Inspirational Messages

“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

Meditation & Yoga Center:

CSE south county meditation center

Blue Lotus

November 27, 2022

Hold The Higher Inner Vision

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Conditions begin to change when the restless, ego-driven mind has been stilled by the vision of divine unity.
As we hold to that vision, we can see through changing conditions and realize harmony where it would not otherwise be known."

~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 11/22/2022

As the chill of winter whispers into the coolness of fall, we see evidence of its pending arrival in nature. In winter months, many plants and trees that appear to die are actually dormant. If we watch and wait, we can see our green friends awaken in the Spring.

Learning to view all of life, including our own, through a more refined spiritual lens, we can see beyond these qualities of nature that predictably change. Through daily study and practice of Kriya Yoga, we deepen our consciousness beyond changing conditions, as we realize the unchanging Source of life that enlivens all of life. When we face the predictable ending of a beloved earth life expression, we can find comfort and peace in the divine remembrance that the essence of love, joy, and divine communion we experienced with them, remains ever alive, even as their earth expression changes form.

From this deeper experience of the unchanging aspects of eternal life, we can welcome, appreciate, and know there will come a time to say goodbye to the changing earth life forms through which the Source expresses. And, if we let our hearts break all the way open into divine unity, we can see that which we truly love lives on, beyond its earthly expression. The peace, the joy, the love we experienced in the physical presence of our beloved, remains ever-present and unchanged in Spirit. Hold the long view in your heart, and experience how that which we truly love lives on.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in 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.

November 20, 2022

Stretch Your Faith

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen."
~Hebrews 11:1 Christian Bible

Due to the pandemic, on March 17, 2020, Blue Lotus Center closed its doors as a brick-and-mortar Kriya Yoga Meditation center. Less than 3 weeks later, BLC transformed and reopened as an online Kriya Yoga Meditation Center. And, last Wednesday, on 11/16/2022, BLC transformed once again as we joyfully reopened our doors as a hybrid Kriya Yoga Meditation Center, serving our local meditators onsite, and our larger Zoom friends online.

Lacking most of the skills and resources needed to provide these increasingly complex services, BLC's expansion into a hybrid Kriya Yoga meditation center was truly an act of stretching our faith into a more active relationship with The Divine. The small but devoted BLC volunteer team prayed, listened, and intentionally followed divine guidance one step at a time, watchful of the mind's attempts to scare us into limited thinking. And, after responding to a few surprises, BLC was divinely supported into the reopening as a hybrid Kriya Yoga meditation center!

Join me this morning at CSE onsite and online as we explore how to stretch our faith beyond the limited thinking mind. We can mature our faith beyond a hope or a prayer, into the actual experience of divine possibilities realized when we intentionally engage in faith-guided lives. During this Holy Day season, will you join me and stretch your faith?

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in 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.

November 13, 2022

Growing In Faith

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Faith is a whole-hearted 'yes'. It says: I do not know how this can be accomplished but
I am willing to trust the one Reality (God) to guide me."
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 06/04/2012

To those of you who have yet to meet her, I would like to introduce you to the giant, beautiful, elder oak tree that graces CSE's outdoor Oak Tree Temple. This divine beauty towers over the 2 story building behind her. Seventeen years ago when I arrived at CSE, she was in a parking lot, with her root base covered in asphalt and cars. Over the years, the asphalt was removed and a beautiful outdoor temple was created around her. Gone were the days of the oak tree's job as the one who provided shade for parked cars. Today, she holds space for us to gather in spiritual community as this beauty shares the divine expression of life that she is.

For many of us, this oak tree, and the loving care she receives from CSE, is a living inspiration of faith. It took discernment and faith to risk removing the hard crusted surface that was thought to keep her huge root base from rising up and potentially causing harm. But, when the asphalt was removed, the oak tree's root base did not loosen, rise up, and fall over. Instead, it relaxed, went deeper into the earth, and continues to grow. And so it could be for us, right? When we let go of the old ways that no longer serve us, we can open into deeper ways that we had never experienced before.

This Wednesday, you are invited to join us as BLC celebrates 8 years of service as an oasis of peace. We will be opening our doors to serve as a hybrid meditation center, serving meditators in person and online. Like the oak tree and CSE's faith, the reopening of BLC took a willingness to let go of familiar ways of service so we could open into the expanded Center that BLC is called to be today. Join us on-site and online and grow into the faith of new possibilities for us all!

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in 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.

November 6, 2022

Return to the Center - Blue Lotus Center!

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Spiritually conscious living involves turning— turning away from appearances to rely on what is true,
turning away from limiting beliefs and turning toward freedom, turning away from fear and turning toward love.
It takes boldness to turn and embrace our divine identity but when we do, we are given a new life.
Turning toward Truth is the direct path; no preparation is needed."
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 04/26/2012

In divine grace, it is with great joy and deep gratitude that I announce the upcoming reopening of Blue Lotus Center on Wednesday 11/16/2022! After being closed for 2 years and 8 months, BLC will reopen its doors as a hybrid Kriya Yoga Meditation Center that offers Wednesday evening meditation groups on-site in Gilroy, CA, and online on Zoom. Yay!

Truthfully, this planning process was an adventure in faith and divine unfoldment for the BLC Seva (selfless service) volunteer team. We all had many opportunities to practice equanimity, nonattachment, and surrender as we learned new skills to grow BLC into a hybrid spiritual community. And, honestly, I had a moment or two when my mind questioned the logic of such a sizable undertaking. Where would we get the money, equipment, time, and support to undertake this endeavor that was unfamiliar terrain for us all? Thankfully, the presence of divine grace was inescapable, and we all knew that this was an offer BLC could not refuse. With the ongoing support of Yogacharya O’Brian and CSE, the small but mighty BLC Seva team held hands, followed inner guidance, and served into the faith of BLC’s reopening.

On behalf of CSE and BLC, I invite you to join us for our Return to the Center as we celebrate BLC's 8 years of service as an oasis of peace. Join us on-site, using the preregistration process below, as space inside BLC is limited. Or, join us on Zoom for a very special evening of Truth, freedom, and love.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in 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.