Where the Answers Live

Have you ever lost something and searched for it everywhere? Of course you have! So have we all. You may hunt here and there, but finally a moment comes when you realize, “I’ve been looking in the wrong place.” Unfortunately, we look in the wrong place not only for things but, more importantly, for the answers to our deepest questions.

The answers to important questions lie more in the heart than in the head. Swami Kriyananda told us that true wisdom comes from a combination of pure feeling and discrimination. God has given us both discrimination (buddhi) and feeling (chitta) to navigate this world. But in this age, our purified feeling nature “burns low, and is ill attended.” In such an imbalanced age we can rarely see clearly until we are uplifted by the warm currents of the heart.

It is from the heart that intuitive answers whisper to us. After his first great experience of cosmic consciousness, Paramhansa Yogananda said, “I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart.”

Intuitive answers can only come once we are calm. Recently an elderly friend of ours had lost a container of protein powder. Not only she, but many of her friends searched high and low with no success. Finally, she said, “Let’s ask Master for the answer.” After they had centered themselves for a few minutes she declared, “Look on the shelf in my bedroom closet.”

“We’ve already looked there,” they protested.

“Let’s look again,” she said, undeterred. Sure enough, there it was. It had fallen over behind some clothing.

Finding something like protein powder is a relatively trivial thing, but the intuitive heart also holds the solutions to more vital questions.

Your heart knows your true purpose.

Your intuition already knows your unique pathway to spiritual freedom. If you can calm the restless thoughts and listen sensitively to the deep feelings in your heart you will know your purpose in life. Once you have clarity on this, all else will begin to fall into place as you set out on a journey of wonder and discovery.

Ananda Village just celebrated its fifty-third anniversary on July 4th, a date we share with the founding of America. In the beginning, only Swamiji discerned the true purpose of Ananda: not political, but spiritual freedom. He said, “Since we are all seeking the same goal, it will be easier if we gather together and support one another in our quest.” He then set about gathering a small group of those attuned to Yogananda’s ray and willing to work together. Since our founding a half-century ago, that little group has grown into a worldwide army of truth seekers.

Your heart knows how to connect to others.

In a world filled with polarity and conflict, we need to prioritize loving connections with one another. Divine Mother loves everyone, and if we attune to Her vibration we, too, will feel that everyone is our brother or sister. As long as humanity stays divided, it will continue to find reasons to judge and to hate one another. The desperate need of our time is to give ascendance to acceptance and friendship.

When you are with others, listen and speak to them from your heart. Feel behind their words to their unspoken yearnings and needs. And let both your eyes and words radiate loving balms of kindness and support.

The heart will lead us to God.

Most importantly, it is the heart that will lead us to God. In meditation we must go beyond thoughts to find God. As Master’s chant says: “Thee I find behind the fringe of my mind.”

After the techniques of meditation, sit quietly and feel deep devotion in your heart. Go beyond mere thoughts into the deep yearnings of your soul. When the magnet of your love is strong enough, God will no longer be able to stay hidden.

From the heart,

Nayaswami Jyotish