The talk discusses the concept of accepting what comes naturally in life, particularly focusing on the difficult aspects. It emphasizes that while it's easy to accept good things, the real challenge lies in accepting hardships and tragedies. The talk shares various anecdotes and stories to illustrate this point, including experiences from religious fairs in India, personal encounters with ascetics, and the teachings of spiritual masters. It highlights the importance of not seeking extreme austerities deliberately but rather accepting the challenges that life presents. The talk also underscores the idea that God or a higher power is always present and responsive to our needs, even in the smallest of desires, as demonstrated through personal stories of seemingly trivial wishes being fulfilled. Ultimately, it encourages a devotional approach to life, seeing every experience as a blessing and an opportunity for spiritual growth.
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The talk discusses the importance of energy and willpower in achieving success and healing. It introduces the idea of dividing retreat participants into smaller groups called "channels" to receive special attention and help. These channels are named after natural elements like trees, rivers, and clouds, with the aim of drawing divine power through these elements 1. The talk emphasizes that the same energy can be channeled into different talents and skills, and that strong willpower can lead to overcoming habits and achieving greatness 1. It also highlights the role of divine energy in healing and the importance of attuning oneself to this energy for success in various endeavors 1.
The talk further elaborates on the concept that energy and willpower are interconnected. It explains that the greater the will, the greater the flow of energy, and this principle can be applied to various aspects of life, including healing, writing, athletics, and business administration 2. The talk provides examples of how individuals have used willpower to overcome physical ailments and achieve remarkable feats 2. It also discusses the idea that energy can be drawn from the divine source and that this energy is essential for success and healing 2.
The talk concludes by emphasizing the importance of attunement to divine energy and the need to offer one's ego into the greater flow of inspiration. It suggests that true healing and success come from aligning oneself with the divine will and becoming an instrument for divine energy.
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The talk discusses the concept of success, emphasizing the importance of balancing material and spiritual achievements. Here are some key points:
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Is Renunciation in Today's World? delves into the concept of intuitive guidance and how to discern and align with God's will. It emphasizes the challenges of recognizing divine guidance amidst personal desires, attachments, and cultural conditioning. provides practical advice on cultivating openness, non-attachment, and humility to better perceive spiritual direction.
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Yogananda’s Birthday – Jesus and Yogananda
Yogananda’s birthday is January 7. This talk was given the next day at a Sunday Service. After the Sunday service reading.
1/8/84
Jesus was born Jewish, but they couldn’t accept his teachings of truth.
There was too much formalization of religion at the time.
Jesus taught his disciples how to get back to the true spirit of religion, a true and direct experience of God. Yogananda taught this as well.
Kriyananda talks about the deeper meaning of the gold, blue and white aspects of the spiritual eye. The ‘star in the East at the birth of Christ was actually the light seen at the spiritual eye and was the symbol of the coming of an avatar.
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1/11/1983
Yoga Postures as an Aid for Spiritual Growth – yoga practice can deepen meditation and make you more centered.
This talk offers good advice about daily life on the spiritual path.
Learn to control the mind and become more aware.
We are here to find out who and what we are. Hatha yoga can be an aid to spiritual development. It can help us go about daily life in a more harmonious and centered way and help keep the body healthy.
When you practice hatha yoga you become aware of your body as a body of light. You strengthen the light with your practice.
Yoga postures manifest an upward flow of energy in the body.
The attitudes of the mind can be expressed in the posture of the body, as a physical manifestation of the subtle energies in the body.
It is best to sit for meditation with a straight spine.
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Circa 1996
Yoga and Daily Life: commentaries for a ‘thought for the day’ – interspersed with music by Kriyananda.
Sample thought for the day:
Make everyone feel that they are special in your eyes – not in any particular way, necessarily, but above all, because every human being is your brother or sister in God!
This is a nice recording to listen to in the car.
These passages were first published in a book: Do It Now. Later published as the book Do it Well.
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August 5, 1984
Suffering brings wisdom and leads us toward higher reality.
The ultimate cure for suffering is God.
If you look at suffering abstractly, you can say there is no suffering. The only reality is God, and God is joy, not suffering. When joy diminishes, it can appear that you are suffering.
Evil is that which pulls us away from our central joy.
God created everything from thought. The underlying reality of energy is thought, and the underlying reality of thought is divine consciousness or God.
Good and evil are dreams of the Infinite.
To love people is to love them with their motives. To love God is to love without motive. To love God within people is to love without motive. And when we have no motive at all, the ego is out of the picture.
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What Next for Mankind – mankind has taken a turn in the wrong direction by looking for happiness and stability in outward things
As long as we look for solutions outside ourSelves, we will suffer.
People all over the world are facing economic challenges as well as the growing potential of war.
The consequence of taking what you want from other people without regard of giving back, is that you get a feeling of tension, something doesn’t feel right, yet people continue to act in this way. The result is unrest within and without.
The solutions lie within each individual to get back in touch with the things that are really important.
The leading mission of every soul is to find oneness with God and know that “we are a part of all that is.” God is in all things and in all people.
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8/8/82
What is success – a manifestation of God’s grace.
Kriyananda encourages us to measure our success more by the spiritual qualities rather than by our outer accomplishments.
Be an open channel for God’s grace to flow through you. The channel is blessed by what flows through it.
Success, the way it is normally understood, will not necessarily give us what we are really looking for – happiness and inner freedom. If we really want to succeed in life, Kriyananda explains, we must challenge ourselves and reach for the highest in all that we do. Do it with and for God.
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8/29/86
What is Attunement? – being open to and inwardly connected to a teacher and teaching that help you recognize your highest truth and potential
Look for a spiritual path that will give you these three things: right teaching, right technique, and right teacher. Attune yourself to the teacher through the techniques and the teachings and you will find that your life will change in away that you could never change by yourself.
What is truth? It is you – your own highest self – who you are. The guru doesn’t give you himself. He aligns your molecules to make you a magnet that will draw God to you.
The real teaching on the spiritual path has to do with a state of consciousness more then anything else. It’s not only the things that you do.
Teachings in books don’t convey what a connection with a master teacher does. Being inwardly connected to a spiritual master is necessary.
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The vibration behind all words is Aum.
When we chant Aum we are connecting with the vibration that created the entire universe
Kriyananda emphasizes that merely chanting God’s name or repeating mantras is not enough. We must tune into the deeper meaning behind the words if we want to gain the inner peace, joy, and love we are all seeking.
We can learn to connect with the essence of words, and especially names of God. This can bring self-realization.
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It is possible to understand the unreality of suffering when you practice gratitude.
Kriyananda describes how to express gratitude and accept life as it is – not how we wish it would be.
Suffering can seem difficult or impossible in the moment, but in time, prove to be beneficial to all concerned.
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Unique Essence of Each Soul – each one of us has a distinct core, different from anyone else’s.
Kriyananda encourages us to look beyond outward definitions of personality, position, or words and to see God in all forms.
It is a mistake to categorize people or put them in a box because everyone is different.
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.
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Unconditional love is not conditioned by any person or circumstance.
The way to cultivate love for others is to first love God and guru. When you feel that love in your heart, offer it to others.
People usually offer love to others after they have received it first.
Kriyananda encourages us to give love to others. When we love others we expand.
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September 3, 1982
Even one moment spent in the presence of a saint can be your raft over the ocean of delusion.
Swami Kriyananda had the deep blessing of living with and serving Paramhansa Yogananda for three years.
He also spent time with Anandamoyi Ma in India. She said that no other devotee had drawn on her spiritual essence as much as he had. They developed a close relationship. Anandamoyi Ma invited Swami to stay with her in India, but he knew he needed to return to Yogananda and fulfill his destiny to serve his guru’s work.
This recording is profound because Swami relates for the first time (1982), detailed personal experiences he had with both of these divine souls.
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8/2/83
Conditions are always neutral, yet have the appearance of being positive or negative, good or bad—according to our own attitudes.
If we are not expressing joy and love, we cut ourselves off from the divine flow—and we suffer.
When we resolve to see the goodness in everything, we are seeing things as God does. In this way we can choose not to experience pain. Swami reminds us of people in concentration camps who became saints in the worst of circumstances.
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The talk delves into the philosophy and practice of meditation, emphasizing the dissolution of karma and the journey towards spiritual enlightenment. It discusses the importance of overcoming negative qualities through active effort and the role of good karma in transcending bad karma. The text also highlights the significance of meditation techniques, the influence of the guru, and the ultimate goal of achieving a state of divine consciousness.
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True Renunciation Involves Sacrifice, but what is really sacrificed in renouncing the limitation and bondage of ego? Isn’t union with God far more desirable?
Everything we give to God becomes blessed a million fold and even more so, when we give our life to God.
Have a “good sense of value” and recognize that in giving our life to God, we are gaining so much more then we could ever have by holding onto the ego and our attachments to this world.
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.
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June 19, 1981
Turning Human Love into Divine Love is an important issue on every level of life.
Kriyananda encourages us to turn our human love into divine love, but also to turn all human feeling, good and bad, into divine feeling.
Our feelings of love or joy can remind us of something much greater. We can commune with God in every human experience. Look for divine qualities in every person.
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