Yogananda Archives

Practical Advise on Learning the Kriya Yoga Methods

To someone who wrote describing his experiences in meditation and who was practicing Kriya Yoga from an ebook he had purchased. The evaluation of meditation experiences is very tricky, because it depends on the meditator’s karma, any past life experience of esoteric development, and the … Continue reading

Real Spiritual Teachers vs. Super-Gurus

An excerpt from The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening

“The Holy Lord said: When he leaves behind all desires emerging from the mind, and is contented in the Self by the Self, then he is said to be one whose wisdom is steady” (Bhagavad Gita 2:55).

Nothing could be easier to understand: an enlightened person wants nothing, finding total fulfillment in the Self–both individual and Universal.

Therefore when we see people with even “spiritual goals” such as “serving God in others” or exhibiting a veritable passion about a “world mission” or “saving” or “enlightening” others, we can know they are not illumined, and therefore incapable of doing any of those things in a real manner, however fine the exterior machinery might appear.

Qualities of a true spiritual teacher

A true spiritual teacher has no expectation of others whatsoever, much less foisting demands on them. Knowing that all growth comes from within, never from an outer factor–including him–the worthy teacher knows that it is his duty to teach, and that is the absolute end of the matter. From then on it is up to the student to either follow the teaching or not.

If he asks for help or advice from the teacher, it is the teacher’s duty to give the requested assistance and then leave the matter alone. (Swami Sri Yukteswar was a perfect example of this, as was Paramhansa Yogananda. They loved and cared deeply, but they also respected the freedom of those they taught.)

In spiritual life as well as material life there is a division of labor that should be adhered to. Under the guise of “love” or “devotion” there should be no violation of spiritual law. And no authentic teacher will ever break any law.

In contrast

It is virtually impossible to find any popular “guru” that does not live like “the jewel in the lotus”–both materially and socially. Although there is a pretense that their disciples are insistent upon it, it is really the guru that demands continual adulation and material accouterments that would have been considered extreme even for a Di Medici monarch.

A Joyous Christmas to You from Light of the Spirit Monastery

“Doors of joy, which may have been long closed within us all, should be thrown wide open at the coming Christmastide, in memory of One whose divine example has lit the way down twenty centuries. “This is my prayer for you all on this occasion … Continue reading

Stories of Oliver Black, Yogananda’s Highly Advanced Disciple

To a person who wanted me to share what I know about Yoganandaji’s highly advanced disciple, Yogacharya Oliver Black. In 1968 I was able to go to Detroit for an SRF Sunday service at the Art Institute conducted by Yogacharya Black, and the entire next … Continue reading

Untold Stories of Mahavatar Babaji of Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi”

To someone who wished I would write anything I might know about Mahavatar Babaji that is not in Autobiography of a Yogi. I will tell you what others told me in India about Babaji. Dr. Mukherji Within a week of my landing in India in … Continue reading

Stories About Yogananda’s Second American Disciple: Warren Vickerman

yogananda-warren vickerman To someone who asked for more about Warren Vickerman, the second American to become a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda.

The very first person I had a conversation with at the Hollywood SRF Center was Annie Vickerman, the wife of Warren Vickerman (“Vickie”). She was taking care of the little octagonal bookstore. We became good friends and in later conversations she occasionally told me some things about him.

Warren meets Yogananda

A young man of deep introspection, Vickie came to realize that the breath is the foundation of the mind, and that the restless, uncontrolled breath is the great obstacle to deep spiritual perception. Though living in New York City, he somehow learned that a Swami Yogananda was living and teaching in Boston.

Intuitively feeling that the swami held the key to his dilemma, he managed to find his address and went, unannounced, to Boston. As he was walking up toward the house in which Yogananda was saying, the Master came out onto the porch. Stopping right where he was, Vickie asked: “Can you help me to get rid of the breath?” Yoganandaji smiled and said: “Come right on in!” And he did, and became his second disciple in America.

Two cooks and an outsider

Yoganandaji often stayed with the Vickermans in New York. Vickie was an excellent cook, so the two of them often spent hours in the kitchen cooking up Indian specialities and creating new ones. Whenever Annie (who could not cook at all) entered the precincts she was immediately shooed out and the door closed as the experts continued their culinary conquests.

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