An introduction:
Paramahansa Yogananda taught that an extremely powerful way to build greater love, harmony, and understanding in our relationships with others is to try to perceive the Divine Presence in everyone. This, he said, is an essential practice for our spiritual growth and in order to know lasting happiness — as individuals and as a world.
Below we offer inspiration from Paramahansaji on how you can cultivate seeing yourself and each person you meet as a joyous soul — a child of the Divine and a true emanation of the one Bliss of Spirit.
From the talks and writings of Paramahansa Yogananda:
One thing you must learn here on earth is that you are a child of God. When you know that, you will know that everyone is a child of God even as you are. What a tremendous realization! that all persons are of God — that everyone and everything that comes to you comes from God! The more you appreciate the divine image in everyone, the more you are alive with God’s consciousness.
It is God, and God alone, who has encased Himself as the soul in the many human beings He has created. And when one human being loves another with pure divine love, he sees the spirit of God manifesting in that person.
In divine love, you see God not only in your friends, but in your enemies as well. You treat everyone as a child of God....All the great ones that I have seen are humble, because they see God in all, having found the image of God in themselves. That is realization.
You may ask: “How can I learn to love my enemies? I am not strong enough to do that.” My answer is this: “Constant communion with the Infinite by Self-Realization Fellowship methods of meditation fills one with divine love, which alone enables one to love one’s enemies.”
Yoga teaches us to know the divine nature in ourselves and others....When by persistence in meditation you realize God through communion with Him, your heart is prepared to embrace all humanity.
See God in everyone, as I see Him....Mentally put yourself in the position of others, and then with the utmost kindness you will be able to understand and help them. There is no greater joy.
[Affirm:] Bless me, that I may find Thee in the temple of each thought and activity. Finding Thee within, I shall find Thee without, in all people and all conditions.
You can read more excerpts from Paramahansaji’s writings on how to create greater love, harmony, and understanding in your relationships with others.
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