As we consider what it means to “open the door,” we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: how much intimacy are we capable of bearing? Are we ready to have God and Guru “come into” us? Are we willing to have the Divine Life and our lives become a single life? Are we open to truth dictating our thoughts, beauty organizing our lives, and love inspiring our every action? Of course, all of this is a process. But it begins with prayerful silence, wherein we begin to withdraw our hearts from the tumult of thoughts, worries, and desires that besiege us. Such a life is putting ourselves in God’s presence and praying not with thoughts or words, but with the naked longing of our hearts. This kind of longing does not always feel pleasant; in fact, it can be downright painful, yet it paves the way for union with God and Guru. Isn’t it true that the joy of love sometimes includes pain? Yogananda says, “When you yearn for God with intensity, He will come to you.”
My silence and stillness
Will slowly crack open the door
That is painfully heavy
and hard to open.
