What Action Should I Take in This Turbulent World? By Nayaswami Hriman In the hearts and minds of high-minded people everywhere the question arises “What can I, what SHOULD I, be doing to be part of the solution to the troubles of our world?” Most of us as individuals can do very little in terms of outward results. So, the … Read More
Excerpted from: Religion in the New Age: A Devotee’s Handbook, by Nayaswami Kriyananda The purpose of this essay is, above all, to address the question implied in the title, which concerns my Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, and his true mission in life. First it will be necessary for me, however, to lay a careful groundwork for my discussion, because most modern readers, even … Read More
Excerpted from: The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Nayaswami Kriyananda A student of one of my beginning classes in San Francisco, some time ago, drove with me to the Ananda Meditation Retreat in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Halfway through the journey her purse fell open. Out fell an assortment of green pills, yellow pills, blue pills. “What on earth are … Read More
Excerpted from: The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Nayaswami Kriyananda Fatigue is one of the most widespread ills of our age. It is not due to overwork (modern man does not work nearly so hard as his ancestors did), but rather to a scattering of our forces. Ours is not a “focused” age. Countless influences pull upon us in conflicting … Read More
Excerpted from: The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Nayaswami Kriyananda Transcendence is the goal of life. Rest is the goal of action. Breathlessness is the final goal of all breathing exercises. Spirit is the eternal silence out of which all sound and vibration are born. Deep yoga practice is not possible until superficial movements, including the movements of breath, have … Read More
Excerpted from: Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda The science of Kriya Yoga, mentioned so often in these pages, became widely known in modern India through the instrumentality of Lahiri Mahasaya, my guru’s guru. The Sanskrit root of Kriya is kri, to do, to act and react; the same root is found in the word karma, the natural principle of cause … Read More
Excerpted from: Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda The ancient Vedic scriptures declare that the physical world operates under one fundamental law of maya, the principle of relativity and duality. God, the Sole Life, is an Absolute Unity; He cannot appear as the separate and diverse manifestations of a creation except under a false or unreal veil. That cosmic illusion is … Read More
Excerpted from: God Is For Everyone, by Paramhansa Yogananda as taught to and understood by his disciple Swami Kriyananda The ego cannot easily conceptualize the vast consciousness that brought it into existence. Christian theologians describe God as “wholly other”: that is to say, completely different from His creation. Indeed, so He must be if one compares man’s littleness with God’s infinity; the theologians, … Read More
by Paramhansa Yogananda (Excerpted from: Inner Culture Magazine, December 1939) Intuition is that directly perceiving faculty of the soul which at once knows the truth about anything. Unless you have the power of intuition, you cannot possibly know Truth. It is the knowing power of the soul without the help of the senses or the mind. Intuition can give you knowledge … Read More
For answers to questions about Ananda, see Ananda and Swami Kriyananada’s role in Yogananda’s mission.