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

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

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Dear Joe,

It is very good that you have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, because it is true! But it is also important to remember that Jesus said (talking to all of us!) that "...you, too are Gods." Jesus also said that "...everything I have done, you can do also."

Nayaswami Gopal

Ananda Village

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Dear One,

You asked a very good question. As I see it, the first and most important of Yogananda’s top ten core teachings starts with the thought, love God. This means love God with all, your mind, with all your body and with all your strength. I say this because after reading, “The Autobiography of a Yogi” (AY) by Yogananda. After reading that book I couldn’t help but feel Master was trying to share with us how deeply the saints he wrote about loved God. Their love and devotion for God and guru is extremely inspiring to me.

Nayaswami Asha

Ananda Palo Alto

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Dear Friend:

There is a book published by Self-Realization Fellowship called God Talks to Arjuna. It is Yogananda’s commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita. His original manuscript forms the basis of it, but it has been highly edited by SRF so it is not really his style or voice. Much of the information is from him, but by no means all of it. For example, the book is filled with footnotes which Yogananda never included.

Obviously, I am no so keen on that book, and, fortunately there is another option.

Nayaswami Pranaba

Ananda Village

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Dear Linda,

If you feel attracted to Yogananda, then view that as a sign of encouragement for you to explore his teachings and guidance. As you grow spiritually, and tune into the path and meditation techniques that Yogananda taught, you’ll find from within whether Yogananda is your guru.

Nayaswami Parvati

Ananda Village

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This is a very good question, one which I’m sure a number of people have wondered about. Yogananda, as an avatar, played a particular role in this lifetime, one that would help many truthseekers to better understand the process involved in finding God. To accomplish this he portrayed himself as a humble seeker and describes going through what anyone would who engages seriously in the search for God. This is also how he portrays himself in his very well-known book, Autobiography of a Yogi.

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!

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