Parmahansa Yogananda: Staying Motivated on the Spiritual Path

After we find our spiritual path and start walking it, we feel exuberant, lighthearted, relieved to finally be on our way home. But after a mile or two we may become tired or discouraged.

We look around us, and it seems that the landscape has not changed; we are still the same unimproved, uninspired person we always were. And we wonder why we are not doing as well as we had expected and why we have not moved closer to our spiritual goal.

The great guru, Parmahansa Yogananda, knew that such let-downs would from time to time overcome the students of his teachings, so in addition to his Lessons containing the meditation and yoga techniques, he offered many other forms of writing such as poems in which he declared in dramatic ways that no matter how bogged down one may feel, there is no reason to become discouraged.

The great guru-poet insisted that the soul is on its way to God, no matter many times the thought occurs to one that life is just slowing down.

The great guru prefaces his poem from Songs of the Soul titled “My Soul Is Marching On” with the following words of solace:

Never be discouraged by this motion picture of life. Salvation is for all. Just remember that no matter what happens to you, still your soul is marching on. No matter where you go, your wandering footsteps will lead you back to God. There is no other way to go.

The poem creates a drama featuring life's dual nature. Stars are bright, yet are set in a contrast of darkness. As bright as the light of the sun is, yet the bright sunshine is not apparent during the nighttime.

Even the moon wanes as well as waxes. All of these natural phenomena keep their bright nature even when surrounded with darkness. Thus they exemplify the dual nature of light and dark.

The metaphor of time as a “grinding wheel” dramatizes the act of life fading from planets and even the lives of people. Flowers bloom and die; trees grow stately then are toppled; heroic figures are triumphant but for a short while. Time flies by, and each person’s life energies fade.

Yet as all of these dualities are in motion because we exist in physical and mental bodies, we falsely identify with the dying. The purpose of the spiritual path is to correct our vision, to help us understand that only on the physical level are these life-fading events occurring.

The soul is not affected by any of these changes: not the stars, the moon, the flowers, the trees, the demise of heroic men, nor the passing of aeons of time—nothing diminishes the soul.

It is always so uplifting to remember that the soul is ever new joy, ever new bliss, ever one with the Divine Beloved. After a dip in that memory, we look around and start walking our path again knowing we are, in fact, headed home. And once again we feel exuberant, lighthearted, and relieved to be traveling our spiritual path.

Reference~ www.owlcation.com/Parmahansa Yogananda

When He Tells You He Wants Out

i could not force
the tears back
my throat contracted
i was speechless
his words "i want a divorce"
hung in the air
i felt like a dog being
kicked in my side
his love for me
dry as a bone

When Words Aren't Needed

in your presence
words die away
my senses open
and my being
fills up
with your wildness
every molecule in me
feels intimacy
with every molecule of you

Less Toxic People, More Creativity

there are some individuals
that like to create
more pain for you
they don't deserve you
ignore them
stay away
they are just a distraction
from you creating
the life you
want for yourself

Abandonment Issues

the sweetness
of life
leaves you
when you're abandoned
you become more cautious
with your heart
and more suspicious
of any man
that says he loves you

Boys Chasing Girls

every man you ever gave your heart to either has lied to you, cheated on you, or mistreated you. now your alone and you see them for what they really are, a man-child, still running around on the playground chasing after girls to touch their ass and boobs, and then bragging to their friends about it, and then avoiding being sent to the principal’s office for punishment.

get over him! A real man doesn’t chase after other women. he also isn’t so damn insecure that talking about feelings makes him belittle or berate you. the man you're looking for only has an interest in your ass and boobs and cares deeply about your concerns. he’s the one worth waiting for.

The Ten Commitments

These are our freedoms, not our restrictions.  You shall know that you have taken the path of God, and you shall know that you have found God, for there will be these signs, these indications, these changes in you. You will know that you found the path to God when you see these signs. For God’s promise is that no one who truly seeks God shall any longer do these things. It would be impossible to continue such behaviors.                                                              

1.  You shall love God with all your heart, all your mind all your soul.  And there shall be no other God set before Me. No longer will you worship human love, or success, money, or power, nor any symbol thereof. You will set aside these things as a child sets aside toys. Not because they are unworthy, but because you have outgrown them.

And, you shall know you have taken the path to God.

2. You shall not use the name God in vain.  Nor will you call upon Me for frivolous things. You will understand the power of words, and of thoughts, and you would not think of invoking the name of God in an unGodly manner.  You shall not use my name in vain because you cannot.  For My name-the Great  “I Am” – is never used in vain (that is, without result), nor can it ever be.  And when you have found God, you shall know this.

And, I shall give you these other signs as well;

3. You shall remember to keep a day for me, and you shall call it holy.  This, so that you do not long stay in your illusion, but cause yourself to remember who and what you are.  And then shall you call every day the sabbath, and every moment holy.

4.  You shall honor your mother and your father – and you will know you are the Son of God when you honor Father/Mother/God in all that you say or do or think. And even as you honor the Father/Mother/God, and your father and mother on Earth (for they have given you life), so, too, will you honor everyone.

5.  You know you have found God when you observe that you will not murder (that is, willfully kill, without cause).  For while you will understand that you cannot end another’s life in any event (all life is eternal), you will not choose to terminate any particular incarnation, nor will not change any life energy from one form to another, without the most sacred justification.  Your new reverence for life will cause you to honor all life forms – including plants, trees and animals – and to impact them only when it is for the highest good.

And these other signs will I send you also, that you may know you are on the path.

6.  You will not defile the purity of love with dishonesty or deceit, for this is adulterous.  I promise you, when you have found God, you shall not commit this adultery.

7.  You shall not take a thing that is not your own, nor cheat, nor connive, nor harm another to have anything, for this would be to steal.  I promise you, when you have found God, you shall not steal.

Nor shall you…

8. Say a thing that is not true, and thus bear false witness.

Nor shall you…

9.  Covet your neighbor’s spouse, for why would you want your neighbor’s spouse when you know all others are your spouse?

10.  Covet your neighbor’s goods, for why would you want your neighbor’s goods when you know that all goods can be yours, and all your goods belong to the world?

Reference~ Conversations With God,  Neale Walsch