Acharya Vandana's  Weekly Inspirations

I recall a story of His Holiness the Dali Lama once being told that he had an extremely busy daily schedule. His Aide asked what His Holiness would like to do first from his long to-do list. As I listened to this story, I could hear the ego's call to action saying, "Let's get these meetings and tasks completed! The sooner we get started, the more we will get accomplished." But that is not how His Holiness responded. Rather than jump into action, His Holiness replied that he would first choose to meditate twice as long before stepping into his scheduled activities.

When we meditate, we intentionally stop exacerbating difficult circumstances made worse when we impulsively react to them. Instead, our daily meditation practice helps quiet and calm the over-extended mind. As we proceed through our meditation practice, the mind becomes quiet enough for us to open into the divine intelligence within us. We experience it as silence, stillness, peace, intuition, and clarity. Instead of reacting emotionally, we can respond from a wisdom-guided Source that inspires choices to serve the highest good of all. His Holiness chose the inner path of meditation, accessing that divine inner peace and clarity to joyfully and intelligently guide him through this busy day. And the same inner peace, power, and wisdom that indwells His Holiness is available and accessible within each of us. 

Thrive in prosperity consciousness this year at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance in a spiritual community 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 Kriya Yoga Meditation Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings. 

Have you ever had that experience where you unsuccessfully struggled to come up with a solution to a problem in your life? And, then when you've all but given up, the perfect alternative just pops into your head? For me, the inspiration often arises during the performance of a mundane activity, like washing the dishes or admiring our beautiful garden. Now, we know it is not clean dishes that elicit wisdom. So, how is it that inspiration arises when we least expect it?

By conscious choice or simply fatigue, when we stop trying to rearrange mental and physical circumstances and force solutions, we give the mind a break from such arduous work. We step away from the endless mind stories of "what if, if only, and shoulda, woulda, coulda". As the mind relaxes into dishwashing, gazing at the garden, or petting our beloved furry family member, our attention and awareness can relax into the present moment. And the divine creative potential within us all needs only that moment to whisper the insight or intuition that we need to consciously respond, instead of emotionally react, to a situation. In that moment of inner peace, if we can stop and listen, we can hear divinely inspired possibilities arising from within us, calling us into the innate joy, clarity, and peace that indwells us all.

Thrive in prosperity consciousness this year at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance in a spiritual community 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 Kriya Yoga Meditation Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings. 

As individual expressions of the Source of wholeness, Yoga is a spiritual path and practice of consciously remembering and living as the unique expressions of wholeness that we all are. Inherent in Yoga is the realization that every single one of us will forget that we are whole. At some point in our lives, we will mistakenly believe that we are broken, unworthy, and/or separate from the Source of life. As odd as it may sound, this is one of the many strengths of a yogic life. In yoga, the Source of life shines Its absolutely clear, nonjudgmental light of wholeness through us, as us, all the time, everywhere, even when we forget. The Source holds compassionate space for the forgetful chaos of the mind, all the while never believing the scary stories we tell ourselves. 

Even more, Yoga offers ancient, time-tested practices to help us remember and live in our essential wholeness. With the steadfast compassionate practice of Yoga, the bumps in the road of forgetting get smaller as the divinely inspired inner path of remembrance becomes more illumined within. Living from this illumination naturally reveals more inner peace, grateful joy, unconditional love, and clear wisdom to inspire our daily lives. But don’t take my word for it. Join other steadfast travelers of Yoga at CSE and BLC, and experience this freedom for yourself. We'll save a seat for you!

Thrive in prosperity consciousness this year at Blue Lotus Center onsite (Wednesday evenings only) and online (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Experience a time of meditation, study, contemplation, and divine remembrance in a spiritual community 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 Kriya Yoga Meditation Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings. 

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