Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship)

by Paramahansa Yogananda

The rock edicts found in northern Mysore date from the third century B.C. They illuminate the memory of King Asoka,4 whose vast empire included India, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. Inscribed in various dialects, Asoka’s “sermons in stone” bear witness to the widespread literacy of his day. Rock Edict XIII denounces wars: “Consider nothing as true conquest save that of religion.” Rock Edict X declares that a king’s true glory depends on the moral progress he aids his people in attaining. Rock Edict XI defines “the true gift” to be, not goods, but Good — the spreading of truth. On Rock Edict VI the beloved emperor invites his subjects to confer with him on public business “at any hour of the day or night,” adding that by faithful discharge of his kingly duties he was thus “obtaining his own release from the debt he owed his fellowmen.”