Vivek Atray
India’s hallowed soil has been blessed by the footprints of many great divine personages over the millenniums. Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, whose Mahasamadhi Divas is on March 9 and Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, whose Mahasamadhi Divas is on March 7, are widely recognized as two such saints. Their inspiring lives have permeated the collective consciousness of untold numbers of devotees with love and wisdom, which have enabled many to hasten their evolution towards the ultimate goal of oneness with God.
Yoganandaji first met Swami Sri Yukteswarji at Banaras, seemingly by chance, but clearly according to a divine plan. He was then a young lad named Mukund Lal Ghosh but was already yearning for a true guru to come into his life and envelope him with his loving guidance. That first meeting on a balmy evening upon the rooftop of Yukteswarji’s paternal home at Banaras, though instantaneously joyful, turned out to be inconclusive. Yogananda describes that encounter and their years of togetherness to come, in his iconic bestseller,’Autobiography of a Yogi.’
But during the years to come, at Swami Sri Yukteswarji’s hermitage in Serampore near Kolkata, the strict discipline but innately loving heart of the great guru moulded and honed the fledgling monk into the globally recognized guru that Yoganandaji was to become in the years that followed.
Those initial years under the ambit of his Guru’s guidance sculpted Yoganandaji’s persona and innermost qualities to such an extent that he went on to become the main proponent of the science of Kriya Yoga globally and to carve out an unparalleled spiritual legacy for the ages.
Yoganandaji gloriously fulfilled the responsibility bestowed upon him by his visionary guru, who in turn was guided by Sri Lahiri Mahasaya and the peerless Mahavatar Babaji to prepare the young monk to travel across the oceans and shine like a beacon to spread knowledge of the Kriya Yoga path in the western world.
The spiritual organization, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) founded by Yoganandaji, has, for many decades, capably performed the task of disseminating the Kriya Yoga teachings globally to interested truth seekers. Step by step instructions for practicing the scientific techniques of meditation, which Yoganandaji elucidated, are available for devotees in India through the Home Study Lessons and Mobile App of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS).
The ideal relationship between guru and disciple found magnificent manifestation in the form of Swami Sri Yukteswarji and Yoganandaji. Both saints were living out the human drama for legions of their followers to learn from in times to come. Both suffered setbacks just as normal human beings do. Yet, each word, each gaze and each touch that they chose to bless those around them with, carried eternal significance for true devotees of their path.
As Swami Sri Yukteswar said, most memorably, ”Everything in future will improve, if you are making a spiritual effort now!” And Yoganandaji made monumental efforts, as a true chela of his great guru, to imbibe and implement each utterance that emanated from his guru’s lips.
By the powerful spiritual impact of the exemplary lives that they led, and by the sheer aura of their blessed sojourns upon this earth, SwamiSri Yukteswarji and Yoganandaji, seamlessly found a place in the hearts of millions of followers. AndYoganandajiaptly and most inspiringly declared, “God has given this monk a large family!”
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