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Where There Is Dharma,
There Is Victory
This article is taken from a talk given by Swami Kriyananda at Ananda Italy on New Year’s day 1998. It is translated from the Italian.
Ananda’s Principle
I wish everyone a good new year. There are several definitions, however, of “good.” I don’t think it will be an easy year. On the contrary, I think it will be a very difficult one on both an individual and a world level. But we can still say it will be a good year, because there is a way of facing life’s trials and difficulties that allows you to overcome and gain from them, whatever they are.
There is an Indian saying that has become Ananda’s fundamental principle: “Where there is dharma, or right action” (that is to say, action in tune with truth and spiritual ideals), “there is victory.” When we put principles first in our life, everything goes as it should, and there can be no failure. As the Bhagavad-Gita says, “Oh, Arjuna, know this for a certainty: My devotee is never lost.”
I remember once when Yogananda was going through a trial regarding the financial situation of his organization, which seemed to be going bankrupt. (To live in this world means having trials. The Masters don’t live in a separate world and they, too, have trials in their lives.) Yogananda prayed to the Divine Mother, Who answered him. “I am your investments. What else do you need if you have Me? Dance of life, dance of death: Know that all this comes from me and therefore live in joy.”
Life Is Made of Opposites
We must realize that joy is something which does not come when, finally, everything is going well, like at the end of a Hollywood movie. Life is not like that. Today’s victory becomes tomorrow’s failure; it can’t be otherwise. As Sai Baba says: “Joy is an interval between two pains, and pain is an interval between two joys.” Life is made of polar opposites. If we experience something in life, we must also experience its opposite. In the middle lies a joy that has no opposite. Divine joy does not change and is never lost.
I remember when I was expelled from SRF. It was a great tragedy for me. I don’t think that I have ever experienced anything like it. During that time I gave some conferences, at the end of which people would say, “We felt such joy in you!” And I thought, “Joy? It’s impossible!” Then I understood that I hadn’t lost it. The joy had remained, like a subterranian current underneath my suffering.
In your life, if you meditate and live in the presence of God, you will have a joy that nothing can take away from you. I’m reminded of a disciple of Yogananda’s, who was in the hospital for another of a long series of operations. Under the anesthesia she was saying to the surgeons, “Go ahead, cut it out. Take it away, it doesn’t matter; take it all away!”
If we live in the consciousness that “nothing matters — I am a child of God,” and we lose everything, then it doesn’t matter too much. When you can live in this way, you will see that whatever happens to you is of no consequence, because you will have what you are really looking for in life — joy.
At the end of our life we must face our last exam, and if we pass it, we go in freedom. Each day it is good to think, “Tomorrow I might not be here anymore.” Free your heart from all attachments. It is a good practice to visualize a fire and imagine throwing each attachment that you have in your heart into that fire, watching it with joy while it burns. One who loses his house, friends, or money usually laments, “Why must this happen to me?” But why not rather say, “God, it is Yours, not mine; therefore take everything.” You will see that with this attitude, God will give you much more. As Jesus said, “To those who leave everything for my sake, I will give a hundred times more.”
And it is so! God has many things to give us, but we don’t accept them because we want something different than He wants for us. And given that He has a good sense of humor, He makes us think that it will be a disaster if we don’t get what we want. Instead, He gives us the one thing we really don’t want. Eventually, we see that it’s the only possible thing for our happiness.
The Law of Karma
When you have a desire, you set some karma in motion. Then you have another desire and provoke more karma. This way, contradictory currents of ego are created that fight against each other.
When you are suffering for something in your life, you might start to think, “I have never done anything to deserve such a great pain.” But yes, you have caused it, if not in this lifetime, then in another, because the karma that you created will sooner or later come back. But if you can really succeed in letting go of your desires and giving yourself completely to God, in opening yourself to His will you will im-mediately see the reason why these things are happening. If you live in Him, you will see that your life becomes like a beautiful song, where different voices are singing in harmony. But if you don’t make an effort to be in tune with God’s will, your life will be full of confusion.
I don’t want you to be afraid, though, because God is reigning over everything. Once, a person who was very worried about the world’s situation went to the saint Ananda Moyee Ma. She said to him, “God created this world. Don’t you think He knows how to manage it?” Have faith in Him. If you love Him, if you live for Him, if you give Him everything, whatever happens to you is for your best. God will always give you trials, otherwise how can He know that your love and your dedication are true and worthy? If you live with this inner attitude, you’ll see that everything will be for your wellbeing.
Change Your Life
I think that being at Ananda on New Year’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to change your life in the best way. Here you can meditate and be quiet, and this gives you better clarity and makes it easier for you to change your life. I suggest that while you are here you think deeply about your life. We all have certain things that we would like to change in ourselves or in our lives. The wise person knows that he must start with himself. The unwise person thinks that everything is due to the mistakes of others.
Therefore, think about how you can change yourself. Often it happens that the change we desire is not in our best interest. Offer to God every thought about it, and ask Him to guide you in your thoughts in order that you might act in attunement with His will. What He wants for you is for your highest good. You will see that in this inner relationship, ideas will come to you about how to change your self and your life.
There are often qual-ities in ourselves that we want to conquer, but they are too big. A wise general tries to win that battle he knows he can win. Little by little, he acquires the strength to eventually fight the great final battle in the heart of the enemy’s stronghold. In the same way we, too, must be selective. We must decide which battles we can win, or hope to win. With each victory you will gain more inner strength, until you can also face your greater flaws, which may only seem invincible to you now.
Do not try to face trials that are impossible for your present state of consciousness. Choose among your flaws the one you can face now. And don’t think, “But there are so many, it doesn’t much matter.” Nor should you say, “I’m only human.” You should think, “I’m not human yet,” because you will not be a perfect human being until you have overcome all the defects of human life. A real human being has realized all his life’s potentials, and this means realizing God within you.
Sooner or later every defect can be conquered, because each one of us is destined to become one with God. We are not weak, we are not even human: we are angels, we are points of light. Since we are children of the Infinite Lord, we must understand that one day we, too, will reach complete freedom, and that we, too, have infinite potentials within our souls.
In order to face this process, two things are important — will power and concentration. It takes a lot of will power, but will that is concentrated, rather than being scattered in many different directions.
So you’ll see that this year need not be a difficult year, but a year of victory, a year of an inner joy never understood before. Accept as God’s grace every trial He gives you, because it is an opportunity to grow towards this joy. Until you have it, you will never have what you want in life. All of us are looking for that joy; it is the only thing that can lead you to what you truly want in your heart.
In light of all this, I wish you again a “good” New Year.
For information and reservations:
info@ananda.it Tel: +39 0742-81.36.20 Fax: +39 0742-81.35.36
Ananda is located in the tranquil hills of Umbria, Italy on “Strada Statale 444” between Assisi and Gualdo Tadino. It is the largest retreat center in Europe for Yogananda’s teachings.
Ananda Associazione • Via Montecchio, 61 • I-06025 Nocera Umbra (PG) • ITALY