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    Introduction

    Yogananda’s mission to explain the underlying unity of the scriptures

    One of Paramahansa Yogananda's life-long missions was to promote the one Reality behind all the world's true religions, and to provide truth seekers of both East and West with the universal science of God-realization—the means to awaken a deeper awareness of the innate divinity latent in every human being.

    Among the ways in which Paramahansaji promoted the unity of the world's religions was through his lectures and writings. In these, he has revealed the hidden metaphysical truths of the great scriptures of East and West, and has shown how these sacred texts lead the seeker along the same universal path to oneness with God.

    On this page you will find excerpts from Yogananda's highly acclaimed interpretations of the four Gospels of the New Testament, India's Bhagavad Gita, and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. (Though not considered a "scripture" per se, the Rubaiyat is a beloved work of mystical poetry exemplifying the hidden divine truths taught by the Sufis within the Islamic tradition.)

    Hidden Truths in the Gospels

    Below you can read excerpts from The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, Paramahansa Yogananda’s two-volume commentary on the Gospels of the New Testament.

    As Paramahansaji said, Jesus went very deep in teachings that appear on the surface to be simple—much deeper than most people understand…In [his teachings] is the whole science of yoga, the transcendental way of divine union through meditation.”

    Jesus Christ

    Introduction

    In these pages I offer to the world an intuitionally perceived spiritual interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus, truths received through actual communion with Christ Consciousness.… They reveal the perfect unity that exists among the revelations of the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita of India, and all other time-tested true scriptures.

    The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the “Christian” Bible, for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all….

    In titling this work The Second Coming of Christ, I am not referring to a literal return of Jesus to earth....A thousand Christs sent to earth would not redeem its people unless they themselves become Christlike by purifying and expanding their individual consciousness to receive therein the second coming of the Christ Consciousness, as was manifested in Jesus....Contact with this Consciousness, experienced in the ever new joy of meditation, will be the real second coming of Christ—and it will take place right in the devotee’s own consciousness.

    The “Only Begotten Son”: Christ Consciousness

    There is a distinguishing difference of meaning between Jesus and Christ. His given name was Jesus; his honorific title was “Christ.” In his little human body called Jesus was born the vast Christ Consciousness, the omniscient Intelligence of God omnipresent in every part and particle of creation. This Consciousness is the “only begotten Son of God,” so designated because it is the sole perfect reflection in creation of the Transcendental Absolute, Spirit or God the Father.

    It was of that Infinite Consciousness, replete with the love and bliss of God, that Saint John spoke when he said: “As many as received him [the Christ Consciousness], to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” ...

    By the definite science of meditation known for millenniums to the yogis and sages of India, and to Jesus, any seeker of God can enlarge the caliber of his consciousness to omniscience—to receive within himself the Universal Intelligence of God.

    Video: “Christ Consciousness: The Goal for Each One of Us”

    In this short video excerpt from an Easter Service and Meditation, SRF/YSS President Brother Chidananda discusses the profound importance that Paramahansa Yogananda placed on the quote from St. John above; and how Paramahansaji taught that it was indeed possible for us to realize within ourselves the infinite consciousness which was manifest in Jesus, by putting into practice the teachings and techniques in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons.

    Hidden Truth in Jesus’ Parables

    And the disciples came, and said unto him, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” He answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given....Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”

    When Jesus was asked by his disciples why he taught the people in the subtle illustrations of parables, he answered, “Because it is so ordained that you who are my real disciples, living a spiritualized life and disciplining your actions according to my teachings, deserve by virtue of your inner awakening in your meditations to understand the truth of the arcane mysteries of heaven and how to attain the kingdom of God, Cosmic Consciousness hidden behind the vibratory creation of cosmic delusion. But ordinary people, unprepared in their receptivity, are not able either to comprehend or to practice the deeper wisdom-truths. From parables, they glean according to their understanding simpler truths from the wisdom I send out to them. By practical application of what they are able to receive, they make some progress toward redemption.”...

    How do the receptive perceive truth, whereas the unreceptive “seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand”? The ultimate truths of heaven and the kingdom of God, the reality that lies behind sensory perception and beyond the cogitations of the rationalizing mind, can only be grasped by intuition—awakening the intuitive knowing, the pure comprehension, of the soul.

    Jesus the Oriental Christ—A Supreme Yogi

    Christ has been much misinterpreted by the world. Even the most elementary principles of his teachings have been desecrated, and their esoteric depths have been forgotten. They have been crucified at the hands of dogma, prejudice, and cramped understanding. Genocidal wars have been fought, people have been burned as witches and heretics, on the presumed authority of man-made doctrines of Christianity. How to salvage the immortal teachings from the hands of ignorance? We must know Jesus as an Oriental Christ, a supreme yogi who manifested full mastery of the universal science of God-union, and thus could speak and act as a savior with the voice and authority of God. He has been Westernized too much.

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    Esoteric Truth Reveals the Universal Religion of God-Communion

    Exoteric reading of scripture engulfs in dogma the universality of religion. A panorama of unity unfolds in an understanding of esoteric truth....Divine incarnations do not come to bring a new or exclusive religion, but to restore the One Religion of God-realization.

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    Many are the churches and temples founded in his name, often prosperous and powerful, but where is the communion that he stressed—actual contact with God? Jesus wants temples to be established in human souls, first and foremost; then established outwardly in physical places of worship. Instead, there are countless huge edifices with vast congregations being indoctrinated in churchianity, but few souls who are really in touch with Christ through deep prayer and meditation.

    Rediscovering the Heart of Jesus’ Message

    The lack of individual prayer and communion with God has divorced modern Christians and Christian sects from Jesus’ teaching of the real perception of God, as is true also of all religious paths inaugurated by God-sent prophets whose followers drift into byways of dogma and ritual rather than actual God-communion. Those paths that have no esoteric soul-lifting training busy themselves with dogma and building walls to exclude people with different ideas. Divine persons who really perceive God include everybody within the path of their love, not in the concept of an eclectic congregation but in respectful divine friendship toward all true lovers of God and the saints of all religions.

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    The Good Shepherd of souls opened his arms to all, rejecting none, and with universal love coaxed the world to follow him on the path to liberation through the example of his spirit of sacrifice, renunciation, forgiveness, love for friend and enemy alike, and supreme love for God above all else. As the tiny babe in the manger at Bethlehem, and as the savior who healed the sick and raised the dead and applied the salve of love on the wounds of errors, the Christ in Jesus lived among men as one of them that they too might learn to live like gods.

    The Indescribable Love of God

    “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you....

    “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

    Jesus promised his disciples that “if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you”—if their consciousness were perfectly in tune with the Christ Consciousness and Its emanations of Cosmic Vibration—they would be able to demonstrate untold wonders through operating the universal creative principle....

    Then Jesus spoke to them precious words, none dearer to the devotee’s heart, that he loved them with the same divine, impartial, undying love with which the Heavenly Father loved him....Try to imagine the love spoken of by Jesus in these verses....

    To feel that soul-love of all pure hearts is to be transported in an ecstasy of joy so great, so overwhelming, that it cannot be contained—a charge of bliss passing through one’s being, a thousand million volts of rapturous power. This divine emotion is beyond description — a communion of unutterable sweetness with the Infinite Grace, the Indescribable Glory, the Eternal Protection. That is the love of God which Jesus felt, and in which he sheltered his disciples: “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”

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    The Gospel preserves a record of Jesus’ words on this holy occasion; but readers should realize—and try to feel within themselves as though they, too, were present—that behind those words was the tangible vibratory presence of God. During times of divine fellowship (satsanga) such as Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, those who are receptive feel transported into a higher consciousness of God-perception pouring into their hearts and minds as the master speaks. This attunement imbues the devotee’s consciousness, in the highest way, whenever he summons the guru’s grace in the inner temple of deep, worshipful meditation.

    The Resurrection of Jesus, and His Ever-Living Presence

    Resurrection has been well understood by accomplished yogis of India since the dawn of the highest ages. Jesus himself was a realized yogi: one who knew and had mastered the spiritual science of life and death, God-communion and God-union, one who knew the method of liberation from delusion into the kingdom of God. Jesus showed throughout his life and death his power of complete mastery over his body and mind and the oft-recalcitrant forces of nature. We understand resurrection in its true sense when we comprehend the yoga science that clearly defines the underlying principles by which Jesus resurrected his crucified body into the freedom and light of God....

    No other science has detailed the descent of the individualized consciousness of God as the soul into man and its evolutionary and spiritual ascent back into Spirit. In this modern age, Kriya Yoga has been brought forward after being lost in the dark ages, as a definite method to hasten the spiritual evolution of human consciousness and open the inner cerebrospinal pathway of ascension, releasing the soul through the spiritual eye into the kingdom of the Holy Ghost, the Christ Consciousness, and the Cosmic Consciousness of God the Father.

    The Kingdom of God Within You

    There is a beautiful accord between the teachings of Jesus Christ to enter the “kingdom of God within you” and the teachings of Yoga set forth by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita to restore King Soul, the reflection of God in man, to its rightful rulership of the bodily kingdom, with full realization of the soul’s godly states of consciousness. When man is settled in that inner kingdom of divine consciousness, the awakened intuitive perception of the soul pierces the veils of matter, life energy, and consciousness and uncovers the God-essence in the heart of all things….

    Raja Yoga, the royal way of God-union, is the science of actual realization of the kingdom of God that lies within oneself. Through practice of the sacred yoga techniques of interiorization received during initiation from a true guru, one can find that kingdom by awakening the astral and causal centers of life force and consciousness in the spine and brain that are the gateways into the heavenly regions of transcendent consciousness. One who achieves such awakening knows the omnipresent God in His Infinite Nature, and in the purity of one’s soul, and even in the delusive cloaks of changeable material forms and forces.

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    Jesus went very deep in teachings that appear on the surface to be simple—much deeper than most people understand…. [In his teachings] is the whole science of yoga, the transcendental way of divine union through meditation.

    The Hidden Truths in the Bhagavad Gita

    Below you can read excerpts from Paramahansa Yogananda's highly acclaimed two-volume commentary, God Talks With Arjuna—The Bhagavad Gita: Royal Science of God-Realization. As Paramahansaji said, "The entire knowledge of the cosmos is packed into the Gita. Supremely profound yet couched in revelatory language...the Gita has been understood and applied on all levels of human endeavor and spiritual striving….Wherever one is on the way back to God, the Gita will shed its light on that segment of the journey."

    The Bhagavad Gita: A Universal Scripture

    The timeless and universal message of the Gita is all-encompassing in its expression of truth.

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    Bhagavad Gita means "Song of the Spirit," the divine communion of truth-realization between man and his Creator, the teachings of Spirit through the soul, that should be sung unceasingly…. The underlying essential truths of all great world scriptures can find common amity in the infinite wisdom of the Gita's mere 700 concise verses.

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    The entire knowledge of the cosmos is packed into the Gita. Supremely profound, yet couched in revelatory language of solacing beauty and simplicity, the Gita has been understood and applied on all levels of human endeavor and spiritual striving—sheltering a vast spectrum of human beings with their disparate natures and needs. Wherever one is on the way back to God, the Gita will shed its light on that segment of the journey.

    Cracking the Code of the Gita's Yogic Symbolism and Allegory

    The ancient sacred writings do not clearly distinguish history from symbology; rather, they often intermix the two in the tradition of scriptural revelation. Prophets would pick up instances of the everyday life and events of their times and from them draw similes to express subtle spiritual truths. Divine profundities would not otherwise be conceivable by the ordinary man unless defined in common terms. When, as they often did, scriptural prophets wrote in more recondite metaphors and allegories, it was to conceal from ignorant, spiritually unprepared minds the deepest revelations of Spirit.

    Thus, in a language of simile, metaphor, and allegory, the Bhagavad Gita was very cleverly written by Sage Vyasa by interweaving historical facts with psychological and spiritual truths, presenting a word-painting of the tumultuous inner battles that must be waged by both the material and the spiritual man. In the hard shell of symbology, he hid the deepest spiritual meanings to protect them from the devastation of the ignorance of the Dark Ages toward which civilization was descending concurrent with the end of Sri Krishna's incarnation on earth.

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    The words of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita are at once a profound scripture on the science of yoga, union with God, and a textbook for everyday living. The student is led step by step with Arjuna from the mortal consciousness of spiritual doubt and weakheartedness to divine attunement and inner resolve.

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    The Bhagavad Gita—a comprehensive metaphysical and psychological treatise—describes all experiences that will come to the spiritual traveler on the path of emancipation…. the positive states the devotee is striving toward [and] the negative states that try to intimidate the devotee and turn him from his goal. "Forewarned is forearmed!" The devotee who understands the route he must travel will never feel unsure or dismayed at inevitable opposition.

    The Spiritual Battle and Ultimate Victory in Everyday Life

    The timeless message of the Bhagavad Gita does not refer only to one historical battle, but to the cosmic conflict between good and evil: life as a series of battles between Spirit and matter, soul and body, life and death, knowledge and ignorance, health and disease, changelessness and transitoriness, self-control and temptations, discrimination and the blind sense-mind....

    The devotee should analyze his daily mental and physical actions to determine just how much of his life is ruled by the ego's ignorance (delusion) and body consciousness, and how much he is able to express of the soul's wisdom and divine nature.

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    Yoga meditation is the process of cultivating and stabilizing the awareness of one's real nature, through definite spiritual and psychophysical methods and laws by which the narrow ego, the flawed hereditary human consciousness, is displaced by the consciousness of the soul.

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    Each person has to fight his own battle of Kurukshetra. It is a war not only worth winning, but in the divine order of the universe and of the eternal relationship between the soul and God, a war that sooner or later must be won.

    In the holy Bhagavad Gita, the quickest attainment of that victory is assured to the devotee who, through undiscourageable practice of the divine science of yoga meditation, learns like Arjuna to hearken to the inner wisdom-song of Spirit.

    The Gita's Balanced Path: Meditation Plus Right Activity

    [Lord Krishna's] life demonstrates the ideal not of renunciation of action—which is a conflicting doctrine for man circumscribed by a world whose life breath is activity—but rather the renunciation of earth-binding desires for the fruits of action.… Man should so train his mind by constant meditation that he can perform the necessary dutiful actions of his daily life and still maintain the consciousness of God within....

    Sri Krishna's message in the Bhagavad Gita is the perfect answer for the modern age, and any age: Yoga of dutiful action, of nonattachment, and of meditation for God-realization. To work without the inner peace of God is Hades; and to work with His joy ever bubbling through the soul is to carry a portable paradise within, wherever one goes.

    The path advocated by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita is the moderate, medium, golden path, both for the busy man of the world and for the highest spiritual aspirant. To follow the path advocated by the Bhagavad Gita would be their salvation, for it is a book of universal Self-realization, introducing man to his true Self, the soul—showing him how he has evolved from Spirit, how he may fulfill on earth his righteous duties, and how he may return to God. The Gita's wisdom is not for dry intellectualists to perform mental gymnastics with its sayings for the entertainment of dogmatists; but rather to show a man or woman living in the world, householder or renunciant, how to live a balanced life that includes the actual contact of God, by following the step-by-step methods of yoga.

    The Eternal Science of Raja Yoga

    In the beginning of creation and the advent of man, the Infinite impregnated His intelligent creative Cosmic Energy (Maha-Prakriti or Holy Ghost) with not only the power of repulsion—the individualizing of Cosmic Consciousness into souls and a universe of matter—but also with the power of recalling souls from their prodigal wanderings in matter back to unity with Spirit. All things come from, are made of and sustained by, and ultimately resolve into this intelligent Cosmic Energy, and thence into Spirit. Ascension follows in reverse the exact course of descension. In man, that course is the inner highway to the Infinite, the only route to divine union for followers of all religions in all ages. By whatever bypath of beliefs or practices a being reaches that singular highway, the final ascension from body consciousness to Spirit is the same for everyone: the withdrawal of life and consciousness from the senses upward through the gates of light in the subtle cerebrospinal centers, dissolving the consciousness of matter into life force, life force into mind, mind into soul, and soul into Spirit. The method of ascension is Raja Yoga, the eternal science that has been integral in creation from its inception.

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    The Kriya Yoga technique, taught by Krishna to Arjuna and referred to in Gita chapters IV:29 and V:27–28, is the supreme spiritual science of yoga meditation. Secreted during the materialistic ages, this indestructible yoga was revived for modern man by Mahavatar Babaji and taught by the Gurus of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. Babaji himself ordained me to spread this holy science of God-union....

    Any devotee who will emulate Arjuna—epitome of the ideal disciple—and perform his rightful duty with nonattachment, and perfect his practice of yoga meditation through a technique such as Kriya Yoga, will similarly draw the blessings and guidance of God and win the victory of Self-realization.

    As God talked with Arjuna, so will He talk with you. As He lifted up the spirit and consciousness of Arjuna, so will He uplift you. As He granted Arjuna supreme spiritual vision, so will He confer enlightenment on you.

    We have seen in the Bhagavad Gita the story of the soul's journey back to God—a journey each one must make. O divine soul! like Arjuna, "Forsake this small weakheartedness (of mortal consciousness). Arise!" Before you is the royal path.

    The Hidden Truths in Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat

    Wine of the Mystic, presenting Paramahansa Yogananda's complete commentaries on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, brings together the poetic and spiritual insights of three men of great renown, whose lives spanned a period of more than nine hundred years. The eleventh-century verses of Omar Khayyam, and their nineteenth-century translation by Edward FitzGerald, have long delighted readers. Yet the true meaning of the poem has been a subject of much debate. In his illuminating interpretation, Paramahansa Yogananda reveals—behind the enigmatic veil of metaphor—the mystical essence of this literary classic.

    Paramahansa Yogananda's interpretation of the Rubaiyat was one aspect of a lifelong effort to awaken people of both East and West to a deeper awareness of the innate divinity latent in every human being. Like the enlightened sages of all spiritual traditions, Sri Yogananda perceived that underlying the doctrines and practices of the various religions is one Truth, one transcendent Reality. It was this universal outlook and breadth of vision that enabled him to elucidate the profound kinship between the teachings of India's ancient science of Yoga and the writings of one of the greatest and most misunderstood mystical poets of the Islamic world, Omar Khayyam.

    More than just a commentary, this book presents a spiritual teaching for the conduct of life. Paramahansa Yogananda reveals that behind Omar Khayyam's outward imagery is hidden a profoundly beautiful understanding of the joy and sublime purpose of human existence.

    “The Revelation of Omar Khayyam”

    From Paramahansa Yogananda's introduction to Wine of the Mystic

    “Long ago in India I met a hoary Persian poet who told me that the poetry of Persia often has two meanings, one inner and one outer. I remember the great satisfaction I derived from his explanations of the twofold significance of several Persian poems.

    “One day as I was deeply concentrated on the pages of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, I suddenly beheld the walls of its outer meanings crumble away, and the vast inner fortress of golden spiritual treasures stood open to my gaze.

    “Ever since, I have admired the beauty of the previously invisible castle of inner wisdom in the Rubaiyat. I have felt that this dream-castle of truth, which can be seen by any penetrating eye, would be a haven for many shelter-seeking souls invaded by enemy armies of ignorance….

    “As I worked on the spiritual interpretation of the Rubaiyat, it took me into an endless labyrinth of truth, until I was rapturously lost in wonderment. The veiling of Khayyam's metaphysical and practical philosophy in these verses reminds me of ‘The Revelation of St. John the Divine.’ The Rubaiyat may rightly be called 'The Revelation of Omar Khayyam.’”

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    The following selections are excerpts from Paramahansa Yogananda's Wine of the Mystic

    On meditation and God-communion...

    Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

    A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou

    Beside me singing in the Wilderness—

    And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

    “Sitting in the deep silence of meditation, with my mind concentrated on the cerebrospinal tree of life and spiritual consciousness, I rest in the shade of peace. Nourished by the life-giving ‘bread' of prana [life energy], I quaff the aged wine of divine intoxication brimming the cask of my soul. Unceasingly my heart recites the poetic inspirations of eternal divine love. In this wilderness of deepest innermost silence—whence all tumult of thronging desires has died away—I commune with Thee, my Supreme Beloved, the Singing Blessedness. Thou dost sweetly intone to me the all-desire-satisfying music of wisdom. Ah, wilderness, free from the clamor of material desires and passions! in this aloneness I am not lonely. In the solitude of my inner silence I have found the paradise of unending Joy.”

    On inner peace and fulfillment...

    The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon

    Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon,

    Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face

    Lighting a little Hour or two—is gone.

    Only the ignorant man expects perfection and lasting fulfillment from this earth; and brokenhearted he enters the portals of the grave. The enlightened man, knowing the delusive nature of the world, does not build his hopes here. Remaining unmoved by earthly desires, the wise seek the lasting Reality; they enter the vastness of Eternal Fulfillment.

    Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears

    TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears—

    To-morrow? —Why, To-morrow I may be

    Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

    O my Soul! fill my consciousness with the ambrosia of bliss, flowing from the cask of ecstasy. Naught but that divine communion can dispel the haunting memories of past errors and the fear of future wrongs, with their yield of evil consequences.

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    Through meditation one can experience a stable, silent inner peace that can be a permanently soothing background for all harmonious or trialsome activities demanded by life's responsibilities....A lump of sand cannot withstand the erosive effect of the ocean's waves; an individual who lacks imperturbable inner peace cannot remain tranquil during mental conflict. But as a diamond remains unchanged no matter how many waves swirl around it, so also a peace-crystallized individual remains radiantly serene even when trials beset him from all sides. Out of the changeful waters of life, let us salvage through meditation the diamond of unchangeable soul-consciousness, which sparkles with the everlasting joy of Spirit.

    On the spiritual quest...

    With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,

    And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:

    And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd—

    “I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”

    The seed of wisdom is given by the guru or master of Self-realization; but the soil, or receptivity, and the cultivation of that seed must be supplied by the devotee....Self-discipline is not self-torture; it is the way to organize and concentrate the unruly forces of the mind on those specific habits of living that can bring us true happiness. By doggedly following the methods of self-discipline we can rid ourselves of restlessness, bad habits, and misery-producing desires, and become truly happy. When we are weak, restless, and mentally unstable, we remain earthbound, like water. But when we become spiritualized by self-discipline and deep meditation, we soar like the wind in the omnipresence of our true soul nature.

    On transcending the law of karma...

    'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days

    Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:

    Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,

    And one by one back in the Closet lays.

    As a checkerboard consists of alternate white and dark squares on which chessmen representing rulers and their underlings are moved about, so does the rotating earth with its alternating days and nights form a grand checkerboard on which are played the lives of human chessmen....Men are moved from one state or condition to another throughout their lives, and are often thwarted in purpose, unable to carry out their plans. Finally, their existences are cut short by the transition called death….

    When destiny maneuvers the game of your life through advances, stalemates, and retreats, it should be remembered that these effects are from causes you yourself have created in past lives. You should neither curse fate for your sorrows nor hail luck as the progenitor of your good fortune, but recognize your own hand in the turning of events in your life. If you are unhappy with your self-created destiny, remind yourself that God has given you the power of free choice to change that fate. Protracted efforts at right action produce gradual benefits; but if in addition you unite your will with God's wisdom through deep meditation, you will know instantly the real meaning of freedom.

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    Instead of letting time and fate rule our destiny, crushing out the vivacity of one incarnation after another, why not let God immortalize us with His celestial touch? No longer, then, will we need to creep into the lap of afterlife to rest. Being with God, we will be Eternal Life Itself, never again to be enslaved by limitations behind the prison walls of past, present, and future.

    On the meaning of the cosmic drama...

    Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire

    To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,

    Would not we shatter it to bits—and then

    Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

    Thus does every being at times wish he could play the role of Creator and make this world more to his heart's desire. This longing for unalloyed happiness springs from the core of the soul in which is secreted the divinely inherent perfection and everlasting bliss of one's true being.

    The world is a divine enigma—evil mixed with good, sorrow with joy, death with life….We should not rack our brains nor become disbelievers in a divine scheme in creation if we cannot understand all the paradoxical dramas of good and evil, of happiness and sorrow, of rich and poor, of health and sickness, of intelligence and stupidity, of peace and wars, of kindness and cruelty in nature. A successful play has suspense, captivates the interest, bewilders or puzzles, and ends with a satisfying dramatic flourish….Similarly, God will in time suddenly lift the veil for every ascending soul, disclosing the final part of the Cosmic Drama, long concealed behind the many acts of tragedies and comedies, to reveal its mighty, noble end.

    On the love of God...

    Said one—“Folks of a surly Tapster tell,

    And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;

    They talk of some strict Testing of us—Pish!

    He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.”

    There are people who depict their Creator as one who imperiously tests man with the smoke of ignorance and the fire of punishment, and who judges man's actions with heartless scrutiny. They thus distort the true concept of God as a loving, compassionate Heavenly Father into a false image of one who is a strict, unsparing, and vengeful tyrant. But devotees who commune with God know it is foolish to think of Him otherwise than as the Compassionate Being who is the infinite receptacle of all love and goodness. As God, the Father of the Universe, is good, all things must end well with His children; they and all creation are moving to a glorious climax and reunion in Him.