August 27, 2023

Freedom To Soar

Paula Whang-Ramos

"The primary obstacle to spiritual awakeningis the flawed perception of one’s essence of being.
Instead of thinking and acting as a mere physical creature, decisively think and act as the immortal spiritual being you are."
—Roy Eugene Davis, Absolute Knowledge that Liberates Consciousness, 2007, p. 52.

Kriya Yoga teaches us that we are divine, immortal spiritual beings, emanations of the One Source of all that is. We are more than the body with its physical restrictions and the mind with its limited thoughts and beliefs. We know this deep in our souls, but sometimes we forget.

At times, on my walks in nature, I watch the birds as I approach them on the path. It always amuses me that, initially, they try to run away from me on their little bird legs. It’s awkward and not very effective. It’s as if they’ve forgotten that they are not earth-bound creatures. Then, all at once, they fly away. They remember their true nature as birds and soar into the sky.

We are not so different. We can also stumble through our lives, believing the best of what we are is based on our limited earth life experiences and our reactions to them. Fortunately, when we mature spiritually, we realize we are much more than our transitory thoughts, feelings, and experiences. As we directly experience our spiritual essence, we source a deeper wisdom and power to live as the courageous, powerful spiritual beings that we are. Living life beyond the mind, we can truly soar into the wholeness and freedom we took birth for!

Join us at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance with others devoted to realizing and thriving in our innate peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

August 20, 2023

Befriend The Busy Mind

Paula Whang-Ramos

"One who is spiritually awake goes beyond the ordinary trappings of pleasure and pain, attraction and aversion, and
knows steady peace and joy instead.” ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 07/30/2023

Have you ever become so attached to your feelings or perceptions of an experience that you believe them to be the ultimate truth, to the exclusion of the bigger picture unfolding? Or, perhaps we've felt so anxious in a situation that we avoid it, only to find out later that it held amazing opportunities for us. Or, maybe we allowed our excitement for a new opportunity to blind our vision to its undesired risks. Using the mind as the compass to guide our lives can be frustrating and exhausting, as the mind seeks moments of peace or avoidance of pain, only to find their effects to be temporary when the peace dissipates and the pain returns.

On the spiritual path of Kriya Yoga, we still experience the joys, sorrows, blessings, and surprises of our daily lives. The difference is that we no longer use these experiences to define the truth of what we are. We no longer seek permanent inner peace, power, and joy from the mind’s temporary reactions to daily life. And when we do get swept away in the mind’s reactions and stories, we know how to inwardly access time-tested spiritual practices to help us return, remember, and be restored in the inner peace, wisdom, and joy that is never shaken, scared or pleasured by life circumstances and our reactions to them.

Join me this morning at CSE as we explore how to befriend the mind, and use it as a tool to support our spiritual awakening. Meditate and contemplate how spiritual awakening can free us from seeking permanent peace in temporary mental states and experiences that are ever-changing.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance with others devoted to realizing and thriving in our innate peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

August 13, 2023

Patience Is Still A Virtue

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Practicing patience is like coming upon a cool stream on a hot day—
the overheated ego stops, cools down, and reconnects with the soul nature.”
—Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Living for the Sake of the Soul, 2016, p. 166.

In today’s fast-paced world, we may inwardly say, “I will be patient, but can you please hurry up?” The addictive nature of instant gratification is reinforced by our attachment to technology and the immediacy of information it can provide. In this information age, patience can seem like an outdated, old-fashioned virtue.

On our path of spiritual awakening, the cool stream of patience is an important and fundamental resource to help us live in the world in a more enjoyable, less frenzied way. When we take a few moments to trade in our personal timeline for a greater divine timeline experienced in patience and silence, we can experience the peace, joy, and communion that the Source of Life patiently waits for us to receive.

As I hold my teacup in patience, I feel deep gratitude to those, whom I will never meet, who hand-crafted this beautiful small vessel in which I can enjoy my morning tea. I offer bows to those who prepared and delivered the teacup safely to me for my enjoyment. I appreciate those who grew, prepared, and delivered the herbs in my cup, and the water that is safe for me to drink without harm to the body. When we take the time to allow our hearts to open into the divine gifts revealed in our interconnection with the Source of life expressed as all that we know, then we can intentionally allow Its peace to guide and carry us as we return to the business of the day.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance with others devoted to realizing and thriving in our innate peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

August 6, 2023

Unshakable Peace And Happiness

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Everything gives according to its nature; nothing can provide more than what it is.
What is temporary brings temporary happiness or security, which is its full extent.
Only That which is eternal can give lasting happiness."
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Daily Inspiration 03-01-2014

For those of us who have been on the spiritual path for a while, we know this wisdom, right? We know that we cannot find permanent happiness in a relationship that always changes. We cannot find true prosperity in a high-paying job. And we cannot find permanent inner peace by searching outside ourselves. Then we meet that person, get that “dream job” or feel the peace of sitting in the woods. And we project our inner soul happiness, prosperity, and peace onto circumstances outside of us. Instead of focusing our attention and awareness on our inner soul wholeness, we send it outward as we try to hold on to that person, job, and forest – all of which eventually change, whether we want them to, or not. And we feel unhappy, poor, and restless again.

Fortunately, Kriya Yoga offers a remedy to our search for permanent joy, prosperity, and peace. Our daily superconscious meditation and spiritually conscious living practices strengthen our inner journey to the soul’s unchanging qualities that we desire in our daily lives. These daily spiritual practices create conditions for divine grace to fully open our hearts into unshakable happiness, prosperity, and peace. And in this blessed dance between our intentional practice and divine grace, the permanent wholeness of life can guide, ground, and inspire us as we thrive through these ever-changing lives.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance with others devoted to realizing and thriving in our innate peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

Meditation & Yoga Center:

CSE south county meditation center

Inspirational Messages

Blue Lotus

“If anything disturbs your peace, practice having faith that divine grace is already actively at work restoring wholeness and well-being.

Then make any necessary adjustments in harmony with that insight.”
Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Spiritual Director, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment