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In This Article:
- How meditation helps cultivate inner peace and courage.
- Teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda that inspire clarity and calmness.
- Why is calmness essential for clear perception and intuition?
- How can spiritual practices bring lasting joy and harmony?
- Steps you can take to make peace a constant presence in your life.
Finding Courage, Clarity and Peace in the Coming Year
by the Self-Realization Fellowship.
According to yogic science, regular meditation, along with the positive effects of a spiritually balanced life, can help tap the unshakeable peace within that allows us to face challenges, take wise actions and experience more joy every day — and help create more peace in the world.
“As more and more people make the effort through meditation to experience [the Divine] within,” says Brother Chidananda, president and spiritual head of Self-Realization Fellowship, the international organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920, “only then will we gain the ability to perceive that divine spark, that divine essence, that presence of [Spirit] in all other souls. That is the basis of ‘the world is one family,’ the basis for the brotherhood of man. That is the only lasting, realistic basis of the hope for world peace.”
In his many talks and published writings, Paramahansa Yogananda gives much practical guidance on how to cultivate that calmness and inner peace, including the following excerpts from Inner Peace: How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm and other books by Paramahansa Yogananda published by Self-Realization Fellowship.
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"Peace emanates from the soul, and is the sacred inner environment in which true happiness unfolds."
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"Through meditation one can experience a stable, silent inner peace that can be a permanently soothing background for all harmonious or trialsome activities demanded by life’s responsibilities."
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"Everything you do should be done with peace. That is the best medicine for your body, mind, and soul. It is the most wonderful way to live."
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"To be calmly active and actively calm — a Prince of Peace sitting on the throne of poise, directing the kingdom of activity — is to be spiritually healthy."
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"Never lose courage, and always be smiling. Have the smile of the heart and the smile of the face completely in harmony. If your body, mind, and soul register the smile of the inner consciousness of God, you can scatter smiles about you wherever you go."
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"When the consciousness is kept on [the Divine] you will have no fears; every obstacle will then be overcome by courage and faith."
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"What you expect others to be, you be first…Take one quality at a time and work at developing it. From today, for instance, practice peace...Then work at cultivating courage and fearlessness."
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"Anything that ripples the consciousness, sensual or emotional, distorts whatever is perceived. But calmness is clarity of perception, intuition itself."
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"When you leave your work for the day, forget it; do not pick it up mentally and carry it home with you. Worry only clouds your mind so that you cannot think clearly. You should learn to rely more on God. This is a science, a divine law."
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"The mind is a perfect instrument of knowledge when you have learned to base your life on truth. Then you see everything in a clear, undistorted way, exactly as it is. Therefore, learn to experiment with this mind. Learn to follow the science of religion and you can become the greatest kind of scientist, the greatest kind of inventor, the master of your own fate."
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"Remember in meditation that you are one with the vast Spirit. Go on remembering, and expanding that remembrance. There is no end to your consciousness; all things are glittering like stars in the firmament of your being. Suddenly you will find that your memory has subtly become intuition, the infallible insight of the soul."
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"You have the privilege and choice to make your own heaven right here; you have all the means to do so."
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Excerpts from books by Paramahansa Yogananda include: Inner Peace: How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm; Man’s Eternal Quest: Collected Talks and Essays, Vol I; The Divine Romance: Collected Talks and Essays, Volume II; Journey to Self-Realization: Collected Talks and Essays, Volume III; The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, Vol. I; and The Bhagavad Gita: God Talks with Arjuna (published by Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calif.).
Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Article Source: Inner Peace
Inner Peace: How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm
by Paramahansa Yogananda.
For all who feel that stress and nervousness are an unavoidable fact of modern life, one of the great spiritual teachers of our time reminds us that within each one of us is an inner core of peace that we can learn to access at will. Wise and encouraging counsel, compiled from the talks and writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, shows you how to: overcome fear, worry, anger, nervousness, moodiness; stay calmly present and actively focused, no matter what is going on around you; experience the expansive timelessness and beauty of each moment.
Practical, inspiring, and highly effective, this book empowers you to transform busy-ness and stress into happiness and peace. Inner Peace offers a potent antidote to our fast-paced world.
Click here for more info and/or to order this book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, the great yoga sage Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the key figures in bringing India’s science of yoga to the West, arriving in Boston in 1920 and establishing Self-Realization Fellowship that same year. January 5, 2024 will mark the world teacher’s 132nd birth anniversary. Join weekly meditations at local in person groups, daily meditations online, and learn more about the extraordinary life of Paramahansa Yogananda at Yogananda.org.
Photo of Paramahansa Yogananda in 1947, courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calif.
Article Recap:
This article highlights the transformative power of meditation and spiritual practices as taught by Paramahansa Yogananda. It explains how cultivating inner peace through meditation leads to clarity, courage, and joy in daily life. Excerpts from Yogananda’s teachings reveal actionable insights on achieving calmness, aligning with the Divine, and living with harmony. The focus is on practical ways to balance life’s responsibilities with spiritual growth, fostering both personal and collective peace.
