Special Thought for December

The real celebration of Christmas is the realization within ourselves of Christ Consciousness. It is of utmost importance to every man, whatever his religion, that he experience within himself this "birth" of the universal Christ.

The universe is the body of Christ: everywhere present within it, without limitation, is the Christ Consciousness. When you can close your eyes and by meditation expand your awareness until you feel the whole universe as your own body, Christ will have been born within you. You will know that your mind is a little wave of that ocean of Cosmic Consciousness in which Christ dwells.

Then spend December 25th as the social Christmas, observing the festivities of the sacred season with relatives and friends.

Self-Realization Fellowship has started the idea of devoting one day at Christmastime entirely to meditative worship of Christ, and that idea shall never die. Just as we at the Los Angeles headquarters celebrate the birthday of Jesus spiritually by an all-day meditation on December 23rd, let the 23rd be used by all devotees of Christ for the spiritual Christmas; pass the entire day in ever-increasingly deep meditation.

One of the most encouraging signs of a spiritual rebirth in the world today is the increased willingness of Christians to observe the birth of Jesus by these long meditation meetings. This spiritual custom of Christmas meditation will in time be adopted by all Christians--I predict it.

--Paramahansa Yogananda, "Self-Realization Magazine"