Year-to-date: $37,171
Goal: $325,000
The influence of the guru is like that of a magnet. When you have a bar of steel that hasn’t been magnetized, its molecules are turned randomly, canceling each other out.
When you place that bar of steel next to a magnet, the influence of the magnet gradually aligns all those molecules in a north-south direction. Thus, the unmagnetized bar of steel develops it’s own magnetism.
—Paramhansa Yogananda
Discipleship is an important part of the Path of Kriya. Discipleship means accepting the lineage of Kriya masters as your Gurus, or spiritual guides. Even though they are no longer living in a body, their inner guidance and support are felt by all who accept their help.
Ananda Kriya Yogis recognize Babaji, Christ, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar, and Paramhansa Yogananda as their Gurus. You can learn more about all of them, and about the principles of discipleship, by reading Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi.
Learn more about Discipleship from Why a Guru?
What a true teacher can do for you is help you to develop your own magnetism. He will not impose on you his own.
There is a deeper aspect, however, to this magnetic exchange with a true guru. Yogananda often quoted the scriptural statement, “All of Krishna’s soldiers were like Krishna.” There is something too subtle to be defined, and much deeper than any personality trait, that the disciple does indeed take on by attuning himself to a guru.
I have likened this special gift of the guru to a ray of the divine light. The clearer this ray, and the less mingled with other rays, the stronger the magnetism conveyed, and received. It is like a strong river that draws into itself every sluggish eddy, making the entire flow of consciousness pure and powerful.
—Swami Kriyananda
© Ananda Church of Self-Realization 1995 – 2010
