Yogananda, Paramahansa, 1893-1952; Yogis -- India -- Biography
“You are reversing the case!” The saint’s face held a mild rebuke.
“I have left a few paltry rupees, a few petty pleasures, for a cosmic
empire of endless bliss. How then have I denied myself anything?
I know the joy of sharing the treasure. Is that a sacrifice? The
shortsighted worldly folk are verily the real renunciates! They
relinquish an unparalleled divine possession for a poor handful of
earthly toys!”
I chuckled over this paradoxical view of renunciation-one which
puts the cap of Croesus on any saintly beggar, whilst transforming
all proud millionaires into unconscious martyrs.
“The divine order arranges our future more wisely than any insurance
company.” The master’s concluding words were the realized creed
of his faith. “The world is full of uneasy believers in an outward
security. Their bitter thoughts are like scars on their foreheads.
The One who gave us air and milk from our first breath knows how
to provide day by day for His devotees.”
I continued my after-school pilgrimages to the saint’s door. With
silent zeal he aided me to attain ANUBHAVA. One day he moved to
Ram Mohan Roy Road, away from the neighborhood of my Gurpar Road
home. His loving disciples had built him a new hermitage, known as
“Nagendra Math.” {FN7-7}
Although it throws me ahead of my story by a number of years, I
will recount here the last words given to me by Bhaduri Mahasaya.
Shortly before I embarked for the West, I sought him out and humbly
knelt for his farewell blessing:
“Son, go to America. Take the dignity of hoary India for your
shield. Victory is written on your brow; the noble distant people
will well receive you.”
{FN7-1} Methods of controlling life-force through regulation of
breath.
{FN7-2} The foremost ancient exponent of yoga.
{FN7-3} French professors were the first in the West to be willing
to scientifically investigate the possibilities of the superconscious
mind. Professor Jules-Bois, member of the L’Ecole de Psychologie of
the Sorbonne, lectured in America in 1928; he told his audiences that
French scientists have accorded recognition to the superconsciousness,
“which is the exact opposite of Freud’s subconscious mind and is the
faculty which makes man really man and not just a super-animal.” M.
Jules-Bois explained that the awakening of the higher consciousness
“was not to be confused with Coueism or hypnotism. The existence
of a superconscious mind has long been recognized philosophically,
being in reality the Oversoul spoken of by Emerson, but only recently
has it been recognized scientifically.” The French scientist pointed
out that from the superconsciousness come inspiration, genius, moral
values. “Belief in this is not mysticism though it recognized and
valued the qualities which mystics preached.”
{FN7-4} St. Theresa of Avila and other Christian saints were often
observed in a state of levitation.
{FN7-5} “Great sage.”
{FN7-6} Actual perception of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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