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Bills, Yogananda's Greatest Enemy

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Bills, Yogananda's Greatest Enemy

TODAY'S RIGHT CAN PLEASE
" - and there stood Taz -"
BEFORE his passing in March 1936, Swami Sri Yukteswar told his disciple Paramahansa Yogananda to wear a certain bangle as a special protection. Yogananda, who had come from America to visit his master, put it on in faith. Then, when Yogananda was in Bombay in 1936, just before going back to America, he realized that a power was trying to destroy his life, but he was not afraid, he asserts. He remembered his master had promised to protect him. He put a little light on in his room, "because the evil forces do not like light". After a while he felt sleepy. Then:
ICON As I opened my eyes and looked toward the right wall of the room, I saw the black form of Satan, horrible, with a catlike . . . tail. It leaped on my chest, and my heart stopped beating . . . my heart would not work. Suddenly I glimpsed an ocher robe, and there stood Master [Sri Yukteswar]. He commanded Satan to leave; and as soon as he spoke, the evil figure vanished and my breath started to flow again . . . He said: "Satan was trying to destroy you. But fear not. I am with you evermore."
Yogananda could smell Sri Yukteswar too, as when he had lived on earth. [From Self-Realization Magazine [SRM], Summer 1976, p. 8-9.]

Adjoining Yogananda Lessons

  1. God does not want you to give up. - Yogananda, [SRM, Winter 1972, p. 4]
  2. The greatest enemy of happiness in this country is the bills. - Yogananda, [SRM, Winter 1979, p. 8]
  3. People who have a strong imagination or a very weak nervous system may be susceptible to hallucinations. - Yogananda, [SRM, Summer 1976, p. 56]
  4. The Lord . . . does everything. - Yogananda, [SRM, Spring 1972, p. 20]

Questions and Queries

bills enemy
  1. Our greatest enemy, could it be bills? Not those who made them or acquired them?
  2. Insisting that the Lord stopped Yogananda's heart and did everything else in that encounter, is a Strange Thing and does not seem to make sense. Well?
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How to Contemplate

Some "guric" visions of the universe as humbug do not quite exist in a likable way.
It is well to refrain from hard-headed intrigues. And we do not disregard jokes that survive, if they do good. So if you read that Jesus is "one of the masters", why not think: "What else do some gurus do to catch a lot of Christian disciples? Those poor guys are sheepish."
ICON Man's supreme and immediate duty (is:) Each minute of life should be a divine quest. The burning question in our heart should be: "When shall I find Thee, O Lord?" - Guru Yogananda [Ak 432-3]
Navigation Lessons
The fit sailing wind and the ether element wait for no one - Will this one finally wade and pant and gasp? The fit quest soars above God-concepts and 'finding' and other roadblocks for a while. That could take place several times daily.
It makes just as much sense to rephrase it: "When will you find Me, Buddy? [God is the Sole Doer is Yogananda's teaching.]" One normally does very, very well to drop outlooks like that. Instead learn to soar away from hankering through health-assisting contemplation - in a nutshell. Let us just state: Much rigmarole in the name of God tends to work for the good of big shots. Then swing your axe at the root of the problems. Refuse to be taken in by religious propaganda. Reduce its worth. There are ways to do it more or less, and books are written to that end too.
      One should stay away from what stultifies free, fit, fair and good contemplation ("inner sky-diving"). Its initial stages may baffle, such as ""Every boy may wade his way assisted by discreet panting (or even gasping)." This comes close to the all-over fact." - "Strenuous movements promote panting or even gasping, like athletics. It can be given a religious significance. And clever panting (and gasping) without toil (pranayama) may bring about higher states of yoga".
      Now, there are no concept obstacles when you contemplate full well. Otherwise much strange may be erected mentally and ritually. "Make straight to roads of the Lord", of "I am", could be a fit and fair saying to that point. Yet much depends on performance. Not everything is helped by cogent thinking either. Some guys do get fished and hooked into a faith that works damage.
      Sound, decent contemplation is much different. Yogananda's "monk family" has instituted roadblocks - severely sabotaging elements. Many taken-in followers seem to deny that.
  • Drop stultifying elements of your life and main ways.
  • Twin fools: one doubts nothing, the other everything (American proverb).
  • Believing as little as you can promotes soundness of mind if you learn to inspect fairly too.
  • No one should diminish his or her essential worth while trying to please for boons.
  • Why fear Satan for stopping the heart when Yogananda advocates kriya practice for stopping the heart? "We ought not to fear to practice conscious death," he teaches, referring to kriya yoga. [Scp 78]

As if in deep sleep

Vasistha asks: At the end of the life of the cosmos . . . how have you managed to survive?
      Bhusunda: I practice contemplation on Varuna (Hindu God of Waters, much like Neptune) and remain unaffected. When the wind blows so that it uproots even mountains, I contemplate on the Mountain (parvata). When the whole universe is flooded by cosmic dissolution, I contemple on Wind (the Vedic god Vayu). Then I remain as if in deep sleep (in yoga nidra) till the start of the next cosmic cycle. [Yv 279-80, rendered, abridged]


WAVE

Literature  
      Ak: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Man's Eternal Quest. Los Angeles: SRF, 1975.
      Ap: Mieder, Wolfgang (main ed.), Stewart A. Kingsbury, and Kelsie E. Harder: A Dictionary of American Proverbs. (Paperback) New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
      Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Philosophical Library, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
      Ha: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1981.
      Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1971.
      Pusb: Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. 3rd ed. New York, HarperCollins, 1987.
      Rvl: Maslow, Abraham. Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences. Columbus: Ohio State University, 1964.
      Say: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
      Scp: Yogananda, Pa. The Science of Religion. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1953.
      Scu: Barrass, Robert. Scientists Must Write. London: Chapman and Hall, 1978.
      Scw: Barrass, Robert. Scientists Must Write: A Guide to Better Writing for Scientists, Engineers and Students. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2002.
      Yv: Venkatesananda, swami, tr. The Concise Yoga Vasistha. Albany: State University of New York, 1984.
      Zun: Maslow, Abraham. Toward a Psychology of Being. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.

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