When I arrived in India a few weeks ago
— I’ll tell you a little story — I, we arrived in New Delhi
and stayed at our Noida Ashram for a few days
and then came to Gurudeva's beautiful
and sacred Ranchi Ashram.
And shortly after getting there,
I was asked to speak with a newspaper, a news crew, media crew,
who wanted to ask some questions about Guruji's teachings
and the state of the world today.
And this reporter,
you know, no doubt was coming with,
I should say, an accumulated list or consciousness
of all the difficult things that all of us have gone through,
the whole world has gone through during this pandemic
that's impacted millions of souls
emotionally, physically, financially.
And still that feeling of uncertainty,
it persists in many quarters, isn't it?
So, she wanted to talk about that, and
she was bringing up and asking, she said, “Swamiji,
the stress of modern life,
the mad rush of material pursuits,
and the negative and inharmonious emotions
that seem to color so much of our social fabric today;
and then, we have the influence of these new forms
of social media and online connection
that are our young people, in particular,
seem to be so influenced by” —
so much a part of their, I should say,
encroaching if they're not careful,
encroaching on that divine freedom,
that sovereign sense of nobility and purpose
that's native to the soul.
So she was saying, “What can we do about this?
What is the remedy to all this?”
And I'll tell you what I said to her.
I said, “You know, yes, life is complex,
life is difficult.
No doubt about it.
And yet, ultimately,
it's very simple
in this sense,
that we, each one of us,
we have the choice:
We can choose either to be a victim;
or we can choose to be a conqueror.”
We can choose to be a victim
or we can choose to be a conqueror.
To be a conqueror, what does that mean?
It means to be able, as our Guru said so memorably,
“To stand unshaken midst the crash of breaking worlds.”
To stand unshaken
because we have that awareness,
we have that consciousness of that infinite resources
and divine potentials of the soul to back us up;
because we are anchored in that refuge, in that shelter of the soul,
the sanctuary of the soul – the greatest shelter
that the divine has made available to us
to weather, not only to weather the storms
of this world of duality,
but to be victorious over them;
to grow from them, to let those circumstances,
whatever they may be,
to forge within us
that victorious consciousness where we know:
“I am not this body.
I am not this mind.
I am not these fluctuating emotions and feelings.
I am that which is eternal.
I am that which is victorious.
I am the soul made in the image of God.”
Now, to live in that consciousness,
to be that kind of conqueror, that kind of victorious soul,
to do that requires skills;
it requires learning;
it requires what our Guru called “How-to-Live” skills.
All of you
who've been studying Gurudeva's wonderful YSS and SRF Lessons,
you have access to those skills,
you are learning those skills, you are implementing those skills.
And also those are going to be presented
in inspiring and practical ways
in the classes over these next few days.
But it requires one skill above all else,
and you all know what that is, isn't it?
It's the ability to meditate.
The ability to enter into that interior realm,
into that shelter of the soul.
That's what our Gurudeva,
above all else, has bestowed upon us,
this priceless spiritual treasure.
– the techniques of meditation, the science of meditation
that opens that door, that opens that portal
and gives us access
to the sanctuary of the soul.
So meditate, meditate, meditate.
That's why the Gita tells us,
Lord Krishna so lovingly speaking to disciple Arjuna
and by extension to all of us down the ages
when he said, “Arise, O Arjuna!
Take shelter in yoga.
Take shelter in yoga,
slashing with the sword of wisdom
this ignorance-borne doubt
existing in thy heart about the Self.”
Slashing with the sword of wisdom,
this ignorance-born doubt
existing in thy heart
about the Self.
What does that mean, this “ignorance-borne doubt”?
Well, that is exactly
what produces this victim consciousness in us,
this helplessness, this sense that we are at the mercy
of the cross currents and
powerful forces that threaten to knock us off
that inner foundation;
because we think of ourselves that way —
we have that “ignorance-borne doubt”
— we don't realize what we truly are.
And that is why yoga — as he says,
“Take shelter in yoga” —
yoga, meaning the science of Self-realization,
the science of knowing what we really are,
knowing what that eternal Self,
living in each one of us consists of.
Knowing ourselves as divine beings —
that is the greatest remedy.
There's this beautiful concept that Lord Krishna's words
refer to in this Gita verse I just read,
beautiful concept throughout the Gita,
and really throughout all of India's immortal
and eternal spiritual endowment to the world.
And that is this concept
of “sharanam”;
sharanam —
to take shelter, to take refuge.
Elsewhere in the Gita, you know these beautiful words,
Lord Krishna says,
“Take shelter in the eternal.
Take shelter in the Spirit
with all the eagerness of thy heart.
By His grace, thou shalt obtain the utmost peace
and Eternal Shelter.”
In another place he again
elucidates this beautiful concept of sharanam.
He says, “Become sheltered” —
meaning sharanam, protected from delusion —
“in oneness with Me.”
Always keep your consciousness
in My sheltering presence.”
Always keep your consciousness in My sheltering presence.
My dear brothers and sisters and divine friends,
you know what I want for each one of you?
Do you know what your Gurudeva wants for each one of you?
He wants you
to be able to enter into that consciousness
of Eternal Shelter
at will.
To enter into that consciousness at will.
It is not just a theoretical ideal;
it is something within the grasp
of each and every one who takes up
not just the study, but the practice —
daily, regular, persistent practice —
of that science of Self-realization.
He wants you to be able to enter into that consciousness so that
you can live your lives in that security,
with that sense of support,
that sense of sustaining protection
that comes from the consciousness of being sheltered in the Infinite.
And we're here in this Sangam;
we're here on this path
laid out by Gurudeva, Paramhansa Yoganandaji and our paramgurus
– this path of Kriya Yoga.
We are here
because we know
that these Kriya Yoga teachings that the Gurus have brought to us,
they bestow that ability,
they bestow that key
that allows us to open the door
and dwell at will
in that consciousness of Eternal Shelter.
So our divine Guru,
again and again, in one way or another —
these words or that book
or that chant, that prayer,
all of it — he is saying:
“Take shelter in Kriya Yoga.”
And he's constructed that shelter for us, isn't it?
He's constructed it how?
Three things:
He's given us the sadhana,
the techniques of meditation.
Secondly, he's given us this supportive Sangam
of our fellowship
– divine fellowship with other devotees around the world.
Great support, great encouragement,
and help that we give to each other.
Even if we don't even meet, even if we don't even talk —
just the knowledge that all over the world
are these souls who have responded
to the soul-summons of the Divine
through the Kriya Yoga teachings of Paramahansa Yoganandaji,
and are making that practice of meditation,
that practice of daily
going into that shelter, going into that inner contact,
whereby all those qualities of the Divine,
all those qualities of the soul,
can flow into the lives of each of us as individuals
and also flow out to those around us and to the world
as a divine blessing.
So second, first is Sadhana,
second is the Sangam,
third is the eternal grace of his darshan —
the “Guru kripa,” eternal ever-living
flow of blessings that is ours,
that we experience when we enter into that inner temple of meditation.
Combination of these 3 things,
that's what builds, that's what he has used to build this
divine shelter of Kriya Yoga that's available to each one of us.