The ⍺ and The Ω
Feb 28, 2022by Ryan Panaro
For many years, I have pondered and wondered 
about the connection between intention, prayer, and destiny. First of all I never quite understood what to pray about, let alone how to do it. There was certainly always something I wanted and I would definitely set my intention for it. But as a youth I didn’t really understand God at all so I didn’t think about Him during that process. Though, even then, it didn’t seem quite right to pray for selfish desires.
As life went on, it almost always turned out that I received the scenarios I had ardently wanted. They were usually youthful desires for a certain girlfriend or a certain prestige. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed to be relatively easy to please so my list of desires was usually short. At more than one point in my life I experienced purely present moments where I paused and, considering my current situation in life at the time, I could honestly say I had achieved everything I’d ever wanted! Now perhaps this was only naïve short-sightedness or lack of proper ambition, but at the time it always felt like the epitome of happiness. I thought I had no more desires left! 😆
Now I understand that it was always only conditional happiness. I was completely content with my life because I had received what I previously wanted. It was not true santosha (inner contentment). And in the great lila (divine “play”) of Divine Mother, either those around me didn’t share my contentment or life otherwise flowed on and my dream situation eventually ended each time. I’m sure now that this always happens in order to encourage us to continue to grow toward unconditional Joy and to learn nonattachment to specific outcomes.
As I became increasingly spiritually-inclined, I reflected more about how the various dream scenarios were attained and I began to wonder about my first visualizations of them:
Was I proactively creating them myself and achieving them with the power of dynamic volition?
Or was I intuitively perceiving my future destiny as planned by God?
One innocuous example stands out in my memory because it was the first time in this life that I started to notice that something “funny” was going on. It was a night in college when I had failed to complete a crucial homework assignment due early the next morning and I had a powerful thought of “Oh wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t have to go to class tomorrow!” Then, lo and behold, shortly thereafter the professor sent an email notifying us that class was canceled! And this was definitely the only last-minute cancellation that happened to me through four years of university.
This was, of course, a very small thing. Most of the desires took months to fulfill or a couple years at most. Recently, I experienced a satisfactory level of fulfillment of my longest term intention yet which has spanned at least a decade. And, combined with (sometimes arduous) spiritual practice, along with it came epiphany.
The answer to my previous questions of whether I am manifesting my life or if I am intuiting future destiny in God’s grand design is… Both! To think they are separate is dualistic thinking separating ourselves from God. In reality, we are One and the same. Even “our” very thoughts and desires are deeply interconnected with everyone and everything we have ever experienced in the roles in which God has placed us.
We’ve often heard that we are “made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26) but what does that mean? Master Yogananda said we can be thought of as God’s reflection. His Cosmic Consciousness acted as God the Father to create this universe and everything in it. His creative thoughts also became the creation as vibrations of AUM, or Divine Mother. And the “only begotten” (John 1:18 is my pick) Christ reflection of His Consciousness remains forever permeating every atom of creation, including in us. As humans we have the unique blessing of being able to become aware of and further realize Christ within.
My epiphany1 came in understanding Christ's oft quoted “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 22:13) within this context of creative manifestation. Alpha represents the beginning, or cause. Omega represents the end, or effect. God is the only true Cause. And creation is His effect. Christ Consciousness, the knowing of the true unity of the two, is the bridge between. We are endowed with the creative power of God and we are “a part of all that is”2 in His creation. Thus, we simultaneously create our lives from consciousness and experience the results of our choices within the whole totality...
I AM the Alpha and the Omega.
This power came with His gift of free will as to how to use it. We can use our creative volition for selfish desire or for selfless service. When our will is guided by the wisdom of Universal Love, it keeps us in alignment with God’s plan and brings spiritually uplifting results. The deeper our consciousness in Christ, the more fully we intuit and manifest God’s will as His instruments. How do we best grow in wisdom and attunement to the Divine? Practice, practice, practice. Sadhana (spiritual practice) is the way. May we all continue in ever-deepening discipline and devotion to cultivate our awareness of Christ within to eternally live in that Loving Light bridge to God who is without beginning or end.
♡ ॐ AUM. 🕊 Divine Peace to you all. 🙏
1 I like how a Google definition for epiphany is “the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi” seeing as how this blog is about a revelation of Christ to a Gentile (me) as taught by a Magus (Master Yoganandaji) ♡
2 From Ananda’s “Festival of Light”
