In the 4th century AD, deep in the Egyptian desert, travel-weary clergymen ended a long and difficult search for the venerable desert saint, Anthony the Great. Back in Alexandria, a great religious controversy was stirring conflict and confusion among church and political leaders: was Jesus Christ merely a great human being, or the true Son of God?
Those sent to find Anthony believed his spiritual authority could help settle the dispute and restore clarity. Though he had lived for many years in seclusion, his wisdom and realization were widely revered. According to traditional accounts, when he later appeared in Alexandria, his simple testimony had a profound impact: “I have seen Him.”
But when the travelers first approached Anthony in the desert with their dilemma, he struggled to understand the nature of the dilemma. How could anyone doubt the divine reality so fully expressed in the life of a Master such as Jesus Christ? When he finally grasped the confusion born of human reasoning and delusion, he is said to have responded with a simple image: “Ah, now I see… the donkeys have upset the apple cart again.”
Looking at the world today, it seems the donkeys are at it all over again. Along with religious disagreements, there are political, racial, and cultural divisions everywhere. Certain world leaders are making a terrible mess of our planet: destroying natural resources, waging senseless wars, and depriving countless people of basic rights and needs. How can we make a true course correction and help bring humanity back into harmony?
Great yogis and masters of all traditions remind us that whatever we see wrong in the world outside has its origin within ourselves. The real work begins by correcting our own consciousness—through yoga, meditation, and sincere self-effort—to find divine peace, harmony, and acceptance within.
Far from a passive teaching, however, the true state of yoga, or Self-realization, brings that inner awakening into right action. According to each soul’s karma and dharma, we must bring compassion, courage, and wisdom into the world—to uplift troubled hearts, to stand for truth, and to bring light into dark places.
Paramahansa Yogananda reassured devotees of the true divine powers guiding the consciousness of the world:
“The Mahavatar [Babaji] is in constant communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined masters… is to inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatred, religious sectarianism, and the boomerang evils of materialism.”
This is not merely a hopeful statement, but a great divine work already in motion, in which we can play an integral part.
In the simple prayer of Francis of Assisi: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” The call and example of the saints is always the same—not to fix the world outwardly first, but to be instruments of divine love and peace.
And so the work is ours to do. To restore the apple cart of humanity, we must begin where all true change happens: in the heart. By seeking God first, by refining our consciousness, and by learning to see others not as separate, but as reflections of the one Divine Life, we bring about the much needed healing and harmony of our world.
In the Temple of United Hearts, by Paramhansa Yogananda
It behooves not Thy lily-tender feet
To dance on the hard-hearted soil of Souls.
On the petals of sympathy for others,
May Thy tenderness dance forever.
Divine Mother
May I feel in my heart Thy heart-throbs;
In my happiness, Thy joy;
In my activity, Thy power of direction;
In my Soul, Thy Spirit.
Divine Mother,
Open wide the bud of my devotion
And release Thy fragrance,
That it may spread from my Soul to the Souls of others,
Ever whispering of Thee.
Divine Mother,
I lay all the flowers of my love
At Thy Feet of Eternity.
I pray that I may behold my love in others,
And in the light of that greater love,
May I behold Thy unveiled Face of Peace.
May I behold myself in others,
And may I ever perceive Thee
Enthroned in our united hearts.
In the heart of my whispers,
I feel the stir of Thy whispers.
In the light of my burning love for Thee,
I behold Thy sacred Face of Silence at last.O Divine Mother,
Unite our hearts as One Heart,
That on the sacred altar of United Hearts,
We may find Thine Omnipresence
Enthroned forever.