Secrets of Life
by J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)
(Inspired by his book: Secrets of Life)

My purpose in writing this book was to help the reader become a co-author with me. It wasn’t written with the thought of shuffling my experiences and thoughts, or merely of presenting other people’s quotations. It’s written in such a way as to give you something to meditate on, something to make your own. I haven’t explained the seed thoughts at length because the book asks you to explain each one to yourself by living it, pondering it, looking back over your own experiences.

I’ll give you a few examples from the book: “Be solution-oriented, not problem-oriented. Have faith that for every problem there is an inherent solution awaiting discovery.” When we are solution-oriented, we automatically draw answers to our problems. If we are problem-oriented, we don’t see a solution even if it stares us in the face. This is something that I learned particularly when I was in Italy. People would come to me asking for advice, and I would give them what seemed like a good solution to their problems. Almost invariably their reply would be, “Ma e difficile,” that is, “ But, it’s difficult.” If you’re solution-oriented, you don’t think that way.

The conscious mind is problem-oriented because it analyzes. Once you analyze, you separate this from that, one reality from another. The superconscious mind, which all of us have, is solution-oriented. If you can raise your consciousness toward that level, you will find that in the expectation of an answer, very often you will know exactly what you should do. Sometimes people have come to me for advice, and I was stumped. I didn’t have an answer, so I’d say, “Well, I don’t know.” In the very act of saying, “I don’t know,” I did know. Instead of striving for the answer, I relaxed, and suddenly in that relaxation I was in tune with the higher part of my mind that draws solutions.

You will see that if you go in a direction of expecting solutions, rather than thinking, “But, it’s difficult,” you will be amazed at how very quickly you draw what you need. You’ve got to put energy out. You can’t be passive. You can’t get answers if you’re a couch potato. If you really put out the energy, expect an answer, and know it’s going to be there, you will be amazed how in that very moment you have the answer. This is because on a certain level of your consciousness, the answer exists already. All you have to do is open yourself to it, draw on it, and it will be there.

Drawing Inspiration at Will

Yogananda was once asked, “Is it possible for inspiration to be under the control of a person’s will?” Often artists, composers, and creative people of all kinds hit dry periods that may go on for years when they aren’t able to get any inspiration. Yogananda answered, “Yes, it is. Take down this poem.” He was getting ready to give a lecture at that time, but he stopped, thought for a moment, and dictated a poem. Sometime later this poem was printed in one of his books, Whispers from Eternity. A book reviewer, in praising the book, said, “There’s one poem that I can’t resist quoting,” and this was the very poem that he quoted. I don’t remember it all, but it began something like, “Father, when I blind I found not a door that leads to Thee. Now Thou hast opened my eyes, and I see doors everywhere: In the hearts of flowers, in the beauty of a sunset . . .”

So it is possible for one to draw on inspiration at will. I found that these simple techniques really work. Put the mind at the point between the eyebrows, which is the seat of superconsciousness. Whenever you feel inspired, you look upward. You’ll never see somebody looking downward saying, “I feel so inspired.” Neither do you see people looking up and saying, “I’m miserable.” There’s an automatic human correlation between the direction of our energy and our level of consciousness. If we can raise that energy and put it at the point between the eyebrows, then we find automatically that we begin to place ourselves in attunement with the divine. First we should uplift our energy, then say, “I know the answer is there. I demand that it come.” You’ll find to your astonishment, if you’re not dealing from an egoic level, but from the greater self, how often those answers come.

Work with Life’s Rhythms

Another thought from this book that I‘d like to read to you is, “Work with, not against, life’s changing rhythms.” Sometimes failure itself is only a doorway to new definitions of success. This is something that I’ve learned on the anvil of hard knocks. I’ve seen that when I’ve tried my best in a situation, and even though it looked like failure was imminent and nothing I could do would change it, if I accepted it with calmness, I found it gave me a whole new way of looking at things.

There’s a beautiful story that I read years ago about a man who was remarkable to others for his great serenity and peace of mind. A young man became his student, and asked him one day, “What is the secret of your calmness?” The older man replied, “Come with me, and I’ll show you.” He opened a little drawer in his desk, took out a fragile shell and said, “This is my secret.”

The young man looked at him in puzzlement, and then the older man explained, “Many years ago I was a very wealthy person, but in the stock market crash of 1929, I lost everything overnight. I decided I would commit suicide, so I sent my family away, and went to our little cabin by the beach on Long Island. I wrote them a farewell note, and then set out to walk into the ocean to just let the waves take me and drown. I tried to walk out into the ocean, but the waves kept throwing me back so hard against the beach that I couldn’t even stand. Each time I’d get up and try again but to no avail. Finally I tried with all my strength but was thrown down.

“As I lay on the wet sand, I looked down and right in front of me there was this fragile shell. It amazed me that although the waves were so powerful that I couldn’t stand up in them, this shell had not even been cracked. I realized its secret was that it went wherever the waves took it without any resistance. That moment on the beach was the turning point in my life, because from then on I tried to adapt to whatever circumstances existed in my life, to wherever God placed me. Although I never become a millionaire again, I really didn’t mind because I found peace of mind.”

In the world today I think we’re on the brink of great economic troubles, and I’d like you to remember these words: What seems like disaster may be a golden opportunity for your own growth as a human being. Many times failure can merely show you a new path to success.

During one of the interviews during this book tour, somebody asked me, “Have you ever been afraid?” I said, “No.” As I thought about it later, I realized I hadn’t answered as truthfully as I might have because I had forgotten those times long ago when I was afraid. I’m not afraid anymore for the simple reason that I let life be what it wants to be. If things happen that threaten my body, so be it. We all have to go sometime, and in a way all of life is a preparation for that final event. I would like to pass it with flying colors, to go without regret, to go without fear, without pain, without wishing things had been different, without wishing people had treated me differently. Every night before you go to sleep, think that you might not be here tomorrow morning. Give it all back to God. It doesn’t belong to you anyway. The more you can live free in yourself and let the world be what it wants to be, the more you will find that you have serenity in your life. God bless you.