By attuning ourselves with forces of light, and directing our thoughts to be positive, optimistic and hopeful, we can transform darkness into light, says SWAMI KRIYANANDA
At this time, humanity is caught in a struggle between light and darkness, and between faith and people’s attempts to destroy human faith in everything.
We owe it to ourselves, and to all humanity, to do what we can. Each of us has the power to make an offering to God of this simple prayer: ‘Lord, ‘use’ me! Let me channel Your love impersonally to all.’ Divine love is a ‘force’. If we understand that by loving rightly it is God’s love we express, He will be able, through us, to uplift our consciousness and the world’s.
What should i pray for? I pray that i become an ever clearer channel for God’s grace. I pray also for my fellow human beings, that they become ever stronger in God’s light.
People tell you there’s no God, that there’s no truth, but there’s at least this that’s true: That which makes me happier is good for me, and that which makes me unhappy is not good for me. In this world there are two kinds of influences: One is light and the other is darkness. One is good, and the other is evil. How do you know which is which?
You can’t call things good or bad in themselves, but subjectively you can say its effect on us is good or bad. We can learn to discriminate in this respect when we open ourselves to the influence of darkness and allow our minds to become negative, pessimistic, doubtful, or cynical, then we’re going to suffer.
If we attune ourselves to forces of light, and direct our thoughts to be positive, optimistic, hopeful, and courageous, we’re the ones who gain. That’s what makes an influence good or bad.
There is an objective truth, and we must face it as it is. If we were tigers, then I would say it was right for us to kill. But those who destroy life in others are killing it in themselves. Whatever you do to others, you do to yourself more than to anyone else. When you give love, you have love. When you give anger and hatred, you have anger and hatred in yourself, and you become dark.
We are at a wonderful point in the evolution of our planet. We have a choice before us now ― to remain fixed in old ways of thinking, or to reevaluate who we are, what we are, and what we’re doing here.
I think the future ahead is a glorious one, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll arrive at it easily. We’re still in a process of stripping off old ways, and we may have to face a few hard times. So be it.
But don’t lose your faith in the simple reality that you can never get away from ― the simple truth ‘I am’. On the basis of that single thought, build that ‘I am’ into what you want to become, and shape your life into what you want it to be. Start from the divine reality of your own being, and discover the joy and freedom of the infinite.
Swami Kriyananda (born J. Donald Walters) was only 22 when he became a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi. At Yogananda’s request, Swami Kriyananda devoted his life to lecturing and writing, helping others to experience the living presence of God within. He founded the Ananda community.