"The hardest obstacle to overcome is yourself. When you sit to meditate at night, your nervousness and restlessness are still with you. Learn to control your mind and body. Be king of yourself. Carry within you a portable heaven, and in life or in death, in heaven or in hades, that inner heaven will be with you.

Pray deeply, sincerely, "O God, I yearn to know You. You must answer me!" and next morning pray again, "Lord, You must come to me!" and pray again the next night in the same way, in the language of your heart; if you keep on, He must respond. But when you pray halfheartedly, while thinking in the back of your mind about something else, He knows He is not first with you, and He does not respond.

Have God first. Have God now. Don't wait, because delusion is very strong. Before you know it, the time will have come for you to quit this world. Whenever you have a moment, sit down and meditate. No matter how many times your prayers have not been answered, don't worry; keep on praying. Pray with sincerity. Believe that your prayer is answered.

I urge you to pray not for little things, but for His presence. Only that prayer is worthwhile

To be able to demonstrate health or wealth or power or friends with God's help is fine, but if you can coax God Himself to respond to your prayers, you are a man of destiny. So don't rest until you demonstrate God in your life. He will give you everything you ever wished for; and He will test you. The tests in the spiritual life are greater than in any other. But you who pass His tests shall say: "Lord, my greatest prayer has been answered. What else could my heart want or need, but You?" "

..

-- Paramahansa Yogananda --

"Man´s Eternal Quest".....page - 131

The Most Vital Part of Meditation

The most vital part of meditation – the whole crux of the matter in attaining the ultimate goal of God consciousness is stillness.

When we are still and knowing God as peace, bliss, and love, then the normal sense thoughts are banished and we are in an interior state of consciousness.

To commune with God, we need to go into silence. There is a vital point of meditation that is often misunderstood.

Consider what the desired goal of meditation is:

•pure God consciousness •stillness

Ordinarily our consciousness is vibrating with thoughts and emotions, and cannot merge with the calm consciousness of divine consciousness.

Stillness of meditation means being absorbed and feeling God’s presence at the spiritual eye. It is in this stillness that we experience communion with God as peace, as joy, as love.

Brother Anandamoy said, “In stillness there is conscious awareness, a deeply alert state without thoughts.”

Jesus taught: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet (withdraw the mind into the silence within), and when thou hast shut thy door (the door of the senses), pray to thy Father which is in secret (in the inner transcendent divine consciousness); and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly (shall bless you with the ever new Bliss of His Being).” (The Second Coming, p. 495)

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t yet enter into this state of stillness - it is a very lofty state. But always set aside a portion of your meditation to try to attain this goal of stillness. It will come through the grace of God and Guru.

Our job is to make the effort with the techniques.

Recognize and appreciate what that stillness is when it comes, and don’t feel you have to move on in your meditation if you attain this state.

~Brother Ishtananda,

Excerpts from a talk at 2004 Convocation

Even though God has created the universe out of delusion, He Himself is not deluded by it. He knows maya as naught but a modification of His one Consciousness. The colossal dramas of creation and dissolution of planets and galaxies; the birth, growth, and decline of empires and civilizations; the countless miniature plays of individual lives with their subplots of health and sickness, riches and poverty, life and death---all are happening in God as the One Dreamer--Creator, a chimerical perception of change within the Eternally Changeless.

Paramahansa Yogananda in 'The Second Coming Of Christ'

THE SOUL DREAMS THE EXISTENCE OF THE BODY

God sent man to earth to be entertained by the bodily dreams, not to obscure his consciousness of immortality by being identified with the body. It is therefore foolish for one to grieve about the bodily changes of which the soul, the Self, is the changeless witness.

The advanced student should meditate deeply until his thoughts become dissolved into intuition. In the lake of intuition, free from the waves of thought, the yogi can see the unruffled reflection of the moon of the soul. Forgetting his dreams of the body, he knows that the soul exists behind the screen of thoughts and is therefore unknown to them. When the yogi perceives the soul as made in the image of Spirit, he knows himself to be unchangeable, unmanifested, ever calm, like the Spirit. All devotees should meditate and interiorize their consciousness until they realize the true nature of the soul.

~ SRI SRI PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA,

CHAPTER II, VERSE 25,

GOD TALKS WITH ARJUNA : THE BHAGAVAD GITA,

Pgs 227-228

Never Acknowledge Defeat

Resurrect your soul from all dreams of frailities. Resurrect your soul in eternal wisdom. What is the method? It includes many things: self-control, proper diet, fortitude, an undaunted mental attitude, and relaxation of the consciousness from body identification by faithful daily practice of scientific concentration and meditation principles. Refuse to be defeated. Do not acknowledge defeat; to acknowledge defeat is greater defeat. You have unlimited power; you must cultivate that power, that is all.

Meditation is the greatest way of resurrecting your soul from the bondage of the body and from the shackles of all your trials. Meditate at the feet of the Infinite. Learn to saturate yourself with the consciousness of God. Your trials may be heavy, may be great, but the greatest enemy of yourself is yourself. You are immortal; your trials are mortal. They are changeable; you are unchangeable. You can unleash infinite powers and shatter your finite trials.

~Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

~Journey To Self Realization

THOUGHTS AND SENSATIONS DO NOT REVEAL THE SOUL BEHIND THEM.

INTUITION IS LIKE A SPHERICAL LIGHT REVEALING THE SOUL AND ALSO ITS OUTWARD PROJECTIONS OF THOUGHTS AND SENSATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE EGO

...

Thoughts and sensations are like searchlights: they throw their rays in front on material objects: they do not reveal the soul behind them. Intuition is like a spherical light, with rays on all sides, revealing the soul and also its outward projections of thoughts and sensations connected with the ego. Intuition is the bridge between the soul and the ego's thoughts and sensations. If one can for a sufficient length of time remain unidentified with thoughts and sensations, and without being unconscious, he will know through the development of intuition the nature of the soul. When one is thus perfectly calm, neither thinking or sentient, nor unconscious, yet KNOWING he exists - a keenness of joyful being in which the thinking, thought, and thinker have become one (unity of the knower, knowing and known) - therein is the soul's consciousness.

From this unmanifested aboveness, the soul, the individualization of the Creator, projects those forces that create the bodily form and the ability to experience through that image.

~ SRI SRI PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA,

VERSE 25, CHAPTER II,

GOD TALKS WITH ARJUNA : THE BHAGAVAD GITA

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

“Take care that you do not disdain the simple, humble consciousness of children… the astral bodies of children, ‘their angels,’ who passed on from the earth with no free-will opportunity to acquire wisdom get a chance between incarnations with their simple unworldly consciousness to behold the materialized form of any being or saint in whose face shines the consciousness of God the Father.”

“Angels” here refers to the astral bodies or luminous forms of nineteen elements in which souls with their past karmic patterns remain encased after death. The “Father which is in heaven” signifies the presence of God in the transcendental realm behind the astral light and the finer causal light of wisdom. A person identified with his physical body and its material surroundings cannot see that the whole world is light and not matter, and thus cannot be conscious of the underlying presence of God. Saints who through meditation have awakened the superconsciousness can perceive the Heavenly Father hidden behind and transcendent within His dream vibrations of light and consciousness.

Also blessed to glimpse the “face of my Father” are children with pure consciousness who die before becoming fully identified with the material body and the sensory consciousness with its ignorance-perpetuating karma. The souls of children, ascending prematurely to an astral sphere, typically perceive the Heavenly Father as reflected in astral visions of angelic beings and in the forms of saints or masters. After being thus blessed by God’s power, the souls of these little ones reincarnate on earth to continue to work out their karma to the ultimate end of joining the host of liberated souls who have returned to God.

Young children, before their minds become saturated with material consciousness, often speak of their heavenly experiences and having seen God’s angels.

Paramahansa Yogananda, The Second Coming of Christ

The adoration of the Wise Men is far more significant than merely another scene of pageantry recognizing the holy birth. It was the defining stamp of God placed on the life of Jesus that would in future characterize his mission and message—a reminder that Jesus was born in the Orient, an Oriental Christ; and that his teachings bore the influence of the Eastern culture and customs . There is a very strong tradition in India, authoritatively known amongst high metaphysicians in tales well told and written in ancient manuscripts, that the wise men of the East who made their way to the infant Jesus in Bethlehem were, in fact , great sages of India. Not only did the Indian masters come to Jesus, but he reciprocated their visit.During the unaccounted - for years of Jesus' life—the Scripture remains silent about him from approximately ages fourteen to thirty—he journeyed to India, probably travelling the well-established trade route that linked the. Mediterranean with China and India. His own God-realization, reawakened and reinforced in the company ot the masters and the spiritual environs of India, provided a background of the universality of truth from which he could preach a simple, open message comprehensible to the masses of his native country, yet with underlying meanings that would be appreciated in generations to come as the infancy of man's mind would mature in understanding.

- Sri Paramahansa Yogananda,

56, The second coming of Christ.

This Omnipresent Love of God is why I consider Bhagavan Krishna and Jesus Christ, avatars of East and West, as the supreme expressions of the Krishna-Christ Consciousness (the Universal Kutastha Chaitanya), for in them was evident in the highest degree the incarnation of God's divine love and compassion. Krishna's love gave to the world the yoga of liberation from the sea of suffering through scientific meditation and right action, and the devotional approach of flinging oneself on the Divine Compassion. Jesus demonstrated in his every act of ministering to the sick and forsaken, and in the consummate sacrifice of his body to alleviate the sins of many, the incomparable love of God that is an infinitude of mercy and forgiveness.

~ Paramahansa Yogananda, The Second Coming of Christ, page 32

"I always thrilled at the touch of Sri Yukteswar’s holy feet. A disciple is spiritually magnetized by reverent contact with a master; a subtle current is generated. The devotee’s undesirable habit-mechanisms in the brain are often as if cauterized; the grooves of his worldly tendencies are beneficially disturbed. Momentarily at least he may find the secret veils of maya lifting, and glimpse the reality of bliss. My whole body responded with a liberating glow whenever I knelt in the Indian fashion before my guru."

~ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (CHAPTER 12 - Years in My Master’s Hermitage, Kindle Version)

Guru-Disciple Relationship

Mahasamadhi of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri

Swami Sri Yukteswar to Paramahansa Yogananda, before whom he appeared in the flesh on June 19, 1936, more than three months after his mahasamadhi (a great yogi's final conscious exit from the body): "Grieve not for me.... You and I shall smile together, so long as our two forms appear different in the maya-dream of God. Finally we shall merge as one in the Cosmic Beloved; our smiles shall be His smile, our unified song of joy vibrating throughout eternity to be broadcast to God-tuned souls!"

- Sri Sri Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri

"Autobiography of a Yogi"

~ 9th March - Mahasamadhi Anniversary of Paramguru Sri Sri Swami Yukteswar Giri ~

Letter from Master to Rajarsi dated March 17th [1936], written in Ranchi just 9 days after Sri Yukteswar left his body.

”On March 9, 7 p.m., our Guruji left his body; and about that time he intimated to me of his departure. Also on the train I saw two tunnels of light and his astral self telling me of his departure. Though since his departure I have been seeing him all of the time, practically, still it is a great, great shock that I won’t ever be able to show you and Mt. Washington devotees Swami Sri Yukteswarji in body. He had told me, “If I live through March (Bengali Chaitra month), I will live longer.” When I had asked him to see an American lady from California, he replied, “I won’t see her now, nor anyone else in this life.” I know there would have been a great battle if I was present at the time of his passing. I wrote a letter to him asking him not to give up his body, but the people through whom I sent it did not read it to him. Guruji was slightly feverish for five days. His fever left in the end; and while his body seemed perfectly well, he left in samadhi.

“If there were words, I would write to you how I feel about the material disappearance of Master. Imagine, the Lord God did not want me to pray lest He have to grant my prayer or deny it. The lion has left his cage, the lion whose roar of wisdom kept me undergoing a thousand privations and demands of organization work. If I could weep, I would feel relieved. If I would cry, the gods would cry with me. If I had a thousand mouths, I would say India lost one of the greatest in wisdom. But the saddest of all is I could not show him you.”

~~From Autobiography of a Yogi~~

By the time I reached the Puri hermitage I was nearing collapse. The inner voice was tenderly repeating : "Collect yourself. Be calm."

I entered the ashram room where Master's body, unimaginably lifelike, was sitting in the lotus posture - a picture of health and loveliness. A short time before his passing, my guru had been slightly ill with fever, but before the day of his ascension into the Infinite, his body had become completely well. No matter how often I looked at his dear form I could not realize that its life had departed. His skin was smooth and soft; in his face was a beatific expression of tranquillity. He had consciously relinquished his body at the hour mystic summoning.

" The Lion of Bengal is gone!" I cried in a daze.

Practice Kriya Yoga Everyday

Every time you meditate deeply on God, beneficial changes take place in the patterns of your brain. Suppose you are a financial failure or a moral failure or a spiritual failure. Through deep meditation, affirming, “I and my Father are one,” you will know that you are the child of God. Hold on to that ideal. Meditate until you feel a great joy. When joy strikes your heart, God has answered your broadcast to Him; He is responding to your prayers and positive thinking.

This is a distinct and definite method:

First, meditate upon the thought, “I and my Father are one,” trying to feel a great peace, and then a great joy in your heart. When that joy comes, say, “Father, Thou art with me. I command Thy power within me to cauterize my brain cells of wrong habits and past seed tendencies.” The power of God in meditation will do it. Rid yourself of the limiting consciousness that you are a man or a woman; know that you are the child of God. Then mentally affirm and pray to God: “I command my brain cells to change, to destroy the grooves of bad habits that have made a puppet out of me. Lord, burn them up in Thy divine light.” And when you will practice the Self-Realization techniques of meditation, especially Kriya Yoga, you will actually see that light of God baptizing you.

~ Paramahansa Yogananda

THE MAHASAMADHI OF A WORLD TEACHER

"On March 7th 1952 Paramahansa Yogananda left the body for Omnipresence"

On March 7th 1952 the incarnation of Paramahansa Yogananda came to a perfect close. A life without blemish ended in mahasamadhi, a Yogi's final conscious exit from the body. Death took place at 9:30 p.m. a few moments after Paramahansaji had uttered the final words in a speech at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Unstintingly he gave of himself to the very end, to the last breath of his life.

Born a Kshatriya (a member of the second Hindu caste, originally that of kings and warriors), Yoganandaji died as he had lived; a divine warrior against the chief foe of men-- ignorance.

Paramahansaji last days were literally and symbolically bound up with a visit to Los Angeles of the ambassador of India. at that time, Mr. Binay Ranjan Sen.

The great Guru could not go to India so India --in the person of her highest foreign representative-- came to the Guru. [...]

Yoganandaji came to America to fulfill a specific mission, that of spreading in the West a knowledge of yoga techniques by which man can enter into conscious communion with his Creator.

Paramajansaji was the last in a line of four gurus, who were divinely inspired --directly by God-- to teach openly to the modern world the secret yogic science of self-liberation that was the glory of ancient India.

"After my passing" Paramahansaji said, "the SRF teachings will be the guru." By these words and in many other ways he indicated that the practical interest in yoga, which he had initiated in the west, would continue to grow after his death.

Like all other man of God, Master did not emphasize the importance of his own personality but rather the necessity of one's own struggle to achieve the life beautiful.

[...]

During his last three years, Paramahansaji withdrew more and more from public life, in order to devote himself fully to literary work: editing and revision of his earlier books and the completion of new writings.

Shortly before his death he said to a disciple, "My life work is done."

Great devotees of God, the Hindu scriptures tells us, are giving forewarning of the time of their departure from this Earth. A true Yogi, unlike the unenlightened men, is never really surprised by Death.

Yoganandaji had been aware of the general plan of his life ever since his youthful years with his omniscient guru, Sri Yukteswar. Master well knew his life would not be a long one. "I shall not live to be old," he told a disciple in 1924.

Paramahansaji gave a number of close disciples many hints that he would pass on in March 1952.

Excerpt from the book, "In Memoriam"

https://www.yogananda-srf.org