Unto each and every one of you, I give you my greetings and my blessings on the auspicious occasion of this festival.

What is the greatest and most momentous statement I can make on this occasion? It is what my own preceptor and guru, Paramahamsa Yogandanda made unto me: Meditate, meditate meditate!

And what will happen if you do not meditate? Each and every one of you, even unto the least of you, will reach God consciousness.

For this is the purpose of God's cosmic dream in which you live in and have your being.

Why then meditate? Because if you do not, you will reach God consciousness and several million years of Earth time will have passed. You will reach God consciousness through the technique of karma yoga.

But if you do meditate, this time can be foreshortened, into the space of a single lifetime.

What is the highest form of meditation? Meditating upon God, the Great Spirit, only God. For is not God consciousness the purpose of existence?

You say unto me: "How can I meditate upon God when I do not know what God truly is, or even if God is?" I say unto each and every one of you here, that God consciousness is quickened within you. If this were not so, you would not be here. You would be following the path of Karma Yoga.

You would be polishing your car, swimming, making more money, making love - or a thousand other kindred things of Karma Yoga. But you are here and the awareness of God consciousness in you, is great enough to separate you from the path of Karma Yoga.

Yogananda always said: "Seek you God consciousness first. For which would you rather have the gifts of the giver or the giver of all gifts?"

How can you know more about God? How can you know more about math? How can you know more about chemistry? How can you know more about your motorcycle? By focusing your awareness upon the subject. This is how you learn to crawl, to walk, to talk, to read. You grow and expand with what you are aware of.

So be careful what you are aware of when you meditate. If you are aware in your meditations that it is an effort, that it is a task, you are creating tasks of much effort for yourself. If you are aware of peace and enjoyment in your meditations, you are creating peace and enjoyment for yourself. And if you are meditating upon God, you are creating bliss for yourself and so much more. But it is the bliss which gives meaning unto all else.

Meditation is a self-discipline of controlled awareness - by the awareness of yourself alone. If it is controlled by any other thing or any other modality, your awareness is controlled by it. Not you. Only you alone can give unto yourself God consciousness.No one else, no thing.

God consciousness is a very, very personal thing. Your guru can show you the path, the techniques unto God consciousness. And he can help you with the pitfalls along the path. But he cannot give unto you, that alone which you must give unto yourself. For who is there who can be more aware that you are you, than you? In this you excel above all others. In this you are the ultimate powerholder. Before this citadel of Self, all else must bow.

And thusly do I give unto you your own loving and personal guru, Kriyananda, my beloved chela who is more than worthy and completely capable of teaching you what you need to know. And if he is your guru, you need to know what he has to teach - else you would have chosen another. And through the techniques of meditation which he has to teach you, you, too, may reach the ever-new, ever-more-glorious, ever-changing bliss of God consciousness in this single lifetime.