Material Success and Happiness Through Yoga Principles

by Swami Kriyananda
(J. Donald Walters)

Copyright © 2005 Hansa Trust
All rights reserved.

Lesson Eight
Immediate versus Long-Range Goals
The Principles
The subject of this lesson is deeper than one might think from looking only at the title. The title seems to suggest a contrast between temporal satisfaction and eternal fulfillment. In fact, however, I intend to offer a new concept of time altogether, one which relates time to timelessness.
Of the classical Indian philosophies, three, as I say in the Introduction to these lessons, are especially important for Self-realization. Of these three— Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta— Yoga alone shows how to bridge the abyss separating maya from Absolute Consciousness. Sankhya explains why that abyss must be spanned, abandoning maya for the Absolute. Vedanta describes the Absolute Reality awaiting us on the other side. Yoga alone explains the method for crossing the bridge and attaining Brahman.
Yoga shows also how to make that traffic a two-way flow—how to relate present reality, in other words, to ultimate wisdom, and how to bring into practical life an intuition, at least, of higher truth.
Maya makes time and space seem real. Yoga, however, shows that present perceptions of reality can be related to timelessness and spacelessness. The concept of timelessness, which is our present concern, can actually be an aid in the quest for material as well as for spiritual success.
Time is, of course, essential to our perception of the things of this world. Nevertheless, great yogis and advaitins have all described time as a delusion. It certainly seems real, however, to all of us. Time is even logically sequential: we see past becoming present, and present reaching out to become the future. My Guru compared time to a movie film which, in the projection booth, can be turned at will quickly or slowly, forward or backward. The mind staggers under the weight of this concept. Fortunately, it won’t be necessary in these lessons to dive into those swirling waters and attempt bravely to plumb their depths.
My Guru explained that the cosmic dream is real, at least as a dream. It is also, as a dream may be, self-consistent and coherent—but not altogether so, and sometimes not really so at all! I must, however, turn my back resolutely on such abstractions. They have nothing to do with the subject of material success.
What is important here is that it is possible to adjust our concept of time to our actual needs. We can narrow time, or expand it. Our concept of it may concern some problem of the moment, or it may flow freely toward solution-consciousness, carrying us lightly over the abyss of delusion.
Zeno, a philosopher in ancient Greece, proposed several “paradoxes” with a view to demonstrating the inadequacy of logic alone. One of his paradoxes was that, in order to cross a road, one must first go half the distance. Before going the second half, he must next go half that distance. No matter how minuscule the remaining distance, one must still go halfway before completing the distance. How then, demanded Zeno, can anyone cross a road at all?
Of course, we all know that crossing a road is a simple task that poses no problem even for the chicken in the well-known children’s puzzler: “Why does a chicken cross the road?” (“To get to the other side.”) The paradox is solved by introducing the element of motion. Without motion, there would be no space. Without motion, time itself would not exist. Time is motion, creating the illusion of space.
Motion is not the series of static points that Zeno proposed. It is vibration. Vibration creates both time and space. Modern science has actually declared that matter is nothing but a vibration of energy. Still to be demonstrated, but universally declared by Self-realized masters, is something that many scientists themselves now suspect: that all things in creation are only vibrations of consciousness.
People who are wholly immersed in the delusion of time consider time necessary for every accomplishment. For them, often, the longer it takes to do a thing the more worthwhile must be the thing itself. The more the difficulties one faces in an undertaking, the greater his sense of accomplishment. People see time in terms of points along the way to completion. Most people, as they contemplate these separate points, see only problems needing to be solved. One with a consciousness of flow, however, ceases to concentrate on the separate, individual points, and in consequence may find the task perfectly simple.
If you want to transcend time, then concentrate on something motionless, like the ocean’s horizon. If you want to be creative, concentrate on flowing motion rather than on all the points and problems along the way. If a thing needs to be done urgently, view the time you must spend on it against a background of eternity.
Some goals, indeed, may press upon us in terms of the time we have available for reaching them. If, however, we can keep in mind the truth that whatever happens is really happening right now, then the idea that time is a requirement for getting everything done is no longer a problem, for “right now” becomes the only time in which one can do the work at all.
Long ago, I faced a major problem that involved an insufficiency of time. The year was 1988; the month, May. On July the fourth, Ananda Village planned to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. The director of Crystal Clarity, Ananda’s publishing house, asked me if I would consent to write a book in celebration of that event. I was just nearing the end of a month of seclusion, during which I had written several books. A week later, it would be necessary for me to adjust to new circumstances. What I really wanted just then was a rest from writing altogether. Besides, I said in reply, a week was an absurdly short amount of time for writing what she wanted: a book. I answered flatly, “I couldn’t possibly.”
“Twenty years,” was her wistful response. “This is a big anniversary.”
“I know, I know,” was my answer, “but I really haven’t the time I’d need for such a job.”
Unfortunately for me, when I say No what I usually mean is, “Well, I’ll think about it.”
I thought about it. The celebration was scheduled in a little over a month. It did seem a good thing to offer something special for the occasion. But—a week? Firmly I repeated to myself, “Impossible!” The idea kept coming back to me, however: “It would be nice!” Suddenly I saw a solution. I couldn’t possibly do it myself, but God could do anything!
Resolutely dismissing any thought of the difficulties involved—including the obvious question, “What on earth shall I write?”—I flung open my mental doors to higher inspiration. Mustering all my will power, I said, “You do it, Lord!” And He did! The chapters flowed smoothly and quickly, needing almost no rewriting at the end.
One day my resolution was severely tested. A man working on the electric wiring had, without realizing it, thrown the wrong switch. That whole day’s work was irretrievably lost from my computer. This setback was almost paralyzing. I’d been pouring all my energy into something that had seemed, even so, impossible. I simply couldn’t face this blow, and could do no more work the rest of that day.
The next day, however, “girding up my loins,” I went back to work again. Four days, not counting the day I lost, were all that the task required. I myself could hardly believe it. This book, titled Cities of Light, has been a popular favorite among my books.
Often in my life I have proved this simple formula: Though man can do little if anything on his own, God can do anything!
Success cannot come, of course, if one makes this teaching an excuse for drifting lazily down a river, telling himself, “Everything is in God’s hands. Everything will be all right!” Nothing can be accomplished without will power.
The yogi doesn’t deny the reality of time. He simply sees the fleeting events of life in relation to eternity. Obviously, he must “keep his feet on the ground,” addressing life’s events as they occur. To do otherwise would mean being merely a dreamer.
Some people, in the name of “philosophy,” would deny the obvious. Imagine that someone gives you a dish of ice cream. Would you say, “Please leave it out on the table; I’ll enjoy it tomorrow”? If you waited more than a few minutes, your “ice” cream would be a puddle of milk! Too “vedantic” a view of things—like dismissing time airily with the exclamation, “There is no past or future”—might end in one’s dying of starvation!
All of us have both immediate and long-range goals in life. In both of them, time is a consideration. We must decide, for example, when and what to eat. We must follow a sensible routine of life that permits us time daily for rest. If one wants to be married, he’d better find himself a spouse while he is still young and not wait until he is eighty-five. Time intrudes itself on our lives objectively, no matter what our subjective view of it is.
It is a mistake, however, to think that every serious decision demands a great deal of time and thought. As I pointed out earlier, far more important than the time we spend on a project is the energy we give it. Behind that energy, I said also, must be will power; and will power must in its turn be directed consciously. It is above all helpful for consciousness to be directed by inspiration, of which the source is beyond all vibration, in the eternal Now of Spirit.
Focused energy produces results quickly and effectively. Scattered energy might drag a project out indefinitely, producing few, if any, worthwhile results. Energy, moreover—more clearly so than any specific thing or event—has its roots in eternity. The more one focuses on a flow of energy, the less he needs to worry about the obstacles to getting what he wants, or even about the amount of time required in the getting. A flow of energy can cause one’s consciousness of time itself to brush the hem of timelessness.
In 1925, Paramhansa Yogananda saw something he had beheld many times in superconscious visions: Mount Washington Estates, in Los Angeles, which was destined to become the international headquarters of his work.
The issue of pre-vision, albeit fascinating, is not my point here. I am telling this story for another reason: It shows how the Master shortened the time frame he was in, and thereby met his present needs.
The price of the property was $45,000: a princely sum in those days, before the dollar had become inflated many times over by over-printing. Students of the Master objected, “It would take us twenty years to raise that much money!”
“Twenty years,” the Master replied, “for those who think twenty years. Twenty months for those who think twenty months. And three months, for those who think three months.” Three months later, the property was his.
Time cannot be divorced from maya so long as one dwells in the realm of maya. Only in eternity is time nonexistent; otherwise, it is simply a reality. My Guru used to say, “If in your dream at night you strike your head on a brick wall, your dream head will hurt! Only on waking will you realize that both the blow to your head and the pain you felt afterward were imaginary.”
Life’s goals, whether immediate or long range, can be achieved more easily if we view them in relation to eternity. In the Spirit, goals don’t exist. Progress and evolution are delusions. Paramhansa Yogananda said, in response to a question on evolution, “There is no end to it. You go on until you achieve endlessness.” Whatever ambition you have, then, keep always in mind that your real goal is, and has always been, endless bliss. On the other hand, you must acknowledge and work with reality as it is in the present.
The secret of turning the truth of timelessness to best present advantage is to see change, and even evolution itself, as a process of unfolding awareness. Allow no fleeting concern to lead you away from that goal. At the same time, don’t allow theoretical philosophy to blind you to present realities.
Every religion warns against being impatient in the quest for truth. “Haste makes waste” is a popular saying also, probably uttered similarly in every language. It was not haste that my Guru counseled in saying, “Three months, for those who think three months.” Rather, he was urging his followers to step out of their normal time frame. Success of every kind should be sought calmly, in refusal to be ruled by time. Success itself is an unfolding—of awareness above all, not of events.
Success is inevitably followed, in time, by its opposite: failure. If, however, one can succeed in stepping outside the awareness of time, he can create alternate definitions of success, and thus have success of a kind always. He can be just as happy, then, in failure as in success. Moreover, he can actually complete in the shortest possible time whatever he attempts, with less difficulty than he’d normally face. Indeed, if one can remain inwardly unaffected in both success and failure, he will realize that failure itself can be a kind of success—not only spiritually, but materially. For while it is natural to rejoice in success, it is possible also to rejoice in failure. The secret is to remove one’s inner joy from identification with anything outward.
No matter what happens, then, be always even-minded. Success and failure, joy and sorrow: these things are only states of mind. When calmness is not conditioned by anything that happens in time, one finds that the time it takes to accomplish a thing ceases to be a serious consideration: not because he becomes lazy, but because he can accomplish everything much faster. Patience, arising from non-attachment, can be the fastest path to success.
People find it difficult to combine patience with high energy. By living more in the consciousness that time is an illusion, however, they find themselves not bound by the usual restrictions of time.
I’ve often reflected on three lines of Paramhansa Yogananda’s great poem, “Samadhi,” from Autobiography of a Yogi:
“Thoughts of all men, past, present, to come, . . .
I swallowed, transmuted all
Into a vast ocean of blood of my own one being!”
Past, present, and future: These three states arise, wave-like, on the surface of the Eternal Now. Time itself is but a product of vibratory movement, which produces the cosmic dream. Even the sequences of time are not absolute, being only ideas in the consciousness of the Absolute. Nothing that ever was, is, or shall be is a fixed reality; all things are only vibrations of thought and energy, set into motion by the vibrationless consciousness of Spirit. In omniscience alone are all vibrations known.
God’s knowledge is not stored on bookshelves in some cosmic library. His way of knowing is very different from man’s: He knows everything from its center outward. Awareness flows out from the heart of every atom. God already is everything! Divine perception was described by Paramhansa Yogananda as “center everywhere, circumference nowhere.”
Since time is an illusion, it can be understood more easily by calm, clear awareness. Indeed, it is only in calmness that its reality is experienced. If, then, you have an urgent job to do and want guidance and inspiration for the accomplishment, pray for a new perception of the time involved. Include in the request the demand that time not impede you.
Here is an example of what I mean:
Several years ago, Warner Brothers, a well-known publishing house in America, asked me to write a book for them. (They’d already published another of my books, called Secrets of Life.) I suggested a title for this new book: Meditation for Starters. They gave me their approval.
My expectation at the time was that I’d have nearly a year to write it. In this happy confidence, I was disappointed. On a promotion tour for Secrets of Life, my pulse began racing at 160 beats a minute, staying there so long that, finally, I went to a cardiologist. After making a few tests, he informed me that one of my valves needed urgent replacement; otherwise, I might die at any moment. Two weeks later, I entered a hospital and underwent open heart surgery. This was December 18, 1994. After the operation, my three doctors insisted that I must take a whole year off, with complete rest.
Things developed rather differently, however, through no fault of my own. Signs inauspicious to rest began immediately. It was in the early evening that my operation ended. At three o’clock the next morning, the door of my room burst open and some prankster of an orderly charged in with a loud bellow, “Blood! I need blood!” I roused myself from my torpor to tell him in no uncertain terms that this was no way to treat someone who had just undergone major surgery.
That year was among the busiest and most stressful of my life. I survived it, though not altogether blithely. Not only was I forced for that whole year to engage in intense, mandatory work, but also that year was one of severe spiritual testing.
Two weeks before the operation, a summons had been handed me to appear before a court of law. This was an imperative, and could not be canceled or graciously postponed in the interests of my survival. My self-styled enemies would have been glad, indeed, to see me die. Their chief lawyer said to a friend of mine, “You can tell Mr. Walters I’m going to destroy him!” Fortunately (perhaps!) he didn’t succeed.
As for the book I’d agreed to write, I might conceivably have begged off, or at least got Warner to let me postpone writing it. Unfortunately, I’d already spent my advance royalties on purchasing equipment for our sound studio, and was thus committed to finishing the work. I couldn’t afford the chance of a refusal, and therefore wasn’t able to return the money. Toward the end of April I received worse news in the form of a letter from Warner Brothers’ editorial staff, informing me that what they’d decided they really wanted from me was a book titled, Superconsciousness. This posed a serious problem for me. There was no way I could “plaster” this new title onto the book I’d been planning. I would have to write another book altogether.
The subject they proposed was, as I saw it, one that would take prolonged preparation and more-than-usually precise writing. To do justice to it would, I believed, require at least two years. Even a relatively superficial job seemed impossible in less than a year.
I asked them how long they’d give me for this book. They replied, “Two months.” The end of June, in other words. It was now nearly the end of April! Unfortunately, my schedule didn’t even permit me that much time. I’d committed myself, before the operation, to doing a lecture tour during the first two weeks of June. The actual time available to me, then, for writing this book was hardly more than one month.
Other “unfriendly facts” stood in line to greet me that year with cat-calls. I’d been told, even before the surgery, that an urgent job waited at the printer: a new book of mine that was ready for printing. The book’s preface still needed my editing. The morning of surgery I edited the first half. The day after, clearing away clouds of anesthesia from my mind by will power, I forced myself to finish the second half, sinking back gratefully afterward onto my pillow.
Another literary project awaited my attention also, one to which I’d already given a firm commitment. This book was needed by the end of January. Again, I’d already spent the advance royalties on equipment for our sound studio. I therefore had no choice but to give this job my full concentration. I got it off barely before my deadline.
In fact, a continuous series of urgent demands were made of me that year. These included eighty hours of grueling deposition with that extremely hostile lawyer.
Well, I promised Warner I’d do my best. I then turned off my phone, accepted no visitors, didn’t even look at my mail, and told God and Guru firmly, “You’ve got to help me! I simply cannot do this job alone.”
Amazingly, the job did get finished on time! Once again, as I’d done with Cities of Light, I threw open the floodgates of my mind to the inflow of inspiration. Several times the thought came to me, “I’ve bitten off more than I can chew!” Each time, instead of giving up (as I was tempted to do), I simply turned up the volume on my inner flow of inspiration.
The manuscript was sent to New York on the next but last day of June, and reached there, as required, for the end of the month. I can only think of this entire episode as a miracle. Interestingly (in the light of this lesson on timelessness), even if I’d worked from normal inspiration I couldn’t have finished the job when it was due, had I not made time itself part of my request for inspiration.
On several other occasions in my life, one of which I’ve related already in this lesson, I’ve had to include the factor of time in my prayers for inspiration. Strange as it must seem—to me even now, it seems impossible—I’ve never been let down. How was it possible for inspiration to come through repeatedly and so consistently?
The first and absolute necessity, I believe, is not to let the intellect interfere with one’s flow of inspiration. This is true no matter what sort of inspiration you seek. It can be true even in perfectly mundane situations. In matters involving time, however, it becomes doubly true.
The intellect functions rationally only. It is, therefore, irrevocably tied to time. Repeatedly, when I haven’t added time to my request for inspiration, problems have arisen and my mind, in protest, has rebelled, arguing, “I need more time to figure this all out. How can I produce deep insights at short notice?” As often, however, as I’ve answered my own objection by saying, “There just isn’t time to think these things through. It’s Your turn, Lord: Give me the insights I need,” the answers have appeared instantly and with crystal clarity. Later, moreover, the clarity I received has stood up under the test of any logic that I could muster to challenge it.
Indeed, superconscious inspiration has met the tests of logic better than any process of reasoning could have done. The very act of reasoning things out would have shown psychic scars, later. Instead, the intuitions I received were like the facets of a diamond, each one reflecting light brilliantly no matter how I turned it to the light of my own actual experience.
The Lord tested me in other ways that year, as if with the deliberate purpose of keeping me from having twelve months, or even a week, of restful repose. In May, before my determined withdrawal from all society to write that book, I received a letter from Derek Bell, the well-known Celtic harpist from Ireland. Derek was a friend of mine, and wanted to record an album of my music during a visit he had planned to Ananda Village that August. I wrote back saying that I’d never written harp music, was unfamiliar with the demands of the instrument, and had no confidence of being able to meet his expectations. I pointed out in addition how little time there was before his arrival in August. (I made no reference to Warner’s deadline.)
Derek replied, sternly insistent, “You can do it! Don’t be faint-hearted. You must do it!” It was a compliment to me, of course, and a great opportunity. By no means, however, did it further my doctors’ order of complete rest.
Even after finishing the book, moreover, and before Derek’s arrival in August, I’d already committed myself—again, long before the operation—to another two-week lecture tour in July. The time available to me, then, before departing on that tour, and after sending the manuscript to Warner, was three days. August, and Derek Bell’s arrival, loomed over me already like a cloud.
So then, three days for writing all those melodies. Fortunately, I was still in a superconscious flow and was able to tune in on that level to the vibrations of Celtic music. I wrote all but three or four of the pieces (that I’d composed years earlier) in two days. This left me the luxury of a day for packing before I left on my tour. I gave the melodies to a gifted friend of mine, who had studied the technical aspects of orchestration.
When I returned two weeks later, I added words to several of the melodies. And then—Derek arrived. Fortunately, the resulting album, “The Mystic Harp,” was a success. So also was its sequel, “Mystic Harp Two,” which we did two years later. Several “cuts” from both albums have been played on national and international airlines, and in other public places like malls and restaurants.
I could not have accomplished any of these things had I allowed the delusion of time to control me. I simply had to think outside the normal time we all know.
It was a busy year! In fact, I’ve left out much of what was forced on me that year. Happily, I did eventually get to write that book I’d first proposed, Meditation for Starters. This one has been one of my most popular books, selling 11,000 copies in Holland alone in one year.
The day following Derek Bell’s recording sessions, I set off for San Francisco and weeks of grueling legal depositions.
In what some people have described as a testing life, 1995 stands out in my mind as outstandingly difficult. (As a matter of interest, two years later, when that case finally went to trial, it proved to be in several important ways a great blessing for me. God tests us, but the darker the cloud (if we have faith), the more refreshing the rain that accompanies it.)
The point I am making here is simply this: Don’t let considerations of time dissuade you from undertaking any project that seems to you important.
The Application
I have already given a few pointers on how to apply these teaching in what might be called “pragmatic timelessness.” I also wrote earlier about the importance of living as much as possible at one’s center. Time, of course, is not physically substantial. To live at one’s center in time means to be centered not only in the moment, but in the timeless Now which ever hovers behind this moment. People usually define the present in terms of what is happening outwardly. Their concept of time concerns events, whether in quantity or in sequence.
Truly creative work, however, is often accomplished without reference to specific events. It manifests, rather, as a conscious flow. From one’s center in space and time, one can simply know what needs to be done.
So often I’ve heard old people, especially, preface some remark of theirs by saying, “Under such and such circumstances, this is what I always say . . .” or, “What I always tell people is. . . .” Such people are “psychological antiques,” to use a favorite expression of my Guru’s! Everyone, whether young or old, should avoid the tendency to render everything commonplace by referring it to what is usual. Truly creative people see things both in reference to the totality of things, and also as unique. If you want really to succeed in life, never think in terms of what you “always” do. Every moment, both in time and beyond it, is here and now, and is in some way different from every other one. To do good work, address everything as if for the first time. Avoid the well-worn trails that, like old railway trains, take people rumbling down ancient tracks to ever-fixed destinations.
Suppose, for example, you work in an office where people make frequent and urgent demands on your time. Assuming that you are an employee and can’t ignore the demands coming from “up top”—though leadership, far more than most people realize, is by no means a liberating position—the solution is to respond from your inner center. Here is the interesting thing: From your center, you will be able to shift directions quickly and thus be more efficient in everything you do. I do not counsel drifting through life, like a cloud, wrapped in some private dream. People who are never flustered are of two types: the inwardly calm, and those vague “exhibits” who drift along so languidly that they end up complete non-achievers.
My Guru sometimes spoke to us about Durga Mata, one of his women disciples who, though small physically, was intensely energetic. He told of how she and a few of the monks had repainted the main building at Mount Washington headquarters. “The men,” he said, “worked slowly, waving their brushes in gentle, ‘spiritual’ movements as if in a graceful dance. Durga, on the other hand, plied her brush swiftly, as though she were fighting a battle. Single-handed she accomplished more than the others put together. At the end of the day,” he continued, “she was full of energy, whereas the others were exhausted.”
Durga also, at the end of the day, was calm. The reason for her high energy was partly that she was highly advanced spiritually, and was truly centered in herself. Her centeredness was not only physical, but a centeredness in the moment.
Whenever you find yourself “driven to the wall,” as it were, by urgent demands whether by life or by other people, withdraw for an instant into your center within. Then tell yourself, “Countless millions of years have gone by in my own past! Many more may come in my future. I will not be ruled by time-consciousness. No matter how long my journey through maya in both time and space, I can only be right here, right now. I will live, therefore, in full awareness of the present.”
There is a delightful story about Ramana Maharshi, a great saint of modern India. An English lady had come to visit him in his ashram in south India. At their meeting she said, “I’ve come here all the way from London just for this meeting.”
“You haven’t moved at all,” was his reply. “You’ve been stationary. It was the world as you perceive it that moved around you.”
Though you live through many incarnations, and on countless planets, you will remain forever centered in yourself. Wherever you are, and wherever your interests take you, you will always be right here, right now. Why not live wholly at the one spot you can never leave, no matter how earnestly you seek elsewhere: your own Self?
Meditation
Imagine yourself seated at the heart of eternity. On the outskirts of your vision, swirling away into the distance, are the mists of endless cycles of time. Those mists can never touch you. You, on the other hand, can control them, once you are fully, consciously centered in yourself!
From your center of inner calmness, radiate your energy outward in all directions. Behold: you alone are in control of all that happens to you. Visualize yourself as a king or queen, seated on the throne of consciousness. Everything that happens to you is an emanation of your true Self.
Affirmation
“I am in control of my life. 
Time cannot control me, 
for I am timeless forever, 
right here, and right now.”

Points to Remember
1. It is possible to adjust our concept of time to our actual needs.
2. If you want to be creative, concentrate on flowing motion rather than on all the points and problems along the way.
3. Keep in mind the truth that whatever happens is really happening right now, then the idea that time is a requirement for getting everything done is no longer a problem.
4. Though man can do little if anything on his own, God can do anything!
5. Far more important than the time we spend on a project is the energy we give it. Behind that energy must be will power; and will power must in its turn be directed consciously. It is above all helpful for consciousness to be directed by inspiration.
6. Focused energy produces results quickly and effectively. The more one focuses on a flow of energy, the less he needs to worry about the obstacles or the amount of time required to getting what he wants.
7. Whatever ambition you have, keep always in mind that your real goal is, and has always been, endless bliss. On the other hand, you must acknowledge and work with reality as it is in the present.
8. See change, and even evolution itself, as a process of unfolding awareness.
9. Success of every kind should be sought calmly, in refusal to be ruled by time.
10. If one can succeed in stepping outside the awareness of time, and removing one’s inner joy from identification with anything outward, he can be just as happy in failure as in success, and discover that failure itself can be a kind of success—not only spiritually, but materially.
11. No matter what happens, be always even-minded. When calmness is not conditioned by anything that happens in time, you can accomplish everything much faster. Patience, arising from non-attachment, can be the fastest path to success.
12. If you have an urgent job to do and want guidance and inspiration for the accomplishment, pray for a new perception of the time involved. Include in the request the demand that time not impede you.
13. When faced with a challenging project, throw open the floodgates of your mind to the inflow of inspiration. If more difficulties arise, turn up the volume on your inner flow of inspiration.
14. Don’t let the intellect interfere with your flow of inspiration. Instead ask God to give you the insights you need.
15. Don’t let considerations of time dissuade you from undertaking any project that seems to you important.
16. To live at one’s center in time means to be centered not only in the moment, but in the timeless Now which ever hovers behind this moment. From one’s center, one can simply know what needs to be done.
17. If you want really to succeed in life, never think in terms of what you “always” do. To do good work, address everything as if for the first time.
18. Whenever urgent demands press on, withdraw for an instant into your center within. Tell yourself, “I will not be ruled by time-consciousness. I can only be right here, right now. I will live in full awareness of the present.”

Workbook Ideas
by Joseph Bharat Cornell
Live in the Present
John, a devotee of Sri Yogananda, once lost his way in the mountains. It was late spring, and snow still covered the high country. While hiking back to his car, John went down the wrong side of a ridge and into unfamiliar territory, going miles out of his way. When he realized his mistake, there wasn’t enough daylight left to retrace his steps. John didn’t have a coat, so it was imperative that he get to lower elevation and warmer, snow-free ground.
John knew that continuing his present course would eventually bring him to a road—if not that night, then certainly by tomorrow. Realizing that he might have some challenges ahead, John began consciously thinking of God and offering himself into His hands. And knowing that fear and imagination add fuel to worry and often cause unwise decisions, John was determined to remain calm and centered in the presence of God. As he did so, he found his walk becoming more and more joyful, even though the day was nearly done and the outcome uncertain.
Well after sundown John reached a large lake and began walking along its shore. When it was almost dark, he saw in the distance three men fishing. John wanted to ask them where he was but since yelling such a long way would disturb his inner peace, he kept on walking. God, John felt, had taken him this far, and God would surely see him home.
When John came to a small cove, he saw that the fishermen were still on the far bank. He was now able to ask them in a calm, normal voice the name of the lake. “Spaulding,” replied one of the fisherman as his group walked away. John now knew his location. He was ten miles from his car.
Minutes later, as John cautiously made his way in the night, he heard one of the fisherman ask, “Why don’t you know the name of the lake?” Curious about the hiker, the fisherman had waited to find out more. To his direct question, John calmly explained how he had come to the lake by mistake. The man exclaimed, “But your car is ten miles away, and it’s nighttime! We’ll drive you there.”
While driving his own car home that night, John felt a great sense of victory and gratitude to God. Remaining content with his circumstances and not allowing time-consciousness to destroy his serenity was the secret to John’s successful outing. Paramhansa Yogananda said, “Most people live in the past or future. When you can be truly happy in the present, then you have God.”
When faced with a challenging situation at work, don’t allow worry to drive your actions and scatter your energy. Remain calmly in the “here and now.” A way to diffuse fear is to imagine the worst possible scenario, then say with determination, “If it happens, I accept it.” The more you embrace the present, the more energy you’ll have for making the most of any situation.
Work without Tension
Whenever you feel pressure to meet an urgent deadline, use the following checklist to keep you calm and centered. Inner calmness will enable you to get things done much more easily and quickly. You also will be much more pleasant to be around!
Practice these principles all the time, and then when you face intense challenges, you’ll know how to respond.
Action Items
1.	Breathe deeply and center your energy in the spine.
2.	Feel that God, not you, is the doer. Pray for His guidance.
3.	Decide what needs to be done. Act from inner clarity; don’t merely react to outer circumstances.
4.	Stay centered in the moment. Ignore every thought that doesn’t contribute to your goal.
5.	Keep your energy focused. It is the secret to getting things done rapidly.
6.	Do one thing at a time, even if you are overwhelmed by a multitude of projects. Doing one task with deep attention calms you.
7.	If fears about the project plague you, imagine the worst that could happen, and then accept it. Worries, then, will cease to trouble you.
8.	Keep your perspective. Ask yourself, “Three months from now, will I still feel worried about this?”
9.	Pray that time not impede you. Consciously try to enter into the flow of God’s presence in your life. In His consciousness, time doesn’t exist.
10.	Give everything to God.

Whenever urgent demands press on you, withdraw for an instant into your center within. Tell yourself, “I won’t be ruled by time-consciousness. I can only be right here, right now.”