Practice the Presence of God

6. Practice the Presence of God

The only experience that is real,
the only experience that brings happiness,
is awareness of the presence of God. (me)

SRF AUM

It isn't only meditation that I emphasize.

Meditation plus
keeping your mind with God during activity
is what is necessary.

Half the battle will be won by meditation, for the soul power that you bring out by meditation will influence your thoughts and behavior during activity. (jt)

SRF AUM

To keep the mind full of rubbish is foolish. Fill your mind with thoughts of God. Pray for the unceasing remembrance of God. Think of Him before you act, while you are acting, and after you have finished your duties.

He who perceives Me everywhere and beholds everything in Me never loses sight of Me, nor do I ever lose sight of him.
The Bhagavad Gita VI:30

He is nearest of the near, dearest of the dear, closer than the closest.

Hold on to the truth that God is the most important thing in your life. So long as you cling to human love, or life, or beauty, or fame, or money, or anything else as more important, He will not come to you. (jt)

SRF AUM

It is so simple if inside you are always talking to Him, ‘Lord, come to me!

Why do you put up a barrier of doubt between yourself and God? If you love Him and inwardly talk to Him, and know He is with you, you will get much more result than from hours of just sitting absentmindedly in silence, supposedly meditating, with your mind wandering over everything but God. Keep Him in your heart all the time. And when you meditate, go deep in divine communion. (jt)

SRF AUM

Jesus said:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God’.

If you are seeking something else first, you will surely be disillusioned. Each man rationalises, ‘Well, others have been deceived, but I won’t be.’ Nevertheless, he will be deceived. (me)

SRF AUM

Whether you are washing dishes or digging a ditch or working in an office or a garden —whatever you may be doing—inwardly say, "Lord, manifest to me!..."

Lord manifest to me!

SRF AUM

He who perceives Me everywhere and beholds everything in Me never loses sight of Me, nor do I ever lose sight of him.
The Bhagavad Gita VI:30

This stanza stresses the state of duality that may exist between the devotee and God. The liberated devotee can watch God through every open niche of space, as the Spirit can look at him through every pore of the sky. Such a liberated yogi never loses sight of God nor does God ever lose sight of him. The True Lover is God; we are all His beloveds, mistakenly seeking love in impermanent human beings. (bg)

SRF AUM

On Me fix thy mind, be thou My devotee, with ceaseless worship bow reverently before Me. Having thus united thyself to Me as thy Highest Goal, thou shalt be Mine own.
— The Bhagavad Gita IX:34

In yoga meditation, O devotee, fix thy mind unwaveringly on God; with devotion, surrender to Him the ego consciousness and all its dream delusions. In the inner rite of true worship, oblate the little self into the Self in the sacred fire of divine communion with Spirit. Look solely to Him who is the Lord of All, for He is the consummation of the rainbow-chases of incarnations. In Him, all motley-hued desires merge in the one splendor of Bliss in which the soul is forever diademed with Spirit. (bg)

SRF AUM

presence of God

HE is nearer than the nearest, dearer than the dearest. Just behind the words of your speech, just behind your thoughts, just behind the love of your heart, just behind your will, just behind your sense of I-ness, is the great spirit of God. For those who think Him far away, He is far away; but for those who think Him near, He is ever near. (bg)

 

SRF AUM

So many doubt heaven because they do not see it. Yet they do not doubt the breeze simply because it is unseen. It is known by its sound and sensation on the skin and the motion in the leaves and other objects. (sc)

The whole universe lives, moves, breathes
because of the invisible presence of God
in the heavenly forces behind matter.

(More...), (The Bhagavad Gita VI:30), ( The Bhagavad Gita XIII:27-30)

SRF AUM

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References:
(aoy) — Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
(bg) — God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita by Paramahansa Yogananda
(dr) — The Divine Romance by Paramahansa Yogananda
(jt) — Journey to Self-Realization by Paramahansa Yogananda
(me) — Man's Eternal Quest by Paramahansa Yogananda
(os) — Other Sources... Talks, Booklets
(sc) — The Second Coming of Christ by Paramahansa Yogananda
(sm) — Self-Realization Magazines