The importance of meditating each morning and evening cannot be emphasized enough. At first, this discipline takes effort, but as your meditations deepen and you begin to feel the inner peace and joy, your desire to meditate will grow. Each day resolve that you will meditate more deeply than yesterday. Set aside time one day each week for a longer practice. Make a place in your home that is dedicated to meditation.
Developing devotion, called bhaktiyoga, is also an essential part of the practice. Norman [Sunburst’s founder] often said, “Talk to God as you would your best friend, your divine companion!”
Devotion to whatever concept of God is pleasing to you is a powerful magnetic force that Spirit cannot resist. Your heart may be drawn to visualize Divine Mother, Heavenly Father, a God-realized soul, or a radiant sphere of Light, I Am That I Am, brilliant like the sun. Offering your love and devotion to your favorite image of the Divine will help rein in the ego-centered self, freeing the pure Self to come forth.
The meditation technique can take you to the door, but only your devotion will take you through the door. – Paramahansa Yogananda
John Kiddie:
Using our meditation technique, we quiet the senses, find that center place within us, that spark of the Divine that has been with us always. We imagine our spine as a hollow tube connecting Mother Earth and Father Spirit. We make the connection with the breath going up and down that tube.
We continue to do this, mixing and melting the energies of the Mother and the Father, bringing forth a union within us. It’s like dipping the fabric of our soul, our being in the waters of the Divine and washing it clean with every breath. As we bring in the energies and circulate them through our spine, we are slowly but surely cleansing ourselves from the inside.
We quiet our mind and come to reside in that center place within where Spirit resides. Through time, all will be revealed in that sacred space. What is revealed in that place is virtue, taking many forms. When we get to that place and reside there, we put on the cloak of virtue and transform ourselves so that our thoughts, words, and actions are virtuous. We do not have to think of being virtuous because we have become virtue.
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder • Self-discipline arises from commitment to the vision you seek, knowing what you want and dedicating your life to bringing it forth into being. True discipline is never a restriction. It is a liberation! Through meditation and right conduct, the ego, the false self, draws nearer to the pure Self. Virtue begins to arrive in your outward expressions, conducting the power of infinite love through every thought, word, and deed. Energies, never before felt, approach your awareness. Great love is felt for life, for God!
God is more desirable than all that can be experienced by the five senses. However, one does not abandon the outer for the inner! The adept, once knowing the inner, brings it to the outer world for expression. To bring heaven on earth again is our purpose. Yes, God is alive in you, experiencing the five senses, picking and tasting the fruit of the trees that I Am That I Am created, feeling the miracle of the solid earth beneath your feet, bathing in the waters, experiencing the warmth of the sun on a summer’s day.
Having access to the inner life, one now expresses it in the outer life. I Am That I Am now walks the earth as was originally intended in the cosmic plan. Yes, God, Mother and Father, those two divine dreamers, living and walking fully conscious within you upon the earth. This is the reason you are here today, dear friend, that God might live and work and play through you, fully conscious. And as a son or daughter, you are joined in this union.
by Dawn King•So much of our time is spent in our minds, on technology—not fully conscious of our bodies or of being on this Earth. Spring is a great time to wake up to the physical world in which we live. It will help us find the magical subtle worlds that exist in and around us.
We are complex beings. We exist on this Earth, while operating in an “Earth spacesuit”—the amazing physical body in which you or I find ourselves miraculously functioning. How little thought we usually give to it. Yet it deserves our utmost care; our survival here depends on it.
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky,white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle. – Thich Nhat Hanh
Our minds are so much more powerful than we realize. We are masters of our experience here, yet mostly unaware of this. With our thoughts we are building the world before us, and the tone of our interactions within it. Whatever we set our minds to accomplish, they can create, solve, or gain understanding of. Yet, how much effort do we put into these activities?
As many times as possible throughout your day, pause to realize the miracle of the moment. When difficulties arise, know that there’s a blessing in them somehow; nothing happens by chance! Remember to be grateful for the little joys in life, as well as the big ones. Life is ever-changing; what is here today will be different, or may be gone tomorrow.
The Founder of Sunburst, Norman Paulsen has said: “We have the ability within us to understand everything that has ever been created—to literally be one with our Creator, I Am That I Am, while here on this Earth walking in these bodies. We can destroy the worlds that have been created, or we can caretake them and beautify them. We can become the true sons and daughters of God, the caretakers of creation. That is why we have been given the tool of Kriya meditation. Through it we can re-establish our connection, our oneness with the blazing Light of the face of God at the divine center of creation. Yes, now is the time to open ourselves to receive that great Force, that Light, that Life, more abundantly. We are created in the image and likeness of this whole creation, God’s kingdom. It all exists within us. We have but to realize it. And what does it mean when we do? It doesn’t mean we’re special. It simply means we become divine caretakers of the creation. We become heirs, one with I Am That I Am, true sons and daughters caring for the creation with willing hands, accomplishing the divine will wherever we go, as best we can, every day.
•by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder•In our deep meditations, each one of us can sit in the presence of I Am That I Am, our Creator, our beloved Father and Mother. We are all connected in that energy, in that wondrous Spirit. Like the wind, it blows life through all our souls and caresses our hearts.
Oh Beloved, we all want to see you as you really are, face to face. Like a son, like a daughter looks at their earthly parents, so we want to look upon you, to really see you, to hug you, to have our hearts filled with your great love. This is what this life is about. You created each one of us—each one with a different face—that you might enjoy and work and live through each of us, and that some day you might awaken us to your presence within. Yes, to know who we really are, to know that you really exist—we can know, see, and feel you.
I know this Being that we call by many names loves each one of us so very, very much; and cares for each one of us, and has so uniquely created each one of us. Just look at all the faces, each one different. All the faces of our Creator cover this world today, but how many really know who they are? The Infinite One is pleading with us, its children, that we sit down and find out who we really are.
The opening of the way that is being offered to all of us, if we seek it, can save our planet. This beautiful jewel floating here in space has become polluted by the mismanagement and waste of mankind, yet it struggles on. The effects of this maltreatment can be seen in the weather and the natural catastrophes that continue to come. We each need to live a virtuous life the best we can, and make the effort to sit down in stillness and meet our Creator face to face.
Our energy emanates out through our meditations and prayers and it becomes a tool in God’s hands for helping others, and for saving this world. We really need to do something about what is happening around us in our world.
The good news is that God is present in the hearts and minds of each one of us, hearing us as we think, feel, and desire. Our work within and without becomes a force for good to turn the tide.
“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it, and find out the truth about who you are.” – Anne Lamott
• by Barbara McCaughey • Paramahansa Yogananda used to say to his disciples, “Get devotion!” But with this admonition, he also gave them practical ways to accomplish that goal. To nurture devotion, he encouraged them to practice the meditation techniques they had been given.
In doing so, they would set aside time to quiet the mind, to interiorize the senses, and give the subtle life force a chance to find its way into their consciousness in a very personal way. An experience of the Divine is one of complete unconditional love. Once you experience this, devotion naturally flows; you are forever devoted to the perfect Love which created us.
Another thing Yogananda stressed was the importance of practicing the presence of God. In our silent meditations we are looking for the light of pure consciousness, and trying to feel life force moving through our bodies. In practicing the Presence, we are using the magnificent vehicle of the body to bring divine Love into the creation. Practicing the Presence expands our idea of Love and Life as being the cause and fabric of creation.
There was a naturalist who used the term, “The Spirit that moves in all things.” When we look at all life forms in this way, how could we not feel love for every manifestation of Nature?
In order to feel the Spirit that moves in all things, we have to slow down. We have to do all our actions with intention. The Buddhists use the term “mindfulness.” We’re not scurrying from one activity to the next; we are acknowledging the presence of Life and Love in every moment.
In the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony, the attention to detail, the purposeful placement of every single item, almost confounds the untrained mind. It’s all done to express the beauty and order of the Universe, and it’s meant to honor the guests that are attending. The idea behind it is: “One moment; one opportunity.” There will never be another moment in all of eternity that is configured just like this present moment. Think about that; not one moment in eternity is just like this one!
Yogananda talked about the need to purify the heart from the lower emotions of jealousy, anger, greed, and so on, because all those things block Love, block Life. When we remove the blocks to Love they’re dissolved. It’s as if it never happened, and we’re back in tune with where we want to be. When we recognize this creation as the blueprint of our divine Creator, then we can only pray that we courageously, humbly and harmoniously fit into this wonderfulness. One life form cannot be above or below another; all are from the same Source.
So many people who have a special spiritual experience, either through meditation or near-death, are transformed by Love, but they also then have a greater desire to learn. When you study the natural universe, I think the word that you always come to is “Wow!” Love, Life is so present in this creation. The more we experience it, and thus know it, the more we appreciate it.
“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it, and find out the truth about who you are.” – Anne Lamott
•by David Adolphsen• Over the last few years, I have really appreciated reading the poetry of Rumi. He always refers to God as “the Friend.” I like the personal feeling that it gives because when I think about the friendships that I have in my life, I realize that a divine friendship with your earthly friends is a gift that is beyond measure—to have people who support your quest to evolve and advance spiritually, and to be able to do the same for them.
While thinking about that, I remembered a saying I heard a while back: If my friend is important to me, then the things that are important to my friend are important to me. When I think about what is important to Divine Spirit, well…obviously everything is important to Divine Spirit: the Earth, all of the elements of the Earth, all of creation that we can see, and all of the creation that we can’t see. But when it comes down to a personal feeling, all of the people on the Earth are important to Divine Spirit, and it doesn’t matter one bit what any of their actions are, or what their religious or political beliefs are, or if they have any religious or political beliefs at all.
Divine Spirit is completely interested in every single individual, because we are Divine Spirit’s offspring. Just as we might look upon a little baby with awe, wonder and delight, Divine Spirit has that same feeling for each of us, and wants to enjoy living with each of us more than we can imagine. We can’t see Divine Spirit, for the most part, but Divine Spirit always sees us, and is always there.
The sun in our sky today is the same one that everyone sees all around our planet. Without that sun, none of us would be here. That physical sun is a reflection of the inner sun, what we call the Christ Light, or the first creation of light. When we sit to meditate, we connect through the crowns of our heads to that Christ Light, the divine Sun, and we draw that energy into our bodies. As we do that, it nurtures and grows our conscious awareness.
Each one of us has a deep well of goodness that we can dip into and become the best people we can be while we live on this Earth. Since we live to a certain degree in ignorance of our true identity, it’s important for each of us to nurture our soul. It’s a great responsibility, and the reward to the mind and the body is great. Feed your soul—just like you feed your body every day. The reward of developing a spiritual friendship with others, and with our Creator is a gift beyond measure.
