Week 34: How Should we Meet Our Test?
Our Affirmation For August
Stanza 8:
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are they who, when persecuted, dare to stand firmly by the truths they know. Through steadfastness to high principles they shall be deemed worthy, after death, to enter the higher heavens.
Swami Kriyananda
From the book
The Beatitudes: Their Inner Meaning by Swami Kriyananda
Rays of One Light: Weekly Commentaries on the
Bible and The Bhagavad Gita
by Swami Kriyananda
In the Bhagavad Gita the point is clarified further by the added explanation that there are three qualities in human nature: sattvic, or spiritually elevating; rajasic, or ego-activating; and tamasic, or spiritually darkening. It is this triune aspect of human nature that the third Chapter refers to with the words: As fire is hidden by smoke, as a mirror is dulled by rust, and as an embryo is enclosed in the womb, so is the indwelling Self enveloped by desire.
Week 34: How Should we Meet Our Test?
119. Hidden in the Ashes of Burnt Sadness, I Found Thy Golden Presence
Father Divine, banish me not in silence. I stand lonely without Thee. Let me not become imprisoned in my work, so that I forget Thee. I will go within, in meditation, to bring Thee without into the marketplace of life. Wherever Thou dost place me, there must Thou come. Hidden within the ashes of my burnt sadness, I shall find Thy golden presence.
What inspired me from this week’s reading from the Rays of One Light to share with everyone was…
If, however, your nature impels you, even against your will, to move in the wrong direction—toward egoic desires, and away from God—strive at least to detach yourself mentally from your wrong actions, which are induced by habit. The time will come when their own stored-up energy will tire and diminish. At that time, if you have not contributed to that energy by your consenting will, you will find it possible at last to redirect your energies more constructively.
But before we enter into our reflection and meditation we will listen to Where Is There Love by Paramhansa Yogananda.
Where is There Love by Paramhansa Yogananda
Let’s Reflect on
If, however, your nature impels you, even against your will, to move in the wrong direction—toward egoic desires, and away from God—strive at least to detach yourself mentally from your wrong actions, which are induced by habit. The time will come when their own stored-up energy will tire and diminish. At that time, if you have not contributed to that energy by your consenting will, you will find it possible at last to redirect your energies more constructively.
