Category: Spiritual Writings

“‘What is the best religion?’ queried a truth seeker.

‘Self-realization is, in fact, the only religion.’ Yogananda replied. ‘For it is the true purpose of religion, no matter how people define their beliefs.’

A person may be Christian or Jewish, Buddhist or Hindu, Moslem or Zoroastrian; he may proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way, or Buddha, or Mohammed — as indeed, millions of believers do.  He may insist that this ritual, or that place of worship, bestows salvation.  But it all comes down to what he is, in himself.

A thousand Christs wouldn’t be able to give you God, if you didn’t first make love to Him yourself.

What does God care how you define Him?  Could any dogma encompass Him, Who is everything and far more than everything.  And don’t you suppose that a Moslem or a Hindu who loves God is as dear to Jesus Christ as any Christian — and much more acceptable to him than those among his own followers who believe in God with their minds, but have no love for Him in their hearts?

Jesus Christ didn’t come to earth, nor does any great master come, to draw people to himself.  He came to draw them to the truth — that truth which, Jesus said, ‘shall make you free,’ (John 8:32) The divine message is ever impersonal as it relates to this truth.

At the same time, it is personal in its relation to the individual seeker.  That is to say, the masters don’t tell people, ‘You will be saved by the religion you follow, outwardly.’ They tell them, ‘You will be saved by what you do, personally, to establish your kindship with God.’

Self-realization is the eternal message of religion.  Whatever your beliefs and practices, the essential purpose of religion is to help you to fulfill your own highest potential, as a child of God.

Your religion is not the garb you wear outwardly, but the garment of light you weave around your heart.  By outward garb, I don’t mean your physical raiment only, but rather the thoughts and beliefs in which you enclose yourself.  They are not you. 

Discover who you are, behind those outer trappings, and you will discover who Jesus was, and Buddha, and Krishna. For the masters come to earth for the purpose of holding up to every man a reflection of his deeper, eternal Self.“

The Essence of Self-Realization – The Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda, Recorded and compiled by his disciple, Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters), p. 117 – 119.

“Telling people you are spiritual but not religious is often greeted with a confused face.  People tend to think of spirituality as something very strange and mysterious.  They even struggle to differentiate it from religion.

The essence of religion:

Fear God and obey God.

The quintessence of spirituality:

Love God and become a divine representation of the Creator.

2. Fear vs Love. Quite often religion takes the approach of fearing God. Religion is often concerned with sin, guilt, and a concept of a God who punishes. The spiritual approach to God is through the path of love. This is a love where there is no judgment – only acceptance. Spirituality feels so-called sins are really just ignorance based on a false belief of who we are.

3. Where is God? Often religion talks of God as being high in the heavens. At times God can seem far from the reach of aspiring humanity. Spirituality shows us that God is omniscient and omnipresent and can be felt as a living presence in our own hearts. Spirituality says there is no separation between the Creator and Creation.

4. One True Religion vs Universality. Many followers of religion feel that only their path can lead to salvation. They have tremendous faith in their own religion, but at the same time, they feel other religions are wrong. Therefore, they can feel a necessity to convert others to their faith.

All spiritual persons are religious but all religious persons are not

necessarily spiritual.

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There is nothing more toxic to the soul or dangerous to your development as a person than believing in something that is wrong, misguided, and outdated.

“Power is the ability to empathize with others without being affected personally by such feelings. But true power comes with much responsibility. ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’ Power does not mean that you are better than others but that you are much more reserved than others. The presence of power does not mean dominance, but a sense of self-preservation.

Self-preservation is the ultimate power. A person who reacts too quickly, too extremely, and too emotionally cannot wield power simply because their sense of preservation is diminished and therefore results in reactions. Power ultimately relies on self-preservation.

Power is patience. Power is resilience. Power is consideration. Power is empathy but without self-control it becomes nothing but an illusion. The illusion of power is that it belongs to a specific group or person, a specific place or a specific thing but power is none of these things because true power is in the heart; a heart full of self-preservation. So the ultimate power is love; love of oneself, and also the love of others. Mind you, this love does not mean weakness. Love seen as weakness is an illusion and only serves as foolishness to assume love to be weak. True love is never weak.

Love is the ultimate power and those who wield it must do so in truth and honour.

And so it is.

Now, may the joy of knowing yourself be with you always.

Eternal Peace.”

ASCENSION 101: The Old Souls And The Adepts (Series), THE ILLUSION OF POWER, David Khillaveli

“Your attitude will give you a great day or a hard day by how you perceive the challenges.  Are you going to feel defeated and overwhelmed?  Or are you going to feel like you’re mastering it and seeing that this is merely just living out life as you need to explore and experience everything that you have asked for and be able to make the most out of it?

You are in complete control of your reactions.

Be observant of your knee-jerk reactions that have been created in the past and notice that you are simply repeating a cycle of your reactions emotionally.  Be accountable for the way you choose to act, and instead of reacting, think about how you feel when you know things are merely playing out for the experiences.

If you’ve already mastered drama, if you’ve already mastered self-sabotage, then maybe you want to have a different experience and take control of things that way.  When you realize the power of your mind, when you see that you can manifest a lot of abundance and a lot of insight, support, and protection, and when you realize that you can master your life that way, you will stop focusing on the lower emotions. You’ll stop feeding into the lack mentality. You will stop manifesting drama, isolation, and feelings of aloneness.

Take a moment to look at your behaviors and your reactions. ‘Are these old patterns that are no longer serving you?’  ‘Are these old belief systems that are not serving you?’

When you love yourself and know that you don’t have insecurities, you’re not people-pleasing anymore and you know who you are, you do not buy into someone else’s projection of your lack.  You feel your empowerment in your accountability for something.  You know you have done your good inner work.  You hold a belief system that you are a loving human being and so naturally you feel your inner strength and integrity.”

Mastering Old Earth – Why You Survived When So Many Others Did Not, Connectingtoheaven@gmail.com