Kriya Yoga Teachings

Inspiration from The Holy Science

Love is God — Part 8, the conclusion of the Holy Science series

Inspiration from The Holy Science

Teaching by Nayaswami Jaya (Ananda Sangha)

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The real question: what do we do about it?

In this eighth and final talk, Jaya recapitulates the journey. He notes that the reason people find The Holy Science so difficult is its first chapter — the descent of consciousness from the absolute oneness of Brahman down into creation — which is intensely esoteric. (Even Yogananda once admitted, privately, that he found it rather difficult.) But how we got here is not the vital question; the vital question is what we do about it. And the procedure by which the soul frees itself is universal: Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and Muslim all travel essentially the same path home to God.

Can one have joy without seeing the spiritual eye or hearing OM?

Jaya takes up a thoughtful question: are there saints or yogis full of joy and peace who do not see the spiritual eye or hear the OM sound? Ultimate realisation, he answers, is rare — as Krishna says, scarcely one in a thousand seeks Him, and of those, scarcely one in a thousand truly knows Him. Yet sincere aspirants can certainly experience deep peace, joy and elevated states without yet perceiving the eye or the sound. To fully transcend the world of duality, however, those experiences must eventually come. He reads Yogananda: the purpose of meditation is to receive the Holy Ghost — the OM or Amen vibration, the tangible expression of God — for “the sound is the easiest way to approach God,” and “that is all there is to it.”

Take heart: wanting God is very good karma

Lest this discourage anyone, Jaya emphasises Yogananda’s words to a downcast monk: “it takes very, very good karma even to want to know God.” The desire for God is the highest of all desires, and every desire must one day be fulfilled. That you are even drawn to these teachings is itself a sign of real aspiration — a great beginning, though only a beginning.

The whole journey in one outline

He then offers the journey in summary. By the regulation of the breath as directed in Kriya Yoga, the pranava (OM) sound spontaneously becomes audible — one does not strain for it; it reveals itself as something that was always there. As the life-force behind the breath is mastered, the breath grows still (a state of breathlessness, in the advanced stages) and the decay of the body is checked. This comes naturally as we interiorise. The sound appears in different forms according to one’s advancement and purity of heart — and the divine vibration manifests not only as sound but as light, feeling and love (the eight aspects of God taught in Raja Yoga are all expressions of OM). Throughout, we keep the guru’s presence in the heart; for we draw the guru not by searching the world but by the magnetism of a purified heart — “the guru appears when the disciple is ready.”

The heart’s natural love: beginning and end

The development of the heart’s natural love is, Jaya repeats, both the beginning point and the ending point. We must remove the meannesses of the heart — anger, envy, greed, pride of pedigree, false respectability — which act like poison in the soil, withering the seedling of love again and again until, by persistent effort, the soil is cleansed. As pure love appears we grow disposed to avoid worldly company and to keep spiritual company, which draws great souls and finally the guru. A strong desire arises “to save oneself,” as the endless round of birth and death becomes, in Yogananda’s phrase, “agonisingly monotonous.” The attention is drawn into the inner spine; we hear and merge into the inner sound (the true inner baptism), become a true disciple, rise from buloka into bhuvarloka, perceive the light and the seven chakras, and rise through them into svarloka and at last Maharloka.

Become jivanmukta in this lifetime

Reaching Maharloka — the fourth of the seven lokas — is the critical step, where ego-consciousness is transmuted and its bondage released; this is the state of nirbikalpa samadhi, from which there is no falling back. Every Kriyaban, Yogananda taught, has the capacity to free himself in this very lifetime, and we should make that our aim. If we do not complete the journey now, one who treads the path faithfully is reborn in a favourable environment to continue — as Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya that he had watched over and guided him across lifetimes — and the masters have promised to meet sincere disciples at the moment of death to guide them onward. But why wait for another life? Take up the path now.

If you feel no joy in practice

If a person feels no peace or joy in their practice, Jaya says, something is missing, and they should seek counsel from someone wiser. He tells of Yogananda asking a Catholic priest whether he had known any inner experiences of light or sound. “No,” the priest replied, “but when God chooses to give me such graces, He will.” Yogananda countered him plainly: that is not right — “your devotion is lacklustre, and because it is lacklustre you have not had those experiences.” They come when devotion is strong enough; God responds, though in His own time and way.

The powers (siddhis) — and why not to seek them

Because Sri Yukteswar lists them, Jaya touches on the siddhis, the spiritual powers — while warning that to seek them for their own sake is a mark of egotism and is dangerous. They include anima (becoming infinitely small), its opposite (becoming large), laghima (weightlessness — the levitation of saints), its opposite (becoming immovably heavy, which Yogananda demonstrated by standing unmoved against a line of burly policemen), the power to obtain anything, to control the forces of nature (as when Yogananda’s disciple Oliver Black watched a downpour vanish to clear sky the moment Yogananda wished to go for a drive), to fulfil desire by will, and finally lordship over all. Crucially, these become firm only in the clean heart, wholly free of ego and in tune with the Divine will — for egoic desire automatically disqualifies one from such power. As Christ prayed, “not my will, but Thine.”

“Love is God”

Jaya closes the series by reading Sri Yukteswar’s own conclusion: “It has been clearly demonstrated in the foregoing pages that love is God — not merely as the ideal sentiment of a poet, but as an aphorism of eternal truth. To whatever religious creed a man may belong, and whatever his position in society, if he properly cultivates this ruling principle naturally implanted in his heart, he is sure to be on the right path to save himself… how love may be cultivated, how by its culture it attains development, and when developed how man may find his spiritual preceptor, through whose favour he again becomes baptised in the holy stream and sacrifices himself before the altar of God, becoming united with the Eternal Father forever.” He adds the words of Shankara: “Life is unsafe and unstable, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf; the company of a divine personage, even for a moment, can save and redeem us.” So seek satsanga — the company of those with uplifting consciousness — cultivate the heart’s natural love, and share whatever you gain. When Swami Kriyananda first read Autobiography of a Yogi and rode the bus across America to find Yogananda, he carried two thoughts: “I want God,” and “I want to share that with all.” One of the highest prayers we can make, Jaya concludes, is simply: “Lord, give me Thyself — that I may share Thee with all.”

The Holy Science Video Series

This is the concluding talk of an eight-part series by Nayaswami Jaya (Ananda Sangha) on Sri Yukteswar’s The Holy Science. Explore the whole series:

Return to The Holy Science overview.

Inspiration from The Holy Science

Inspiration from The Holy Science