After 558 pages, I finally finished Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I have not read many of the great spiritual books of the 20th century. However, I must admit that I have a grudging admiration for this book. I do not know quite what to make of the tales of Hindu saints who do not need to eat food to live, nor of yogis who could be in two places at one time, nor of the resurrection of Yogananda's guru from the dead. However, I do know what to make of his Yogananda's comments about his encounters with such notables as Luther Burbank and Gandhi and of his most valiant attempt to create a bridge Eastern and Western philosophies and religions. In essence, there is great substance to what Yogananda writes and, apparently, there is great substance in who he is. How else does one account for the success he achieved in this country and the following he has around the world. When I return to Encinitas, hopefully in January, I hope to explore more of his philosophy in such works as Whispers from Eternity and Songs of the Soul.
In the interim, I leave you with these passages from his chapter entitled "With Mahatma Gandhi at Wardha"
"Americans may well remember with pride the successful nonviolence experiment of William Penn, in founding his 17th-century colony in Pennsylvania. There were "no forts, no soldiers, no militia, even no arms." Amidst the savage frontier wars and the butcheries that went on between the new settlers and Red Indians, the Quakers of Pennsylvania alone remained unmolested. "Others were slain; others were massacred; but they were safe. Not a Quaker woman suffered assault; not a Quaker child was slain; not a Quaker man was tortured." When the Quakers were finally forced to give up the government of the state, "war broke out, and some Pennsylvanians were killed. But only three Quakers were killed, three who had so far fallen from their faith as to carry weapons of defence." (Page 495)
"The more weapons of violence, the more misery to mankind," Lao-tzu taught. "The triumph of violence ends in a festival of mourning." (Page 496)
"I am fighting for nothing less than world peace," Gandhi has declared. "If the Indian movement is carried to success on a nonviolent Satyagraha basis, it will give a new meaning to patriotism and, if I may say so in all humility, to life itself."
"Before the West dismisses Gandhi's program as one of an impractical dreamer, let it first reflect on a definition of Satyagraha by the Master of Galilee:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil [with evil]: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
"Gandhi's epoch has extended, with the beautiful precision of cosmic timing, into a century already desolated and devastated by two World Wars. A divine handwriting appears on the granite wall of his life: a warning against the further shedding of blood of among brothers." (Page 496)
The friendship between Gandhi and Yogananda extended beyond death. Some of Gandhi's ashes were sent to Yogananda and are today enshrined at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine located in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
August 2, 2023
Comments
Post a Comment