Treasures Along the Path

Learning to Trust God – Give Him a chance!

If you give Him a chance you will find that He is there, and that He will take care of you.

We spend a good part of our lives looking for fulfillment in this and that. We must seek all fulfillment in God.

In order to trust God, we ourselves must become worthy of His trust in us.

If we are willing to do whatever’s necessary to find God, then He will be there when we need Him.
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Joyful Surrender is related to the goal of our existence: to realize ourselves as the Atman, the eternal spirit.

Kriyananda describes the principle of yagya which means sacrifice. Sacrafice is essential if we want to succeed in our spiritual endeavors. If we want to be truly free, it is important to surrender all that we are to God.

There are two ways to approach God described in the the ancient teachings of India: impersonal and personal. The personal approach, with a human representation of the Infinite, is a way to make the divine connection real, such as with Radha and Lord Krishna. Their relationship represents spirit and nature dancing together.
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How to Please God – do everything for God and with God.

Throughout all our tests we need to love God. The only reason for human life is to love God.

When we act from will and ego involvement, the results are never truly fulfilling no matter what we accomplish. When we work only to please God we experience God’s sweetness and everything falls into place. 

Kriyananda talks about the incorporation project at Ananda Village in the early days, and the clarity of the lesson.

God can never misunderstand. He is your friend. He doesn’t judge us even though we judge ourselves.

Learn to accept pain and the lessons God gives and see them as grace.
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Attunement to the Guru –  God is the guru and discipleship is not to a person, it is to life!

We will be given all the tests in life that will help us grow spiritually, and the tools and grace  to meet those challenges. Attunement is the key to spiritual success.

Look at life in a positive way. Everything that comes can be an opportunity to learn.

Yogananda said, “The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy.” We’ve got to learn to say yes to life. People don’t find that easy. They find some reason to say no.

We are not separate from God, except that we are a particular manifestation of Him. Our potential is endless.

The divinity within us can be hidden, if we are being kind or expressing other elevating qualities, but keeping the thought of “I.” When we say to ourselves, ‘I am kind,’ we are limiting ourselves with that egoic thought. Say instead, I am not the one who is being kind, He is, by being kind through me. He is expressing His power through me.

People who hold onto darkness, are incapable of understanding the truth. They will always twist it in some way to make it dark. No matter what you say, they will turn it in the opposite way. They can still grow spiritually if they can get themselves turned in the right direction. The greatest sin is indifference.

Yogananda wanted people to think things through for themselves. Sometimes when he gave advice, he would do it in a way to confound the person’s immediate understanding in order to force him to come up with a more intuitive grasp.

Kriyananda explained that Yogananda did not say, do this, or do that. He advised people in a way that you had to really think about it to understand what he was saying. In addition, often, it would be put in such a way, that you had to develop a lot of strength to be able to do it at all! You certainly could not have a weak will to survive his kind of discipline. Mt. Washington was like a hotel, people checking in and out all the time. Some people couldn’t take it.

It is not easy to take guidance from a man of God, because he or she put challenges to you that help you grow.

Act to please God.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, his description of enlightenment is ‘smriti,’ memory. We don’t have to attain anything. All we have to do is reach the point where we can remember that we have always been one with God. The only thing is, that we’ve been looking in the opposite direction, and so we didn’t see Him there, but He has always been there
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8/5/1978
Creativity & Initiative is a means of bringing creative energy up the spine and using it to develop spiritually.

This talk is a thorough and very intriguing discussion of creativity. Kriyananda  begins by explaining the caste system and how that relates to our ability to achieve different levels of consciousness. We progress through those levels of understanding as we evolve spiritually.

He talks about the being “humbly respectful” of what other people have done.  We can learn from what they have done and be open to new energy that can flow through us.

A very helpful way to approach questions regarding creativity is through meditation. Swami suggests, ‘In your meditation calm your mind and listen to the divine within. When you feel that presence, ask “How would you like to express through me?” The divine usually won’t answer you in words, but can come to you with inspiration in an area you have already been working with such as art, music, or business.’

Swami presents three levels of creativity: 1. Take what others have done and improve on it. 2. Try to do a new thing that comes from your center. 3. See what you are creating as an expression of the creative force within. Go to this ‘creative fountain within’ to see if it can be used in different ways and know that God is the Doer.
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11/23/1978
Devotion vs. Emotion – give your pure love to God without emotion.

There is only one thing God does not have – our love.

The definition of yoga is the neutralization of the waves of feeling.

We need to develop devotion and love for God and at the same time to dissolve our feelings of likes and dislikes.

In fundamentalist religion there is devotion, but it also has an element of emotion in it.
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Circa 1978
Learning how to concentrate your forces allows you to put all of your energy in one direction.

Here are on the battlefield of life knowing that we want to resolve the battle by achieving peace.  There are two ways of achieving this peace. One is to put out enough energy to win a victory and the other is to give up. If you give up, you are surrendering and running away.

Each time you overcome an enemy, you cut through all the shreds of delusion, which seem to be strong, but are really shadows.  They have no power except as we have given them power.

The time will come when we can cut through all of our delusions at once and be free in the infinite. It’s a wonderful future to look forward to. Concentration of all your forces is basic to the whole spiritual path.
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Talk Given: 7-31-1984

Karma is inevitable but can karma be changed?

Karma means action. Great saints have said the everything is ruled by karma, which operates by the law of cause and effect.

Once you understand the laws of karma you can take steps to change unhelpful thoughts patterns or behaviors that may keep you in a cycle of karma that you would like to change.

Kriyananda gives a very helpful explanation of the law of karma.

It’s helpful to become accepting of reality and tackle the battles that you think you can win. When you are more accepting of things the way they are, it gives you the power to do something about it.
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Find All You’ve Been Seeking – 8/25/1979

Find All You’ve Been Seeking through a direct experience of God.

Specific meditation techniques free up energy in our nervous system.

Meditate and clear away all extraneous ideas. Realize that you are one with God.

We can experience ever existing, ever conscious, ever new bliss.

Be clear on what you goals are, not other’s opinions.
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Environment is stronger than will  – community life supports spiritual progress.

Kriyananda speaks about what it takes to produce that “right environment” that can change the course of our destiny. He shares with us the importance of living with the consciousness of peace that will help uplift all mankind.

People living together in a community create a magnetism that accelerates everyone’s spiritual growth. Meditation creates an inner enviornment of peace and harmony. This translates into daily life.
To support this work, go to: https://www.ananda.org/support/treasures/