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Yoga Meditation Page 2, From Ted

Many people may doubt that finding God is the purpose of life; but everone can accept the idea that the purpose of life is to find happiness. I say that God is happiness. He is bliss. He is love. He is joy that will never go away from your soul. So why shouldn't you try to aquire that happiness? No one else can give it to you. You must continuously cultivate it yourself.

Waste no more time, for if you have to change your bodily residence you will have to wait a long time for another opportunity to seek God earnestly, passing first through rebirth and the travails of childhood and the restlessness of youth. Why squander your time in useless desires? It is foolish to spend your life seeking things you must forsake at death. You will never find happiness that way. But every effort you make toward the contact of God in meditation will bring you an everlasting gift of the soul. Start now- those of you who are real lovers of God, seeking not your own glory, but the glory of Spirit.

When you sit in the silence of deep meditation, joy bubbles up from within, roused by no outer stimulus. The joy of meditation is overwhelming. Those who have not gone into the silence of true meditation do not know what real joy is.

After my passing the SRF teachings will be the guru. The establishment of Self Realization Fellowship marks the birth of a new era. My spoken words are registered in the ether, in the spirit of God, and they shall move the west, just as Gandhi freed India, by spiritual means. Realize that! Know that I constantly think of you all and want to see you growing in every way. The more you are in tune with me and refrain from fussing about little things, the better you will be. A steady stream of divine power will flow to you, for the Great Ones sent me here. I bless you, and may the presence of God descend upon you.

To those who think me near, I will be near. (Quotes from Paramahansa Yogananda, various sources)

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/ay/index.html

Quotes

The entire universe is created according to a dual principle. There is a force of repulsion-Maya or Satan-by which creation is projected out from God; and a counterforce of attraction-the power of Divine Love-that ultimately draws everything back to Spirit again. And we are in the middle, with free will to choose with which force we will cooperate, in which direction we will move. In every thought we think, in every action we take, we are faced with a decision. We can go along with the force that leads outward, toward maya-delusion, or we can choose to cooperate with the power that draws us toward God. From Brother Anilananda, SRF

Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Friend, Beloved God, Jesus Christ, Bhagavan Krishna, Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Beloved Guru Paramahansa Yogananda, Saints and Sages of all religions, I bow to you all. May Thy love shine forever on the santuary of my devotion, and may I be able to awaken Thy love in all hearts. (Daily prayer of all Self Realization Fellowship members).

My prayer: Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, I pray for all the souls in the world., especially the world's leaders. May those who suffer from poverty find comfort. May those who are angry find peace. May those who are ignorant find knowledge. May those who suffer with lust find comfort in the beauty and embrace of Divine Mother. May those who suffer with addictions find release through the joy of God. For it is his bliss which we are all seeking. Thank you Father, for sending Premavatar JagedGuru (World Teacher) Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, who gave us so many treasures. He has embraced us all with his love and wisdom. In Jesus' name I pray, OM, peace, Amen.

The following is a letter I received from Sri Daya Mata, president of SRF since 1955: Dear one, I was touched to receive your letter wherein you have expressed your gratitude to this path which has brought so much meaning into your life. My greatest joy is to encourage devotees in their search for God, and I am glad to know that you feel you have "come home" in finding Gurudeva's teachings. As you steadfastly apply the principles that Master gave, may you know within your own soul the boundless joy and peace of God. All of the monks and nuns in Gurudeva's ashrams are continuing to deeply pray for you, as does Dayama. Know that whenever you go within and meditate at the feet of God and Guru, you are in their presence and are united with all of us here who are seeking God with you on this sacred path. My divine love and blessings ever reach out to you, and I pray that you may remain loyal and devoted to the Divine. Nothing can keep you from the Goal of the spiritual path if you strive to remain one-pointed in your quest. Meditation will anchor your consciousness in God, and that awareness will remain clear through regular and devotional practice of his presence. Through every effort you make to attune your life with God, you are serving Him and this spiritual path. You might attend the Atlanta meditation group if you have the opportunity, and perhaps sometime if you travel to this area, you may be able to visit the Mother Center. May you ever realize God's nearness and be uplifted in his love.

The forms are many, but the informing spirit is one. How can there be room for distinctions of high and low where there is this all-embracing fundamental unity underlying the outward diversity? For that is a fact meeting you at every step in daily life. The final goal of all religions is to realize this essential oneness. From Mahatma Gandhi, father of India, who was initiated into Kriya Yoga by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Yogis who have reached the state of Samadhi through concentration on the inner sound of OM have experienced a bliss in their hearts that surpasses all description. The silent ascetic, having closed his ears, listens to the sound and attains the state of oneness with all. From the Yoga of Light.

Through perfectly concentrated meditation on the light in the head comes the vision of the Masters who have attained. The tradition is, that there is a certain center of force in the head, perhaps the pineal gland, the doorway between the natural and the spiritual man. For him who discerns between the mind and the Spiritual man, there comes perfect fruition of the longing after the real being of Self. From the Yoga Sutrus of Patanjali.

Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consist in accepting with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consist in accepting and following the will of God. From Mother Teresa

God is the Light of the heavens and the Earth. It is lit from a blessed olive tree neither eastern nor western. It's very oil would almost shine forth, though no fire touched it. God speaks in metephors to men. From the Koran

And Ananias came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And Ananias said, why tarriest though? Arise and be baptized. From Acts 22:12,13,16.

Other Teachers

This is Swami Vivikananda who said, "Each person is potentially Divine and each should work to unleash the unlimited power within and also enable others to do the same".

Living at the Source : Yoga Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

As John the baptist paved the way for the coming of Jesus, so did Swami Vivekananda pave the way for the coming of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.

This is Shiva, King of Yogis!

This is Rabindranath Tagore, perhaps India's greatest poet. Here lies the ocean of peace, helmsman, launch the boat. You will always be the comrade. Take, O take Him to your heart. In the path of the Infinite will shine the North Star. Giver of freedom, your forgiveness, your mercy, will be wealth inexhaustable in the eternal journey. May the mortal bonds perish, may the vast universe take him in it's arms, and may he know in his fearless heart the great unknown. From Tagore, Sesh Lekha.

This is Steven Gaskin of the Farm in Summertown Tenn who says,"The knower, the act of knowing, and the knowledge are one. We are one with God. We have no choice. You don't really have to worry about being one with God: there aren't any other options".

http://www.thefarm.org/

Links Fixed 08/23/00

Ted and Denise's sacred links page

Here is the new Earthlink links page ( over 37 pages!)

http://minchu.ee.iisc.ernet.in/people/students/sankara/pyogananda.html

news:alt.yoga

news:alt.meditation

http://www.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/networks-meditation.html

http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/chat.html

http://geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/index.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ms/faeriechild

http://www.yogajournal.com/

http://hakatai.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/ml/source.html

http://www.al.com

More Testimony
When I was eighteen years old a christian person found me in the hippy park and took me to the assembly of God in Birmingham one Sunday and I got saved. After the service as the people mingled an old grey-haired woman came up to me and looked into my eyes and said, "I can tell that you are sincere, now the next step is for you to receive the Holy Spirit." I said," really?" She reached out and put her hand on my head, and several other people reached out to touch me. She lifted up her voice to heaven and said, "Fill him Father, Fill him with the Holy Spirit." I felt a tremendous power like electricity surging through my body, it was overwhelming. Then she looked again into my eyes and said, "why do I see doubt? What is wrong?" I told her that this was a new experience for me, and I was friends with the Krishna people who like to come to the park and bring us vegitarian food." Many times have I heard the name of Krishna in my deepest prayers," she said." Christ and Krishna are of the same Spirit!"

Many years later, when I had overcome drug abuse, I was sitting in my apartment meditating on the inner sound of OM, as taught by my guru. Suddenly the thought of that day in the assembly filled my mind and I prayed, fill me father, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Again the surge like flowing electricity filled my body. I knew from that moment that I had come home, that I was in a true church of Jesus Christ. In late 1996 when my grandmother died the Baptist music director sang a song for us, "shall we gather at the river that flows by the throne of God." That night as I was meditating on the OM sound in front of my altar the inner voice of intuition spoke and said, "Behold; this is the river." In closing let me say that I am not a spiritual teacher. I am a devotee who struggles to conquer the flesh and to know God. I experience setbacks, but the important thing is to never give up. Die fighting! Never surrender!

Also see:The life of Paramahansa Yogananda

Visit my place at geocities My Geo-link page

See my new pages, as of 08-17-97, my tribute to Self Realizatin Fellowship at S.R.F. tribute page and my family photo album at Ted's photo album

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