Devotion and Spiritual Growth – do everything for, and with God.

In this talk Kriyananda goes right to the heart of the teachings: how to love God more.

He reminds us that God doesn’t care what we know, but how much we love.

Divine Mother likes simple devotion, and in prayer she responds to the quality of our hearts, not our words.

When we meditate with just our minds it doesn’t feed the soul; we must meditate with devotion!

If you knew how much God loves you, you would die for joy.

Arrive at understanding using the mind & the heart

The subject of intellect vs. heart is a very, very important one. They have found that there is a certain amount of gray matter in the heart. Western culture has been one-sided in the direction of intellect.

Yogananda said the motivation of human beings is twofold: to avoid suffering to attain happiness.

The joy of God and the joy of your soul is something that is always there, constantly bubbling in your heart.

True joy is always new, you never tire of it. It is the goal of life.

Thomas a Kempis writes in The Imitation of Christ, that delusions are so much a part of our habit structure, it is it is difficult to let go of them.

Try to focus your calm feeling and direct it to the point between the eyebrows.

Love God. It is much more important than knowing God intellectually. You can know God in the heart because God is love. You need to love Him to understand Him.

Jesus taught that the intellect alone cannot lead one to truth. Without fixity of purpose born of the heart’s devotion, the intellect wanders endlessly. It cannot settle for long on anything.

When we develop intuition we can transcend the limits of the intellect. We need to have balance in our lives with using both intuition and the intellect. Kriyananda encourages us to develop our intuition, explaining that through the intuition, we gain access to the wisdom of the universe. In fact, it is only through the intuition that we can gain complete understanding of anything. We each have our own melody to sing. May we sing in harmony with the universe.

The Importance of Individual Effort – we need to do our part to put forth our own energy to grow spiritually. God responds when we make the effort to reach out to Him.

Kriyananda makes clear that outer conditions do not determine whether or not we make spiritual progress.

Many people think that when they have more time, they will meditate more, or that when this or that happens, then they will finally be able to seek God in earnest.

Always keep a corner of your heart open for the Divine Mother. The Mother is closer than the Father.

This talk is from A Way of Awakening Aasta TV series from India – 365 twenty minute talks

Kriyananda reads a passage from his book Conversations with Yogananda, and gives commentary.

Balancing the head and heart can help the world.

Human nature has become unbalanced. Whenever this has happened in history, when people have gone too far in any direction such as the current emphasis on reason and intellectuality vs. considering compassion and kindness of heart, there is always some kind of force coming up to correct it.

A sadness can come to a population of people who are under a system that suppresses all initiative. Mankind can’t put up with those things for too long. Sooner or later that population has to come back to its own nature of openness of the heart, kindness and harmony.

Whenever man forgets God, man suffers. Whenever man remembers God, everything starts to shine.

We are not going to be satisfied with acquiring possessions, thinking that when ‘I get this or that, then I’ll be happy.’ We all eventually awaken to the truth that the only satisfaction comes from within ourselves

When we come to the realization that the only thing we really need to change is ‘ourselves,’ we ask, what is it, that resists this change? The change essentially is of the heart, and yet the resistance is also of the heart.

“You can accomplish extraordinary things through affirmations.” – Swami Kriyananda

This talk is a thorough discussion of how you can bring stronger and more dynamic energy into your efforts to attune yourself more deeply to God and Guru.

When you want to change a habit, bring the energy up from the subconscious, through the conscious, then into the superconscious state where change can take effect.

When a problem seems insurmountable, introducing some new element into the situation can be helpful. You can begin moving in the right direction and be open to some new element. Call on God to create the change that is needed, make Him part of the process.

Solutions can come when you put your mind at the point between the eyebrows and ask with dynamic energy, ‘God, what should I do?’

Expect that things will go well. Things can flow in direct proportion to one’s cheerful expectations. Convince yourself you can do it.

Those who put God first have true happiness.

Attune yourself to God’s will by being willing to do anything He asks of you. When you aren’t sure of God’s will, put out energy in some direction and you’ll find that He guides you to the next step.

Practice willingness and enthusiasm, then nothing can stop you.

Develop an attitude of a devotee and you will become a good disciple.

When you want to advance spiritually, adopt attitudes that will help you minimize your sense of self.

Respect and love God in everyone. Try always to see the good side in people.

Live to please God.

Be impersonal.

The great masters have their consciousness totally in the Divine Light, nothing else. They don’t have likes and dislikes, and they don’t have attitudes like humility. Yogananda said, when someone told him he was very humble, “how can there be humility when there is no consciousness of self?

The attitude of devotion is one of the most important on the spiritual path. You can love God so much, that you don’t want anything except to please God. Let the heart send a constant stream of childlike love, where there is joy in just singing God’s name and joy in communing quietly and feeling His presence in your heart.

There isn’t anything God does not have in abundance. The only thing He doesn’t have is our love, until we give Him our love.

Spend more time talking to God.

The spiritual path is demanding, a constant struggle up and down, back and forth because of our karma and past tendencies.

Devotion is the most important quality on the spiritual path and the most important attitude the devotee should develop.

It takes willpower and courage to stay on the spiritual path. It is very demanding.

Stay in the strong stream of energy leading you to God. But if you find yourself pulling away from that, don’t worry about it. Just get back to it. Yogananda said, ‘a saint is a sinner who never gave up.’

Have a sense of willingness. Ask God, “is this what you want.”

Seek attunement with the guru in meditation, attunement with the guru’s consciousness.

Understand that you are trying to attune yourself to God within yourself, not outside yourself. God lives in your own self, and that’s where the gurus is too. The guru lives in your heart. God lives in your heart. Anything you can hope to attain must be found within.

A sadness can come to a population of people who are under a system that suppresses all initiative. Mankind can’t put up with those things for too long. Sooner or later that population has to come back to its own nature of openness of the heart, kindness and harmony.

Whenever man forgets God, man suffers. Whenever man remembers God, everything starts to shine.

We are not going to be satisfied with acquiring possessions, thinking that when ‘I get this or that, then I’ll be happy.’ We all eventually awaken to the truth that the only satisfaction comes from within ourselves

When we come to the realization that the only thing we really need to change is ‘ourselves,’ we ask, what is it, that resists this change? The change essentially is of the heart, and yet the resistance is also of the heart.

The difference between greatness and mediocrity, in all fields, is energy. Energy is usually of the heart. If your heart is in something, that means you really want to do it. A carving over a fireplace said, “nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm.” Kriyananda said he meditated on that for years.

Without suffering nobody would grow.

Kriyananda says, Let’s face it, life does clobber us. There are two possible solutions. You can say, alright, I’m not going to let it clobber me again; I’m going to clobber it first. And before you know it, there a hardness that settles in the heart. Most people’s hearts are hard because of that. Who suffers the most of all? They do! I say, why suffer twice. You can say instead, I’ve decided that I am happier loving than not loving. If people choose to hurt me or attack me, I’m not going to allow it to stop me from loving them.

When we feel an emotional pain, we can tend to get smaller and smaller in protectiveness. This can lead to the kind of pain that is worst of all – a shrinking of your awareness, shrinking of your identity. There is nothing to fear if you broaden your heart enough.

The heart’s feelings are the very essence of delusion. It is because of attachment, desire and wanting little things and not wanting the heights, that we remain bound.