III: 11

Chapter 3, Verse 11

“By worship you will nourish the gods
And the gods will nourish you in turn.
By nourishing one another
You will reach the highest.”

Paramahansa Yogananda:

“Among the customs of all ancient peoples were nature rites whose purpose was to acknowledge humanity’s dependence upon the natural forces and bounty of the environment. Instinctively, they recognized the debt and reverence owed to the higher intelligence working within these wonders. It is no coincidence that the godlessness prevalent in the modern age has spawned a civilization out of touch with the beneficence of nature. Humanity’s cruel and wasteful domination is destructive of the very conditions necessary for its existence.

The universal structure and humanity’s infinitesimal place within it are made possible only by the working together in precise harmony of an awesome combination of intelligent forces guided by the Supreme Self. Humanity would do well to put itself in attunement with these. For the misguided to believe that the perfection of the universe could come about by chance is nothing but an expression of their egos, based on a loathing to concede that there could be something greater than themselves from which they only borrow their powers and intelligence, and to which they owe their humble worship.

We who seek a more spiritual consciousness should not withhold a natural expression of gratitude for the possession and functioning of the bodily temple…for the forces that throb in the heart; circulate in the blood; accomplish the digestion; condition the nervous system to coordinate all transmissions between soul, body and environment; and direct the metabolic functions of the body, the ramifications of thought and will in the brain, and the emotional responses of the heart.

When we identify ourselves with the shallow ego, taking for granted that it is we alone who think, feel, will, digest food, and keep ourselves alive, never admitting through reflection (of which only a little would suffice) our connection with intelligent powers, we become out of touch with universal harmonies, little better than lawless pirates, rendering no homage to the countless forces that mercifully provide for the whole of our allotted span.”

Swami Ramdas:

“A candle burns and gives its substance away with more and more light. The flower goes on giving out its fragrance until it fades away and dies. The fire emits heat to its fullest capacity until its last embers turn to ashes. So those souls garbed in the robes of divine joy give themselves away in all their varied actions through their words and deeds in a spontaneous flow for the weal of the world until their bodies drop away.”

[Happy Easter everybody]