Autobiography of a Yogi (Complete Edition)

by Paramahansa Yogananda

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

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

If by bathing daily God could be realized Sooner would I be a whale in the deep; If by eating roots and fruits He could be known Gladly would I choose the form of a goat; If the counting of rosaries uncovered Him I would say my prayers on mammoth beads; If bowing before stone images unveiled Him A flinty mountain I would humbly worship; If by drinking milk the Lord could be imbibed Many calves and children would know Him; If abandoning one’s wife could summon God Would not thousands be eunuchs? Mirabai knows that to find the Divine One The only indispensable is Love.

“Good manners without sincerity are like a beautiful dead lady,” he remarked on suitable occasion. “Straightforwardness without civility is like a surgeon’s knife, effective but unpleasant. Candour with courtesy is helpful and admirable.”

“So long as you breathe the free air of earth, you are under obligation to render grateful service. Only he who has fully mastered the breathless state 16 is freed from cosmic imperatives.”

To the inevitable critics he said: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”

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

“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!”

liked this

“Nonviolence has come among men and it will live. It is the harbinger of the peace of the world.”