With Asha Nayaswami, recorded at Ananda Village on February 1, 2026.

Asha reflects on a prayer from Whispers from Eternity that emphasizes our divine birthright as God’s children: we do not beg, but rightfully demand wisdom, joy, and guidance—while learning to use our free will in harmony with God’s will. She shares how Swami Kriyananda deeply edited Whispers, feeling inwardly guided by Yogananda to clarify its meaning. The book, she explains, shaped Swami’s spiritual life because it teaches the right inner attitudes—not philosophically, but devotionally—especially the balance between surrender to God and the proper use of individual will.

The talk expands into a broader reflection on divine guidance in history, especially the founding of America. The principles of equality, God-given rights, and freedom reflect spiritual truths aligned with self-realization. The masters work through historical movements and incarnations to create conditions for spiritual awakening, and souls connected to this work may have participated in these efforts across lifetimes. Ultimately, however, the outer achievements—temples, laws, communities, even revolutions—are secondary. What truly matters is love for God. Everything meaningful is built on that love. Life itself is temporary, like a passing shadow, and the only lasting achievement is to love God wholeheartedly.

Asha concludes with a simple, powerful message: however we serve, whatever role we play, the essence is to love God deeply and faithfully. In the end, the only question that matters is: How much did you love?

The reading for this week from Swami Kriyananda's book Rays of the One Light is

The Mystery of Avatara, or Divine Incarnation

Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.

The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

The Bhagavad Gita in the fourth Chapter states, as we saw last week:

O Bharata, whenever virtue declines and vice predominates, I incarnate on earth. Taking visible form, I come to destroy evil and re-establish virtue.

What is the mystery of this divine manifestation? Great avatars, such as Krishna and Jesus Christ, are born as babies even as we all are. They take human form, and go through normal human experiences as they grow from childhood to adulthood. They eat. They play. They may seem to suffer sickness and disappointment like the rest of us. In what way are they different from other human beings?

The important thing to understand is that, even as they are like us, so are we also like them. Their realization can be ours, too. They come on earth to show us our own divine potential.

The difference lies not in the manner of their manifestation on earth, but in the consciousness with which they are born. All things are condensations, so to speak, of the Cosmic Vibration – AUM, described by St. John’s Gospel as the Word. Most human beings, however, are unconscious of their divine origin. The avatars, on the other hand, come consciously as manifestations of that divine reality.

As the Gospel says in the first Chapter:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.