Blessed are the Peacemakers

by Brother Achalananda
Excerpts from a talk at 2010 Convocation, August 1, 2010

Be a Peacemaker

Convocation offers a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our faith, that we are moving forward in a greater spirit of love.

Sri Daya Mata’s Greeting: “Gurudeva used to look forward to convocation. He often said, ‘I prefer a soul to a crowd, but I love a crowd of souls.’ I will pray that you will able to lay aside our worldly concerns. As we tune in to Master’s blessing, we will uplift our mind and re-tune ourselves – and we will realize how each one of us is cherished by the Guru. Open your hearts to feel God’s presence. Apply principles of right thinking and action towards others. It’s what we do with what we hear that can transform our lives. May you feel a new determination to make positive changes in your life.”

How to Become Givers of the Gifts of Peace Inner & Outer Peace – If we want to express the outer, we must express the inner. If you want to be a peacemaker, you need to bring peace to your own life. If we do this, then we’ll be doing our part in changing the world. It always starts with the individual. Master said, “Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world.”

Sermon on the Mount – blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 – a greater understanding of what it means to be a peacemaker. Remember Master’s commentary: There are the real peacemakers who generate peace from their devotional meditations. Peace is the first manifestation from God. When we meditate, God’s first response is peace. The nature of God is inner peace.

Son of God consciousness makes one feel one with all beings. All of God’s children are souls and His children need to learn to live in that same consciousness. There’s only one race – the human race. Human beings have been given potentially unlimited power to prove they are children of God. We should conquer hearts with the power of love. Brotherhood is the greatest deterrent to war. Man’s power to create war is increasing, so his power to create peace must increase.

The Second Coming of Christ – Discourse 26 – All prejudices and enmities must fall away. When we are caught up in ego we are the children of man not the children of God.

Soul nature – children of God
Ego nature – children of man

Peace for the world must start with divine friendship for all. A peace that passeth all understanding – beyond words, beyond human intellect. But we can feel this peace for all in deep meditation. If we stop and look at our history, we see that it is the history of the dark ages of wars – turmoils of the darkest ages humanity knows. It takes more than a few to bring peace.

The more we contact peace within, the more we express it without. The more a person experiences God’s peace the easier it is to spread God’s will to others. We would perceive all beings as one. Not just a concept but a living reality. Expand your heart’s natural love.

Meditation

Our Guru’s meditation techniques help expand the heart’s natural love. Pointers to deepen meditation so we can feel greater peace: Posture – spine must be erect. Don’t sit with back against the chair unless it is a necessity. Posture must be comfortable so you can sit for hours and hours without moving. If you move, the consciousness goes there, towards sensation – and the mind will go wandering. Controlling the mind – sitting still, mind calms down if body does not move. Put the mind on the techniques and keep it focused there. That will calm the mind down. Why is it so difficult to control this monkey mind? Don’t be discouraged if the mind wanders – keep it focused on one technique. The deeper one goes into the soul, the more peace is felt.

Patanjali’s 5th Step – Pratyahara – interiorization of the mind. When this happens, we see our meditations change. If we keep knocking at the doors of silence, God will help us.

We create our own nightmares just as we create our own dreams of peace. We are like children. When the movie is over we watch it again and again, instead of going home. How does we break our fascination with the cosmic movie? We need to give up some things which keep us from God. We need to practice techniques. We need to attain that inner state of being.

Gita – Chapter 40, Verse 2 – Yoga is a path of spiritual action. Material pursuits are like going down blind alleys. We need to get to know ourselves for who we truly are. Inner renunciation – the ego will resist and fight us.

Even a tiny bit of these techniques of Masters’ will release us from this fear. There is no waste from effort. Every effort counts. If a person desires salvation, that is planted forever in the super consciousness. Some day, in some life, each one must take this first step.

Brother told the story of a three hour meditation he had prior to becoming a monastic. He went to the Hollywood Temple and it was a real struggle for the entire three hours. He stood in line to get a blessing from Dr. Lewis who whispered in his ear, “Great meditation, wasn’t it?”

Sometimes when you struggle the hardest you are making the most progress. The struggle is there for you to become stronger. You become stronger having to do something you haven’t done before.

One does not get a high technique like Kriya Yoga at the beginning of one’s journey, but at the end. The results will come. Once the mind is in control, we start to meditate and then the benefits come.

Don’t be overly concerned with the drama in the world. Seek the kingdom of God. Don’t worry and get caught up in the inner turmoil. Overcome worry and fear and all those things that create a lack of peace in ourselves.

Master’s work is still ahead of its time, but it’s growing because there’s a need for these teachings.

Meditation Develops Intuition

Meditation develops intuition. The more deeply you meditate, the more your intuition will develop.

We are at a pivotal time on this planet because not enough people have changed to a higher spiritual consciousness. If people don’t change willingly, events will force us to change.

Don’t get caught up in the doom and gloom of things. Just keep on keeping on, centered in spirit. The way to happiness is through meditation and being attuned to God. Our goal is to be a peacemaker first inside then outside.