To allot God a secondary place in life was, to me, inconceivable. Though He is the sole Owner of the cosmos, silently showering us with gifts from life to life, one thing yet remains which He does not own, and which each human heart is empowered to withhold or bestow - man's love.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of placing God first and recognizing that love is the one thing not owned by God but freely given by humans.
In this quote, Paramahansa Yogananda expresses a profound belief in the centrality of God in life, suggesting that while God is the ultimate creator and sustainer, there is a unique aspect of human existence that remains within our own power: the ability to love. Love is portrayed as a divine gift that is personal to each individual, reinforcing the idea that while we can receive God's gifts, the love we choose to give is our own deeply personal offering.
In practice
In a sermon emphasizing love and faith during a community gathering.
Man is important in one sense only. He was made in the image of God: That is his importance. He is not important for his body, ego, or personality. His constant affirmation of ego-consciousness is the source of all his problems.
When, by meditation, we withdraw restless thoughts from the lake of the mind, we behold our soul, a perfect reflection of Spirit.
It is wisest to be impartial. If you have health, but are attached to it, you will always be afraid of losing it. And if you fear that loss, but become ill, you will suffer. Why not remain forever joyful in the Self?
From joy people are born; for joy they live; in joy they melt at death. Death is an ecstasy, for it removes the burden of the body and frees the soul of all pain springing from body identification. It is the cessation of pain and sorrow.
It is better to meditate a little bit with depth than to mediate long with the mind running here and there. If you do not make an effort to control the mind it will go on doing as it pleases, no matter how long you sit to meditate.
Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don't know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being robots, conditioned by their environment. True self-analysis is the greatest art of progress.
I know people who've gone to jail. It don't mean you stop loving them! They deservin' love just as much in there, and maybe they needin' it more.
Only through loving and supporting one another, even in the face of unbearable pain and suffering, will this cycle of violence end.
But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.
The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.
She said the reason that love is so painful is that it always amounts to two people wanting more than two people can give.
So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused.
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