On Sundays, I typically reflect on the Gospel reading of the day along with Yogananda’s insights. Today, I feel inspired to do something a bit different, hopefully inspired by the Spirit. To begin, let us return to our understanding that we have been created in God’s image. At one level of understanding what this means, according to Yogananda, is that “Man and his astral preceptors (gurus, saints, and angels) in higher higher realms, by mutual communion, can find great good and control destiny.” Yogananda’s claim is quite radical. He tells us that we have access to heaven’s highest wisdom so that we can positively impact not only our lives but the world at large. Given the chaos unfolding in the world, we need such wisdom now more than ever. Allow me to reflect on how this works:
1: Tuning into heavenly wisdom does not negate the need for rational thought or common sense: we must get enough sleep, not eat too much or too little, take our vitamins, balance work and play, find work commensurate with our abilities that pays the bills, distance ourselves from abusive people, and so forth. My first meditation teacher would not teach me to meditate until I agreed to make my bed and walk daily. We do not cease to think when we tune into heavenly wisdom, but instead think with God and guru.
2: We have to have some degree of faith in the reality of the heavenly realms, and the presence of evolved beings (God’s ambassadors) who are willing to work with us. Since our perceptions are not neutral, meaning we almost always see what we are looking to see, if we are not looking for help from above, we will not see it. Jesus said, “Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be given, knock and the door shall be opened.”
3: Do we want help from above? The answer to this question may not be as obvious as it seems. Looking for help from God, the guru, and heaven’s helpers implies that by ourselves, we do not have all the answers or the whole picture. Our need for help is necessarily a blow to the ego and our overstated autonomy. In order to receive help from above, we must be willing to bow to an intelligence that surpasses our intelligence.
4: In attuning ourselves to the voice of God, we need to listen to those great saints and sages who were one with God’s voice. The words of Jesus, Yogananda, and Anandammayi Ma, for example, are pure expressions of heaven’s highest wisdom. By meditating on their words, we begin to develop an ear for truth, depth, and enlightened thought. Our refined “hearing,” in turn, helps us to discern God’s voice within the depths of our own souls.
5: The ability to attune ourselves to higher wisdom is built upon a foundation of peace and healthy order. Perpetual chaos, drama, and unrest creates mental and emotional static, making it very difficult for our intuitional capacities to develop. Implicit in this process is the need for our adherence to the moral order, or “right living.” Ignoring the Ten Commandments or the yamas and niyamas of yoga creates disorder. Living an orderly life is not about earning God’s help, but creating those conditions that allow us to receive that help. Yogananda tells us, “Intuition is soul guidance, appearing naturally in man during those instants when his mind is calm…. The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice.”
6: Of course, meditation is essential to the process of attuning ourselves to heavenly help. Yogananda tells us, “Communion with these ‘shining ones’ (angels) is not to be misunderstood as the spirit communion of spiritualists. Truly divine ones cannot be contacted by these means. Only by lifting one’s own consciousness, through the right method of meditation, to the higher realms of the astral heaven—home of the divine forces that uphold the material realms—can such attunement with the deities be realized.”
7: In the spiritual life, environment is everything. Associating with spiritual people, being part of a spiritual community, and seeking the counsel of a wise mentor are necessary aspects of hearing the Divine Voice. We should never neglect those human angels God has sent us. Yogananda tells us, “The worldly man, unable consciously to commune with astral deities, gains the same result by associating with earthly angels—true God-knowing saints—and by following their counsel.”
8: The wisdom and energies of heaven are always an expression of truth, beauty, and goodness. In other words, true inspiration serves the positive evolution of humankind without exception. Therefore, to the degree we are motivated by virtue, compassion, noble purposes, and love, God’s helpers will rush to aid us on our path. To the degree that we serve love, heaven serves us.
9: We must nurture not calculating eyes, but soft eyes. Calculating eyes are helpful in certain situations because they are always looking for facts, for what can be measured and quantified, and for what has utility. To hear God’s voice, however, we need eyes that see beyond the five senses and simple appearances. Calculating eyes see the chemical components of a flower and its utility in nature. Soft eyes see the flower’s beauty and how it generously serves the bees. Soft eyes recognize the deeper meaning in events, in the synchronicity in so-called coincidences, and in what is hidden beneath the surface of all of life.
10: We must never underestimate the power of laughter, light-heartedness, and joy to pave the way for clairvoyance and clairaudience, for clear seeing and clear hearing. These positive states help to loosen what is tight and constricted within us. What helps us in this process is to avoid taking ourselves or life too seriously. The ability to laugh at ourselves is a virtue. Anandamayi Ma tells us, “Whenever you have the chance, laugh as much as you can. By this all the rigid knots in your body will be loosened. But to laugh superficially is not enough; your whole being must be united in laughter, both inwardly and outwardly. Do you know how this is to be expressed? You literally shake with merriment from head to foot so that it is impossible to tell which part of your body is most affected. I want you to laugh with your whole countenance, with your whole heart and with all the breath of your life.”
Divine Mother,
Remind me,
Invite me,
To all the ways
I can make myself ready
For your heavenly wisdom.
