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Questions and answers about meditation, yoga, the spiritual life, and more

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

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Yogananda did speak of the Mormons from time to time but not, to my knowledge, regarding their relationship to such societies nor about such societies themselves.

Yogananda would not have had any reason to draw inspiration or validation or even comparisons with such societies. His own work was new enough to America culture. He would surely not want in any way to associate his work with clandestine or otherwise "underground" movements.

David Eby

Ananda Village

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Dear Jeff — thank you for your question, and yes, sometimes it is difficult to grasp all the words in chants, producing humorous results.

For instance, "Lord, I am Thine" can be misheard as "Lord, I am dying..." Always a reminder for us chanters to enunciate clearly!

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

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Dear Diderik,

Yes, many times. Rajarshi Janakananda mentioned this happening more than once.

Kamala Silva describes several of his appearances to her in her wonderful book The Flawless Mirror. Many other disciples and non-disciples have told of seeing him and receiving his love and blessings.

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

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Hello A!

Yogananda wrote about Aurobindo, Anandamoyi Ma, Ramana Maharishi and other saints, but I can’t find a single mention of Krishnamurti in his talks and writings, even though they were almost exact contemporaries (Krishnamurti lived much longer, though).

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

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Dear Mike,

"Communion" in the largest sense of the word means inward communing or communication with God/Christ/Gurus through meditation.

In the Christian church, communion ceremonies came about to help remind people of higher inner realities. Unfortunately the symbolism has gotten lost during the many years since these ceremonies were established in the early Christian communities.

Puru (Joseph) Selbie

Ananda Village

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Dear Kailash,

As far as I know, Paramhansa Yogananda never made any public comments about Satya Sai Baba. This may be because Sai Baba’s public work had not begun when Yogananda returned to India in 1935 — a time when Sai Baba and Yogananda could have met — and there was very little public awareness of Sai Baba outside of India by the time of Yogananda’s Mahasamadhi in 1952.

Nayaswami Parvati

Ananda Village

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As far as I am aware, no one has seen Yogananda’s body since it was buried at Forest Lawn (Glendale, CA) in 1952.

Nayaswami Hriman

Ananda Seattle

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Dear Friend,

It just so happens that I very recently wrote a lengthy article on just this subject.

Describing such states with words and using the intellect has inherent limitations, but of course we use our God-given intellect to attempt to comprehend what is true — even that which is beyond the intellect! So let’s give it a try.