According to Goswami Kriyananda, “The battle is the battlefield of your emotions for you, the battlefield of my emotions for me, and the battlefield of other people’s emotions for us.” Other people are highly emotional and they ’emote’ us, and we respond emotionally and we ’emote’ them. The end result? Disaster. Gratefulness helps us to center our emotions. The result? “We can get out of our nightmare state and see the world as it really is.” says Kriyananda.
Gratefulness means being able to appreciate your good karma from the past. People are too prone to worry about their bad karma, Goswami Kriyananda says. As Sri Shellyji explained it: “Well of course you have bad karma from the past. You’ve been down here at least 350,000 times. Just think of all the good karma you have collected. Why don’t you draw on that?” In this talk, Goswami Kriyananda explains how to move past yesterday and transcend memory.
The infinity of life, things, thoughts, ideas, people and goodness is there for us to taste. “But we have to see it,” says Goswami Kriyananda. “And the only way we can see it is by opening our eye. The only way we can open our eye is by opening our heart. The only way you can open your heart, truly, in this stage of your evolution is to be grateful for what you have.
We’ve all had our minds play tricks on us. Goswami Kriyananda explains that “the undisciplined mind is like a hungry demon. Learn your mind’s weaknesses and how to constructively occupy it.” The key is to do it yourself. Many people want us to follow them and adopt their teachings. What philosophy, what school should you belong to? “The school of books,” answers Kriyananda. Study and learn for yourself, and find out what you really want.
Recording Date: 9/10/1989
Life is all about being happy, says Goswami Kriyananda. So why are we so often unhappy? “The mind is really the enemy,” he explains. “The mind says, ‘Well, I don’t have this. Well, I do have this. Well, I want that and I don’t have it. Well, I got it. Now I want to get rid of it.’ Instead of locking into yesterday and into the future with possessiveness and aversion, just let go. Be free. It’s called moksha, liberation.”
Recording Date: 12/11/1988
In order to help others, the first thing you need is self esteem. “We have all been hurt intentionally and unintentionally. We have all been hurt consciously and unconsciously. But we must learn to love ourselves now. We must learn to respect ourselves,” says Goswami Kriyananda. We must accept the blessings that come from mother, father, friends. And what we need, what we accept, is also what we should give to others.
Recording Date: 11/20/1989
Recording Date: 4/10/2005
You are the master of your life,” says Goswami Kriyananda. “All the bad and difficult things that have come into my life, I realize I have really, really worked very hard to bring them into my life.” The antidote to our own difficult karma is to help others. Bless those who don’t seem to deserve it. Let them know you love them and wish to help them if they wish to be helped. But, says Kriyananda, “Ultimately only you can speak the magic mantra: Aham Brahmasmi. I am the creative principle. My beloved, it is your life. Do not give it to another.”
Recording Date: 4/10/2005
In this Noon Meditation, Goswami Kriyananda discusses the beautiful Gayatri mantra. By a close attunement to the Gayatri rhythm and meaning, there is an internalizing process which gives an insight into the whole Reality. Gayatri is the whole universe, and by enunciating the mantra one protects and keeps in balance the whole universe. Gayatri is a complete symbol of light. Each line emphasizes or symbolizes one aspect of the glorious splendor and radiance of that light, making us transmitters of that light.
Recording Date: 12/22/1996
If you are living in the world, with family responsibilities, can you attain Samadhi? Yes! “The majority of the Kriya Lineage is what we would call householders,” says Goswami Kriyananda. “That means an ability to live in this world and attain in this world the accomplishment of the inner life.” It takes great discipline. That means to always think of the people around you. Be warmer, kinder, more understanding. Be more outgoing to the world without trying to interfere in the world. If you want to attain Samadhi for the benefit of others, to be a blessing to others. Then Life will bless you and you will reach your goal.
Recording Date: 11/08/1992
Many people condemn themselves to suffering when they lose a loved one. They feel guilty about trying to be happy. But that isn’t good for themselves, their loved ones, or civilization. “Life is about being happy” says Goswami Kriyananda. “It’s for me to move every day from love to greater love. From happiness to greater happiness. For some of us, it’s a movement from darkness to light, from death to life, from pain to joy. And this can be done if you so choose, but you must choose. And only you can choose.”
