Vageesh Express
Vedic
Guru
March 2007
Edition
||Sri Gurubhyo Namah||
In
2006,‘Vedic Guru’ revered the lives of saints who lived in the 19th century and
before.
In
2007, we humbly honor Gurus of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Thou art I, I am Thou,
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!
- From Samadhi, a poem by Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda was born on
Yogananda was named Mukunda Lal Ghosh and
was raised in a devout Bengali family. From his childhood, young Mukunda's
awareness and experience of the spiritual was extraordinary. In his youth he
sought out many of India's Hindu sages and saints, and eventually found an
illuminated teacher in Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri.
In 1915, he took formal vows into the
monastic Swami Order and became 'Swami Yogananda Giri'. In 1917, Yogananda
founded a school for boys in Bengal that combined modern educational techniques
with yoga training. This school later became Yogoda Satsanga Society of India,
the Indian branch of Yogananda's American organization.
In 1920, he founded Self-Realization
Fellowship, headquartered in LA, to disseminate to the world his teachings on
On March 7, 1952, Paramhansa Yogananda
attained immortality.
Yogananda taught his students the need for
direct experience of truth, as opposed to blind belief. He said that “To know
what religion is really all about, one must know God.”
To that end, he taught certain yoga
techniques that help the student achieve Self-realization. He said that
“Self-Realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you
are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that
it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that
you need to do is improve your knowing.”
Yogananda's work is continued by several of
his disciples and organizations.
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