Everything in the future will improve if you make a spiritual effort now

The spiritual journey pays long term dividends in one’s life because it removes the very root cause of our separation from one another and life as a whole. As the delusion of separation is severed, we become both inwardly and outwardly happy, content and able to be of greater service to ourselves and life. 

Each year, the Self-realization fellowship holds a week-long convocation of spiritual immersion for those looking to further their personal and spiritual growth. It’s a beautiful gathering of almost 3K divine souls walking this spiritual path like myself and over 40K attended online. This year, I had the good fortune to be able to attend convocation in-person and here’s some highlights.  

I helped host a session on the Value of Friendship on the spiritual path. How friendship is the grandest of all love in life because it is given free of obligation. And, how it is essential on the spiritual path. For we are but fragments of life, individual manifestations of the one divine source, ultimately guiding each other home on this life journey.   

The talk on Art of Joyful Living highlighted the boundless reservoir of joy that lives beneath our consciousness and how the act of meditation helps us move from ego consciousness to soul consciousness for this very realization. 

One of the pilgrimages I attended was to Lake Shrine Temple in Palisade California. A little slice of heaven on Earth you must visit if you're ever in Los Angeles. Fire destroyed most of the homes around this area in the Palisades fire of January 2025 but through many miracles, the temple survived. There are shrines dedicated to each of the major religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism) to further human unity and the temple grounds are filled with love and peace you are sure to feel.  

The session on Eternal Youth highlighted how we can work with mental and physical laws to maintain an ever youthful life both in the mind and body. There are 4 mental laws and 6 physical laws that help us nurture and cultivate the quality of eternal youth. I highly recommend watching this video if you’re like me and would like to live youthfully into your later years. 

The session on Inner security through Divine Connection highlighted that life is a school filled with tests and trials. Yogananda himself navigated the dark times of WWI, a pandemic, the 1929 stock market crash and WWII all while nurturing and spreading his connection with the divine. If we realize our oneness as humanity, we too can navigate difficulty with grace. 

My last pilgrimage was to the beautiful Hollywood Temple in Los Angeles and meditating at the crypt of Paramahansa Yogananda in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. This was a moment of deep attunement with the Guru and a very moving experience to say the least. 

Becoming an instrument of divine love is everything our soul is looking for. It allows us to give without condition. It does not find fault in others because criticism creates separation and does not heal. The mind can manifest both falsehoods and truth but the soul only knows truth. Instead it chooses to see each person as divine even when the divinity may be hidden. 

It asks instead - Who can I bless today? 

Everytime I attend a convocation, I walk away filled with love and with deep gratitude for the good fortune to walk this spiritual path with so many other divine souls. I hope you’ll enjoy the sessions as much as I did and consider this an invitation to follow your own spiritual growth journey. 

May your week ahead be filled with divine love and joy!

- Nitin