In the CD, My Spirit Shall Live On: The Final Days of Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Daya Mata shares a vow she made to her guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, that she did her best to live by:
Let me so conduct my life that every moment I can look into your eyes with sincerity, with purity in heart, in mind and in soul.
Whether you are making this pledge to a guru or to God, they are wise words to live by. They are a reminder to reach every decision and choose every action as if God’s hand were on your shoulder. Living with complete integrity is the tangible expression of your love for and devotion to God. Integrity is your spiritual practice made visible.
Sri Daya Mata went on to say:
Let there be no hidden thoughts from you. Let me not try to hide a single motive from you. . . . He was the only one in this world to whom I felt I could go and open my heart and let him behold all of my imperfections, let him see all of my weaknesses, let him see me covered with the dust of maya (the Sanskrit term for illusion). And I used to look into his eyes when I’d sit at his feet, and he used to say to me, “I know every thought you think.” I used to say, “Master, I know it, and I wouldn’t try to hide one of them from you. Because only when you see me as I am will you be able to help me change myself. And I am never wanting to be protected. I don’t want to hide behind my weaknesses; I want to get away from them. I want to dash them on the rocks of truth, on the rocks of self-discipline. I want freedom, that’s why I came to you.
How many of us are so devoted to personal growth that we are willing to live transparently in the eyes of God, eager for any and all constructive guidance that can help us become the best person we are capable of being? Your quest for enlightenment will be stalled until, like Daya Ma, you fiercely commit to a life of nonstop self-improvement.
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ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA
Phil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.
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Tags: devotion, integrity, transparency
