Home
Doors
Essays2007
Essays2008
Essays2009
Essays2010
Wisdom
Gallery
Links
Bios
Contact
|
..:: Paramahansa
Yogananda ::..
By
Alan Schneider
In recent history, many Indian gurus have
brought their world views and spiritual insights to this country, and
the international community. I wish to direct our attention here to one
such individual who has had an enormous impact on the development
of religious thought around the world – Paramahansa Yogananda. His works
have been published in English, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada,
Marathi, Telugu, Japanese, Arabic, Greek, Icelandic, Danish, Dutch,
French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and other
languages, as a testimony to the global character of his effort, which
has been carried forth to the present day by the organization he founded
– the Self Realization Fellowship.
This great Hindu Mystic and
Seer was born on January 05, 1893, in Gorakhpur, northern India, near
the Himalayas, as Mukunda Lal Ghosh. He was one of eight children,
including three other brothers and four sisters. His family was Bengali,
and belonged to the Kshatriya caste, originally designated as
warriors and secular rulers in pre-modern India. He assumed the name
“Yogananda” in 1915, upon his induction into the ancient Swami
Order, and was further imbued with the additional name of “Paramahansa”
by his personal guru, Sri Yukteswar, in 1935.
His father was an accountant
for the Indian railway system, while his mother was, as was customary in
those times, a wife and homemaker. She nonetheless was a powerful
influence in the family home, not only over the father, but over all the
children as well, particularly Paramahansa. This woman’s spiritual
direction and support helped to shape the future Guru’s moral and
spiritual development from his earliest years in their home. It was she
who introduced the children to the Hindu epics of the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana.
Yogananda was granted a
bachelor’s degree from Calcutta University in June of 1915, after a
period of some years of academic struggle and difficulty. The function
of the intellect, as exemplified by egoic self perception, is
well known as an impediment to the attainment of Enlightenment in
Eastern religion in general, and Hinduism in particular, and this was
evidently the case for Yogananda as well. Fortunately, he was able to
preserve his spiritual understanding and perception in spite of this
obstacle (series of obstacles, really), and matriculated from college
with an intact and divinely focused world view.
Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda’s
Guru and spiritual guide, was probably the single most pervasive
influence on the young Yogi’s consciousness, an influence which was
imparted to him from adolescence in the Guru’s Ashram in Bengal
province. It is appropriate to mention something about the Guru/Initiate
relationship in this context. The Guru does considerably more than
simply impart scriptural information and direction to the Initiate. The
Guru is literally spiritually connected to the Initiate’s
consciousness at the deepest possible level, at the level of
God-Realization, which exists beyond even the personal and
collective unconscious regions, at the core of all mental activity – the
Primal Self. This is a transpersonal bond which enables a profoundly
intimate contact. In a sense, the Guru literally enables direct
transference of Divine perception from himself to the Initiate through
various techniques, including Darshan, sitting in the Master’s
presence, Satsang, the association with other devotees, and the
imparting of a Divine Mantra, or sound, to the Initiate. This
latter activity frequently takes place in secrecy, in order to maintain
the personal nature of the intonation used. The intended result of the
ashram environment – by living in this way for several years – is the
attainment of Samadhi, or complete Enlightenment, accompanied by
the release from all Karma and worldly bonds affecting consciousness.
Karma means “action” in Sanskrit, and is accumulated by
(customarily) many lifetimes spent in the condition of samsara –
the perceived (but still illusory) suffering in the material
world. When the disciple has reached a level of attainment characterized
by the complete and permanent absence of material concern, and perceives
only the action and presence of the Divine in the world, he/she is said
to be God-Realized, and focused in Ananda – spiritual
Bliss.
Paramanansa Yogananda first
came to the United States in October of 1920. He was to address the
International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, convened by the
Unitarian Universalist Association of America. He remained in the United
States through 1935, establishing the American headquarters of what
eventually became the Self Realization Fellowship at Mount Washington
Estates in Los Angeles in 1925, and traveling , lecturing, and teaching
the practice of Kriya Yoga all over America.
On August 22, 1935, Yogananda
returned to India. His Guru had become ill and was dying in the Bengal
Ashram. By September of 1936, he had witnessed the passing of Sri
Yukteswar, presided over his Guru’s last rites, and subsequently
traveled to England, and then to Europe, meeting with other Seers and
Holy Ones on the continent. By Easter of 1937, he had returned to
America, and conducted the Easter service at his new Ashram at
Encinitas, California.
Yogananda continued to travel
and expound the philosophy and practice of Kriya Yoga in America and
abroad. He established ashrams and instructional centers all over the
country and the world from 1940 to 1950, inclusively, and this in
addition to the existing centers in India at the time of his initial
American journey. Finally, on March 07, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda
achieved Mahasamadhi, and passed beyond the veil of this illusory
existence in Los Angeles. It is noteworthy that his body defied physical
decomposition for a period of twenty days following his death, until his
eventual burial, as a testament to his spiritual purity.
The practice of Kriya Yoga is
the spiritual and philosophical core of Yogananda’s teaching,
constituting the Gateway to Enlightenment. This is a complete system of
spiritual lifestyle elements and involvements on all levels, not simply
of Yoga postural positions (asanas) and breathing techniques (pranas),
both of which are highly specialized in the Kriya Yoga
discipline. One of the facets of this approach that I personally have
found to be of great interest is the practice of lengthy extended
meditation. I have attended several of these sessions at the Phoenix
facility of the SRF on Central Avenue over the years, and can attest to
their effectiveness. It is common to sit in meditation in this method
for a minimum of two hours at a time, and four is the norm. The
Christmas Meditation lasts eight hours, with the break for lunch
considered to be optional.
The practice of meditation is
known to increase in effectiveness with time spent in the resultant
trance state that is experienced. As one passes into the condition of
ego relaxation associated with this trance condition, several stages of
heightened consciousness occur, eventually culminating in the direct
perception and experience of the Divine condition in the state of
Samadhi already noted. As this state is attained with frequency, the
condition of God-Realization begins to occur as a permanent shift in the
Initiate’s consciousness, and the physical world of Maya and suffering
is transmuted into the experience of Divine Bliss – extreme happiness
and contentment – as the hallmark of Enlightenment.
One of the unique and noteworthy elements of Yogananda’s spiritual
philosophy is the official, prescribed combination of traditional
Eastern Yoga with traditional Western Christianity. This
Guru-in-his-own-rite wrote many discourses on the blending of the two
traditions, including hymnals that cross reference Christian and Yogic
terminology, the incorporating of communion and Sunday services at
ashrams, acceptance of Christ as the universal Savior of humanity, and
observance of several Christian rites as spiritual protocols. I can
remember the initially odd combination of these elements in the chants
at the Phoenix ashram “Om Christ, Om Christ, Om Christ, Om”, in several
variants, as the accompaniment to the long meditations, featuring
instrumental support on the harmonium, a traditional Hindu temple
bellows organ. The combination of these apparently so disparate
philosophies into a working belief system serves as the final gift of
Paramanhansa Yogananda’s life to humanity, the life of a Saint, Seer,
and spiritual Visionary.
- With Love, Alan -
(CR2008, Alan Schneider)
Return to Top
|