Yogavatar Lahiri Mahasaya revived the lost, sacred art of Kriya Yoga in the 19th century. During that time he advised his disciples to solve all problems through meditation. This advice, so deceptively simple, is still true for us today but left me wondering, “How exactly can I do that?” In Autobiography of a Yogi, Lahiri Mahasaya (the guru of Paramhansa … Read More
Each human being is a nation unto itself occupied by many different citizens. There are many qualities inside each person, some good and some bad. We need to learn to love our individual nations even though there are citizens residing there who are trying to undermine or destroy them. In the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 6, verse 6) Krishna says: For … Read More
HOW CAN I HAVE A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? Nayaswami Ananta: I think a spiritual Christmas is a really important goal. It would be an absolute shame to have [only] material Christmas and miss the real gem that we are offered every December 25, also at Easter, and the celebrations of avatars of any religion. Christmas is a cultural event. The world … Read More
To meditate a short time with depth is better than to meditate for long hours with the mind running wild.” – Paramhansa Yogananda I heard about meditation for the first time from my aunt. She might have suggested it because it seemed necessary. During those times, I certainly needed guidance but at the same time, I didn’t know I needed … Read More
Experienced yoga teacher Melody Hansen guides you in Yogananda’s powerful and unique energization exercises. Recorded in a beautiful garden at Ananda Village. Melody Hansen is a longtime yoga teacher and lives at Ananda Village, California. Here are more teaching videos with her.
It is 6 a.m. and before I can open my eyes, my stomach is churning with dread. A mass of anxiety has settled in the pit of my belly like swamp-floor sludge. The muck has pinned me to the bed and I want nothing more than to stay here and allow the day to pass by without my participation. However, … Read More
It is not uncommon to hear people make the claim that Paramhansa Yogananda diluted the Kriya technique or that he changed it for Westerners. Sometimes it is done through a conscious intent to deceive and promote one’s own Kriya teacher and sometimes out of ignorance. Either way, it is an unfortunate sign that the world of Kriya Yoga is not … Read More
The Mystery of Suffering Your soul–the essence of your being, consists of pure bliss (sat-chid-ananda), as the great Masters teach us. But do you feel this bliss right now? Probably not. Instead, we all suffer, go through hard times, and have lives that can be amazingly tough. Why is that? How can that be? It seems impossible, given the inherent … Read More
How could we experience spiritual renewal day by day, every day? Think about it – spiritual renewal every day is quite an ambitious goal. How could such a daily renewal truly and practically work for all of us? The answer is this: It must definitively be fun, inspiring, fresh, and colorful just like a rainbow. Otherwise, after a short while, … Read More
In 2010, my husband, Gyandev, and I visited our friend Francis at his home in Palm Springs. He was a devotee of Paramhansa Yogananda and took us to visit Palm Canyon, a place Yogananda had visited in the late 1920s. While there, Yogananda went into a deep period of samadhi (a state of oneness with God). After he emerged from … Read More
