Conversations with Yogananda: Stories, Sayings, and Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda

by Kriyananda

The greater the sense of ego, the taller the wave, and the greater, in consequence, the ignorance.

His constant affirmation of ego-consciousness is the source of all his problems."

It isn't sufficient merely to have a guru: You must do what he tells you. If you follow his prescription even a little bit, your life will be transformed.

"The wave belongs entirely to the ocean from which it protrudes. This is God's body. If He wants to make it well, all right. If He wants to keep it unwell, all right.

"Man's greatest problem is his ego-his consciousness of individuality.

What developed was a somewhat condescending attitude on her part toward me-a consequence, I now believe, of insufficient reserve between us.

"You have to be in tune with Guru, and do what he says. If, then, you risk even being hurt working for God, He will protect you."

The divine spark within man must be kindled by his own personal longing for the truth, and not by mind-numbing proofs of God's existence.

Ultimately, man's betterment depends, always, on his own recognition of his need for it.

"Never be attached,"

"Wise guidance never violates people's free will. A superior who demands obedience of his subordinates should show respect for their capacity to understand, and also for their innate right to their own free will."

"I said to him very frankly, `What you find attractive are only the grossly physical differences. You demean not only them, but yourself, when you view women in that way. Learn to see everybody as a soul. No one is his or her mere body!"'

"Artificial principles-in this case, an a priori commitment to consensus-never work. A community must accept the diversity of human nature. Room must always be left for compromise. Rigidity, like a dry twig, is fragile and easily broken. Under stress, it will simply snap."

"By all means it is all right!" replied the Master. "Cry to God. Roll on the ground in your fervor of longing for Him. Halfheartedness will never take you to God."

Devotion must be kept under control. It should be a secret between you and your Beloved."

"So it is when you get a taste of divine bliss: You know immediately that nothing else in existence can equal it. Temptation then becomes dry and loses all its attractiveness.

The best way to conquer temptation is to have something better to compare it with."

It is never good, even with good intentions, to create wrong vibrations by anger and harsh words."

He shocked me by answering quite seriously, "Oh yes!"

"Mm-mm. God is no tyrant. Once one recognizes his mistake, and realizes deeply that God was all he ever really wanted, he will be taken back.

The best thing, when your mind rebels, is to let it stand awhile. Don't be too hard on it. Let it `make its point.' After that, it will resume advancing of its own accord, without being forced."

`If it is not something I can say to everybody, I don't want to hear it"'

If someone does something seriously wrong, to say nothing about it would be treachery. Supposing someone put poison in another person's drink, and you knew about it, wouldn't you speak out? Were you to rationalize, instead, `Well, it wasn't I who poisoned that drink; it isn't my business,' you'd be as guilty as the poisoner.

For the devotee of God it is, he felt, a waste of energy to strive too assiduously for outer perfection, which is ever and cannot but be evanescent.

"Illness," he said, "can be a serious obstacle on the spiritual path. So also can poverty. Do your best-again,"

working to seal the cracks in a plaster wall when termites are eating away at the foundation!"

The analogy is interesting

"The medical doctors," the Master said, "have discovered God's laws on a certain level of reality. Respect them for their knowledge; don't ignore them. On the other hand, don't lean on them too heavily. If you continue using a crutch when you no longer need it, you'll never develop your own strength."

He counseled us on what it was better to read, and not to read. One evening he said, "Why read the books of other paths? Too many people here read endlessly from the writings of others, while neglecting our own. You shouldn't mix your studies. If you do that too much, it becomes a kind of spiritual prostitution. The mind gets diluted by so many teachings, and is easily confused.

opals,

The Master favored calm, determined renunciation over emotional world-rejection.

One must renounce feelings, also. I was

"`I have faith in God,' I replied, `but I don't expect Him to do everything for me: That would be presumptuous? You should rely also on your own common sense.'

There is an interesting sidelight to this story. It concerns the emotional upset of those ladies over the loss of their paintings. Their distress suggests, obviously, an emotional attachment. For faith to be true, however, one must place everything in God's hands-not only the safety of his possessions. One should be sensible, but at the same time he should be non-attached. True faith in God is unconditional. Its consequences never distress the mind.

"Desire and anger are the two greatest barriers to wisdom. They destroy a person's peace of mind, and obstruct the flow of his understanding.

"Be wary of developing too keen an intelligence. Many people use their powers of reasoning cleverly to justify their delusions. Concentrate more, instead, on developing heart quality. Devote as much time as you can, daily, to meditation: to actually experiencing God.

`If you read one hour, then write two hours, think three hours, and meditate all the time!'

In the years that I got to live with him, I never saw him in quite the same aspect twice. It may seem strange, but I found it difficult-in contrast to the clarity with which I remembered his spoken words-to remember clearly what he looked like.

"Many great works of art, poetry, and

music," the Master said, "are inspired by astral memories. The desire to do noble, beautiful things here on earth is also often a carryover of astral experiences between a person's earth lives."

"Don't think you can reach God with only a gentle attitude! As I have often told you all, You must be `tough!"'

whatever a person invites to himself, by expecting it, he must eventually receive. Desire is one way that man extends that invitation. Fear and doubt are two others.

When will power is combined with love, great joy is the consequence.

1 remained wide awake in ecstasy."

Most of those who leave, unfortunately, condemn themselves to a `life sentence.' It is only they, really, who mete out their punishment.

Encinitas hermitage.

Don't even be anxious about such fruits of meditation as inner joy and peace.

Money is a trap. The more one has of it, the more he depends on it for his security."

"If you indulge in moods, they will reawaken your past desire for their opposite pleasures.

Resist, inwardly, the pleasure you feel in anything, and resist also the sadness life brings you in consequence.

"With real intellectuals, you don't have any trouble. They want the truth, not mere definitions of the truth. With these half-breeds, however, the moment you open your mouth they are already convinced you are a charlatan."