Self-Expansion: Affirmations For Self-Healing
An affirmation is a statement of truth which one aspires to absorb into his life. We are what we think. For our minds express, and also influence, the reality of what we are far more than our bodies do. Our thoughts even influence, to a great extent, our physical health. The more we affirm something with concentration and awareness, the more chances there are of it being absorbed into our minds. Self-expansion is a natural urge. The human urge to expand – for bigger houses, cars, travel, and knowledge – only reflects the soul's longing to expand into Infinity.
Transcript
Welcome friends,
Our topic for discussion is self-expansion from affirmations for self-healing by Swami Kriyananda.
So let us read what Swamiji has to say about this topic.
Self-expansion is the essence of all aspiration.
Why do we seek to possess things?
Because by acquisition we imagine we will expand our dominion.
Why do we seek to learn more?
Because we think by enlarging our knowledge to expand our understanding.
Why do we seek ever new experiences?
Because we believe through them we will expand our awareness.
When you stretch a lump of dough outward,
It becomes not only broader but thinner.
Such often is the case when we stretch the mind only outwardly.
Reaching out too far,
We sacrifice depth in our lives.
The self-expansion toward which all life aspires is of the spirit,
An expansion of sympathy,
Of love,
Of the awareness that comes from sensing God's presence everywhere.
This is a very interesting topic friends,
Self-expansion.
Without knowing,
Unconsciously in our lives,
We are always seeking to expand our self-identity.
Everything that we do is because we want that self-expansion,
However we are misguided in our journey to this self-expansion,
To this state of expansion and therefore we think to achieve that expansion outwardly through,
As Swamiji says,
Possessions,
Traveling,
Learning new things,
More knowledge,
More experiences,
Maybe creating a family,
Having children,
Meeting more and more people,
Having more money,
More possessions,
Creating a bigger business,
Having more cars,
A bigger house and so on and so forth.
Because we are misguided in our approach to self-expansion,
We end up more tangled in maya and even though we set out to seek happiness,
We experience ultimate sadness and truly then,
As Swamiji says,
Trying to seek self-expansion outside ourselves is like stretching a lump of dough,
Which yes,
It is getting broader but it is also getting thinner and therefore we are losing the depth that we seek in our lives,
The depth of consciousness.
Swami Kriyananda mentions about his life and he says that when he was young,
He was seeking truth.
He was not seeking God yet or at least he was not thinking in those terms.
He was seeking truth and he thought that he would attain truth through arts,
Through philosophy,
Through travel and he said basically that he was not finding it anywhere and wherever he used to travel,
He realized that human nature is basically the same everywhere and just by moving your body from one place to another is not giving you any true sense of self-expansion.
Similarly with knowledge,
Some people are so proud of their knowledge but knowledge is not wisdom.
Knowledge is mere intellectual learning but wisdom is intuitive insight which actually leads to self-expansion or rather which comes as a result of expansion of consciousness.
Swami Sri Yukteswar would chastise Yogananda ji,
Paramahansa Yogananda when he was training under the ashram of his Guru and whenever he would see Yogananda ji with a book,
He would chastise him for reading too much because he did not allow his disciples to read but rather seek the understanding that they are trying to find within themselves through the depth of meditation.
Even Lahiri Mahasaya who was the Paramguru of Paramahansa Yogananda,
Whenever disciples would ask him about some scriptural understanding,
Some shloka from a certain scripture,
He would always tell them let me go within and then share with you what the shloka really means and so possessions,
Travel experiences etc are not going to give us the self-expansion that we are seeking.
So what is going to give us that self-expansion?
I would like to read an excerpt from the book Essence of Self-Realization by Paramahansa Yogananda.
It's a long excerpt so I would suggest that you close your eyes and calm yourself and listen deeply to these words by Paramahansa Yogananda.
He writes,
The consciousness enters the body by way of the brain and the spine.
When the sperm and ovum unite to create the physical body,
They do so at what becomes the medulla oblongata at the base of the brain.
From this medulla,
The life force moves out into the brain,
Down the spine and into the nervous system,
Then onto the muscles etc creating the body.
The way out of the body then is to reverse this process.
The difficulty in doing so lies in the fact that the life force is already conditioned by birth to continue its outward direction through the senses and onward to the environment as it is perceived through the senses.
Thus,
We think to possess the world and enjoy it through the body.
I would like to pause here and mention that I was recently watching a YouTube video and it was about health and nutrition and the person said,
Oh you should take care of your body because everything that you experience in life is through your body and at that point I had to just close the video and laugh inwardly because the material man thinks that everything that is there to experience can be experienced only through the body but the masters tell us that the body is only a temple of God and there's a whole inner life that we are not aware of and thus the need to seek self-expansion at that level.
So let's continue to listen what Yoganandaji wrote.
He continues,
We can never experience anything outside ourselves except vicariously as the senses report their impressions to the brain.
We may try to expand our understanding of the world by study or our enjoyment of it through sense pleasures.
The fact remains we can never know anything except through the medium of the senses so long as the life force remains trapped in the body.
There is a way out however,
It is for the life force to merge with the cosmic energy for the consciousness to merge in the infinite consciousness.
The way to accomplish this is to withdraw the life force from the senses and center it in the spine to direct it upward through the spine to the brain at the Christ center and thence out through the Christ centered Christ center between the eyebrows.
He continues,
The ego is centered in the medulla oblongata.
This is the negative pole of self-consciousness.
The positive pole is situated at the Christ center.
Concentration at this center projects the consciousness beyond the ego into infinity.
The spine is the highway to the infinite.
Your own body is the temple of God.
It is within your own self that God must be realized.
Whatever places of pilgrimage you visit outwardly and whatever outward rituals you perform,
The ultimate pilgrimage must be within and the ultimate religious rite must be the offering of your life force on the altar of inner God communion.
This is the path of Kriya Yoga.
You see in this short excerpt,
Yogananda ji has answered everything that we need to know about self-expansion.
So we should not try to expand our consciousness only outwardly but instead through the practice of meditation and specifically Kriya Yoga,
Learn to withdraw the life force which is flowing out through the senses,
Withdraw it into the spine and direct it towards the spiritual eye,
The point between the eyebrows or the Christ center or the Kutastha Chaitanya and direct it there and by concentrating at this point,
Our consciousness expands through that point into infinity.
As he also says,
The medulla oblongata at the base of the brain is the center of ego consciousness.
It's the negative pole of self-consciousness and when we through repeated practice of meditation and Kriya Yoga,
When we withdraw the energy into the spine and direct it to the spiritual eye,
We are able to overcome the limitation of the body.
We are able to overcome the delusion that we are just this bundle of flesh and bones and really expand our consciousness until we become one with everything that is and that is the way to true self-expansion as the yogis have told us.
So let us not seek expansion so much outside of ourselves and let us dive deep into our meditation practices.
If we do not meditate,
Let us build a practice of meditation and if you would like to learn Kriya Yoga,
There are many courses available at Ananda centers all across the world or if you are in Delhi,
Then also at Ananda Delhi here.
So that is the essence of self-expansion and once we have a sense of that self-expansion,
Then everything else outside of you will cease to have the attractive power that it has because inwardly,
Your consciousness is expanded.
It does not need to seek all those outward experiences.
So with all that being said,
Let us practice the affirmation that Swamiji has given us for self-expansion.
Let us sit up straight,
Close our eyes,
Gaze upward at the spiritual eye and with a lot of energy and concentration repeat after me.
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
Now in a whisper,
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
Now mentally only repeat these words as you gaze deeply at the spiritual eye,
While I say these words out loud for you.
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
I feel myself in the flowing brooks,
In the flight of birds,
In the raging wind upon the mountains,
In the gentle dance of flowers in a breeze.
Renouncing my little egoic self,
I expand with my great soul self everywhere.
Silently offer this prayer with me also.
Beloved spirit in all that is,
Help me in my own nothingness to find myself one with all that is.
Help me in my own nothingness to find myself one with all that is.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
Thank you for joining friends.
May you feel an ever-expanding sense of self-expansion and joy within you and all around you every day of your lives.
