The Leisure to Practice

Growing up I didn't even know this was actually a thing. Basically, as I began to study more about Buddhism I learned about "The Leisure to Practice". From my point of view it is valuable to all people that pray. If you are praying for "The Leisure to Practice" like I started praying for when I was around 30 years of age or so, what you are asking for is so you have the free time to pray for everyone in the past, present and future and praying for the end of their suffering and their enlightenment throughout the universe in the past, present and future.

Before this I had learned through reading "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda that one could be a Householder Yogi instead of going into a cave or joining an Ashram somewhere.
So, your yoga is being married and raising a family and supporting them. So, by 23 to 25 years of age I knew this was likely going to be my yoga too. I starting living with my first wife when I was 25 and we married because my son was going to be born when I was 26. So, I began to be a Householder Yogi at this time in my life. And this worked for me.

So, by 30 I learned about "The Leisure to Practice" which is about having enough time to "Pray without ceasing" 24 hours a day waking and sleeping. So, I prayed for the Leisure to Practice from the time I was 30 to 50 before it was given to me by God.

But, remember God doesn't work in the way that we do. "God works in very mysterious ways" and this is no joke but reality.

So, when I believed I was dying one morning I called my son to come take me to the hospital because I thought I might be dying that morning. However, while I waited for my son to come drive me to the hospital 9 angels surrounded me and started saying in unison: "You aren't going to die! Your life will get better now!" They kept repeating this over and over to me until all the cells of my body believed the angels. So, when I got to the hospital and told the doctors and nurses about the angels they told me that this was a common experience people had regarding near death experiences and people recount these sorts of things all the time to them in the hospital. So, they were not surprised when I told them about the angels coming and telling me I wasn't going to die and that my life would get better now.

For the next 8 months doctors didn't know if I was going to live or not but then one day they told me I was getting better and they told me they finally knew what was wrong with me which was a heart virus and they knew this because my heart had finally begun to heal itself from the virus. They said I was lucky because most people die from this then (in 1998 and 1999).

So, basically, I had had to retire or die for 8 months. So, my wife insisted I retire so I wouldn't die and leave her and our 2 1/2 year old daughter and my 9 year old daughter alone. I also had a grown son that was then 24.

So, if you ask God for the Leisure to Practice God might give this to you like he gave it to me. I have been retired now for 20 years since I was 50 after God gave me "The Leisure to Practice" and to pray for people to the best of my ability ongoing.

By God's Grace