Without prescribed spaces like containers or buildings the words "empty" and "full" have no meaning. Can you imagine nothing?

I can not imagine nothing because I have not experienced no thing.

Just like a brand new color that has not yet been invented. We cannot see what we have not been shown. We cannot create. We can only mimic, I think.

Even in Meditation, something is going across our mental screen. I think. We may not be paying much attention, but something is always working in the mind.

I think.

When I can turn off the "think" part, then I can float in unconscious no thing. I think.








The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. If, then, you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn’t belong to the soul.  The devotee who makes the supreme effort is the one who finds God. Not the one who keeps seeking excuses, saying, “Let me find a quiet place; then I’ll meditate.” Procrastinators will never reach God. But if you tell yourself, “Right now I will go deep in meditation!” you can be there in an instant.

When a person is really sleepy, can’t he fall asleep anywhere? So is it with the person who loves God. He can meditate even in a train station or in the market place.

One who wants to be a concert pianist will practice at the piano twelve hours a day. If, instead, his practice consists of pecking halfheartedly at the keys for a few minutes every day, he’ll never become any good as a pianist.   That’s how it is with the search for God. How can you expect to know Him if you only half try?

It is very difficult to reach God. If even a concert pianist must work hard to become successful in his profession, how much more earnestly must the devotee “work” at meditation in order to realize the Infinite!

Here, however, is an encouraging thought: Everyone who makes a sincere effort on the spiritual path will surely reach his goal. You cannot say that of worldly ambition. Not everyone can become a famous pianist, no matter how hard he tries. For in every field there is room at the top for very few. All men, however, can claim their sonship equally with the Heavenly Father.

To meditate a short time with depth is better than to meditate for long hours with the mind running wild.  In the beginning, therefore, don’t force yourself to sit for a long time. Strive for shorter, but deeper, meditations. Then gradually, as you become accustomed to going deep, lengthen the time you sit in meditation.

Don’t feel badly if you find yourself too restless to meditate deeply. Calmness will come in time, if you practice regularly. Just never accept the thought that meditation is not for you. Remember, calmness is your eternal, true nature.   In meditation, try to go beyond thinking. As long as thoughts enter the mind, you are functioning on the conscious level.   When dreaming, you are in subconsciousness; then you are more aware in the astral body.    When your consciousness withdraws still more deeply, into superconsciousness, then you are centered in bliss, in the spine. In that bliss-state you are aware in the causal body, the soul.

A devotee was having difficulty remaining awake during meditation. To him, Yogananda made this suggestion: Squeeze your eyes shut several times, then open them wide and stare straight ahead. Repeat this practice once or twice more. If you do this, sleepiness will cease to bother you.  While meditating, don’t concentrate on the results of meditation. Meditate, rather, to please God. If you seek results, you will be disappointed if they don’t come.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna counsels action without desire for the fruits of action. Meditation, too, should be approached in this spirit.   Meditate without attachment to the fruits of meditation.  A disciple was digging a cesspool at the Master’s desert retreat. He kept on digging all day long, without stopping to see how far he had come. That evening, to his amazement, he found that he had dug a deep hole.

When Paramhansa Yogananda saw what he had accomplished, he said approvingly, “That is how the devotee must seek God-continually digging, digging, without looking to see how far he has come. Then one day, suddenly, he will find himself there!

“As Lahiri Mahasaya used to tell his disciples, ‘Banat, banat, ban jai!-doing, doing, at last done!’”  “Where motion ceases,” the Master said, “God begins.”   A disciple was having difficulty with his meditations. He asked Sri Yogananda, “Am I not trying hard enough?”  The Master answered, “You are trying too hard. You are using too much will power. It becomes nervous. Just be relaxed and natural.  
As long as you try to meditate, you won’t be able to, just as you can’t sleep so long as you will yourself to sleep. Will power should be used gradually. Otherwise, it may become detrimental. That’s why it is better, in the beginning, to emphasize relaxation.” 

Do not get excited or impatient in your efforts to find God. Be wholehearted, but not anxious about getting results. Be patient. Move toward your divine goal ever calmly, with tranquillity.

Meditate more and more deeply, until calmness and joy become second nature to you.

To be ecstatic is not difficult. It is thinking that it is difficult that holds you apart from it. Never think of divine joy as distant from you, and it will be with you always.

Paramhansa Yogananda told the monks, “Memorize my poem, Samadhi, and repeat it daily. It will help to awaken within you that lost memory of what you are in reality: sons of Infinity.”

Try to feel, when walking out of doors, that everything around you is part of your own expanded awareness.

Behold the leaves trembling on the trees, and try to feel their movement. Imagine in that movement that God is expressing His thoughts and inspirations.

Watch the meadow grasses as they wave in the wind. Imagine the breeze as God’s breath blowing over the world, inspiring all beings and giving them life.

Listen to the birds singing. Feel that God, through their songs, is trying to reach you with feelings of divine gladness.

Be aware of the sun’s rays on your skin. Think of the heat you feel from the sun as God’s energy. Let it fill your body with vitality and power. Imagine divine energy, through the sunlight, strengthening creatures everywhere on earth.

“Master,” said a disciple, “I am afraid to go breathless in meditation. What can I do to overcome this limitation?”

“What you are facing is a normal obstacle on the path,” replied Yogananda. “’False notion,’ it is called. You are fearing something that, to the soul, is perfectly natural: deep stillness within.

Your mind is like a bird that has been locked in a cage for many years. It fears liberty. Yet, freedom is its birthright.

Someone opens the door to let the bird out. It may hop outside a short distance, but then suddenly it thinks, ‘Oh, this vast world!’ Terrified, it hops hurriedly back into its cage again.

Gradually, then, by repeated sorties, the bird becomes accustomed to being outside its cage. Then at last, one day, it spreads its wings and soars up into the sky, free at last! And why is it free? Quite simply, because it has finally accepted freedom as its natural state.

So it is with the devotee when he first experiences soul-freedom. But remember, as it is natural for the bird to fly up into the sky, so is it natural for the soul to soar in omnipresence.

Just behind the darkness of closed eyes shines the light of God. When you behold that light in meditation, hold onto it with devotional zeal. Feel yourself inside it: That is where God dwells.

If, on the other hand, you behold no light in meditation, then concentrate at the point between the eyebrows, and gaze deeply into the darkness that you see with closed eyes. Try, by your devotion, to penetrate that thick veil.

In time you will surely behold the inner light, for it is ever there, shining in your forehead. Just as all human beings have eyes, so does everyone have this spiritual eye within his forehead. It awaits only his discovery in deep concentration within.

A bent spine is the enemy of realization. In meditation, always hold your spine straight, that the life force may flow through it unobstructed.

Next, hold your attention fixed at the Christ center between the eyebrows. The more deeply you concentrate at that point, the more you will find your ego dissolving in superconsciousness.

As a boy, I used to practice Hong-Sau sometimes for seven hours at a time, until I entered the breathless state of ecstasy.

If you eat your dinner and then run, you won’t be able to enjoy what you’ve eaten; you may only get indigestion. But if you rest afterwards, you will find that this is the best time to enjoy the effects of your meal.

Follow the same practice after finishing Kriya Yoga. Don’t jump up immediately, but sit still for a long time-as long as you can do so comfortably. Pray to God deeply. Practice Bhakti Yoga, or devotion. Or watch the flow of breath in the spine while practicing Hong-Sau. Or listen to the inner sounds with open ears.

A disciple asked, “How can intuition be developed?“

Yogananda: ”The best way is, every time you meditate, to sit calmly for a long time after doing the techniques. It is during this period that you will be able to deepen your awareness of God’s presence within you. Go ever deeper in your enjoyment of that presence.

“The longer and more deeply you enjoy the peace within, the more quickly will your intuition develop.”









This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at February 27, 2018 7:30 AM MST

The concept of nothing has always boggled the minds of people.  What is "nothing"?  The dictionary defines "nothing" as: not a thing; no thing.    OK then, what's a"thing"?  Again the dictionary defines "thing" as: an object or entity not precisely designated or capable of being designated.  That seems rather straightforward - where there isn't "some thing" there is no thing, or, "nothing".  Given that explanation, we could say that if we're looking at an object and our field of vision isn't blocked, then there is "nothing" between us and the object being viewed (along the exact line of sight).  This has been the understanding of people since the beginning of time.  The "ancients" looked up at the night sky and saw points of light  in a vast emptiness - nothing.  Even in the bible, the man Job states, "God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing." (Job 26:7)  

Over the years, we have learned a few things.  We now know that if we're looking at an object and our field of vision isn't blocked, then there IS "something" between us and the object being viewed (along the exact line of sight) - gas (hydrogen, helium (water), nitrogen, etc.)  However, since we can see through them (transparent), we've just assumed they weren't there.  The same with the night sky.  What we once thought was a vast empty void with numerous points of light, we now know is filled with numerous objects  (meteors, comets, planets and galaxies), it's just our proximity to them that makes them "invisible".  Then it goes the other direction.  We are also surrounded by "things" that are so small that even though we are right next to them, our eyes can't detect them (molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, leptons, quarks).  Nothing just got a lot more crowded.  As of now, we still see "nothing" between these small "things" and we classify it as "nothing".  Yet who's to say there isn't actually something there?  Just because we cant see something doesn't negate its existence. 

One might say that this entire universe is a "container".  It 'contains' all that's inside it (quarks to galaxies). It's also possible that this universe is also "contained" inside a larger "container" which is filled with other universes (multiverses?).  It's also possible that this universe is all that there is and that outside of it - isn't.  Or, perhaps there is what many don't want to admit - God.  "By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen" (Hebrews 11:3)

Short answer to the question only. I asked it both here and at AB. I am jealous, though, as you got better answers.

I am not religious but Sharonna's opening paragraphs make very a good point about our inability to experience a literal "nothing".

The question of what lies beyond the observable Universe is unanswerable, even by professional astronomers. If the "Big Bang" model is right - it is a theory but so far best fits the evidence - then no matter how sensitive our optical and radio telescopes, there is a horizon nearly fifteen thousand million light-years away, beyond which all is invisible because the radiation from beyond has yet to reach us.  

We cannot even say "where" our homely Milky Way Galaxy and its near-neighbours are, in the Universe; only where we are relative to other galaxies. Nor where the Universe might conceivably have anything that be can called a "centre".

We cannot though say, there is "nothing" in deep space between the clusters of galaxies; even if the "something" is primarily electromagnetic radiation (radio, heat, light and X-rays).



As I say, I am not religious but I wonder if humanity's innate desire to have a spiritual "Something" stems partly from an innate fear of an equally-intangible "nothing"-ness. This thread has given me an insight into my own belief I have held for a long time, regarding the nature of religion in general - not a belief in the god we call capital-G "God" necessarily, but in that belief's principle and reason.

Usually that desire for a Something is expressed in religious terms. All known religions that have come and gone, and those unknown but suggested by archaeological evidence, have two easily-seen, broad themes.

The first is that all in Nature is being driven by one or another supernatural force - a deity or deities, apparently for its/their own gratification of purpose in own existence. This can provide the something - humanist beliefs would accept a Something without a deity.

The other theme is lessening the fear of death and comforting the bereaved. I've thought that for a long time, but not twigged until seeing this thread that perhaps the fear of being dead (beyond the more obvious fear of the manner of dying) is really that fear of utter emptiness, utter "nothing". A "nothing" psychologically beyond the apparent nothingness between objects in deep Space - and the sheer physical scale and age of Space is beyond natural human comprehension even to astronomers who have no difficulties with calculating and accepting it.


Perhaps it's easier to accept that Space is very big and very old. We have only to look at the night sky on a cold, clear, moonless night, and without optical aids, and consider the thousands of stars we can see by naked eye are relatively close but still at distances measured in light-years away and apart. Huge yes, but we can see also the gaps between the stars and grasp that they are as real as the stars.

Accepting a personal future "nothing" is so much harder, perhaps because unlike the visible Universe, it is alarming and unknown (beyond knowing what biology will do); hence the desire for a spiritual "something" of the sort Sharonna describes. A "something" uniquely personal in its form, but still there in mind.