We’re at a point in our society today where we’re beginning to slough off old ways of thinking and enter into a new age. You hear people saying, “Are you a ‘New Ager?’ “ Well, it’s not a question of being a “New Ager” - we are living in a new age, and we can’t avoid it. What defines this age? Essentially, it is the discovery at the beginning of this century that matter is energy, and that subtle realities exist beyond the reach of our senses. I don’t think people realize even yet the depth to which that discovery has taken us already, and is bound to take us in the future.
Look at our definition of institutions, for example. For a long time people thought that dogmas, upheld by institutions, were truth. This is a false assumption, for dogmas are only ideas about truth, not truth itself. Truth is universal. It’s a discovery that the soul makes as it evolves in its own self-unfoldment. If you understand the truth deeply enough, you can throw out the definition.
Once St. Francis of Assisi met a blind beggar woman along the road. She couldn’t see that he was even poorer than she was, and asked him for money. Feeling badly that he had no money to give, Francis gave her the one thing he did have - his Bible. Later, he felt the loss of his Bible, and prayed, “God, I’ve given away your Word.” A voice within him replied, “Francis, my Word is in your heart.” That’s where truth has to be. It has to be something we understand from within, not just something we read, or quote, or spout from a platform.
As we move forward into the new age, this way of thinking is gaining strength. Every day, it seems, a new discovery is being made that turns people’s minds more towards an understanding of energy and the subtle nature of reality.
There’s a principle based on this perception of energy that I’ve always upheld at Ananda: Don’t worry so much about the things you do, but be concerned that your attitude is right. If your attitude is right, if your energy flow is right, it’s amazing how everything flows smoothly and turns out positively for you. When you lose touch with the right attitude, the energy no longer flows, and success evades you. Try it for yourself, and you’ll find it works invariably.
An example of this took place in 1976 when our community (Ananda World Brotherhood Village) was struck by a forest fire that destroyed almost all of our buildings and burned most of our land. We didn’t have any money to rebuild or insurance to cover expenses, and we honestly didn’t know where the money was going to come from to start over. Just at that time one of our neighbors, whose property had also been burnt out by the fire, phoned us and said excitedly, “The cause of the fire was a county vehicle with a faulty spark arrestor. Let’s all sue the county and get what we can.” We easily could have sued for two million dollars and gotten all the money we needed to rebuild our community. But we said, “No, that’s not the way to go. We are not here to take from others, but to give.” We knew that if we had the right attitude, even if we couldn’t raise the necessary funds, God would help us in some other way. In fact, we were able to rebuild through many unexpected miracles and lots of hard work.
Swami Kriyananda is a living disciple of Paramhamsa Yogananda. He is also the founder of Ananda Sangha with nine communities around the world