No matter what difficulties the world or we are going through, it is possible to overcome any consciousness of being a victim that we might harbour by choosing instead to instil in ourselves the victorious consciousness of a spiritual conqueror.
That is a central message that Swami Chidananda Giri, president and spiritual head of YSS/SRF, shares in this excerpt from a talk he gave in February 2023, as part of a 5-day programme in Hyderabad.
But to develop that victorious consciousness and “weather the storms of duality” requires that we adopt positive strategies, he says, such as are taught in the “how-to-live” teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, and that we learn one skill above all else — daily meditation.
Swami Chidanandaji assures us that the injunction of the Bhagavad Gita to “take shelter in yoga” — the science of Kriya Yoga meditation — will lead to our knowing ourselves as divine beings, and that is the greatest remedy for whatever we face and can ultimately lead to our ability to, in Paramahansaji’s words, “stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds.”
Swami Chidananda’s full talk was given as the inaugural address at the “YSS Sangam 2023,” held in Hyderabad. Swami Chidanandaji travelled to India on a six-week trip to visit the ashrams of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and to participate in the Sangam.
You can watch the entire inaugural talk as well as a three-hour meditation led by Swami Chidanandaji and his closing talk at the Sangam at the link below, to dive deeper into knowing how to “take shelter in yoga.”
In this video Swami Chidanandaji discusses the “how-to-live” skills and powerful meditation techniques taught in the Yogoda Satsanga Lessons, Paramahansa Yogananda’s home-study course presenting his personal and comprehensive instruction in the science of meditation and art of balanced living.
