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Lahiri Mahasaya Quotes

Shyama Charan Lahiri , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi, guru and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861. Lahiri Mahasaya was also the guru of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. Mahasaya is a Sanskrit, spiritual title translated as 'large-minded'. He was unusual among Indian holy people in that he was a householder — marrying, raising a family, and working as an accountant for the Military Engineering Department of the British Indian government. Lahiri lived with his family in Varanasi rather than in a temple or monastery. He achieved a substantial reputation among 19th century Hindu religionists.

He became known in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda, a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, and through Yogananda's 1946 book Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda wrote that Lahiri was chosen by Mahavatar Babaji to reintroduce the lost practice of Kriya Yoga to the world; as such, Yogananda considered him a Yogavatar, or "Incarnation of Yoga." Lahiri's disciples included both of Yogananda's parents as well as Yogananda's own guru. Lahiri Mahasaya prophesied that the infant Yogananda would become a yogi, and that "as a spiritual engine, he will carry many souls to God's kingdom.'"Trailanga Swami, the famous saint of Varanasi, had praised Lahiri Mahasaya in the following words, “Lahiri Mahasaya is like a divine kitten, remaining wherever the Cosmic Mother has placed him. While dutifully playing the part of a worldly man, he has received that perfect Self-realization which I have sought by renouncing everything – even my loincloth!” Wikipedia  

✵ 30. September 1828 – 26. September 1895
Lahiri Mahasaya photo
Lahiri Mahasaya: 5 quotes3 likes

Famous Lahiri Mahasaya Quotes

“Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception.”

Lahiri Mahasaya

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 35 : The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya
Context: Solve all your problems through meditation. Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life. Though man's ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be endless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful.

“Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you.”

Lahiri Mahasaya

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 35 : The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya<!-- p. 314 -->
Context: Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world — so make the acquaintanceship of God now.

“By serving wise and ignorant sadhus, I am learning the greatest of virtues, pleasing to God above all others — humility.”

Lahiri Mahasaya

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 34 : Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas

“He only is wise who devotes himself to realizing, not reading only, the ancient revelations.”

Lahiri Mahasaya

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 35 : The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya

“All time is wasted that is not spent in seeking God.”

Lahiri Mahasaya

This adage is attributed to the ancient sage Sukdeva, as quoted in Promise of Immortality: The True Teaching of the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita (2001) by J. Donald Walters. p. 242
Disputed

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