Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Concludes Five-Day Sangam with Swami Chidanandaji, President and Spiritual Head of YSS/SRF, at Hyderabad

The way to true success is to be with God all the time; at night, be with Him in your meditation, and awaken in the morning ready to battle with the world with Him by your side,… then you can do as Paramahansa Yogananda prescribed, ‘Come along world, I am ready for you!’” quoting Yoganandaji, Swami Chidananda Giri, president and spiritual head of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India/Self-Realization Fellowship (YSS/SRF), motivated over 2,800 devotees at the closing satsanga of YSS Sangam 2023 in Hyderabad’s Kanha Shanti Vanam on February 16.

“We didn’t reason ourselves into delusion, and we can’t reason ourselves out of it; we need something higher. The science of Kriya Yoga is the key to overcoming delusion,” said Swami Chidanandaji, adding: “Kriya Yoga is one of the greatest purifiers as it brings freedom from tamasic qualities, and makes one tangibly feel the awakening of sattvic qualities.”

Elaborating further, Swamiji mentioned the three effects of yoga — “a sattvic brain, a sattvic heart and sattvic nerves. The world will change as individuals will change by bringing out the sattvic qualities.”

Thousands of YSS and SRF devotees from India and across the world participated in this Sangam through in-person programmes or online live-streams of this five-day event with Swami Chidanandaji, for an immersion in Yoganandaji’s yoga meditation teachings. 

Swami Chidanandaji encouraged devotees “to take refuge in the Kriya Yoga gurus who are waiting with outstretched arms in the fortress of their loving protection.” Reiterating his opening remarks to take refuge in Kriya Yoga, Swami Chidanandji said it takes you to the temple of silence, peace, wisdom and bliss where the soul merges with Spirit; and you feel it. He said, “Each one of you is a beloved one of God. Never doubt it. Go deeper and you will know it.”

The spiritual organizations — Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS, headquartered in Kolkata) and Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF, headquartered in Los Angeles, USA) were founded more than 100 years ago by the world-renowned spiritual master, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, who is the author of the best-selling spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi.

Four devotees from USA, Japan, Chandigarh and Hyderabad offered gratitude to Swami Chidanandaji for this YSS Sangam on behalf of the global YSS/SRF devotee community. 

Sharing his experience of the programme, a devotee from Hyderabad said, “Joining satsanga with beloved Swami Chidanandaji and YSS sannyasis in the Sangam brings us so much joy, especially being able to join in-person long meditation with Swami Chidanandaji, which is such a rare blessing.”

A young devotee from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh shared how this Sangam transformed her: “It was a pleasant break from the busy-ness of our lives, being able to solely focus on my sadhana, and to find the company of thousands of like-minded people seeking the love of God above all else.”

“The experience of divine fellowship with over three thousand devotees for these five days has brought me immense motivation to pick up afresh my efforts to deepen my personal sadhana,” said another devotee from Salem, Tamil Nadu. For further info: yssi.org