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Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes

Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced millions of Indians and westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and Self-Realization Fellowship. His book, Autobiography of a Yogi remains a spiritual masterpiece and was included in the 100 best spiritual books of the 21st century.

✵ 5. January 1893 – 7. March 1952  •  Other names پرم ہنس یوگانند, פרמהנסה יוגאננדה, Парамаганса Йогананда
Paramahansa Yogananda photo

Works

Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi
Paramahansa Yogananda
Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda: 65 quotes53 likes

Famous Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes

“There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise…”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The entire universe is God's cosmic motion picture, and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation; mankind's deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one's current role, rather than with the movie's director, or God.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man's slavery”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

“Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“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.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Source: In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer

Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes about God

“So long as we believe in our heart of hearts that our capacity is limited and we grow anxious and unhappy, we are lacking in faith. One who truly trusts in God has no right to be anxious about anything.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“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.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“God is simple. Everything else is complex. Do not seek absolute values in the relative world of nature.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi:

“You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides him from you”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

“Divine incarnations do not come to bring a new or exclusive religion, but to restore the One Religion of God-realization.
Many are the churches and temples founded in his name, often prosperous and powerful, but where is the communion that he stressed — actual contact with God? Jesus wants temples to be established in human souls, first and foremost; then established outwardly in physical places of worship. Instead, there are countless huge edifices with vast congregations being indoctrinated in churchianity, but few souls who are really in touch with Christ through deep prayer and meditation.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes about the soul

“Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Source: Where There is Light: Insight and Inspiration for Meeting Life's Challenges

“The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all about, one must know God.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“To work with God's happiness bubbling in the soul is to carry a portable paradise within you wherever you go.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The happiness of one's own heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must try to include, as necessary to one's happiness, the happiness of others.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“How do the receptive perceive truth, whereas the unreceptive "seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand"? The ultimate truths of heaven and the kingdom of God, the reality that lies behind sensory perception and beyond the cogitations of the rationalizing mind, can only be grasped by intuition — awakening the intuitive knowing, the pure comprehension, of the soul.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda: Trending quotes

“Stillness is the altar of spirit.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes

“Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself……”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

“If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“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.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“Every tomorrow is determined by every today.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The wave is the same as the ocean, though it is not the whole ocean. So each wave of creation is a part of the eternal Ocean of Spirit. The Ocean can exist without the waves, but the waves cannot exist without the Ocean.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

“The deeper the Self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

“There is a distinguishing difference of meaning between Jesus and Christ. His given name was Jesus; his honorific title was "Christ." In his little human body called Jesus was born the vast Christ Consciousness, the omniscient Intelligence of God omnipresent in every part and particle of creation. This Consciousness is the "only begotten Son of God," so designated because it is the sole perfect reflection in creation of the Transcendental Absolute, Spirit or God the Father.
It was of that Infinite Consciousness, replete with the love and bliss of God, that Saint John spoke when he said: "As many as received him [the Christ Consciousness], to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Thus according to Jesus' own teaching as recorded by his most highly advanced apostle, John, all souls who become united with Christ Consciousness by intuitive Self-realization are rightly called sons of God….”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“These teachings have been sent to explain the truth as Jesus intended it to be known in the world — not to give a new Christianity, but to give the real Christ-teaching: how to become like Christ, how to resurrect the Eternal Christ within one's Self…”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“Love is the song of the soul, singing to God.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "What is Love?"

“The lack of individual prayer and communion with God has divorced modern Christians and Christian sects from Jesus' teaching of the real perception of God, as is true also of all religious paths inaugurated by God-sent prophets whose followers drift into byways of dogma and ritual rather than actual God-communion. Those paths that have no esoteric soul-lifting training busy themselves with dogma and building walls to exclude people with different ideas. Divine persons who really perceive God include everybody within the path of their love, not in the concept of an eclectic congregation but in respectful divine friendship toward all true lovers of God and the saints of all religions.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“If by this superhuman concentration one succeeded in converting or resolving the two cosmoses with all their complexities into sheer ideas, he would then reach the causal world and stand on the borderline of fusion between mind and matter. There one perceives all created things — solids, liquids, gases, electricity, energy, all beings, gods, men, animals, plants, bacteria — as forms of consciousness, just as a man can close his eyes and realize that he exists, even though his body is invisible to his physical eyes and is present only as an idea.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 43 - "The Resurrection Of Sri Yukteswar"

“To gaze with looks of wonderment,
And to serve all that lives, still or moving.
This is to know what love is.
He knows who lives it.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "What is Love?"

“Christ has been much misinterpreted by the world. Even the most elementary principles of his teachings have been desecrated, and their esoteric depths have been forgotten. They have been crucified at the hands of dogma, prejudice, and cramped understanding. Genocidal wars have been fought, people have been burned as witches and heretics, on the presumed authority of man-made doctrines of Christianity. How to salvage the immortal teachings from the hands of ignorance? We must know Jesus as an Oriental Christ, a supreme yogi who manifested full mastery of the universal science of God-union, and thus could speak and act as a savior with the voice and authority of God.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“In titling this work The Second Coming of Christ, I am not referring to a literal return of Jesus to earth. He came two thousand years ago and, after imparting a universal path to God's kingdom, was crucified and resurrected; his reappearance to the masses now is not necessary for the fulfillment of his teachings. What is necessary is for the cosmic wisdom and divine perception of Jesus to speak again through each one's own experience and understanding of the infinite Christ Consciousness that was incarnate in Jesus. That will be his true Second Coming.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“Many sects, many denominations, many beliefs, many persecutions, many conflicts and upheavals have been created by misinterpretations. Now, Christ reveals the consummate message in the simple words he spoke to an ancient people in a less-advanced age of civilization. Read, understand, and feel Christ speaking to you through this "Second Coming" bible, urging you to be redeemed by realization of the true "Second Coming," the resurrection within you of the Infinite Christ Consciousness.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“Nor doomsday’s thunderous roar,
Dismantling earth and stars —
The cosmic beauties all to mar —
Not Nature’s murderous mutiny,
Nor man’s exploding destiny
Can touch me here.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Nature’s Nature"

“Not an unconscious state
Or mental chloroform without wilful return,
Samadhi but extends my realm of consciousness
Beyond the limits of my mortal frame
To the boundaries of eternity,
Where I, the Cosmic Sea,
Watch the little ego floating in Me.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Samadhi"

“Away, the partial love
That ‘boldens Nature to sit above
Her Maker!”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Nature’s Nature"

“It is the call of the beauty — robed ones
To worship the great Beauty.
It is the call of God
Through silent intelligences
And starburst of feelings.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "What is Love?"

“The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the "Christian" Bible, for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all….”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“Love is the Heaven
Toward which the flowers, rivers, nations, atoms, creatures — you and I
Are rushing by the straight path of action right,
Or winding laboriously on error’s path,
All to reach haven there at last.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "What is Love?"

“I exist without the cosmic shadow,
But it could not live bereft of me;
As the sea exists without the waves,
But they breathe not without the sea.
Dreams, wakings, states of deep turiya sleep,
Present, past, future, no more for me,
But the ever-present, all-flowing, I, I everywhere.
Consciously enjoyable,
Beyond the imagination of all expectancy,
Is this, my samadhi state.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Samadhi"

“It is an erroneous assumption of limited minds that great ones such as Jesus, Krishna, and other divine incarnations are gone from the earth when they are no longer visible to human sight. This is not so… Jesus Christ is very much alive and active today. In Spirit and occasionally taking on a flesh-and-blood form, he is working unseen by the masses for the regeneration of the world. With his all-embracing love, Jesus is not content merely to enjoy his blissful consciousness in Heaven. He is deeply concerned for mankind and wishes to give his followers the means to attain the divine freedom of entry into God's Infinite Kingdom….”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping,
Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving,
My soul constantly hums, unheard by any;
God, God, God!
”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

From Yogananda's poem ""God, God, God!"", Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 37
Miscellaneous Quotes

“Gandhi has sound economic and cultural reasons for encouraging the revival of cottage industries, but he does not counsel a fanatical repudiation of all modern progress. Machinery, trains, automobiles, the telegraph have played important parts in his own colossal life! Fifty years of public service, in prison and out, wrestling daily with practical details and harsh realities in the political world, have only increased his balance, open-mindedness, sanity, and humorous appreciation of the quaint human spectacle.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 44 - "With Mahatma Gandhi At Wardha

“Sri Yukteswar used to poke gentle fun at the commonly inadequate conceptions of renunciation.
'A beggar cannot renounce wealth,' Master would say. 'If a man laments: 'My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all and enter a monastery,' to what worldly sacrifice is he referring? He did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!'
Saints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible material sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of selfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 44 - "With Mahatma Gandhi At Wardha"

“His interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures testify to the depth of Sri Yukteswarji's command of the philosophy, both Eastern and Western, and remain as an eye-opener for the unity between Orient and Occident. As he believed in the unity of all religious faiths, Sri Yukteswar Maharaj established Sadhu Sabha (Society of Saints) with the cooperation of leaders of various sects and faiths, for the inculcation of a scientific spirit in religion.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 42 - "Last Days With My Guru"

“'World' is a large term, but man must enlarge his allegiance, considering himself in the light of a world citizen," I continued "A person who truly feels: 'The world is my homeland; it is my America, my India, my Philippines, my England, my Africa,' will never lack scope for a useful and happy life. His natural local pride will know limitless expansion; he will be in touch with creative universal currents.”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 48 - "At Encinitas In California"

“Brotherhood is an ideal better understood by example than precept!”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 48 - "At Encinitas In California"

“I, the ocean of mind, drink all creation’s waves.
The four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,
Lift aright.
Myself, in everything,
Enters the Great Myself.
Gone forever,
The fitful, flickering shadows of a mortal memory.
Spotless is my mental sky,
Below, ahead, and high above.
Eternity and I, one united ray.
I, a tiny bubble of laughter,
Have become the Sea of Mirth Itself.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Samadhi"

“The heart of the great dispensation of Jesus has survived not necessarily in any temporal power of an outer institution, but in those great devotees and saints whose protracted devotions and meditations established within them temples of Christ Consciousness and God-communion…
It is such saints and masters who have actually communed with God — those known to history as well as countless anonymous true souls devoted to Christ, hidden in monasteries and convents in wholehearted consecration — who have verily been the "rock" on which Jesus' inner church of Christ communion has endured these two thousand years.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda

“Thou art I, I am Thou,
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Samadhi"

“In wrath I strike, and set the dark ablaze
With the immortal spark of thought,
By friction-process brought
Of concentration
And distraction.
The darkness burns
With a million tongues;
And now I spy
All past, all distant things, as nigh.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Nature’s Nature"

“Grosser light vanishes into eternal rays
Of all-pervading Cosmic Joy.
From Joy we come,
For Joy we live,
In the sacred Joy we melt.”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Songs of the Soul by Paramahansa Yogananda, Quotes drawn from the poem "Samadhi"

“The life of Lord Krishna has been misunderstood by many Western commentators. Scriptural allegory is baffling to literal minds. A hilarious blunder by a translator will illustrate this point. The story concerns an inspired medieval saint, the cobbler Ravidas, who sang in the simple terms of his own trade of the spiritual glory hidden in all mankind:
Under the vast vault of blue
Lives the divinity clothed in hide.
One turns aside to hide a smile on hearing the pedestrian interpretation given to Ravidas' poem by a Western writer:
"He afterwards built a hut, set up in it an idol which he made from a hide, and applied himself to its worship."”

Paramahansa Yogananda book Autobiography of a Yogi

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 42 - "Last Days With My Guru"

“The Body melts into the universe
The universe melts into the soundless voice
The sound melts into the all-shining light
And the light enters the bosom of infinite joy.
p36, Metaphysical Meditations”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Miscellaneous Quotes

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