MyLifeYoga

When Paramhansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization, established the work in America, in the Articles of Incorporation was this particular tenet: “to establish in every home in the United States and even throughout the world, a little room for quiet and meditation, a temple where devotees can meditate in an effort to establish oneness with Cosmic Consciousness or God the Father, which is the goal of life.”

So in these few words we can see the importance of establishing a little church or a little room where one can with definite effort try to make that contact with God and realize that that is our goal and that’s what we are and that’s what we are here for–to know our oneness with God.

Now occasional church services are not enough, but they must be augmented by daily contact, daily contact with God, because insecurity of this outward existence is so deeply ingrained in this physical consciousness, that unless we do that we will not escape it. We will not escape the delusion and its insecurity. That you can realize.

And so, occasional services like these, and like the meditation services which we have at the SRF Retreat in Encinitas and in Hollywood, give us the inspiration, because everyone who comes with sincere heart feels the Presence of God. But that Presence will leave unless you, unless I, regularly keep the contact by meeting God in that little temple in our own home–it is absolutely essential.

Yogananda’s words

Master has said these wonderful words, and if you will just remember these words, you will have everything you need. He says this, “The sense of security and inner assurance we crave are a natural result of meditation and God communion.” Can it be any clearer? We do not feel secure in this outward consciousness. We do not have that inner assurance. Why, because there is no inner assurance in our security in it. The security is in God, and we have the ability by concentrating upon Him. As the Master has said, “A natural result of concentration and meditation, which gives God Communion.” Continue reading →

The king’s name is Gukubita. It means ‘beat’. But don’t worry, he beats his chest not his visitors.” Our guide Eugene winks, adjusts the automatic rifle on his shoulder, and turns toward the jungle.

We walk up the base of the Sambinyo Volcano to track Gukubita and his family of mountain gorillas.

Rwanda’s volcano region is called the Virunga Mountains and is the place Dian Fossey founded the Karasoke Research Center in 1967 to study and protect the gorillas.

Karasoke protects one third of all mountain gorillas in the Virungas, and because of their efforts the critically endangered population has increased by almost seven hundred.

Eugene’s machete rings out a high Cschringgg, as it strikes the bamboo thicket. The lush, emerald-colored terrain is difficult to navigate. There are no trails, so we walk on top of the vegetation.

I silently wish I remembered my gaiters and gloves, as my limbs scrape against the stinging nettles. Each unsteady step produces a new welt.

We pass three men who live on the volcano by day. They are armed, quiet, and greet us with nods. These men protect the gorillas from hired poachers, who kill the majestic animals for souvenir heads and hands, then sell them as bushmeat. The baby gorillas are taken from their families and sold to exotic animal owners, who focus only on their status in society and not their place on the planet.

“Poaching is a big problem in the Republic of Congo,” our guide explains. “But here in Rwanda our animals are protected. We have not had an infant stolen or mother killed in ten years.”

I balance on the undergrowth and take in the views. Coffee, potatoes, and bananas grow on terraced hillsides and cows graze in a field below.

Our group halts suddenly. Eugene presses his gloved finger to his lips.

There is movement in the thicket next to me. I startle. Continue reading →

A saint was bathing in a river when he spotted a drowning scorpion. To help the scorpion he picked him up so that it could be set down on dry land. But as soon as the scorpion was picked he stung the saint’s hand and had to be dropped back in the water.

The saint did not give up and tried again with the same result. This went on for a few more times when finally a passerby interrupted the saint, “Why do you keep doing this? Can’t you see the scorpion will sting you every time you try?”

“The scorpion cannot forget its nature is to sting. But how can I forget that my nature is to love?” The saint replied.

Granted that most of us will not be able to match the saint’s power of love, but we must forever keep in our minds the words of Thiruvalluvar the poet-saint:

“They say it is to know the union with love that the soul takes union with the body.”

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