Yogananda.us - The Yogi Connection

Dr. Lewis

Can we hear the voice of God? Can God can speak to us? Certainly. Under certain circumstances God can and does speak to us, sometimes audibly to our physical ears, but more often inaudibly. To understand how this is so we must first know something about what God is – what He is to us from a physical standpoint. Paramahansa Yogananda defines God as ever-conscious, ever-existing, ever-new bliss. Now we can try to subdivide and reduce that definition further, but we cannot. Everything we want in this life, we want because we feel it will bring us ever-conscious, blissful eternal existence. That is what God is; therefore, what we really want is oneness with Him.

To this end we need to know and understand what the voice of God is, and how we may hear it and be guided by it. The voice of God is His divine omnipotent consciousness, speaking to us through intuition. It is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Vibration, the Om , the Amen, the Word, spoken of in the Bible. (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1)

First there was the one Spirit, God the Father, beyond creation, the supreme Guru, the greatest Consciousness, not divided by anything. Then the Spirit of God moved, vibrated as the Holy Vibration, the Holy Ghost, the Word, with its manifestations of cosmic light and sound. In this vibration is also God’s presence, His omniscience, as Christ consciousness. From this vibration has come all manifestation. Yes, this Holy Vibration, the Word, is the voice of God.

And so if we can somehow be one with the Holy Vibration, we shall know that we are one with God’s consciousness and with His eternal existence. Through the techniques taught by Self-Realization Fellowship we learn to be one with Him, to contact His presence, to hear His voice.

The voice of God is spoken of many times in the Bible. It is referred to in Revelations 3:14: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” This says in effect that when God began to move, creation started with the Holy Vibration, the Holy Ghost, the voice of God, the Om , the Amen and that everything comes from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. The voice of God is the intelligence in the Holy Vibration. It is not a dry thing; it is a warm thing, full of life. It is the intelligence of God speaking as intuition. This then is the voice of God.

We find many other references to the voice of God in the scriptures. In Revelation 1:10 we read: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as a trumpet saying….” Now, how can a trumpet “say?” “Saying” hear means vibrating. In the Holy Vibration is the intelligence of God, and it is this intelligence which speaks. The twelfth verse continues; “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me,” and goes on to say how he saw the seven centers of the spine, the “seven golden candlesticks.” People construe the “voice” to be a physical sound but it is a subtle vibration, the Holy Vibration, which sounds like a trumpet to our inner perception. Since the intelligence of God is in this Holy Vibration, all wisdom is in it; when we hear it, everything is there, everything we should do, everything we must do for our highest welfare. Best of all, the protection of God’s love is in it. That is the voice of God referred to in the scriptures, the voice of intuition, speaking in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Vibration.

Another reference to the voice of God is in Revelations 4:1: “A door was opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was as if it were a trumpet talking to me.” This again is the voice of God, the Holy Vibration, the Om Vibration, which sounds like a trumpet. It talks to us through intuition, and when it does, it conveys its meaning more clearly than could the spoken word. Intuition does not have to use the vocal cords or organs of sense perception. It speaks directly from the intelligence of God, which is omniscient.

In Isaiah 30:21 is another reference to the voice. “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee sayings, This is he way, walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” When we obey that voice we are walking in the Divine Trend – we are acting in accord with the will of God. The “word” is the trumpet sound, the Holy Vibration. This is a most important reference because it shows we musn’t sit down and expect God to do everything for us. We must walk in His way, remembering Master’s words, “I will reason, I will will, I will act, but guide Thou my reason, will and activity to the right thing I should do in everything.” We must keep in the Divine Trend of God’s will; that is all we have to do. Then when we hear the voice of God, perhaps not audibly, we will know what to do for He will guide us. The only thing we have to worry about is getting into His vibration and communing with Him. That is what Self-Realization teaches us to do, and shows us how through the Om technique. So remember this reference in Isaiah, and when you meditate you will her the soft ocean roar of the Holy Vibration, coming from the spinal region and the brain and saying to you, “This is the way to walk.” It is the voice of God speaking, and everyone who meditates even a little bit can hear it, and eventually be one with it. If we give a little time and a little effort in the proper technique according to the teachings of Self-Realization, we can do it.

In Ezekiel, 43:2 we are told how the voice of God usually speaks to us and how we hear it through our intuition: “The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east and His voice was like a noise of many waters.” His voice, the voice of God, the Om vibration sounds like many waters although it becomes clearer and clearer to us as we meditate more deeply. In time it will seem to speak right out, as an audible voice. Again in Ezekiel, 3:12 we read, “Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.” “His place” is the heavenly region; the great rushing is God’s voice, like the sound of the ocean, the sound of many waters, the voice of the multitude. This is the cosmic energy rushing into us from Heaven.

The next verse in Ezekiel, 3:13 , continues, “I have heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.” Ezekiel here refers to the sounds of the different centers of the spine, which many have heard. All these sounds are in the Holy Vibration, and they are all the voice of God. In them, in the ocean’s roar and the other sounds of the spine, is the intelligence of God. When we become one with those sounds, we become one with His intelligence which has created us, and we are therefore hearing, and being guided by the voice of God. These communications from God related in the scriptures refer to the power of the Holy Ghost that speaks to us through our inner realization. When we listen to it, we know in a far better way what to do that if an audible voice spoke, for in that inner intuition is the power and strength of God.

As an illustration of how God speaks to us through this inner realization, I can relate an incident which happened many years ago when Master first came to America . I started off to work one day from my home where Master was staying at the time and had not gone far, when suddenly I felt I must go back and give Master some financial aid. This was just as clear to me as if an audible voice had said, “Turn around and go back home and help.” I felt through intuition that Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswarji were both asking me to do something. So strong was the feeling, I turned right around and went back and gave the assistance he needed. When I did, his eyes filled with tears because he knew that God had responded to his needs and that the voice of God had spoken to me. Being in the Divine Trend through regular, deep meditation, I realized when God spoke, although no sound came. I knew Master needed help, and I knew the saints had asked me to give it. God speaks to us in this way through our deep meditations and realization. When we do not hear His voice, it is because we do not meditate enough and therefore do not have sufficient realization.

The Divine consciousness speaks to us most frequently through our increasing realization, but God can also speak to us in more tangible ways. He can produce from the Holy Ghost, or Holy Vibration, any force, in any form or manifestation for from the Holy Vibration comes all physical manifestations. An instance of His manifesting a force occurred one winter night in Boston when I was driving over a narrow icy bridge, hurrying to a meeting. I came onto the bridge very fast and suddenly saw directly ahead of me a car that had skidded half way across the street. There was no possibility of my stopping in time to prevent a collision. It was then that the Divine Consciousness manifested its control of the cosmic forces. My car came to an abrupt stop just as if a great giant had put his hands up and said, “All right, let’s stop.” I did not even touch the other car. There were two others with me, and they both testified to the inexplicable way our car was stopped and a serious accident prevented.

How did this force stop the car? It is not difficult to understand for when we see we are going to step on something we can alter the direction of the forces in the body and step aside. We can do so because the body is a unit, and we have control of the prana, the energy in it. Divine Consciousness is a greater unit, and is likewise in the body, as it is everywhere else. The Divine Consciousness controls all the forces in the universe, and does not have to use the wire of nerves as we do to control our bodies. God can, and does, directly manifest and control any force, under certain conditions as He did in stopping our car. Since He has created universe upon universe, and produced all forces, perceptible and imperceptible, why should we doubt? He can, and does produce specific forces to protect an individual or individuals.

In that instance, the force itself was imperceptible, but the voice of God can also manifest a force which is perceptible to the outward senses. This was demonstrated to me once when I was first with Master and meditating a great deal. I used to sit in meditation trying to understand how the energy is withdrawn from the body, how the sense perceptions are withdrawn, and how to leave the body conscious and get into the realm of spiritual things, into the superconsciousness. I knew how in theory, and I was able to feel I was not the body, but I had not experienced the withdrawing of the energy from the involuntary nerves. Then one day when I was meditating hard, I felt my body become as cold as ice, with perspiration all over it. I was fully conscious. And then something prompted me to feel the top of my head. I did so. It was almost as hot as a stove. This showed me beyond doubt that on the top of the head is the place where the energy leaves the body and mixes with the surrounding Cosmic Energy. Now I could have read about that all my life without actually knowing it. But God answered my desire to know by giving me that experience so I could realize the truth and not just theorize about it. God does truly answer us if we make the effort and give our devotion to Him.

Another way in which God speaks to us is through our conscience. The conscience is the all-knowing power of the soul. The soul knows the way to God. If we keep in the Divine Trend, in the Holy Vibration, the Om , our conscience, the intuition of the soul, will tell us which way to walk, whether to go “to the left or to the right.”

Finally, the voice of God speaks to us through the Guru. The Guru is the channel whereby we are taken to God, and he can carry the voice of God to us. An instance of this in my own life was when I came to the Self-Realization Fellowship center in Encinitas , California , leaving Boston and my profession of thirty-five years, on what many of my patients thought was an extended leave of absence. Many of them continued to write me asking when I was coming back. That made me feel uncertain in my mind as to what I should do so I went to Master and said, “Am I doing the right thing?” He said, “Absolutely, God wants you here. You are doing a greater work here.” From that moment I knew everything was all right and I felt no further restlessness to return to Boston . God had spoken to me through the Guru.

Another instance of His doing this was when I once asked Master how I was getting along, how I was progressing – a question all of us want to have answered about our spiritual life. He said, “Oh, fine. But watch out for your health next summer. You will be all right. But take care.” And sure enough I went through quite a bodily disturbance the next summer, but through it all I knew, because God had spoken to me through the Guru, that I would be taken care of.

If we can understand how God speaks to us in these various ways, directly and indirectly, it should not be too difficult for us to understand how we can sometimes hear Him speak in a voice audible to our physical ears, and even in words. In His consciousness are all the senses, sight, touch, hearing, and all the others: everything is in His divine consciousness, not in the physical body. The sense of hearing is not in the ear, it is in the Divine consciousness of God, which projected the body. The same is true of sight, touch, taste and smell. God can produce, through the Holy Vibration, any .
manifestation, any sound, perceptible to our outward consciousness.

Sometimes such a sound is audible not only to our own ears, but can also be heard by others. On one such occasion, when some of the disciples were with Master at the Encinitas Hermitage, we heard the bee sound, which is the sound of the lowest center of the spine, the coccyx. The sound was audible to our ears clear across the room from where Master was sitting.

Another instance of hearing the bee sound quite audibly occurred when some of us were in San Francisco attending the World’s Fair with Master.
We were reminiscing, one night, as we did quite often, way into the morning hours. As we were sitting there, I suddenly heard the bee sound. Master chuckled to himself and said, “Listen.” We could hear it quite a few feet away, and we were hearing it with our ordinary ears; we weren’t in meditation at all. God was speaking to us plainly through audible sound.

Sometimes He speaks to us in actual words. Once when I was a small boy about eleven years old, a voice came out of the Divine Consciousness and spoke to me in the upstairs hall of our home. I had been teasing my sisters and my mother appealed to the Divine Consciousness to do something about it. The voice said, “Go downstairs and be a good boy, and stop tearing your sisters.” I heard it clearly and my mother heard it as did our upstairs maid. Some thirty years later the Master walked through the upper hall and saw a spiritual flash of light in his spiritual eye at the exact spot where the voice of God had spoken so many years before. This show that such spiritual manifestations leave their imprint in the ether for all time, and are proof that God has spoken to us audibly.(Editor’s note. This house still stands in the Somerville area of Boston at 44 Kidder Avenue )

But whether God speaks to us through the outer senses or through the inner voice of intuition makes little difference. The lesson we are to learn is that to hear the voice of God we must keep in the Divine Trend of His will, keep in His Infinite Light, which we can do through regular deep meditation and devotion. Then God can guide us, and whether He speaks to us audibly or through the voice of intuition is of secondary importance. When we have made the Word, the Holy Vibration, dynamic to our consciousness through meditation and devotion then we will be one with His omniscient consciousness with its light, its love and its protection and we will then hear the voice of God when he speaks to us.

Though I am not with you in the physical body, I am in tune with you as I remain here in seclusion. Those who are filled with great devotions and who are in tune with Christ and the Masters will have the vision of Jesus Christ in his physical form; and those who go deep, and deeper still, will today perceive the formless Christ who is everywhere. I hope you will all go deep, forgetting the physical and entering the deep spiritual realm where God dwells.

Behold the presence of the Father in Christ; see the delusion of war and trouble melt by perceiving the formless Christ, and thou shalt have no fear. Oh, Christ, thou great lover of error-torn brothers, an unseen monument to the mightiest miracle of love was established in each heart when the magic wand of Thy voice uttered, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The only haven of happiness is in Christ, God, and the Masters. Practice Kriya Yoga, follow Self-Realization to the very end, looking neither to the left nor to the right and you shall find happiness though you live in a world torn with fearful wars. This is God’s cinema; do not be worried. Through Christ, Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswarji, and Guru, look to the pure beam of God present everywhere. Dear ones, though my body is not with you, my spirit beholds you in a deeper communion that if I were present among you.

We in Self-Realization Fellowship have inaugurated on earth the worship of the real Christ, the Christ of Spirit. You will know how near He is if you go deep, not watching for the results but completely forgetting yourself, praying and singing to Christ as never before. Then you will experience Christ, either in vision as a great feeling of Infinitude or as the formless Christ; and your experience will be a lasting reminder throughout life. Pray and meditate, forgetting time and space; and I shall, with better advantage be in ecstasy in seclusion, that I can in a greater way help you.

Remember, you all can attain God; poverty or riches, sickness or health; difficulties or not difficulties – these cannot deter you from reaching Him. But the path is not easy. So be interested chiefly in those who love God; forget the rest of the world. Know Him first; then you can give divine love to those who love Him, and can help all as your brothers. But first, Love God! Jesus said in effect, “Who is my brother, sister and father, but those who love God?” Remember there is no happiness except with those who live in harmony. If you own home, perhaps there is disharmony. You won’t find God there. Cultivate God in the happy family of Self-Realization.

The path has its hardships; but the worldly path is much more difficult for it is fraught with unending fears and disappointments and fruitless spending of effort. At the end of life you will see that all your time has been wasted in pursuing the will-of-the wisp of material happiness. Money, body and everything else you will have to leave behind. The only thing that will go with you and stay with you as a permanent possession is the Bliss of God. And how are you going to attain that Bliss? Not by mock prayer, as when you utter the words but your mind is elsewhere roaming. When you sing to God, do not let your thoughts run away. Let your words follow your thoughts with the greatest devotion. We have started a fire of true devotion to Christ that shall never be put out, that shall conflagrate this earth with a new illumination and help to extinguish the baser fire of war and misery in the one flame of Self-Realization.

This life is the movie of God. Don’t be frightened when He shows you pictures of wars and troubles. Look to the pure beam of His Presence everywhere, as the Masters have realized it. They have shown the true path of happiness. Warriors and politicians have led people only to greater wars and troubles. Follow the way of the Masters – that is the way of love, wherein knowing God you can love all men with divine love, even as we feel that love among Self-Realization devotees. Visit our Centers from the Lake Shrine to San Diego. Live this truth – preach this truth. Do not be selfish. Those who are lazy cannot find God. Work for Him. Spread Self-Realization everywhere you go, and spread it with Spirit. When night comes, go so deep in meditation that you feel the Presence of God. Mock worship will not do, for the Lord watches the heart. If in your heart there is love for God, Christ and the Gurus, you will find it easy to reach them. The Father is not hiding from you, you are hiding from Him. Thinks out of 24 hours a portion is spent in moods and in doing nothing. How then do you expect to find Him? Krishna said, “Out of thousands, one seeks Me; and out of those thousands who seek Me, only one knows Me.”

The way to God is like a razor’s edge. We are the waves of life in the ocean of Spirit. The wave has come out of the ocean and into the ocean once more it has to go. So long as you play with the storm of delusion the wave of your life will be shattered with misery, troubles and the muffled hopes of delusion. That’s why more and more I am devoting myself to the great communion with Spirit. You will feel my soul in tune with Christ and the Master if you go deep, knowing the true way of communion with the Divine.

Meditate like that every morning, and especially at night in these days of troubles and a difficult material existence. Lessen your worldly burden. Meditate deeply, practice Self-Realization studies and Kriya Yoga. Just taking Kriya initiation is not enough.

God tests your love for Him. His test of delusion is very strong. Millions in the world are not interested in Him. That’s why they are suffering the ravages of war, famines and natural calamities. The Lord did not create this world for material happiness. That is why history shows the sad pages of misery, the terrors of enemies trampling the innocent, the devastation by fire and flood. God does not want us to build a temple of happiness here. Our home is with Him. As the wave’s home is in the ocean’s bosom, so our home is in the Spirit.

As you watch television, seeing those ethereal waves, remember that behind them is the astral world, and behind that is God. I see Him every minute, every day. Remember God. Forget the world. Do the best you can, but find the best shelter from all harm in the Divine bosom. This world will always have turmoil and trouble. What are you worried about? Go to shelter of God where the Masters have gone; where they are watching and helping the world and you shall have safety forever, not only for yourself, but for all those you love and who have been entrusted to you by our Lord and Father.

There is a right way of prayer. To illustrate, when you eat you don’t think of the world and its troubles for your whole mind is on eating. So in the right way of prayer you whole mind should be on God. I used to see in my Master’s hermitage that when meditation time came, most of the boys would giggle and I would say, “Why do you do this and then expect to reach God?” They would reply, “Holy man, don’t be too holy. We are dead tired from working and we can’t meditate.” I would answer, “When Master gives you food, I see you are all devotion and you don’t giggle then for you eat with great devotion. But now is the time for God, for eating the Divine Manna of Kriya Yoga. Why don’t you have greater devotion for Him?”

Those boys were not in earnest about the search for Divinity. They soon left my Master. He didn’t care. He said, “The door is open. If anyone wishes to go, let him go.”

In the same way there are multitudes everywhere who have forsaken God. Millions in Asia and Europe have forsaken Him, and look at the pounding they are getting! It isn’t true that God wants only a few devotees. God wants all, but all do not want Him.
The successful path to God is not going a little way, or half way, or in noticing who is flying away – but in reaching and entering the door to God. Then you are safe. Some men reach the door and then fall asleep. Those who last to the end will be the first to enter His Kingdom. And that can be done not by mock prayer but by Kriya Yoga practice and the way of deep meditation. Tune in with me, and with the great God and learn the way.

The shadow of delusion creating the cinema of horror and war are nothing. God can change the world in a second if He wants to. But he won’t because most people have forgotten Him. They don’t want to go back home. They want to play with the storm of delusion. They must inevitably suffer for this reason. The only way to happiness is to return to our home in God. To do that you should practice Self-Realization techniques that alone bring harmony to the body, mind and soul. I want here only those who are wholly dedicating their lives to God. They are my brothers and sisters who love God and who do not mind giving their bodies in the flame of sacrifice – in the flame of eternal wakefulness in God.

Meditate so deeply that you forget time and space and all the illusions of the world; and even in this one day if you pray unceasingly with all your heart and mind not what the person next to you is doing, some of you will have the vision of Christ, and all of you will feel the Presence of the Formless Christ. I am in tune with you in my ecstasy. In every blade of grass, in every pore of the sky, in your bodies, your minds, everywhere, I feel God and the Masters and Christ. And with them my spirit is rapt. So shall I feel you in God.

Dear Ones:

All things that you behold in this life are the result of the different processes of God’s thought, and you are made in His image. You must cultivate the power of thought. Be kind to all and then you will know the mysteries of the mind. It is only when you become kind that God will give you His power.

Your thought will bring you either failure or success, whichever thought is strongest. You must first thoroughly believe in your own plans and then let the Infinite work though you. You must do your best, but at the same time full believe that God is helping you. You must realize the power of your own consciousness. You can be your own greatest enemy or your best friend. When trials come you must strengthen your determination to overcome them. If you steadfastly refuse to give up and you go on continuously trying to materialize success, you will suddenly find that mysterious forces have come to your aid and you wish is granted.

Live in the magic factor of mind, where all things are made, and discard all fears. It is the change of thought from bad to good that is important, but often the change of thought is difficult because of the wrong habits of thought. Don’t limit yourself, but use reason of course. If you form that bad habit of giving up in despair, then you have limited yourself. It is your consciousness, your habits and your thoughts that limit you. You are spirit and really unlimited you know.

Will power is also important. You must never entertain the consciousness of impossibility. Use your will power and thought to accomplish little things first to make a start; then gradually go from that to greater things. You will know the mind works in little things and you will also know it works in bigger thing. Associate with successfully people. They have refused to be defeated so you will learn much from them. But before you decide anything you must first use logic. If you don’t you convictions will be washed away at the first invasion of trials.

First be sure your purpose is right; then all the power of God will be with you. Realize the Presence of the Infinite. Behold God behind the shadows. He is your Father, your own Spirit.

With unceasing blessings,

It seems that angels are more prominent now than ever, especially at Christmastime where they are seen atop trees and in Biblical displays and in packaging and in tv shows and movies, such as Angels in the Outfield, ad infinitum. Several years ago there was a tv special on angels and our beloved president, Sri Daya Mata was interviewed on the show and spoke of the SRF approach to angels.

George Washington was visited by a band of angels and told about the future of his new country.

The Sistine Chapel, built by order of Pope Sixtus IV, has angels painted by Michelangelo and other artists. The other great cathedrals of Europe have many statues and paintings and frescoes of angels.

The birth of Jesus was foretold to Mary by an angel of the Lord. Angels heralded his nativity. He was protected from the death decree of King Herod by an angel warning Joseph. When Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, the angels came and ministered to him. During his crucifixion, an angel came and strengthened him. And when he was on the cross, Jesus said, “Thinketh thou that that I cannot now pray to my Father and He shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels.”

When Christ’s disciples were imprisoned, “The angel of the Lord by night opened the door and brought them forth.”

In the Old Testament, too, there were many references to angels. When Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son, “The angel of the Lord called out to him.” Elijah was ministered to by an angel of the Lord as he lay and slept under a juniper tree. Behold, then an angel touched him, and said, unto him, “Arise and eat.”

Over and over again angels are referred to in the Bible as “angels of God.”

And how many times have we heard a person say he or she was protected and must have had an angel on their shoulder.

Yes, it is God Himself who takes the form of these angels. Our Master has said that eventually, by contact with spiritual forces, the devotees comes into harmony with the Supreme Creator, Organizer of all higher and lower beings.

And how do we do this? Through spiritual living and meditation and by practicing the techniques of Yoga that our Master has left for us.

Isn’t it interesting that the Self-Realization headquarters is in Los Angeles , the city of the angels.

One of the DVD’s available in our book room is entitled the early years in America from l920 to 1928. In it we see Boston when our Master lived and worked there and excellent photographs of the halls, churches and auditoriums where he spoke as well as the houses where he lived, such as 24 Electric Avenue where he stayed for three years with Dr. Lewis and his family. It also features beautiful archival photographs of Master as well as rare motion picture footage of him during those days. If you don’t live near a center or temple you can order it directly from Mt. Washington, toll-free at 818-549-5151 during regular business hours.
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One of the reasons Master arrived in Boston rather than in any other city is that he had seen in vision before he left India the faces of disciples waiting for him in America. The early disciples lived in Boston.

Of course, the city was fertile ground for the ancient teachings of yoga for the transcendentalist such as Emerson and Thoreau had spoken of the Vedas and their worth. There is a meditation bench behind Emerson’s house where he spent many hours in Divine communion.
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From a historical perspective Boston was known as the cradle of liberty; the Declaration of Independence had been read there at the Old State House
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Many of the men who started the march for freedom were from Boston. Daniel Webster held forth in Ye Old Oyster House, which still stands as it was then. He is quoted in the old SRF magazines.
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Boston is one of the oldest and most historic cities in America, founded in l630 by the Puritans under John Winthrop, who had originally wanted to call it the Bible Commonwealth so deep were his religious convictions
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Boston was named after a town in England with the same name from where many of the immigrants originated. The Puritan ladies were so serious about their religious convictions that they would not cook on Sunday so baked Boston baked beans on Saturday for dinner on Sunday – thus the appellation Bean Town
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94% of the founding fathers in their dissertations and speeches quoted directly from the Bible
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The Framers were positive their newly formed government would succeed because of their religious convictions and abiding faith. And they were right for since America was founded France has had 5 different forms of government and Italy 55.

Boston is also the site of America’s first public school and first public library. The Nations’ first subway was in Boston.
Benjamin Franklin was born there and was the most famous dropout of the nation’s first Latin school. The nation’s oldest institution of learning, Harvard, founded in l636 is located along the banks of the Charles River. Our Master spoke to the students there.
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George Washington worshipped in King’s Chapel, located in downtown Boston. The first lady off the Mayflower is buried in that church’s burial ground. The Navy’s oldest, indeed the world’s oldest commissioned ship, the Constitution, Old Ironsides, is moored there.

The first Kriya initiation was given in Unity House on Park Square. The first SRF meditation group was started in Boston. The first SRF books were printed in distributed in Boston from the kitchen table of Mrs. Lewis on Electric Avenue. At this season of the year it is interesting to note that across the street from Unity House is a Unitarian Church where Master played the organ. A statute out in front is from a former minister who wrote “Little Town in Bethlehem.”

Of course, it wasn’t long before the center of SRF activity was transferred to Los Angeles when Mt. Washington was founded in l925.

Throughout our Master’s teachings he has emphasized the importance of chanting for spiritual progress. As you know, almost every service begins with a prayer, a chant and then the meditation.

In the Fall, 1991, issue of the Self-Realization magazine, there is an article on the importance of chanting. A doctor had been summoned to a Benedictine monastery in the French Alps. Incidentally, St. Benedict founded the first Catholic monastery around 500 A.D. The doctor had been asked to diagnose a peculiar ailment that was afflicting seventy of the ninety monks living there. They were physically weak and mentally sluggish, but after extensive examination the doctor could find no apparent reason for their condition. It wasn’t long, however, before he discovered that the new abbot, thinking that Gregorian chanting did not serve much of a purpose, eliminated the many hours of singing that had been part of the monk’s daily regimen. On hearing this, the doctor had a suggestion. He recommended to the abbot that the centuries-old practice be reinstated. The abbot, very anxious to have a healthy group of monks, did what the doctor ordered. The monks resumed their Gregorian chanting. It wasn’t long before all of them were cured of their malady.

Carl Jung, the renowned Swiss psychologist, said of music, “It reaches deep archetypal material…”

Scientists have found that the entire body, not just the ear, is sensitive to and responds to sound vibrations. All cells have vibratory properties at levels far deeper than that of conscious awareness. The developed yogi, however, becomes aware of the Cosmic sound of Om in every cell of his body.

Paramahansa Yogananda commented that “Sound, or vibration, is the most powerful force in the universe and that in many ancient cultures, especially in India , music was considered a divine art.” We have all seen how certain opera singers can shatter a drinking goblet. How much stronger is the vibration of a yogi who is ensconced in God.

The Sanskrit word for musician, Bhagavahar, means “One who sings God’s praises.” The healing properties of music were well known in ancient India and Tibet .
Master concludes that because man himself is an expression of the Creative Word (Aum), sound exercises a potent and immediate affect on him.

Ramakrishna said the yogi cannot stand noise and uproar. Why? Because he has become sensitized to the higher vibrations of the spiritual realms.

In the Second Coming of Christ Master writes a codicil to chanting when he says that when the yogi becomes enraptured in Divine Bliss he cannot go into outward consciousness and chant. Ramakrishna substantiates this by saying that when deep in meditation he could not even chant Om.

Chanting is more than the music for in SRF many of the chants have been written by the Master and so singing the words not only gives one the upliftment of the music but the power of the affirmation in chanting Master’s words.

In his Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda quotes saints and wise men throughout the ages, pointing out the universality of truth. And he speaks to the truth that they do not conflict with one another but substantiate one another such as when Moses appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted on ten different occasions in the Autobiography and his description of the law of karma is clear and concise as he wrote, “The world looks like a mathematical equation, which, turn it how you will, balances itself. Every secret is told, every crime is punished, every virtue rewarded, every wrong redressed, in silence and certainty.”

Emerson knew the truth of religion for he said that if the noblest Mohammedan, the highest stoic of Athens, the purest and wisest Christian, Confucius in
China and Spinoza in Holland could get together they would conclude that there is only one religion and that is God-Realization.

In his Second Coming of Christ, Master refers to Emerson as the American transcendentalist who sought personal experience of immanent spiritual reality through intuition.

And what do the Hindus think of Emerson? Written in one of their chronicles are these words: “Emerson has all the wisdom and spirituality of the Brahmins. Brahmanism is an acquirement, a state of being, rather than a creed. In whomsoever the Eternal Brahma breathes his unquenchable fire, he is a Brahmin and so in that sense Emerson was the best of Brahmins.”

Emerson wrote in his journal on the Vedas: “The East is grand and makes Europe appear a land of trifles. In the sleep of the great heat there is nothing for me but to read the Vedas, the Bible of the Tropics. It is as sublime as heat and night and a breathless ocean. It contains every religious sentiment, all the grand ethics which visit in turn each noble poetic mind.”

The parallels between Transcendentalism and Hinduism are not accidental. Is it any wonder that our Master landed first in Boston where the seeds had been planted to break out of orthodoxy and realize the oneness of all religions?

As we know our Master often spoke of Self-Realization as a Church of All Religion.

So when you go to Boston, take a stroll down Newbury Street where they maintain some of the original Boston Brahmin houses. But to get a sense of the real Boston Brahmin, visit Emerson’s house. In the back there is a little bench where he spent hours communing with God.

Of course, no one should visit Boston without seeing the places where our Master lived worked and meditated. There is a wonderful DVD available in the book room that gives a pictorial guide to the city and Master’s history there.

The essence of the Vedas is in the Self-Realization two volume work, “God Talks to Arjuna – the Bhagavad Gita, the Royal Science of Religion,” also available in our book room.

The secret, however, to understanding the Vedas, and indeed, any religion, is acquired through long, patient, God-hungry meditation as taught by Self-Realization.

AND

Sister Gynamata: "It is not so much the quality of your meditations that indicate your spiritual progress, but your endurance in the cold light of day."

The Christmas Tree was one of the first aspects of our modern celebration of Christmas to come to light. In Germany , a yule log was brought in at the winter solstice in late December. But it wasn’t until the King of Norway sent Prince Albert a tree during his marriage to Queen Victoria that a Christmas Tree was set up and decorated.

Actually, the tradition started centuries earlier when William the Conqueror had his coronation on Christmas Day. Shortly thereafter the Catholic Church initiated a Christ Mass on that day from which we get the word Christmas.

In 1842 an English shopkeeper sent out a card with a likeness of the Christmas Tree on it and the tradition of the Christmas card was born.

It was about this time that Charles Dickens wrote “The Christmas Carol.” As we all know it is the tale of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim that established a Christmas legacy that has been carried on to this day of gift giving, love and friendship

Ebeneezer Scrooge was the one who really displayed the true Christmas Spirit by changing from a mean and hard-hearted businessman to an altruistic, joyful participant in the Christmas Spirit. The ghost of Christmas past was the force that changed him.

In America , in l862, a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly drew a picture of Saint Nick coming down a chimney with his bundle of toys and thus the tradition was started.

Have a Merry Christmas

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