Sunday, January 27, 2013

Is Atheism Practical? Unsound?

Is Atheism Practical? Unsound?

[[ERRATA]] : My apologies: I mixed two quotes from Martin Luther King in my original blog. It was violence that he described as "immoral." In a paper he wrote in 1950 he described atheism as shown below.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described atheism as both “philosophically unsound and impractical.” 

Agnosticism I can relate to, at least on the basis that an honest (if simplistic) assessment of human realities can find no sensory evidence of the Deity. To say, therefore, “I don’t know” is to leave open the possibility rather than to join the ranks of dogmatists, both atheists and religionists in hotly declaring a belief or nonbelief in a reality that neither can prove nor disprove to the other.

My impression of at least some self-declared atheists is that they object to the depiction of a personal and vindictive God foisted on us by dyed-in-the-wool believers. If you can re-direct the atheist’s attention to the beauties of nature, the vastness and awe-inspiring complexities and antiquity of creation, the gift of human love, charity, and self-sacrifice, you will sometimes find a closet deist who worships the Unseen Hand by another name or form. I don’t mean to paint all atheists with the same brush, but in my experience this depiction describes some, perhaps many — those aghast or traumatized by the atrocities or hypocrisy of orthodox religionists.

Science may be devoid of faith or feeling but scientists are not. Too many are the Deist reflections of Albert Einstein, for example, for anyone to insist that the greatest scientists lack feeling, reverence or awe in contemplation of the mysteries of life and the natural world.

Paramhansa Yogananda, renowned author of “Autobiography of a Yogi,” came to live in the United States from India in 1920. He admired the material progress, genius, and good works of western scientists and, as if applying their methods to solving the riddle of human existence, asked for what purpose are we impelled to survive? That we seek to survive is far too obvious to question. But why? What is it we seek? And by what means do we find success and by what means do we fail? His inquiry into the mystery of our existence proceeded, like that of men and women of science, from observation and measurement, not from a priori declarations of absolute or revealed truth.

The ancient Greek sages averred that man’s highest duty is “To know thyself.” One such sage, Protagoras, shocked his contemporaries with the statement that “Man is the measure of all things.” In modern times the well known Indian sage of Arunachala hill, Ramana Maharshi, advised seekers to ask, “Who am I?”

If science teaches us that the universe is both incomprehensibly vast and yet without any known center or direction, we have seemingly two choices for humanity: we are either nothing (and life therefore is without meaning), or, we are, indeed, the “measure of all things.” This latter direction has, itself, two directions: I can join with the ranks of twentieth century existentialists in declaring that my ego is the center of the universe and my desires and impulses are the sole measure of truth for me; or, I can go in the direction of Jesus Christ and the Yogi-Christs of India when Jesus declared, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.”

At this point in human history we’ve yet to find life forms such as ourselves from other planets but given the estimate of 200 billion galaxies, I must supposed that the odds are greater than 100% that they must exist. 

But inasmuch as that inquiry must remain, for now, only speculative, let us turn to the human experience, then, for our inquiry.

The ancient scriptures of India admit that “God cannot be proved.” So, let us also take from them this admission and follow Jesus’ advice and Yogananda’s line of inquiry for the Holy Grail.

Yogananda started with the observation that what all men seek is happiness. Pleasure, yes, too, but that is easily experienced as fleeting and even counterproductive to lasting happiness as sensory indulgence, unless held in check, can destroy health and happiness. Held even in check, pleasure, moreover, is fleeting and even in its midst a reflective person feels its unreality (because based in perception and anticipation) and its limited span of fulfillment. Observation of human pleasure reveals that its pursuit can be addictive and overtake the good judgment, common sense, and human values of its votaries. Disease, harmful emotions, and premature aging await those who fall victim to the pursuit of pleasure as the summum bonum of life’s existence.

Human happiness is usually sought and seen in human love, cherished family ties, financial success and security, prestige, position, fame, talent, or beauty. But these are like prostitutes: loyal to no one. Observation of the facts easily discloses that those who achieve one or more such pinnacles of human happiness too often find the summit to be cold, windy, desolate, dull, fleeting or elusive. At the top there is nowhere to go but down and furiously scrambling up the mountain sides just below you are hordes of competitors and unseen snipers of  death, disease, or betrayal lurking in the shadows below.

None of these easily observable realities and shortcomings of pleasure or human happiness seem to deter the billions of human beings on this planet from seeking their elusive gains. Perhaps it is lack of wisdom, lack of refinement of feeling, lack of the knowledge of a viable alternative or the hypnosis of the allure of these achievements that blind mankind to our own greater potential for true happiness.

Never mind the question of how did this all come about and why. Never mind the fact that the created universe veritably shouts the existence of an overarching Intelligence and Purpose and that the odds of all of this coming into existence randomly is patently absurd, or that the question of the existence of Consciousness belies our very inquiry into it.

Each person can experiment as scientifically as the armies of white lab-coated technicians and their test tubes on what brings them true, lasting and satisfying happiness and contentment. Never mind the cosmos, for now. It seems to get along fine without us.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law — to the strength of the spirit.”

It is not difficult to discover for oneself that a selfish life is shortsighted and brings unhappiness and pain. An unselfish life, applied with common sense and balance, brings harmony and satisfaction. Heroes show themselves willing to give their lives that others may live free. Humanitarians, great leaders and reformers, and saints in all lands show that the way to inner peace and contentment is to live for high ideals and for the greatest good of all. The calm, inward gaze away from material objects and toward the intangible but life sustaining gifts of wisdom, compassion, creativity, selflessness, and devotion to the Creator are proof positive against the ceaseless flux of changing customs, conquerors, disease, war, and hatred.

Life goes on, as Gandhi and King would often put it, and proves that death, disease, and destruction cannot prevail.

How do these self-discoveries relate, then, to the existence of God? Take the journey and see for yourself. 

But along the way consider those whose lives you are following in your experiments with truth (living an unselfish life). What do these heroes and heroines say?

If what the great ones teach us is so obvious, why do so few take the higher path? The higher path requires climbing the mountain and going through the brambles of habit, upbringing, and the ego’s insistence that the body and personality must be satisfied first lest by unselfishness they suffer. And suffer they will, if we listen to them.

Moreover, the selfish life also calls to us, both from our dark past and from the sheer magnetism and allure of its fleeting or dark satisfactions. The great scourge of human happiness is addiction to sense satisfactions, enabled and empowered especially by the power of wealth, possessions, and influence.

The take up of the high road requires the give up of the easy, but descending path, toward the jungle of survival of the fittest ego and towards the swamp of mortal death, disease, and old age. To one whose gaze is fixed upon the greater reality and good of all life, the mortality and frailty of the human body and insecure ego are but universal realities  that we are challenged to “get over it.”

To paraphrase Paramhansa Yogananda and a vision he had of Divine Mother, “Dance of life and dance of death, know that these come from Me.” Fear not for they have no lasting reality for Spirit to Spirit goes, unfettered by matter’s ceaseless flux from form to energy and energy back to form.

Let us return then to Martin Luther King, Jr. and his labeling of atheism as unsound and impractical. I cannot claim to know his thoughts in this statement, but I believe his thoughts derive from the loss of the polestar of higher Self from which to guide one’s life. During his brief life (‘50’s and ‘60’s) post-war materialism and atheism (and the power and threat of communism based upon both), existentialism, together with amateurish interpretations of scientific discoveries and speculations such as chaos theory and relativity, were associated with what would be seen as the breakdown of morality and the rise of atheism and belief in the meaninglessness of life.

Atheism as a rejection of religious dogmas was not yet widely understood. King lived in a time of rebellion, both positive and negative. Thus Martin Luther King, Jr. both devout and deeply religious (in a nonsectarian way) and a deep thinker concerned with the trends of modern culture, would describe atheism as unsound. 

Atheism would be seen as impractical in contrast to how he saw his crusades for social justice as eminently practical in their methods but as justified in the perception of all men as children of God. That an agnostic or atheist might be a humanist, a proponent of an enlightened self-interest, or a pragmatist taking his cue from the scientific establishment of the interdependency of all living things and upon what might be called traditional Stoicism (a morality based on human values including moderation and self-sacrifice) would not have occurred to King or his religious contemporaries. (A Stoic sees that life brings both pleasure and pain, life and death, and taking the long view steps back from the pursuit of false and fleeting experiences to remain calm, dignified, and self-sacrificing, following what we might call the Golden Rule.)

It may well be that an atheist turns to the enlightenment of reason but as there are “no atheists in fox holes,” an atheist who holds fast and true to humanist ideals in the face of personal suffering, conflict, betrayal, humiliation or self-sacrifice is something much more than a mere atheist. Such virtue would not, in my opinion, derive from atheism but from a deeper and intuitive sense of justice and righteousness that no mere non-belief in a deity could suffice to sustain. Well, that’s my opinion. Taking this further, then, loss of moral judgment would not be a far step from one whose only anchor was this lack of a belief.

As studies have shown that those with a strong and abiding faith heal from surgery or illness faster, and cope with dying with greater aplomb, faith in God is already showing itself (using scientific methods of observation) to be practical. Faith-based communities, too, often show themselves effectively serving the ideals and good of society in ways no legislation or taxation could possibly achieve.

None of this is for the purpose of convincing a self-described atheist or agnostic to “come over to the other side.” Such a journey is like a river that runs silent and runs deep. But the impracticality of such a position, and its potential to lead to selfish behavior, productive of unhappiness, is surely worthy of consideration. The words of Martin Luther King, Jr. are certainly worth pondering.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

P.S. For an inspired and insightful explanation for Yogananda's "thesis" and modern thought, I direct your attention to two works by J. Donald Walters (aka Swami Kriyananda): "Out of the Labyrinth" and "Hope for a Better World." (Crystal Clarity Publishers, Nevada City, CA)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. & Mahatma Gandhi


Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. & Mahatma Gandhi

How to have courage, calmness & confidence

January 21, 2013 is the thirteenth year that Ananda in Seattle has presented a tribute to these two great men. We combine excerpts from their talks, writings, and biographies with the music of Ananda (written by Ananda’s founder, Swami Kriyananda).  This program is free and begins at 7 p.m. at the East West Bookshop in Seattle (www.eastwestbookshop.com). We are planning to stream it live at www.ustream.com (search on AnandaSeattle on or around 7 p.m., Monday night).

Most people are generally familiar with their lives. This tribute to King and Gandhi emphasizes not so much their biographical facts or accomplishments but the spiritual foundation for their courage and inspiration. This aspect is often ignored or only given passing acknowledgement in community programs, books and documentaries.

The public inauguration of President Obama takes place on the day set aside for commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. and the President has announced that he will take the oath placing his left hand upon two Bibles: one owned by Abraham Lincoln and the other owned by Martin Luther King, Jr.  This year our tribute includes a segment of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address, a short time before his assassination. I would like, therefore, to include Lincoln in my thoughts here.

There are many books on Abraham Lincoln but one of particular interest to me is Elton Trueblood’s, “Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership.”  This book seeks to reveal the spiritual life of a man otherwise an enigma even to his closest associates. But it is clear from this book, and so many others, that Lincoln wrapped his deep and personal relationship to God in a combination of humor and humility. The courageous acts he took were not born of pride or bluster but were weighed in the crucible of intense self-examination, painstaking attention to their impacts upon others, the highest interests of the nation as a whole, the framework of the U.S. Constitution, the duties of the presidency and the highest standards of ethics and idealism. All of these facets he looked to as indicators of God’s will. He offered up his deliberations for Divine guidance in the inner silence of his meditations. Lincoln trembled at the prospect of his own vulnerability to pride or ego and to the ease with which one could mistake guidance with desire, or subconscious prejudices.

Abraham Lincoln’s life of faith was rooted in humility and openness to a wisdom far greater than any man might hope to possess or confidently express. But this is precisely the entry fee for intuitive, divine guidance. The evolution of Lincoln’s decisions and policies during the Civil War reveal, in retrospect, the unfoldment of inspiration, calmness, and courage given to him as a divine grace and born of inner guidance. True prophets are keenly aware of their human shortcomings and their potential for self-delusion, more so in the glare of public acclaim or condemnation and more so on the cusp of decisions that can affect the lives of millions and change the course of history. Such examples, then, teach us that from caution and calmness spring the full measure of confidence and courage if born of true, spiritual insight and wisdom.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was thrown into his first civil rights campaign in Montgomery, Alabama by what could only be described as casual circumstances, aka divine destiny. In the mix of those who responded to the black community’s response to the arrest of Rosa Parks, people turned to King on the spot, with no prior background or planning. King showed that inner tentativeness and self-questioning which is like fertile soil from whence a seed sprouts and grows to a magnificent tree. This fertile soil knows that it must wait for the rain of divine guidance to prompt its emergence.

King, like Gandhi, held strictly to the call of divine love even while also fighting his self-styled enemies with cunning, with courage, and with intelligent strategic purpose. Both King and Gandhi were highly educated, extremely intelligent and deeply compassionate. They were unquestionably chosen by, and in time acknowledged, a higher Power to serve as an instrument of a higher Purpose. Each accepted their role but only as it unfolded. Often they would hesitate to act or speak if that inner guidance and inspiration failed to materialize.

The actions of prophets always confound supporters and enemies alike. King’s seemingly sudden interest in and opposition to the Vietnam War, for example, caused consternation among his peers and followers and earned the antipathy and opprobrium of the Johnson administration. Gandhi’s efforts to reassure the Moslem people of India of their place in the rising sun of a new Indian nation outraged Indian nationalists and ultimately was the cause of his assassination.

At  the same time there exists the paradox that the realization by the prophet of his God-given role and responsibility clashes with his frail humanity and causes feelings of burdensomeness and even periods of discouragement and depression. In each of these three men: this “melancholy” is evident in their lives. A more ego-affirming person (image a dictator) would revel in his power and only his subconscious would undermine his egotism in an effort to balance him out.

At the end of their lives, especially Gandhi and King, this discouragement and loss of clarity of direction is evident. For Gandhi the communal violence that attended India’s independence and partitioning was, to him, a sign of the failure of his efforts. For King, the impatience of young blacks and their increasing interest in choosing violence over nonviolence, together with fractious in-fighting among civil rights leaders, added to government distrust of King, and lack of progress in his selected campaigns, caused King to doubt himself deeply. Lincoln’s agonies, by contrast, peaked during the losses and setbacks of the civil war. But by the time he was assassinated, he had just won reelection and General Lee had just surrendered. For the first time he felt a quiet sense of contentment. But the work of reconstruction was, he knew, going to be as difficult and, indeed, more complex than the war itself. Moreover, Lincoln had a premonition of his impending death. Nor was it in his nature to revel in victory.

Another characteristic of these three great men was the universality of their religious faith. Of the three Lincoln kept his distance from orthodoxy even as he was notably a man of deep and earnest faith and prayer. King and Gandhi were more aligned with specific faiths but each had a view of religion that we, today, would call true spirituality, unfettered by sectarianism.

All three men viewed their efforts in two important and expansive ways: as benefiting their entire nation, not just the group of people for whose rights or upon whose side they struggled; and, each saw the benefit of their goals and victories as benefiting all peoples, far beyond their own nation’s borders. Each of them had the vision far into the future of the importance of their ideals and their methods.

Though each struggled against foes and self-styled enemies, each courageously expressed respect, friendship, love, and concern for them, whether as individuals or as a group. Lincoln was famous for bringing into his cabinet, administration, and military leadership his competitors.

Lincoln had an abiding faith and vision in the destiny of the United States to be an instrument of God’s will in championing a new way of life, liberty and pursuit of freedom and happiness. Mahatma Gandhi saw his work as an a new model for helping oppressed people find the means to effect freedom and justice without violence. King, similarly, saw that Lincoln’s work was not yet finished and that the well-being and destiny of the United States necessitated that the eradication of prejudice of race be overcome. He saw in the example of Christ, the unfailing power of love and the redemptive power of self-sacrifice. He, too, saw the importance for the United States to serve as an example to all nations and all peoples and understood that this required that the nation help black Americans be “free at last.”

The lives of these three great men are inextricably linked. King, as stated above, saw the civil rights movement as an extension of Lincoln’s emancipation of slavery and preservation of the Union. King was deeply inspired by the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi. King travelled to India in 1959 and received a hero’s welcome and a reception worthy of a head of state. People of color throughout the world followed King’s work eagerly. King quipped that he thought the Indian press gave more attention to his campaigns than did the white, American press.

King saw that Gandhi gave his beliefs the tools and means to elevate love for one’s enemies to a broader level than one to one. Lincoln held national days of prayer and fasting, asking the nation to acknowledge its errors and to make penance to atone for the evils of slavery and war. Although no writer than I know of viewed Lincoln as an advocate of non-violence in the Gandhian sense of this, it is clear from the testimony both of Lincoln and his biographers that he was deeply pained by the necessity to conduct an unwanted but necessary war.

There are connections, too, to the work of Ananda and to the life of our preceptor, Paramhansa Yogananda. In the practice of yoga, nonviolence is one of the core precepts that comprise the foundation for meditation and spiritual path and practice of yoga. In addition, Paramhansa Yogananda initiated Mahatma Gandhi into Kriya Yoga and thus created and established a deep and abiding spiritual connection between their two works. Yogananda, when a young man and before coming to the United States in 1920, was approached by Indian revolutionaries to lead them in their fight against the British. Yogananda declined, saying that this was not his work but predicting that India would find freedom through nonviolence during his lifetime. When coming to America in 1920 and becoming a resident (and later a citizen), Yogananda faced numerous instances of racial prejudice as a “colored” man. He spoke passionately about the colonial exploitations of the nations of Asia and Africa, people of color. He viewed World War II as a just war that would be the divine means of throwing off the yoke of colonialism.

The power by which these three changed the course of history has its roots in prayer and dedication to doing the will of God, as best as they could perceive it and doing so with faith and humility.

Courage, calmness and confidence derive not from ego-affirmation (for the ego is brittle and shallow, for self-involved and easily shattered by life’s many opposing egos) but from aligning one’s self with the Divine Will. Through prayer, meditation and right action, and by the habit of asking and praying deeply for divine guidance, we find the still, silent voice of God guiding us in all that we do. In this we feel divine strength, power and wisdom but at the same time we know that it isn’t ours and that we must “remain awake” at all times. Divine consciousness is eternally awake, omnipresent and omnipotent. Our consciousness, then, must approach the Infinite if we are to partake in the life and spirit of God.

This is a tall order but we begin right where we are. Lincoln studied the Bible from an early age and read it daily. King and Gandhi were intimately familiar with the words of their respective scriptures (Bible and Bhagavad Gita) as guidelines for daily life and right action. But it was the habit of meditation that brought each into the Divine Presence. This we, too, can do each and every day.

The testimony of the scriptures of east and west affirm that God is present and actively guiding the course of history through those who willing offer their lives to His guidance and will. Our world is changing at an increasingly rapid pace with dangers to life, liberty and health at every turn. God needs willing instruments. Gandhi termed the life he offered to such people Satyagrahis (expressing Satyagraha: dedication to Truth and Purity).

Those who are part of the worldwide work of Ananda see this living example in the life of Swami Kriyananda. He has been a spiritual warrior, standing calmly amidst calumny, physical suffering, opposition and seemingly impossible obstacles. His life of dedication to the work of Paramhansa Yogananda has earned for him a state of bliss — the grace bestowed upon those who live for God alone.

We don’t start by wanting to be heroes in the eyes of others. We begin, rather with humility and openness to God’s presence and guidance, taking life step-by-step, day-by-day. Meditation, selfless service, and fellowship with others of like mind are essential. Truth is not complex.

Let us then be Lightbearers in this world of change, danger, confusion, chaos, and ignorance.

See you Monday night at East West Bookshop!

Nayaswami Hriman

Friday, January 4, 2013

Who is Paramhansa Yogananda?

Who is Paramhansa Yogananda?
Happy birthday, Sri Yogananda: January 5, 1893!

Tomorrow, January 5, 2013, students, members, friends, and disciples will commemorate the life and teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda (1893-1952). Best known for his life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," Yogananda came to America in 1920 and except for a tour of Europe, the near East, and a visit back to his homeland of India, remained in America (and became a U.S. citizen) until his passing in 1952. He is also known for having introduced Kriya Yoga (a meditation technique) to the West.


Throughout the world, there will be meditations and public programs to celebrate this great yogi and world teacher. At Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell, we will conduct a meditation followed by a public program, and, the next day, Sunday, January 6, a family service (with skits taken from his life) and catered (Indian) banquet at the nearby Ananda Community in Lynnwood. For more information on these events, call the Temple at 425 806 3700 or check the website at www.AnandaWA.org.

While Yogananda's autobiography is a must-read, there's also Swami Kriyananda's recent book: Paramhansa Yogananda: a Biography. But my interest here today is not biographical. My thoughts are those of a disciple and student of Yogananda's life and teachings. Nor am I making any effort to compare his life with that of other teachers or gurus. Certain qualities of his personality and aspects of his teachings are what I wish to make note of today.

Paramhansa Yogananda came to America as a young man, age 27. His popularity as a speaker and celebrity rose steadily and a time came when his lectures in large and famous halls (like Carnegie Hall) were filled to overflowing. He was dynamic, spontaneous, accessible, youthful, exuberant, witty, child-like, and even a bit of a showman. He expressed both playfulness and deep devotion. He was everyone's friend, yet candid and bold at times.

Though he was to become a respected and renowned spiritual teacher, he was not pompous, aloof, overly-intellectual or grave. As a guru, he was one’s friend and intimate. He promoted all things Indian even as he lavishly praised all things American. ("All" is of course a slight, however appropriate, exaggeration!) He wore his wisdom as a comfortable old coat, easily removed, and lightly donned.

But no intimacy or lightness could disguise the depth of his message, and its radical and revolutionary nature. Declaring his line of gurus and India's rishis of old to be equal in spiritual stature to Jesus Christ should have got him lynched or deported during those times in American history. But his demeanor and vibration conveyed truth and spiritual power and he could hold and inspire a crowd as easily as a soul.

He effortlessly combined devotion with deep philosophy, and practical wisdom with creative action. In consequence, he inspired such responses from others. He reconciled centuries old theological debates in a few sentences. For example, instead of contrasting and condemning the material world in favor of God in His heaven, Paramhansa Yogananda described this world as a "dream" of the Creator, a dream made to seem real by the principle of power of illusion, the ceaseless motion between opposites (duality).

In the long running debate in Christianity as to whether Jesus was a man or God, Yogananda Jesus as a soul who, through many lives and achieved in a past life, the expansion of the limited ego consciousness (identified with the body) into divine consciousness (beyond all form). Jesus becomes not a divine creation but a soul, like you and I. His soul had awakened from the dream that this creation and the ego are real into the full realization of the underlying divine consciousness as the sole reality in and beyond creation. There is no difference, then, between Jesus Christ and us, only a difference of the degree of awakening.

Is God "wholly other" or is God immanent in His creation? In “becoming” the creation, God, being infinite, is both transcendent and immanent in creation. As the wave is but a part of the great ocean, so our soul is a wave upon the ocean of God's infinite consciousness. We, too, possess the divinely rooted impulse to create and to share. Looking outward into form and into matter, however, the soul begins to lose contact with its infinite Self and becomes identified with its limited self. The guru, or savior, having become fully awakened, comes to awaken the sleeping memory of our divine nature and to guide that awakening towards its goal in Self-realization.

In the debate between monotheism and polytheism, Yogananda explained that God is One because God IS the creation. There is no other reality than God: thus the ONE became MANY but the many is but an illusion.

Buddha refused to speak of God not because he was an atheist but because his mission was to help people understand what they, themselves, must do to achieve liberation from suffering.

Yogananda, as the rishis before him, used the human experience of sleep to describe the process of meditation and the state of superconsciousness. Sleep is something anyone can understand (and appreciate!). In sleep, the sense organs are turned off. In deepest sleep, the mind is quiescent but blissful. We always know how we slept upon waking. Sleep is necessary for life itself to go on. Meditation is the process of conscious sleep and superconsciousness is a state of feeling beyond thought but in a higher octave of intensity of awareness that is deeply rejuvenating. Meditation nourishes our creativity, sharpens our intuition, enriches our capacity for deep feeling, while it graces us with well-being and a sense of connection to others and to all life.

Paramhansa Yogananda taught the core precepts and techniques known to adepts and yogis in India since ancient times which he called “raja yoga.” The essence of the yoga techniques of breath awareness and life force control is distilled into the science of kriya yoga. Kriya is both a technique and a body of techniques and teachings designed to still the turbulence of the mind. This turbulence brought upon by the ceaseless play of the senses, thoughts and feelings creates a veil of delusion that prevents us from “seeing” God as our own, true Self. This science of breath and mind is one of God’s greatest gifts that Yogananda was commissioned to bring to the West and to the world. Kriya Yoga is for every true and sincere seeker, regardless of outward religious affiliation.

Yogananda wrote commentaries on the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and the Rubaiyat to show that all great spiritual teaching points to the promise of soul immortality through union with God, the sole reality, both transcendent and immanent.

All true religions can lead us to God because each reflects various aspects of human nature. We use our thought, feeling, will, and action as “organs” which express our intention and consciousness. Thus the different practices of religion reflect these aspects of human nature: devotion, ritual, prayer, self-improvement, and good works. But the goal of religion is union with God, or Self-realization of our divine nature.

This occurs most directly through consciousness itself. To know God we must lift our consciousness towards perfect stillness, towards His Infinite consciousness. The inner path of meditation works with and upon our consciousness, utilizing our God-given and nature-made subtle life force pathways to Oneness. Combining the inner path with the outer practices to purifies our consciousness and makes us fit to “receive Him.”

Yogananda predicted that "Self-realization" would become the religion of the future. By this statement he was not referring to any particular theology or practice but to the understanding among devotees worldwide, regardless of religious affiliation, that our personal connection with God and its practical expression in daily life are the essence of the religious impulse and purpose.

He saw in individual creativity, initiative and responsibility the solution to the challenges of globalism. He sowed into the “ether” the seeds for the establishment of independent, intentional, self-sustaining communities around the world by people of high ideals living simply, modestly and cooperatively. Imagine! This lifestyle alone can potentially solve all of the key issues that we face today: global warming, pollution of soil, air, and water, destruction of habitat and species, alarming rates of population growth ("simplicity" encourages family planning, quality over quantity), domestic violence (by sustainable, appropriate and committed relationships), ruthless competition (replaced by intelligent cooperation) and inequity of race, class, or cultures (with all types living in harmony). He did not envision that everyone would live in such communities. Rather, he saw that such would serve as examples of “how-to-live” for everyone.

Already in his time, he promoted vegetarianism (ovo-lacto) and encouraged others to reduce intake of red meat or pork, substituting fish, chicken, lamb, and emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables. This counsel is already accepted and promoted by health “gurus” and government officials.

He taught the principles of success in business, harmony in relationships, health of the body and mind, raising whole and happy children, and the importance of spiritual seeking as the centerpiece for finding true happiness.

The core of his teaching can be summed up in the words of Jesus: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God.....and all these things shall be added unto you." He identified that all beings seek happiness and that the path to happiness lies in seeking God through expansion of consciousness and sympathies through right understanding, meditation, and selfless action. Pleasure and human happiness based on outward conditions cannot bring to us lasting peace and joy. God is joy. Seeking God brings to us ever-increasing, ever-new joy, for God is infinite, omniscient, omnipresent Bliss. This is our nature and it is fulfilled in God alone!

Could this teaching be anything but “hope for a better world?” Could this teacher by anything less than a world teacher for this age?

Blessings to you, and "Happy Birthday, Master!"

Nayaswami Hriman