Over the last few years my family has been facing challenges that, at times, seem insurmountable. We have endured, each of us drawing strength from the other.

Although the challenges continue, we often speak of the goodness that surrounds us. We find joy in each other. We are softened, held, and buoyed by the loving prayers and thoughts from the Siddha Yoga sangham.

For me, each day in meditation I rest in the pure truth of my own heart. There, I am aware of how close Gurumayi is. The quiet, full joy this brings sustains me, opening my awareness through the day to moment after moment of beauty, clarity and gratitude.

Hampton, Australia

I have been engaged in a legal struggle in which my earnest efforts to reach a fair and dharmic resolution have repeatedly been challenged. Although this process has taken a toll on me, my instinct has been to persevere and have faith. In recent days my yearning has intensified into a prayer to become free of this burden. The response was a clear inner communication to have forgiveness and compassion for the other person—which I made my best effort to do.

After participating in the Audio Satsang in Celebration of Baba Muktananda’s Birthday, something palpably shifted within me. The terrible weight of the recent weeks lifted, and I felt myself being liberated from the prison of my own thoughts, emotions, and reactions to my circumstances.

Then yesterday, I opened the website to this remarkable teaching from Baba and Ganesh’s wonderful elucidation. It could not have been a clearer affirmation—both of my efforts to endure the adversity and of the grace that removes my limitations to reveal my natural and organic experience of joy.

California, United States

This guidance from Baba that one should learn to endure adversity in order to keep joy close is very compelling for me.

I find that I am averse to adversity! When adversity comes up in my relationship with a loved one, I try to talk us out of it and explain why and how to achieve harmony as soon as possible. Enduring the adversity and detaching from the intensity of the moment has never occurred to me as an option.

The word “gurusmaran” is new to me, and its meaning reminds me of the practice of noticing the pause between the breaths. I know from experience that practicing the Hamsa mantra during moments of adversity is calming for me. The awareness that this conscious pause enables the joyfulness of the Guru to arise makes perfect sense to me now.

After reading and contemplating Baba’s teaching, I am aware that the story I tell myself about having an aversion to adversity now holds less truth. 

Georgia, United States

Today, as I stood on the walkway beside the strongest waterfall at Iguazu Falls, Baba’s words came alive for me in the movement of the water.

Before the waterfall, the water moved with quiet steadiness. Then, all at once, it plunged with tremendous force—turbulence, sound, and mist. A little farther on, that same water began to settle and continue downstream.

As I watched, I thought of how adversity had felt at certain moments in my life: powerful, overwhelming, and beyond my control. Yet the turbulence is only one part of the river. If I can remain present, remember the Guru, and turn inward, I may begin to sense the steady current of grace holding me beneath the turbulence.

I feel grateful for the awareness Baba’s teaching brings me—the reminder that even in moments of turbulence, I can turn inward and reconnect with the quiet current of joy.

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

I am very grateful to Baba for his teaching and for his boundless compassion towards his disciples.

In times when I cannot avoid experiencing the pain of worldly life, I hold fast to my Guru’s feet by focusing on my breath. The So’ham mantra brings me to my true Self, which always observes without judgment and is always full of peace and love. This practice makes me strong, independent, and resilient.

Konolfingen, Switzerland

I spent much time over the weekend reading Baba Muktananda’s spiritual autobiography, Play of Consciousness. I was especially drawn to the chapters where Baba describes facing challenges, and I have been contemplating how Baba endured his inner process and what it may have been like for him. Then I opened the Siddha Yoga path website and found this teaching.

I am encouraged to be with whatever is happening within me, relying on my inner Self through meditation, good habits, and being present to my heart.

Warrnambool, Australia