In Divine Friendship

Swami Kriyananda

Description

This extraordinary book of letters, written by Swami Kriyananda in response to questions and inquiries from his friends, students and critics over a thirty-year period, responds to practically any concern a spiritual seeker might have—how to meditate deeply; strengthening one's faith; developing divine attunement; accelerating spiritual progress; overcoming negative self-judgments; responding to illness, the right attitude toward money and profit, becoming a good leader, attracting a mate, sexuality, raising children—any many, many other subjects.

Sujets

• reincarnation
• Gurú
• Spiritual formation
• God
• Swami Kriyananda
• Autobiography of a Yogi
• Spirituality
• Yoga
• Méditation
• Kriya Yoga
• Transformation
• Karma
• Disciple

Informations

• Publié par: Crystal Clarity Publishers
• Date de parution: 14 avril 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781565896086
• Langue: English

Extrait

IN DIVINE FRIENDSHIP
IN DIVINE FRIENDSHIP
Letters of Counsel and Reflection
SWAMI KRIYANANDA
Copyright © 2008 Hansa Trust
All rights reserved
First Edition
Printed in United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-56589-225-5
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Interior Design by Tejindra Scott Tully
Cover Photo by Barbara Bingham
Cover Design by Renee Glenn
Produced by Crystal Clarity Publishers
Crystal Clarity Publishers
14618 Tyler Foote Road
Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
Tel: [phone] or 530.478.7600
[e-mail]
www.crystalclarity.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kriyananda, Swami.
In Divine Friendship : letters of counsel and reflection / Swami Kriyananda.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-56589-225-5 (tradepaper, photos, index)
eISBN 978-1-56589-608-6
1. Ananda Cooperative Village. 2. Kriyananda, Swami.—Correspondence. I. Title.
BP605.S38A525 2007
294.5’44--dc22
2007022738
Contents Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Foreword Love Advice and Encouragement Judgmental Attitudes Thank You Marriage and Renunciation Strong Medicine Yogic Techniques Avatar Writing Swami Kriyananda’s Role Ananda: Past, Present, and Future Chanting Insights and Commentary Leadership Yoga and Christianity Self-Realization Fellowship World Conditions Suffering and Death Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God Further Explorations
i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385
Guide Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Foreword Start of Content Further Explorations
Foreword
This book of letters by Swami Kriyananda is entitled “In Divine Friendship.” What is a divine friend?
Imagine someone who never judges, who loves you despite your faults, who sees you in terms of your highest spiritual potential, and is totally committed to helping you realize that potential. Imagine someone who gives you strength and understanding, seeking nothing in return, who offers, but never imposes, his views. Imagine someone who is always forgiving, respectful, and loving, even under the most adverse circumstances.
This begins to describe Swami Kriyananda, as seen through the letters in this book.
A newspaper reporter once asked Swami Kriyananda why so many people love him. Kriyananda’s answer was, “Perhaps it’s because I love them.” Love is the magnet that draws love, and love is the thread that connects the letters in this book, whether to students, friends, or total strangers.
Swami Kriyananda’s life of service began in 1948 when he became a disciple of the great Indian yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi . Trained by Yogananda for a life of writing, editing, and lecturing, Kriyananda has given thousands of lectures in many countries, written over 85 books, and composed over 400 pieces of uplifting music. He is the founder of Ananda Sangha, a worldwide organization that disseminates Yogananda’s teachings.
On many occasions, Yogananda strongly encouraged the establishment of “world brotherhood colonies,” places where people could live simply, guided by spiritual ideals. Fulfilling his guru’s vision, in 1968 Kriyananda founded Ananda Cooperative Village, which has expanded to eight communities and ashrams in the United States, Europe, and India. Letters covering the various stages in the development of the Ananda communities are included in this book.
Swami Kriyananda once described Paramhansa Yogananda as “wearing his wisdom without the slightest affectation, like a comfortable old jacket that one has been wearing for years.”
The same can be said of Swami Kriyananda. Clearly and with deep insight, he explains in these letters how to live every aspect of life in attunement with the Divine. Ultimately, it is divine attunement that enables Kriyananda to offer God’s love and friendship to all, and that will also enable other truth seekers, inspired by his example, to do the same.
Friends of Swami Kriyananda
The nearly 250 letters in this book were taken from Swami Kriyananda’s paper and computer files dating from the mid 1970s to the present, and are essentially as he wrote them, edited primarily to delete identifying information, digressions, and other non-essential material. Before publication, Kriyananda carefully reviewed each letter, and made only a few minor, clarifying changes.
Crystal Clarity Publishers
IN DIVINE FRIENDSHIP
“This is what I would like to see ever-more deeply in you: childlike trust in Divine Mother, devotion ,
LOVE
openness to Her guidance and love, holding nothing back from Her because you are completely Hers.”

God’s love will never change 1
April 5, 1995
Dear ———:
If we feel God’s love in someone’s love for us, then that is right and good. I remember once in India telling the woman saint, Anandamoyi Ma, how much I and others in America loved her. Her reply was, “There is no love except God’s love.”
The worldly ego might take her reply as a put-down, but I understood it as a reminder that we can truly love others only to the degree that we do so consciously as instruments of God’s love.
It is easy to feel love for those who are kind and good, and easier still if they love us. But the test of godly love is to be able to feel it also for those who hate us. And especially for those who are determined to destroy us. God says to us, “They are My children, too.” In other words, “If you love Me, you must love them also, for they too are Mine.” We must love not only them, but all the tests that God sends us.
Ultimately, the only important thing you can do in life is love God. The only fact that truly matters in life is that God loves you.
It is a simple fact that the more we try to do good, the more enemies we will have—along with those who sincerely love, appreciate, and support us. But even were everyone to turn against us, the supremely important fact of God’s love will never change. The tests we face, therefore, are always blessings. If nothing else, they inspire us to keep that one divine priority fixed ever before our gaze. Everything else passes. Our relationship with God is eternal. He is our own, as no one else ever will or ever can be.
The solution to our worries is love, and more love—divine love, not egoic love (the ego’s love is rooted in likes and dislikes). As the Bible says, “Perfect love casteth out fear.”
“Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God.” When your love for Him is effortless and complete, you will have Him.
In divine friendship , Opening oneself to God’s love 2
April 4, 1995
Dear ———:
I understand you’re on a retreat. That’s wonderful! We all need to retreat now and then, not for recreation, but to re-create ourselves.
In thinking about love, it’s important not to emphasize someone’s personal love for you, or yourself as the receiver. What’s important on retreat is to understand as deeply as possible God’s love for you, and yours for God. He loves you far more than any human being ever could—far more than you could ever love yourself, except in Him. So don’t be afraid to open yourself to that love completely, inviting it into all the dusty corners of your heart, and sweeping them clean.
On retreat, one thinks of God’s love and of other eternal verities. But it is important also to translate that love onto this practical plane of existence. Here are two sayings from a new book of mine called, Do It NOW! that you might enjoy, for we all get our feelings hurt occasionally:
Don’t close your heart, when your feelings have been hurt. For contraction causes its own pain. How others behave toward you is like the weather: not under your control. But how you behave, and what your feelings are, need be determined by no one but yourself. To accept a hurt from anyone is to suffer twice.
Be not afraid to love. Even if your love is unrequited, you will be the richer for having loved. Water that doesn’t flow grows stagnant.
The more you feel God’s love in your heart, the more important it is to channel that love to everyone. As I’ve written in Do It NOW!
Wish the best for everybody, and, in the very act of blessing them, you yourself will be blessed. A stained-glass window, when the sun-light pours through it, is brighter and more beautiful itself than the light w