"As moving pictures are sustained by a beam of light
coming from the projection booth of a movie house,
so are all of us sustained by the Cosmic Beam,
the Divine Light pouring from the projection booth
of Eternity."
Books
Autobiography of a Yogi, Man's Eternal Quest, The Divine Romance, The Essence of Self Realization, Whispers From Eternity, Scientific Healing Affirmations
Heroes
Mahavatar Babaji Krishna, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Sri Sri Anandamoyi Ma, Gandhi, Jagadis Chandra Bose, Nagendra Nath Bhaduri, Rabindranath Tagore, Giri Bala, Luther Burbank...
I, Paramahansa Yogananda, was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India into a devout Bengali family on January 5, 1893. From my earliest years, my awareness and experience of the spiritual was far beyond the ordinary. In my youth I sought out many of India's Hindu sages and saints, hoping to find an illumined teacher to guide me in my spiritual quest.
I met my guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, in 1910, at the age of 17. After passing my Intermediate Examination in Arts from the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, I did my graduation in religious studies from the Serampore College, a constituent college of the University of Calcutta and in 1915, I took formal vows into the monastic Swami Order and became Swami Yogananda. In 1917, I began my life's mission with the founding and running of a school for boys in Ranchi, India that combined modern educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. This school would later become Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Indian branch of my American Organization.
In 1920, I went to the United States as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston. That same year I founded Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate worldwide my teachings on India's ancient practices and philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation. For the next several years, I lectured and taught on the East coast and in 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. The following year, I established in Los Angeles an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of my growing work. After fifteen years of my services in the West, Sri Yukteswar conferred upon me the title Paramhansa, which means "supreme swan."
In 1946, I published my life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was instrumental in introducing vedic philosophy to the West. It has since been translated into eighteen languages and remains a best seller. It includes my and Sri Yukteswar's attempts to explain certain verses and events of the Bible such as the Garden of Eden story, and descriptions of my encounters with leading spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann, the Hindu saint Sri Anandamoyi Ma, Mohandas Gandhi, Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore, famous Indian scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Nobel Prize winning physicist Sir C. V. Raman.
On March 7, 1952, I entered mahasamadhi, a master's final conscious exit from the body. My passing was marked by an extraordinary phenomenon: a notarized statement signed by the Director of Forest Lawn Memorial Park testified: "No physical disintegration was visible in his body even twenty days after death....This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one....Yogananda's body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability."
This photo, commonly known as "The Last Smile," is the last known photo of me, taken shortly before I left my body.
My guru lineage was responsible for providing me with the central discipline of my teachings. Sri Yukteswar was the disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, in turn the disciple of the ageless guru Mahavatar Babaji, who had revived and—through his disciples—begun the spread of Kriya Yoga, described as a "spiritual science of Self Realization." It was through me that Kriya Yoga was brought to the West.
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Who I'd like to meet: All seekers.
“The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all about, one must know God.”
SUNSWEET BLESSINGS FOR YOUR WEEKEND DEAR YOGANANDA FAMILY !! HARVEST THE BEST !!! KEEP SHINING !! -=:::NAMASTE:::=- --=::::JEFF::::=--
"sometimes silent and alone- with various arrangements of rays. constantly expanding... creating new horizons...and brushing the sunset-of another day. there is no doubt the sun is special. lifegiver...healer. amongst the stars, yet truly tapped into the earth. and droplets of sunshine find their way home. it really is a matter of perspective. because the sun is really no better than any of the other stars out there. and there are billions of stars... everywhere i look. each one unique. all internally connected to create one big- beautiful picture. and with the suns heart and vision... there's a droplet of sunshine in you. "
The Bible says that you should go with a brother twice as far as he asks. It certainly does not suggest that you set him back on his journey. Devotion to a brother cannot set you back either. It can lead only to mutual progress. The result of genuine devotion is inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite of fatigue. To be fatigued is to be dis-spirited, but to be inspired is to be in the spirit. To be egocentric is to be dis-spirited, but to be self-centered in the right sense is to be inspired or in spirit. The truly inspired are enlightened and cannot abide in darkness.
You can speak from the spirit or from the ego, as you choose. If you speak from spirit you have chosen to "Be still and know that I am God." These words are inspired because they reflect knowledge. If you speak from the ego you are disclaiming knowledge instead of affirming it, and are thus dis-spiriting yourself. Do not embark on useless journeys, because they are indeed in vain. The ego may desire them, but spirit cannot embark on them because it is forever unwilling to depart from its foundation.
The journey to the cross should be the last "useless journey." Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. If you can accept it as your own last useless journey, you are also free to join my resurrection. Until you do so your life is indeed wasted. It merely re-enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts of the ego at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. Such repetitions are endless until they are voluntarily given up. Do not make the pathetic error of "clinging to the old rugged cross." The only message of the crucifixion is that you can overcome the cross. Until then you are free to crucify yourself as often as you choose. This is not the gospel I intended to offer you. We have another journey to undertake, and if you will read these lessons carefully they will help prepare you to undertake it.
I'VE HAD VISIONS OF YOUR FACE...YOUR PROBABLY ONE OF MY ANCESTORS...TELLING ME TO LISTEN TO MY VOICE, SPEAK WITH MY HEART, AND TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY...NOW THAT MY WORLD IS PEACE...I CAN LIVE MY DREAM...YOUR ENERGY THROUGH YOUR LIGHT HAS SHOWN APONE ME...I FEEL TRULY BLESSED....