Paramahansa Yogananda     37 posts


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The company you keep is important. If you leave your coat in a room where people are smoking, pretty soon it will smell of smoke. If you leave it outside in the garden, later on, when you bring it indoors, it will carry with it the fragrance of fresh air and flowers.

Such is the case with the mind. Your garment of thoughts absorbs the vibrations of those with whom you mix. If you mingle with pessimists, in time you will become a pessimist. And if you mingle with cheerful, happy people, you yourself will develop a cheerful, happy nature.

Environment is stronger than will power. To mix with worldly people without absorbing at least some of their worldliness requires great spiritual strength.

Beginners on the spiritual path, especially, should be very careful in the company they keep. They should mix with other devotees, and try not to mingle with ego-saturated, worldly people. They should especially avoid people who are negative, even if those people are devotees.

Whether one becomes a saint or a sinner is to a great extent determined by the company he keeps.

— The Essence of Self-Realization

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Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it.

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You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you.

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Just as by the power of thought you can change yourself to be whatever you want to be, so most importantly, you will be able to change your consciousness from that of a mortal to a divine being. The mortal man is he who thinks, “This is the way I live and this is the way I’ll be until I die.” ⠀

But the divine man says, “I dreamed I was a mortal, but now I am awake and know that I am a child of God, made in the image of the Father.” Though it takes time to realize this fully, it can be done. ⠀

If when the time comes for meditation at night you yield to the thought, “It is so late now to meditate; let me sleep and I will meditate tomorrow,” you will be sleeping into the grave. When the world has surrendered to the drug of slumber, you be awake in God. And throughout the day’s activities, think that it is God who is working through you. ⠀

Give the responsibility to Him. He who thinks of God all the time, can he do wrong? Even if he happens to err, God knows it was his wish to do right. Give everything to God, and you will change because then the human ego can no longer dictate to you.

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Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire - for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness - that is the way to live in this world.

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Don’t take life so seriously. This world is a terrible place, there is no safety here. But what are we to do? We must stop taking life so seriously. Delusion can be overcome by holding steadfastly to one philosophy: everything here is nothing more than God’s motion picture. Don’t make a fuss about anything. Whenever you worry, remember, you are deepening the cosmic delusion within you. It is your own dreams that frighten you. In every form of sense experience you must remind yourself, ‘IT IS A DREAM!’ So don’t be attached to the passing dreams of life. Live for God and God alone.

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Whatever you fear, keep it out of your mind and leave it in God's hands. Have faith in God. Much of the suffering is due only to worry. Why suffer before the disease actually shows up? Since most of our ailments come from fear, if you throw away all fear you will be free instantly. Healing will be immediate. Every night, before you fall asleep, repeat this statement: "Divine Mother is with me; I am protected". Imagine yourself surrounded by the Spirit’s cosmic energy, and think, "Every germ that attacks me will be electrocuted". Chant three times Om or the word "God"; this will act like a shield and you will feel the wonderful divine protection. Let go of fear and negativity, it's the only way to be healthy. If you commune with God, truth will flow to you and you will know that you are actually the imperishable soul.

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God is the electricity, and human beings are the light bulbs. The bulbs maybe infinitely varied in shape, color, and brightness.

The actual power with which they shine, however, is the same for all... Never forget the true Source of power in yourself, and in all that you see around you.

~ The Essence of Self-Realization

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If you love God and therefore love everybody, that does not mean that you love the faults in people. If one loves the Father of all, and if he has the slightest thought of revenge toward anyone or desire to punish anyone, he falls a million miles away from God. One who loves God dares not entertain thoughts of doing injury to anyone. It would be wrong, of course, to support anyone blindly. But nonsupport of the wrongdoing in others does not mean that anyone should vengefully hurt others. A philosopher once said: "The best sort of revenge is not to be like him who did the injury." We should have respect for others' opinions as we wish others to respect our opinions,- there is no room for ugliness. We should lovingly disagree as well as lovingly agree. I am working for God alone. Earth has no illusion for me; I have seen through them all. You too should realize that you are visiting this earth only temporarily; you are here solely to learn necessary lessons and to help all who cross your path. You do not know why you have been cast in a particular role, so you must learn what God expects of you. Don't harbor personal desires; your only desire should be to follow the Lord's will and to live and work for Him. We are here today, tomorrow we are gone: mere shadows in a cosmic dream. But behind the unreality of these fleeting pictures is the immortal reality of Spirit. Life here on earth appears futile and chaotic until we are anchored in the Divine.

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The whispers of mind are different from the whispers of conscience; and different from both is the Voice of Spirit. The mental voice is nothing but the vibrations of an undecided sense mind. The voice of conscience is that of discrimination and inner wisdom. But the Voice of God, from which prophecies come forth, is the Presence of an Infallible Intuition. Striving yogis should pragmatically view this world as a school. The highest lesson set for each man is the realization that he is not a mortal, beset by pain and mutability, but a free son of God. The good student who is successful in the tests of earthly life and who passes the "final examination" has no need to return for further instruction. He has earned the divine Ph.D.

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Even the greatest masters listen humbly to their gurus, because it is the way of righteousness.

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The greatest romance is with the Infinite. You have no idea how beautiful life can be. When you suddenly find God everywhere, when He comes and talks to you and guides you, the romance of divine love has begun.

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The greatest romance is with the Infinite. You have no idea how beautiful life can be. When you suddenly find God everywhere, when He comes and talks to you and guides you, the romance of divine love has begun.

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Don't waste time in seeking little things. Naturally it is easier to get other gifts from God than the supreme gift of Himself. But don't be satisfied with anything less than the highest.

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Sound or vibration is the most powerful force in the universe. Music is a divine art, to be used not only for pleasure
but as a path to God-realization.
Vibrations resulting from devotional singing lead to
attunement with the Cosmic Vibration or the Word.

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Never believe that you live by the power of food and not by the power of God! He who has created every form of nourishment, He who has bestowed appetite, will inevitably see that His devotee is maintained. Do not imagine that rice sustains you nor that money or men support you. Could they aid if the Lord withdraws your life breath? They are His instruments merely. Is it by any skill of yours that food digests in your stomach? Use the sword of your discrimination…! Cut through the chains of agency and perceive the Single Cause!

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The spiritual man, ever watchful for freedom, safeguards it by meditation. When the will is free, it vibrates in harmony with the Infinite. Man’s will is then God’s will.
Blind renunciation of material objects does not insure freedom; it is by enjoying the bliss of Spirit in meditation and by comparing it with the lesser joy of the senses that the devotee becomes eager to follow the spiritual path

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You are not determined enough. As the miser loves money, as the lover loves the beloved, so should you love God, then you will find Him, without fail.

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People are running, running, but there is no place in the world to which they can flee to escape themselves. Ultimately, each one must face himself.

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O Father, when I was blind I found not a door that led to Thee. Thou hast healed my eyes; now I discover doors everywhere: the hearts of flowers, the voices of friendship, memories of lovely experiences. Each gust of my prayer opens a new entrance to the vast temple of Thy presence.

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The devotee is a Divine lark, immersed in the spirit of his song; he has no thought about personal gain or impressing others with his singing. The actions of the devotee are for the Infinite alone, not to please mankind nor to satisfy his own material desires.

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Belief and experience are quite different. A belief comes from what you have heard or read and accepted as fact, but experience is something you have actually perceived. The convictions of those who have experienced God cannot be shaken.

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There are two kinds of seekers: those who are like the baby monkey and those who are like the kitten. The baby monkey clings to the mother; but when she jumps, it may fall off. The little kitten is carried about by the mother cat, content wherever she places it. The kitten has complete trust in its mother. I am more like that; I give all responsibility to the Divine Mother. But to maintain that attitude takes great will. Under all circumstances — health or sickness, riches or poverty, sunshine or gray clouds — your feeling must remain unruffled. Even when you are in the coal bin of suffering you don't wonder why the Mother placed you there. You have faith that She knows best. Sometimes an apparent disaster turns into a blessing for you....

Gloom is but the shade of Divine Mother’s hand outstretched caressingly. Don’t forget that. Sometimes, when the Mother is going to caress you, a shadow is caused by Her hand before it touches you. So when trouble comes, don’t think that She is punishing you; Her hand overshadowing you holds some blessing as it reaches out to bring you nearer to Her.

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"Banks of Eternity" by Paramhansa Yogananda

At last I found the banks of eternity and there I sat, musing, to plunge, swim, and melt in that ocean of immortality. Melting myself within Myself I became the ocean of luminous light. All dream waves of many incarnations have melted into the sea of one flame.

All rivers of my desires have become one vast sea of desire for God. The loves of many lives have commingled to become one cosmic love. The joys of many centuries have gathered together and become the all-pervading joy.

Beloved of my heart, since Thou hast created me, it is in Thy power to release at once the atoms of my body into the freedom of Thy light. No longer do I want to play with this wave of life or with other waves of lives.

Bless me that I may expand this soul into Thy Spirit — expand my wisdom into Thy wisdom, and expand my bliss into Thy bliss. I, the tiny wave of life, must become the ever-expanding ocean of immortality.

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The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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f you ask your right from the Father, He will give it to you. To those devotees who urge, He comes. That is what He wants. His whole creation is intended to disillusion you, and thus cause you to draw back to Him.

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