Kriya Yoga Satsang with Yogacharya: Be Steadfast
Be steadfast - Unwavering dedication to the goal of a Self- and God-realized life is a decision to live in the soul, to anchor our awareness in the true Self. Steadfastness on the path is refusing to put off the soul life. It is returning, again and again, to the truth of our being.
- Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
What would your life be like if you could remain lit up and joyful amid challenges? Can you imagine being steadfast and committed in a new way, a way that is soul-nurturing? Have you ever tried to push through with your work at the cost of losing attunement to your soul’s joy? If you have, consider instead a way of being that lets the soul fire blaze brightly with inspiration instead of dampening it down with stressful worries. In the recording below, Yogacharya O’Brian transmits the practice of remaining steadfast to our soul’s joy by renouncing distractions and staying focused on what matters most of all—the connection to our divine Self. She teaches her fifth lesson in a series of five drawn from the life of Paramahansa Yogananda.
Yogacharya says we often hear as a prayer in our tradition of Kriya Yoga, “May you be steadfast on the path of spiritual teaching .” She observed the quality of steadfastness in the life of her spiritual teacher, Roy Eugene Davis, and in the teachings of his guru, Paramahansa Yogananda.
She says we are inspired when we study the life of Yogananda, a young man of 27 who crossed the ocean to come to a strange land, who built an organization and work that touched millions of lives. “During that process, he had to be steadfast.” She adds that that quality of steadfastness was necessary for such a meaningful, soul-inspired, successful, prosperous, and joyful life.
How did he do it?
“He lived his life with a bold faith, a radical faith, an outrageous faith in God that allowed his very being to be used as a divine instrument in such a powerful way.”
“When students would ask him about his extraordinary abilities he would say, ‘The same God that is in me is in you.’”
“Yogananda didn’t have more God in him than the rest of us. There is no more or less of that divine Reality in anyone. Spirit cannot be increased or decreased. But what we can increase is what he also had—radical faith in the infinite Source and steadfast commitment to relying on That.”
Yogacharya shares one of my favorite inspirational teachings from Yogananda. “You must not let your life run in the ordinary way. Do something that nobody else has done. Something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative principle works in you.” What would be possible for us if we were to remain steadfast to our faith in God amid our challenges? Our light might dazzle us, our families, workplaces, and our world. With that quality of faith, the infinite Source expresses through us in unique ways suited to our skills and gifts and the needs of our world.
How to Be Spiritually Steadfast?
We do need grit, determination, and the capacity to push through perceived obstacles, but in remaining spiritually steadfast, we surrender our outcomes and processes to the divine. We let go of worry, grasping, and fear. Instead, as we move forward, we remain anchored in divine awareness with its attendant joy.
Think of it this way. Our full engagement, joy, and aliveness are found at our growing edges where we are pushing back the shadow and increasing the light. Work is accomplished in grace-filled ways while remaining attuned to joy. We renounce worry and regret. When I contemplate what it would be like to be steadfast to the transcendental Absolute, I cannot reach there with my mind, but my heart is filled with awe and wonder and a sense that I am held in the compassionate embrace of the limitless. The work takes on a meaning that is larger than my own tiny self-interest and I become energized and freed into joy.
More teachings and practices on how to remain steadfast on the spiritual path can be found in Yogacharya’s online course, Dharma 365!
Listen to the recording below and discover the insights arising in you. Let’s show up in the ways our world needs from us. Let’s immerse ourselves in the energy of steadfastness to joy, to the truth, to awakening.
