Autobiography of a yogi on Superphysics

My Parents and Early Life

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was born in the 1890s in Gorakhpur in northeastern India where I stayed during my first 8 years.

My Parents and Early Life

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lahiri Mahasaya left this world shortly after I had entered it.

His picture has always graced our family altar in the various cities to which Father was transferred by his office.

My Mother’s Death And The Mystic Amulet

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

My mother’s greatest desire was the marriage of my elder brother. “Ah, when I behold the face of Ananta’s wife, I shall find heaven on this earth!” I frequently heard Mother express in these words her strong Indian sentiment for family continuity.

The Saint With Two Bodies

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yogananda

Father, if I promise to return home without coercion, may I take a sight-seeing trip to Benares?

My keen love of travel was seldom hindered by Father. He permitted me, even as a mere boy, to visit many cities and pilgrimage spots.

My Interrupted Flight Toward The Himalayas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Leave your classroom on some trifling pretext, and engage a hackney carriage. Stop in the lane where no one in my house can see you.”

These were my final instructions to Amar Mitter, a high school friend who planned to accompany me to the Himalayas. We had chosen the following day for our flight. Precautions were necessary, as Ananta exercised a vigilant eye. He was determined to foil the plans of escape which he suspected were uppermost in my mind. The amulet, like a spiritual yeast, was silently at work within me. Amidst the Himalayan snows, I hoped to find the master whose face often appeared to me in visions.

Ananta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A clever scheme had been prearranged by Ananta.

Before seeing me at Hardwar, he had stopped in Benares to ask a certain scriptural authority to interview me later. Both the pundit and his son had promised to undertake my dissuasion from the path of a sannyasi [renunciate]

A “Perfume Saint” Displays His Wonders

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

I did not have this wisdom of Solomon to comfort me;

I gazed searchingly on any excursion from home for the face of my destined guru.

The Tiger Swami

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“I have discovered the Tiger Swami’s address. Let us visit him tomorrow.”

This welcome suggestion came from Chandi, one of my high school friends. I was eager to meet the saint who, in his premonastic life, had caught and fought tigers with his naked hands. A boyish enthusiasm over such remarkable feats was strong within me.

The Levitating Saint

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“I saw a yogi remain in the air, several feet above the ground, last night at a group meeting.” My friend, Upendra Mohun Chowdhury, spoke impressively.

I gave him an enthusiastic smile. “Perhaps I can guess his name. Was it Bhaduri Mahasaya, of Upper Circular Road?”

India’s Great Scientist, J.C. Bose

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Jagadis Chandra Bose’s wireless inventions antedated those of Marconi.”

Overhearing this provocative remark, I walked closer to a sidewalk group of professors engaged in scientific discussion. If my motive in joining them was racial pride, I regret it. I cannot deny my keen interest in evidence that India can play a leading part in physics, and not metaphysics alone.

The Blissful Devotee And His Cosmic Romance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Little sir, please be seated. I am talking to my Divine Mother.”

Silently I had entered the room in great awe. The angelic appearance of Master Mahasaya fairly dazzled me.

I Meet My Master, Sri Yukteswar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Faith in God can produce any miracle except one-passing an examination without study.” Distastefully I closed the book I had picked up in an idle moment.

“The writer’s exception shows his complete lack of faith,” I thought. “Poor chap, he has great respect for the midnight oil!”

Two Penniless Boys In Brindaban

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“It would serve you right if Father disinherited you, Mukunda! How foolishly you are throwing away your life!” An elder-brother sermon was assaulting my ears.

Jitendra and I, fresh from the train (a figure of speech merely; we were covered with dust), had just arrived at the home of Ananta, recently transferred from Calcutta to the ancient city of Agra. Brother was a supervising accountant for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.

Years In My Master’s Hermitage

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“You have come.” Sri Yukteswar greeted me from a tiger skin on the floor of a balconied sitting room. His voice was cold, his manner unemotional.

“Yes, dear Master, I am here to follow you.” Kneeling, I touched his feet.

The Sleepless Saint

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“Please permit me to go to the Himalayas. I hope in unbroken solitude to achieve continuous divine communion.”

I actually once addressed these ungrateful words to my Master. Seized by one of the unpredictable delusions which occasionally assail the devotee, I felt a growing impatience with hermitage duties and college studies. A feebly extenuating circumstance is that my proposal was made when I had been only six months with Sri Yukteswar. Not yet had I fully surveyed his towering stature.

An Experience In Cosmic Consciousness

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“I am here, Guruji.” My shamefacedness spoke more eloquently for me.

“Let us go to the kitchen and find something to eat.” Sri Yukteswar’s manner was as natural as if hours and not days had separated us.

The Cauliflower Robbery

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Master, a gift for you! These six huge cauliflowers were planted with my hands; I have watched over their growth with the tender care of a mother nursing her child.” I presented the basket of vegetables with a ceremonial flourish.

Outwitting The Stars

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Mukunda, why don’t you get an astrological armlet?”

“Should I, Master? I don’t believe in astrology.”

“It is never a question of belief ; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true . The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief.

Sasi And The Three Sapphires

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Because you and my son think so highly of Swami Sri Yukteswar, I will take a look at him.” The tone of voice used by Dr. Narayan Chunder Roy implied that he was humoring the whim of half-wits. I concealed my indignation, in the best traditions of the proselyter.

A Mohammedan Wonder-Worker

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Years ago, right in this very room you now occupy, a Mohammedan wonder-worker performed four miracles before me!”

Sri Yukteswar made this surprising statement during his first visit to my new quarters. Immediately after entering Serampore College, I had taken a room in a near-by boardinghouse, called Panthi . It was an old- fashioned brick mansion, fronting the Ganges.

My Master, In Calcutta, Appears In Serampore

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“I am often beset by atheistic doubts. Yet a torturing surmise sometimes haunts me: may not untapped soul possibilities exist? Is man not missing his real destiny if he fails to explore them?”

We Do Not Visit Kashmir

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Father, I want to invite Master and four friends to accompany me to the Himalayan foothills during my summer vacation. May I have six train passes to Kashmir and enough money to cover our travel expenses?”

The earth-liberated Astral Being

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The earth-liberated astral being:

meets many relatives, fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and friends, acquired during different incarnations on earth.
- These appear from time to time in various parts of the astral realms.
therefore is at a loss to understand whom to love especially.
learns in this way to give a divine and equal love to all, as children and individualized expressions of God.

The outward appearance of loved ones may have changed according to the qualities they have developed from their latest life.

The mysterious causal world

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The causal world is indescribably subtle.

In order to understand it, one would have to possess such tremendous powers of concentration that he could close his eyes and visualize the astral cosmos and the physical cosmos in all their vastness-the luminous balloon with the solid basket-as existing in ideas only.

The mysterious causal world

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Yogananda

Angelic guru, your body looks exactly as it did when last I wept over it in the Puri ashram.

Sri Yukteswar

O yes, my new body is a perfect copy of the old one. I materialize or dematerialize this form any time at will, much more frequently than I did while on earth. By quick dematerialization, I now travel instantly by light express from planet to planet or, indeed, from astral to causal or to physical cosmos. Though you move about so fast these days, I had no difficulty in finding you at Bombay!

Yogananda

O Master, I was grieving so deeply about your death!

Sri Yukteswar

Ah, where did I die? Isn’t there some contradiction?

We Visit Kashmir

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“You are strong enough now to travel. I will accompany you to Kashmir,” Sri Yukteswar informed me two days after my miraculous recovery from Asiatic cholera.

That evening our party of six entrained for the north. Our first leisurely stop was at Simla, a queenly city resting on the throne of Himalayan hills. We strolled over the steep streets, admiring the magnificent views.

The Heart Of A Stone Image

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“As a loyal Hindu wife, I do not wish to complain of my husband. But I yearn to see him turn from his materialistic views. He delights in ridiculing the pictures of saints in my meditation room. Dear brother, I have deep faith that you can help him. Will you?”

I Receive My University Degree

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“You ignore your textbook assignments in philosophy. No doubt you are depending on an unlaborious ‘intuition’ to get you through the examinations. But unless you apply yourself in a more scholarly manner, I shall see to it that you don’t pass this course.”

I Become A Monk Of The Swami Order

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Master, my father has been anxious for me to accept an executive position with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. But I have definitely refused it.” I added hopefully, “Sir, will you not make me a monk of the Swami Order?” I looked pleadingly at my guru. During preceding years, in order to test the depth of my determination, he had refused this same request. Today, however, he smiled graciously.

Brother Ananta And Sister Nalini

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Ananta cannot live; the sands of his karma for this life have run out.”

These inexorable words reached my inner consciousness as I sat one morning in deep meditation. Shortly after I had entered the Swami Order, I paid a visit to my birthplace, Gorakhpur, as a guest of my elder brother Ananta. A sudden illness confined him to his bed; I nursed him lovingly.

The Science Of Kriya Yoga

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The science of Kriya Yoga became widely known in modern India through Lahiri Mahasaya, my guru’s guru.

The Sanskrit root of Kriya is kri, to do, to act and react.

The Science Of Kriya Yoga

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The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the 6 spinal centers:

medullary
cervical
dorsal
lumbar
sacral
coccygeal plexuses

These correspond to the 12 astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man.

Founding A Yoga School At Ranchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Why are you averse to organizational work?”

Master’s question startled me a bit. It is true that my private conviction at the time was that organizations were “hornets’ nests.”

“It is a thankless task, sir,” I answered. “No matter what the leader does or does not, he is criticized.”

Kashi, Reborn And Rediscovered

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Please do not go into the water. Let us bathe by dipping our buckets.”

I was addressing the young Ranchi students who were accompanying me on an eight-mile hike to a neighboring hill. The pond before us was inviting, but a distaste for it had arisen in my mind.

Rabindranath Tagore And I Compare Schools

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Rabindranath Tagore taught us to sing, as a natural form of self- expression, like the birds.”

Bhola Nath, a bright fourteen-year-old lad at my Ranchi school, gave me this explanation after I had complimented him one morning on his melodious outbursts. With or without provocation, the boy poured forth a tuneful stream. He had previously attended the famous Tagore school of “Santiniketan” (Haven of Peace) at Bolpur.

The Law Of Miracles

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The great novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote a delightful story, The Three Hermits:

“On an island there lived three old hermits. They were so simple that the only prayer they used was: ‘We are three; Thou art Three-have mercy on us!’ Great miracles were manifested during this naive prayer.

An Interview With The Sacred Mother

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yogananda

Reverend Mother, I was baptized in infancy by your prophet-husband. He was the guru of my parents and of my own guru Sri Yukteswarji. Will you therefore give me the privilege of hearing a few incidents in your sacred life?

I was addressing Srimati Kashi Moni, the life-companion of Lahiri Mahasaya.

Train

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The wheels of the snorting train continued to move round and round, but there was no onward progress.

The engineer and passengers descended to the platform to view the phenomenon. An English railroad guard approached Abhoya and her husband. Contrary to all precedent, he volunteered his services.

Rama Is Raised From The Dead

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“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus. . . . When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’“ 32-1

Babaji, The Yogi-Christ Of Modern India

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The northern Himalayan crags near Badrinarayan are still blessed by the living presence of Babaji, guru of Lahiri Mahasaya. The secluded master has retained his physical form for centuries, perhaps for millenniums. The deathless Babaji is an avatara. This Sanskrit word means “descent”; its roots are ava, “down,” and tri, “to pass.” In the Hindu scriptures, avatara signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh.

Materializing A Palace In The Himalayas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Babaji’s first meeting with Lahiri Mahasaya is an enthralling story, and one of the few which gives us a detailed glimpse of the deathless guru.”

These words were Swami Kebalananda’s preamble to a wondrous tale. The first time he recounted it I was literally spellbound. On many other occasions I coaxed my gentle Sanskrit tutor to repeat the story, which was later told me in substantially the same words by Sri Yukteswar. Both these Lahiri Mahasaya disciples had heard the awesome tale direct from the lips of their guru.

The Christlike Life Of Lahiri Mahasaya

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I think that John the Baptist was, in past lives, the guru of Christ.

Lahiri Mahasaya

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The master’s omnipresence was demonstrated one day before a group of disciples who were listening to his exposition of the Bhagavad Gita.

As he was explaining the meaning of Kutastha Chaitanya or the Christ Consciousness in all vibratory creation, Lahiri Mahasaya suddenly gasped and cried out:

Babaji’s Interest In The West

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

It was a calm summer night in Serampore.

The large stars of the tropics gleamed over our heads as I sat by Sri Yukteswar’s side on the second-story balcony of the hermitage.

I Go To America

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yogananda

America! Surely these people are Americans!

This was my thought as a panoramic vision of Western faces passed before my inward view.

In Sparta

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I left India in August, 1920, on The City Of Sparta, the first passenger boat sailing for America after the close of World War I.

I had been able to book passage only after the removal, in ways fairly miraculous, of many “red-tape” difficulties concerned with the granting of my passport.

Luther Burbank — A Saint Amidst The Roses

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“The secret of improved plant breeding, apart from scientific knowledge, is love.” Luther Burbank uttered this wisdom as I walked beside him in his Santa Rosa garden. We halted near a bed of edible cacti.

Therese Neumann, The Catholic Stigmatist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sri Yukteswar

Return to india. I have waited for you patiently for 15 years. Soon I shall swim out of the body and on to the Shining Abode. Yogananda, come!

Sri Yukteswar’s voice sounded startlingly in my inner ear as I sat in meditation at my Mt. Washington headquarters.

I Return To India

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Our boat Rajputana docked on August 22, 1935 in the huge harbor of Bombay.

Friends had gathered at the dock with garlands and greetings; soon, at our suite in the Taj Mahal Hotel, there was a stream of reporters and photographers.

An Idyl In South India

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“You are the first Westerner, Dick, ever to enter that shrine. Many others have tried in vain.”

At my words Mr. Wright looked startled, then pleased. We had just left the beautiful Chamundi Temple in the hills overlooking Mysore in southern India. There we had bowed before the gold and silver altars of the Goddess Chamundi, patron deity of the family of the reigning maharaja.

Last Days With My Guru

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Guruji, I am glad to find you alone this morning.”

I had just arrived at the Serampore hermitage, carrying a fragrant burden of fruit and roses. Sri Yukteswar glanced at me meekly.

The Resurrection Of Sri Yukteswar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Lord Krishna!”

Krishna appeared in a shimmering blaze outside the Regent Hotel in Bombay as I gazed out of my third-story window.

It waved to me, smiling and nodding in greeting. I could not understand the exact message of Lord Krishna, but he departed with a gesture of blessing.

Sri Yukteswar Explains Astral Planets

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

There are many astral planets, teeming with astral beings.

The inhabitants use astral planes, or masses of light, to travel from one planet to another, faster than electricity and radioactive energies.

Mahatma Gandhi's Ahimsa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the early afternoon, I fulfilled a neighborly Nri Yajna by a visit to Gandhi’s ashram for little girls.

Mr. Wright accompanied me on the ten-minute drive. Tiny young flowerlike faces atop the long-stemmed colorful saris! At the end of a brief talk in Hindi 44-7 which I was giving outdoors, the skies unloosed a sudden downpour.

With Mahatma Gandhi At Wardha

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Welcome to Wardha!” Mahadev Desai, secretary to Mahatma Gandhi, greeted Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright, and myself with these cordial words and the gift of wreaths of khaddar (homespun cotton).

Our little group had just dismounted at the Wardha station on an early morning in August, glad to leave the dust and heat of the train. Consigning our luggage to a bullock cart, we entered an open motor car with Mr. Desai and his companions, Babasaheb Deshmukh and Dr. Pingale.

The Bengali 'Joy-Permeated' Mother

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Sir, please do not leave India without a glimpse of Nirmala Devi. Her sanctity is intense; she is known far and wide as Ananda Moyi Ma (Joy- Permeated Mother).” My niece, Amiyo Bose, gazed at me earnestly.

The Woman Yogi Who Never Eats

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Sir, whither are we bound this morning?” Mr. Wright was driving the Ford; he took his eyes off the road long enough to gaze at me with a questioning twinkle. From day to day he seldom knew what part of Bengal he would be discovering next.

I Return To The West

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

September 1936.

I have given many yoga lessons in India and America. But, as a Hindu, I am unusually happy in conducting classes for English students.

India was now a hallowed memory. I am in England to fulfill a promise given 16 months earlier to lecture again in London.

At Encinitas In California

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“A surprise, sir! During your absence abroad we have had this Encinitas hermitage built; it is a ‘welcome-home’ gift!” Sister Gyanamata smilingly led me through a gate and up a tree-shaded walk.