Hilda Charlton

"...Be not afraid of anything. Come into the heart. Come home and accept yourself just as you are. Will you accept yourself just as you are? There's no one up there who judges you. No angels judge you; no Jesus judges you, no Mary judges you, no Moses judges you, no Elijah judges you. We are the stupid fools that judge ourselves, and we go on judging and judging and judging.
Will you give up your iniquities this moment and say, "I will not judge myself. If they don't judge me..., I won't judge myself anymore"? Accept yourself this moment just as you are. With every bit of sin that you've done, everything wrong that you've done, accept it as stepping stones to this moment. It is only a school down here. Does Jesus not say, "Come unto me all ye who are heavily laden"? Those who are heavily laden, place your burdens at his feet tonight, at those sacred feet that were bloodied for us. That Jewish man went upon the cross so that we could be turned toward another direction, a new direction, and a life abundant — abundant in love...

And so later, I was in Bombay, and we decided to go to Ganeshpuri. As soon as I got there and looked at the Master, Nityananda, I knew he was the one who had helped me in Oakland, California, ten thousand miles away, and in Brindavan. Do you understand this, my loves? There is somebody looking over you. No matter if you feel deserted or as if you have nobody, if you are striving, you are not alone. There was a line of people that went past him, and he would just sit there. He was just God Almighty, that's all. I froze. Perspiration dropped off of me and I couldn't move. I went into samadhi standing there, and the people went around me. When I came down, I ran around, got into the line again and came through again to see this great being because I had found my own at last. I knew I didn't have to look any more. When you find your own, you know it in your heart. Your heart stops looking around. It may be Jesus, it may be yoga, it may be just a truth inside yourself, but when you've found it, you don't have to look any more. It's wonderful..."



- Hilda Charlton (1906 – January 29, 1988) was a spiritual teacher, author, dancer, and healer who taught classes in meditation and prayer in New York City for 23 years. Hilda settled in New York City upon returning to America from India. She became a spiritual teacher at the request of people she met, and over the years her classes grew in size from two people to more than a thousand. The location was moved from a students apartment to the basement of St. Luke's Church. In 1976, the location was moved to the nave and later to the Synod House of the cathedral of St. John the Divine.