(I wrote this letter years ago as a Christmas present to my fellow disciples in the monastic order of Self-Realization Fellowship, in Los Angeles. I have been uncertain whether to adapt this letter to the general reader, or to offer it to him substantially as I wrote it, asking him rather to adapthis mind to what might impress him as … Read More
Divine Love
Thou art the mystic echo from the caverns of heart, and the inaudible voice of feeling. Thou unseen charmer of souls, Thou art the fountain flowing from the bosom of friendship. Thou are the unseen cord of self-bound souls and the rays of secret warmth which break buds of feeling into blossoms of endearing, soulful words of poesy and loyalty. … Read More
Bhagavad Gita (5:27,28)
In the Bhagavad Gita (5:27,28), the Lord says: “The muni controls his senses, mind, and intellect, removing himself from contact with them by neutralizing the currents of prana and apana in the spine, which manifest as inhalation and exhalation in the nostrils. He fixes his gaze in the forehead, at a point midway between the two eyebrows. Such a one … Read More
The Two Kites
This story from Yogananda’s childhood is excerpted from the Autobiography of a Yogi Our family moved to Lahore in the Punjab. There I acquired a picture of the Divine Mother in the form of the Goddess Kali. It sanctified a small informal shrine on the balcony of our home. An unequivocal conviction came over me that fulfillment would crown any … Read More
Sweet Compassion
Andy Anderson worked as a foreman on several of Yogananda’s construction projects. Swami Kriyananda narrates the following story. During the months while Andy supervised our work at India Center, he developed a deep love for Master. Master, in return, was touched by Andy’s devotion, and by his simple, kindly nature. As Christmas 1950 approached, Andy took pains to buy his … Read More
Spiritual Communities
Some of my most impressive memories of Master are of his public lectures. While they lacked the sweet intimacy of talks with the disciples at Mt. Washington, they rang with the spirit of a mission destined, he told us, to bring spiritual regeneration to the world. I remember especially how stirred I was by a talk he gave at a … Read More
Yogananda and the Boston Skeptic
This is an excerpt from ‘The New Path’. One day in Boston, Massachusetts, Paramhansa Yogananda received a letter criticizing him for ‘sponsoring’ Jesus Christ in the West. ‘Don’t you know that Jesus never lived?’ the writer demanded. ‘He was a myth invented to deceive people.’ The letter was left unsigned. Yogananda prayed to be led to the writer. About a … Read More
Self-Realization teachings as the Fulfilment of Christ’s Promise
Christ gave techniques of salvation to St. John and the disciples, promising to send to them the Comforter, about which people understand little. Lahiri Mahasaya’s teaching is the Second Coming of Christ, not through a mere claim, but in actuality. His Kriya technique of meditation expands the cup of concentration so that it can be large enough to hold the … Read More
I know Every Single Thought you think
One day, after a gathering in Beverly Hills, I had been invited to perform yoga postures at a Jewish Bar Mitzvah. Afterward, a materialistic Jewish psychiatrist cornered me and challenged my beliefs. I defended them as reasonably as I could, and then, to clinch my argument, spoke of certain miracles to which I’d been a witness. It did no good … Read More
The Hamburgers
An incident narrated by James Coller to Swami Kriyananda James Coller, another disciple, visited us at about this time from Phoenix, Arizona; Master had appointed him to be the minister of our church there. James, though deeply devoted to God and Guru, had a tendency to be a little casual about hermitage discipline. ‘I was driving from Phoenix to Encinitas … Read More
All Bow to Thee
Thou art the One Infinite to the monist; Thou art God and Nature to the dualist; Thou art the finite many to the polytheist; Thou art everything, O God, to the pantheist. Thou art the God of monists, dualists, polytheists, and pantheists. Thou art both the Infinite Ocean and all its finite waves of creation. Because Thou art everything— The … Read More
Principles for Founding World Brotherhood Colonies
From East West Magazine, 1932 The following excerpts are from an article Yogananda wrote about his dream of World Brotherhood Colonies. While he modified the practical details later in his life, this article is a good example of the principles on which to found Colonies, and also the strong feelings Yogananda had about starting them. Ananda’s World Brotherhood Colonies were … Read More