Sunil Vaid
Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda was born in India on January 5, 1893. He had remarkable childhood that clearly indicated his life which was marked for a divine destiny. His mother recognised this and encouraged his noble ideas and spiritual aspirations. When he was only eleven, the loss of his mother, whom he loved above all else in this world, made firm his inherent resolve to find God and to receive from the creator himself the answers yearned for in every human heart.
He was an Indian monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya yoga through his organisation, self realization fellowships/ Yogananda Satsang society (YSS) of India and lived his last 32 years in America. A chief disciple of the Bengali yoga Guru Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of Yoga to west, to prove the unity between East and West. Sri Sri Swami Yukteshwar Giri was one of line exalted gurus, with whom he had been linked from birth. Sri Sri Yogananda parents were disciples of Sri Sri Lahiri Mahasya, Guru of Sri Yukteshwarji. Lahiri Mahasya was a disciple of Maha Avtar Babaji, the deathless Master who revived in this age the ancient science of Kriya yoga. Praised by lord Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita, and by patanjali in the yoga sutras, Kriya yoga is both transcendent technique of meditation and art of living that leads to union of soul with God. Mahaavtar Babaji revealed the sacred Kriya to Lahiri Mahasya, who handed it down to Sri Yukteshwarji, who taught it to Paramhansa Yogananda.
In 1917 in India Yogananda began his life’s work with founding of a ‘how-to-live’ school for boys ; where modern educational methods were combined with Yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920 he was invited to serve as India’s delegate to an international congress of religious liberals in Boston. His address to the congress, on the “The science of religion” was enthusiastically received. For the next several years he lectured and taught across the United States. His discourses taught of the “Unity of original techniques of Jesus Christ and the original Yoga taught by Bhagwan Krishna.”
In 1920 he founded the self realization fellowship and in 1925 established in Los Angeles, California USA, the international headquarter for SRF. Yogananda wrote down his aims and ideals for self realization fellowship/Yogada Satsang society. In his published work, the self realization fellowships lessons, Yogananda gives his in-depth instruction in the practice of the highest yoga science of God Realization. Echoing traditional Hindu teachings, he taught that the entire universe is God’s cosmic motion picture and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation. He taught the mankind’s deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with ones current role, rather than movie’s director or God. He taught Kriya yoga and other meditation practices to help people achieve and understand which he called self- realization.
The science of Kriya yoga is the foundation of Yogananda teachings. An Ancient spiritual practice Kriya yoga is “Union with the infinite through a certain action or rite (Kriya).” As described by Yogananda, the Kriya yoga mentally directs his energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centres (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic cosmic men. One half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of men effects subtle progress in his evolution, the half minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual enfoldment.
Yogananda emphasized the underlying unity of the world’s great religions, and taught universally applicable methods for attaining direct personal experience of God. To serious students of his teachings, he taught the soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga, initiating more than 100,000 men and women during his thirty years in the west. Among those who became his students were many prominent figures in science, business, and the arts, including horticulturist Luther Burbank, operatic soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, George Eastman (inventor of the Kodak camera),poet Edwin Markham, and symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski.
During Yogananda’s year-long sojourn in his native land, he gave classes and Kriya yoga initiation in cities throughout the subcontinent. He also enjoyed meetings with Mahatma Gandhi who requested initiation in Kriya Yoga; Nobel-prize-winning physicist Sir C.V. Raman; and some of India’s most renowned spiritual figures, including Ramana Maharishi and Anandamoyi Ma.
God is and each man who will seek him sincerely will know him. Paramhansji said “Knowing God is not only a privilege but a divine duty and practical necessity.” It is said that the child is busy with play, the youth is busy with enjoyment and adult is busy with worries. But who seeks God and who seeks with all depth and fervour of his soul he finds him and is wisest of all men.
At present times when stress and trauma due to COVID-19 harbours mankind, it is worthwhile to practice Kriya yoga and seek God. All those who sincerely seek him will surely find him whatever Religion/sect we follow, if we have ever increasing desire for him, day and night. He will acknowledge our love by fulfilling his promise to us throughout eternity and we will receive joy and happiness unending which shall carry away our worries. As Paramhansji said “Practice Kriya yoga and remember the Lord and All will be light, joy, peaceful and lovely.” |
