One
of my wonderful supporters from Missouri sent me the book
"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda and I was
immediately fascinated with the similarities of this philosophy with
that of Master Mind Jesus. Now, I definitely don't mean similar
to the "religion about Jesus" but Jesus' actual life
philosophy and personal teachings. These words by Paramahansa
Yogananda are a striking example: "Forget
the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames.
Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine.
Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort
now." And the Master Mind Jesus stated something of
a similar nature: "If you bring forth
what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not
bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will
destroy you."
Both Paramahansa and Jesus are referring to your Hidden Power ... the
power of consciousness filled with faith, first in G-d, and then in
our own "kingdom of heaven within"
... our consciousness. We must strive every day to foster,
nurture and strengthen our faith and our consciousness of power and
intelligence in abundance. This is the only way to "draw
unto" us the Power and Intelligence of the Spirit, the Almighty,
the Infinite, G-d ... our Source of Life, Energy and Spirit.
Let's get these words of
Paramahansa Yogananda into our mind as Truth: "Such
is the paradox of creation, that God exists as the Soul of all men,
creating and supporting them, yet does not Himself become entangled
with them. And human beings, although saturated with God, are overcome
by cosmic delusion and made subject to birth and death. A mystery
indeed!
The wise do not indulge in grief for things that are inevitably
changeable and evanescent. Those who always weep and complain that
life is filled with bitter things reveal the narrowness of their
minds. In God's consciousness, all worldly things are trifles, because
they are not eternal. They master the restlessness that is synonymous
with mortal life, and experience consciously the complete calmness, or
silence, accompanying freedom from identification with the body.
When such a devotee reaches this
immutable state of perfection, he witnesses all the changes of life
and death without being moved by them. Identification with the waves
of changes leads to misery, for to live and find pleasure in the
changeable is to be separated from the Eternal.
The wise, therefore, are not tossed
with the ups and downs of the waves of happiness and misery. They dive
deep into the Spirit-Ocean of Bliss, avoiding the storms of delusion,
the waves of change that rage on the surface of human consciousness."
We live in a world that
almost expects weeping, grief, complaints and bitterness. We see
it in the movies, religions, politics and in the personal lives of
people around us. Yet, like fear, these are just the
childishness of an undeveloped consciousness. Since G-d is All
and being All, all is good, why subject ourselves to the world's
negative emotions that just obstruct our self realization of the Power
and Intelligence and Spirit that is all-ways available to us? It
is the mesmerized mind that is attracted to these things ...
mesmerized by a world that believes we are "only human" and
doesn't go beyond this physical assumption.
In 1921 Thomas Troward published
these words in his book "The Hidden Power" ... "Entering
into the spirit of it." ... "What a common expression!
And yet how much it really means, how absolutely everything! We
enter into the spirit of an undertaking, into the spirit of a
movement, into the spirit of an author, even into the spirit of a
game, and it makes all the difference both to us and to that into
which we enter. A game without any spirit is a poor affair; and
association in which there is no spirit falls to pieces; and a
spiritless undertaking is sure to be a failure. On the other
hand, the book which is meaningless to the unsympathizing reader is
full of life and suggestion to the one who enters into the spirit of
the writer; the man/woman who enters into the spirit of the music
finds a spring of refreshment in some fine recital which is entirely
missed by the cold critic who comes only to judge according to the
standard of a rigid rule; and so in every case that we can think of.
If we do not enter into the spirit of a thing, it has no invigorating
effect upon us, and we regard it as dull, insipid and worthless."
The spirit, that is, the energy
that we draw into our heart, mind and soul we draw from the Source of
All Energy, Life, Spirit .. G-d. Your Hidden Power is your
awareness that this is the truth about you. It strengthens your
soul to convince yourself of this truth. It makes the Power,
Intelligence and Spirit of G-d available for our "use" in
consciousness. It deepens our convictions that there is no
limitation to the good that we can have, accomplish or be.
This message gives us a lot to
think about, so I will end this message with some words that Thomas
Troward published in his book; "Let us ... restore the Master's
(Jesus) words as they stand in the original: "Except
ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins."
This is an epitome of his teaching." In other words, we may
go through our entire life believing that "power is outside of
us" and never discover or develop our Hidden Power ... the Power
that is actualized as we speak/think/write our truth as "I
am." Take this thought with you today and every day; "I
am inviting the powerful loving action of G-d into my consciousness
right now." This will give you
a sense of feeling the Spirit right where you are ... and you will
find yourself getting into the spirit of Life in a greater way every
day!
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the
faith!
Rev.
Henry Bates
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