“A man looking at the sky and the mountains and the ocean does not detect in them the Divine Presence. The subtle beam of the Creator is imperceptible to the human gaze. Because He is everywhere, it is as if He were nowhere.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Good Morning and happy Sunday. It’s a beautiful breezy morning here today, and I was up before my alarm, allowing me a good half hour of splendid meditation. We got our guests all checked-in, and it’s with a sign of relief that it appears we’ll make it through this last week of rentals without tropical storms breathing down our neck 🙂
So being that it’s Sunday, I’ll bring you a little spiritual thought today (ok, well maybe not a little, but alot LOL) …
Last night I was watching a movie on Netflix entitled “I Am”, a documentary by film director Tom Shadyac, who produced such films as Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty. The movie arose following an injury Shadyac suffered from a bicycle accident, which let to post-concussion syndrome. He experienced months of acute headaches and hyper-sensitivity to light and noise, and the syndrome often leads to suicide. As medical treatments failed to help, he isolated himself completely. Later, as his symptoms finally began to subside, the director wanted to share his inner quest, and began conducting interviews with scientists, religious leaders, environmentalists and philosophers.
The film asks two central questions: What’s Wrong With the World? and What Can We Do About it?. It is about “human connectedness, happiness, and the human spirit” and explores themes including Darwinism, Western morals, loneliness, the economy, and the drive to war.
I fell asleep mid-way through, but as I thought about the movie this morning, I was contemplating what it usually takes for humans to wake up, to have what is known as “God Realization”. A friend recently posted a funny little photo on Facebook, detailing all of the things that will ensure we will go to hell. Yoga and meditation were two of them. Well, give me the handbasket LOL ….
I googled this morning the words of Christ ” Luke 17:20-21 which says: “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” The link that I came to was from the United Church of God, which in the end states “There is no basis in this passage for believing the Kingdom of God resides in one’s heart”. Yet yoga and meditation will allow you to see and feel the exact opposite. How would one know unless one has experience? Didn’t Jesus meditate for 40 days and 40 nights?
Yogananda writes: “What is meditation? Becoming one with the soul. It means banishing the consciousness of being related to the body and to human limitations, and trying to remember that one is a soul. Meditation brings proof of the existence of God. You are, and ever will be, a perfect reflection of Spirit. You were Spirit; now you imagine yourself to be mortal; but by meditation on your true Self, and by performing God-reminding actions constantly, you can remember your forgotten Spirit-nature and remain in that consciousness through all futurity.”
In the first of his 67 journals, Meher Baba (via Awakener Magazine), Baba points out Twelve Ways in which the spiritual Seeker may realize his own Divine Self, which is One within all, and which is completely manifested in the Perfect Master (someone such as Jesus and Buddha) …
Twelve Ways of Realizing Me (By Meher Baba):
1. Longing . . .
IF YOU EXPERIENCE that same longing and thirst for Union with Me as one who has been lying for days in the hot sun of the Sahara experiences the longing for water, then you will realize Me.
2. Peace of Mind . . .
IF YOU HAVE THE PEACE of a frozen lake, then too, you will realize Me.
3. Humility . . .
IF YOU HAVE THE HUMILITY of the earth which can be molded into any shape, then you will know Me.
4. Desperation . . .
IF YOU EXPERIENCE
5. Faith . . .
IF YOU HAVE THE COMPLETE FAITH that Kalyan had for his Master, in believing it was night, although it was day . . . because his Master said so . . . then you will know Me. (such as Yogananda)
6. Fidelity . . .
IF You HAVE THE FIDELITY that the breath has in giving you company, even without your constantly feeling it, till the end of your life . . . that both in happiness and in suffering gives you company and never turns against you . . . then you will know Me.
7. Control Through Love . . .
WHEN YOUR LOVE FOR ME drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.
8. Selfless Service . . .
IF YOU HAVE THE QUALITY of selfless service unaffected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation . . . on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest, on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it . . . then you will win Me. (such as Mother Teresa)
9. Renunciation . . .
IF YOU RENOUNCE FOR ME everything physical, mental and spiritual, then you have Me. (such as Buddha)
10. Obedience . . .
IF YOUR OBEDIENCE IS SPONTANEOUS, complete and natural as the light is to the eye or smell is to the nose, then you come to Me.
11. Surrender . . .
IF YOUR SURRENDER to Me is as wholehearted as that of one, who, suffering from insomnia, surrenders to sudden sleep without fear of being lost, then you have Me.
12. Love . . .
IF YOU HAVE THAT LOVE FOR ME that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me, but you will please Me.
“God-realization is attained only by great effort on the part of the yogi and by divine grace. God is the life behind your life, the sight behind your eyes, the taste behind your tongue, and the love behind your love. To realize this to the fullest extent is Self-realization. Without God’s power you can do nothing. If you always hold this thought, you cannot go wrong, because you will have purified the temple of your mind and your soul with the vibrations of God.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
http://www.yogananda.com.au/gurus/yogananda02quotes.html
http://www.theawakenermagazine.org
