True Devotion: Living in God’s Presence Moment to Moment

SRF monk Brother Vishwananda discusses how we can more quickly and effectively achieve the ultimate goal of human life—Self-realization, oneness with the bliss of God—by understanding what devotion truly is and practicing it daily as we learn to “live in the moment.” He explains: “Very few people understand what the purpose of life is. But our guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, has told us: The purpose of life is to find God. If we can cling to this one thought alone, how our lives will change! That thought gives perspective and power of direction to every aspect of our lives. We now have a measure for our every thought, feeling, and action: is this taking me closer to God, or is it taking me away from God? This reflects the real meaning of yoga: It is not just practice of techniques that we perform a few times per day and then go about our lives. It is a way of life that impacts us on all levels—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.” Recorded at the 2012 SRF World Convocation, Brother Vishwananda states how wonderful it is to be at the Convocation—a weeklong immersion in the Kriya Yoga teachings of Yogananda—with SRF students from all over the world, gathering to set aside “all thoughts and cares of the world, the challenges that we all may be facing in our day-to-day lives, and just focus on loving God.” Brother Vishwananda reminds the audience of words spoken by SRF’s fourth president, Sri Mrinalini Mata, earlier in the Convocation week, in which she pointed out that Convocation experience, though soon to come to and end, could serve as a beginning of a lasting and deeper awareness of and true devotion to the Divine. (This talk by Mrinalini Mata was published as “Filling the Vessel of Your Life With God’s Love” in the Winter 2012 and Spring 2013 issues of Self-Realization magazine.) To learn about the SRF World Convocation please visit: https://yogananda.org/srf-world-convocation-overview Topics discussed in True Devotion include: • The purpose of life • The importance of living in the moment • Making you relationship with God and Guru personal • Yama-niyama—the first two steps in Patanjali’s Eightfold Path of Yoga, extolled in his Yoga Sutras, as the foundation of the spiritual practice of meditation You can help more people find and benefit from Yogananda's practical wisdom by rating and reviewing this podcast. We greatly appreciate your support! In his “how-to-live” teachings, Paramahansa Yogananda has given to people of all cultures, races, and creeds the means to free themselves from physical, mental, and spiritual inharmonies — to create for themselves a life of enduring happiness and all-round success. To learn about the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, the home-study course from Yogananda that presents his in-depth teachings on the Kriya Yoga science of meditation and art of balanced spiritual living, please visit: https://yogananda.org/lessons To experience more SRF how-to-live inspirational videos and guided meditations: https://www.youtube.com/user/YoganandaSRF If you would like to support the spiritual and humanitarian work of SRF, please click on this link: https://donatesrf.org