Roma and I lived in Gurgaon, Delhi for five years, and then we were transferred to Southern California, and ran a little center down there until we came back to Bangalore in 2012. At that time, Nayaswami Jyotish and Devi were coming to our little center in California and giving classes and so on. One particular time, Nayaswami Jyotish, I never saw him do this before, since he decided—he has a scientific mind—to conduct a little experiment. Their class, I think the class series was on the Bhagavad Gita. So he asked someone to bring all the various things that he needed for this particular experiment. A table was set up and there was a picture there, and so all of us were intrigued—what is this? And he got a bottle of Coca-Cola, or something like that, and poured it into the glass containers. And he said, “Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to pour water now into this container and watch what happens.” And of course, there was a large container there for all the overflow. And he said, “Watch as the liquid, the Coca-Cola, whatever it was, begins now to change the color.” And he kept pouring and pouring water into the brown liquid until it was completely clear—it was just water. And he said, “That’s what we’re doing.” And I’ve never forgotten that, because that’s exactly what we’re doing.
Swami Kriyananda, toward the end of his life, as he spent more and more time in God. He was always very private with his own spiritual attainments, but during the last two years of his life he said, “Now I hardly differentiate between my thoughts and Yogananda’s thoughts.” That’s how attuned he was with his Guru. And who is the Guru? God is the Guru, but he works through channels. And so, more and more, all Swamiji wanted to share with us was his bliss—that was what it finally boiled down to.
I mean, he had bliss in the early years too, when I met him and he was a man in his 40s. I remember a time branded into my consciousness. He was just starting Ananda—tremendous challenge, tremendous challenge! and starting the first World Brotherhood Colony, which was Yogananda’s dream.
There, in the seclusion retreat, our original property, he was leaning against the banister of the dining room and he couldn’t speak. I was in the room; I didn’t quite know what to think of this, but there was something coming out of him, this vibration. It was new to me, but I could identify it as a boy, I could feel it as a boy—and this was just a man in his 40s.
As the decades progressed along, he was very, very focused. He said, “I do not let anything get in the way of my first love”. He said “Sometimes I feel like I’m a tycoon.” He was so busy, busy for God. In creating all of his communities and all of the various things that he did. It was an incredibly productive life. But his focus was God, and all he cared about was to find God and to share God. That was what it boiled down to, which is really the essence, and ideally the purpose, of everyone’s life once that’s discovered.
Toward the end of his life too, he said, “These are two things I’d like to share.” You know, these great ones are always doing all they can to give us shortcuts. And he said two things to keep in mind: (1) depth of meditation—duration is important too, but depth in meditation, go deep; and (2) also feel that God is the doer. Simple. When the cream rises to the surface, so many things inspire us. Hold on to that, and you don’t lose the grip of the feet of God, the feet of the Guru, the feet of Divine Mother.
Depth of meditation—Why? Because we have to convince ourselves again and again and again. Smriti—memory—of who we are and where we’re going. Most people don’t know who they are or where they’re going. This is their life—round and round in circles—and they suffer needlessly. That’s why, now that we’ve been given the grace to go inside, this is no small thing—to go inside discovering who we are. We have the responsibility, primarily through vibration, through prayer, and any other means, to uplift people.
When we see people, even in precious Mother India, the guru of the world, we see through their body language that they are being weighed down by their karma. And if not them, there’s a habit many people share: maybe they have a negative thought, so they think they are negative. Ridiculous! They worry about something, so they think they are just a bundle of worries. They compound their problems. When these issues come our way, and of course they do—karma makes itself known in so many ways—okay fine, identify it and then give it to God. And Swami said, along with depth of meditation, if God is the doer and doing everything, also keep in mind self-offering: the negative things, the positive things, the aspirations, the past, the present, the future.
I’ll share something with you that is precious. Not long ago, I was being irritated by someone. I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience—I’m sure you have. This person was irritating me. And sometimes we can fall into a habit—maybe we’re irritated more than a minute, maybe for an hour, maybe for a day, maybe longer. What a disaster! We are children of God—what is this? The instrument is blessed by that which flows through. And the instrument also drops for a fews off-days when we’re just being instruments for negativity. And so there was this experience, and all of a sudden there was this voice—and I don’t know, but I felt it was Divine Mother—and she said, “Why are you being so hard on me?” And I was absolutely shocked. Again, it drove home the truth: God is the doer. And when we wake up from this dream, incredible as it seems, we will realize that everything—that God is doing everything.
That’s not an easy thing to accept. Positive things—fine. But when we are instruments for chaos, even then God is doing that too. Yes, because God is doing everything. That’s why Yogananda liked to take his disciples to the movies. When they were totally engrossed in a very good movie—meant to totally immerse yourself, to escape to the movies—he would tap them on the shoulder and have them look back at the beam. “It’s just a beam of light—it’s light and shadows of the Lord.”
This is a dream. And he shared this, the image of movies, because it’s so simple, and yet so profound. We need to go deep in meditation, not just skating on the surface. For that, we have to ask for help. We’re not bothering God and Gurus when we say, “Excuse me, but I know that you’ve got a lot of responsibilities—I mean, all of creation—but if you give me a moment of your time, look at this mind! I’m trying to meditate, and all I’m thinking about is all of this stuff. Please, I need your help.”
I think you’ll find, if you haven’t found already, that God is there—in a snap of the fingers—to help us, to lift our consciousness, and to get us back into alignment. So, our job is to remember again and again and again, and to remind others through our vibration. We don’t need to say a word. The purpose of life is to find God, and the purpose of life is to share God. That’s it.
The easy vehicle—perhaps not easy in the beginning—but as we become more and more accustomed to deep meditation, then we don’t want anything less than that. May we ask God and Guru for that help—to make every meditation deeper than the last. And so, we go deep into meditation and rediscover our soul. And what is there to be discovered and rediscovered? Joy! Joy is God, and God is joy—and love, and wisdom, and light, and compassion, and all the qualities that we all seek in common, every single one of the billions of people on this earth. That’s all we care about—bliss. That’s what we want. And so, go inside. Make a regular habit of it—morning, to set the tone for the day, and night, to give the day back.
If you want to listen to the complete Satsang, here’s the link.
About Author :
Nayaswami Haridas
Nayaswami Haridas has dedicated over 50 years to sharing the teachings of our Guru Paramhansa Yogananda at Ananda. Along with his wife, Nayaswami Roma, he has been a founding member of Ananda India since 2005 and served as a Spiritual Director of Ananda Sangha Bangalore. Together, as Kriyacharyas they have initiated many into Kriya Yoga and conducted workshops and retreats extensively across the USA, Europe, and India.
Currently, they are leading the Ananda Meditation Retreat in Nevada City, USA. Nayaswami Haridas is known for embodying a life of joyful service, devotional chanting, and spiritual community. His delightful sense of humor is always a joy to experience in person.
