Attaining Inner Peace Dr. M.W. Lewis San Diego, 2-7-60 Our subject this morning: "Attaining Inner Peace;" Attaining Inner Peace. I remember when Master first came here, years ago; he brought with him a picture of Swami Ram. He was a little man, and he was seated, I remember, on a little stool, just up off the floor, in lotus posture. And he used to say, "Peace, like a river, flows through me. Peace, like a river, flows through me. Master said it a little differently. He said it this way: When Thy song flows through me, then life is sweet and death is sweet. And so, it is that Inner Peace which we must have. That Inner Peace; and that comes not from outward consciousness, but from inner consciousness. Inner Peace is of God. One interesting thing, I remember, Swami Ram used to say, and I imagine perhaps, that s why he had so much Inner Peace, he said, "Blessed are those who do not read the newspapers. Which I think is, is pretty good now. Every time I read it, I vow I m not gonna get anymore. But there are certain world events and things, which, and I remember distinctly, Master said, you know what he used to say? Blessed are those who don t read the newspapers. He had a better chance of attaining that Inner Peace. And so, Swami Ram was not speaking of ordinary peace of mind, but he was speaking of that which is a negative state. He is speaking of that positive state of consciousness Inner Peace, or the Peace of the Presence of God. We have to make a distinction between these two things: ordinary peace, ordinary peace of mind, and Inner Peace. Ordinary peace of mind is simply a relief from the turmoil of a racing, restless mind. And you know what that is. And sometimes, when you get relief from that, there is a certain peace. But it s not real Inner Peace; it is called ordinary peace of mind, which is an emotional adjustment by the intellect, and gives selfcontrol. Just remember that. It s an emotional adjustment through intellect. You stop that racing mind, and by so doing, you attain this ordinary peace of mind. But that s far different from the Inner Peace, which is of God.
And so, this ordinary peace of mind can be attained by regulating your ordinary living; your mental hygiene, and bodily conduct, bodily habits. And then by self-control, following that with self-control, you can attain this ordinary peace of mind, which is good, but it does not carry us far enough. It will give you selfcontrol, and thereby you attain ordinary peace of mind. Please make the distinction between peace of mind, and true Inner Peace, which is a state of consciousness; not negative like ordinary peace of mind is. It seems positive when you attain it, but you ll never be satisfied with it, because it s a negative state; it s a cessation from something which is good. That s a good start. But that must be followed with a positive state, which is the Inner Peace of God. It is a Cosmic Force. Inner Peace is a Cosmic Force, just like Cosmic Love, Cosmic Light which sometimes you see in your meditation Cosmic Calmness, Cosmic Sound. These are all positive states of God Consciousness; and Cosmic Peace is true Inner Peace. See, one is positive; the second will not come until you have achieved the first. With a racing mind, you cannot achieve a positive state of Inner Peace. They do not go together. One is the Unity of God s Consciousness; the other is duality of outward consciousness. They will not merge, until you have stilled the waves of the mind. And then, they flow together in perfect harmony. And while there is the restlessness of the other consciousness of ego, that vibration will not unify, so to speak, with the single vibration of God s Inner Peace, Cosmic Peace, until it has ceased its oscillations until the restlessness has passed away, and the lake of the mind is stilled. So, now, you can see the difference between one negative aspect, and the positive aspect. And we will not be satisfied, because we are that positive aspect. We manifest the outward aspects of ordinary peace of mind, but that s not our true nature. Our true nature is Inner Cosmic Peace. And those who meditate taste it; and those who meditate more, finally become that; and those who keep at it everlastingly, are able, at will, to be in that Cosmic Inner Peace. At will. Not just when karmic conditions are right and your will is full, and you can still the racing mind. But at will you can be in that positive state of the Presence of God, which is Inner Peace. That is what we must attain. We must go within ourselves to attain this Cosmic Peace. We must not just still some outward activity, as the restless mind, or this outward living. But we must go within one s self, or within ourselves, to find that Cosmic Peace, because
that s where it is. It does not depend on the cessation of something; it is right within each and every one of us. Now, Master used to illustrate it with the story of the musk deer. You know the musk deer has within its navel the musk. And when it grows up, it smells that musk. And so, it begins to run hither and yon in search of that which it smells, until finally, it crashes over the cliff and is killed, when the musk was right within its own navel. And so, that s what we do. We run hither and yon, in this outward consciousness, searching for that which is right within ourselves right within ourselves that Cosmic Inner Peace. So remember that little story of the musk deer, which is so wonderful. Now Master has said this: So long as man lacks peace within, he will inflict his inner torment on others. His relations with them erupt periodically into arguments, and petty feuds, and sometimes into bloodshed. Isn t that what happens? Then he says, True peace is of God. It is within himself that mind will, man will find peace. Having attained it, he can give it to others. You cannot give any peace, or anything, to others unless you have it yourself. Do not think you can teach others, until you have first taught yourself to contact that Inner Peace of God; you cannot give it to others. But, if you have that contact with God, even then you do not give it to others. God gives it to others through you. But first, we have to attain that state. And finally, Master says, "He becomes then proof against all disruptive influences, whether outside or within himself. These are wonderful things to remember. Jesus said, first heal thyself. First, get that inner balance, which comes by contacting the Lord and feeling His Inner Peace. Abraham said a wonderful thing when he was discussing with Lot about the trouble between the herdsmen of both. He said to Lot, he said, Let there be no strife between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for are we not all brothers 1? And so, the next time you feel like getting at somebody, and giving it to them, stop and think of this little story when Abraham said, Let there be no strife, are we not all brothers? Which is true. Now Abraham felt that Inner Peace Abraham had that great bulwark of God s Presence within him, and that s why he was able to change Lot into thinking as he thought, feeling as he thought, feeling that Inner Peace which he, Abraham, felt. It s a wonderful thing if we can just change our conception from thinking 1 Genesis 13:8
that we do all things, into the realization that God is the Doer. And, if you ll just let Him do it, He does a wonderful job. And there s no turmoil, or confusion as He does it. There s simply bubbling Inner Peace. God is the most wonderful, wonderful thing that we can conceive first, and then have. As the 14th century saint said, Of God, no man can think. You can t reason Him; but he is easily, easily known, and kept by love by reverence and love. How different from the ordinary way of achieving with the hustle and bustle, following this business law, that business law. Just by affection and love, really loving God, giving Him your affection, He, as Inner Peace, can be known. Now, Inner Peace is not for the egotistical, or the man with pride. Such people, they look to their health from outward consciousness, outward things, and in that there is no Inner Peace; once in a while, a little freedom from the turmoil of the mind, as I have pointed out. So the man of pride, he looks the wrong place to attain Inner Peace. But the humble man the humble man where does he look to? To God; the humble man looks to God as the source of Inner Peace. And, as such, God never forsakes him. God gives him that solace which he cannot attain any other place. And no matter what the aggravation is, the humble man never wavers, because God is with him. You cannot keep from wavering, unless you have the Presence of God. But the humble shall know God. Having Him, he never wavers, no matter what the aggravation is. Think of it! As Master so told me, he says, Saints never lose their calmness. Saints never lose their calmness. And so, those who are egotistical, The mercy-rain of God s Presence does not gather on the mountain of egotism, but is easily found in the valley of humbleness. Master gave that quote one time, which I ll give you, as it should be given, when he said, "The rains of God s mercy cannot gather on the mountaintops of pride, but flow easily in the valley of humbleness. These eternal truths do not change. No matter outward conditions change, evolution takes place, conditions in the world are different than they were a few years ago, but these eternal truths are the same. We must understand and realize that. And so, fulfillment of worldly desires will not give you Inner Peace. You know, I don t have to tell you that. You get one thing, it s wonderful for a little while, and then you get sick of it. So desire comes along, and you get another thing another object of senses. No matter what it is, and there s no peace in that source. The trouble is we look for peace in the object of the senses. That s the thing we misunderstand. We look for that peace in the fulfillment by attaining and securing the object of the senses. But why do we not get lasting peace there?
Because it isn t in the outward object of senses; it isn t there. Where is it? It is in the Soul. The Soul is naturally Peaceful and Blissful. As Master said, "Bliss consciousness is God Consciousness. Our Souls are simply rays of the Spirit rays of that Great Reservoir of Peace, and Bliss, and Love. That s the motivating part of our Soul. But when it is attached to this body and outward conditions, it s anything but that. We think our Soul is something quite different. Then we are feeling and operating through the ego. But the Soul is the same. It is not tainted by this outward living, or this ego consciousness with all its trouble. The Soul is pure, because it is a ray of the Infinite Father. And so, if we follow outward senses the object of senses they are called there s no peace there, let alone Inner Peace. The Inner Peace is found in the Soul itself. And so, as I pointed out a few minutes ago, when you admire something, when you enjoy something, try and catch yourself before you are attached to that something. Try and feel the Joy in the Soul within and there ll be no attachment. I remember when I met the Master, he was telling me a lot of this philosophy, and I was thinking, Well here goes all the enjoyment of eating and everything. But I found it didn t go at all. I found as I ate with him, I enjoyed it much more. But there wasn t any greed. But I surely enjoyed it. Why? Because he turned my attention from the object of senses from the food to the Soul as I enjoyed it. God has given us these things, but He does not want us to forget the Giver. That s the important thing. And so, realize that the fulfillment is not in the object of senses not in the thing of desire, unless it is God but in the Soul itself. Listen to a few of Master s words from his writings about these things called desires. Desires are the most unrelenting enemies of man. I ll say so. He cannot appease them. Have only one desire. You will not lose. And that is to know God, or whatever you do, do to please God. That s all there is to it. But, the mind says, Well, I m left out now. But that isn t so, if you ll do that. Try it! Make up your mind, somehow. If you have to die to do it, do what you re doing to please God. If you die, you ll have Inner Peace anyway. But these are facts, these are facts, let us understand it. Have only one desire: to know God and to please God. Satisfying the sensory desires cannot satisfy you, because you are not the senses. You are not that which enjoys the senses not the ego you are not that. They are only your servants, not yourself. It is
foolish to expect true happiness from earthly attachments and possessions for they are powerless to bestow them. Haven t you found that out yet? I have. I m sick of these desires, because they just leave you high and dry. But I m not sick of having that one desire to please the Lord. I don t know whether I please Him. I don t care. I know when I try to please Him, I feel good. So, let us follow our common sense. Common sense is Intuition. Think of it. Common sense is Intuition of your Soul; and that s why the old adage of Use your common sense is the greatest advice that we can have. The Master said, Yet millions of people die of broken hearts, having tried vainly to find in worldly life the fulfillment that exists only in God, the source of all joy. Master s words are so wonderful, because he goes right to the point, and takes you with him, so that you understand. And so, union with God s Eternal Peace, Inner Peace, His Blissful Consciousness, will give you that Inner Peace which you want. How to do it? Attain union. There is the key. Union with God alone will give you that Inner Peace. And that comes by following, following those, or in our case, our Master, who had that Inner Peace, who had that attunement with God, at will. And that comes by following Raja Yoga, which means royal yoga; that which unites your Soul with God. First, it will take you into the Presence of God. Yoga will take you into His Presence. And then, you must make that supreme effort of surrendering to God. That s why it s so hard. We think, Well, yes, I ll follow into the Presence of God, but I still have my little world to do what I want. That s the hard thing to get over. But you must go beyond that. And when you once feel that you are nearing that source of Inner Peace and Bliss God Himself then it s much easier to surrender fully. And so, yoga is very important, because it takes you into the Presence of God; especially the higher forms of yoga, and especially Kriya Yoga. The lower forms are wonderful, because you have to start where you find yourself. If you re on the floor, you have to put your hand down to get started to get up. So start with yoga in any form, and it will lead you to the higher meditations of Self- Realization Fellowship, especially Kriya Yoga, known as Raja Yoga, and then it s much easier to surrender fully to God, and attain, and attain that Inner Peace. In Isaiah [26:3] we read, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth Thee. You cannot trust God until you know
Him, can you? You cannot do that. Yoga takes you into the Presence of God, and then in the Presence of God, you can surrender to God, fully. And then, you can, at will, bring that state of God s Presence to you. Then you are stayed in Him, and not until. You understand the difference? All right, so I have faith in God; He ll do this and that. When you can feel His Presence within you and know it, and at will, consciously be in that, then you are stayed in God and not until. It takes the two steps: first, attaining God s Presence - and in His Presence being one with His light, His love, and the Great Cosmic Sound; and then, fully surrendering to Him. Then, there s no difference between you and your Father. Then you are stayed in Him. And then, at will, you can be in the Presence of God, which is Cosmic Inner Peace. Remember those simple things. Especially this Chapter, this Verse in Isaiah [26:3]: I ll keep him in perfect peace whose consciousness is stayed in Thee. There s no difference then, between your consciousness and God s Consciousness. No wonder you re stayed in Him. And you can be there at will. And so, Inner Peace will come. And I ll close, by reading from Master s Whispers [From Eternity], one little passage which fits in here nicely. "In many lives I heard Thy gentle whisper, Come home. The Lord is calling you, not to do something foolish, but to do something natural. The most natural thing in the world is to go where we belong in the Presence of God. In many lives I heard Thy gentle whisper, Come home, but it was drowned in the noise of unhallowed cravings. I have forsaken the jostling crowd of desires. I would invite Thee to the virgin solitudes of my heart. In my meditations mayest Thou banish the earth-call lures that yet lurk in my memory. I yearn to hear again in the Soul silence, Thy quiet voice of peace."