The promise of the scriptures (ft. Nayaswami Jamuna)
Good morning. I just want to explain that many of us are on retreat at Lake Stevens. At Heart Song, Padma and Reman are leading a silent retreat for Kriyabans there all weekend. So, I am absolutely delighted to see all of you here this morning. This is wonderful.
I want to start with a joke that has nothing to do with the subject, but I couldn’t pass it up. There was a young artist having a one-man show, the first time he had ever shown his art to the public. As it turned out, a famous art critic was at the show. The art critic approached the young artist and said, “This is who I am,” and the young man knew of him. He asked, “Do you want me to tell you what I think of your show?” The young man said yes. The critic said, “Well, it’s worthless.” The young man replied, “That’s alright, just tell me anyway.”
I just couldn’t resist that joke. The promise of the scriptures is very interesting, and we need to really pay attention to this return. The return of the prodigal son is something we often do on our path to understanding the deeper realities of which we are a part. So, what is it that we are returning to, and what did we go out of? What’s the story? How does it apply?
In childhood, we perhaps had a loving home with a caring father and the promise of some means for getting along in the world. Then came the rebellion, and we decided we’d do it our own way, rejecting all that we’d been given. Then we fell on troubled times. You can take this scenario and apply your own personal story to it. What we expect is a lot of criticism for what we’ve done. From human beings, we get a lot of criticism for what we’ve done, and expressions from parents and friends that we’re kind of crazy.
I remember I had already found Ananda. I was still working in the library as a children’s librarian, and there was a customer there who began to understand that I was interested in deeper realities. He wanted to know what in the world I had gotten myself into. I had no idea what his thoughts were on the subject, and I was very new on the path. The little book I picked out to give him was “The Science of Religion,” which wasn’t a great choice, I realized later, but it was a little book and what I had at hand. So, I said, “This might give you some idea of where I’m headed.” He returned the book to me and said, “I’m very sorry for you.”
Wasn’t that an interesting remark? “I’m very sorry for you.” This story tells us how very important it is for us to remember that this journey, which many people feel sorry for us about, is the ultimate journey in life. We have now come to ask the ultimate questions about what’s going on. As we stumble along and make decisions, decisions come from within myself and may often be deluded. We make decisions and get ourselves into trouble. The divine mother and the heavenly Father will always receive us and take us back home. There is nothing we could do, no trouble we could get into, no mistake we could make, that the heavenly Father wouldn’t take us back. That’s wonderful to know. It’s very important to know because many of us get into lots of trouble and then carry around a lot of guilt and shame. It’s not necessary to feel this way because the mistakes we make are those of a little ego that didn’t know more about the life it’s carrying around. Guilt and shame are extra burdens we place on ourselves.
I found a story someone suggested, a little story by Hemingway called the Paco story. A father, unable to deal with his rebellious son, threw him out. He then felt remorse and began looking for him. He posted a note in the community and in the newspaper office in Madrid, saying, “Dear Paco, please meet me here tomorrow. I’m sorry I threw you out. I want to offer you my love and forgiveness.” A hundred Pacos showed up.
That’s the truth of it. We are all in that situation at one time or another, and God has never thrown us out. This is double richness for us on the happiness scale. Patanjali says, “The soul remembers what it has always been.”
So, what is this forgetfulness we have? What is this amnesia? Yogananda tells us that the ego is the soul attached to the body, and then the body begins to rule. As Merley said in his prayer this morning, we want to let go of all the directions the body gives us and not be tied to our ego issues and desires. Just cool it because there’s so much richness when we can listen to the other voice.
In my life, I’ve dealt with this by thinking about all the little voices within me. For a long time, the ego was the chairman of the board, controlling the meeting of all these little voices. But now I’ve put God there, and the ego takes its proper place. It takes a lot to convince it that it will have a place among many, but that’s the truth.
Then you have access to the forgiving and loving God, saying, “I’m sorry you felt so far away from me. I’ve always been here for you.” It’s really true. Kriyabans get together, studying the Autobiography of a Yogi, even though we’ve read it so many times before, because the words have so much more meaning; that ‘ultimate faith’ that God will provide (see Yogananda’s challenge to his brother); that is the truth! That is where we are; that’s the way things operate. When we can meditate and get ourselves in a relationship with our soul, with our connection to God, then there are so many things available to us! If we give ourselves a chance to live that way, we will find great happiness and joy, and tremendous guidance for how to live this lifetime. This lifetime is for something specific; you were meant to sing your song. And who’s your best guide? God is your best guide to find out what that is.
Many of us have recognized this, and still, we do suffer. Suffering is one of the ways we are brought to the realization that there’s a whole other story going on. Suffering is an opportunity for changing our orientation, isn’t it? Isn’t it crazy? I mean, it’s really crazy. What kind of setup is this? But that’s what suffering is about. We make a choice; it doesn’t work out. We feel bad, or something happens to us physically that’s pretty life-changing. All those ways in which we can suffer, we hurt other people, other people hurt us. Because: we start with no connection with the Father. We feel cast out, on our own. “I can do it myself. I’m rebellious. I’m a little Paco. I can go out there in the world and do it like I choose.” But that’s not the truth. We will get into trouble and we will suffer. And then we have to say, “What’s going on here?” Many people take a bit of time to get through the feeling that they’re angry at God. I’ve met many people who, when they’re going through a challenging time, are angry at God. And God just waits. He just waits for us to give reference to His advice, love, and forgiveness. And then the story becomes so much richer.
Master said an interesting thing: as soon as he detached himself from his body—mentally, not taking all the clues for how he felt and how he should behave from what his body was doing—he saw it was just a dog he had to take care of. That’s kind of funny. And then, of course, Kriya made his famous remark, “Kriya is just an event for which I am responsible.” That’s the way he felt.
We should remember that joyful return. That’s what I want you to remember from today: the joyful return. Don’t expect ease, but do expect joy. Don’t expect comfort, but do expect challenge. And remember, think of it this way: you are the sky. The chant, “I am the sky, Mother, I am the sky,” and all else is just weather. What I want to suggest there is to take it lightly. Once you have God in your heart, once you have God in your meditation, take everything else as just, “Okay, I probably am responsible for this. This experience is mine.” With God at my side, with God always calling me home, with God having the doors open for me to return, I can get through it.
We drift away and come back, and drift away and come back. That’s the way the story works. Until finally, as we can witness in the lives of the great ones and the lives of the saints, we are finally totally God’s. And that is a wonderful day for God and a wonderful day for us.
We mustn’t consider a bad choice to limit our eternal destiny. It may take a while, but thinking to turn back toward home is a praiseworthy idea, not a weakness. Religion is a friend. As it says in the reading, God is our loving Father. There’s nothing to forgive. He just wants to see us wake up to His guiding presence.
One of the great commandments of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you,” is our ticket through our new world. Our expression of loving God and feeling His love is not to shut ourselves away, but to participate from this new perspective. Thank you.