A Yoga Ambassador of One-ness

Paramahansa Yogananda brought a very different kind of yoga to the West (pre 2nd World War era) than the modern stretch, relax and oversize bendy stretch version of what is not really yoga. In this Instagram post below he beautifully talks about cherishing life, now. Note how he describes a spirituality that is not specifically religious, if read with an open mind, and yet denounces materialism without being anti-materialistic.

 

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“So many years are gone from our lives already. And only so many years, weeks, days, and hours are left. Don’t waste time. In your heart, tell Him night and day, “Lord, I want Thee.” Never be insincere about that. Never reason, “Tomorrow I will seek God. Today let me have a good time.” Always say, “Today, my Lord, today I want Thee.” Love Him, talk to Him every second of your life, in activity and in silence, with deep prayer, with the unceasing desire of your heart; and you shall see the screen of delusion melt away. I pray that God give you the imperishable gift of His love. But without effort you won’t find Him. If you make twentyfive percent of the effort, the rest of it will come through God and guru. Indifference prevents man from realizing how important it is to find God now, in this moment. God wants you to understand that this creation is a show. If you take the show seriously, you are going to get hurt, and you won’t like it; you won’t be able to stand life, with its sorrow and disease and pain. You have already lost so much time—death may take you away at any moment. You must realize Him before you go out of the body cage. Tell Him, “I want to feel Your presence. Do everything for God. Working for Him is just as important to your spiritual progress as meditation. Laugh at maya, delusion. Watch life as a cosmic motion picture, then it cannot work its delusive magic on you anymore. Be in God-bliss. When you can stand unshaken ‘midst the crash of breaking worlds, you shall know that God is real. He doesn’t mean to hurt you. He has made you in His image. He has made you already what He is. That is what you don’t realize, because you acknowledge only that you are a human being; you do not know that thought is a delusion. If we could watch this world as God watches it, and as the saints do, we would be free from the seeming reality of this dreaming. In that consciousness I can understand that this world was created for entertainment; and that it is not necessary either to God or to us.” – Paramahansa Yogananda #God #ParamahansaYogananda #Love #Joy #KriyaYoga #SelfRealization #Awareness #Pranayama #OmPeaceAmen #Quotes

A post shared by Paramahansa Yogananda (Quotes) (@paramahansa_yogananda_quotes) on Dec 2, 2018 at 12:24am PST