Autobiography of a Yogi (Complete Edition)

by Paramahansa Yogananda

incorporeal

Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one’s thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience.

If the master allows himself to be commanded by a servant, the latter becomes autocratic; the mind is similarly enslaved by submitting to bodily dictation.”

This “reconciliation of opposites” satisfies heart and head; bhakti (devotion) and jnana (wisdom) are essentially one.

“sacred books,” comprising four classes of scripture: the shruti, smriti, purana, and tantra.

“Softer than the flower, where kindness is concerned; stronger than the thunder, where principles are at stake.”

The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice.

Each of the six basic ragas has a natural correspondence with a certain hour of the day, season of the year, and a presiding deity who bestows a particular potency. Thus, (1) the Hindole Raga is heard only at dawn in the spring, to evoke the mood of universal love; (2) Deepaka Raga is played during the evening in summer, to arouse compassion; (3) Megha Raga is a melody for midday in the rainy season, to summon courage; (4) Bhairava Raga is played in the mornings of August, September, October, to achieve tranquillity; (5) Sri Raga is reserved for autumn twilights, to attain pure love; (6) Malkounsa Raga is heard at midnights in winter, for valour.

‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’

clime

continence,

Fulfilling one’s earthly responsibilities need not separate man from God, provided he maintains mental uninvolvement with egotistical desires and plays his part in life as a willing instrument of the Divine.

“Offering the inhaling breath into the exhaling breath and offering the exhaling breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralises both breaths;

Swalpamapyasya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat.’

Orient and Occident.

“In the wakeful state on earth a human being is conscious more or less of his three vehicles. When he is sensuously intent on tasting, smelling, touching, listening, or seeing, he is working principally through his physical body. Visualising or willing, he is working mainly through his astral body. His causal being finds expression when man is thinking or diving deep in introspection or meditation; the cosmical thoughts of genius come to the man who habitually contacts his causal body. In this sense an individual may be classified broadly as ‘a material man,’ ‘an energetic man,’ or ‘an intellectual man.’

A knowledge of the iron law of karma encourages the earnest seeker to find the way of final escape from its bonds.