Peace Runs through Me Like Rays

Peace Runs through Me Like Rays
One day I entered a motion picture house to view a newsreel of the European battlefields. World War I was still being waged in the West; the newsreel recorded the carnage with such realism that I left the theater with a troubled heart.
“Lord,” I prayed, “why dost Thou permit such suffering?” 
-Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda

Mark Twain once said that “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” With war raging in Europe and our world seemingly on the brink of a third world war, many of us are praying in the same fervent rhythm as Yogananda:

“Lord, why do you permit such suffering?” 

In answer to his prayer about World War I, Yogananda received the following vision and words from the Divine Light:

“Look intently!” A gentle voice spoke to my inner consciousness. “You will see that these scenes now being enacted in France are nothing but a play of chiaroscuro. They are the cosmic motion picture, as real and as unreal as the theater newsreel you have just seen a play within a play.”
My heart was still not comforted. The divine voice went on: “Creation is light and shadow both, else no picture is possible. The good and evil of maya must ever alternate in supremacy. If joy were ceaseless here in this world, would man ever seek another? Without suffering he scarcely cares to recall that he has forsaken his eternal home. Pain is a prod to remembrance. The way of escape is through wisdom! The tragedy of death is unreal; those who shudder at it are like an ignorant actor who dies of fright on the stage when nothing more is fired at him than a blank cartridge. My sons are the children of light; they will not sleep forever in delusion.”
-Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda

Naturally, we wonder, “How do we awake from this nightmare and delusion?” Swami Kriyananda once said, “Meditation is the missing ingredient in most religious practices. Indeed, only when there is inner peace is it possible for peace to be manifested outwardly; only when there is harmony within is it possible for us to have it outwardly, with others.”

When we meditate, we begin to find “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” as the Bible says. Then we can share this most precious gift with the world. 

During this holy season, don’t forget to meditate on peace. You can try Yogananda’s prayer poem “Peace” from Metaphysical Meditations (below).

May “the wine of peace run perpetually through the winepress of all hearts.”

Peace & Blessings,

Nayaswami Narayan for Crystal Clarity Publishers



Peace by Paramhansa Yogananda

Peace flows through my heart, and blows through me as a zephyr. 

Peace fills me like a fragrance. Peace runs through me like rays. 

Peace stabs the heart of noise and worries. 

Peace burns through my disquietude.

Peace, like a globe of fire, expands and fills my omnipresence. 

Peace, like an ocean, rolls on in all space. Peace, like red blood, vitalizes the veins of my thoughts. 

Peace, like a boundless aureole, encircles my body of infinity. 

Peace flames blow through the pores of my flesh, and through all space. 

The perfume of peace flows over the gardens of blossoms. 

The wine of peace runs perpetually through the winepress of all hearts. 

Peace is the breath of stones, stars, and sages. 

Peace is the ambrosial wine of Spirit flowing from the cask of silence, 

Which I quaff with my countless mouths of atoms.

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Yoga, Yogi!
Greater than the GOAT

2 comments

Fiona Clarence

Fiona Clarence

thank you for this today I really needed it. Living in Scotland the postage of this book is over $50 will you be sending copies to us in Europe soon? Wishing you all joy this Christmas.
Be well and be safe Fiona

Mac Lewman

Mac Lewman

Yoganandaji – I miss him being in the world along with Swamiji but glad they were both here for a while. Aum – Peace – Amen

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