Quotes from Paramahansa Yogananda

Peace (shanti) is a divine quality. A true yogi, one united to the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, is like a lovely rose, spreading around him the fragrance of tranquility and harmony.

The saint's censorious attitude vanished; his eyes became compassionately soft. He patted my shoulder. "Young yogi, I see you are running away from your master. He has everything you need; you must return to him. Mountains cannot be your guru.

Instead of weeping and feeling a sense of loss after the death of those who are dear to you, always send them your love. By doing so you can help the progress of their souls, and they can help you. Never drag them down by unreasonable feelings of selfish attachment and sorrow. Just say to them, "I love you.

If the wrestler doesn't fight with stronger opponents, he will not become stronger himself. So when you face all your difficulties bravely, with spiritual strength, you become even stronger and more powerful. By conquering when you are tested, you will revive the forgotten image of God within you, and become consciously one with the Father again. So we must remember to use our God-given strength to overcome our trials, and thereby strengthen our inner lives.

By ignoble whips of pain, man is driven at last into the Infinite Presence, whose beauty alone should lure him.

My guru, awake in God, knew this world to be nothing but an objectivized dream of the Creator.

If you send them your loving thoughts continuously now, someday you will surely meet them again. You will know that this life is not the end, but merely one link in the eternal chain of your relationship with your loved ones.

The greatest factor in achieving spiritual success is willingness. Jesus said, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."12 People of the world seek the gifts of God, but he who is wise seeks the Giver Himself.

People forget that the price of luxury is an ever-increasing expenditure of nerve and brain energy, and the consequent shortening of their natural life span. Materialists become so engrossed in the task of making money that they can't relax enough to enjoy their comforts even after they've aquired them.

Divine Love says to all, If you love Me, you will love Me not in one being, but in all. Remember, though you try to cage Me in one person, I will destroy in the end the body-frame which holds him. I do so that you may learn to find Me in all.

When the consciousness is kept on God, you will have no fears; every obstacle will then be overcome by courage and faith.

Often he would pause for a time, his gaze uplifted and his body motionless, rapt in the samadhi state of deep communion with God. The whole room would be filled with a tremendously powerful aura of divine love. For us disciples, merely to be present at such times was to be lifted into a higher state of consciousness.

You should transfer your attention from failure to success, from worry to calmness, from mental wanderings to concentration, from restlessness to peace, and from peace to the divine bliss within. When you attain this state of Self-realization the purpose of your life will have been gloriously fulfilled.

who has surrounded us with this ever-evolving mystery of creation has also implanted in us the desire to question and understand.

El enfado se manifiesta cuando se ha contrariado algún deseo. Yo no espero nada de los demás, de modo que sus acciones no pueden estar en oposición con mis deseos. Yo no me valdría de ti para mis propios fines; sólo soy feliz en tu propia felicidad.

Forget the past," Sri Yukteswar would console him. "The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.

The body is a treacherous friend. Give it its due; no more," he said. "Pain and pleasure are transitory; endure all dualities with calmness, while trying at the same time to remove their hold. Imagination is the door through which disease as well as healing enters. Disbelieve in the reality of sickness even when you are ill; an unrecognised visitor will flee!

your experiences of the Divine in terms of love and devotion shall be translated into his terms of fathomless wisdom.

The forceful activating impulse of wrong desire is the greatest enemy to the happiness of man. Roam in the world as a lion of self-control; see that the frogs of weakness don't kick you around." The

Do not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary," he remarked. "Sacred writings are beneficial in stimulating desire for inward realization, if one stanza at a time is slowly assimilated. Otherwise, continual intellectual study may result in vanity, false satisfaction, and undigested knowledge.

It is the Spirit of God that actively sustains every form and force in the universe; yet He is transcendental and aloof in the blissful uncreated void beyond the worlds of vibratory phenomena,"3 Master explained.

The truths—those surprising, amazing, unforeseen truths—which our descendants will discover, are even now all around us, staring us in the eyes, so to speak, and yet we do not see them. But it is not enough to say that we do not see them; we do not wish to see them; for as soon as an unexpected and unfamiliar fact appears, we try to fit it into the framework of the commonplaces of acquired knowledge, and we are indignant that anyone should dare to experiment further.

Proof that one is a master, however, is supplied only by the ability to enter at will the breathless state (sabikalpa samadhi) and by the attainment of immutable bliss (nirbikalpa samadhi). The rishis have pointed out that solely by these achievements may a human being demonstrate that he has mastered maya, the dualistic cosmic delusion. He alone may say from the depths of realization: "Ekam sat" ("Only One exists").

Human life is beset with sorrow until we know how to tune in with the Divine Will, whose 'right course' is often baffling to the egoistic intelligence. God bears the burden of the cosmos; He alone can give unerring counsel.