This really hit the spot!

[Guest guest]

Peace, in the minds of many people, means the mere avoidance of

conflict. The peace they long for is a gentle retirement in old age;

a simple cottage in the mountains or by the sea; a secured income;

and the certainty that any crisis that may come their way will be

met with a minimum of effort and worry. Yet as often happens when

men retire from a life of intense activity, only (for lack of

continued challenges) to sink quickly into the pathetic senility of

old age, similarly with all types of withdrawal from conflict. What

begins as peace soon disintegrates in decay. The cottage in the

mountains or by the sea, idyllic perhaps for a weekend, becomes a

dreary prison of boredom.

 

Peace is one of the goals of Yoga. It is, indeed, one of the silent

aspirations of every heart. The longing for peace is instinctive in

all men. But the peace of the soul, dynamic, expanding to the

consciousness, the very opposite of stagnation, is too easily

mistaken by the worldly mind for sleep and other negative states of

being that attend a surrender of one's manhood and of all desire to

progress.

 

The Bhagavad Gita describes the entire spiritual path as a battle

between the forces of light and of darkness in the consciousness of

man. (The battlefield on which the discourse between Krishna and

Arjuna takes place is the " field " of man's inner consciousness.)

True spiritual peace is not a state into which one sinks passively-a

reward for long years of suffering and tears. It is the peace,

rather, of victory, of a fight well fought and of the certainty that

one has overcome. It is not a wall placed protectively around one to

shut out the horrors of life; it is rather a blinding light,

banishing those horrors into non-existence, even as darkness is

banished from a room when one turns on the electric light.

The path of progress must be seen as an overcoming. No man ever slid

downhill into heaven. The path has been described, rather, as an

ascent up a mountain, one which may be conquered only after many

hardships. The image of Mt. Meru, or of Mt. Carmel (so often used in

Christian terminology), is most descriptive of the actual ascent of

consciousness that takes place in the inner man. It is no mark of

spirituality never to be tempted, never to be disappointed, never to

fail. These are the marks, usually, of people who have chosen ant

hills, not mountains, to climb.

 

But the mark of spiritual growth is that for every setback there is

an increased determination to succeed, and that for every obstacle

there is an increasing surge of energy, until at last the energy

generated suffices to demolish the opposition and allows one to sail

forward on the upward journey. " A saint, " Paramhansa Yogananda used

to say, " is a sinner who never gave up. "

 

One of the difficulties of the spiritual path is the fact that, the

nature of duality being what it is, even painful experiences have

something of joy in them. Though we may not consciously enjoy them

when they happen, it cannot be gainsaid that we enjoy talking about

them in retrospect, that we even revel in them, once they are over.

And although the opposite is true also, that a certain amount of

pain lurqqks in all worldly happiness-the pain of knowing, for

example, that a happy day today must surrender to the drabness of a

normal, routine, existence tomorrow-nonetheless there is enough

enjoyment in the pleasures of the moment to make one reluctant to

abandon them. Man is not easily weaned from his attachment to the

ebb and flow of this relative, and endlessly contradictory, world.

Although spiritual joy is incomparably greater than material

happiness, even the devotee is typically reluctant to give up the

lower for the higher. He finds it difficult to imagine, what is in

fact the case, that the very energy with which he enjoys lesser

pleasures is the same that he applies to the enjoyment of undiluted,

vibrant bliss in the Spirit. There is no opposite to the state of

spiritual joy. There is no boredom there. Yoganandaji described the

joy of God as " ever new. "

 

Spiritual awakening is accompanied by a rising energy and

consciousness in the spine. In this spiritual state, one may indeed

dance, laugh, and sing with unending gladness, wrapped ever in

breezes of inner joy. All joy lies in giving, in the raising of

one's energy, in expansion, in the dynamic application of one's

will. All peace, to be true and lasting, lies in this sort of

upliftment, not in the passive " flow-with-it " consciousness that is

so popular with many people nowadays.

 

Why cling to anything? All that man seeks awaits him in his inner

Self, not as a result of merely avoiding conflicts, but as a result,

rather, of overcoming them. Peace is a mind soaring in the free

skies of inner consciousness.

 

Excerpted from The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Swami Kriyananda

 

Aum Shakti. Peace everyone! Become more special!

[Guest guest]

It sure does! Thank you Looloouk-

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi loolouk

I saw Swami Kriyananda he was doing a lecture at the Melbourne Uni in

about 1979 when he might have doing an Australian tour I went along with

my yoga teachers at the time. We also looked at some country property he

was blessing some land out Healsville (40 or so miles East of Melbourne

land there were about 20 or 30 people, we done some meditation I think

it was to be some type of spiritual retreat. I don't now what ever

happened about that. Wow time goes quick. I don't remember every think

he said though he spoke a lot about Karma and how karma is still to

happen with yoga practice yet will not be so adverse,

 

Wishing you all well

John Mathieson

'Where there is joy, bliss, delight and pleasure of inexpressible

variety, where all wishes are fulfilled, there make me immortal.' Rig

Veda 9th mandala, 113th sukta, 1st mantra

 

 

 

On Behalf Of

loolooouk

Tuesday, 18 July 2006 10:22 AM

 

This really hit the spot!

 

Peace, in the minds of many people, means the mere avoidance of

conflict. The peace they long for is a gentle retirement in old age;

a simple cottage in the mountains or by the sea; a secured income;

and the certainty that any crisis that may come their way will be

met with a minimum of effort and worry. Yet as often happens when

men retire from a life of intense activity, only (for lack of

continued challenges) to sink quickly into the pathetic senility of

old age, similarly with all types of withdrawal from conflict. What

begins as peace soon disintegrates in decay. The cottage in the

mountains or by the sea, idyllic perhaps for a weekend, becomes a

dreary prison of boredom.

 

Peace is one of the goals of Yoga. It is, indeed, one of the silent

aspirations of every heart. The longing for peace is instinctive in

all men. But the peace of the soul, dynamic, expanding to the

consciousness, the very opposite of stagnation, is too easily

mistaken by the worldly mind for sleep and other negative states of

being that attend a surrender of one's manhood and of all desire to

progress.

 

The Bhagavad Gita describes the entire spiritual path as a battle

between the forces of light and of darkness in the consciousness of

man. (The battlefield on which the discourse between Krishna and

Arjuna takes place is the " field " of man's inner consciousness.)

True spiritual peace is not a state into which one sinks passively-a

reward for long years of suffering and tears. It is the peace,

rather, of victory, of a fight well fought and of the certainty that

one has overcome. It is not a wall placed protectively around one to

shut out the horrors of life; it is rather a blinding light,

banishing those horrors into non-existence, even as darkness is

banished from a room when one turns on the electric light.

The path of progress must be seen as an overcoming. No man ever slid

downhill into heaven. The path has been described, rather, as an

ascent up a mountain, one which may be conquered only after many

hardships. The image of Mt. Meru, or of Mt. Carmel (so often used in

Christian terminology), is most descriptive of the actual ascent of

consciousness that takes place in the inner man. It is no mark of

spirituality never to be tempted, never to be disappointed, never to

fail. These are the marks, usually, of people who have chosen ant

hills, not mountains, to climb.

 

But the mark of spiritual growth is that for every setback there is

an increased determination to succeed, and that for every obstacle

there is an increasing surge of energy, until at last the energy

generated suffices to demolish the opposition and allows one to sail

forward on the upward journey. " A saint, " Paramhansa Yogananda used

to say, " is a sinner who never gave up. "

 

One of the difficulties of the spiritual path is the fact that, the

nature of duality being what it is, even painful experiences have

something of joy in them. Though we may not consciously enjoy them

when they happen, it cannot be gainsaid that we enjoy talking about

them in retrospect, that we even revel in them, once they are over.

And although the opposite is true also, that a certain amount of

pain lurqqks in all worldly happiness-the pain of knowing, for

example, that a happy day today must surrender to the drabness of a

normal, routine, existence tomorrow-nonetheless there is enough

enjoyment in the pleasures of the moment to make one reluctant to

abandon them. Man is not easily weaned from his attachment to the

ebb and flow of this relative, and endlessly contradictory, world.

Although spiritual joy is incomparably greater than material

happiness, even the devotee is typically reluctant to give up the

lower for the higher. He finds it difficult to imagine, what is in

fact the case, that the very energy with which he enjoys lesser

pleasures is the same that he applies to the enjoyment of undiluted,

vibrant bliss in the Spirit. There is no opposite to the state of

spiritual joy. There is no boredom there. Yoganandaji described the

joy of God as " ever new. "

 

Spiritual awakening is accompanied by a rising energy and

consciousness in the spine. In this spiritual state, one may indeed

dance, laugh, and sing with unending gladness, wrapped ever in

breezes of inner joy. All joy lies in giving, in the raising of

one's energy, in expansion, in the dynamic application of one's

will. All peace, to be true and lasting, lies in this sort of

upliftment, not in the passive " flow-with-it " consciousness that is

so popular with many people nowadays.

 

Why cling to anything? All that man seeks awaits him in his inner

Self, not as a result of merely avoiding conflicts, but as a result,

rather, of overcoming them. Peace is a mind soaring in the free

skies of inner consciousness.

 

Excerpted from The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Swami Kriyananda

 

Aum Shakti. Peace everyone! Become more special!