Source Text
The glory of God is great. He is real, and He can be found….Silently and surely, as you walk on the path of life, you must come to the realization that God is the only object, the only goal that will satisfy you; for in God lies the answer to every desire of the heart. —Paramahansa Yogananda
God Is Moved Only by Love The average man prays to God with his mind only, not with all the fervor of his heart. Such prayers are too weak to bring any response. We should speak to the Divine Spirit with confidence and with a feeling of closeness, as to a father or a mother. Our relationship with God should be one of unconditional love.
God is constrained to answer such an appeal; for the essence of a mother is love and forgiveness of her child, no matter how great a sinner he may be. The relationship between mother and child is the most beautiful form of human love that the Lord has given us.
“I am Ishwara (the Lord). I am Light.” The Voice was as murmuring clouds.
He will not talk with you until you have convinced Him that no other desire is hiding in your heart. Why should He reveal Himself to you if your heart is filled only with longings for His gifts?
God will not tell you that you should desire Him above all else, because He wants your love to be freely given, without “prompting.” That is the whole secret in the game of this universe. He who created us yearns for our love. He wants us to give it spontaneously, without His asking. Our love is the one thing God does not possess, unless we choose to bestow it. So, you see, even the Lord has something to attain: our love.
But if our Creator is impersonal, how is it that He has created human beings? We are personal; we have individuality.
Considering the impersonal aspect of God, we get the impression of a Remote Being, One who merely receives the prayer-thoughts we offer, without responding to them; One who knows everything, yet maintains a heartless silence. But this is a philosophical error, because God is everything: personal as well as impersonal.
I receive much of my knowledge from God, rather than from books. I seldom read. I tell you what I have perceived directly. That is why I speak with authority, the authority of my direct perception of Truth. The opinion of the whole world may stand against it, but the authority of direct perception will always be accepted eventually.
With your spiritual eye you can see the body as a mass of scintillating specks of light — the energy that is emanating from your twenty-seven thousand billion cells. Only through delusion do you see the body as solid flesh. In reality it is not matter, but energy. It is because you think you are made of flesh and blood that you sometimes imagine yourself to be a weakling. But if you register the consciousness of God in your body, you will realize that flesh is nothing more than a physical manifestation of the five vibratory elements of earth, water, fire, air, and ether.
AI Summary
How You Can Talk With God by Paramahansa Yogananda presents key insights from the Yoga tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.