Abstemious, antipathy, critical, dwindle, extract, horrid, vast, hereditary, excellent, eventful, assassination, lonely, leapfrog, and zany. What does this strange collection of words have in common? These and two thousand other words were first used by William Shakespeare in his forty plays written from 1590–1614.
I should explain that I’m reading a wonderful book now that Swami Kriyananda gave me: Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. Bryson explains that most of Shakespeare’s plots and characters were not original, but were borrowed from older sources. His genius lay in taking these and endowing them with greatness through his use of language.
More than just introducing new words, Shakespeare was also a phrasemaker. One fell swoop, vanish into thin air, bag and baggage, play fast and loose, go down the primrose path, the milk of human kindness, flesh and blood, foul play, tower of strength, pomp and circumstance, foregone conclusion: All these, and hundreds of others, are his creation.
Shakespeare showed the potential of English as a fluid, creative form of communication that can adapt to the needs of the time. Thus it has become the lingua franca of the world, with new words constantly being added to express our ever-evolving global culture.
In this light, I began to consider that Paramhansa Yogananda, too, introduced a new language. He created a fresh approach to spirituality for Dwapara Yuga, open and unbound by any specific religious context. Here are just a few words and phrases that he coined, adapted, or used in new ways:
Christ consciousness: the underlying vibratory presence in all creation reflecting the calm, unmoving presence of God beyond creation. It is this unitive consciousness with which Jesus Christ and all enlightened souls identify, and to which we should aspire.
Divine Mother: an intimate term for God as a cosmic, beloved mother, because as Yoganandaji said, “The mother is closer than the father.”
The Science of Religion: the title of Yoganandaji’s first book, published in 1920, showing that religion can go beyond mere belief to practical, testable application.
The Age of Energy: a description of our present age of Dwapara Yuga, expressing the understanding that energy is the underlying reality of matter.
Lifetrons: a descriptive term for prana, the all-pervading life force present in all creation.
Energization Exercises: a system of exercises working with lifetrons to recharge our bodies and minds with cosmic energy.
Ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new joy: a rephrasing of the traditional Indian description of God as Satchidananda: “existence, consciousness, bliss.” “Ever-new joy” is a description of “bliss” that’s easy to understand.
The Art of Living: a phrase first used by Yogananda in his lecture tour of America in the 1920s. It describes how to live with conscious awareness in order to achieve happiness, balance, and success in life. (Subsequently other spiritual groups have used this term, but it originated with Master.)
World brotherhood colonies: his term for what he called “the social pattern for the future,” based on “plain living and high thinking.” He said that in time these colonies would “spread like wildfire.” Ananda Village and its sister communities are the first living examples of his concept.
These are but a few examples of the “new language” that Yoganandaji created whose impact will help define the search for God now and into the future. He, like Shakespeare, was a great poet. I’ll close with the first lines of his poem, “The Noble New”:
Sing songs that none have sung,
Think thoughts that in brain have never rung,
Walk in paths that none have trod,
Weep tears as none have shed for God . . .
With joy in the gift of a new vision,
Nayaswami Devi
You might enjoy this special Christmas message from Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi.
Subscribe to the Touch of Light podcast. Download the audio recording of this week’s blog by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (6:10):
17 Comments
Wonderful!! Today came to know so many new things about the phrases used by Shakespeare and our Guru Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda. Nice. Thanks a lot.
Thank you Devi for these very insightful reflexions on language in Dwapara Yuga. We are only at the beginning and thereforel, in Europe, have to do a lot of translating.
Who knows if other languages, too, will become more and more fllexible and that the world will finally have one language in which all its citizens can recognize something of their own uniqueness.
Thank you also for highlighting Master’s special contribution to the lingua franca of spirituality.
Master’s language is ornamental and his expression divine !
Lovely insights! Thank you for sharing. I love the play with words and creativity. Interesting their power!
Lovely, wonderful, beautiful. Thank you for your simplified expression of the beauty we all get to enjoy through Master, Swami, yourself and Jyotish.
Beautifully written and so true!
Delightful! So fresh and refreshing.
It raises our awareness and uplifts out energy to that which could so easily become ‘common’ in our minds.
Thank you for this ever-new look at Madters teachings
Maravilloso Devi…..simple, straight forward, clear, concise.
Joy.
“Think thoughts that in brain have never rung”
What a wonderful line..this line has really enlightened me..just contemplating on the thoughts that never rung means to me to stop thinking for the moment and listening to emptiness.
Thanks for the wonderful post
Mfon
Nigeria
Dear Devi,
What a wonderful poem of master’s! I have written it on the back of a post card of Georgia O’keeffe’s ‘Blue Abstraction” and placed it on my studio wall, so I will memorize that poem. “Think thoughts that in brain have never rung.” It seems what we are all here to do, especially us creative beings.
Thank you dear one,
Your thoughts with original language of Master’s and Shakespeare are really wonderful and original!
Blessings to you and Jyotish this holiday!
Much Love,
Robin
Santa Cruz, CA
Thanks, Devi! I’m amazed as well as Master’s “masterful,” almost Shakespeare-like use of the English language, especially in his Autobiography. Here’s a glossary of some of the more unusual ones: https://ayglossary.blogspot.com Joy!
Aloha Nayaswami Deviji
Cool man cool!
Mahalo,
Mac n Boo Booji
Deeply inspiring, thank you Devi 🙏
Dear Nayaswami Devi Ji,
Blessed Christmas!
Thank you for this wonderful blog.
Enjoyed reading it. Master’s poem and the lines of the blog are a call to set out with a new vision.
Joy,
Prem
Wonderful
Wonderful Devi. Thanks for this insightful perspective. 💕
Beautifully crafted and truly inspiring. Thank you Devi.
Beannachtaí na Nollaig Dhaoibh (Blessings of Christmas to you all, in Irish)