You’re Not Here for That…

I’ll admit that there are times when I wish I could just speak to God directly, like having a little device in my ear where I could get a clear message, in plain English, any time I want. Maybe when I’m faced with a tough decision I could just ask God “Hey, should I go with the fries or salad with my sandwich?” And he’d say something profoundly helpful like “The fries will taste better now, but your body will feel better after the salad.” But, as most of you spiritual seekers know, messages from Spirit are rarely so straightforward.

When I look around at the world with so much uncertainty and chaos, I frequently get the feeling that something (outward) should be done about “this,” whatever it is, and that maybe I can help. But then my amazing wife said something that struck me so profoundly I thought Master had to be speaking through her:

She said “You’re not here for that, you’re here for the fallout from it.” And since I’ve been sitting with those words echoing in my head, it’s brought me a tremendous amount of peace. I don’t need to fix all of the many overarching problems of the world now, which is a relief because I’m not in a position to fix any of them… But when hard times come I will go forth and do more of the work I came to Earth to do. And I strongly believe this is what the Ananda communities are on the planet for: to offer spiritual succor and divine clarity to confused and hurting souls, as the world they put their faith in inevitably disappoints them.

In my previous blog entitled “Who Did God Vote For?” I discussed Yogananda’s statement from the Autobiography of a Yogi that Babaji and Christ have planned the spiritual salvation of our age, and are working tirelessly to help in the upliftment of consciousness on the planet. I also discussed how, with all the bad news of the world, it can be easy to get caught up in wanting to change the world itself for the better and lose track of the point of this life.

And it’s more important now than ever to remember some of Yogananda’s teachings, like “take care of the minutes, and incarnations will take care of themselves” and “environment is stronger than willpower.” If we are so focused on what happened in the past, or worried about what will happen in the future, it’s pretty hard to take care of the minutes. And if we’re surrounding our mind with thoughts of what’s wrong with our society or government, then that mental environment will make it nearly impossible to go deep in the inner silence.

So I think about a question that Asha asked of Swamiji many years ago, which is basically the universal question of “In a moment of crisis, how will I know what God wants me to do?” to which he answered “Practice when it’s easy.” In other words, don’t wait for things to get really bad to find inner strength, bravery, or calmness, start cultivating those things now using any chance you get.

And it is hard to think about the world today as “the easy part,” but when we look at history, and what exactly we’re repeating right now, we know it can get a whole lot worse, and likely will. But it’s important to remember, as a devotee, unless you’re already highly placed in such a way as to directly affect the current trajectory of the planet, then the MOST important thing to do is look within and work to uplift and purify your own consciousness.

We don’t know what tests lie ahead of us, or for our country, or the world. That much is certain. But if the chaos, uncertainty, and fear inspire us to do anything, let it be to go inward, to pray more, serve more, and especially to love more. Take inventory of your life right at this moment, and look for ways you can increase the Light, the Love, and the Joy of God, wherever you are.

In this way, you will be building up spiritual Power in order, as Master encourages us, to “stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds.” And until the worlds are actually crashing around us, let us use our time and energy to practice, and grow, and find Peace where we can. Because whatever happens from here, soon enough we’ll all meet up again in the astral world, with Master and Swamiji there to greet us, and we can say for certain “It was a good show.”