John the Baptist

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/ Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda Chapter 35 The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya

“Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.”1 In these words to John the Baptist, and in asking John to baptize him, Jesus was acknowledging the divine rights of his guru. From a reverent study of the Bible from an Oriental viewpoint,2 and from intuitional perception, I am convinced that John the Baptist was, in past lives, the guru of Christ. There are numerous passages in the Bible which infer that John and Jesus in their last incarnations were, respectively, Elijah and his disciple Elisha. (These are the spellings in the Old Testament. The Greek translators spelled the names as Elias and Eliseus; they reappear in the New Testament in these changed forms.) The very end of the Old Testament is a prediction of the reincarnation of Elijah and Elisha: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”3 Thus John (Elijah), sent “before the coming . . . of the Lord,” was born slightly earlier to serve as a herald for Christ. An angel appeared to Zacharias the father to testify that his coming son John would be no other than Elijah (Elias). “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. . . . And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him4 in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”5 Jesus twice unequivocally identified Elijah (Elias) as John: “Elias is come already, and they knew him not. . . . Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” 6 Again, Christ says: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.”7 When John denied that he was Elias (Elijah), 8 he meant that in the humble garb of John he came no longer in the outward elevation of Elijah the great guru. In his former incarnation he had given the “mantle” of his glory and his spiritual wealth to his disciple Elisha. “And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. . . . And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him.”9 The roles became reversed, because Elijah-John was no longer needed to be the ostensible guru of Elisha-Jesus, now perfected in divine realization. When Christ was transfigured on the mountain10 it was his guru Elias, with Moses, whom he saw. Again, in his hour of extremity on the cross, Jesus cried out the divine name: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. . . . Let us see whether Elias will come to save him.”11 The eternal bond of guru and disciple that existed between John and Jesus was present also for Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya. With tender solicitude the deathless guru swam the Lethean waters that swirled between the last two lives of his chela, and guided the successive steps taken by the child and then by the man Lahiri Mahasaya. It was not until the disciple had reached his thirty-third year that Babaji deemed the time to be ripe to openly reestablish the never-severed link. Then, after their brief meeting near Ranikhet, the selfless master banished his dearly-beloved disciple from the little mountain group, releasing him for an outward world mission. “My son, I shall come whenever you need me.” What mortal lover can bestow that infinite promise?

Divine Light of God

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The SRF Line of Gurus

JESUS CHRIST

One of the essential goals of Paramahansa Yogananda’s mission was “to reveal the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions.”

To the public at large, Jesus propounded a simple philosophy of faith, love, and forgiveness. He spoke often in parables, pregnant with timeless morals. But to his close disciples he taught deeper truths, truths that have their correspondence in the deepest metaphysical concepts of the more ancient yoga philosophy.

When his disciples questioned Jesus, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” he answered, “Because is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but them it is not given….Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:10, 11, 13).

The full understanding of Jesus’ original teachings — including the fact that he bestowed on his disciples the esoteric techniques of yoga meditation — is revealed in Paramahansa Yogananda’s in-depth commentary on the Gospels: The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. In his Introduction to that work, Yogananda wrote:

“Jesus Christ is very much alive and active today. In Spirit and oc casionally taking on a flesh-and-blood form, he is working unseen by the masses for the regeneration of the world. With his all-embracing love, Jesus is not content merely to enjoy his blissful consciousness in Heav en. He is deeply concerned for mankind and wishes to give his fol lowers the means to attain the divine freedom of entry into God’s Infinite King dom. He is disappointed because many are the churches and temples founded in his name, often prosperous and powerful, but where is the com munion that he stressed — actual contact with God? Jesus wants temples to be es­tablished in human souls, first and foremost; then established outward ly in physical places of worship. Instead, there are countless huge edifices with vast congregations being indoctrinated in church ianity, but few souls who are really in touch with Christ through deep prayer and meditation.

“To reestablish God in the temples of souls through revival of the original teachings of God-communion as propounded by Christ and Krishna is why I was sent to the West by Mahavatar Babaji….

“Babaji is ever in communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemp tion and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age.”

BHAGAVAN KRISHNA

Bhagavan Krishna lived many centuries before Christ. Revered throughout India as an avatar (incarnation of God), the historical facts of Krishna’s life are interwoven with a maze of legend and mythology.

The sublime teachings of Lord Krishna are enshrined in the Bhagavad Gita. In his highly acclaimed two-volume commentary on the Gita, Paramahansa Yogananda has written:

“The Bhagavad Gita is the most beloved scripture of India, a scripture of scriptures. It is the Hindu’s Holy Testament, or Bible, the one book that all masters depend upon as a supreme source of scriptural authority….

“So comprehensive as a spiritual guide is the Gita that it is declared to be the essence of the ponderous four Vedas, 108 Upanishads, and the six systems of Hindu philosophy….The entire knowledge of the cosmos is packed into the Gita. Supremely profound, yet couched in revelatory language of solacing beauty and simplicity, the Gita has been understood and applied on all levels of human endeavor and spiritual striving — sheltering a vast spectrum of human beings with their disparate natures and needs. Wherever one is on the way back to God, the Gita will shed its light on that segment of the journey….

“Krishna is the divine exemplar of yoga in the East; Christ was chosen by God as the exemplar of God-union for the West….The Kriya Yoga technique, taught by Krishna to Arjuna and referred to in Gita chapters IV:29 and V:27–28, is the supreme spiritual science of yoga meditation. Secreted during the materialistic ages, this indestructible yoga was revived for modern man by Mahavatar Babaji and taught by the Gurus of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.”

MAHAVATAR BABAJI

There are no historical records relating to the birth and life of Mahavatar Babaji. Paramahansa Yogananda has written in Autobiography of a Yogithat the deathless avatar has resided for untold years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, revealing himself only rarely to a blessed few.

It is Mahavatar Babaji who revived in this age the lost scientific meditation technique of Kriya Yoga. In bestowing Kriya initiation on his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji said, “The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and that was later known to Patanjali and Christ, and to St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples.”

Shortly before Paramahansa Yogananda left for America in 1920, Mahavatar Babaji came to Yoganandaji’s home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: “Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West.”

Read more about Mahavatar Babaji:

Babaji, Yogi-Christ of Modern India

A Blessing from Mahavatar Babaji

LAHIRI MAHASAYA

Lahiri Mahasaya was born on September 30, 1828, in the village of Ghurni in Bengal, India. At the age of thirty-three, while walking one day in the Himalayan foothills near Ranikhet, he met his guru, Mahavatar Babaji. It was a divine reunion of two who had been together in many lives past; at an awakening touch of blessing, Lahiri Mahasaya became engulfed in a spiritual aura of divine realization that was never to leave him.

Mahavatar Babaji initiated him in the science of Kriya Yoga and instructed him to bestow the sacred technique on all sincere seekers. Lahiri Mahasaya returned to his home in Banaras to fulfill this mission. As the first to teach the lost ancient Kriya science in contemporary times, he is renowned as a seminal figure in the renaissance of yoga that began in modern India in the latter part of the nineteenth century and continues to this day.

Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi: “As the fragrance of flowers cannot be suppressed, so Lahiri Mahasaya, quietly living as an ideal householder, could not hide his innate glory. Devotee-bees from every part of India began to seek the divine nectar of the liberated master….The harmoniously balanced life of the great householder-guru became the inspiration of thousands of men and women.”

As Lahiri Mahasaya exemplified the highest ideals of Yoga, union of the little self with God, he is reverenced as a Yogavatar, or incarnation of Yoga.

Paramahansa Yogananda’s parents were disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya, and when he was but a babe in arms his mother carried him to the home of her guru. Blessing the infant, Lahiri Mahasaya said, “Little mother, thy son will be a yogi. As a spiritual engine, he will carry many souls to God’s kingdom.”

Lahiri Mahasaya established no organization during his lifetime, but made this prediction: “About fifty years after my passing, an account of my life will be written because of a deep interest in Yoga that will arise in the West. The message of Yoga will encircle the globe. It will aid in establishing the brotherhood of man: a unity based on humanity’s direct perception of the one Father.”

Lahiri Mahasaya entered mahasamadhi in Banaras, September 26, 1895. Fifty years later, in America, his prediction was fulfilled when an increasing interest in yoga in the West inspired Paramahansa Yogananda to write Autobiography of a Yogi, which contains a beautiful account of Lahiri Mahasaya’s life.

SWAMI SRI YUKTESWAR

Swami Sri Yukteswar was born on May 10,1855, at Serampore in Bengal, India. Sri Yukteswar was a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and attained the spiritual stature of a Jnanavatar, or incarnation of wisdom.

Sri Yukteswar recognized that a synthesis of the spiritual heritage of the East with the science and technology of the West would do much to alleviate the material, psychological, and spiritual suffering of the modern world. These ideas were crystallized by his remarkable encounter with Mahavatar Babaji, the guru of Lahiri Mahasaya, in 1894.

“At my request, Swamiji,” Babaji said to him, “will you not write a short book on the underlying harmony between Christian and Hindu scriptures? Their basic unity is now obscured by men’s sectarian differences. Show by parallel references that the inspired sons of God have spoken the same truths.”

Sri Yukteswar recounted: “In the quiet of night I busied myself over a comparison of the Bible and the scriptures of Sanatan Dharma. Quoting the words of the blessed Lord Jesus, I showed that his teachings are in essence one with the revelations of the Vedas. Through the grace of myparamguru, my book, The Holy Science, was finished in a short time.”

It was to Swami Sri Yukteswar that Paramahansa Yogananda came as a youth. The great guru told his young disciple that, during their meeting in 1894, Mahavatar Babaji had informed him: “You, Swamiji, have a part to play in the coming harmonious exchange between Orient and Occident. Some years hence I shall send you a disciple whom you can train for yoga dissemination in the West. The vibrations there of many spiritually seeking souls come floodlike to me. I perceive potential saints in America and Europe, waiting to be awakened.”

After relating this, Sri Yukteswar told Yogananda, “My son, you are the disciple that, years ago, Babaji promised to send me.”

Under Sri Yukteswar’s spiritual training and discipline, Sri Yogananda was prepared to begin his worldwide mission in the West. Sri Yukteswar named Paramahansa Yogananda sole heir to his spiritual mantle and ashram properties.

Swami Sri Yukteswar entered mahasamadhi on March 9, 1936, during Paramahansaji’s visit to India after fifteen years in America.

PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

As described above, Paramahansa Yogananda was personally blessed by Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Swami Sri Yukteswar — all three of the paramgurus in his spiritual lineage — to carry out the mission of disseminating Kriya Yoga worldwide.

In Autobiography of a Yogi he wrote: “The founding in the West of a Self-Realization Fellowship organization, a ‘hive for the spiritual honey,’ was a duty enjoined on me by Sri Yukteswar and Mahavatar Babaji.”

Read a brief description of his life’s work in accomplishing that mission.

PSYOPS to bring Peace between Christianity, Islam and Judaism and Hinduism

This work is to bring PEACE between Christianity, Islam and Judaism and Hinduism.

This work is my interpretation of the ESSENCE OF ISLAM

Mystical Ecstasy – Sufi Practices

http://www.myasa.net/mystic/index.html

This is a very powerful PSYOPS tool

What Is Yoga, Really?

What Is Yoga, Really?

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Easter 2010

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“Behold thine immortal Self resurrected with Christ in the illuminating Light of Christ Consciousness, present in every soul, every flower, every atom.”

— Paramahansa Yogananda

At this sacred time of Easter, when we honor the life and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ, may you awaken anew to the presence of his infinite consciousness—in the unfolding of God’s beauty in nature, in every impulse to reach out to others with empathy and love, and in the growing awareness of His joy within your soul. Liberated ones such as Christ come to lift us from the illusion that we are frail mortal beings, bound by the body and the dualities of this world. They remind us of the indomitable strength within us, of the love of which we are capable, and the oneness with the Divine that we can attain if we attune our lives with God and reach beyond this little “I” to care for all as part of our greater Self.

How deeply our hearts respond to Christ’s tender compassion, for our own true nature is love. We rejoice at his victory over human limitations because within every one of us is the urge to express our boundless soul. While the world prompts us to live on the surface of life, reacting to people and experiences according to the ego’s likes and dislikes, Christ and all God-united souls blaze before us the trail to freedom and divine expansion. Gurudeva Paramahansa Yogananda said, “The love that most persons feel for dearest family and friends, Jesus felt for the whole world and every living being.” It was this all-embracing love that motivated Christ to willingly lay down his life for the welfare of others. His supreme sacrifice was the culmination of countless acts of compassion, and a strength and humility cultivated by responding divinely to many daily trials. Let us take to heart his example and embrace the opportunities each day brings to resurrect our consciousness from the ego-bound lesser self to the soul’s goodness and understanding. The spirit of Christ manifests in us when we look for the positive qualities in others instead of judging them; when we forgive instead of harboring feelings of resentment; when with deep faith and an open heart we set aside our preferences to seek attunement with God and pray, “Father, not my will, but Thine, be done.”

Above all, Christ’s ability to love purely and selflessly, the spiritual strength that enabled him to conquer mortal consciousness, were forged in the stillness of soul-communion, in the loving relationship with his Heavenly Father that was his very life and being. To follow in his footsteps, we too must go within. This Easter, renew your resolve to nourish by meditation your relationship with the Divine, and to practice Christ’s way of kindness, forgiveness and loving service to all. As you draw closer to the Source of all love, Christ’s resurrection will have ever deeper meaning for you. May the infinite love that sustained Lord Jesus fill your consciousness and flow out to all who cross your path.

Loving wishes to you and your dear ones for a joyous and blessed Easter,

Sri Daya Mata

Essence of Islam = Sufism

Mystical ecstasy is the only closely guarded secret of nature and needs dedication, sacrifice and labour far greater than what is required to unravel the mysteries of the visible universe. Nobody can sell the magic formula or manipulate society by offering a short cut.

Khwaja says :

“They met the Sultan’s brandished steel The crocodile’s gnashing teeth

They bowed their necks, the death to feel Who follows in their train

They climbed the steep ascent of super consciousness Through peril, toil and pain

Oh God, to us may grace be given To follow in their train”

That which intoxicates the consciousness without drinking, smoking and eating, ‘that which makes our consciousness experience the climax of ecstasy of far greater magnitude than the sensual pleasures, that because of which we experience weightlessness and suspended animation of the physical body, it is nothing else then the mystic’s wine, some call her Kundalini and some Ganga, some call her vidyut lata and some beloved.

The charlatans prostitute her as a cool breeze in the palm of hand and a tingling sensation at the back of the spine. Any misguided effort or attempt to invoke Kundalini destroys the aspirant, as when trillions of megawatts of energy is unleashed, it can result in one of the most painful deaths known to humanity.

Murshid Omar Khayyam said that

“Up from the earth’s centre through the seventh gate, I rose,

And on the throne sate, and many knots urravelled by the road,

But not the knot of human death and fate”

“While the rose blows along the river brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby vintage drink, And when the angel with his darker draught Draws up to thee, Take that and do not shrink”

The esoteric practice of Ashgal is the key to Wehdat (final merger with the Divine beloved). Through relentless spiritual conditioning of the consciousness, magical powers to know the past , present and future and the ability to understand the language of all creatures, to become invisible at will, to leave one’s body and enter other bodies at will, to levitate, to become lighter than a proton and heavier than a black hole, are some of the para normal powers which the immortal God Realised Saints developed. The final goal of Ashgal practices is Wehdat (merger with the All Pervading Divine).

Murshid Gurdial before his death sang sang :

“Is a ray ever separate from the sun,

Will a drop exist separate from the ocean, The light merges with the light,

The union is complete now, What a holy communion”

Murshid Shah Abdul Latif said :

“Unlock yourself and see HIM”

The six esoteric astral centres of the Sufi’s are :

———————————————————

Akhfa

Khafi

Siri

Qalbi

Rohi

Nafsi

Esoteric Chakras in Hinduism:

————————————

Sahasrara Chakra

Ajna Chakra

Visuddhi Chakra

Anhata Chakra

Manipura Chakra

Svadhistana Chakra

Khwaja says that through perfect Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Perfect Ashgal ( Meditation on the Divine ) that Marifat (Union with the Divine Beloved ) is attained.

Kundalini’s descent from the Ahkfa to Khafi is an staggering encounter revealing the All Pervading Divine Light, thus making the All Pervading eternal Unmanifest God, manifested through the Khafi (Ajna Chakra). The illuminating glory surrounding the vision of God as seen by the disciples of Prophet Christ, the Noor I Allah as seen by the disciples of Prophet Mohammad, the Circling Light of the Taoists and the blazing radiance of a million suns as described in the Holy Gita, bear testimony to the sayings of All God Realised saints who have left their foot prints in the sands of time to follow and realign our goals.

Khwaja says :

“They who know God, know God, None else knows”

“God Alone exists Rest is a dream”

“Wherever you turn, there is the face of God”

Tasawwuf or the Sufi way has been described as the creed of love, the dogma of heart and religion of spirit. Sufi dynamics revolves around Muhabbat. Here Muhabbat should not be misunderstood for any thing less than love for the All Pervading Divine. Muhabbat is Muhabbat , it can only be comprehended during Marifat (union with the Cosmic Divine), before that it would be difficult to understand it with the yardstick of human love.

Khwaja has stressed that

yearning for the All Pervading Divine has to be cultivated through relentless practice of moral injunctions and fixed observances with perfection in Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Zikr (remembrance on the Divine) with Muraqaba (contemplation on the Divine) which would result in illumination of the self. It is through Marifat that Muhabbat is felt permeating our entire being. Divine love is an ecstasy permeating our consciousness, not even the joys of our love to our spouses or to our children is as selfless as the Divine love.

Wehdat, should be then our only goal in life. For a human being who has developed the urge for the Divine would understand the wonders of love permeating the entire universe. Only on attainment of Marifat that Wahdat ul wajud (oneness of being) is perceived, before that we are indulging in intellectual delusion by using the terms such as brotherhood of man etc. The key to God Realisation is Muhabbat. It is this intensity of the urge that decides whether an aspirant will remain an amalgamation of chemicals or realise that the aspirant is a drop of consciousness in the Universal All Pervading Super Consciousness of the Unity understood as the Divine Light. Sometimes the aspirant finds that when they have developed the urge for the Divine, the Unmanifest All Pervading does not manifest itself, this could be for a variety of reasons including our lack of consistency or pre spiritual puberty level. We must understand that spiritual pleasures can be felt only when we have stilled the desire for gratification of the senses.

Spiritual conditioning through practice of instructions of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) with renunciation of our wants which do not serve any purpose other that gratification of the physical body would aid our efforts in seeking the nectar of Immortality. The tendencies such as Haivania – carnal desires, Ammarah – desires enhancing our greed, Mulhama – the inspired motivated self, all these make up a human personality. We are forever bound by the cause effect of these desires unless we make a serious effort to improve our evolutionary positioning in the universal ladder of perfection. When an aspirant ventures for this transition, they should only make an effort under the guidance of the Murshid (spiritual mentor) for without the able guidance of the Murshid it would be very difficult for us to attain freedom from the slavery of senses. The subtle difference between Mind, Ego and Intelligence collectively making our consciousness cannot be understood by mere book knowledge. Experience is one of the gates to teachers and without experiencing it ourselves it would be difficult for us to even comprehend the realm of esoteric science and its hidden treasures. If we accidentally mistake the imagination of our thought processes or the voice of ego as the voice of the soul, we must immediately seek spiritual help for attunement otherwise we would start speaking to ourselves and be termed as a loony. It is very important to understand that without the able guidance of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) it is next to impossible to identify the voice of the soul in the haystack of ego and intelligence lying with each other to categorise thoughts emerging in our brain.

Khwaja once said that :

“Only when the foundation is strong that a legend stands”

Marifat, the spiritual ecstasy, climax of paranormal communion cannot be possesed of as non existent for the God Realised Saints of all the religions of the world bear testimony to its Truth. Attainment of Mutminnah – tranquil self is a platform from which we can dive deep into the esoteric realm of superconsciousness. When we activate the tranquil self through relentless practice that we enter the esoteric dimensions of the hidden siddhis, unavailable to the ordinary human being in the life span of 125 years. How is this purity attained and what are we to understand by the nexus of Muhabbat and Purity. We should appreciate that the efforts of the God Realised Saints was to free us from the misery of human bondage which no amount of material comfort can justify. Are we nct scared to die and knowing that tomorrow it may be our turn, we still justify our greed as savings for the rainy day. Very true indeed, the rainy day is the day of the death of our physical bodies but unfortunately we would not be able to carry any wee bit of our accumulations. No amount of coaxing by the saints can ever make us understand the truth behind renunciation of desires. With the goal of Marifat (Union with the Divine) as our only purpose in life would enable us to have a very successful innings of 125 years if not more. The aspirant under the influence of Haivania, Ammarah and Mulhama, ensnared by the gratification urges is a slave to the desires binding the consciousness to the physical body. Therefore when we dry the juice of sense gratification that we enable our consciousness to attune with the cosmic properties of the soul,

That which is beyond the reach of the most powerful microscope and that which is beyond the realm of inter galaxy travel can be attained by the grace of the Murshid.

I was asleep in a slumber of ignorance, the jogi woke me up;

He cleansed my mind of the dirt and showed me the essence

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