You cannot buy peace; you must know how to manufacture it within, in the stillness of your daily practices in meditation.” With these words of Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), senior YSS sannyasi Swami Ishwarananda Giri introduced an online audience of over 2,500 persons including newcomers to the concept of yoga-meditation at an International Day of Yoga programme livestreamed from the spiritual organization’s Ranchi Ashram.
The serene environs of the ashram lent an ideal setting to this programme offering a taste of the peace that can be experienced through yoga as they were led by Swamiji into a guided meditation session. Swamiji extolled Paramahansa Yoganandaji’s contribution to the spread of India’s age-old science of Kriya Yoga to the world which now marks June 21 as the International Day of Yoga (announced by the United Nations in 2015), “He gave to the world a practical method by which spiritual aspirants from all walks of life could experience peace and achieve the ultimate goal of self-realization.”
Swami Ishwaranandaji invited truth-seekers to explore these teachings of Kriya Yoga as offered on the YSS path through home-study lessons on the YSS website.
Quoting from God Talks With Arjuna, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Paramahansaji, Swamiji shared the benefits of Yoga: “Yoga teaches that where God is, there is no fear, no sorrow. The successful yogi can stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds. The only true freedom lies in God. So strive deeply to contact Him in meditation morning and night, as well as throughout the day in all work and duties you perform.”
On this occasion, Swami Ishwaranandaji also released the Hindi translation of Yoganandaji’s collection of talks and essays titled “Divya Prem-Leela” (The Divine Romance) which offers a unique blend of the all-embracing wisdom, encouragement, and love for humanity that have made the founder-Guru of YSS one of our era’s most trusted guides to spiritual life.
“Through this book, we can gain a better understanding of the concept of love and how to attain it,” Swamiji explained, quoting these words from the book: “The world as a whole has forgotten the real meaning of the word love. Love has been so abused and crucified by man that very few people know what true love is….The greatest love you can experience is in communion with God in meditation. The love between the soul and Spirit is the perfect love, the love you are all seeking.”
Translated into Hindi, this book takes the Kriya Yoga and How-to-Live teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda to a wider audience in the country. “May it be, for countless readers, a ray of divine light on the spiritual path, bringing inspiration, guidance, and new meaning to life,” Swami Ishwaranandaji quoted from the introduction to this “spiritual treasure.”
A few of the talks included in this volume were given at informal gatherings or satsangas with small groups of disciples; or at meditation services in which the Guru experienced ecstatic communion with God, affording all present a glimpse of the blissful divine romance. Further information: yssi.org/Lessons yssi.org/Books.