I have been reading some of Yogananda’s books. And as far as i can see he never give any actual proof that God does exist. In what way does Yogananda ever prove the existence of God. He makes several claims about it but i see no place were he proves God or any of the experiences he claims to have had.
So where does Yogananda actually give scientific proof that God existand that his experiences are real and not just made up of a delusion ?
—Feo, Eu
Dear Feo,
No one can prove to anyone else that God exists or that superconscious experiences are valid. In Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda recounts his guru, Sri Yukteswar, commenting on a famous Sankhya verse: Iswar-ashidha (God is not provable):
“[This verse] merely signifies that to the unenlightened man, dependent on his senses for all final judgments, proof of God must remain unknown and therefore non-existent. True Sankhya followers, with unshakable insight born of meditation, understand that the Lord is both existent and knowable.”
Elsewhere in his autobiography, Yogananda flatly states that physical science can never prove God because it is inherently limited to the realm of maya, the delusion that is the very fabric of physical creation. The proof of God’s existence is an “interior” experience — a direct, intuitive, and purely personal perception. No book, no lecture, no experience of someone else, not even a personal encounter with a God-knowing saint can prove these things to you.
But sooner or later, each spiritual seeker comes upon a teaching and teacher that resonates with the deeper levels of his own being. That resonance itself is something that cannot be proved to anyone else, but that doesn’t mean it is invalid. Although perhaps not a proof of God’s existence, it is a tantalizing invitation: “This might be the way for you. Give it a try and find out from your own experience.” If you try it, and if it is your way, you will find that it leads you to ever-greater happiness, finally to absolute bliss, which as Yogananda pointed out in his autobiography, is the proof of God’s existence because that bliss is God.
Blessings,
Gyandev
