What is Spirit?

The Bhagavad Gita (BG) is the book that Hindu spiritual masters consider the supreme source of scripture. It’s name means “Song of the Spirit”. It was written 2500 to 3000 years ago by enlightened masters. Many consider that Christ learned from the students of these same masters.Yogananda*, a modern-day fully enlightened man, wrote a commentary on the BG. He says “the liberated yogi (practitioner of meditation) is conscious of the Spirit not only as Cosmic Bliss but also as the Cosmic Light that is the true structure of all beings. Beholding everything as Cosmic Light, the yogi sees his Spirit-united omnipresent Self and all beings as emanations of that Light.”(We’ve got to put some trust in Yogananda, right? After all he was enlightened.)If that’s the way we perceive Spirit when we are in the most elevated state of consciousness, what is Spirit when we are doing errands? At those times, we likely don’t FEEL it, we just NAME it God, Source, the Creator, or All That Is…and feel somewhat separate from it.How does it feel to experience Spirit? Although it is described as blissful, it is actually beyond words—but certainly nothing to be afraid of.An American woman who became enlightened refers to a passage in the BG to describe it: “The Lord reveals his cosmic form: universes upon universes, inconceivably vast, created and sustained by the infinite omnipotence of Spirit which is simultaneously aware of the tiniest particle of subatomic matter and the cosmic movement of the galactic immensities—of every thought, feeling, and action of every being on the material and heavenly planes of existence.”Thus, when we become truly aware of Spirit we experience the infinite power and infinite joy-filled wisdom that is who we truly are beyond the parade of our egos, personal likes and dislikes. Deep within we are one with that Source and that Source. It is beyond definition in words…but it is immutable, indestructible, infinite and everlasting.Good news: When one communes with it, one has the satisfaction of having achieved the ultimate goal in life.

* Paramahansa Yogananda was born in India and settled in the USA in 1920. He spoke of the universality of Christianity, Hinduism and all religions, i.e. they all spring from the same source that is man’s innate desire to be One with Spirit. All of the greatest religious leaders have had experiences of this union with Spirit. Yogananda himself taught several types of meditations that provided a sure path to communion with Spirit. They are effective and available to people of all faiths through the organization he founded in 1925, the Self Realization Fellowship.