This week, Kriyabans from the Assisi Institute will share aspects of their journey on the spiritual path as Isha Das turns to other work on our behalf. Today’s reflection comes from Brahmacharya Krystal Stimus.
“Renunciation is the wise path trod by the devotee who willingly gives up the lesser for the greater. He relinquishes passing sense pleasures for the sake of eternal joys. Renunciation is not an end in itself, but clears the ground for the manifestation of soul qualities. No one should fear the rigors of self-denial; the spiritual blessings that follow are great and incomparable.”
Yogananda
As we begin to enter the season of Lent I find myself contemplating what this tradition means to me and how it applies to my Kriya Yoga practice. Before I was fully on a spiritual path, I often thought that Lenten sacrifice came much too soon after New Year’s resolutions. Whatever Lenten practice I did was in service of my own self-motivated goals rather than goals motivated by God. By rejecting my surrender to a spiritual life—because I had such a limited understanding of it—I was rejecting a deep part of myself. The part of me that is in union and in love with God is my soul! When I listen and allow my soul to lead the way, then my self-discipline becomes a holy offering in which I sacrifice a lower motivation to achieve a higher one. Lenten practices of giving up pleasures remind me that the purpose of life is not pleasure, but to pursue my union with God and to experience inner peace, joy, and stillness. With this understanding, I can relate Lent to my practice of the yogic principle of Bramacharya, one of our Yamas, or restraints. Bramacharya is the right use or conservation of energy (prana), which pulls my energy away from external desires. The practice of Bramacharya has led me to adjust my lifestyle so that I may have more vitality for the spiritual process. At first and even still at times, these adjustments seem very difficult, but then I remind myself of Krishna’s words to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: “When the mind runs after the roving senses, it carries away all understanding, just as the wind carries away a ship on the waters. What is night for all beings is the time of wakefulness for the sage. What is the time of wakefulness for all beings is night for the sage.” Here, I am reminded of priorities: when the world seems dazzling with the glitter of sense objects and pleasures, the sage is focused on understanding the reality of God. In the Christian spirit, Brahmacharya means turning away from my sins and back to God. Both of our traditions, Christian and Hindu, call us to detach from habits and tendencies that are contrary to God’s will for us.
O Lord,
Beloved Guruji,
Let me find you again,
And allow my heart to hear
the call of Lent as divine offering
to renew a commitment grown dull,
Shedding what I may,
to enter the narrow gate of heaven
Om, Shanti, Amen
