Myrah Child

Through tests we learn life’s lessons. Tests are not meant to crush us: They are to develop our powers. They come through the natural law of progress and are necessary for us to advance from lower to higher steps.

Mind is the source of all your troubles and all your happiness. You really are stronger than all your tests. If you don’t realize it now, you will have to realize it later. God has given you the power to control your mind and body and thus be free from pain and sorrow. Never say, “I am through.” Do not poison your mind by thinking that if you walk a little more you will over-exert yourself, or if you cannot get certain foods you will suffer, and so on.

Never allow your mind to entertain thoughts of illness or limitation: You will see your body change for the better. Remember that mind is the power that is creating this body, and if the mind is weak, the body becomes weak. Don’t grieve or worry about anything.

If you strengthen your mind, you will not feel bodily pains. No matter what happens, you must be absolutely free in your mind. As in a dream, you may think that you are ill but, awakened by a slap, you see it is not true. So in the state of wakefulness you must know that this life is also nothing but a dream. Mind has no connection with the body apart from what connection you give it. When your mind can completely remain apart from the body at will, you will be free. Remember that you are immortal.

In order to pass life’s tests, you will need rejuvenation in both body and mind. You will need to develop elasticity of the mind. If you can’t meet life’s tests, you will be helpless when trials and tribulations come.

At times life seems to be a cruel game. The only justification for it is that in reality it is only a dream. You have had many experiences through many incarnations and you will have others in future incarnations, but they should not frighten you. You must play all parts in the motion picture of life, inwardly saying, “I am Spirit.” This is the great consolation that wisdom gives us.

Realize the presence of the Infinite. Behold God, your own Father, your own Spirit, behind the shadows. In your heart of hearts realize this, no matter what your impulses dictate. Let nothing sit on the throne of your heart but God. If you love God’s creation more than God, you will be disillusioned. God must be first, last, and always. Do not follow the dictates of this earthly dreamland, for dreams sometimes turn into nightmares. Break this dream delusion by waking in God, and you will be safe forever.

Paramhansa Yogananda,
Inner Culture, April 1941

“Smooth as glass the water was yesterday, and smooth as glass it is again today. Indian summer on the island, mild and warm—ah! But there is no sun.
It is many years now since I knew such peace. Twenty or thirty years, maybe; or maybe it was in another life. But I have felt it some time, surely, since I go about now humming a little tune; go about rejoicing, loving every straw and every stone, and feeling as if they cared for me in return.
When I go by the overgrown path, in through the woods, my heart quivers with an unearthly joy. I call to mind a spot on the eastern shores of the Caspian, where I once stood. All just as it is here, with the water still and heavy and iron-grey as now. I walked through the woods, touched to the heart, and verging on tears for sheer happiness’ sake, and saying to myself all the time: God in heaven. To be here again….”

“ Just take a deep breath. Feel it hitting in the middle of
the chest. Feel as if the whole existence is pouring into
you, into your heart. Do it at least five times – deep
breaths; take it in, fill the heart. Just feel in the heart centre that existence is pouring in vitality, life.

Now exhale deeply, again from the heart, and feel
you are pouring all that has been given to you back into
existence. Do it many times in the day, but whenever you
do it, do five breaths at once.

That will help you to shift from the head to the heart.
And you will become more and more sensitive, more and
more aware of many things of which you have not been
aware. You will smell more, taste more, touch more, see
more, hear more; everything will become intense. You will
start feeling life really throbbing in you, ready to jump,
ready to flow.