“If you want to know me,” Swamiji has said, “listen to my music.” That’s how I first “met” Swamiji — alone in my car singing one of his songs. I lived in Portland, Oregon, and had just started going to the Ananda center there. The choir director asked me to sing a solo for an upcoming performance of the Oratorio.
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As a philosophy major at Stanford University, and an atheist, it was a point of honor with me to be filled with questions no one could answer. It was an intellectual game I enjoyed playing. I was as left-brained as a person could be.
I always tended to be a rebel, getting into arguments with teachers, neighbors, and anyone in authority. Even at Ananda I decided, “No one will boss me but God!” For a while I got away with it. No one interfered with my way of doing things. Then Swamiji appointed a new director for our community in Italy.
It’s a great mistake to try to reduce stress and tension by avoiding challenges and difficulties. There are some people who never do anything, and they’re always relaxed. Such lives may be pleasant, but they don’t advance you spiritually.
The Jewish people, at the time of Christ, had arrived at a karmic crossroads. In their decision to live by high principles, the Jews, as a people, were far ahead of most peoples of their time. They had taken the next step, also, of recognizing that living for God is the highest principle.
I’ve often reflected that those great composers and other artists who achieved so little fame during their lifetimes may have been more fortunate in their obscurity than most people realize. Public acclaim can place limitations on a person’s talents, even by so simple an act as defining them.
Develop the mental habit of centeredness: Remain always centered in your spine; stand and sit upright; keep your emotions calm by not reacting emotionally to anything. I don’t mean to be apathetic. Rather, don’t let your feelings become excited.
For many householders, the greatest obstacle to living more spiritually lies in the simple thought, “But what can I do that is all that spiritual?” The difficulty lies in the thought that spirituality demands doing things that are commonly labeled “spiritual.”
The teachings relating to health tend to focus on foods that will strengthen the body or on removing toxins that block the flow of energy in the body. These teachings are an important part of the picture so long as you haven’t reached a certain level of spiritual realization.
One would think, in reading about Paramhansa Yogananda’s amazingly successful career in America, that he more or less slid down an easy slope to victory by simply loving everyone, and by his joyful, positive attitude of service to all. The truth, however, must be told: He faced constant, determined opposition.