The Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda

By Paramahansa Yogananda

This collection of informal counsel provides intimate glimpses into the mind of Paramahansa Yogananda, acclaimed author of Autobiography of a Yogi. In answering the questions of those who turned to him for guidance, Yogananda expressed himself with candor, spontaneity, and insight. He was able to transform philosophical truths into simple precepts for everyday living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship
• Release date: Feb 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9780876128589

Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) es mundialmente reconocido como una de las personalidades espirituales más ilustres de nuestro tiempo. Nació en el norte de la India, y en 1920 se radicó en Estados Unidos, donde enseñó, durante más de treinta años, la antigua filosofía y la ciencia de la meditación yoga, originarias de la India, así como el arte de vivir en forma equilibrada la vida espiritual. Fue el primer gran maestro del Yoga que vivió y enseñó durante un prolongado periodo en Occidente. Él viajó extensamente impartiendo conferencias en Estados Unidos y en el extranjero, disertando en auditorios de las más importantes ciudades, que registraban siempre un lleno total, y en los cuales revelaba la unidad fundamental que existe entre las grandes religiones del mundo. A través de la célebre historia de su vida, Autobiografía de un yogui, y de sus originales comentarios sobre las escrituras de Oriente y Occidente, así como por medio del resto de sus numerosos libros, él ha inspirado a millones de lectores. Self-Realization Fellowship —la organización internacional que Paramahansa Yogananda fundó en 1920 con el fin de diseminar sus enseñanzas en todo el mundo— continúa llevando a cabo su obra espiritual y humanitaria. 

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About This Book

This collection of Paramahansa Yogananda’s sayings, anecdotes, and words of wisdom was originally published by Self-Realization Fellowship as The Master Said in 1952, shortly after his passing. The book was compiled and printed by members of the Self-Realization Fellowship Monastic Order established by Paramahansa Yogananda, and has been continuously in print for over sixty years. We are grateful to the many disciples who have shared here cherished memories of their personal conversations and experiences with Sri Yogananda.

Copyright © 1980 Self-Realization Fellowship

All rights in this digital edition of Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda are reserved by Self-Realization Fellowship.

Note to the Reader

Self-Realization Fellowship welcomes you to download this edition for your individual, non-commercial use, and to print for your own reference whichever excerpts may fulfill your personal needs.

Kindly note, however, that upon acquiring this edition the reader agrees to abide by applicable national and international copyright laws and abstain from distributing, reproducing, or transmitting the contents to other individuals or entities, by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) without Self-Realization Fellowship’s prior written consent. We appreciate your thoughtfulness in helping to preserve the integrity of the author’s work by upholding these principles.

Thank you for supporting our non-profit publishing endeavors in connection with the legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda.

Authorized by the International Publications Council of

SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP

3880 San Rafael Avenue • Los Angeles, California 90065-3219

The Self-Realization Fellowship name and emblem (shown above) appear on all SRF books, recordings, and other publications, as an assurance that a work originates with the society establisehd by Paramahansa Yogananda and faithfully conveys his teachings.

Fourth edition, 1980. Ebook edition, 2021.

ISBN: 978-0-87612-115-3 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-87612-116-4 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-87612-859-6 (Kindle edition)

ISBN: 978-0-87612-858-9 (ePub edition)

Image: SRF logo

The Spiritual Legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda founded Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920 to disseminate his teachings worldwide and to preserve their purity and integrity for generations to come. A prolific writer and lecturer from his earliest years in America, he created a renowned and voluminous body of works on the yoga science of meditation, the art of balanced living, and the underlying unity of all great religions. Today this unique and far-reaching spiritual legacy lives on, inspiring millions of truth-seekers all over the world.

In accord with the express wishes of the great master, Self-Realization Fellowship has continued the ongoing task of publishing and keeping permanently in print The Complete Works of Paramahansa Yogananda. These include not only the final editions of all the books he published during his lifetime, but also many new titles—works that had remained unpublished at the time of his passing in 1952, or which had been serialized over the years in incomplete form in Self-Realization Fellowship’s magazine, as well as hundreds of profoundly inspiring lectures and informal talks recorded but not printed before his passing.

Paramahansa Yogananda personally chose and trained those close disciples who formed the Self-Realization Fellowship Publications Council giving them specific guidelines for the preparation and publishing of his teachings. The members of the SRF Publications Council (monks and nuns who have taken lifelong vows of renunciation and selfless service) honor these guidelines as a sacred trust, in order that the universal message of this beloved world teacher will live on in its original power and authenticity.

The Self-Realization Fellowship emblem (shown above) was designated by Paramahansa Yogananda to identify the nonprofit society he founded as the authorized source of his teachings. The SRF name and emblem appear on all Self-Realization Fellowship publications and recordings, assuring the reader that a work originates with the organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda and conveys his teachings as he himself intended they be given.

—Self-Realization Fellowship

Contents

Foreword

Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda

About the Author

Paramahansa Yogananda: A Yogi in Life and Death

Additional Resources on the Kriya Yoga Teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda

Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons

Aims and Ideals of Self-Realization Fellowship

Glossary

Illustrations

Paramahansa Yogananda:

At Self-Realization Convocation, Beverly Hills, California, 1949

In meditation, Dihika, India, 1935

By Self-Realization Temple, San Diego, California, 1949

With Uday and Amala Shankar at Self-Realization Ashram Center, Encinitas, California, 1950

With Lt. Governor Goodwin J. Knight, dedication of SRF India Hall, Hollywood, California, 1951

Speaking at Self-Realization Lake Shrine, Pacific Palisades, California, 1950

Other:

International Headquarters, Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calfornia

Foreword

Who may justly be called a master? No ordinary person, surely, is worthy of this title. And but rarely does there appear on earth one of that holy company to whom the Galilean master referred: He that believeth on me [the Christ Consciousness], the works that I do shall he do also.¹

Men become masters through discipline of the little self, or ego; through elimination of all desires save one— the desire for God; through singlehearted devotion to Him; and through deep meditation, or soul communion with the Universal Spirit. He whose consciousness is unshakably established in the Lord, the sole Reality, may rightfully be called a master.

Paramahansa Yogananda, the master whose words are lovingly recorded in this book, was a world teacher. Pointing out the essential unity of all great scriptures, he strove to unite East and West in the lasting ties of spiritual understanding. Through his life and writings he ignited in innumerable hearts a divine spark of love for God. He lived fearlessly by the highest precepts of religion; and proclaimed that all devotees of the Heavenly Father, no matter what their creeds, are equally dear to Him.

A college education and many years of spiritual training in his native land, India, under the Spartan discipline of his guru (spiritual teacher), Swami Sri Yukteswar, prepared Paramahansa Yogananda for his mission in the West. He came to Boston in 1920 as the Indian delegate to a Congress of Religious Liberals, and remained in America for over thirty years (except for a return visit to India in 1935 – 36).

Phenomenal success attended his efforts to awaken in others a desire for attunement with God. In hundreds of cities his yoga² classes broke all attendance records. He personally initiated in yoga 100,000 students.

For devotees who desire to follow the monastic path, the Master founded several Self-Realization Fellowship ashram centers in southern California. There many truth seekers study, work, and engage in meditational practices that quiet the mind and awaken soul awareness.

The following incident in the Master’s life in America illustrates the loving reception given him by men endowed with spiritual perception:

On a tour of various parts of the United States, he stopped one day to visit a Christian monastery. The brothers received him with some apprehension, noting his dark skin, long black hair, and ocher robe—traditional garb of monks of the Swami Order.³ Thinking him a heathen, they were about to refuse him an audience with the abbot, when that good man entered the room. With beaming face and open arms, he approached and embraced Paramahansaji,⁴ exclaiming, "Man of