More on - For God Alone

There is actually some sunshine today, after several days of rain and drizzle, encouraging the heart to rejoice in this, the dead of winter!

This morning, I reflect on several messages received that deeply warm my heart. We never quite know how we will touch another's soul - or how our own may be touched as well...I am often amazed at the resultant web of connections that can be made in most unexpected ways.

I go down to the river briefly this morning, after not having visited for about a week. It is breezy, and the river seems wider than usual because of the rains. I stand at the top of the cliff and look down at the rocks and launch area, watching wave upon wave coursing downstream, thinking of how we are all like those waves - a legion of blessed souls interacting with one another - sometimes randomly bumping into each other and unexpectedly touching each others' lives. We never know whose touch will extend to us God's hand...

I ponder sacred insights that come to me about my own life, its own ever-changing purpose, my vocation, and my calling - and inwardly relate and connect it all to a wonderful prayer by Yogananda that I always begin my morning meditation practice with:

"Let Thy light shine forever
on the sanctuary of my devotion,
that I may be able to awake Thy love
in all hearts."

Before I share some more passages from Sri Gyanamata's writings, I would like to offer these two quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, sent to me by a friend who read yesterday's posting. They are in keeping with the tone and messages revealed in Gyanamata's letters:

"What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters
compared with
what lies before us."

"Make the most of yourself,
for that is all there is of you."

And now from Sri Gyanamata herself:

"Teach me to meditate until I intuit Thee.
Teach me to pray until I find Thee.
Teach me to demand until I receive Thy Kingdom.
Teach me to see Thee until I find Thee.
Teach me to love Thee whether it is Thy pleasure
to reveal Thyself or not.
Teach me to meditate until I feel Thy Bliss.
Teach me to see Thee until Thou dost answer.
Teach me to fee Thy Peace, until Thou does
reveal Thyself as Bliss."

"I shall always remember the words of someone to me when I was undergoing the greatest suffering of my life. He was not a friend, but a complete stranger, who had the impulse to speak to me one day when I was out for a walk. He said, 'It had to be. It was all necessary for you.' And I answered, 'Yes, I know that what you say is true, I needed it.' His reply came quickly, and like a blow from the shoulder: 'Then glorify it!' That is the point. Since it is suffering that teaches us the truth and turns us toward God, why do we not thank and praise it for the work it does for us?"

And relating a dialogue between two great medieval mystics:

"[Henry] Suso describes a vision he had of Meister Eckhart after death...The Master [Eckhart] told him that he was in great glory, into which his soul was transformed and made godlike in God. Suso inquired what exercise was best calculated to advance a man who wished to be taken into the abyss of the divine essence. Eckhart's reply was that he must die to himself in entire detachment, receive everything as from God, and keep himself in unruffled patience with all men...

These three instructions, plus meditation, contain the only rule of life that any disciple needs: detachment; realization of God as the Giver; and unruffled patience. As long as we fail in any one of these three, we till have a serious spiritual defect to overcome..."