Yoga & Yogananda

“God Talks With Arjuna – The Bhagavad Gita”  Paramahansa Yogananda

Chapter IV The Supreme Science of Knowing God, The Historical Basis and Esoteric Essence of Yoga

Verse 3 – I have this day informed thee about that same ancient yoga, for thou art My devotee and friend.  This sacred mystery (of yoga) is, indeed, the producer of supreme benefit (to manhood).

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I wrote this in February of 2010:  Today has been a dream realized.  We visited SRF – Self Realization Fellowship, the international headquarters in Los Angeles.  I can’t describe the emotions.  There was an aura of love permeating the grounds.  We sat in the meditation room awaiting a guide.  Over the altar were pictures of Babajii, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteshwar, Jesus, Krishna, and Paramahamsa Yogananda.

A nun greeted us and gave us a personal tour, telling us a little about the history of the building and pointing out some of Yogananda’s personal possessions.  She took us to the meditation areas on the grounds.  The view was breathtaking.

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Unity

We are all one.  We create divisions, but ultimately we are all one.  Every thought, every action is a ripple in the universe.

Humans expend a great deal of energy in setting up divisions between each other.  Nature works in harmony.  I truly believe nature is one of our biggest teachers.  We have been unconsciously and sometimes consciously destroying nature for the longest time.  Nature is made up of opposites that depend on each other as well as compliment each other.  Humans are opposites.  It is the unification of opposites that make up the world.

From Las Tzo:

When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.

When everyone sees good, then bad exists.

Therefore:

What is and what is not create each other.

Difficult and easy complement each other.

Tall and short shape each other.

High and low rest on each other.

Voice and tone blend with each other.

First and last follow each other.

So, the sapient walks around doing nothing, and teaches without speaking.

All things appear, but he makes no claim on them.

He works for them without making them dependent.

He claims no honor for his deed.

Because he claims no honor, he will never be dishonored.

Buddha:  “He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.”

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
Psalm 133:1

I’m thankful that even as much as we destroy nature, nature ultimately prevails.  Its unity gives it the advantage.

The Optical Illusion of Opposites

We basically define others and ourselves by opposites.  When we are not defining opposites, we are creating them.  I’m hot.  I’m cold.  I’m rich.  I’m poor.  I’m skinny.  I’m fat.  I’m right.  You’re wrong.  And, we dart back and forth.  One moment I’m happy.  The next moment I’m sad.  It can be as dizzying as a merry-go-round or maybe, the Buddhist wheel of life.  When looking at it from this perspective you can see Buddha’s point of walking the middle ground.

It is said that opposites attract.  I consider my husband and I opposites in many instances, although several people have said that we are two peas in a pod.  My daughter was the first person that I ever heard say that about us.  While it is true in lots of respects such as we have a lot of the same interests, and tend to agree about most things, and more importantly we work towards the same spiritual goals, I don’t see it as being completely true.  I see my husband as having many qualities that are opposite of mine.  He is extremely patient and very slow to anger, especially with me.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  He is very skilled at doing quite a few things and is a very hard worker.  I also consider myself the opposite on these traits as well.

How often do we consider ourselves complete opposites of our families?  Who doesn’t go through the stage of thinking I was adopted?  For the last several days I have been thinking of beginning with one room and taking everything out and putting back only what we absolutely need.  Of course that which is discarded would be recycled in a respectable manner.  My mother was a serious hoarder, although I won’t say that it was to the extent that you might see on television.  I want to be the opposite of that.  However, what we resist is usually futile, as the Borg would say. I never considered my father a hoarder, but after my mother died, he seemed to take up the slack when it came to hoarding.  I look around me and see all the things that I hoard, mostly books and paper items, and more clothes than I definitely need. My husband is a huge electronic and gadget hoarder.  There are a lot more examples that I could give rather than hoarding, many of which would be considered good qualities, but in the end, we usually see just how much we are like our parents.

In raising my daughter I did not want her to be fearful, timid or insecure.  In other words I wanted her to be the opposite of what I considered my own shortcomings.  I was told once I did a good job in this respect.  Still, what lies underneath can be quite different or quite the opposite. There are many layers of opposites.

All these opposites and all these layers of opposites, though, are really only optical illusions.  Underneath all is the primordial Om, the truth of Oneness.

Still, we couldn’t have this earth school or earth lab without the opposites.  How would we learn?  So, in that respect, I’m thankful for our opposites and our families that provide them, and hope that we can all see them for the illusion that they really are.

The Super Power of Belief

If I could have any super power it would be the power of belief.  It has been my experience that belief can get you through some pretty tough times.  It also can be interchangeable in meaning with faith, willpower and determination, the way I see it.  After all Jesus said with faith even the size of a mustard seed you could perform such miracles as moving mountains.

I truly believe that (and there’s that word again) that our thoughts are constantly darting out like prayers.  I believe that all prayers are answered.  Our thoughts can be good or bad, or just indifferent.  They all get results like the dice that keeps jumping around on the roulette wheel as to say, now which is it – your thoughts keep going back and forth.  Thoughts or beliefs can also get stuck.  The dice just keeps spinning, not going anywhere.  Have you ever tried to hover over yourself and just observe your thoughts?  Once, I managed to do this while out walking in nature.  Many of my insights come while walking out in nature.  The still me that never changes looked down on my thoughts and observed this is one mixed up person with thoughts bouncing all over the place.  No concentration at all.  The yogis would teach one the power of concentration.  Concentration – possible the “C” word; however, I’m not very adept at concentration.

We have so many different sets of beliefs.  We are too fat, too skinny (well that one is probably a rarity), too poor, not good enough, better than others, not pretty enough.  The list goes on.  I can do this.  I can’t do this.  Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

I love listening to Explore Your Spirit with Kala,
http://www.exploreyourspirit.com/
.  She recently had Dr. Bernie Siegel on.  I had been thinking about writing about the power of belief, and then synchronicity appears as I turn on this podcast.  Dr. Siegel says his experiences set his beliefs.  If he experiences it then he is a believer.  To me it is a circle.  Our beliefs set our experiences.  It is the old scenario of which came first, the chicken or the egg.

He gave an example of a radiation therapist telling him about giving radiation treatments for a month only to find out that after the month, the machine had been broken the entire time, in that there was no actual radiation coming from it.  Dr. Siegel asked him if during that time tumors were shrinking and people were having side affects?  People still had the belief they were being treated and the results varied according to their own beliefs about the treatment.

From “As a Man Thinketh,” by James Allen:

“Mind is the Master–power that molds and makes, and Man is Mind, and ever more he takes the Tool of Thought, and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills–He thinks in secret and it comes to pass; Environment is but his looking-glass.”

“Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are 
By thought we wrought and built. If a man’s mind 
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes 
The wheel the ox behind . . . If one endure in purity
 of thought joy follows him as his own shadow – sure.”

It can be read online at:
http://jamesallen.wwwhubs.com/think.htm

The mind and our beliefs are what can truly make us supermen, or superwomen.

I’m thankful for all the past and present masters who keep trying to teach us these truths.  And it is said the truth shall set you free.  I’m still trying to learn all this, and I still have so far to go.

Dreams Can Have the Answer (Becoming Unstuck)

From Google Images

Last night I had a dream – one of those school dreams that occurs quite frequently I’m told with people. I’ve had them numerous times, but this one was different, in that I awoke from the dream differently. As in dreams past, in last night’s dream I was in some type of college situation, but I didn’t have a clue where I was supposed to be and even what classes I was supposed to be taking. I was so lost.  And always before when I woke up I felt that way, but not this time.

The Dream – In college I was with a group of people – it seemed mostly guys – all just friends. This dream was much more positive than those past school dreams, not to mention I was with a different group of people. We had just left a large class. I can’t remember that part too much. I feel it was some sort of science or math class. We were at a student center of sorts getting ready to walk to class together. I was asked to carry things for people. I had my hands full until finally I lightened my load by passing one guy’s jacket off to someone else.

We kept walking to class. Suddenly we were inside a building. I think some in our group were planning a protest, but I really wasn’t interested. I started to go into one classroom, but saw it wasn’t the right one. It was also a math class. I passed another room and saw my husband (in real life) who was fixing or working on something at or near the blackboard or in front of the room. I thought to myself, he’s cute. That was my only interest in the opposite sex in the dream, as I felt I was there entirely to learn.

We entered the next classroom, which I think was also to be a math class. Now, in actual life math and science eludes me. I always took art classes in school. I sat in one seat but the desk was entirely too high for me. I kept trying to find a seat that suited me. One of the friends in our group, who was also a nerd, spoke my name, which I don’t remember, and said that I could have rode in with him, implying that if I had come with him I would have been there in plenty of time to find a desk that suited me. I said, “You drove in last night,” as kind of a funny remark.

This morning I told my husband the dream. He thought he might have been the janitor and asked if he were wearing coveralls, and quipped, “You went to college and ended up running away with the janitor?” In the dream though, I think he was another college student (he was wearing jeans and a ball cap) that I was destined to meet there.

The dream could have been prompted by our discussion before going to sleep. We were talking about our thoughts and how they determined everything. I was talking about how about everything I think seems to manifest from the smallest to the biggest, which in a lot of ways is good. For some time I’ve been dealing with some pretty intense physical pain. I am obviously manifesting that as well. Last night I started meeting it with a determination – a determination that it is only maya or illusion that can be overcome. One of my key phrases, which actually hit me like a lead brick this morning, is that, “I’m stuck.” That happens a lot with this pain. I can get stuck in one position. It is literally too painful to move.

The conversation with my husband, which was on a deeper level, than I’m going into here helped me immensely. I felt a determination before going to sleep to work on thought control. I felt almost normal and didn’t get stuck in any positions during the night, and even today so far so good. I’m not sure what I’m stuck about quite yet, but have a good idea.

This was written well over a year ago, and still so far, so good – not any of the pain I had before.  I’m thankful for that.  I truly believe we have both the answers and power within for anything we might face.  Now, to go within and work on the rest of life’s stickiness.