Treasures Along the Path

10/23/82

How to Use Your Emotions for Your Highest Good – if you can you get to the center of an emotion or feeling, and really accept it for what it is, suddenly you discover that it’s gone.

Part 1 – Talk

Swami Kriyananda gave many talks on how to handle our emotions and this one takes a different twist.

He said it helps us to think of this topic in relationship to our spiritual development. Instead of thinking of conquering, rising above or suppressing your emotions, it’s better to approach them with the idea of using them for your highest good.

The difference between emotional joy and true joy is that true joy is from within and centered in the Self. It’s the joy of the soul. If you have a kind of joy that is like an extension “out there” somewhere, there is tension involved in it, and as a result you have to pull back from it sooner or later. If you can find a joy that’s centered in yourself, a spiritual joy, then there isn’t any opposite to that.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

1/9/82

How to Spiritualize Your Relationships – relationships represent our soul’s desire to expand. We will eventually merge with infinity.

Relationships provide an excellent opportunity for growth. We can see our faults, rid ourselves of false expectations and learn unconditional acceptance and love.

Try to understand relationships from the highest, not the lowest in yourself and others. When you reinforce the good habits you are helping yourself and others spiritually.

When there is a disagreement, try to find the truth and don’t blame.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

7/5/83

Learning how to rule the kingdom of the mind is a lifelong study in discrimination and concentration.

Kriyananda speaks of the characters in the Bhagavad Gita. Each one represents inner qualities of our mind that are often conflicted.

Become victorious over the ideas that we are limited to this body and this physical plane.

When you come to the point of understanding that you are not comprised of personality traits, then you will be able to help redirect your character toward that which you want.  Each  one of us has personality-traits that we don’t like, and it will certainly be far more difficult to change them if you feel attached.

Yogananda said that coming into a new incarnation felt like putting on a hot, thick overcoat on a hot day.  “It’s uncomfortable but you get used to it,” he said.

When trying to overcome personality traits, remember that it is a delusion that these traits are you.  You can express these qualities, they can flow through you but they aren’t you.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

7/5/83

Learning how to rule the kingdom of the mind is a lifelong study in discrimination and concentration.

Kriyananda speaks of the characters in the Bhagavad Gita. Each one represents inner qualities of our mind that are often conflicted.

Become victorious over the ideas that we are limited to this body and this physical plane.

When you come to the point of understanding that you are not comprised of personality traits, then you will be able to help redirect your character toward that which you want.  Each  one of us has personality-traits that we don’t like, and it will certainly be far more difficult to change them if you feel attached.

Yogananda said that coming into a new incarnation felt like putting on a hot, thick overcoat on a hot day.  “It’s uncomfortable but you get used to it,” he said.

When trying to overcome personality traits, remember that it is a delusion that these traits are you.  You can express these qualities, they can flow through you but they aren’t you.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

7/4/85

Knowing how to recognize and trust inner guidance is a process of attunement. 

When we are inwardly attuned to God’s grace, His guidance can come. We need to open the door to allow the divine to flow through.

Part of receiving inner guidance is to first ask the appropriate question. Phrase it in a clear way in the heart, then offer it up to the spiritual eye. You can trust the inner guidance you receive, when there is a calm feeling.

It can be beneficial to ask teachers and friends you trust to make the issue more clear in your mind.

Kriyananda talks about ways in which guidance can come, and how to discern the difference between true guidance and personal projection. He has suggestions how to proceed if guidance does not seem to come. Devotion can be helpful at those times.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

6/11/1983

How to Prepare for Death – if you aren’t ready for death, you’re not ready for life either.

Our entire life can be a preparation for the moment of death, when our mind should be completely focused on the goal to find God.

We can rise above body consciousness and overcome our attachment.

All that you are is within yourself. Everything can change, but you can remain content within.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

8/13/83

How to know and do God’s will is an impersonal process and depends on attunement.

God’s will is is beyond good and evil. What makes it good or evil is what it does to us.

God’s will brings us in harmony with Him. As we get more in tune with Him, we will feel more and more joy in our heart. 

We must have a healthy respect for our own ability to be mistaken. Sometimes people get a little intuition and then ‘run to the ends of the earth with it. Sometimes God’s will is to go in one direction for a time, then change directions.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

10/10/82

How to Inspire Spirituality in Others – consider what the person needs to hear and also consider what they would be open to hear.

You don’t want to impose your beliefs. You want to help them where they are.

Be a channel of Divine Joy. When we feel the divine blessings ourselves, we can transmit that to others.

Kriyananda tells a story of arriving at a college where he was going to speak to the students on the subject of yoga. He found about a campus wide protest.

He began by talking about the protest and later got to the subject of yoga. The students had rapt attention throughout, because he was speaking to where their consciousness was in that moment.

There was another talk given by Kriyananda in 1983 by the same title.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

8/3/86

You can achieve spiritual and material success by concentration and right attitude.

Success is usually equated with wealth, fame and great achievements. True success should be measured by what we have become through the process.

Success means:

• being successful in the eyes of God and in your own conscience
• doing what you know is right

To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/

11/1/2004

One of the great blessings of giving your life to God is that you can be more free of ego involvement, and eventually be one with God!

Try to get away from the thought “I” am doing this or that, but think of God as the Doer in all things.

You don’t need to go to a Himalayan cave and meditate or remove yourself from society to be a renunciate. You can practice renunciation in any circumstance. It’s not important what you are doing, such as serving a family, but it is important how you are serving and your attitudes. Try to feel God to be your partner in whatever you do. God is the Doer.

This talk is one in a series of 365 programs recorded for Aasta TV in India – A Way of Awakening. The 20 minute talks are based on readings from Kriyananda’s book Conversations with Yogananda.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/