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Chaz
USA
57 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 28 2012 : 11:18:49 PM
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After reading Autobiography of a Yogi not long before coming to AYP, I had been inspired by the relationship Yogananda had with God. He gave off the impression that literally any desire he took into prayer could be answered by God. God was alive in him. This increased my bhakti by a hundred and ten percent and all I suddenly wanted was to know God in that way. I'm really thankful for that piece of work, and for Yogananda. Out of all the spiritual wisdom I've read and heard from many teachers, it is Paramahansa Yogananda's words that resonate with me the most.
Yogananda shares that to have a direct experience of communion with God one must pray with the utmost devotion and love to God. One must also possess a certain degree of inner silence to quiet the mind and remain concentrated (nothing new there) but also have a lot of will power. He states that we should be more demanding towards God when asking for his favor. To me this struck me as a little contradictory to the let go and let god approach we have here at AYP with Samyama. Here is a quote;
quote:
“I prefer the word ‘demand’ to ‘prayer,’ because the former is devoid of the primitive and medieval conception of a kingly tyrant God whom we, as beggars, have to supplicate and flatter. There is a great deal of beggary and ignorance in ordinary prayer...Few know how to pray and touch God with their prayers.”
“You have a divine right inherited from God to demand from Him; and He will respond to you because you are His own. If you constantly call to Him, He cannot escape the net of your devotion. If you pray until the ether churns with the light of your prayer, then you will find God.”
More of that can be found on the Yogananda Self Realization Fellowship website. http://www.yogananda-srf.org/prayer/Prayer.aspx
He mentions we should pray deeply and intimately, with all our heart. For me, I'm worried that'll mean more attachment and for prayer at AYP aren't we aiming at less emotional/mental attachment to the outcome. I was just wondering how all this fits into the samyama style of just picking up a word and letting it go into silence. Do we give all our devotion and love to that state of silence as God, or our ishta? Or is that state of being silent itself a form of devotion? How do we utilize will power in samyama, and yet let go at the same time? Or is Yogananda speaking of a different style of prayer all together? I know in one his books he wrote on prayer he mentions applying the method of samyama, but I have yet to read this work.
Anyways those are just a few questions. I'd love to hear some of your experiences.
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DoctorWho
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2012 : 5:31:34 PM
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Hi Chaz,
Yogananda's book was revelatory for me in many ways too.
Not sure what he meant by being more "demanding" with God...but the kind of bhakti he speaks of is intense love that is more akin to surrender than any kind of clinging or grasping for objects and people in the world. "Thy will (not mine) be done".
Fear not. If your bhakti is increased a hundred and ten percent then you've harnessed a super power source on your journey. |
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Bodhi Tree
USA
588 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2012 : 11:30:45 PM
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Man, some of these forum posts lately are just echoing like deep belows bouncing off a canyon wall. And this is one of them.
I've read a bunch of Yogananda, including the Autobiography, and his directive to DEMAND from God is something that's stuck with me for a while. And that same spirit is bubbling and resonating from AYP material too. If you scour through the lessons, you will find a few by Yogani that explore the usage of emotional energy being directed to God and/or your chosen ideal. Yogani encourages a similar intensity when it comes to beckoning God to come forth in our life. Make no mistake about it...you don't have to be humble, feeble, or timid with your devotion.
I often reference this "demand" directive of Yogananda when I speak to Christian friends/family that are heavily steeped in the sinner mentality. I remind them that if you beg like a poor sinner, you get crumbs from the table. If you demand God's love like a greedy and ravenous madman, then He/She will respond with results. Maybe not the exact results you envision, but results nonetheless. So, it makes no sense to be "humble" before the Master, who has the power to manifest infinite possibility.
But in terms of that attitude and the practice of samyama...something comes to mind. It's in reference to the film "Dune", in which the hero is a child-prodigy-warrior that is being trained in sword fighting. The child's master is teaching the boy how to penetrate the electromagnetic shields of enemies. And his main instruction is: "The slow blade penetrates the shield." You see, these electromagnetic force fields are impervious to blows when they come fast and with lots of interference. They sense the gross movement like motion detectors and easily block it. But when the strikes are very subtle and slow--once they reach the edge of field--then the dagger can penetrate the shield and kill.
So, I think samyama is like that. Before sitting and dropping into stillness, you can be charged with demanding, strong energy, but the technique itself is most successful when executed with finesse and grace.
Inner silence amplifies subtle thought. The slow blade penetrates the shield. That's the trick.
Thanks for this great post!  |
Edited by - Bodhi Tree on Jul 02 2012 5:03:20 PM |
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Chaz
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2012 : 3:47:50 PM
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Thank you DoctorWho. My bhakti is STILL increasing, and anytime I read his autobiography it just fires off. As I see it, I have a hunch that maybe by demand he means an unwillingness to be in the limited consciousness of the mind and a strong relentless determination to merge with the infinite. I now see That as my sole(soul) demand in life.
And thank you Bodhi for the great response. It put a lot in perspective for me.  |
Edited by - Chaz on Jul 02 2012 4:54:38 PM |
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