Emotions

Developing Calmness

by Paramhansa Yogananda

Nervousness the Opposite of Calmness Calmness is the ideal medium through which we should receive everything. Nervousness is the opposite of calmness. Today nervousness seems to be the world’s disease. He is your best friend who humbly suggests to you how you may be benefited. Many people think that by forgetting disease you get rid of disease. You may forget … Read More

Music & Art

Whisper + Art: Demand to Set Fire to the Forest of Darkness

by Paramhansa Yogananda

I built a fire of devotion in the dark forest of delusion. Alas! the fire only smoldered. Then Thou didst come and set fire to a few of my frailties. That fire quickly spread on, consuming the bushes of my prickly desires, my tall, towering vanities, and the thick underbrush of my arrogance. The whole forest of my darkness is … Read More

Discipleship

A Boy Trying to Fit in with the World

by Jagadish

When someone asks about your earliest childhood memory, what comes to mind? For me, it was fear. Specifically, fear that I would be drafted into the army and killed in battle. I remember making myself sick in the back seat of the car, lost in an overwhelming sense of doom, while everyone else seemed perfectly fine, happily chatting away. Even … Read More

Facing Challenges

How to Develop Clarity in a Time of Confusion 

by Arudra Slisko

We are living in times of great confusion. Bombarded with conflicting information, all presented as truth, when often it is merely an opinion or a speculation based on confused facts. It is like a scene from a comedy movie I saw some years ago in which Robin Hood sees his companion Blinking, who was blind, taking his turn as the … Read More

Magnetism and Success

How to Create a Spiritual Organisation?

by Mirela Schwarz

Recently a women asked me “If I am a healer, a Yoga teacher or work in the social sector, it is easy to create a spiritual organisation. But, I am an IT expert, I do not understand. How can I create a spiritual organisation with that?” It is not ‘what you do’ which is essential for creating a spiritual organisation, … Read More

Relationships

The Eight Meannesses of the Heart:
How to Overcome Them – Part 6

by Darshan Lotichius

A major karmic challenge in this life arose during my early school years. One day a boy emerged from a large group of children playing in the schoolyard. He walked over to me and said, “We are friends.” His announcement was accompanied by a rather fierce handshake. He told me his name was Edmund. The friendship that ensued for Edmund … Read More

Health and Healing

Spirit-in-Nature Essences: Yogananda’s Insights

by Lila Devi

Swami Kriyananda’s words were fired with great gusto as he dashed into the living room of his home in Gurgeon, India, saying: “The main thing is that, with all of these (flower essences), we can use them to grow if we agree with them.” Thus began his first and only class on flower essences. “For instance, I held in my … Read More