i just read Lesson 96. i think the point that was most important to me was the Masters' quote: "We are absolutely dependent for life itself upon God's laws and he will show us the way out of all our difficulties... No matter what our difficulties may be, if we do not give up we are struggling against the stream, and to struggle is to win the favor of God."
Great quote, it carries a double connotation:
1) knowledge of God's laws and importance of receptivity to his intuitional guidance. Knowledge is power but to know those subtle laws we must be receptive and put aside the ego's hubris
2) warrior-like attitude in struggling against daily life difficulties and ubiquitous moods stemming from them
Just read this again. Thanks mccoy. I'm hoping you and I can share notes on what we have learned from the srf lessons. I serve during the week but have week ends off and this is a time I can read srf material. I also have the Bhagavad - Gita with Paramahansa Yogananda' s interpretation here at the house. It has many benefits living in a country like the United States but there also many drawbacks. One major one is being one dimensional about the Bible. i have always wanted to know the spiritual traditions of other cultures. Yet most people you talk to in the States only look at the Bible as spiritual authority. This is very sad and among other things has contributed to a lack of understanding about meditation and for instance Master's and Guru's.
If you start quoting from other sources they often cannot even relate to those cultural influences. This has made our culture intolerant and quite ignorant in some ways.
