Making Time for God (1)

by Brother Anilananda
Condensation of a talk given at the 1991 SRF Convocation, Los Angeles

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Time Really isn’t the Problem

"A Steadying Philosophy"

Bring a cosmic perspective to your commonplace decisions

View Problems as Agents of Spiritual Progress

Recognize the Necessity of Work

Spiritualize the Motive With Which You Work

Be a Divine Warrior in Daily Life

Practice the Presence of God

Persevere in Meditation, and Cultivate Continuous Aspiration for God

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Time Really isn’t the Problem

Our subject today is, “Making Time for God.” However, as I discovered, time really isn’t the problem—it doesn’t take time to feel the presence of God. He is with us always, wherever we are. All we have to do, as our Guru tells us, is

“to improve our knowing.”

The teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda present many practical methods for bringing an awareness of God into all the moments of our daily life. Meditation, of course, is the foundation. But generally that is only a relatively small portion of our day. Also, even dedicated meditators go through periods of feeling that God is distant. For me it is helpful to have a “checklist”—anytime we go through a period when our spiritual efforts seem stagnant, if we review this list we will very likely find a solution.

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"A Steadying Philosophy"

Our president, Sri Daya Mata, once told us: “A devotee came to me recently and said, ‘I’m just torn asunder today.’ The reason for that kind of reaction, or emotional response, is the lack of a steadying philosophy to hold on to.” Without a steadying philosophy, the storms of daily life can sometimes overwhelm us. We begin to drift, feeling a sense of distance, perhaps even an alienation from God. But if we bring our minds back to basic principles, we remain on the divine course, guided by that proper perspective and attitude. So the first three of our methods of maintaining an awareness of God involve what Daya Mataji has called “a steadying philosophy.”

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The first: Bring a cosmic perspective to your commonplace decisions.

This is a great help in preventing your spiritual focus from being diffused by the complexities and struggles of mundane life— view them all in terms of the universal cosmic setup. The entire universe is created according to a dual principle. There is a force of repulsion—Maya or Satan—by which creation is projected out from God; and a counterforce of attraction—the power of Divine Love—that ultimately draws everything back to Spirit again. And we are in the middle, with free will to choose with which force we will cooperate, in which direction we will move.

In every thought we think, in every action we take, we are faced with a decision. We can go along with the force that leads outward, toward maya-delusion, or we can choose to cooperate with the power that draws us toward God. Man must constantly choose between the patterns of delusion and the patterns of good. As our Guru reminds us, “Watch out for those patterns of Satan. Every time peace descends after a quarrel and you have made up your mind to be kind, the Satan in you says: ‘You’re being imposed upon; say something nasty in return.’... Side by side with Satan, God is calling to you. So the question is, to whom will you listen and give authority?”

Simply keeping in mind that we are continually subject to these two universal forces inherent in the basic structure of creation —and that in even our commonplace thoughts and actions we are always aligning ourselves with one or the other—is a tremendous help in bringing God into daily life and in making the right choices.

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View Problems as Agents of Spiritual Progress

The second point—still in the realm of a stabilizing philosophy— is this: View problems as agents of spiritual progress. When faced with difficulties, we tend to be discouraged. Instead, we should steady ourselves with a different outlook: Problems are actually a help to us.

Someone recently sent me an article about a Catholic saint who was beatified in 1609. She was born a midget, a hunchback, blind and lame. Her parents hoped she would die. When she was six, they locked her in a cell. They kept her there for fourteen years; then they took her to a distant city and abandoned her. One would have expected her to die a bitter, unhappy person. Instead, she led a life of such saintliness that she inspired many people.

Few of us have to go through experiences as drastic as that. But we all have our problems; and we too can grow from accepting them as agents of our spiritual progress. As Daya Mata has said: “We should welcome them instead of resisting, becoming upset and irritable, and thinking we are not making progress. Remember this: Often the devotee makes the greatest progress on the spiritual path...when he is being forced to exercise to the limit his spiritual muscles of inner strength, courage, and positive thinking.”

In fact, I remember one time in a satsanga at Mt. Washington, Daya Mataji said, “When we are having a lot of trouble, we should clap our hands together and say ‘How wonderful! I’m growing!’ ” Our souls are like diamonds with so many beautiful facets. We have all the divine qualities within ourselves; and the greater our problems, the more incentive we should have to reach inside and bring out another sparkle of our soul-potential. Greet problems with a positive spirit: “Now! What spiritual part of my being can I draw out and exercise to overcome this?” That’s a wonderful way of bringing God into our daily life.

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Recognize the Necessity of Work

This leads to the third point: Recognize that work is a necessary part of the spiritual path. When I came into the ashram, my hope was that I would be allowed to devote myself to meditation in my room all year, and maybe at Convocation I would come out of seclusion and greet a few devotees. Well, I soon discovered this was not what the Master had in mind!

Many who are seeking God tend to think that outer duties and activities detract from their spiritual life rather than contribute to it. As a result, instead of having God in their consciousness there is an underlying resistance and stress during those many hours of each day they are required to spend working. This is a wrong concept.

Guruji said regarding his own sadhana: “In the ashrams of my guru, Swami Sri Yukteswarji, we were given more work than we would do even for a family of our own.” And Daya Mataji has told us: “Looking back over my life in the ashrams of my Guru, I see that it has been one of intense activity since the day I entered Mt. Washington. And I can truthfully say that hard work has been a tremendous benefactor in helping to strengthen me and uplift my consciousness in God.... How grateful I am for those years of discipline and hard work Guruji gave me, because I see that hand-in-hand with my meditations these have molded my being as nothing else on earth could have done.”

So the third “steadying philosophy” is to realize that our work is an integral part of our search for God. Fixing this attitude in our minds removes a major barrier to God-awareness in our daily lives.

Next »

a

Time Really isn’t the Problem

"A Steadying Philosophy"

Bring a cosmic perspective to your commonplace decisions

View Problems as Agents of Spiritual Progress

Recognize the Necessity of Work

Spiritualize the Motive With Which You Work

Be a Divine Warrior in Daily Life

Practice the Presence of God

Persevere in Meditation, and Cultivate Continuous Aspiration for God

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