Dear ________:

Partly it is a question of re-training one’s subconscious habits.  Partly, too, one must learn to live more superconsciously. To learn to live superconsciously, God’s presence must be experienced, not merely affirmed.  The more actually aware one becomes, in meditation, of God’s presence within, the more this inner awareness spills over effortlessly into his outward activities.

Inward awareness of the Divine Presence awakens also the understanding that there exists a Divine Law, and that all things are in fact ruled by this Law, and not really by our own little human efforts except to the extent that we serve as its willing instruments.  One knows then that the most important thing in life is to serve and please God alone, not man.

Again, when tests come, if one can hold onto the inner peace born of meditation one will find the inner strength to overcome them. But without this peace it is difficult to handle even minor nuisances without fairly disintegrating emotionally. Next to meditation, the most important thing is sat-sanga, good company. Among devotees a subtle magnetism is exchanged that gives to the strong as well as the weak added strength to maintain their calmness in the midst of daily activities.

Finally, to re-train your subconsciousness, always sing inwardly to God.  Japa this practice is called in India. And remember, when your love for God becomes a constant, silent yearning of your heart, all other things will melt away like morning mist before the rising sun. The greatest way to cling to God is to cling first to love.

May God and our Gurus bless you.

From Letters to Truthseekers, Crystal Clarity Publishers (Currently out of print). Related reading: In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection by Swami Kriyananda. To order click here

Beginners on a ski slope make a good study in worry-consciousness: chins jutting forward, rear ends jutting backward, knees bent as if they thought the slope was planning to attack them, arms stiff and flailing as though they expected, after the fall, to be reincarnated as windmills. But most people have to be extra attentive to the details of a thing while they’re still learning it. The worrier goes them one better. He remains at his post far beyond the call of duty. He goes on acting the novice — tense, apprehensive — long after he should have learned to “stand up and flow with the slope.”

I remember a friend of mine in college (in fact it was Julius Katchen, whose remarkable talent as a pianist later brought him fame) passing my window one day, shaking his fists in the air and crying, “Problems! Problems!” That image has always lingered in my mind as epitomizing the attitude so typical of the worrier. Julius couldn’t have had all that much to emote over, except maybe finding another tenor for the glee club. But he looked as though the problems of the universe were nesting in his hair.

The basic problem of the beginning skier is too much concern for his own body. The basic problem of the chronic worrier is too much concern for himself. This concern may express itself in various ways — as excessive self-consciousness, or an exaggerated sense of responsibility for the success of every undertaking, or a tendency to hover protectively over others like a mother hen, or even (strange to say) as absent-mindedness and inattention to the outward details of living — a result of being absorbed in too many inward-drawing, mental vortices. The first lesson, then, for every worrier is to learn to relax, to offer himself more and more freely into life’s flow.

Unfortunately, the worrier even more than most people finds it difficult to see life as a flow. As his exaggerated sense of ego (please understand, I don’t mean egotism, or pride) separates him mentally from the rest of the world, so he tends to fragment things objectively, too, to see them in terms of separations. Details of one kind and another, usually minor, absorb him. Again, over-attentiveness to his little self creates in him a bias toward minutiae, such that even if an enemy army invaded his country his chief concern might be over what the invaders were doing to the condition of the roads. In other words, he loses the sense of objective proportion.

But the world is not divided into two classes of people — the worriers and the non-worriers. Most of us worry sometimes, and most worriers are at times full of confidence. I’m writing here of a general line of human development, not of rigid categories of people and behavior. In fact, the tendency to break things up mentally into categories is both a symptom of worry-consciousness and, to a greater or lesser degree, a weakness of most of the human race.

Even moderately good skiers, who can afford to forget their bodies and think more about the problems of the slope, betray their lack of expertise in the exaggerated attention they give to every bump and turn. The mark of an expert is not only the fact that he knows how to execute the necessary movements, but that he sees the slope as a continuity; he absorbs the obstacles as they come, into a sense of graceful, flowing movement.

Remember, faith is a dynamic practice, not a passive acceptance of whatever you believe to be true. Try exercising more of this sort of faith — in life, and especially in God. Even if life doesn’t always seem like much of a flow to you, depend more on God’s power to work things out always for the best. The more you dynamically, lovingly offer your life and ego to Him, and the more you think of Him as the real Doer even when it is you who seem to be acting, the more amazed you will be to see how very capable He is of running things quite competently Himself!

Our job as human beings is to try to do His will, but at the same time to understand that we can never be more than willing soldiers in the eternal war of light against darkness. We must do our best, but it is not for us to decide the outcome even of minor skirmishes. That is why the Bhagavad Gita says that one should act willingly, but leave the results of his actions to God. (Nishkam karma the Gita calls it: desireless action.)

Always remember, worry-consciousness, and the tendency to fragment reality into separate, static, mental images, not only creates problems where none really exist, but actually interferes with one’s efforts to resolve problems where they do exist. The worrier tends to think that he alone is realistic in a world of daft dreamers, but in fact he would be much more realistic if he saw himself as he really is: a humble soldier in the struggle of life, not a general; and if he saw life as it really is: a divine flow.

From Letters to Truthseekers, Crystal Clarity Publishers (currently out of print). Related reading: In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection by Swami Kriyananda. To order click here

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

A devotee was saying the other day that she feels repelled by the thought of using techniques to know God. Many people feel that way. But their feeling is based on a great misconception. They believe that yoga techniques reduce to mechanics what ought to be a relationship of love. In fact, that isn’t what yoga techniques are about at all, as may be inferred from the great love that is manifested by true yogis.

For people like this devotee, perhaps the word law might be more helpful. For surely they would not deny that God requires of us that we abide by His law, and not flout it. The techniques of yoga are simply a recognition of certain laws of our own spiritual nature that are unfamiliar to most people.

If a girl tried to win a man by using “techniques” such as flattery, or pretending a sweetness that she doesn’t really feel, she might well be accused of insincerity. But if, on the other hand, she were to recognize that her inability to win him has been due to certain flaws in her own nature, then surely it would be a sign of her sincerity if she tried to improve herself.

This is the purpose of using yoga techniques. They are a means of self-improvement, that we might make ourselves a more fit instrument to receive and express God’s love. They are in no sense a means of “compromising” God into revealing Himself! But if we know that for lack of such self-improvement we keep Him out of our hearts—so much so that He simply cannot come—surely it will be a sign of our love for Him if we practice those methods which have been found helpful by others who have known Him. The true devotee will leave no stone unturned in his search for the Infinite Beloved.

Another point, too, might be considered: If you know that a friend is planning to visit you, and if you are eager to receive him, will you busy yourself making noises in the kitchen that might prevent you from hearing the knock at the door when it comes? Will you not rather stand in the doorway, and watch for your friend’s approach from afar? Divine grace enters the body in certain definite ways. Is it so insincere to put oneself in readiness to receive it? The reason yogis teach one, for example, to concentrate at the point between the eyebrows is because that’s where the divine light, when it comes, appears to the devotee. Yoga techniques are simply a process of cooperation with divine grace; they are not an imposition on it.

All, truly, is God’s grace. Yoga practices are not intended as a bypass of that fact. Kripa is the Sanskrit word for grace; it is used more often in India than our English word is ever used in this country. Yogis well know that one cannot command God’s grace. But if we truly believe in His love for us, we must believe also that His grace is not whimsical—that He would bless us even NOW, if we were but ready to receive His blessings. Our task is not to wheedle or “con” Him into giving us more than our fair share of grace; it is to ready ourselves to receive. Were we fully receptive, by God’s grace we would become Christlike even now—today!

From Letters to Truthseekers. Crystal Clarity Publishers (currently out of print).

Related reading: In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection by Swami Kriyananda. To order click here

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

Dear ___________:

Do you practice Paschimotanasana, the Posterior Stretching pose? You should do it very slowly and carefully, not forcibly, but rather relaxing further and further forward, concentrating especially on releasing tension at the base of the spine. Hold the pose comfortably for two or more minutes. Dhanurasana, the Bow pose, might be helpful, too. (But hold this one much less time, of course.)

Have you ever gone to a good chiropractor or osteopath? It should be one who takes x-rays. You might try cutting onions, garlic, and eggs out of your diet. (I am assuming you no longer eat meat, but if you do I suggest you omit that also.) These foods have a heating and somewhat irritating effect, especially on the lower nerves in the spine.

Do you practice Maha Mudra? It has a very healing effect. You might even try doing it twice as many times as you have been taught at Kriya Yoga Initiation.

Practice healing affirmations, too, with firm faith and deep concentration, and always visualize yourself free of any difficulties. I especially recommend Paramhansa Yogananda’s book, Scientific Healing Affirmations.

Remember, your body changes constantly. Every few years all its cells are replaced. The only reason they keep falling into the same old patterns is that you have established those cellular patterns for them to fit into. If you will change your mental “picture,” the incoming cells will fit themselves to the new pattern. People will then exclaim what a miracle has been performed. No such thing! You will simply have put into operation a basic aspect of natural law as it applies to the human body.

Be free!

Blessings to you, and prayers for your good health.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From Letters to Truth Seekers, 1973 (Currently out of print).

Related reading: In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection by Swami Kriyananda. To order click here

You ask what my views are on drugs. In a nutshell I might say that I do not approve of them, but nor do I condemn them completely, for I have seen many people brought to the spiritual path as a result of them. Yet I don’t think it is drugs that have actually given those people anything concrete. What has been accomplished, rather, is that the drugs have released certain spiritual samskars, or impressions born of past spiritual actions, that were lying dormant within them, awaiting the opportunity to express themselves. Those impressions would have to come out sooner or later anyway. My claim that drugs release what was there already, instead of giving one anything new, is supported by the fact that some people, taking the same drugs, have had quite opposite and even terrifying experiences.

But I have noticed that when people take drugs not only once or twice, but continuously, the effect on their personality seems to be deleterious. One or two doses may at least make one aware that uncommon states of consciousness exist (though it seems foolish to me even then to offer one’s mind up as a guinea pig to dangerous experiments). But what I have observed is that, in time, a subtle form of egotism develops which is even more insidious than the competitive, worldly ego toward which drug users are so condescending.

The path to God—to Truth; call it what you will—is one of self-offering, not of self-indulgence. My Guru’s guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, said, “Many people forsake worldly attachments only to seek them again on a subtler level of miracles and astral phenomena.” It is not what God gives us in meditation in the form of visions and the like that determines our inner progress, but our increasing willingness to give all that we are to Him.

Drugs seem to inspire a sort of spiritual self-centeredness, an attachment to experiences, that is the very opposite of self-giving. Quite apart from the fact that the experiences themselves are certainly of a lower order (subconscious, mostly, not superconscious), the very human attitude that these drugs engender is one of indifference to the “realities” of other people. In this sense drugs, in the long run, actually reduce one’s sensitivity to reality as a whole, in spite of the claim that they make one more sensitive.

I suggest you bear in mind the words of Sister Gyanamata: “Remember, your religion is tested in the cold light of day.”

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From Letters to Truth Seekers, 1973 (Currently out of print)

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

You remarked that there can be nothing wrong in two people sharing. Surely you were right. But what of the kind of sharing that limits itself to two people, and does not expand freely to include all men? The beauty of human love is its power to expand the heart to include another human being in its sympathies. The weakness of human love is its exclusiveness of others outside this magic circle.

You have asked what my personal feelings were on the subject. Let me put it this way: There have been times when the thought of two people alone on a boat at sea suggested a kind of fulfillment. (This image from a beautiful book by Marie Corelli, The Life Everlasting.) But then I think, “Why this half-way station? If more than one person, then why not a joyous crowd of God-seekers? And if both people and God, why not God alone in meditation, and God everywhere in this world—not God trapped and limited in a single form?”

Love, to me, means consciousness reaching out to embrace the universe, not merely a human emotion that confines the heart to one or to a few human beings. The love that most inspires me is that which rushes outward in blissful self-forgetfulness to find Him, man’s only true Beloved, and to see Him alone reflected in the hearts of all. I do not want ever to say, “So much will I give of myself to God, and no more.” I know that even if I give myself wholly, it will not be enough—no, not nearly enough!

In this life I want to think not of my own personal pleasures. It is a life of joyous sacrifice for God.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From Letters to Truth Seekers, 1973 (Currently out of print).

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

Dear ___________:

The truth does seem to be that when we put our faith in people and in circumstances we are doomed to disappointment. There is only one who disappoints us never: God.

But if we act in the right way—not to please people, but to please Him—then it is true that all things begin to flow smoothly, and a world so full of a mixture of circumstances, pleasant and unpleasant tumbled and tangled together, suddenly is seen to be basically good and right.

Our own outlook is the most important thing to be improved. With a right attitude, even harsh-seeming treatment may appear full of hidden purpose, even kindness. To act kindly toward others with nothing but a view to buying their kindness in return would imply a selfish, mercantile attitude. The merit of kindness could never be proved in this way, for the initial act would have little in it of genuine feeling.

Rather, an attitude of true kindness will be its own greatest reward. In whatever way people respond, the kind person sees kindness somehow being reflected back to him from all sides. He is able to turn even curses into blessings, and hurts into an opportunity for inner growth.

But what I said remains true objectively also. You are looking at the short view. What we draw to us now is the result of many attitudes of the past. If people treat us harshly despite our present kindness to them, it is because the seeds of harshness have not been completely erased from our own subconsciousness. For the short view, you can certainly say that goodness begets more goodness in return than badness does. Then is it not reasonable to suppose that, if you perfect that goodness, those relatively desirable returns will improve proportionately?

Still, as I said, in the end only God can never disappoint us, for only God is real.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From Letters to Truth Seekers, 1973 (Currently out of print).

Growth: “Every growth in awareness is, in the last analysis, a growth in Self-awareness.”  Ananda Yoga for Higher Awareness by Swami Kriyananda,

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

January 8, 1976

Dear——:

Thank you for sending me the transcript of that “reading.” I appreciate your letting us know about this material. I must say, however, that Paramhansa Yogananda didn’t recommend going to mediums. In fact, he recommended definitely against it. It can too often, he said, be a real trap. I urge you not to get involved in such things. For while it is true that good things sometimes do come through such channels, that good is usually mixed up with a great deal that is not valid, and is not helpful at all. The question remains, how to tell the difference? The mere fact of being in the astral world doesn’t make souls omniscient!

As for the specific threat of destruction to Ananda, I can only say that I truly don’t expect such to happen. On the other hand, if it be God’s will, then there is nothing we can do to prevent it. We are doing our best to serve God as He wills. The rest is in His hands.

But to get some perspective on the matter, it is important to realize that, of the predictions made in this manner, the majority—the vast majority—have proven false. Someday, of course, the earthquakes may come, but even Edgar Cayce spoke only of changes to the coastline, not of the whole state being destroyed. Since California is, at this time, the most spiritual part of America it is difficult to imagine that the entire area will be wiped out.

God, truly, is our only protection in any case. It seems far better to trust in Him, and to try to follow His guidance, derived through meditation and prayer, rather than to get sidetracked in the questionable truths of astral beings who purportedly speak to us through mediums.

You seem to have a fairly good understanding of the limits of this kind of experience. I would repeat again, however, that Yogananda recommended that we not get involved in such matters.

My best wishes to you and your family.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From: In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection, Crystal Clarity Publishers. To order click here

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

Dear ——:

It is a mistake to think that you will ever find the perfect mate. Life, outwardly, cannot be other than a compromise between the ideal and reality. This is true in every walk of life, even in the ashrams of saints, for the world is limited, relative, and otherwise conditioned in countless ways.

Seek perfection, therefore, within yourself. The more you depend on outer circumstances to give you perfection, the more you will find disappointment. Remember, too, that your path to perfection depends not only on inner growth, but on the application of that inner growth to outer circumstances.

In other words, a relationship that seems lacking in personal fulfillment may be a great spiritual blessing for the opportunity it gives one to be a channel for divine love and service to help the other person. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Service and sacrifice, not outward fulfillment, are the essence of spiritual development.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

Excerpted from, In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection.

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

Dear ________,

Question:
How is yoga of particular importance (for everyone) in today’s electronic, stressful world?

Answer:
You’ve paired two things that needn’t of their own nature be paired. So here, in fact, there are two questions in one. The first is, “How is yoga of particular importance in today’s electronic world?”

The answer is that yoga makes us more aware of ourselves as bodies of energy, not merely of material substance. The more aware we become that we are energy, the greater control we have in our lives.

By increasing the flow of energy to the body, one can maintain good health, and overcome illness and other physical setbacks in record time. By increasing the flow of energy in one’s work, one can be more successful in everything one attempts, and can greatly shorten the time for achieving it. With great energy, indeed, one can do in a few minutes what others may require weeks or months to accomplish.

By increasing the flow of energy to other people, one can vastly increase and deepen the love and friendship between oneself and them, and also affect them for the good in their own lives. By increasing the flow of energy in one’s life, one finds abundant happiness, insight, and wisdom in guiding one’s affairs.

As for the question of stress, yoga helps one to become calmer, more centered in oneself (in a good way—that is to say, it produces the opposite of self-centeredness), it puts one more in control of oneself and one’s own life, and helps one to resolve problems with much greater ease.

Question:
Why do you think yoga is so intriguing to many Hollywood celebrities—that is, why do you think so many of them are getting interested in it?

Answer:
I think that living in a world of fiction helps to develop in those people who are more aware a sensitivity to alternate realities.

Of course, the physical aspects of yoga are attractive to people whose livelihood depends on their looking young and physically fit, which they can accomplish through Hatha Yoga.

But the inward, truer aspects of yoga are most attractive to those whose minds are open and are not enclosed in habit-created patterns of thought. Certainly the movie profession invites new ways of looking at things.

I hope this helps.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

From In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection, Crystal Clarity Publishers.

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

In this letter Swami Kriyananda responds to the question: What exactly do we mean by saying we have been given free will? If all actions are done by God, how are we free?

Dear ___________

I’ll be glad to try to answer your questions.

First, soul freedom is a reality, but it must be understood on a deeper level than that of the ego.

Freedom, to begin with, is true only of the soul. Limitation of all kinds is the meaning of bondage, and ego-consciousness is the greatest limitation of all, from which all others proceed. Ego makes us think we have a separate, individual reality.

As waves on the sea appear individual, yet have no lasting reality except as manifestations of that one great body of water, so we ourselves, in ego-consciousness, rise and fall, wavelike, on the ocean of God’s consciousness, success followed by failure, happiness followed by sorrow, fulfillment followed by frustration, ever subject to the contrasting states of duality. Our separateness from the ocean, however, and even from one another is a mere appearance. Man may be described as simply a bundle of self-definitions.

Paramhansa Yogananda described divine consciousness as “center everywhere, circumference nowhere.” Man’s limited existence is the “circumference” formed by his egoic self-definitions. When those limiting self-definitions are removed or dissolved, nothing remains to prevent his consciousness from merging into and becoming one with God. In that stage it is not that we lose all identity; rather, we expand our identity to infinity.

Being omniscient, it must be added that we retain the memory of having been, each one of us, a separate ego. In this way, Yogananda explained, nothing is lost in the Infinite—not even the ego. We can revive that memory of individual existence again, if ever the Divine wills that we return to earth to uplift and save other wandering souls.

Man cannot be free in ego-consciousness, except in the sense that his soul-consciousness within him can impel him to direct his energies and aspirations toward God, or toward maya. Everything man does in his egoic state is conditioned by his own past actions, and by the countless outside influences to which he is subject. For man is integrally a part of the great Web of Existence. Egoic individuality is an illusion.

Man has only this much freedom: his soul, being a part of God, is not separate from Infinity. Thus, all of us in our souls have the power either to turn toward God or to reject Him; to love Him, or to spurn Him. This, in essence, is our only true freedom. Since karma and worldly influences prevent him from expressing that freedom, it must be added that man is free also to the extent that he can free his mind from all habits and separative samskars.

In other words, if he is self-controlled he has greater freedom than someone who is completely bound by habits. Good qualities, which are the attributes of Sattwa guna, cannot in themselves bring release from ego. All qualities, however noble, being born of ego-consciousness, conceal the inner soul. The Gita tells us they hide it as smoke hides a fire: A little puff of wind, and the fire becomes fully visible.

Sattwa guna is like a thin veil covering soul-consciousness and concealing it. A little meditative effort is all that is needed in order to blow away the last delusions of egoic separateness.

The darkening qualities of Tamo guna, on the other hand, form a thick covering which conceals the soul within them as if in deep darkness. The Gita compares Tamo guna to an embryo in the womb: Time alone will enable the embryo to emerge into the clear light of day.

God does indeed do everything, but He also created delusion, and operates through the three gunas to bring about His cosmic magic show. We cannot operate through the ego without becoming intrinsic parts of the cosmic illusion. Hence, in our egos we are free only to the extent that we turn back, even with great effort, toward God. Only as we shed ego-consciousness can we reclaim our divine freedom, which means becoming one with God again.

I hope this answer proves helpful.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

Clarity Magazine articles can be printed in “text only” format, using your own computer.

Dear ——:

In any line of work one can’t expect constant wins. What one loses, however, if one reacts unhappily, is that people hesitate even to offer suggestions. In time, they begin seeking help elsewhere, even if they like your ideas better than someone else’s. After all, who wants to face a possible upset when one is only trying to get a job done?

Can’t you see that your distress over their reactions, and not your actual work, is what makes them so often skirt around you rather than work with you? Who wants to upset you? No one! Their natural reaction will be to avoid you, even for your sake.

My point here is that what we need to do in life is seek reactions that work for us, reactions that are useful. The only person who suffers when we allow negative thoughts to intrude is ourselves. And who wants to suffer?

The world is not out to get you. If, however, you keep feeling misjudged and unappreciated, people will leave you to yourself, for your peace of mind as much as for theirs. They’ll suffer in doing so, but who wants disharmony if he can avoid it? And you will suffer even more. Why? It’s all completely unnecessary!

When others don’t like some idea you come up with, don’t look on it as a failure. It’s your discouragement that is your failure—a spiritual failure. For you are on the spiritual path to grow spiritually! The first thing is to develop a right attitude. What you do in your work is of minor importance. What you do in your work on yourself is of major importance, and is the only thing God wants of you.

Be stronger in yourself. Absolutely refuse to feel sorry for yourself. The truth is, whatever attitude you put out will be a magnet that draws back to yourself situations that reflect your expectation. If the attitude is negative, the “echo” will be negative also. If it is positive, everything will turn positive for you. It is you who create your own universe!

Remember, finally, that people like working with others who like working with them. It’s all that simple! Try to learn this truth! It will be the cornerstone of anything you build of your own happiness and fulfillment.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

In all sincerity our first concern can only be for those whose suffering is right now. I cannot honestly spare my heart’s love for the people who perpetrated this suffering. Nor can I love them for the hatred and anger by which they define themselves. Yes, I love their souls, but I must leave their salvation to God. Within my own limited scope of feeling, my love must go primarily to those who are now suffering.

Surely, in an abstract sense I can love those enemies also, but they have invited God’s retribution for their crime. They have lessons to learn if they are ever to become receptive to God’s grace. While I’ve no desire to see them suffer, I leave the state of their souls to God; my present energy is for those whom they have made to suffer. The important thing is not to be drawn into reflecting others’ negative emotions.

What, then, do I pray for? I pray for myself, that I become a clear channel for God’s grace. My prayer goes to my fellow human beings, too, that as many be strengthened as I can reach in the divine light.

An ocean consists of countless little drops of water. If each of us, like those drops, offers himself up to God, praying, “Lord, use me as You will. Give me the strength to channel Your kindness and love to all—impersonally, not with personal pride or desire”—I think we will have done the most we can possibly do.

Thus only may we help most greatly our poor, belabored earth, beset as it is by hatred and ignorance. If we understand that, by loving, it is God’s love we express, He will surely flow through any barrier we erect of ego and self-interest, and uplift significantly the consciousness of the world.

One raindrop adds but a little moisture to the earth. Once, however, it unites with enough other raindrops, they become a mighty torrent of water flowing down to the sea. So also we, by uniting our energy and directing it toward the ocean of divine consciousness, can participate in the great drama that is being waged between the forces of light and of darkness.

In Master’s love,

Swami Kriyananda

From In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection, Crystal Clarity Publishers.

Dear_____

In my relationship with Master, I have found that I’m the most in tune with him when I don’t have the thought of what I’m getting from him, but dwell rather in the thought of what I’m giving to him. When with my whole energy I give him joy, appreciation, openness, service—in short, my very self—I receive from him the greatest energy and blessings.

It has nothing to do with pleasing his ego. Nor—obviously!—does he need my joy. It is rather that that open feeling in myself puts me onto that wavelength on which he himself functions, because his own energy is always directed toward giving, not taking.

If I can lift myself at least somewhat up to that giving level, rather than thinking only of gaining for myself, I am able to receive much more. On a lower, taking level I have found that his energy only trickles down slowly, as it were; I haven’t exposed myself to its full flow.

Perhaps the disciple also helps the guru, by giving him energy for the fulfillment of his mission. At any rate, the disciple certainly gains from what he gives to the guru. Even now, long after Master’s earthly life, I find that my highest attunement comes from thinking not in terms of my work, but rather of, “How can I do your work?”

But whenever I’ve allowed thoughts like these to come in: “What do I want?” or, “How am I going to grow?” or “What am I going to get out of it, because, after all, you’re there already, whereas I’m the one who needs to advance spiritually?”—I’ve always sunk to a lower level, and there has been no blissful inner flow. In self-giving, especially to Master, I have always gained the most, inwardly.

We must try, you see, but our self-effort must be directed primarily toward deepening our attunement with the guru—not as a person, but as a channel for the Infinite Lord.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Excerpted from In Divine Friendship, Letters of Counsel and Reflection, Crystal Clarity.

You asked for my suggestions on how you should respond to _____’s letter.

You might write a brief note thanking him for the friendship and concern that prompted him to write as he did. Where you yourself are concerned, say that these are things you sincerely want to work on in yourself: that it is not easy to change oneself, but that we are all living here primarily for that very purpose.

On a more general note, you might say that this is one of the wonderful advantages of living in a spiritual community: that we get repeated opportunities to see ourselves through others’ supportive but sincere eyes.  This is divine friendship, and it is something one rarely encounters in the world, where everyone seems to want only to justify his own actions and character.

Where _____ himself is concerned, yes, the truth often IS spoken in anger, but as Yogananda said, anger leaves a residue of disharmonious vibrations which in themselves are deleterious.

Citing Yogananda’s admonition, add that you hope his anger leaves him, as you yourself feel only friendship and gratitude toward him. Tell him that you hope also that his outburst will serve as a reminder in his work with others not to lose his temper with them, but to speak always with their welfare, as well as that of Ananda, in mind.

Your letter should smooth things between the two of you and preserve _____’s good will and friendship.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear ——:

I am so sorry. At the same time, you will find this, too, a great blessing, if you take it in the right way. Master does want you to resist this disease with faith and with will. At the same time, he wants you to offer the fruits of even this battle to God.

Don’t think of your body as your own. It is God’s body, from which at least the consciousness of illness must be banished. Through this sincere, courageous effort, think always of becoming a jivan mukta in this life: freed from all identity with body, personality, and ego: with anything, in other words, that defines you as a separate, human entity rather than solely as a manifestation of God.

I have felt more spiritual maturity growing in you, dearest ——. Be strong in Him. Remember, giving your ego to God doesn’t mean becoming a non-entity! What happens is that, the more you not only step out of the way mentally but offer your every thought, feeling, and action to God, the more you feel increasingly blessed by an ever-stronger flow of His love, joy, and inspiration pouring through you.

As Jesus said, you must lose your life in God to find true life; lose yourself to find your true Self. The supreme incentive for doing so is that, in clinging to the little self, one clings to limitation, suffering, and misery.

In Master’s love,

Swami Kriyananda

Love
What is true self-worth?
June 18, 1991

Dear ——:

To define your sense of dignity and self-worth in any terms that affirm your ego is in itself, for a devotee, at least, a delusion. Let me put it this way: I’m a composer. Some people think I’m a good one. To the extent that I think I may be good, I might make this a basis for some sense of self-worth. If I did, however, I’d be like any other worldly person. My compositions would be ego-accomplishments. NO! I am not a composer! I’m a devotee. I’ve written music as part of my service to God.

A drama director visited Ananda recently, and told me, “You are the first playwright I’ve actually had a chance to talk with.” I replied, “I’m not a playwright! I’m just someone who has written one or two plays.” Do you see? The more we define ourselves in terms of external accomplishments, the more we limit ourselves!

Dear ——, rest your sense of self-worth on realities that are intrinsically worthwhile—above all, on soul-qualities, and on your deepest reality as a child of God. What Ananda is about is loving God, and serving Him. Our hopes should rest on absorption in Him, and on ultimate freedom from our mere humanity.

Joy to you!

Advice and Encouragement
Is abortion ever appropriate?
Late 1980s

Dear ——:

The taking of life is a broader issue than just the legal one. Human law may recognize a higher law, but it cannot alter it. The only mitigating factor I can think of in taking an embryo’s life is if the mother’s life is seriously threatened.

In the case you’ve described, I would think abortion was indeed possible within the divine law. But even so, it would be a difficult matter to decide.

This is, I realize, a very sensitive social issue nowadays. I am hesitant to plunge into it with seeming callousness, particularly where I myself am not at all affected. Nevertheless, conscience bids me speak truthfully when I am asked. The soul is already present in the forming foetus, and is there, Master said, from the moment of conception. Taking the life of a growing creature cannot, except in extreme circumstances—to which I would be inclined to include rape—be condoned, either morally or spiritually.

For those who have already had abortions, it is important not to feel a weight of guilt. There was surely not a will to kill involved, and that, certainly, is the main thing. We make many mistakes in life. Our duty is to love all the more deeply. The sins—which are only errors of judgment—of countless incarnations will be washed away forever by God’s grace, when we find Him.

In divine friendship,

Marriage & Renunciation
Going beyond human love
January 16, 2003

Dear ——:

God doesn’t treat those who love Him in quite the same soft way He treats others—more softly than many of them realize! For instance, the devotee may wonder, “Why cannot I, too, have the human love others seem to have?” But God may take that normal fulfillment away from devotees, while giving it to others. Why? Because He wants them to go deeper: to love Him alone.

Turn more to Him, ——. Don’t ask for anything else. He will give you what you need, and when you need it.

Love,

Strong Medicine
Be divine warriors!
June 30, 2001

Dear ——:

I’m writing now especially to ask all of you who are involved in [this project]: Please, don’t allow yourselves to channel negative energies.

These tests aren’t personal. I think they are part of an attempt to do harm on the part of conscious, negative energies. Please do your extra best to be loving and harmonious toward one another: positive and loving. I know that is how you all feel in your hearts. Give extra emphasis to that divine feeling now. Radiate love and harmony. And don’t blame yourselves, nor anyone else, for anything no matter what the seeming reason.

The pains a few of you are undergoing are a passing thing. Love God. And love God in one another. The energy you radiate outward to others will determine what you become in yourself.

Negativity cannot win, in the end. Be divine warriors! Work, however, in harmony and love: together in a spirit of love. This is the only way. Don’t let personal difficulties block your broader vision.

With much love in Master,

Ananda, Past, Present, Future
On not compromising values for money
February 6, 2001

Dear ——:

Thank you for sending me the proposal.

I want to say that I don’t want my name, or for that matter, Ananda’s name associated with worldly attitudes. Once we feel we must compromise who we are in order to make money, we have already started down the road that certain other spiritual organizations have taken: not necessarily a bad road, but a betrayal of the ideals Master brought to the world.

For myself, I am in the happy position of being able to say that every thing I’ve ever written is sincere. Never mind what others in the industry are doing. Let’s always be ourselves.

In divine friendship,

Leadership
How to delegate authority
June 27, 1998

Dear ——:

Here is a thought you might find helpful, one that you could share also with others. In delegating authority, don’t just turn a job over to others, as if “washing your hands” of it. Expand your consciousness, rather, to include them and what they are doing in that job. Make them and what they do a part of your own reality.

This doesn’t mean overseeing everything they do too meticulously. It doesn’t mean breathing down their necks, as it were. Simply offer them your spirit, as if to sustain them. Those who tune in to you will, in this way, do things better, will accomplish more, and will unite to create a harmonious whole in the overall work instead of becoming separate entities, each going his own direction.

Love and Joy!

World Conditions
On responding to the terrorist attacks
September 19, 2001

Dear _______,

This issue wasn’t easy for me to address, for of course we should look for the cause, but how much are people actually able to introspect? I got a letter from _______ saying we should “love, love, love” the terrorists. Beautiful, but do you suppose anyone really does — including ______? I don’t think so!

The important thing is to be real, not hypocritical. The truth is that if anyone gave that much energy to the evildoers he would not only be depriving the sufferers but also tuning in to the evil — no wholesome exercise for anyone who is seeking truth and God! I get impatient with such lack of genuine sincerity.

That was a good article from the Dalai Lama. He told the truth. I’d have liked, however, for him to be more specific. I noted he fell into the trap of rhetoric and repetition that I had to try repeatedly to avoid. (And even so I find, on re-reading my article, that I’ve repeated myself unnecessarily.) Still, his statement is the clearest, wisest, and most genuine of those I’ve seen on this event so far.

Love,

Suffering and Death
Engage your mind in work
September 20, 1999

Dear ——:

I want very deeply to see you come out of all mental anxiety. And I’m concerned about your being alone in Hawaii because I’ve seen you before, and see you now, tending, when you’re off “vacationing,” to go into a downward spiral spin of thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts. One can’t come to a resolution of one’s problems in that way. Rather, they only increase in size, in number, and in the power they have over us.

Again and again I’ve seen in my own life that the best thing is simply to redirect my thoughts and energy, and to stop thinking about problems that don’t seem to have a clear solution. They’ll disappear, if you don’t give them energy.

Please engage your mind in work, so it doesn’t spin on while you think of all the things you must “process.” The best way to process things, I’ve found, is to drown one’s self in work for God, and in loving Him. That’s what our lives are all about. Nothing else really matters.

In Master’s love,

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
Wealth means much more than money
2003

Dear ——:

I was touched by your letter. Thank you for taking the trouble to write it.

Wealth means much more than money: It means abundance, which in turn means joy, love, and fulfillment on all levels. It is good also, therefore, to realize that a person can be wealthy even if he has little material abundance.

And I’d like to add, finally, something I’ve learned in life: When I don’t seek primarily for myself, but seek to please God and to serve Him in others, I am always provided for.

I also believe in the rule, “Live comfortably within your means.” For I’ve seen many people who somehow seem never to “get it together.” No matter how much they earn, they are always in debt. A solid guideline to happiness is not to have too many desires.

I wish you every good.

Sincerely yours,

* Excerpts from the new book by Swami Kriyananda

Resources: In Divine Friendship
Letters of Counsel and Reflection

Thank you for your letter. First, let me tell you that I am praying deeply for you that you see this situation clearly.

When one receives visions and voices, such as you have experienced, it becomes very difficult to distinguish how real they are. I cannot tell just how real your own experiences have been, but I do have certain doubts concerning them. My strong advice to you is that you not give them too much attention.

There are many subtle forces seeking to influence people. Some of those forces are evil. Some of them may be disembodied souls who are just confused, selfish, or petty. And sometimes a part of our own mind tries to fool us, by telling us what our ego would like to hear. Voices and visions do come on the spiritual path, but we shouldn’t think of them as goals in themselves. Nor should we pursue them too seriously. In any case, try to be absolutely sure of their divine origin.

It is a lot more helpful simply to develop our devotion and love for God, and our attunement with Him and with those who serve Him sincerely. When we seek devotion and humility, we are not tempted by the powers and spiritual attainments that are more fascinating to the ego than to the soul.

We can lose our spiritual powers very easily, if they mislead us into spiritual pride. A much more lasting and useful spiritual goal is to develop love and devotion for God, and the ability to manifest love every day in our lives. This is the way of the masters.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

The more deeply you enjoy the peace of meditation, the more satisfactory will be your progress.

Spiritual advancement can be judged also by how free you feel from the constant goading of egoic individuality: the hurts, whether large or small; the pains of life, both physical and mental; the desire for recognition, fame, or worldly power and importance; by how little you refer your painful or pleasant experiences back to yourself, thinking, “I am the one suffering or exulting.”

It can be judged by your inner freedom from desires of all kinds except the longing for God; by how free you feel from every test, including those of blame, opposition, and calumny on the one hand, or praise, popularity, and fame on the other; by your inner freedom from identification with success or failure, in the recognition that, in cosmic reality, all human experiences are essentially equal.

You are advancing when you see all others as allied to your own Self, and your sense of identity expands to include everything. All the above are signs that one is advancing spiritually.

The most important sign is this: that your love for God is growing ever deeper, and you feel selfless joy in the thought of Him—or, better still—in the actual perception of Him.

Self-realization comes not as a result of merit—which is to say, of good karma—but by the grace—the kripa—of God. God, my Guru used to say, has disappointed many saints who thought in terms of their own personal gain, instead of surrendering themselves completely to His will.

In the last analysis, no one can know when God will come. God is no merchant, to be bought with good works. The less we focus on ourselves, and lose ourselves, instead, in the thought of Him, the more we find that we have Him already, and that we have had Him always!

I hope these answers prove helpful.
In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

I’m not sure I can answer your questions satisfactorily, though I will try. There is on the spiritual path a whole world to be gone through before reaching superconsciousness. I mean the world of  the subconscious.

It is possible to go straight through it to the superconscious level, but many people see “visions” and experience a great variety of phenomena that are imaginary rather than real, and much spiritual literature is devoted to helping people to learn how to tell the difference.

For example, a person will see Jesus Christ in meditation: How is he to know whether Jesus has actually come to him, or whether he only imagined the visit? The imagination can be very keen.

In my book, The Path, you may recall the story of the man who told Paramhansa Yogananda that he experienced cosmic consciousness, but Yogananda proved to him that it was only his highly developed powers of visualization that led him to think so.

How can one tell the difference? I won’t go into this subject in depth here—it’s involved—but the most important point of all is the effect it has. One who has really seen Jesus Christ in meditation will be changed by the experience, and changed much more dramatically than he would be by the slight changes that can be effected by the imagination alone.

I do not believe that superconscious experiences can be induced by hypnotic suggestion. Superconscious realities exist on a higher level; they act upon the conscious and subconscious; they are not acted upon by these lower states.

This is not to say that imagined experiences are wrong or harmful. Yogananda was not in favor of hypnosis, but I am sure he would not have objected to getting someone to visualize the spiritual eye, etc. Such visualization can help to awaken the soul’s memory of the deeper reality. Nonetheless, the visualization should not be confused with that reality.

Yes, there are similarities between hypnosis and yogic trance, as in fact there are similarities between sleep or drunkenness and samadhi. But the seeker is wise to accept the warnings of the masters that these similarities are superficial, and ought not to be explored by one who truly wants to awaken from the sleep of delusion.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _______,

I am not in the game of comparing saints. I believe Yogananda was as great a master as any, but the important thing to me is that he is my Master. This is quite sufficient for me.

Please ask yourself, “What is this spiritual search I’m on all about?” Certainly, it isn’t some spiritual world series to determine which team is the best! No true master is, or can ever be, greater than any other. Their relative greatness can be judged only in a worldly sense, according to the outer roles they play.

I once met a great master in India who, so Yogananda had told me, was fully liberated; yet his sainthood was unknown even in his own village. He had almost no disciples. I said to him, “You have so much to give. Why don’t you have more following you?” His reply was, “God has done what He wants to with this body.”

The modern mind—especially the modern American mind—thinks that bigger is better. Why should this be so? There is no rivalry in God. Everything, in Him, is one. The differences are superficial.

If you are really seeking God, then don’t worry about who is a “poorna avatar,” or who is even an avatar. Many saints who are far less than avatars are perfectly competent to take you to God, and that is what the spiritual path is all about.

I myself consider Yogananda to be the avatar of this age, because I see that his life, mission, and teachings address so many of humanity’s actual needs at this time. But my devotion to him has nothing to do with this belief. I am perfectly willing that someone else fill that role, if this be God’s will.

I am content, also, if my understanding of his role should happen to be exaggerated.  What does it really matter? It would mean that I haven’t fully understood his mission, but it would not mean I have overestimated his divine greatness. Nor would it mean that he couldn’t give me what I came to him to receive: Self-realization.

Outward missions are of secondary importance in the spiritual search. Whatever plan God has for this world is His business. The important thing, for all of us, is to come closer to Him.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

I’m sorry I’ve been unable to stop by to see you in person. This body can no longer get around as I wish it could.

I understand that the time for your passing may be very near. I wanted you to know that though I’m not with you in body, I’m very much there by your side in spirit, and in consciousness.

Don’t be afraid of what’s to come. As you’ll soon see for yourself, death is nothing to fear. Illness has its challenges (as well you know). At the moment of death itself, though, there’s no pain at all. Rather, what you’ll experience is a great release from all the pain and worries you’ve been dragging along.

These next days are a wonderful opportunity for you. Enjoy them! Leave those burdens behind you: Relax away from all of them. Absorb yourself in thoughts of the freedom and light that will soon be yours. You’re very blessed to have lived the life you did. Those who have meditated and lived for God go to higher, beautiful realms when they depart this earth.

I know that many friends have been coming to be with you. There will be many more angels waiting to receive you and bless you on the other side. We’re a spiritual family who’ve been doing this together for many lifetimes!

I’m praying for you, sending you my love, my blessings, my best wishes, and my support in the new adventure that’s soon to begin for you. I pray especially for your realization in God. Please pray for us, too. We’ll miss you. But we’ll also be together again soon.

God bless you.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear ______________,

Please bear in mind that these teachings of the masters are practical on all levels of human existence. What I said was based on things Paramhansa Yogananda spoke about. He often said that spiritual truths must be made to apply on all three levels—physical, mental, and spiritual—and he was concerned, therefore, with mundane issues as well as with vedantic truths.

I tried to say to you when you visited here a few months ago that the real issues are not between communism and capitalism, but between rigid and total materialism and the higher view, increasingly being justified by modern science, that behind matter itself lies a spiritual reality.

If money were truly the God of this nation, as you suggest, it might well behoove us, as spiritual aspirants, to leave America and reside elsewhere. But while one encounters a mixture of values everywhere, I have, at the same time, found much more spiritual hunger in America than in any other country, with the possible exception of India.

I might add, also, that your battle is not with me. It is with old ideas in your own mind. Long ago you bought the idea that the communist system offered freedom and equality for all, and that aberrations of the system were the fault of individuals. I can’t believe that you thought I was condemning the Russian people. Obviously, there are good and bad people everywhere. It would be naïve, however, to claim that there cannot be repressive systems. Repression is the evil.

I believe, and Paramhansa Yogananda often said, that the system in Russia is evil, because repressive. If you disagree, never mind. We are of one mind on the much more important issue, which is that spirituality, not matter worship, is the ultimate solution to human problems.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

I’m sorry to hear about your discouragement. It’s the negative side of humility to feel inadequate, to doubt one’s abilities. You have much humility, and the humbler we are, the better God can work through us.

It’s right and true to recognize one’s own fallibility—true strength and guidance come only from God. Only egotists glory in their own cleverness and ability and, in the process, they shut God out and fail in the end.

But there’s another side to this, too. To feel inadequate is one thing, but to feel badly about it or to take too personally other people’s criticisms is possible only because, despite your humility, there is some ego involvement left. Otherwise you would feel joy in your nothingness and in God’s “everythingness.”

The whole secret lies in simply accepting that nothing in this universe, least of all ourselves and our personalities, is really ours. The less attached we are to our problems, the less they exist. And the way to become less attached is by meditation, prayer, and selfless service, with no desire for the results of our own actions.

Don’t identify with your little failings. Do your best to see God as the Doer, and to realize that it is His power that you call into being when you serve Him in humility and faith. Whatever skills you have, feel that these are God’s way of manifesting through you. He will use you to whatever extent you let Him.

Above all, pray always that God’s will be done. Then leave the problem of success or failure in His hands.

When we have faith in God, everything turns out for the best, but we also have to bear the burden of our own karma. Our faith can mitigate this but not necessarily change it altogether.

My love and prayers are with you. Your aspiration is the Infinite, and your sincere devotion will surely lead you there.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

For most people “relationship” implies two separate entities seeking and exploring an underlying oneness that still needs to be affirmed. In superconsciousness, “relationship” is not something to seek or to be created, but something to be realized on ever-deeper levels.

The unity exists already. The relationship enjoyed in that unity, like a great saint delighting in the worship of God, is no longer a search but something to be explored and enjoyed through all eternity.

What is romantic love? Remember, the only real lover is God. There simply IS no love, outside of Him. It doesn’t exist. Thus, romantic love is a colossal delusion. It promises everything, and gives almost nothing, and the little it does give melts away like snowflakes on a hot day.

Human love is a kind of emotional release—fleeting and disappointing. It is fulfilling only when it is self-giving, not grasping; when it seeks fulfillment in the joy of another, not selfishly in one’s own self.

It is fulfilling when it is based primarily on soul-friendship, not on bodily, emotional, or intellectual demands. And it is true only when it is completely unconditional.

Can relationships and the issues that come up lead to higher clarity and knowledge of the Self? Yes, indeed! Intimate relationships, especially, force us to face ourselves. Instead of blaming anyone else, we should think, “What does this inter-personal problem tell me about how I can change and improve myself?

As aids to knowledge of the Self, relationships serve when they teach us to stop thinking of ourselves and to realize that all relationships are reminders of that One Self of which all of us are inextricably a part.

The danger of relationships, spiritually speaking, is that they hold present experiences up so close that we are tempted to confuse them with reality. One of the main benefits of relationships, spiritually speaking, is that the more we can learn to maintain our hearts’ equanimity in the face of every test (and relationship tests are among the greatest that people experience), the more we can remain, as Paramhansa Yogananda often put it, “unshaken amid the crash of breaking worlds.”

Remember, the more we allow ourselves to be elated by joyful emotions, the more we are bound to attract, and to be susceptible to, the tragic emotions. In any relationship, fulfillment will come not in momentary “highs,” but only in calm giving from one’s inner Self to all.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Thank you for your sweet touching letter. It is good to have a heart soft enough to feel the sufferings of others. But now ask yourself: Does God suffer? His nature is pure bliss. Is He then callous and unfeeling towards human suffering? Is He perhaps unaware that people suffer?

Don’t you see? Bliss is the answer to suffering, not merely something that we feel when suffering has been temporarily forgotten. It is not by jumping into the water and drowning with the drowning man that we help him, but by standing on dry ground and rescuing him. (Or by swimming, if we are strong enough, but certainly not by voluntarily drowning, too.)

Suffering is a result of delusion, not of outward circumstances. There have been people in the darkest dungeons (Benvenuto Cellini was a good example), and people suffering from the worst diseases (consider Ramakrishna, St. Teresa, and countless others) who have known only joy.

There have been people living in palaces, surrounded by wealth, fame, and all the goods of this world, whose suffering was constant because in their minds they had no peace, were selfish, and did not care for others.

Joy and suffering depend entirely on attitudes of the mind. The poorest beggar has found bliss when his attitude was right. The richest king has found only misery when his attitude was wrong.

Cellini actually prayed for the grace to be in a dungeon again, so much joy did he find there, because his mind was on God. And he was a worldly man, not a saint. People also found God in concentration camps.

So the more we feel of people’s suffering, the more we should give them, or long to give them, the healing touch of joy, and not only join them in their suffering. This is true Christlike compassion.

When we ourselves know suffering, it is because of wrong actions of the past that have created these thoughts in our minds. We strengthen those karmas when we give into them.

Dear friend, try to live more in your Self, and with others who have joy in themselves. Meditate more. And thank God for the blessing of loving Him, and even for the blessing of every test He sends you. Truly, it is all His grace.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

The best way to find out whether this is your path is to try it and see. Guidance rarely comes to us when we sit back and wait for it. So long as you take positive steps, God will guide you toward further steps to take. But if you wait for guidance to present itself to you, it may never come.

The secret of attracting guidance is to raise one’s level of energy. By moving forward in the best way we know, we generate a flow of energy that can draw God’s guidance to us. This is true even when our initial understanding isn’t as clear as we’d like. So long as we use common sense, and keep an attitude of openness, our understanding will grow over time.

You wrote of feeling the need to make a spiritual commitment. You are blessed to feel this way. If you are feeling inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings, why not commit yourself to them provisionally? Yogananda promised that any one not his disciple, who came to him sincerely seeking his own true path, would be led to it.

We must all seek God inside us, in meditation. But it is a mistake to suppose that we can find Him on our own. It is His way to come to us through human instruments, through divinely awakened masters and their disciples.

Yogananda’s vibration is very much alive here at Ananda. Since you’ve already felt to visit us, and to write to me, it seems natural that you try deepening your connection here. If you feel inspired to go to other of Yogananda’s disciples instead, that’s fine, of course. But don’t try to do it on your own. The spiritual path is just too challenging for that!

May God and the masters bless you with clarity and joy in your search.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Everything I read about the life and teachings of Jesus shows him to have been a complete sannyasi, and to have taught the way of Sannyas.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God should not be sought “here” or “there,” for the kingdom of God is within.  Take no heed for tomorrow, he said, for God knows your needs.

Even his teaching to love one’s neighbor as oneself is linked to the first commandment—to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” he said, and all things else shall be added unto you.

Jesus shows infinite love and compassion, but not approval for worldliness, even of the type you describe. Rather, he said, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

As I read the Bible, Jesus was looking for souls who were pure and wanted God.  His ministry was not one of going out among the masses as himself a man of the masses.

Last night I saw a beautiful and inspiring movie, “A Man Called Peter,” about the life of the minister, Peter Marshall. It is well worth seeing.

Still, that doesn’t mean I went along with everything Marshall said.  For example, he described Jesus in one sermon as very much a man of the people, with his big carpenter’s hands and his “fellowshipping”—a man, in short, rather like himself.

I see nothing in the Bible to support such a view of Jesus.  Nor do I believe that such a man would have had the magnetism to launch a new religion. Jesus was a man of God, trying to draw as many as had “ears to hear” to the divine quest.  He converted Mary Magdalene because she was ready in her soul.

He forgave the woman taken in adultery, but he didn’t condone the adultery.  What Jesus was teaching in that story is that we should not judge one another.

My goal is to express the essential truth as I see it, and above all to help people to see something that your letter suggests you don’t agree with— the crystal-clear fact that truth is one and universal, and that the fundamental life view of all scriptures cannot be in conflict, else there is no real truth.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

You speak of the “‘tension’ between elements in Christian spirituality and elements in Eastern spirituality.” I read something the other day that struck me as particularly useful for people experiencing stress in their lives. In paraphrase, what the writer said was, “Stress is a perception of reality.”

I would say the same thing of your use of the word “tension.” There is no tension between the teachings of Jesus and of Krishna, or of any of the great masters. The tension arises in our efforts to understand their teachings.

The Hindu teachings have a reputation for being world-rejecting. And, in fact, there are teachers in India who have emphasized this attitude. The Bhagavad Gita, however, which is the Scripture we follow, states at a certain point, “By works alone, Janaka and others of the ancients attained Me.”

The Eastern teaching that all is a dream must be paired with the understanding that it is God’s dream, and therefore inherently right and just. It is we who, by our ignorance, make it an ugly dream. Yogananda emphasized matter being a dream, but we don’t see him refusing to take responsibility for his role in the dream. He did more work than ten, or a hundred, other men.

You say that creation is “good, good, good,” but you can’t mean “good” as we human beings understand the word. Is it “good” that there is suffering everywhere?

Creation is good in that it carries out God’s design, which affords man the opportunity to evolve to the point where he discovers the long-hidden secret of existence. It is man’s end that is wonderful, not his ignorant fumbling as he voyages.

I do not accept that any truth can be a uniquely “Biblical view.” Truth is truth.  Great masters in all religions have realized it, regardless of any inherited religious tradition.

There are many ways of presenting the truth. We’d only get confused if we tried to follow, or even to justify, them all. Yogananda’s is the way God wanted the truth presented for this age, and for us, his disciples. I never challenge him with the objection that other masters seem to have presented it differently.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. I am pleased to hear how these experiences have reaffirmed your faith in God and Christ. I try to serve this same Christ and I hope that this work of Ananda is helping others’ faith be deepened also. I pray that I may be ever open to His guidance.

Without in any way detracting from the validity of your teacher’s experience of Christ, I would say it often happens that when one gets a glimpse of the Divine, he assumes it is the glimpse, and that other revelations are wrong. This is a sign of spiritual immaturity, for, as I wrote in a song of mine called What Is Love?, “not a church binds Him as its own, not a creed makes Him fully known; foolish we if we limit him, every atom is His throne.”

It was not your teacher’s destiny to find what he was seeking in his own country. This does not mean that others have not found it. Each one must follow his own path. But the goal is infinity itself.

If Yogananda was influenced by a deceptive spirit, then, applying the test Jesus himself gave us, we would have to say that the results of that deception must have been demonstrated in Yogananda’s life. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

The fruits of the divine life are selfless love, humility, and all divine qualities. These Yogananda manifested in his life to a greater degree than I have seen in anyone else. I do not want to enter a controversy on this point, but only to help you keep your mind open, for a narrow mind cannot accommodate the vastness of divine love. Yet I am happy for you that you have found a path that satisfies you and inspires you to deeper faith.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

I hope you have a wonderful trip. You will find the poverty, dirt, and inefficiency hard to take. It will drive you up the wall to spend a half an hour to an hour in a bank just to cash a traveler’s check, to wait hours for a phone call to go through, to find people saying things just to please you, rather than to be accurate.

India has become very politically minded and has lost much of her spirituality—though temporarily, I am convinced. But if you can get down underneath all these distractions, and overlook the noise (bedlam is more like it), the crowds, and the confusion, you will find the age-old blessings still there.

India—the real India—is an ancient culture that has survived the disintegrating influences of time, but that has endured many scars in the process. The real India is a land of forest ashrams, simple folk living close to nature, the sound of bhajans sweetening the night.

That India has been disrupted by the turmoil and anguish of foreign conquest and domination, by the religious fanaticism of the Moslems, and by the even more corroding influence of cynicism in the English.

That India is almost hopelessly overcrowded, and unable, with its village attitude, to cope with the crowds. It is aware of its poverty and will have to go through a phase of materialism and of modernization, including urbanization, practical efficiency, and factories.

I think that the real spirit of India will burn more brightly in America, where many Hindu souls are being born—drawn to a country that has passed through the worst of its materialism without losing its innate love of nature and higher values. In an ashram like Ananda, the spirit of India flourishes.

And in time, I am sure that India will recover her balance, and return to the kind of simple living for which our age is geared. India will always be the guru of this planet, but her teaching is better received abroad these days than at home.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

How do you manage to equate Yogananda’s accounts of Babaji with your parents’ stories of Santa Claus? I assume your parents never claimed to have seen Santa Claus, or to have known anyone else to have seen him. Moreover, stories of Santa Claus are not told to children in order to “fool” them. Myths are often beneficial and, in their influence on people, are often truer than mere facts.

In any case, back to Babaji: The difference between him and Santa Claus is that all of our masters do claim to have seen him. Disciples I know personally claim that they have seen him. I myself have had experiences of him, though I have never yet been blessed to behold him in vision. The evidence is strong enough, surely, to inspire you to conduct your own tests in the matter, rather than announcing so boldly to others your unseasoned judgment that Babaji is a myth.

And what does it matter whether or not Babaji does cut his toenails? If he does, he does, and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. From some of the things one reads in Yogananda’s autobiography, Babaji’s body may be subtler than our normal physical bodies, though capable of grosser manifestation. Sri Yukteswar, for instance, failed to see him standing “behind the sunbeams.” But such details are, I think, not pertinent to the sincere devotee.

When I met Yogananda, I had many doubts that I determined to “put on a shelf” for the time being, since I was in no position to resolve them. In time, they were resolved indeed. The most important lesson I learned, however, was that doubt itself is a spiritual disease, and that the only cure for it is divine love.

I pray that you grow daily in devotion.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

I know you feel you are being honest in the bitterness of your appraisal of life. Still, you seem a reasonable man, and on that basis I would like to offer you these few thoughts. And I offer them also as one who has known suffering in life.

My faith, too, in God was severely shaken—not faith in His existence, nor even His love for others, but certainly in His love for me, a lack that seemed to me the more painful for the selectivity of its focus.

There was a thought that helped me at that time, one that I hope you won’t take amiss if I share it with you. For I, too, am a reasonable man, but during that trial I remembered the many times in my life when my ability to reason had been affected by my feelings—even to the extent of becoming totally clouded, when my feelings were distorted.

The logic on those occasions had seemed so transparent, so ineluctable, that I hadn’t imagined that it might be wrong. Yet, when the upset in my feelings subsided, the logic changed with them, giving me finally a calmer, more balanced perspective.

Looking back on those occasions, what I resolved to do during my time of severe testing was to suspend judgment for the time being, and wait for a time when I might view my experience without the intense aversion which, I knew, was affecting my reason. In fact, that time did come at last, though only after the passage of years. The marvelous thing was that, when it came, I was only grateful for what I had experienced.

I’m not going to ask you even to imagine gratitude for what you’re suffering, but I do ask you to suspend judgment for the time being. I might even put it to you this way: Why suffer twice? You are experiencing physical pain: Why add to it mental torture?

I’ve tried this simple technique many times since those dark days in my own life. Whenever things have gone wrong and I’ve been tempted to get upset about them, I’ve told myself, “This isn’t the time for me to pass judgment. For now, let me try to accept things as they are without trying to understand what they mean. If in fact they do have a meaning for me, perhaps it will come clear later on.”

So far, it always has come clear, in the end.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

Your letter touched me deeply, for of course, love is what everyone wants, and needs. I hope you will take this letter in the spirit in which I write it, which is with love and a sincere desire for your welfare.

Any time we suffer in life, our greatest need is to see what it is in ourselves that has attracted that suffering. For what we receive from others is, always, a reflection of what we first project outward, toward them.

You write me that you’ve always wanted love. Well, the way to draw love from others is to love them—not in return but first, and freely. It isn’t enough merely to love them secretly in the depths of one’s being. One must express that love outwardly, too, by serving them, and by giving to them. The greatest gift one should concentrate on giving them is happiness.

To develop that kind of magnetism that draws love from others, we must first love them unconditionally, even when they hurt us. For mind you, the law of life is very exact. When we give love, even if that love is misunderstood, it must return to us eventually a hundredfold, if not from those people, then through other channels. Our job, then, is to love, no matter how others treat us.

I have observed another law in life: the more we think in terms of our own needs and desires, the more pain we feel; but the more we forget ourselves in the thought of others’ needs, the greater the happiness we experience inside.

For as long as I have known you, your thoughts have shown themselves to be directed inward toward your own needs, not outward toward what you might give to others. I think it comes from a feeling of deep insecurity in yourself. You feel shy of expressing love to others, or generosity, or concern—for fear of being rejected.

The trouble is that insecurity is self-perpetuating. By withholding the expression of your heart’s natural love for others, you make them feel insecure in your presence—unsure of whether, behind the aura of aloofness that you project, you are not merely judging them unkindly.

The way out of the trap of emotional insecurity is to be impersonal in the love we give others. We must learn to love them not for themselves, individually, but because we love God, and God’s manifestation in them.

Once you succeed in changing yourself in these respects, even to a minor degree, you’ll find an amazing change in the way others treat you.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Thank you for your letter. I’m pleased with your sincerity, though unsure as to how far I can satisfy your desire for an explanation.

First of all, I certainly have no wish to replace Yogananda, or to be installed as the next guru in our line of gurus, or indeed to be considered a guru at all (since I’m not one). As Yogananda’s disciple, however, it is right that I express his teachings creatively and not merely parrot them. It is also natural that those who have come to Yogananda through me should turn also to what I have written, and not set that rigidly aside for Yogananda’s words alone.

It would be idle, however, to say that I am not the guide of those who come to Yogananda through me and Ananda. Rather, this fact needs to be affirmed. Those who want to go straight to Yogananda without a guide are welcome to do so, as indeed you are welcome to do. But if people come wanting my help and guidance in the matter of attunement with Yogananda and his ray, what point would be served by not accepting a responsibility which the guru himself gives to his disciples, and which Yogananda gave to me? Those people err who imagine their only responsibility to others is to introduce them to Yogananda.

You must decide what you want. I only want to be of help if help from me and Ananda is what you yourself desire.

I think that perhaps you subconsciously resist the very thought of accepting guidance. At least, please consider the possibility. You might even ask yourself: Would you follow Yogananda himself if he were living? Much may depend on your answer to this question, for guidance is important to spiritual growth.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

I have prayed and meditated on your letter, and shall do my best to answer it. Your desire for a romantic relationship seems to me the essence of what your soul longs for in its relationship with God. I’m not saying, don’t seek a wife, or that you should enter a monastery. But I am saying, seek a loving relationship above all with God—with the Divine Mother, if you will.

It seemed to me as I read your letter that there has been a certain dryness in your search; that it has been too intellectual. Swami Sri Yukteswar, the great saint of wisdom wrote in his book The Holy Science, that the first thing one must develop on the path is the heart’s love, and that one cannot move one step on the path without that love.

I think that is why you long for a romantic relationship. Your heart is actually longing for much more than that.

Don’t go too much by thought. It isn’t a saint’s thoughts that make him outstanding. It’s his perceptions. But all this will unfold as you develop your heart’s qualities more.

Another thing that will help you very much is satsang—good company. It would be a good thing to visit Ananda sometime.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _____________________

You’ll recall I wrote in The Path that when I was new at Mt. Washington I was talked into following the “grape cure.” The rationale given me was that once I’d purified my body I would find it easier to meditate. The “grape cure” would also, I was told, purify my consciousness.

It seemed to me a good idea. After all, anything to further my spiritual development. When Master [Paramhansa Yogananda] found out about it, however, he scolded me for what I was doing. A pure heart, he remarked scoffingly, is more important than a pure body. Emphasis on purifying the body, I’ve since found, too often takes people’s energy and attention from the real task God has placed before us: that of purifying our hearts.

Most of the professionals I’ve met in this field are sincere and also good. I’m sure they help many people. Their very emphasis on a physical approach to spirituality, however, is contrary to Master’s teachings.

People will always be fascinated with various kinds of diet and healing. Please understand that I’m not opposed to all such practices, and much good has come from some of them.

Let us remember above all, however, that Master has given us a wealth of material on healing, as on countless other subjects. As his spiritual children, let us depend more on his teachings, and less on the recommendations of others whose final legacy to devotees is often a loss of attunement with our spiritual path.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Paramhansa Yogananda did say what I quoted on the world wars. At the same time, I remember him saying that the Cold War was, in its own way, a third world war. So who knows? Maybe my interpretation was inaccurate. I did quote his words, however.

I’ve found that, in the matter of timing, the prophecies even of masters seem to be qualified in their accuracy. On the other hand, we’ve no way of knowing from what depth of intuitive perception they are speaking. From an absolute level, one assumes they are infallible.

There are other levels, however. I would think that, normally speaking, they are addressing directions of karmic flow more than the timing involved in the working out of the karmic law. Certainly there are also predictions that involve karma that can be corrected by other karmic acts.

The probability of war, for example, can be nullified if there is sufficient activity directed towards harmony and love. Selfless love, and strict adherence to the principles of dharma (the path of righteousness), can change the destinies of nations.

No prophecy should be accepted in a spirit of helpless acquiescence. It is in this spirit that we should consider Yogananda’s predictions.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear __________

I’m sure that those visions reported by St. Francis and Theresa Neumann were true. Just what were they saying, though?

Master once told us, “I see all of you as images of light. Everything—these trees, bushes, the grass you are standing on—all are made of that light. You have no idea how beautiful everything is!” He was describing a reality deeper than the physical one we could see. He wasn’t, though, saying that the material world we beheld didn’t exist: simply that it isn’t what it appears to be.

I can’t be certain of these things, but my best understanding is that the visions you mentioned are likely to have been similar in nature. Seen with inner vision, of course, Christ’s birth certainly did appear quite different from that of an ordinary person. It was that deeper reality that drew the wise men to the manger.

But this isn’t to say that the birth didn’t have a physical reality much the same as other births. The great ones make a point of acting out in their own lives most of the outward drama through which the rest of us have no choice but to pass. Like Christ on the cross, they could do otherwise, but they choose not to. It’s in condescending to live out these scenes that they make the example of their lives real and meaningful to us, and encourage us with the thought that, as they have overcome, so can we.

Master had a vision once in which the Divine Mother told him, “I have suckled thee through the breasts of many mothers. This time, She who suckled thee was I, Myself.” His mother, then, was no ordinary woman! And yet Master never suggested to us that his birth, viewed from the physical point of view, wasn’t in full accordance with natural law as God has established it.

I’ve heard that followers of a certain saint insisted vehemently that it would be sacrilegious to portray him in a movie in any way other than as a beam of light! It’s easier than you might think to fall into errors of this sort. Even the Gnostics, wise as they were, appear to have erred along these lines, in denying any physical reality to Christ’s suffering on the cross.

I hope that’s of some help, at least.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

Dear _________

It seems self-evident that different aspects of God fulfill different people. Consider the numerous manifestations of both male and female gods and goddesses in Hindu temples, each one representing certain combinations of divine qualities, enlivened by the stories that accompany each one.

In your case, it is better to think of Krishna, or Master, etc., and to concentrate on their lives as a means of inspiration until the magnetism of your positive devotion to the male aspect displaces all negative, rejecting confusions about Divine Mother. When you have become single-pointedly positive in your search to know God, you will automatically begin to see the female aspect of God in a clearer light, and realize that, far from denoting frailty, it expresses enormous strength in love and self-giving.

In my lessons I go into great detail about the spiritual basis of masculinity and femininity, and the nature of duality. We must become the best of both, integrating deep compassion with indomitable will power. But let it come at its own speed, and for now concentrate on deepening your devotion to the Father.

In divine friendship,

Swami Kriyananda

I was happy to hear from you, though sorry for the trials you have been undergoing. Please remember, that all trials are in the last analysis self-generated. God doesn’t will them on us. They come as a result of the misuse of our own will, whether recently or in the distant past. They can be banished by the right use of will. As Sri Yukteswar said, “Forget the past. The past lives of all men are dark with many shames. But everything in the future will improve if you make the right effort now.”

Don’t think in terms of doing one thing big enough to lift you out of your present state. Think rather in terms of taking one step at a time. Commit yourself to some positive act, however small, and carry that act through to completion. Finish anything you start.

When you make the right effort, then invoke God’s power to sustain you in that effort, you will find Him reinforcing you and giving you the strength gradually to win out over all obstacles. But you must make the right effort first. God cannot help you until you try your best first, yourself.

Make the attraction you feel to spiritual people and ideals your main focus in life—not in the sense of wishful thinking, but as your inspiration to do your best to become like that. Remember, the same God that sustains the saints lives in you, and loves you equally. He is our common Father.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Swami Kriyananda responds to someone having difficulty with negativity.

I’ve often found that understanding comes to me not so often through ideas, counsel, etc., as through being with the right kind of people, and doing the right kind of things. Mixing with people who are negative, or who see life too much in terms of problems, tends to influence all of us to see things in negative terms, and to view our problems as fixed realities on life’s path that we simply haven’t the strength to move.

On the other hand, when we mix with people who are basically positive, not because they live in a dream world, but because they meet life’s challenges with courage, it tends to make us strong in ourselves: to become “solution conscious” rather than “problem conscious.” The company of strong people influences us to discover ways to surmount our own problems.

Doing the right things means, among other things, finding work in which we can be creative, in which we can give of ourselves, in which we can be serviceful or useful to others. It involves trying to be helpful rather than trying to be helped. Perhaps this sounds trite, but I’ve found that it works.

How does one love? One simple—though I admit, not easy—answer is to think more of others, less of oneself. Another way is to do things for others, and not to wait for them to do things for you. Another is, give them what you want from them in return: love, encouragement, support.

In divine friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Dear ——:

Retreats generally are supposed to be times of self-examination. The important points to remember on retreat are these:

1. There is only one true goal in life: to please God; to come closer to Him; to love Him; to unite our souls to Him.

2. Nothing and no one truly belongs to us; we are His alone.

3. The way to know God is by inner stillness of heart.

4.  This stillness is attained by loving more fully, more calmly, more wholeheartedly, never by deadening the emotions or hardening our hearts against those who would harm us.

5. Joy is ours when we accept fully that we are God’s, that God’s nature is joy, and that His nature is our nature, in our souls.

I’ve always loved a statement of St. Jean Vianney’s: “If you knew how much God loves you, you would die for joy!”

In divine friendship,

Dear ——:

If we feel God’s love in someone’s love for us, then that is right and good. I remember once in India telling the woman saint, Anandamoyi Ma, how much I and others in America loved her. Her reply was, “There is no love except God’s love.”

The worldly ego might take her reply as a put-down, but I understood it as a reminder that we can truly love others only to the degree that we do so consciously as instruments of God’s love.

The solution to our worries is love, and more love—divine love, not egoic love (the ego’s love is rooted in likes and dislikes). As the Bible says, “Perfect love casteth out fear.”

“Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God.” When your love for Him is effortless and complete, you will have Him.

In divine friendship,

Dear ______________,

When I invited you to come and live at Ananda, my primary concern was to provide you with a happy environment, among devotees who loved you. Your sweet way of speaking had led me to believe that you were a woman of compassionate concern for the welfare of others.

I confess I was quite unprepared for the unsympathetic way you reacted to circumstances of which you disapproved. You quoted Master as your justification, saying what a stern disciplinarian he was. But Master himself said, “I scold only those who listen. I won’t scold those who don’t.” The hallmark of his nature was infinite patience, tolerance, and compassion. He never condemned those who were weak or misguided, any more than Christ did. Wherever Master saw the slightest hope, he encouraged people in the paths of righteousness. He never judged them.

He also said that the tendency to judge others attracts similar judgment to oneself. “Blessed are the merciful,” said Jesus Christ, “for they shall receive mercy.”

I encourage our members to live according to the highest spiritual principles, and to understand that there is no fulfillment possible outside of God. But I encourage, I lead; I never drive. In this way I help people, and that is what Master told me to do. Once, when I myself acted judgmentally toward someone whom I felt not to be acting according to true spiritual principles, Master scolded me saying, “If I were so uncompromising, few would be left here” (at Mt. Washington). It was by love, not judgment, that he won us and inspired us to change.

I don’t consider it my place to advise you, so I’m not going to try, though there is much that I might say. However, for your own spiritual welfare I beg you to consider whether it is not rather the divine way to bless than to condemn. We attract to ourselves what we look for in others. Is it not possible that the rejection and betrayal you have received from others in this life are rooted in deep-seated attitudes in yourself?

In divine friendship,

To the 1st & 2nd grade class
I am very proud of how well you read and speak, and how considerate you are. You are also good listeners, and this is an important skill to have. Listening carefully to someone shows that you care about them. Your friends will really appreciate this about you.

It’s wonderful to see that you are studying people that you consider heroes. By studying the lives of people who courageously face what’s wrong in the world, and make it right, you learn from their example and see that it’s possible to live this way.

To the 3rd & 4th grade
Thank you for showing me your weather books. I am surprised that you are learning these things in such an early grade. I don’t think I had those lessons in school until I was in the ninth grade! But now that we are further into Dwapara Yuga, it figures that you would be able to learn more at an earlier age than even my generation. The future is yours, and you will see many new things in your lifetime that earlier generations have only dreamed of.

I wanted to compliment you especially on your recorder playing. Your ability to focus and remain so centered while you were playing kept you all in tune with each other. You almost sounded like one instrument. It was a perfect performance. It shows you how important it is to do everything with concentration and focus from your center. When you do, everything you do will turn out better.

To the 5th & 6th grade
I remember most of you as little children, but you’re not little anymore. I am so happy to see you growing in confidence and becoming who you are. This, of course, will keep changing throughout your life, but I am very pleased with what I see in all of you right now.

You all have wonderful energy and if you keep it positive you will be able to achieve whatever you want in life. Lots of positive energy is the main ingredient of success in all parts of your life.

I was particularly impressed with your singing. It’s wonderful to hear you learning languages, and doing so well with it. It’s much easier now because your ear is attuned to sound. It becomes more difficult when you get older, so if you enjoy learning languages keep studying and use it. If you don’t use it you’ll forget quickly…. I encourage you to keep singing. It not only helps you learn other things but will bring you joy.

Letter to the 7th & 8th grade class
I enjoyed watching you in the play. You all did so well! Theater gives you the opportunity to step outside of your own image of yourself, and become someone else.

It shows us that we have the ability to choose who we will be. It can be as easy as acting for we become who we want to be by putting energy out in that particular direction. Soon it’s no longer acting but, in truth, our energy changes and we feel happy, or kind, or whatever it is we want to feel. Largely it’s a matter of choice. This is how some actors work. They sit down and change their energy until they are actually feeling what the character feels.

You interacted with the younger children with respect and sweetness. This is very nice. They look up to you because you are older. Thank you for setting a fine example for them.

I am glad that you do service projects, including your trip to help in Mexico. Not only do you get to feel the joy of helping others, but when you enter into other cultures you see that there are different realities than your own. This brings you greater maturity and a broader sense of your own potential.

As you continue to define who you are, know that God is in you. Let God be your friend in everything you do. Do your best with God and don’t worry about your mistakes. If you need to, learn from them, but they are not who you are.