There are liberating truths in the Lord’s Prayer which can free you from what yogis call spiritual forgetfulness, the cause of suffering. Jesus set out a simple process to help people return to spiritual awareness — leaving behind karma and a life of trial and error.

Sri Ramakrishna taught seekers to affirm that this universe is actually God’s divine play in which we each have a part. Since Spirit is manifesting and expressing everywhere, can’t God also create through you?

Being stuck in an ego state and ignoring Spirit is the cause of all our suffering according to yogis. In this ignorance of Spirit, the ego endures endless conflicts and anxieties due to the kleshas (ignorance, egotism, immoderate liking, immoderate disliking, possessiveness).

Does your personality express your ego or your soul? Too often, our personality is a false representation of our true self — a counterfeit. When we live from the soul (the spirit of God within us), our personality becomes more thoughtful, refined and lovable.

Most of us, whether we admit it or not, are governed by our feelings. That’s why bhakti yoga, the yoga of love and devotion, can help us develop from where we are now to enjoying greater insight, compassion, inspiration and ecstatic love.

If you live from your false sense of self — your ego — you’ve forgotten who you truly are — the presence of higher consciousness, the Divine within you.

Growing in devotion is important — and so are greater peace and bliss. But, according to master yogi, Baba Hari Dass, those are not the true indicators of growth on the yoga path. The real measure of progress is a change in your samaskaras or habit patterns.

By cultivating the heart’s true feeling and allowing bhakti (flow of love for God) to develop, you can advance in yoga. If you allow bhakti to fully express, even trickles of love may mature into prema — intense, ecstatic Divine love.

Think it’s not possible to change a lifelong habit that is hurtful to others or to yourself? A revered yoga practice — tapas — can help you create a new life by enabling you to transform negative habits into positive ones.

Historians like Timothy Snyder in his book, On Tyranny, 20 Lessons from the 20th Century, say there are personal actions that can make a major impact. Standing for truth is one of them.