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Brother Anandamoy of The Self Realization Fellowship Church of all Religions. Below is a talk given by Brother Anandamoy. It was he who initiated me into Kriya Yoga meditation.
Essentially, what we are seeking is God, whether or not we use that
name....What we crave at the deepest level of our being cannot be
found in anything the world can give us.
One of the ancient scriptures of India says, in relation to this truth: "Know it now or after a thousand incarnations." In other words, do you want to go on seeking in the wrong place and continually be frustrated?...People are frantically searching, but they cannot find what they are looking for; and that leads to despair. And not just despair; tremendous resentment and anger accrue in the process—a lot of anger, a lot of violence. Again, it is because people are seeking in the wrong place and therefore not finding true fulfillment....
So...where do we find God? God, or Spirit, or the Infinite Consciousness (it doesn't matter what word you want to use) is all-pervading, omnipresent. But as long as we are looking for That outside of ourselves, we are using the senses and the mortal mind, the faculties through which we cognize the outer world. Great saints of all religions have affirmed this truth: the senses and the human intellect cannot perceive God; these gross instruments are far too limited. We have to go inside. There, through the intuition of the soul, we find Him.
On this point, the esoteric teachings of all the great religions agree: what we seek is inside....Jesus Christ said, "The kingdom of God is within you."...The same truth is in the Old Testament: "Be still and know that I am God." But the Bible does not say how to do it. Lord Krishna personally taught the highest techniques of yoga to his disciples, yet those methods were not set forth in his discourse in the Bhagavad Gita....
How to go within? That is what Paramahansa Yogananda has given to us: the definite science of attaining direct, personal experience of God.
Yoga, being the science of religion, focuses on the esoteric truth underlying exoteric practices and beliefs....The deeper practice of religion consists of going into the inner stillness, perceiving God manifested within—as peace, light, Aum, joy, love, and so on—and then becoming one with That. This is called "contemplation" in Christian terminology, "meditation" in the terminology of the science of Yoga....
Paramahansa Yogananda came with a special dispensation to make known to the world the ancient techniques of Yoga from the higher ages. In addition to the highest techniques of Kriya Yoga, he also taught several other techniques that are preparatory and auxiliary to Kriya, and are in themselves very effective methods of divine communion, including the Aum technique of meditation and the Hong-Sau technique of concentration.
Meditation is the foundation of the spiritual life. But there is another aspect also. Obviously, we cannot meditate all the time; we have our work to do, our outer role to play. This too is a part of spiritual discipline. Paramahansa Yogananda said, "Our spiritual and material duties should work together like two stallions, pulling the car of life harmoniously and uniformly to one happy goal."...
Outer works and their results in themselves can never give us complete satisfaction and fulfillment. Let me give an example. I came to America to study under Frank Lloyd Wright. He was considered the king of architecture at that time, a man of great fame and genius. He knew he was a genius; yet he was not happy. One day I was present when he expressed some of the deep inner frustration he felt, and I saw that inwardly he was still unfulfilled. Like so many, he was seeking happiness and fulfillment in the wrong place—in his case, through fame and through his creative ability.
By way of contrast, when I was in Italy I had seen the paintings of Fra Angelico, a famous painter of the fifteenth century and a deeply spiritual man. It is said that as he painted his portraits of Christ and the Madonna and the saints, tears of devotion streamed down his face. He didn't paint in order to have satisfaction through fame or through creativity. He found that satisfaction through his inner communion with God. And his act of painting was an offering to God.
There is a story in Greek mythology of Theseus, a great king and hero of Athens, who went down to the netherworld. The lord of the netherworld offered him a chair. Theseus didn't realize it was the chair of forgetfulness, and he sat down. Instantly he forgot everything—who he was, where he came from, why he came down to the netherworld in the first place. He just sat there, until Heracles came and got him out. That story is an allegory. It's about man, and woman. We came down to this material plane, and we have forgotten where we came from, we have forgotten what we are, and we have forgotten why we are here....
Our true essence is the soul: made in the image of God—immortal, indestructible, ever-blissful Infinite Consciousness. As Paramahansa Yogananda often said, if you have a lump of gold and you cover it with mud are you going to claim it's no longer gold? Of course not; it is still gold...."We are like gold in the mud," [he said]: "when the mud of ignorance is cleansed away, the shining gold of the soul, made in God's image, is seen within."
That is the purpose of religion—indeed, the purpose of life—to wash off the mud of ignorance, so we can know who we really are. And it is the answer to the problems we face in the world. Can you imagine what this world would be like if it were filled with people who had found within themselves the great love and joy and peace and wisdom of God?
Above talk copyright SRF.
Prayers of different religions--
Buddhist: May all beings be happy May all beings live in peace May all beings be at ease May all beings live in safety.
Catholic: O Angel of God, my Guardian dear, To whom God's love commits me here Ever this day be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule and guide.
Christian (nondenominational) Thank you for the world so sweet, Thank you for the food we eat, Thank you for the birds that sing, Thank you God for everything. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take. If I should live for other days, I pray the Lord to guide my ways.
Hindu: We love God for God teaches the birds To sing lovely songs. We love God for God loves children and Blesses them with intelligence and goodness.
Jewish: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One Blessed art though, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who bringest forth this bread from the earth. Muslim In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Praise be to God The Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgement Thee do we worship, And Thine aid we seek. Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not; Nor is He begotten And there is none Like unto Him.
Native American : Grandfather, Great Spirit you have been always, And before you nothing has been. There is no one to pray to but you. The star nations all over the heavens are yours, And yours are the grasses of the earth. Grandfather, Great Spirit, fill us with the light. Teach us to walk the soft earth as relatives to all that live. Help us, for without you we are nothing.
Russian Orthodox: The soul that is not nourished by prayer Is like a tree without soil. Pray in the woods Pray in the fields, Pray when you dig ditches, Pray in silence So that no one can see you.
Taoist: O Master of the Earth, You live without growing old. You cover everything like the sky. Give me the joy of understanding You As the earth and the sky understand You.
Unitarian Universalist: From all that dwells below the skies Let faith and hope with joy arise: Let beauty, truth and good be sung Though every land, by every tongue. The Way is perfect like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Above image from the book "The Hindu Way of Awakening" copyright Crystal Clarity, Publishers
Visit my First International Church of Christian Yoga with online bookstore at FICCY
My Divine Guru, Sri Yogananda.
