Sunday Service Reading #29

From Rays of the One Light
Self-Effort, Too, Is Needed
(to long readings)

Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within. The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

These past weeks we discussed the need for balancing self-effort with receptivity to divine grace. Both are important in the spiritual life. Passive dependence on grace hasn't the magnetism to attract grace. Boastful self-confidence, however, which closes itself off from the higher, divine power is shallow, brittle, and—given life's many uncertainties—susceptible to ultimate failure.

There is a story in the Bible that illustrates the need to put forth personal effort so as to draw magnetically on the divine power. The story occurs in the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 8:

But as he went, the crowds nearly suffocated him. Among them was a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years and who had derived no benefit from anybody's treatment. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak. As a result, her hemorrhage stopped immediately.

“Who was it who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When everybody denied it, Peter remonstrated,

“Master, the crowds are all round, pressing you on every side!”

But Jesus said, “Somebody touched me. I felt power going out from me.”

When the woman realized that she had not escaped notice, she came forward trembling and fell at his feet, and admitted before everyone why she had touched him, adding that she had been instantaneously cured.

“Daughter,” Jesus said, “It is by your faith that you have been healed. Go in peace.”

Self-confidence and self-effort are necessary, as the ignition of a car is necessary to the motor. Of what use the ignition, however, if the motor itself will not work? Wise is he who recognizes the real power in the universe, and guides his life by that supreme power. As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, the ninth Chapter:

To those who meditate on Me as their Very Own, ever united to Me by incessant worship, I make good their deficiencies, and render permanent their gains.

Thus, through holy scripture, God has spoken to mankind.

VIDEO of Maria's Service on this Subject from 7-18-10
MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Maria's Service on this Subject from 7-18-10

VIDEO of Helen's Service on this Subject from 7-18-10

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Helen's Service on this Subject from 7-18-10

VIDEO of Asha's Service on this Subject from 7-19-09

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 7-19-09

VIDEO of Anandi's Service on this Subject from 7-19-09

MP3 For Download (or online listening) of Anandi's Service on this Subject from 7-19-09

MP3 For Download (or online listening) of Nitai's Service on this Subject from 7-20-08

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of another of Devi's Service on this Subject from 7-16-06

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 7-20-08

Long Readings from the 3 Volume Set:
Rays of the Same Light

#29
(Titled: Secret of Prayer in Rays of the Same Light and Numbered 29)

This passage is from the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 8, Verses 41-48:

"But as he went, the crowds nearly suffocated him. Among them was a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years and who had derived no benefit from anybody's treatment. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, with the result that her hemorrhage stopped at once.

"Who was that who touched me?' said Jesus.

"And when everybody denied it, Peter remonstrated,

"Master, the crowds are all round you and are pressing you on all sides....'

"But Jesus said,

"Somebody touched me, for I felt that power went out from me.'

"When the woman realized that she had not escaped notice, she came forward trembling, and fell at his feet and admitted before everybody why she had had to touch him, and how she had been instantaneously cured.

"Daughter,' said Jesus, it is your faith that has healed you — go in peace.'"

Commentary

The teaching here is fundamental to healing of all kinds. For while power went out from Jesus, and we know that without that power the woman would not have been healed, he also made it clear that her faith, which is to say, her soul-receptivity, had been vital to the healing process.

Jesus often hinted at the importance of man's role in the flow of grace. In this episode he made it clear that the woman had been healed by her faith, and not merely for her faith.

Many people in that crowd were jostling Jesus. Most of them, no doubt, hoped for some kind of healing from him. Why was only she, out of so many, successful in drawing from him?

People usually await only passively the answer to their prayers. Even if they accept the importance of drawing consciously on God's grace, they normally draw with their egos, instead of tuning in sensitively with their souls. They leap into the breach with noisy self-affirmation, as if expecting to seize with both fists that which can be absorbed into oneself only with humility and love.

When great masters come into this world, crowds often gather around them, just as they did around Jesus. Those who flock to them, anxious to be healed, or to receive some special blessing, may vie almost fiercely for the master's attention. Yet only one woman in all that crowd around Jesus drew power from him. Why only she? What was so special about her manner of drawing? On a right understanding of this point depends the very effectiveness of faith.

The woman drew from Jesus not only actively, by her will power, but also with devotional love. She opened her consciousness to him, and attuned herself to his spiritual vibrations. She not only drew from him, but gave to him also, on a soul level. Both openness and self-giving on a deep level are important in divine healing.

People who are only passively receptive, or who, alternatively, try to snatch healing to themselves with the urgency of ego, achieve little spiritual benefit, if any. Self-effort must be of the right kind. Giving of one's self, from and of the heart, is a necessary attitude for healing on every level. It is necessary, above all, for those whose deepest desire is to be healed of the disease of spiritual ignorance. And this, finally, is the most important kind of healing of all.

Thus, through the Holy Bible, God has spoken to mankind.

Bhagavad Gita

How to Prayer Effectively    

This passage is from the 9th chapter, the 22nd Stanza:

"To those who meditate on Me as their Very Own, ever united to Me by incessant worship, I make good their deficiencies, and render permanent their gains." 

Commentary

If a beggar approaches a wealthy man for alms, how much money is he likely to receive? A pittance, probably. But if that wealthy man is approached by his own son, in a spirit of deep need, how much will he give? Every assistance, probably, that lies within a loving father's power to give.

Such, too, is our relationship with God. If we approach Him supplicatingly, like beggars, designating ourselves outsiders to His love, we proffer only a thimble to Him who would pour out to us His abundance. It is not God who limits His blessings. It is we ourselves, by the meanness of our faith.

There is much confusion on the question of how, properly, to express humility before God. People often address Him as though they were submitting a formal petition to some mighty Emperor, exalted above them in awful judgment. Their attitude suggests that, once their petition has been submitted, they are expected to back humbly out of the audience chamber, and to have nothing further to do with the matter. There is nothing, here, of the confident expectation of a devotee.

How little magnetism there is in such beggary! Not only does the petition lack conviction: The petitioner, too, by his tentativeness and timidity, only affirms his mental distance from the Lord. His interest is concentrated only on the request itself, and on the favors he hopes to wheedle out of the Great Emperor. It shows no wish to establish a closer, loving bond with his Heavenly Father.

Praying in this way, people actually estrange themselves from God, even while, to a minor extent, drawing Him to them. In consequence of their beggarly attitude, the requests they submit may not be answered at all, denying as they do the very sonship on which a soul's relationship with the Father is founded.

Paramhansa Yogananda said that, for prayer to be effective, it should be offered as a "loving demand." Jesus expressed a similar thought when he said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24) We should have faith in God's love for us, and in His eternally loving desire to give to us from His abundance.

An important secret for making prayer effective is the practice of daily meditation. If possible, meditate before praying. Establish a prior contact with the Lord. The time to communicate earnestly with anyone is when you feel you have his attention. Meditate, therefore; calm your mind. Calmness will help you not only to become aware of God's presence within; it will also enable you to give Him your full attention.

Think of the way you make requests of other people. If while speaking to them your eyes wander aimlessly about the room, your feet shuffle on the floor beneath your chair, and you manage generally to give the impression that you'd really rather be elsewhere, how can you expect them to take you seriously?

You will be more likely to convince them if you speak with personal conviction, and with the fullest confidence that your request will be granted. Here, too, is the essence of Jesus' meaning when he advised us to "pray believing."

Only when we feel our minds calmly centered can we pray with true effectiveness. Our first prayer, at this point, should not be for material things merely, but for a deeper, more loving relationship with our Heavenly Father. We should strive to become, as the Bhagavad Gita tells us, united to the Lord by incessant worship.

It is in actual contact with God that prayer becomes most effective. Sensing Him near us, it is easy to pray to Him as our very own. It is in the depths of love, above all, that prayer finds its answer.

There is a further secret to effective prayer: We should pray not only to God, but also with Him. For God resides not in some distant corner of outer space, but everywhere — in our own hearts especially. The very power of prayer is one which flows through us, not independently of us. This, again, is why prayer should not be offered with passive expectation, but should deeply involve the person praying. For prayer does more than activate a response: In a very real sense, it also channels that response outward to the world.

A prayer for healing, for example, is effective partly to the extent that it channels healing power. When praying, we should ask God to use us, and not merely to heed our request. Prayer involves responsibility on the part of the person praying, even though the results of prayer should, properly, be offered to God. An irresponsible request, even when it is made of other people, is seldom fulfilled, and almost never wisely so. To pray irresponsibly is to pray without involvement.

Once a person truly sees himself as a child of the Father, he becomes less interested in making requests of God. His prayers become rather an unceasing flow of love for Him.

God always takes care of those who love Him. He knows the needs of every one of us, His children, far better than we know them ourselves. The more deeply we love Him, the less we feel the need to pray for anything except the power to love Him perfectly.

Thus, through the Bhagavad Gita, God has spoken to mankind. Back to Top of Page

Longest Reading from the Book
The Promise of Immortality
NOTE: This book ended at Reading #26.

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