Temptation and the Devil Yogacharya David Hickenbottom

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1 Temptation and the Devil Yogacharya David Hickenbottom Temptation and the devil are closely held ideas by Christianity and we have all been exposed to some of the more extreme notions of these concepts. From some pulpits come the words like an invective poison, and on the other hand non-believers scoff at the very notion of the devil. Master said he used to think the devil force was only in the mind, but experience taught him that it existed as an independent actor in cosmology. Mother asked us to keep our minds upon God, and forget the devil; give it no power. However, Mother too encountered dark forces and had to grapple with them on many occasions. Wherein lies the way through what can seem to be a baffling maze of being buffeted about by powerful forces of good and evil in this world? It seems that we are thrown into the lake by a disinterested parent and told to swim! And yet we have divine teachers who strive to give us the tools to live correctly so that we may have lasting happiness in Spirit. My own experience tells me there are dark forces at work in this creation, some man-made, some beyond human conception. But that God and the Light are more powerful, and enable us to rise above such evil. Therefore, to keep your mind on God is exactly right. By looking to the highest Light we are drawn through delusion s night into an enlightened state. However, darkness and its minions can present themselves before us and it is tempting to fearfully focus on them, and not on the Light. Too much emphasis upon dark forces does give them power, and like a frightened traveler at night every bush can appear to be a bear, every stick on the path a poisonous snake! Life becomes a selfcreated horror show that will attract every type of creature that feeds on fear. And yet, we must be aware of delusion s snares that lie upon our path. A wayward desire unchecked, a deviation from the path to spiritual perfection can seem a trifle at the time; yet the alteration in thought can ignite some hidden coals of desire that blaze with unbelievable power that destroy reputations and even lives. A quality of true saints is the purity they awaken in us. The power to awaken such purity can only come if they have touched the fabric of God s Being, which is purity itself. The only way in which they have earned that privilege is if they have spurned temptation s lure. That does not mean they have never wandered. There are many saints that lived seriously deranged lives. It is as though having faced some of the worst of human behavior within and without, they receive the clarity it takes to master attachments, both big and small. They know darkness and its power, and they know God s purity, and they are not deceived about the difference. We all face temptation, and it is in the fire of this testing that we learn to draw upon the unqualified power of the Infinite in order to reach our goal. This is not about a contrived prudishness, but a reasoned clarity drawn from experience. There is no greater attribute than to strive directly to the Goal of goals; however if we should wander, then making a rapid course correction and getting right back on the path with a lesson well learned is what we must do. The fact that evil and darkness do exist only highlights that we should strive all the harder for realization, not only for ourselves, but to help purify and uplift this world in the process. 1 P a g e

2 Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone A talk by Mother Hamilton given on February 8, 1961 Reading: St. Matthew 4:1-11 Our Bible chapter tonight is St. Matthew, Chapter 4. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest at any time thou should dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Spiritual Development Includes Temptation Experiences Satan comes and tempts us in many ways. We must always be aware of what is going on within us, and also outwardly, because we must listen to the voice of God alone. There comes a day in the development of man when he must go up into the mountain of his own being and be tempted by Satan. And he must resist this temptation, even as Jesus did, because unless this is done one cannot go all the way and enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Medulla Oblongata Is Mouth of God Now, he tempted Jesus by asking him to make stones into bread. And Jesus said a very wonderful thing: Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It would be very difficult for people in the orthodox faiths to know the true meaning of this saying. And yet, to those of us who have been indoctrinated into the higher teachings, the meaning of symbology, it is very clear. Because Master told us that the mouth of God is the medulla. It is right at the top of the five spinal centers, right at the base of the skull. And this spot is opened, and it is the pole opposite that of the Christ center. Therefore, the cosmic vibration goes into the medulla and straight through to the Christ center. It is like two seeds, and one is attached to the physical, and one is attached to the astral. 2 P a g e

3 Spirit (Cosmic Energy) Is Our True Sustenance We are constantly being supplied by the cosmic energy of God. And yet we think that only the food which we take into our mouths is that which sustains our body. There have been many many saints in the history of the Christian world, and of that which is said not to be Christian, who have been able to exist without the normal food which we ordinarily take into our bodies. You see, we must be fed physically, mentally and spiritually. Energy via Physical Food. We feed our bodies with all of the things that are grown on the earth. We also take in food which is called burnt flesh. But it is said that all of the good things of the kingdom are ours to use. This is our privilege. Pure Energy Enters at Medulla. But the main source is this cosmic energy, this Christ Consciousness, which is present in every atom of space. This force enters the body and goes into the brain, and the brain distributes this food into all of the various parts of the body. If we did not have this food which is of the Spirit, we could not even have an idea because that Spirit constantly feeds our thoughts, our minds, so that this is the ideational world from which we develop all of the things that are inherent within us. And yet these things all come from the Infinite. We cannot take credit. And yet how constantly we say, "I do this," with great pride. "I give a sermon; I give a talk; I fixed something; I talked to this one and I persuaded them." And yet this is not so, because it is God within us that is being replenished by this food, this Spirit, which is doing all of the things within us. We can put, as we have said before, food and drink into the body of a dead man, but that will not bring him back to life. Therefore, we must acknowledge that we are sustained by some power, some energy, which is above and beyond and yet within ourselves. And this Energy is constantly flowing within us, into us, constantly. At all times it is rejuvenating the 27,000 cells [in the year2014 it is estimated the number of cells in a human body is 100 trillion] which we have in our bodies. It is that energy, that food, which constantly sustains and even makes move all of the organs of our being, our intelligence. We have talked about the three bodies: the physical, the mental and the spiritual; or we can say the physical, the astral or the electrical, and the spiritual or the causal. And in the beginning, because we are dependent only upon outer food, we take everything that we desire (that we can afford) into our bodies. We sustain our bodies that way. Energy via Subtle Rays of Sun, Ether, Air. Yet we do not recognize that, at the same time, our bodies are being sustained by sun, by ether, by air. We are constantly drawing energy into our bodies from these outer sources, these outer rays, and yet we are not cognizant of that fact. While the consciousness is in the body, then we are dependent upon those things. Astral Body also Sustained by Cosmic Energy. But gradually, as the spiritual consciousness ascends the spinal stairway, and we come to the point where we are willing to surrender ourselves to God, where we are willing to think of nothing but God in everything that we think, 3 P a g e

4 say and do, where He is our constant goal, our constant objective, then the changes start to take place. We are brought to the time of crucifixion. And after the crucifixion, we ascend into the astral plane. And this, too, is sustained by the energy, the cosmic energy, of God. This electrical body is a vital part of us. Cosmic Energy Sustains Soul after Death. You see, actually the soul is Spirit in individualized form. And the soul first takes on the garb of Spirit, or Spirit I should say takes on the garb of soul in the individual sense. And then over that is formed this electrical or astral body. And then over that is the physical body, or the gross body, which we can see. This is the body of form. And yet even after we leave this physical body, we are still sustained by that cosmic energy. Consciousness Gradually Escapes from Gross Body If we are able to do this while we are still in the body, through the methods, the techniques which are given to us, through the Aum technique, through the Hong Sau technique, through the technique of concentration and meditation, and at last the Kriya-- if we will practice these things faithfully-- then gradually we will be able to escape from the physical body into the astral, and from the astral into the spiritual or the causal body. Now, what is it that escapes? When we say that such a one lives in the subtle body, what do we mean by that? We mean that gradually the body has been purified. It has become light. It is in earth as it is in heaven of your own being. And when we say that we live in that causal body, it is the consciousness which is there. Because the whole body has been changed, the chemical components of the body, all of the atoms of the body, have been changed and they function as light. Then that individual is no longer in the gross body. Below Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Possible to Regress to Physical Sometimes there is a fall, momentarily, but it is a very slight one and for a very short period of time. You will remember in the Autobiography that Master told about a saint who had been tempted and had succumbed to temptation. He had desired the physical union, and so he had satisfied his desires. And yet, having done so, he found it to be nothing but ashes after the high bliss that he had been enjoying. And someone said to Master, "Well, how could such a one rise up again after having fallen?" And Master said, "God is always ready to forgive us. And a saint, one who is truly a saint, does not fall for long. But he again picks himself up out of the dust and becomes One with his Father." And so it is. You see, up until the very last moment, we can fall. Until we have nirvikalpa samadhi, it is possible for us to fall and again go back to the physical. But we must never stop striving. And the way to do this is not to think about the sins, not to think about the things that we want to get rid of, but to constantly concentrate upon God. Because only through such concentration will all of these things which we wish to get rid of be transmuted and changed into Spirit. 4 P a g e

5 Man Can Overcome Time, Space, Word and Atom Master visited Therese Neumann when he was in Germany, and he had to talk with her through means of an interpreter. And he asked her how she had managed to live all of these years without food. And she said that she took one, small, consecrated wafer, and that unless the wafer was consecrated she could not possibly swallow it. And he said, "Can you tell me the means of doing this?" And she said, "Oh, no. It is not God's wish. It is not God's wish. It is my particular destiny to show to the people of the earth today that man does not live by bread alone." And then he said to her, "You live on ether, sunshine and air." And she said, "Yes. I am glad that the father understands how I live." She is still very youthful looking because anyone who is sustained by the cosmic energy maintains youth for a great length of time. Because, you see, all of the cells being constantly rejuvenated by this cosmic energy, this Christ Consciousness, are in this high state of ecstasy, high state of energy, high state of consciousness. And so, therefore, they are healthy. Bodily Aging Related to Level of Consciousness. Age is a thing of the mind. As we have said before, the four beasts before the throne are time, space, the word and the atom. And these things are manmade, man created. And you know, actually, through his own thinking processes, man makes himself much older. He thinks, "I am a certain age. I am 40, 50, 60, 70 years old. I am very old, and I haven't much time to live. I haven't much time to do all of the things which I would like to do. And particularly it doesn't seem as though I have much time to do the work which God has destined for me." But this is not so. Because if you are in the eternal Spirit, then you are beyond time, you are beyond space, you are beyond everything. You cannot die because Spirit is everlasting. It always was, it is, and it always will be. There is no cessation. The body must drop off sometimes we are told. And yet we have the example before us of Babaji, he who has risen to such high heights that even being several hundred years old, still he has the body of a young man. And still he keeps his sojourn upon this earth. This is a wonderful thing to think about. A wonderful thing. Miracles Can Be Performed. We think of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. We think of these things. And we know that Jesus had the power to manufacture food, as it were, out of the ether, out of space. He had the knowledge of Tantric yoga, or that which has power over the elements. And these things are done by repeating mantrams. Giri Bala Lived without Food. We remember also the story in the Autobiography about the very elderly lady (I think she was sixty-eight at the time that Master saw her on his return trip to India) who hadn't eaten a speck of food from the time she was twelve years old. And she told him her story. She said that she had been betrothed when she was only nine years old, and her mother kept telling her, "My child, you must learn to curb your appetite because when you finally go to 5 P a g e

6 your husband, to your in-laws, they will ridicule you because of your insatiable appetite." But she didn't pay any attention at all to what her mother said. And finally, when she was twelve years old, she went to join her husband. And so she was there for only a short time when all of the wrath fell upon her head. And her mother-in-law ridiculed her and said to her, "Why is it that you need to eat so much? You will become a fat woman, and your husband will not love you." And finally she ridiculed the child so much that the child made the statement to her, "I promise you that I shall never eat another bite of food as long as I live." And the mother-in-law merely laughed at her. And she went out and she knelt down, and she prayed to God that He would show her how she could overcome her appetite and live without food. And she was in a great state of ecstasy. And as she walked into the village, she met the family priest, and she told him of her problem, and she asked him if he could help her. And he said, "My child, come to me this evening, and I will read you out of the Vedas." But still she went forward. It didn't seem to her as though this man could help her. And she went down by the river, and she knelt and she prayed again. And all of a sudden her true guru appeared before her, and he said, "My child, I can see that your heart is sincere. This is a great wish that you have. And because of the sincerity of your heart, your wish shall be granted." And he instructed her in a mantram that she could say, and also in a method of breath control which would help her to overcome this human appetite which she had. Master Explained Yogic Method to Control Food Desire. Now, Master said that this was done by concentrating on the fifth center. This is the center opposite the throat. And by repeating this mantram, you neutralize the atoms or the revolving current which is in that particular center so that it will not stimulate the desire for food. This can be done. And, again, he asked her if this could be given to the world, and she said No, that it was not God's will. She said, "What would all the poor farmers do?" She said, "It is God's will that man go to Him in accordance with His karma. But occasionally he picks out one, He chooses one who is sincere, to show all of mankind that man truly does not live by bread alone, but by every word which issueth forth from the mouth of God." Jesus Said, "Thou Shalt Not Tempt the Lord Thy God" Then Jesus said that "the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Resist Temptation to Use Powers. Because as the Christ within you blossoms forth, the temptation is great to do many many things. You find that you have power within yourself, and you know that truly you could save yourself from many of the things if you were to lift yourself up immediately because all of the angels in heaven would come to your aid. 6 P a g e

7 Resist Temptation to Fight Evil. But also you remember that Jesus made a remark at another time, and he said, "Think you not that I could call ten thousand angels, and they would come to my aid?" This was at the time that he was going to be crucified. Follow Way of Spine and Spiritual Eye. But the man who truly wants to go to God is not afraid to pick up his cross and follow the Christ in order that he might become his disciple. He knows that truly he must go every inch of the way of the cross, that he must go the straight and narrow way, which is the way of the spine. And he knows that there is but one door into heaven, and that is the door of the spiritual eye. This is the razor edged pass, and few there are who can walk it. Few there are who are willing to walk it. Never Tempt Saints to Fall. But you should not tempt God. There are many who see a saint (one who is going to God) who has great realization, and they tempt that one over and over and over again, trying to get them to come down out of their high state of bliss, of ecstasy, trying to take away the godliness which they have achieved. But those who tempt such a one will suffer beyond compare. This should not be done. Test Each Spirit As It Comes Because, you see, the satanic force takes form many many times. It even takes on the guise of saints and of God. Example of Padre Pio. In this book which I have been reading about Padre Pio, it said that one night a priest came to him and he had the form, the guise, of his confessor. And as he knelt down to say his prayers to him, the priest all of a sudden counseled him that he must not pursue this life, that he must give it up. And Padre Pio was shocked. And he asked him to repeat the name of Jesus immediately. And as he said this word "Jesus" and asked him this, the form disappeared from before him just like that, and there was nothing but a smell of sulphur in the room. Such is the temptation which comes to us. And we must remember in our meditation, as we are told to do things very definitely, that we must test each spirit as it comes because not every spirit is of God. Example of Yogananda. Master said he used to think that the satanic force was merely a power, and he didn't credit it with very much. But he said, "I am here to add my testimony to Jesus Christ and many of the saints that Satan does take human form, that I have seen him do so before me in order to tempt me and to thwart me, and to keep me from doing God's work and from obeying His will." I remember listening to a tape one night that Dr. Lewis had made, and he told of the early days when he had been with Master and they used to talk far into the night. And Master left a small light burning in his room when he went to sleep. So one night Doctor said to him, "Sir, why do you leave this small light?" And he said, "Well," he said, "I had rather a bad experience one night." He said, "I turned out the light, and" he said, "immediately all of the devilkins," he said, "surrounded me. 7 P a g e

8 There were about twenty-five of them, and they had pitch forks." And he said, "They were all prodding my flesh, like that." He said, "I had a horrible time." And he said, "I had a horrible time getting away from them. And I could only fix my attention upon God alone. So," he said, "they come in the darkness like this to tempt me, to taunt me, and to try to make me suffer. And so," he said, "I find when I leave a little light there," he said, "they don't come around so much." [chuckles] Doctor had many many wonderful experiences with Master. How wonderful it must be to be able to be around a saint constantly, around a master, and to know all of the things that take place about them, to see all of the things that they do in God, their great Realization, and how this Realization manifests through them. Jesus Said, "Only God Shalt Thou Serve" "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and only him shalt thou serve." Temptation Increases with Higher Development. And this is true because the Devil does come and tempt you. This is particularly true in the higher stages of your Realization. He comes to you, and he says to you, "You have all of this bliss, you have all of this power. People are coming to you now. They are bowing down to you. They are worshiping before you. But this is really not very much. Just think, if you gave up what you have, I would give you the whole world and everything that is in it. Do not go any higher." Mother Tempted by Shivananda. "Keep what you have here," is another voice that comes. "Keep what you have here. Teach from this pinnacle, and all the world will be at your feet." And, as Shivananda said once, "Why do you want nirvikalpa samadhi? You should remain and serve God in all people. What do you want with God the Absolute? Keep a thin veil between you and the Absolute at all times," tempting all of those who heard him not to seek their complete Oneness with God. Feasting on Manna Is Your Reward. We want to feast on the manna from heaven, and that is this sacred fluid which drops from the cloister from underneath our brain. We want to go all the way to God. We want to become masters because the world needs masters as it has never needed them before. We are tempted to forsake God for many things. Someone will say to us, "Why do you go to church?" Or, "Why don't you go to this church?" And, "If you do this, you aren't doing the right thing." But we must have the courage of our own convictions. We must set our minds upon God alone. Because this food that we are going to eat is the eternal manna from heaven. It is the bliss, the ecstasy, which will fill our beings until we can scarcely stand it. 8 P a g e

9 Full Attention on God Is Essential for Protection Kriya Practice May Bring Certain Experiences. I received a long-distance call from a girl in Seattle yesterday who is in a high state of ecstasy, so much so that she could scarcely talk to me. And she didn't know what was happening to her. She had been doing Kriya and meditating upon God, and all of a sudden she found herself in a whirlpool. She was being lifted up, and she was dizzy. And she said all of a sudden that I appeared to her in a tremendous form of light. And she said God told her who I was, and that then I tried to enter her body. It was as though I was absorbing her, and she was afraid to let go. And she wanted to know what was happening. Well, Master has said that in the beginning when you do Kriya, many times when you get to a certain stage, when it's really going to take hold and you're going to experience this ecstasy, this bliss, that this actually happens, that you do feel that you are in a whirlpool and you feel dizzy. This is because the sense world as you have known it is about to disappear, to leave you, and you are going into the Spirit. And this fear that takes hold of you is the last throes of agony of the ego because it's afraid to let go because it is afraid of the unknown. Forget All Form, Even Your Guru. But if you hang onto God alone Forget all form. Forget all form. It doesn't make any difference who it is (forget even your guru) because you must think just about God alone, because He is the one who has created everything, even the form of your guru, and you must go beyond that. And at a certain stage you cannot be sure. Is this your Guru or isn't it? Because, as I say, these forms come before you, and you cannot tell. Mother's Personal Experience. I remember so well when this happened to me because I kept getting Master's face before me, and I saw that I must concentrate on this spiritual eye in the center of his forehead. And there was a black mark there, just like a little round mark. And I knew that that was the way I could tell my Guru, because all of these other masters kept coming behind this mask of my Guru, and I couldn't tell which was my Guru and which one was someone else. And I was battered around by a terrific satanic force from one who calls himself a guru but is not truly a guru. He has a reputation in India of being a great egotist, of having become drunk with power. And this one just fought me tooth and nail in this experience which I had. And I would look at Master's face, and then the dot would move, and I would think to myself, "No, this is not Master. This is one of the other ones." And then I would look over here, and it would be on another side. And again I would know that it was not Master. And I became so confused, that I couldn't find him. And so then I remembered what Papa said: "You must hang onto God alone." So I started to say this. "God alone. God alone," just like in The Way of the Pilgrim where the Russian devotee says, "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on my soul." You must go beyond everything to God the Absolute if you want full protection at that time. And so this is what I told that girl. She said, "Why do I feel the difference? I see this great light which is the Universal Light. I see this great light which is yourself." And so I explained to her that she was seeing God in the 9 P a g e

10 universal sense, in the Universal Light, and that she was also seeing Him in form, because He is both manifest and unmanifest. Mind Wandering from God Can Be Dangerous. These are the things that we must remember. There is nothing to fear if you keep your full attention upon Him. But you must at all times keep your attention fixed. Remember this. It is very important, because if your mind wanders and you do not keep your full attention upon God, particularly when you are going through some of these experiences, then there is danger. So I tell you this because Master told it to us. He made mention of this in a public lecture that this is so. So you must keep your attention fully concentrated upon God. Practice Aum Technique and Hong Sau. Now, that is why he has given us these definite exercises of the Aum technique, and the Hong Sau particularly, because he wants you to concentrate upon something, not just to make your mind a vacuum, not just to sit in the silence. Going the Way of the Cross and the Christ You see, there is a tremendous upsurge in all of the churches today. You will find it even in the orthodox churches. They are becoming much broader in their ideas and their concept. Marriage with Christ the Bridegroom. I went to see a friend of mine the other day who is not interested in this particularly, but who is a Sunday School teacher in an orthodox church. And she said to me, "Do you believe in the marriage with the Bridegroom?" And she expressed it in a different way. And I did a few mental gymnastics, and I said, "You mean that Christ is the bridegroom, and that your marriage is to him within yourself when you come to that state of consciousness?" And she said, "Yes, that's what I mean." I said, "Yes, I do believe in that. Fully." Orthodox "Acceptance of Christ" Is Incomplete. "But," I said, "there are many, particularly in the orthodox churches, who think that they have become One with the Bridegroom, that this marriage has actually taken place, and it is merely a thing of the emotion." They think that because they have accepted Christ as their savior that truly they are saved. But this is just the beginning. Consciousness Must Ascend Seven Spinal Centers. You must go all the way. You must go the way of the cross and the Christ, and this means every bit of it. Because you must ascend these seven spinal centers, these seven churches, that are revolving constantly. These are the electrical forces within yourself that feed each different part of your body, and your consciousness must transcend all of these things. Kundalini Must Rise through Brain. And as it does, then the serpent which is in the wilderness, that is the kundalini force, which is on top of the coccyx center, right under the sacral, starts to 10 P a g e

11 rise. Remember that Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, and this is what it means. Because that serpent must rise and go through a little tiny hole in the brain before it can touch the thousand-petalled lotus which is on the top of your brain. Life Force Must Go Up Spine Not Out into Sex. You see, the true meaning of the temptation of Adam and Eve is this sex force within you, the serpent, which tempted Eve to offer Adam the apple and Adam to eat it. And when this serpent tempts, this is the sex force (or that which is the fruit in the midst of the garden), and that sex force within yourself, that serpent force, instead of going up the spine to become One with God within you, goes out and dissipates your Life Force, your energy, into satisfaction of the senses. And so therefore it takes you away from God. This is called sin, the original sin. And since that time, it is said that man, who was formerly able to create like the angels through thought form alone, has now to create like the animals in physical creation. Methods to Conserve Life Force Must Be Practiced. So we must again learn how to conserve our Life Force and take it up the spine, through this method of kundalini which Master taught, through concentration, through meditation, and through the performance of Kriya because it is this which will take that up and will give you Christ Consciousness and give you this everlasting bliss within yourself. Settle for Nothing Less than God Realization Why do we settle for all of these mundane things, these things of the senses, when we can have the eternal bliss of God within ourselves, when we can constantly partake of this food which is offered to us at His banquet table? Why do we accept anything less than that? As you commune with God, as the power of God flows through you, as you speak to those who come to listen to Him, the ecstasy that fills your being is so great that there is no thought of food. I know that this is true because I myself have talked to people for hours at a time. I have gone without food, and I have not been conscious of being hungry. Rather, I have been filled, I have been so filled that I need not even think of food, not even think of food. Pray for God to Reveal Himself The power of God sustains us. We are He. Why do not we remove the veils of ignorance before our eyes? Master always prayed, "Reveal Thyself. Reveal Thyself. Reveal Thyself." We can say to God, "Father, reveal Thyself as myself. Reveal Thyself as Thou truly art, because I am not what I think. I know, I am aware, that I am the everlasting light, that I am One with you, my Father, even as the Christ said, 'I and my Father are One.'" And then say to all of your senses, "Be still. Be still all of the children of my kingdom. Be still and know that I am God. This is the God-Self within me, recognizing its true Self. 'I and my Father are One.' Be still. Be still." And as this stillness, this peace, comes over you, you realize the glory which is within you. You realize what you have been missing, and you feast upon it. And you realize truly that 11 P a g e

12 man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You are He. You are He. You are all He. Realize this. Wake up and realize what you are. Stop being weaklings, subservient to the whims and fancies of fate. Take hold of the rudder of your ship and steer it through the waters of meditation until you come to the shore of His Infinite Presence. Focus for the Month: There may be tendencies you know of that are distractions from the path. Practice this month definitely choosing to stay away from those tendencies and focus your mind on what brings you closer to the purity of God. There may be instances, past or present, which draw your mind in fear or desire nature that feels more powerful than God. Bring those situations to mind and in the safety of your meditation room and practice feeling/seeing the power of God as greater, protective, and leading out of a bad situation into the spiritual Light. You may have been raised with some distorted notion of the devil and temptation. Read Mother s descriptions and Master s practical advice. Revise any old tapes of confused teachings regarding these important topics. Make a practice of bringing to mind that Light is more powerful than darkness. Meditate upon a favorite story of the room that had been kept in darkness for a thousand years; for a thousand years darkness reigned as a supreme despot, unconquerable. One door the door was thrown open and Light streamed into the room and instantly darkness was rendered null and void. The Light within you will act on darkness in the same way, and even if you are surrounded by darkness, you will remain in the Light. Jesus and Angels by Sella 12 P a g e