“Guruji, please tell me something of your life.” I was squatting on a straw mat near his tiger skin. The friendly stars were very close, it seemed, beyond the balcony.
“My family name was Priya Nath Karar. I was born here in Serampore, where Father was a wealthy businessman. He left me this ancestral mansion, now my hermitage. My formal schooling was little; I found it slow and shallow. In early manhood, I undertook the responsibilities of a householder, and have one daughter, now married. My middle life was blessed with the guidance of Lahiri Mahasaya. After my wife died, I joined the Swami Order and received the new name of Sri Yukteswar Giri. Such are my simple annals.”
Master smiled at my eager face. Like all biographical sketches, his words had given the outward facts without revealing the inner man.
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda
Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto - Song by Swami Kriyananda
When the cherries bloom, Kyoto sings all day long
Rising melodies to the sun;�Blossoms awake to the gladness of song:
See them smile and greet ev’ryone.
Tell me, little sisters, What have you to say?
“Live your life as perfectly As this perfect day!”
Receptivity: the Key to Spiritual Development - Swami Kriyananda
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.”
How can “receiving him” give us power to “become the sons of God”? The answer is that what we receive is his consciousness. Paramhansa Yogananda explained this point further: A little cup, he said, cannot contain the whole ocean: Only an immense basin of land can do that. Our consciousness must expand to become a receptacle for Infinity. We must ourselves, in other words, become infinite. The “power” to know God is the power of self-expansion to infinity.
The Promise Of Immortality by Swami Kriyananda
Swami Kriyananda CV (Curriculum Vitae)
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Music from Swami Kriyananda’s album ‘I Omar’.
Celebrating the life & Moksha of Swami Kriyananda
The Master (Paramhansa Yogananda) also once told Swami Kriyananda, “God won’t come to you until the end of life. Death itself will be the final sacrifice you’ll have to make.”
Faith Is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda by Nayaswami Devi
Energy: The Missed Link
You can energize your body at will. For its energy doesn’t depend on food, air, and sunlight alone. We live surrounded by an ocean of cosmic energy, and draw on it to a greater or lesser extent all the time, depending on our will power, or willingness, and on the clarity of our awareness. This energy enters our bodies just as it did in the creation of the body, through the medulla oblongata. For this reason, too, you will find it helpful during meditation to deepen your awareness of the medulla.
-- Awaken to Superconsciousness by Swami Kriyananda
Paramhansa Yogananda: "With great devotion invoke the spirit of Christ within you. Let every cell be resurrected with Christ Consciousness. Fill your soul with Christ Bliss."
Make me remember that Virtuous Ways are more charming than vicious ways
Teach me, O Spirit, to discern all laws of virtue not with dread, but with love. Teach me to remember that virtue may be difficult to follow at the start, but that when I obey its laws, it will adorn me finally with the laurel of Thy happiness. Teach me to remember that evil promises a little pleasure in the beginning but always brings great sorrow in the end.
Teach me to love virtuous laws, which exist for my interest and my good, and to shun vicious actions, which react against my interest. Implant in me that habit by which I may always perceive virtuous ways to be more charming than vicious ways.
Help me to remember that virtue, though bitter of taste in the beginning, eventually becomes nectar; and evil is that which tastes sweet in the beginning, but always acts as poison in the end.
Whispers from Eternity by Paramhansa Yogananda
Palm Sunday, song by Swami Kriyananda
Religion and the Heart
Images of Kali, Ganesha, Saraswati, and the numerous other divine forms visualized in Hinduism are equally meant, simply, as focal points of devotion. Ram Proshad, a great saint who lived in Bengal over two hundred years ago, was an exalted devotee of God as the Divine Mother in the form of Kali. Yet in one of his most beautiful songs to Her he said, “Thousands of scriptures declare my Mother is beyond all form and infinite. Nevertheless, in this form it is that I especially adore You.” After the great pujas, or seasons of worship, moreover, the images of Kali, Durga, etc., are immersed in the Ganges to remind devotees that the forms they worship are only fancied, transient images of the Infinite, portrayed in human form to make them more comprehensible, and to help people to direct their ultimate devotion to God alone.
From the book - Revelations of Christ by Swami Kriyananda
From Autobiography of a Yogi: https://www.crystalclarity.com/en-in/pages/autobiography-chapter-22-the-heart-of-a-stone-image
As our cab entered the Dakshineswar grounds, he grinned sarcastically.
“This excursion, I suppose, is a scheme to reform me?”
As I turned away without reply, he caught my arm. “Young Mr. Monk,” he said, “don’t forget to make proper arrangements with the temple authorities to provide for our noon meal.”
“I am going to meditate now. Do not worry about your lunch,” I replied sharply. “Divine Mother will look after it.”
“I don’t trust Divine Mother to do a single thing for me. But I do hold you responsible for my food.” Satish’s tones were threatening.
I proceeded alone to the colonnaded hall which fronts the large temple of Kali, or Mother Nature. Selecting a shady spot near one of the pillars, I arranged my body in the lotus posture. Although it was only about seven o’clock, the morning sun would soon be oppressive.
The world receded as I became devotionally entranced. My mind was concentrated on Goddess Kali, whose image at Dakshineswar had been the special object of adoration by the great master, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. In answer to his anguished demands, the stone image of this very temple had often taken a living form and conversed with him.
“Silent Mother with stony heart,” I prayed, “Thou becamest filled with life at the request of Thy beloved devotee Ramakrishna; why dost Thou not also heed the wails of this yearning son of Thine?”
Full video here: https://youtu.be/Zk4XY1OXmho?si=CT-hiYKQdQORCOjF
