They are disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda

In his autobiography The New Path, Swami Kriyananda wrote: 
“In the sixty years, now, that I have been on this path, I cannot recall to mind a single instance where a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda has failed to find protection in time of real need.”

I’ve now been a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda for nearly fifty years. I too, have seen that same protection again and again — in my own life and that of many friends. Sometimes that protection is lifesaving. Often it comes in sweet ways, touches of grace in situations that are not urgent needs.

A recent trip to Singapore for a Kriya initiation reminded me of one such strangely miraculous demonstration of the Guru’s help.

Several years ago, I was traveling to Singapore for a public talk to share Yogananda’s teachings. As I approached the immigration counter at the Mumbai airport, I was appalled to realize I had forgotten my India visa documents. Without them, I could not leave the country. Those papers were at my home, six hours away. There was no way to retrieve them and still make the flight.

I confess that my prayers to Yogananda were a mix of desperation, embarrassment, and apologies — for letting him down, and for letting down the people waiting in Singapore. My traveling companion, Nayaswami Aditya, was already speaking with an immigration officer. Just then, another official — the head of the entire department — was making his rounds, checking in on each counter.

I walked up to Aditya and privately shared my predicament. The department head pointed toward us and said something to the officer. I asked Aditya what he had said. The words still ring in my ears:
“Take good care of those two. They are disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda!”

In all my years of passing through immigration desks — about sixty times, in fourteen different countries — this was the only time I desperately needed help. And that help arrived instantly, miraculously. Only that top official had the authority to bend the rules and allow me through. He did ask me to fix the problem before returning to India.

Later he told us that he attended a large Ananda event in Mumbai months earlier. At the start of that program, some of the monks, including Aditya and myself, led the chanting. We had no other role in the event, yet among hundreds, he recognized us months later — even in our simple traveling clothes. What he saw was not as our outward role or position, but solely as disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda.

How do you identify yourself? As a kriya yogi? As a meditator? A follower of a particular religion or spiritual organization? As a member of a particular community? Or simply as a disciple, perhaps of Paramhansa Yogananda?

Swami Kriyananda, the greatest example of discipleship in my life, identified first and foremost as a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda. That was the source of his power and the means to his liberation. I never heard him introduce himself to an audience as a Kriya yogi, a teacher, a meditator, or an author.

In his book Sadhu, Beware!, he spoke of the supreme importance of discipleship and attunement to the Guru:

“Attunement, I am convinced, is the first and greatest need on the path. It is the final goal of renunciation. It is the only way to find God.”

When we put attunement and discipleship first in our lives, everything works out for the best. Sometimes through lifesaving miracles. Sometimes through tender, personal touches of grace. Always as a constant thread of divine protection. Above all, an ever-deepening discipleship to the Guru is the only way to find God.