Where there is truth, there is victory: There is another important principle on which Ananda is based: Where there is adherence to truth, to high ideals, there is victory. We easily could have failed at the time of the fire, but we didn’t. In fact, some of our of neighbors were still weeping ten years later, while we were out the next day clearing the land and joyfully singing to God.
This is not a boast. I’m not trying to say how good we are. I’m trying to say that these are principles that will work for anybody if he will use them. They wouldn’t work if this world were only a material one, and matter were the bedrock reality. But there’s a subtler reality that is the basis of matter and of which itself is just an expression. When you can live in that subtler reality, you’ll find things happening in amazing ways to help and support you.
We have to redefine our principles in such a way that we can once again bring meaning into our lives. This is something that you, I, all of us need to take a personal responsibility for.
Bliss is the Source of our being: How to get back to that bedrock reality? The French philosopher Descartes said, “I think, therefore, I am.” This is a false assumption. The truth is, “I am, therefore, I think.” This is the one point of departure for all human understanding. This simple intuition - I am - is the central fact of your being. You are not any outward definition, but simply, I am.
When you reach that point of emptiness, not blankness, but emptiness, then suddenly you discover that the source of “I am” is bliss. As this bliss expands, you understand that this is the one thing worth living for.
People tell you there’s no God, but I know that “I am” can never be taken from me. People say that there’s no truth, but there’s at least this that’s true: That which makes me happier is good for me, and that which makes me unhappy is not good for me. In this world there are two kinds of influences: One is light and the other is darkness. One is good, and the other is evil. How do you know which is which?
You can’t call things good or bad in themselves, but subjectively you can say its effect on us is good or bad. We can learn to discriminate in this respect when we open ourselves to the influence of darkness and allow our minds to become negative, pessimistic, doubtful, or cynical, then we’re going to suffer.
If we attune ourselves to forces of light, and direct our thoughts to be positive, optimistic, hopeful, and courageous, we’re the ones who gain. That’s what makes an influence good or bad.
There is an objective truth, and we must face it as it is. If we were tigers, then I would say it was right for us to kill. But the truth is people like Mafia hitmen who destroy life in others are killing it in themselves. Whatever you do to others, you do to yourself more than to anyone else. When you give love, you have love. When you give anger and hatred, you have anger and hatred in yourself, and you become dark.
We are at a wonderful point in the evolution of our society as we move into a new age. We have a choice before us now - to remain fixed in old ways of thinking and dogmas, or to re-evaluate who we are, what we are, and what we’re doing here..
I think the future ahead is a glorious one, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll arrive at it easily. We’re still in a deck - stripping process and may have to face a few hard times. So be it. But don’t lose your faith in that simple reality that you can never get away from - the simple truth “I am.”
On the basis of that single thought, build that “I am” into what you want to become, and shape your life into what you want it to be. Start from the divine reality of your own being, and discover the joy and freedom of the infinite.
Swami Kriyananda is a living disciple of Paramhamsa Yogananda. He is also the founder of Ananda Sangha with nine communities around the world.