by David Adolphsen • I’ve been reflecting lately on my relationship with Spirit. It’s a relationship that started when, as a young adult, I became aware of my attraction to the inner world, to the love and complete feeling of connectedness that can happen in a life of Spirit.
Now I realize that my daily meditation practice is like having a date every day with Divine Spirit. I set some time aside each day to sit with Spirit, to connect through meditation and devotional prayer.
Like any relationship, there are times when it’s easier to feel the love for that divine partner, for that earthly partner, or even for your pet who may be chewing up the couch. There are times when it’s just easier than other times to feel that unconditional love. It’s easy to be excited about a new relationship, but over time we need to spice it up.
Sometimes when I sit down to meditate with Spirit, it feels more like a working meditation than a loving relationship-building meditation. At those times, I have to give myself the same compassion and the same space that I’ld give anyone else who may be feeling less connected than normally.
Learning some further refinements of the Kriya meditation tool can also be a way to spice up our relationship with Spirit. We can go even deeper into the reality of who we are, and our connection to the consciousness that is always around us and within us. We just need to uncover it.
Sometimes I pray: Help me love You more. Inspire me to see and to feel your goodness in everything, and give me the strength to stand up, to try to get beyond my self-conscious mind and expand into the Christ-conscious reality that is all around me all the time.
Hafiz wrote: Only that illumined One who keeps seducing the formless into form had the charm to win my heart. Only a perfect one who is always laughing at the word “two” can make you know of Love.
Intuition has always been important in my life. When I was a small boy, intuition led me to the basement of the old Lompoc Library where I met a holy messenger. I’ll share another story from my youth.
Bud Bouchard was a farmer. He and his father had been farming the area around Northridge for years. I admired Bud. He hauled around a new four-cylinder diesel Caterpillar tractor on a trailer behind an old Model A. I wanted to learn how to drive that tractor in the worst way.
One day I found Bud parked in front of the post office. I stopped my bike, “Say Bud, do you need anyone to help you farm?”
He eyed me silently, “Well, Norm, you sure you really want to work?”
“I like to work hard, and I really want to learn how to farm.”
“Great. Jump in the truck; you can throw your bike in the back.”
Soon I spotted Bud’s yellow tractor in a big field as we pulled up.
“Get up there in the seat while I run you through it a few times.” Bud fired up the Cat and jumped into the seat beside me; we made a few turns around the field. “You got the feel of it now, Norm?”
I was a little dubious, but Bud went on: “Hook up the disk and have at it, I’ll be back in a couple of hours to pick you up.” Bud was putting me to a test, either I did or didn’t run this Caterpillar and disk up the field. If I did it properly, I had a job.
I began the job, sensing right away that my intuition would figure out how to disk the field properly. I followed my inner guidance. Two hours later I finished the field, tidying up the edges. After shutting down the machine, I sat there admiring my first completed job.
Bud showed up. “Hey, Norm,” he yelled, laughing. “You did okay. Not bad at all. Tomorrow I’ll show you how to get it ready to plant.” *
Years later, as a young man, I was led by Intuition to visit an artist with Autobiography of a Yogi on his coffee table. Seeing Yogananda on that book, my inner voice spoke loudly; I knew in an instant that I had to meet him. My life was changed forever, and eventually I was led to Santa Barbara to develop a spiritual community.
The all-seeing eye of God, the seat of Intuition, resides within each soul. Through Kriya meditation practice we return to our Divine Source, and commune with our Creator.
Practice patience, and listen to the voice of conscience, your intuition, when trying to make a decision. True direction from the pure Self does not arise from the emotions, nor from a confused mental condition. Be still and meditate a moment; listen to the space between your thoughts and you will receive the right direction.
* This story of Intuition in action is from Norm’s autobiography, Life, Love, God.
by Barbara McCaughey • I once saw someone demonstrate two types of surrender in body language. The first type had shoulders and head drooping forward, arms limp in the lap. The second type had arms, face, and palms up toward the sky. I thought, “The heart must open, and the arms create a funnel for spirit to enter.” When that happens, we’re guided and more comfortable living in the moment.
Think of surrender as a way of allowing space in your consciousness for the Divine to enter. You can gain a glimpse of what you truly are when you reflect your divine nature.
Letting go of the ego is an act of continuous courage. The self-conscious ego thinks it’s separate from its Creator, and from the creation. Ego wants to amass things, thoughts, and knowledge…and protect it all. Although the self-conscious ego experiences the ups and the downs of life’s drama, it’s afraid to let go. It’s not really sure what will happen when it surrenders to divine guidance.
But when we have the desire to start letting go, then we’re led to a way that helps us. For many of us, that way has been Kriya meditation, which allows us to live our lives more consciously. Norman Paulsen, founder of Sunburst, lived a life that was a beautiful demonstration of surrender. Life, Love, God, his autobiography describes Norm’s spiritual journey in detail. From the time he was a child, he desired to meet God, and this was strengthened when he met his teacher Paramahansa Yogananda, who taught him Kriya Yoga. Later, Divine Mother revealed herself to Norm’s consciousness. He said that then his physical mind, self-conscious ego, and personality had to stand aside. It was his own pure Self that spoke directly to Divine Mother. As she promised, seven days later she returned and presented him to Divine Father.
Norm said he felt no fear. He was able to look within and see that he had no other desires. “There’s nothing else in this world that I want, only you. Only you, Lord!” It was the continuous practice of surrender that led him to that day.
Many years ago I was sitting in meditation; it was a very difficult time in my life. I was lamenting to Spirit, “I’ve got this challenge, and that challenge; what am I going to do?” The thoughts felt like a moving freight train. All of a sudden, it’s like the brakes were engaged. My mind was flooded with thoughts from Spirit, showing me all the blessings in my life—blessings I was ignoring.
I was left feeling, “With all that I’ve been given, how could I not fulfill my mission to be loving, and to keep surrendering to the Divine?” Almighty Spirit, Help me to be very present with You in this moment, that I might see a glimpse of who I truly am. Amen.
When the Creator set out to make this creation, divine Mother and Father filled it with beautiful sustaining law, the law of love and virtue. This virtue, or Life itself, has twelve universal facets. One of those virtues, continence, has many meanings, but one of them can be described as self-control. Paramahansa Yogananda once said, “Self-control is the key to a happy life.”
Sometimes self-control can bring to mind holding tight, but that’s not really what it means. Meditating more deeply upon it, I found that it means growing a finer and finer awareness of the energies that we exist in.
We each come forth from the one Pure Self, pure consciousness, existence, and pure joy. In venturing into this creation, we have been given a soul with an ego, a mind, a body, and a personality. Norm Paulsen, founder of Sunburst, used to liken these aspects of ourselves to having a horse that we need to learn how to ride, and hopefully not have it riding us.
There’s a word in Sanskrit, pranayama, that means life force control; or caring for life force. Our life force constantly flows outward through the five senses. Continence is our ability to become aware of that outward flow of our precious natural energy and then begin to conserve it.We begin by offering it up to the Divine for the purpose of our soul illumination, and awakening into divine consciousness.
Pranayama, in yoga, is often referred to as working with our breath. There is a simple exercise of paying attention to your breath without trying to change it in any way, to just notice what it’s doing for a moment. The magic of paying attention to it, of putting our consciousness on it, is that it changes.
Scientists of quantum physics discovered several decades ago that subatomic particles change if someone is looking at them. The same thing occurs when we observe our breath. We notice that the quality of it also changes. So conscious awareness is the key to awakening, to transformation. Consciousness is the Divine within us.
We can apply consciousness to our actions, our speech, emotions, our thoughts. Simply by becoming aware, we begin taking care of our energy. This is continence, true self-control. The more we apply it, the greater the space we find in between stimulus and our response. If some energy comes at us that’s hard, we can take a moment and observe it. And by that very observation, we transform the energy.
Norm Paulsen, in his book “Life, Love, God,” said that eventually we come to realize that continence is the caretaker of all the other virtues in creation. Continence, the simple act of paying attention, is the gift of life force riding upon the breath. From this practice, we gain great treasures which we can then bring out into our daily life—great treasures of love and peace, unutterable joy, and happiness.
O Great Spirit, You who shines forth from the very center of every particle of creation, You who shines forth from the endless sea of eternity, Filled with thy light, pouring into creation, Pouring into our bodies, minds and souls at this very moment, We offer our life force, our love, our desire, back to you, back to the source of all life. Touching you, we find the power of love; we find the power of virtue. We find the power of joy unending, and we bring it back to spread it across the Earth, To transform the Earth in the way that you created it to be in this very moment.
God consciousness has been the essence of Sunburst’s and my studies for many years. I’ve been so very grateful for the chance to read the words of illumined masters and beautiful poets like Yogananda who wrote fabulous, inspirational works. Here is a beautiful description of Yogananda’s experience with God-illumination. It portrays his absolute awe of Divine Spirit:
ˆ“With open eyes I behold myself as the little body. With closed eyes, I perceive myself as the cosmic center around which revolves the spheres of eternity, the sphere of bliss, the sphere of omniscient living space. I feel the Lord like a gentle breath of bliss, breathing in my body of universes. I perceive him shining through the bright twinkles of all luminosity and through the waves of cosmic consciousness. I behold Him as the light of solar inspiration, holding the luminaries of my thoughts and the rhythms of balance. “I feel Him as a bursting voice, leading, guiding, teaching secretly in the soul temples of all men and women. He is the fountain of wisdom and a radiant inspiration, flowing through all souls. He is the fragrance from the incense vase of all hearts. He is a garden of celestial blossoms and bright thought-flowers. He is the love that inspires our dreams. I feel Him percolating through my heart, as through all hearts, through the pores of the earth, through the sky, through all created things. He is the eternal motion of joy. He is the mirror of silence in which all creation is reflected.”
The greatest joy, for me and for so many, has been to go beyond reading the words that others have written, into the experience of God itself. His joy, His incredible love, and that amazing fulfillment that you feel from His presence and His blessing is beyond the realization of any other desire. It fulfills every cell of one’s body and every cell of one’s being. That fulfillment is beyond reading or talking or listening to others. It is direct inspiration and direct communion with the living Spirit…and that’s why we meditate. God illumination is the greatest ecstasy that there is, and therefore the greatest goal of our lives.
Divine Spirit, We are so grateful for your loving presence. You bring the love that heals and nurtures us, that enlightens and inspires us. For you are Father and Mother, and the Sacred Child that lives within each of us. Thank you for blessing us, for shining your light, for inspiring us, and for giving us life. Amen
I love the equinoxes and solstices, time posts of the Earth’s sacred cycles. The equinoxes bring us equal days and nights, reminding us to strive for balance in our lives, and reminding us of the cosmic forces always at work. We especially see this in nature, as Mother Earth strives to keep her elements in check, trying to balance the actions of mankind. Equinoxes are also a signpost of change ahead, leading to either an expansion or a contraction of light and warmth. It gives us time to prepare both physically and emotionally for a shift whether we are conscious of it or not.
These ancient cycles are no longer honored outwardly for their gifts and importance in our lives, but their messaging to our subtle bodies still affects us. If we slow down our frenetic pace we can glimpse something very sweet as the seasons change and bring us a gift. Fall brings us the brilliant colors before the leaves fall from the trees and the abundance of the late harvest. Spring brings us the birds returning to build their nests and the bright colors of early flowers.
Humans have been given the responsibility of balancing their desires with their awe of and gratitude for the natural world, as well as a responsibility to help maintain its delicate balance. We have been named caretakers of the world we live in, including finding balance in our bodies, our homes, and in the communities we build. As we celebrate the changing of the season, let us reflect on the current balance of our lives and adjust accordingly.
