CONVERSATIONS WITH YOGANANDA

The text below was taken from the book “Conversations with Yogananda” by Swami Kriyananda, [James Donald Walters (1926 – 2013)], who was Yogananda's disciple between 1948 and 1952, and brings together a series of interviews given by Yogananda and compiled by Walters resulting in a book with almost 500 pages of wisdom emanated by the Hindu master.

- Do your teachings help people to be at peace with themselves?

Y - They do indeed, but that is the least that they do. We teach people above all how to be at peace with their Creator.

- How do you distinguish between yourself and your followers?

Y - All are waves on the same, one ocean, composed, as the ocean water is, of the same substance: Spirit. Some of the waves are higher than others. Some waves don't even want to distance themselves from the ocean. All waves, no matter how high, are in essence one and the same. The difference between the guru and the disciples, then, lies only in their respective closeness to the ocean: in how conscious each one is of his essential reality. The greater the sense of ego, the taller the wave, and the greater, in consequence, the ignorance. The greater one's consciousness of the ocean as one's sole reality, the smaller the wave and also the less his sense of having a separate individuality (Self)!

- Is there a difference, then, of evolution?

Y - That much is true if we understand evolution to mean a progressive refinement of consciousness. The tall waves participate more exuberantly in the play of delusion. The little waves, which are more enlightened, are no longer excited by the play. Enlightened beings enjoy everything, not for itself, but as a "play" of God's.

- Is there any end to evolution?

Y - No end. You go on until you achieve endlessness.

- Is man important in the scheme of things?

Y - Man is important in one sense only because he was made in the image of God: That is his importance. He is not important for his body, ego, or personality. His constant affirmation of ego-consciousness is the source of all his problems. To the man was given ego-consciousness to inspire him to seek God. That is the only reason for his existence. Job, friends, personal interests: these things, by themselves, mean nothing.

- What is the difference between science and religion in the search for truth?

Y - True religion is not theology. It is born of deep, inner communion with God. True religion teaches us, for example, how to become the atom, whereas theology at most only discusses the atom. Science studies the nature of the atom outwardly, proving its existence by experimentation. Inner religion, however, goes beyond experimentation to actual experience. It helps one to cognize, by direct experience, his oneness with the atom at its vital centre.

- Which came first: the tree or the seed?

Y - The tree came first, as the idea of a deed precedes the deed itself. The tree was, in this way, a special creation. When God set the process in motion, gave the tree seeds that it might produce other trees like itself. Everything, at first, is an idea, a special creation.

After a short break, Yogananda added:

People spend too much time over their persons and possessions. What a waste it is to devote so much energy to polishing, polishing, polishing this little body, home and belongings – all of which, so very soon, must be abandoned forever!

If you go to a doctor and get a prescription from him, but after you return home you tear it up and toss it away, how will you expect to get well? The guru is your spiritual “doctor”. It isn’t sufficient merely to have a guru: You must do what he tells you. If you follow his prescription even a little bit, your life will be transformed. Everyone who practices what he learns here will pass through the portals of death into the radiant kingdom of light. Don’t expect to get there, however, if you merely depend passively on the guru – like a superstitious patient whom one may frame his prescription and hanging it on a wall – as if expecting the writing itself to make him well! And don’t think to get there by merely “hanging on” grimly to the end! Go on with steadfast faith, devotion and joy. Long before you reach your divine goal, you will realize how very sweet life can be when it is lived rightly. You will be glowing with inner radiance, vitality and happiness!