Most of us can agree that the goal of the spiritual life is the love of God and neighbor. But we must understand that if love were always easy we would not call it love; we would call it like. Put another way, a good life is not necessarily an easy life. A good life is one wherein we strive to be the best version of ourselves and align ourselves with those noble patterns exemplified in the lives of Jesus, Yogananda, and Anandamayi Ma. Only when we aim high do new and previously unimaginable possibilities open up before us.
I am not glorifying suffering. Rather, I am stressing the reality that letting go of egoic thinking and behaviors is never without some degree of discomfort. Of course loving relationships bring much joy, but they also challenge us to grow beyond our perceived limitations. Sooner or later, love takes us to places we would not otherwise go, but where we need to go. In this way, the intelligence and energy of love simultaneously humanizes and divinizes us. Love empowers us to realize who we are in God. Sri Yukteswar tells us, “The deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.”
Divine Mother,
May I strive for a good life,
Not an easy life,
A life in which I search for meaning
Rather than happiness.
