Why do we desire peace?

Life has only one goal, it is the realization of blissfulness. All possessions are pain bearing if they are not blessed with peace. Life without peace is existence in eternal sorrow. The most powerful impelling force of all my aspirations and desires is my longing for peace. The yearning for happiness is the most secret as well as the most sacred desire of the human heart because all its hopes and aspirations spring forth from this innate and fundamental longing of the inner spirit of man. I am absolutely certain that even if I wanted to suppress, much less eradicate, my yearning for peace I would be utterly unsuccessful. I know that I want to live in peace and happiness, joy and contentment. I want to live in peace, peace for myself as well as peace for my fellowmen. The attainment of knowledge is the supreme purpose of life and the realization of peace is the divine goal of human existence.

Why do we desire peace? Because peace is the basic substance of our being. It is a constituent quality of our spiritual self. Peace is the divine essence of the soul. We long for that which belongs to us and we are never satisfied until we have regained our divine treasure. The longing for peace is the most blessed yearning of our soul, the most righteous desire of our being.

Within the immensity of my illumined pure consciousness I have discovered the abode of unbounded joy and ever abiding peace. This inner peace has no limitation either in depth or in expansiveness. It is immeasurable and infinite.

Furthermore, it is completely free from any objective association. It is the very essence of peace, the substance of happiness itself. It is peace in its purest perfection. It is happiness in its abundant fullness. It is the living joy of beatitude. It is the peace of soul in the blissfulness of God. It is there within my consciousness. It has always been there. It has not been passive and silent. On the contrary, it has been very dynamic and eloquent in my intuitive awareness of its presence within me. The power of peace is eternal and the voice of peace is heard within the heart and soul of every being. In searching for peace man seeks to regain the blessedness of his soul. I have found the peace of God in my soul, within the abode of my pure and illumined consciousness.

I often retire into the inner abode of my illumined pure consciousness to dwell in the peace of God within me. God has built a heaven of blissfulness within me.

Swami Premananda
The Abode of Peace Within My Consciousness

When a Gift is Offered

Whosoever with devotion offers me a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I accept it from him as the devout gift of a pure heart. O son of Kunti, whatever thou doest, whatever thou eatest, whatever thou offerest as oblation, whatever thou givest as gift, and whatever soul’s power thou puttest forth, do it as an offering unto me.

When a gift is offered with the thought that it is righteous to perform acts of charity, without expecting anything in return, at the right time and place and to a worthy person, that gift is regarded as the source of self-liberation and peace.

That gift which is made with the hope of receiving in return, or desiring personal reward, or with reluctance, is known as the source of pride and sorrow. The gift that is given at the wrong place or time, to unworthy persons, or ungraciously and with contempt, is the cause of self-degradation and misery.

AUM-TAT-SAT, this has been declared to be the triple name of Brahman, by which in the beginning were created and sanctified the Brahmanas, the Vedas and the sacrifice. Therefore, with the utterance of AUM, the worshippers of Brahman always commence their acts of sacrifice, charity and austerity, as enjoined by the laws of the holy scriptures. The seekers of liberation, uttering TAT, without desiring any phenomenal reward, perform various acts of sacrifice, austerity and charity. The word SAT is used to signify reality and goodness. O son of Pritha, the word SAT is also used to indicate and extol an auspicious act.

Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita: The Revelation of the Supreme Self
9:26-27, 17: 20-22, 23-26
Translation by Swami Premananda

The Unselfish Life

It is impossible to withstand the inevitable tragedies of life on earth if we seek life apart from God. Life in God is universal life, it is life in the universality, wisdom and joy of the Self. We shall be drowned in the ocean of misery if we live in selfishness. A little straw in the river sinks down under a small weight. A log floats, though a crocodile may lie upon it. A selfish life is like the little straw which is unable to hold itself up against the burden of a little suffering. An unselfish man is like the log, though the monster of great misery be thrust upon him, he lives in serenity, wisdom and joy. The life of wisdom is to live in the realization of the Self in all. All is the Self. Realize the Self in all; love the Self in all. In such realization, life becomes a joyous progress and love a living power.

Realization of the Self
Swami Premananda

Come out into Nature

Come out into Nature—not the nature of maps and marked paths—not even the nature of America or any particular country—but the Nature of God…and of yourself. That Nature is filled with whispers of ruling powers which inhabit trees and flowers, streams and mountains. They will feed your inspiration and speak to you in your own immortal language. There is such sweetness and loveliness, profound lessons of law and justice, mystic messages, and virtues “civilized” man has yet to learn. And freedom! No wealth of mere possession can buy the sheer luxury of such freedom; it comes only by the grace of God to a heart attuned to creation’s glory. Time “lost” in Nature is priceless. It is also healing. It will take the aches out of your joints and mind, preserving health and harmony and uplifting your spirits.

Frontiers of the Spirit
Swami Kamalananda

Twelve Lights on the Subjective Life

1. Cultivate the consciousness of the inner life. “Do not follow the way of the worldly-minded.” (Isha Upanishad). Learn to seek God by seeing God.

2. Seek to earnestly know who you are. Self-knowledge is the source of freedom, peace, joy and love. It is the basis for enlightened character.

3. Realize the truth regarding the immortality and perfection of soul, thereby overcoming the worry and anxiety which arise from false identification with the physical and mental bodies.

4. Treasure the virtues of the Soul. They are wisdom, goodness, selflessness, purity, joy and love. Desire for “special status” of social position, fortune, and vain beauty obscures the true wealth of the Soul.

5. Cultivate humility. Humility is not self-abnegation nor cowardly passivity, but strength of character by the grace of God. It is identification with the source and perfection of all our powers of righteousness. In the words of Jesus of Christ Consciousness: “I of mine own self do nothing. Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

6. Learn to transcend the self-limiting concepts of time, space and relationship by renouncing such attachments to the world of opposites as these: myself/others; pleasure/pain; life/death; success/failure; praise/blame; fortune/misfortune; superiority/inferiority.

7. Value the sacredness of love—believing in and acting according to its transforming and perfecting power. Selfless love ennobles every life and establishes the heart on God. It strengthens the will, brings peace to the mind and purifies the heart.

8. Give up the idea that your inmost self is separate from others. In our truest life—in our aspirations and even in the difficulties we face in walking the path of God—we are one. No blessing or gift from God is exclusive or momentary.

9. Place the ideal of God above all else in your life. The objective structure of our life is meaningful and rewarding only inasmuch as it is sustained and guided by spiritual understanding and enduring faith. Have courage to let all go but God.

10. Learn to perceive this universe as friendly and your life as auspicious and blessed. Everything is the manifestation of God, and soul is perfect—now and evermore.

11. Find ways to practice and share your idealism through service. Selflessness, the duty of spirituality, is the glorification and adoration of divinity everywhere. It includes charity, trust, understanding, kindness and helpfulness.

12. Accept that the spiritual art of living is hard work, requiring sincere and devoted effort at all times: “Narrow is the way and few be those that find it.”

Frontiers of the Spirit
Swami Kamalananda

All is revealed

What is the message revealed by Nature?
What expression does the formless give within form?
Ever offering a living word, the tone and tenor of cosmic vibration carries the Absolute into Self-manifestation.

The mystic reads the message of the universe in every leaf, stream and star.
No secret remains hidden from discovery.

All is revealed in a symphony of time and space.
The music of the spheres reverberates through every aspect of creation.
Look closely and witness the majesty of it all.

Srimati Karuna
Lights on the Path

Dawn!

Dawn!

Light abundant and sufficient for each day to fill creation afresh with vitality and strength, with power to grow and find illumination. Awakening each day, may I find Thy light revealed in my soul with the certainty of Truth and Bliss.

Behold the Mystery of Light and the ways it comes to Life: Hold in  your hand a match unlit. How does light exist within it, hidden? Strike the match, and the light comes to life.

Within you consciousness, the flicker of light expands and connects what was hidden from you, bringing forms and colors into one sphere of meaning that becomes you and connects us.

Light ignites our hearts in many ways, always joining, embracing, expanding… Some hearts are slow to illumine. Like coal they need time, but once aglow, their quiet warmth soothes and endures for a long time.

Some hearts hold light as water does, subdued in dark and silent depths, yet brilliant and energizing in streams and cascading falls.

Some hearts spread their light like the ignited incense - a fragrance offered into all directions freely, inviting and pleasing to all.

Some hearts, like peerless transparent diamonds reveal the full spectrum of Light.

From dawn to dusk the sun’s light shines forth and the world appears to us as formations of lights and shadows. As we watch the setting sun, the same world disappears again into darkness. Where is Creation’s light then — That light which will pour into tomorrow’s creation?

Where is your Light now? Are you an explorer by daylight only? Or can you peer into the Light of the East, the Self-source that illuminates all worlds, both night and day?

Swami Kamalananda
The Forest of Forever

Tagore: The Religion of Man

During the discussion of my own religious experience I express my belief that the first stage of my realization was through my feeling of intimacy with Nature—not that Nature which has its channel of information for our mind and physical relationship with our living body, but that which satisfies our personality with manifestations that make our life rich and stimulate our imagination in their harmony of forms, colors, sounds, and movements. It is not that world which vanishes into abstract symbols behind its own testimony to Science, but that which lavishly displays its wealth of reality to our personal self having its own perpetual reaction upon human nature.

I mention in connection with my personal experience some songs which I have often heard from wandering village singers, belonging to a popular sect in Bengal, called Bauls, who have no images, temples, scriptures, or ceremonials, who declare in their songs the divinity of Man, and express for him an intense feeling of love. Coming from men who are unsophisticated, living a simple life in obscurity, it gives us a clue to the inner meaning of all religions. For it suggests that these religions are never about a God of cosmic force, but rather about the God of human personality.

We must realize not only the reasoning mind, but also the creative imagination, the love and wisdom that belong to the Supreme Person, whose Spirit is over us all, love for whom comprehends love for all creatures and exceeds in depth and strength all other loves, leading to difficult endeavors and martyrdoms that have no other gain than the fulfillment of this love itself.

The Isha of our Upanishad, the Super Soul, which permeates all moving things, is the God of this human universe whose mind we share in all our true knowledge, love and service, and whom to reveal ourselves through renunciation of self is the highest end of life.

Rabindranath Tagore
The Religion of Man

12 Stages of Breathing

Sitting with the purpose of meditation you can follow a tremendously beneficial process of breathing in twelve stages. Just by reading them, you will see right away that they are progressively sublime, calming and expansive. They will be effective and helpful from your very first attempt and every time you follow them! Following them, you will gradually benefit from increasing contentment, gentleness and peace.

Think of drawing water from a well, of extending a bucket (your mind) on a long rope (your probing attention). As the bucket goes ever deeper into the water, it seems to disappear. Otherwise said, your mind reaches deep within formless depths to draw the vital resources of cosmic life and illumination back to nourish your body, mind and spirit.

1. Settle your body, sitting with spine erect, hands placed on the thighs, palms upward. Do nothing but watch your breath in its regular motion of inhalation and exhalation. Your breath is your focus and your teacher.

2. With each inhalation and exhalation feel that you reach into a deeper realm of self-awareness beyond the mere physical motions.

3. A divine process of circulation is itself unfolding within you, connecting your breath with God’s life breath.

4. There is a restorative harmony and greater experience of calmness pervading your body and mind.

5. Entering deeper subjectivity, you inevitably discover many reflections and refractions of the mind. Without distinguishing specific thought-contents, samskaras and patterns of desire, simply enter the current of mindfulness. Your focus on breath alone will nourish and strengthen your non-attachment to those passing contents of “mind-stuff” (“Chittwa”).

6. Elevate and expand your desire to merge your individual mind with the creative Source of the Universal Mind. This union is Raja Yoga, the Royal Path of the Mind.

7. Higher powers draw you to the light that illumines the entire cosmos. Do not look back. Lesser charms, desires and fears have faded in this freedom, this renunciation.

8. Inspired by its attunement to cosmic vibratory joy and peace, your heart enters the “bhav” (state of consciousness) of renewed hope, gratitude and contentment.

9. With every breath, you realize that Peace is dynamic, never static. Your state of mind is serene and infinite, resonant in Silence.

10. In the joyful state of universality, all duality is resolved by Divinely beneficent and pure will.

11. Self-remembrance floods and dissolves all distinctions of “within” or “without.” Here is Freedom (Moksha) in the Ocean of the All,

12. the “I am That I Am.”

Swami Kamalananda
The Breath of God and Pranayam

Autumn

The gentle autumn has arrived. Her very presence fills the heart with serene happiness. Tranquility composes the mind with calmness, a sublime stillness pervades the entire being with inexplicable beatitude, soul feels closer to one's own pure consciousness, and a contemplative attitude fills the whole environment with an inner spiritual well-being. A subjective awareness arises with the realization that the world is a holy place permeated with the presence of God, when autumn touches the inner eye of illumined perception and enlightened vision revealing the beauty of all and the perfect harmony of the God of love. Autumn brings down the beauty of God from heaven for our enjoyment of the earth.

There is something mystifying and mysterious about this singularly beautiful and enchanting daughter of nature that is hypnotic yet sublime, magnetic and transcendental in her graceful and charming appearance and expression. There is a halo of holiness around her and a radiation of sacredness emanating from her whole being that pervades the entire environment with subtle all-permeating spiritual liberation. In her presence spirituality becomes a tangible reality, and holiness of divine substance to be realized by the soul, and blissful happiness in deep exaltation of joyousness to be absorbed by the spirit.

Autumn is beautiful. The secret of her beauty is love. Love makes all individuals beautiful. Love is the ultimate perfection of divine harmony. Nature is beautiful in her cosmic harmony. Love unites all forms in all aspects of nature in one universal harmonious interrelationship and makes her the reality of beauty. Autumn is the ultimate perfection of the beauty of nature.

Autumn has a special message for the human soul. It reminds the soul that this terrestrial world of love and beauty, joy and happiness, is but a traveller's along the path of life's journey. The ultimate destiny of the existence and the aspiration of the human soul is the attainment of the transcendental state of God's absolute perfection. The soul must return to and realize its own absolute perfection as the divine spirit of the cosmos of the Infinity from eternity to eternity. The immortal soul must realize the ever-existing self.

The enchanting autumn comes sweetly sharing her beauty with all human souls, with all souls, in this panoramic world of color and completion and manifold revelations of art and abundance of aesthetic manifestations. Leaves have put on colorful garments of intricate patterns and delightful designs and joined in chorus company to meet the gentle breeze for their autumnal dance of farewell to the brilliant rays of the summer light.

Swami Premananda
Prayers of Soul

Gandhi: The Secret of Silence

“It has often occurred to me that a seeker after truth has to be silent. I know the wonderful efficacy of silence. I visited a Trappist monastery in South Africa. A beautiful place it was. Most of the inmates of that place were under a vow of silence. I inquired of the Father the motive of it and he said the motive is apparent: 'We are frail human beings. We do not know very often what we say. If we want to listen to the still small voice that is always speaking within us, it will not be heard if we continually speak.' I understood that precious lesson. I know the secret of silence.”

“Experience has taught me that silence is a part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word.”

“When one comes to think of it one cannot help feeling that nearly half the misery of the world would disappear if we, fretting mortals, knew the virtue of silence. Before modern civilization came upon us, at least six to eight hours of silence out of twenty-four were vouchsafed to us. Modern civilization has taught us to convert night into day and golden silence into brazen din and noise. What a great thing it would be if we in our busy lives could retire into ourselves each day for at least a couple of hours and prepare our minds to listen in to the Voice of the Great Silence. The Divine Radio is always singing if we could only make ourselves ready to listen to it, but it is impossible to listen without silence. St. Theresa has used a charming image to sum up the sweet result of silence: ‘You will at once feel your senses gather themselves together; they seem like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work without effort or care on your part. God thus rewards the soul; and gives to it such a domination over the senses that a sign is enough when it desires to recollect itself, for them to obey and so gather themselves together. At the first call of the will they come back more and more quickly. At last, after many exercises of this kind, God disposes them to a state of absolute repose and of perfect contemplation.’”

Spiritual Wealth

Discovery of the spiritual wealth of your life does not mean that you will automatically become prosperous, healthy, famous or popular. Nor does it mean you will find a life of ease, free from care or responsibility. But you will enjoy true wealth, well-being and serenity. Realize the enduring precious value of the spiritual unfoldment of human character. Do not expect every objective experience you encounter in life to be beautiful and good. Think, rather, of your own inner life as powerful, good and beautiful—a precious gem that you yourself are fashioning and perfecting by the light of God. If disappointments come, don't abandon your spiritual goals, and never squander your wealth of character. Every human life has its limitations; such is life. Life on earth cannot be perfected, and no personality fulfills our ideal. But wherever you seek goodness lacking, supply it from the infinite treasures of your own heart. Understand the shortcomings of yourself and others and fill the gap by pouring out yourself. That is living by the wealth of soul. A spiritual ideal enriches life with harmony, compassion, gentleness and beauty.

Swami Kamalananda
Frontiers of the Spirit

Kundalini

The universe of cosmic energy, or prana, exists in two tendencies: one is unmanifest, the other manifest. The unmanifest exists as the vast potential of formless being out of which the universe arises. It is self-absorbed—that is, with the power to be, but without change. The second tendency of prana is dynamic and creative: that which manifests and which we see as matter, as living organisms, and all that we behold with our minds. Astronomers bring us to the threshold of pure Kriya Yoga philosophy with their assertion that we see only ten percent of our universe. The ninety percent that is imperceptible to our senses exists as potential to be penetrated by our minds. We must bring that light of consciousness within our minds to the similar state of vibration of cosmic light to be aware of the rest of the vast, yet unseen, universe.

This potential energy force of prana is called kundalini. It is neither electric nor is it mechanical. It is not the energy that is normally used by us throughout the day to maintain our expressive and creative life, but it is that reservoir of energy which exists to be drawn through the mind into the human nervous system. That potential kundalini energy of prana within us is not surplus, not dormant, but is as yet unknown. We call it spiritual because it determines the quality of our character, our state of consciousness and our ultimate peace and happiness.

All spiritual aspirants ought to know and clearly understand kundalini power. To the intiate trained to use kundalini it comprises the inner path to God. In Kriya meditation, kundalini is the specific and conscious link between individual prana or life energy pervading the human being and cosmic prana, the source and perfection of all beings.

This cosmic energy is finer than electrons or any other vibrating force identifed in nature. Spirit Absolute vibrating becomes cosmic consciousness, which becoming grosser becomes cosmic energy leading to material vibration and finally to matter itself. Hence the connection from undifferentiated pure consciousness to multifaceted manifestations of matter.

The life energy in the body of each human being is divinely given by the cosmic energy, but it loses its contact the more it becomes individualized, selfish, body-bound.

Your mind is the engine that draws the cosmic prana from the universe of life and directs it within you.

It is helpful to know that the root of the word “kundalini” suggests a reservoir or storehouse for prana. We already know that our individualized self-consciousness is awakened at Muladhar, at the base of the spine and that finally at Sahasraram that individualized consciousness is liberated into cosmic consciousness. In terms of kundalini, the base of the spine is like a reservoir, a lake from which the pranic current is generated. Figuratively speaking, the connection must always be there with a larger source, or the lake would dry up. And so it is that this kundalini, drawing from the potential of infinite cosmic energy, generates the life current in ascending consciousness through the spine until the individual self-consciousness is liberated into the ocean of bliss-consciousness, of infinite existence. The ascending powers of kundalini are divine illumination, self-mastery and love.

Swami Kamalananda
The Mystic Cross

Dewdrop Beads of Light

I walk to the tree of life and sit beneath her canopy.
My thoughts ascend through her outstretched branches.

I listen to her wisdom and praise her for her beauty.
I thank her for her beneficence.
I learn from her guidance.

She offers blessings as dewdrop beads of light on the gossamer string of love, held together as a constellation of thoughts cast between the sunlight and shade, each one a prayer to the Almighty, so delicate, this web, and yet, so strong.

Others join me in this prayer— Our congregation consists of the birds, insects and other creatures who come in reverence and devotion.

In this communion, we breathe the purity and realize the presence of perfection, in a prayer at the tree of life.

Srimati Karuna
Prayer Beads

Self-Realization

“So long as our unfoldment requires us to continue our existence in the world of manifestation, we must have two ideals. One is the relative and the other is the absolute ideal. The relative ideal demands that we provide for the objective aspect of life; whereas the absolute ideal inspires us to realize the highest state of perfection, which is oneness with God, or Self-realization. These two ideals are complementary to each other. They are by no means contradictory, unless we make them so. Some live in the conviction that this world is altogether a source of bondage, unrighteousness, and misery. The cause of such belief lies in an ignorant perspective of the world they live in. The truth is that the world, to us, is like our two hands which we may use to strangle ourselves, or to save ourselves from being strangled.

Philosophy, religion, or truth does not make us rich, but it teaches us how to utilize what we possess, in order to regain our spiritual perfection. Philosophy lifts us into that state of consciousness at which the senses are instruments and Soul is the master. The ideal of life is not to be entangled by the world, but to live in it and remain free from its delusive influences. A true devotee loves God for God alone. No amount of disease, misfortune, poverty nor persecution can change his course of life from spirituality. He is firmly established on the Self. Spiritual perfection cannot be attained by casual effort. It takes time to accomplish any great task. It requires determination and unfaltering perseverance. To reach the spiritual ideal is the greatest undertaking in life.”

Realization of the Self
Swami Premananda

Ujwala: Illumination

Light encircles each day
with its garland of seven illuminations.
In solemn stillness of Pre-dawn
is foretold the course of
each heavenward destiny.
Dawn heralding advent of rose-golden rays
in beneficent blessing, spanning across
the horizon of time and space.
Gaze upon this day of Thy creation!
Each morning bathing the day with renewed
vitality and opportunity.

From its glorious apogee
the Sun infuses all earth
with the power of pranic light
ensuring growth and evolution.
Twilight, the ending edge of day,
withdraws consciousness again
into self-contemplation
of the mystery of light and shadow.
Gaze, we all, with subjective wonder
at the serene beauty of this evening!
The moon, quiet and full of calm
and vast constellations offer
unanimous confirmation of
Thy benediction over all.
Filling the spheres with the
still darkness of night.
Rise from the depth of dreamless sleep
into worlds of shadowless midnight
To commune in realms unknown,
with pervasive and ineffable peace.

Awake, awake, this heart’s desire!
To again find promise of abiding Light
in each new day dawning!

Noble Qualities

Experience, when rightly understood and wisely utilized, becomes a source of self-illumination, power and peace. I have lived in this world of ours, with its blessings and vexation, and have gained manifold experiences. I have lived a normal life, commensurate with my circumstances and spiritual ideal. I have found happiness and joy. Contentment and peace have not been alien to my inner life. I have also tasted the cup of sorrow and anguish. In its essence, my life is in no way different from that of any of you. Our problems and perplexities, in their basic nature, are the same. The difference is in the conditions of our environment.

Through all my experiences I have attained a higher perspective and a nobler vision. Humility before God and trust in his beneficence have been the fruits of my success and achievement. My failures have inspired patience and fortitude, and greater devotion to my spiritual ideal and faith. This I may say with the utmost sincerity and humility, that through all my accomplishments and disappointments, my life has been a success in the truest sense because all my experiences have guided me towards the attainment of ever-increasing spiritual unfoldment and realization, which in their turn have blessed me with happiness and peace.

In my life, especially during my spiritual ministry, I have come in contact with people of virtually all categories. In my association with my fellowmen, I often experienced a disturbing note in my friendship, love and devotion. It is true that I have received abundantly the spiritual blessings of fellowship, joy and happiness from kind and loving hearts. But what I want to emphasize here is that experiences of pain and agony have come to my life from those whom I have endeavored to serve, aid and assist. Nevertheless, I am not embittered by these untoward experiences. And the reason for this I want to reveal to you in order that you also under similar circumstances will be able to rise above all negative thoughts, desires and feelings within yourself.

I have discovered that man is fundamentally good and spiritual. In the innermost depth of his heart every man is kind and loving. This realization of the innate goodness of man has completely oriented my attitude towards my fellow beings. Today none can hurt me because I behold man in his spirit, and in his spirit man is good. Now my constant effort, under all circumstances, is to awaken man to his innate virtue and righteousness. I have come to realize that within every man are enshrined an endless number of noble qualities. However, among them, I will reveal to our knowledge and understanding one hundred and one. I have realized them within me. I am certain they also adorn your inner self.

Introduction to 101 Noble Qualities
By Swami Premananda
Originally Published 1956
Reprinted 2024

From Skyland to Skyview

An excerpt from The Forest of Forever by Swami Kamalananda

Skyview Farm is the material “Forest” of this book, but I wish to begin with a preamble through an earlier Forest from my guru's early years in America: his formative influence in the great Shenandoah National Park and Skyland in Virginia.

Within a few years of his arrival in Washington in 1928, Swamiji (then a Brahmachari) met a couple whose influence and generosity would further his work in establishing his first church on Western Avenue while he simultaneously became an inspiration to their work in establishing the Shenandoah National Park.

Adi Nairn Pollock and her husband George Freeman Pollock worked for years in the early 1900’s to negotiate the transfer of their properties extending from Front Royal and further on in the vicinity of Sperryville, Virginia, to the east and Luray to the west, to an apex in lofty Hawksbill Mountain and the slightly lower though imposing Stony Man Mountain.

Adi had become a follower of the light of Yoga, trusting Swamiji spiritual guidance throughout the years of her husband's rigorous life of welcoming friends and visitors to their cherished mountain retreat at Skyland. “Polly” and Adi would invite “B.J.” (as Adi affectionately called Brahmachari Jotin) for visits to their Massanutten Lodge And the beautiful lands, also thoughtfully furnishing him a cabin all to himself. His noble bearing and presence drew other visitors to him; They warmly referred to him as the ‘Prince of Skyland.’

The Skyland of Swami's time is not the same as today's Skyland, which is easily reachable as a scenic car drive from Washington, D.C. In his time it was virtually isolated from the mechanized world. The trip itself provided a real adventure! When Swami went to visit Skyland he would leave (usually after his Sunday worship service) to drive to Luray and then go by secondary road to reach the foot of the mountain. This was a long and time consuming journey in the 1930s! The climb to Skyland would then be made by horse — either with carriage or on horseback, or for some, on foot.  (He rode horseback.) Some roads were merely dirt, unpaved, narrow, steep and with sharp curves. In bad weather of course they were dangerous! He would need three days just for travel to spend a few days there as if in another world.

While visiting at Massanutten lodge many times in those years Swamiji would speak on India's spiritual heritage, also sharing readings from Rabindranath Tagore with Mrs. Pollock and interested guests.

Few would understand how great were the sacrifices and major contribution of Mrs. Pollock's own wealth to the lengthy process of building the private, then state, and finally national properties to become a National treasure as the Shenandoah National Park. And fewer still would know the key influence of Swami Premananda in supporting the cause.

As I heard it, a critical moment in the legal proceedings occurred while he was visiting Skyland. Mrs. Pollock's financial resources had been stretched and consumed far beyond her expectations, and yet another demand came for even more expenditures. Exasperated and weary from it all, she was teetering on just giving up the entire project, and so she came to her trusted guru to express her dilemma:

“What shall I do?” she asked him. “This is too much! I don't think I should continue now…”

“Adi,” he explained, “I know how much you have given and done, but it will not be lost. Go ahead, Adi, If you can. Take this last step.”  “Okay, B.J., if you say so,” she answered.

Mr. Pollock's funeral services, held on September 7, 1949, were conducted by Swamiji as Minister of his “nonsectarian Self-Revelation Church in Washington.” He was introduced as a native of Calcutta, an eminent scholar and a friend of both Mr. and Mrs. Pollock, who spent much time with them at Massanutten Lodge. 

As recorded in “SKYLAND: The Heart of the Shenandoah National Park,” what he poured forth as tribute that day deepened everyone's appreciation of his friend, but will forever be a testimony to Swamiji’s own mystical reverence for Nature as well as his profound understanding of human character.

He spoke from the Forest of Forever:

“Mr. Pollack was not a religious man. I doubt if he ever entered a church during the last quarter of a century.

“I do not think Mr. Pollock ever contributed anything towards the construction of any church. Nevertheless, I can say that he was a spiritual man, and he has built a cathedral – not a cathedral of stone and marble, not a magnificent structure where human voices sing in choirs to the accompaniment of organ music. He has built a cathedral which will last as long as God preserves the United States of America. As long as America exists, this cathedral which Mr. Pollock built will endure.

“He has built a cathedral in Shenandoagh National Park where anthems are sung by bird choirs and the lighting is from the heavens above. It is a cathedral not limited to any denomination. Here men and women from all over the world will come and gather together, people of all faiths and creeds: Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews. Even the atheist will come and join in the worship of the spirit in that cathedral.

“What heart would not be lifted in the consciousness of God while seated in Stony Man, overlooking the valley? What soul would not be lifted in consciousness of spirit, realizing the beauty of God manifested when the foliage turns in a magnificent spectacle of color in the fall? It is such a cathedral that Mr. Pollack has built.

“It was very difficult for him to accomplish this task which proved arduous indeed.

“He had to go through many trials and tribulations and overcome many obstacles, but in spite of every hardship he slowly and steadfastly – I may say, stone by stone, step by step – built this cathedral of the Shenandoah National Park which will immortalize his memory. He had a dream, and that dream came true. 

“Once, when Mrs. Pollock urged him to give up Skyland, he said ‘Some day Skyland will become part of a National Park, and I am going to keep that place no matter how difficult it is. I am going to do everything in my power to build it into a National Park.’ 

“Yes, he worked hard, and his dream came true. Many of you remember when we had to go to Skyland on horses, then by taxis. Finally, the bulldozers came and the highway was built across the entire Park. Now thousands come for recreation and for revelation, too. Travellers will pass through that cathedral. Artists will come and paint its glory and beauty. Devotees will sit on the rock and in the meadows and find inspiration in the contemplation of Him who is the creator of all things.

“This is the cathedral of which Mr. Pollock dreamed and which he built. As such I say that, in the truest sense he was a spiritual man.”

Guru

“The word ‘guru’ comes to us from the Hindu heritage, yet the ideal of divine guidance is found throughout all spiritual traditions. It is so because the ideal and relationship of guru authority are integral to religious experience. Who was the guru of Plato? Did not Socrates lead Plato to the path of self-realization as his disciple? The guru of Shankaracharya, Govinda, initiated him into the light of meditation and inner revelation. John the Baptist protested that he could not initiate Jesus because Jesus was more spiritually advanced than he. He saw the divine unfoldment of Jesus. Yet, Jesus reminded John that every soul at one time is formally introduced and consciously makes a vow to God. ‘Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.’

Humanly speaking, guru is to be honored because he embodies the ideal we are seeking. Humanly imperfect, divinely perfect, guru is the image of our ideal. If we cannot recognize divinity in the human form we will not recognize it in formlessness. In reality, guru is our own self. Guru is the one who reveals to us our own soul. Guru is the self-revealing one. It is God whom we see in guru. God is the Supreme Guru, in reality the only Guru. God reveals Himself to us in our human guru.

The most profound meaning of guru is presented to us as Krishna, our Supreme Self, in the Bhagavad-Gita. It is the most sublime because it most clearly reveals the law, ideal and reality of Guru as well as the identical divinity of disciple, the self as individual (Arjuna). In Krishna we understand who is guru; in Arjuna we see how to fulfill perfect discipleship.

Who is this Guru, Krishna? ‘The one who draws the whole universe unto himself,’ or ‘the one to whom the whole universe is attracted,’ as the name ‘Krishna’ in its Sanskrit derivative ‘Akarshan’ denotes. This is not a personal god, but the ever abiding Self. Krishna is in each one of us as our soul. He speaks in the Gita as Atman, the closest indwelling self who reveals the Paramatman, or Supreme Self.

Krishna as the guide of Arjuna reveals the truth and ideal of guru—that is, our own divine, ever pure and perfect soul, Self-conscious and ever one with God. Embodying the ideal of human guru, Krishna leads Arjuna to discover the life of his own soul.”

Frontiers of the Spirit
Swami Kamalananda

Liberation Through Work

What is Karma Yoga? It is Self-Realization in action; liberation through work; freedom by service. It is commonly called the path of action. In whatever state of self-expression we engage, that is action. We think, we love, we work. These are all actions. Karma Yoga is the regulation of all our actions in order that we may realize our innate spiritual perfection. The philosophy of Karma Yoga is the science of work. It teaches us how to perform all our activities that we may find peace and happiness in our daily life. Besides it opens our vision in wisdom whereby we may regain the full consciousness of our ever abiding state of subjective freedom, or salvation.

The beauty of the philosophy and science of yoga is this: That it does not require anything more from its follower than that which he already possesses. Starting on this foundation it helps him to utilize that to regain his absolute freedom.

Karma Yoga propounds this truth. It recognizes that we are constantly working; then why should we not use that activity for the highest purpose of life? Every action can be so directed as to bring us oneness with God.

But there is a secret key to this science of self-emancipation. Karma Yoga gives us that secret key. Therefore, Karma Yoga may be called the secret of work. The same work can enslave us to sense-identification, or reveal our innate freedom. It can drown us in misery, or bring us to the heights of peace. It can make us either restless, nervous, physical wrecks, or calm, dynamic, and strong. It can hide or reveal the Self. It can steep us in ignorance, or free us in wisdom. Karma Yoga tells us the secret of it all. It tell us how to become free from action not through abstention from, but by the performance of action.

The Law of Self-Manifestation (Karma Yoga)
Swami Premananda