Written by Craig Bullock, Spiritual Director of The Assisi Institute
By the mere fact you are reading these words, you are undoubtedly traveling a spiritual path, which means you are endeavoring to immerse your day-to-day life in the reality of God. To this end, Jesus offers words of great comfort, support, and inspiration: “Fear not little flock, it pleases the Father to give you the Kingdom.” The “Good News” is that the spiritual life is not about acquiring something that is missing, but the simple process of allowing God’s ever-present Presence to unfold within our conscious awareness.
The “Good News” is that the spiritual life is not about acquiring something that is missing, but the simple process of allowing God’s ever-present Presence to unfold within our conscious awareness.
Repeatedly, Yogananda stated that the process of God-realization is not subject to the precarious whims of fate, but unfolds according to a loving, natural, orderly design. We are the very “image and likeness” of God, implying that we have the natural, innate capacity to experience God within our own awareness, as the very ground of our being: indeed, as the Self of the self. In other words, within the depths of our consciousness is the seed of God’s own Consciousness, just waiting to flower.
God’s Consciousness unfolds within us according to a very straightforward course of action, namely, by learning to lovingly, gently, and consistently place a portion of our attention on God’s name, no matter what, in any and all circumstances. In Yogananda’s own words, “In eating, dreaming, sleeping…my soul constantly hums, unheard by any, God, Christ, Gurus.” The loving repetition of God’s name is more than a sweet, devotional practice; it is spiritual science, in two very specific ways:
First of all, ordinary awareness has no essence, substance, or light of its own, but reflects the objects of our attention. For example, the more we focus on authentic truth, beauty, and love, the more truthful, beautiful, and loving our awareness becomes. On a lived level, this deliberate focusing implies that we become the objects of our persistent focusing. The more we center our affection and awareness on God’s name, the more God-like we become.
The more we center our affection and awareness on God’s name, the more God-like we become.
This process is perfectly modeled in the life of Francis of Assisi. Over time, he learned to constantly focus his attention on his Beloved Savior, so much so, that towards the end of his life the wounds of Christ spontaneously manifested on his body. As Francis moved through his daily life, his disciples often heard this prayer falling from his lips: “Jesus in our hearts, Jesus in our mouths, Jesus in our ears, Jesus in our eyes, Jesus in our hands, as we make our way in the world. Amen.” He became what he loved, in a manner of speaking, and so do we.
Secondly, it is important to understand that the name of God is more than a simple designation for God. When invoked with love, reverence, and faith, God’s name reveals God, not merely in a theological sense, but as an experiential Reality. In other words, the name of God carries Divine vibrations. Simply put, the Infinite, Eternal, and Transcendent Spirit explicitly enters into time, space, and history through the loving remembrance of the Divine name.
In short, as we prayerfully learn to place our attention on God’s name, our thoughts, emotions, and actions gradually become infused with divine consciousness, energy, and purpose. Yet, there is more: the loving repetition of God’s name also awakens the dormant divinity within us, slowly but surely arousing our capacity to live a divine life, not just in some future heaven, but right here, right now.
Researchers tell us that the vast majority of our thoughts are simply old, recycled, habitual thought patterns, with no capacity to inspire anything new or creative. Eventually, the grace of God’s name brings us to the ocean of Silence, from whence all wise, intelligent, and evolutionary thought arises. Which is our preference going to be: our own narrow, distorted and conditioned thoughts or the ever new, life-giving name of God?
Eventually, the grace of God’s name brings us to the ocean of Silence, from whence all wise, intelligent, and evolutionary thought arises.
Eventually, the grace of God’s name brings us to the ocean of Silence, from whence all wise, intelligent, and evolutionary thought arises.Focusing our attention on God’s name is not the same thing as picking a fight with the mind, a fight that cannot be won. No, we need to let the mind do what it is going to do. All that needs to be done is to take a portion of our awareness and place it on God’s name. At first, this awareness will take gentle, sustained effort. Over time, our awareness will effortlessly gravitate in the direction of God, more and more. Remember, even the desire to lovingly remember God’s name is remembering God’s name. And the very impulse to remember God’s name is God’s own desire to become Self-Conscious in us, through us, as us. Ultimately, remembering God’s name is the uncomplicated process of allowing our innate desire for God to naturally bubble up into our awareness and become the fulfillment of all our human longing.
