Swami Yogananda

"God has put you in the world. What can you do about it? Resign everything to Him. Surrender yourself at His feet. Then there will be no more confusion. Then you will realize that it is God who does everything. All depends on 'the will of Rama'."
True for some people who would not ask questions. Sharanagati in Ramanuja's Sri Vaishnavism.
 
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True for some people who would not ask questions.
I think it means surrender of the material ego to the higher power, in any faith

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And he shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Sharanagati in Ramanuja's Sri Vaishnavism.
Thanks

Sharanagati is the process of total surrender to God in the tradition of Vaishnavism. The process of Sharanagati forms the basis of devotion to Vishnu in the bhakti traditions ... Ramanuja considered surrender to Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi to be the highest goal of life

The path of surrender (Saranagati) is open for one who is unable to follow the path of action (Karmayoga), knowledge (Jnanayoga) and devotion (Bhaktiyoga), and who has no other way of salvation
— Yamunacharya, Stotra Ratna
 
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PRAYER FOR A UNITED WORLD
By Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

May the heads of all countries and races be guided to understand that men of all nations are physically and spiritually one: physically one, because we are the descendants of common parents — the symbolic Adam and Eve; and spiritually one, because we are the immortal children of our Father, bound by eternal links of brotherhood.

Let us pray in our hearts for a League of Souls and a United World. Though we may seem divided by race, creed, colour, class, and political prejudices, still, as children of the one God we are able in our souls to feel brotherhood and world unity. May we work for the creation of a United World in which every nation will be a useful part, guided by God through man’s enlightened conscience.

In our hearts we can all learn to be free from hate and selfishness. Let us pray for harmony among the nations, that they march hand in hand through the gate of a fair new civilisation.

From his Metaphysical Meditations
 
LEARN TO MEDITATE

Meditation is the science of God-realization. It is the most practical science in the world. Most people would want to meditate if they understood its value and experienced its beneficial effects. The ultimate object of meditation is to attain conscious awareness of God, and of the soul’s eternal oneness with Him. What achievement could be more purposeful and useful than to harness limited human faculties to the omnipresence and omnipotence of the Creator? God-realization bestows on the meditator the blessings of the Lord’s peace, love, joy, power, and wisdom.

Meditation utilises concentration in its highest form. Concentration consists in freeing the attention from distractions and in focusing it on any thought in which one may be interested. Meditation is that special form of concentration in which the attention has been liberated from restlessness and is focused on God. Meditation, therefore, is concentration used to know God.

In response to the love of exalted devotees, God has manifested Himself in various cosmic forms. He also manifests Himself in truth, in divine qualities, in the creative power and beauty in nature, in the lives of great saints and avatars (divine incarnations), and in the soul of every human being. Thus meditation on any of these concepts brings a deep realization of the omnipresent Absolute, of Him who is ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss. And because meditation gives direct perception of God, it raises the practice of religion above the differences of dogma.

From his Metaphysical Meditations
 
Interesting...I thought it was bestowd upon them by their order or guru

Yogananda did have a mission supposedly assigned to him by Mahavatar Babaji...

Paramhamsa has a particular definition signaling a particular station of insight though, and I think overall Yogananda qualifies... certainly there are few organizations that surpass the spiritual power of his people.

He makes himself the avatar for this age though, so he takes authoritative liberties in various ways.

The most problematic for me is that he is the permanent authority of his movement, this is contrary to tradition.

Each manifestation of truth is supposed to be honored equally among Hindu's because they all represent the same truth.

If they do not they are not Satguru's...

The measure of this is called Shaktipat, his people have this so it's sad they remain limited by oath.
 
Paramhamsa is technically higher than Swami so the threads title is sorta offensive.

Technically a Swami is still on the way, a Paramhamsa has found the destination.

Bhagwan is reserved for those that express it particularly purely.

The most recent of these seems to be Ramana Maharshi.

Some of his people are called Neo-Advaita or Neo-Vedanta because they ignore tradition.

Ramana cannot be accused of this.
 
Of course Ramana and Yogananda met, but in the footage we have of this we can notice the difference...

If you look only at Ramana it seems to be a picture, he is the embodiment of mauna... silence, stillness...

If you look only at Yogananda he is fidgeting and apparently uncomfortable... yet he has really found truth and has the power to convey it energetically too...

This is a difference in purity but neither are false.
 
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Within Christianity there is the concept of hesychasm that is essentially Greek for mauna...

This is less true if you accept Gregory Palamas, but the Oriental Orthodox still insist the word means silence, stillness...

"Be still and know" is pure hesychasm.
 
fwiw, this is an intended consequence of my username too...

It can be rendered "surrender to reality" which has the same connotations.
 
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