I have continued to be impressed with Marie and her methods. I am still working on getting it right in my office, to have only those things that give me joy and to have a place for everything–I have too much paper. I have made a renewed purpose to being tidy in all parts of the house, including my office, and some work in the garage as well—I am still a work of tidying in progress.

The idea of choosing only those things that give you joy with your possessions is wonderful. Then the idea came, why not choose joy in all categories of life? Using the same principles and being mindful of what brings you joy in relationships, work, spending money, recreation and your spiritual life—taking each, one by one, and feeling the quality of its “fabric,” how it fits and discerning if it brings you real joy, versus doing things out of habit, restless energy or lethargy.  

Think back on your life, consider if you had carefully evaluated each choice you made; being calm and finetuning your intuition for what brings you real joy? How different my life would have been if I had done that! Some people truly have an inborn sense of purity and know what right-action is, right-relationship, right-work, right-food and what to imbibe. Many others are more mixed in their understanding, gradually learning to pay more attention in all areas of life as to what works—what brings joy. Then there are some who seem to have no built-in discernment at all—in fact their directional compass seems to point south instead of north and they consistently make decisions that bring pain and misery.

Many confuse pleasure with joy, but pleasure is temporary and does not bring real joy. Drinking alcohol, using drugs, easy sex or binging on food gives immediate gratification, but then you look at the after-effects, such as making poor decisions, hangovers and being in the power of addiction—and those choices definitely do not bring joy. Some get “drunk” with money desire—wanting or having it—and some with power and control. Or you feel an attraction for someone, but it is not the right relationship for you, however the temptation for pleasure and forbidden fruit is strong.

You say “Yes” to some things, and “No” to choices that do not bring joy. The more you work on conscious living and choosing what brings you real joy in life the more finely tuned your joy-compass becomes. Through practiced intuition you instantly know when the compass is pointing north to joy, and, because you now know that feeling of joy, you have the strength to resist those strong contrary attractions when they try attach themselves to you, foul your compass and clutter your life with things that do not bring you joy.

Meditation, exercise, saving money, not watching too much television (Master called it a pest in the home in the early 1950s) and breaking addictions can be difficult in the moment, but its after-effect is that you feel better, healthier and more joyful. So, it is really taking a moment and sensing the total package concerning a certain activity—does this bring me joy?  

God is ever-new joy and therefore is always the right choice. Because God is beyond cause and effect you can experience this joy-filled freedom independent of circumstances. And, due to the fact that God is purity itself, the more you focus on God the better your choices are. Some people fear that if they go with God they give up on having fun in life; their lives will be dull, staid and constricted. How wrong they are! God is the intelligence that creates this universe, it is the power behind all activities and the pure essence of joy! It is literally the most exciting life you can engage in, as well as the most challenging. When you choose joy you choose God, and when you choose God you choose joy. Let us finetune our ability to know what brings us that spark of joy in life, and then be its connoisseur.    

What a blessed occasion to be focused on our dear Param-guru, Paramhansa Yogananda. Master was born on January 5, and thus we and the world were blessed. Sometimes in our rush to heap accolades upon such a great soul there is a tendency, especially with a spiritual master, to discount his humanness. This, even though the Master, especially rare for the times in which he was writing, gives many detailed glimpses into the workings of his humanity.

Master writes of petitioning God for a revelation, and his tears flow in anguish for a divine response. This is not the cool-calm of a meditating yogi, but a tremendous depth of feeling for God that many can relate to. Being a bhakta, Master had a powerful emotional life and in his early days could be subject to moods. Sri Yukteswarji worked on his disciple to rise above such moods. To have true self-mastery the influence of moods must be conquered—only emotions directed toward knowing God are cultivated.

After a grave disappointment by someone close to Master, he actually thought of returning to India; having been in America for just a few years. He took time to go to Mexico where he thoroughly enjoyed the people. Master was obviously questioning much of the work he had done here in America and this was a time of serious doubt. During this uncertainty Divine Mother told Master he should stay and continue his work here. It changed not only his life, but our lives as well. If Master had left, Mother’s life would have been completely different. With Mother’s life so altered, our lives would be radically changed from how they currently are. It all seemed to hang by a thread, but thankfully Master kept his mind on God and fully surrendered to Divine Mother’s will.

We can imagine that Master was above everything, not affected by what came at him—and there was plenty that did come his way. But the notion that he was above it all would take away from his tremendous accomplishments. True, God could lift him above the tumult of life, but Divine Will ordains for many spiritual masters to be subject to the vicissitudes of life in order to demonstrate how to move through life’s many problems; to be an example for keeping the focus of attention on God throughout it all. Even when the body gives out, when friends betray you and the world mounts a campaign against you, you can find, even as Master found, the inner strength to go on. It is through such self-mastery that you learn about your own potential, and to deny a spiritual master’s humanity is to negate some of his greatest lessons for you.

Just the fact that Master was born into a family with siblings, a regimented father and a compassionate mother began a human play that surrounded Master with love and support, as well as many challenges along the way (just as in all families). His desire for freedom and God made school seem slow and plodding, he disappointed his father by not joining the train business—instead he founded a school based on ancient yogic principles that also incorporated modern education.

Master left India, a rarity in his day, to come to the West to bring the message of liberating yoga. Many came to hear his talks, a few stayed to really follow his teachings, and of those a very few devoted their lives to realizing the great truths Master came to bring, and fewer yet fulfilled the ultimate goal—union with God. Disappointment in those who could not or would not follow the teachings was part of the human cost for Master.

He was born into and lived a human life, and Master most notably attained divine liberation. As such, his birth is truly worthy of celebration. Through his words, music, poetry and his magnificent example he continues to teach us about universal yoga, or union with God. Through his ongoing emanation of vibrations, he is actively lifting all attuned souls into higher consciousness so that struggling aspirants may become what he is—one with God.   

We know that each day is a fresh page upon which to write in the Book of Life. I think of this coming new year, and what does God have in mind for me? One thing I know, making progress on some projects that we have already begun. My Spiritual India Part II is coming together as I transcribe my notes from my pilgrimage to India and Anandashram in 1998-9. The first part of My Spiritual India, two months of pilgrimage while circumambulating India is already in print and on the Website. Now, the time I spent at Anandashram and with Swami Satchidananda and the wonderful devotees there will be available this coming year—dedicated to Swamiji in celebration of what will be his 100^th birthday.

Thanks to Carla and our “Virtual Cross and Lotus Office Staff,” Mother’s talks are being transcribed and readied for publication. There are seven books planned based on her talks and teachings. These have been in the works for some years now and has required time, effort and expense—they are finally getting ready for print, though there is much yet to do. This will be a tremendous fulfillment for me in response to God and Gurus command.

There will continue to be new postings at yogacharydavid.com. There are other writings to digitalize, and I plan on a series of short topical videos for leading a spiritual life that will be put up on the website. There are videos of Swamiji and interviews of Ashram inmates we plan to make available; with subtitles to more easily follow what is said. We have also been working on updating the Cross and Lotus Website as well. These are just some of the works we have in motion, and more are also in the wings.

Carla and I will spend more time in the desert in the next months, and we are planning to travel to Anandashram in the month of November of 2019 to celebrate Swami Satchidananda’s life. Others have expressed a desire to come to the Ashram at that time. To do so you should write to Swami Muktananda and seek his permission to come. We are blessed to have such a spiritual Ashram in which we have been treated with such love and hospitality. Papa, Mataji and Swamiji’s spirit continues to live at the Ashram and blesses all who enter its gates.

With all of this, the most important part of this Work we do for God and Gurus is the individual progress of each and every aspirant. I have travelled less to the Centers and have been living more in Spirit, much of the time with just a toehold in the body. God has arranged it this way, and it has been a time for the inner attunement of all devotees. Daily I feel the greatness and expansion of God’s Spirit. In truth I know that all who actively attune themselves to God and God in this form will receive of this power and light of the Infinite.

I also know that, “Of myself, I am nothing, it is my Father who doeth the works.” This is a Self-evident Truth, of which there is no question. The more you attune to God the more you know it is God who thinks, breathes and acts through you. As Papa would say, you come here and what do you expect, horns growing out of the head? Do not think you will be different on the outside, but now you are aware that it is the Supreme Consciousness that dwells in you and does all through you. This realization makes you truly free, fulfilled and aware of His divine Presence and Bliss coursing throughout your Being day and night.

This new year brings the promise of the Second Birth to each one who sincerely applies himself to living according to the highest Light he or she knows. Oh dearest aspirant, be counted amongst those who rise up to new heights and know real freedom of Spirit; a complete renewal of consciousness that has ever been a part of your deepest Being. You are continually being blessed—as Master once said, You have God’s blessings, you have Gurus blessings, all that is required now are your blessings! You have a brand-new page upon which to dedicate your life to loving and knowing God; a rare and precious opportunity.