It’s a little difficult to read.
Skanda purana is about Kartika Shankar son

There are some places where peace naturally abounds

The highest achievement is “silencing the mind”. You could be the greatest King over all universes but yet compared to the achievement of a Yogi it is nothing

A king obviously has money power and all luxuries yet it is nothing compared to a Yogi who has conquered and silenced the vacillations of the mind.

Yet the easiest thing. The highest thing. No one aspires. Oh what a comedy!

From ~~~ Guru Vachaka Kovai.

82 The Simplicity of Life

1. If some men of abundant wealth
   were to give up willingly
   a few of their luxurious modes of living,
   millions of pitifully suffering poor could live.
2. Since the gracious Lord produces the needful food
   for all creatures only in the needed quantity,
   if one consumes more than what is needed to sustain life,
   it is a sin of stealing violently other’s food.
   Thus should you know.

Sri Muruganar
Although this verse mentions only food,
it is applicable to all the necessities of life.
Whatever one heaps more than necessary
is nothing but heaping sins.

~ Free online reading and download of this book ;

Click to access Guru_Vachaka_Kovai.pdf

We have everything necessary in the world today to bring about the millennium. Only man’s selfishness makes it impossible. Tremendous unnecessary suffering is created by man’s shortsighted self-interest. Money that could feed and clothe needy people is used instead for destruction. The root cause of the world’s troubles is this selfishness born of ignorance. Each person thinks he is doing right; but when he seeks to satisfy only his own interest, he is setting in motion the karmic law* of cause and effect that will inevitably destroy his own and others’ happiness.
The more I see of world tragedies caused by man’s ignorance, the more I realize that even if every street were paved with gold, happiness would not be lasting. Happiness lies in making others happy, in forsaking self-interest to bring joy to others. If each one would do that, then everyone would be happy; and all would be taken care of.

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

This is so true. Selfishness is from ego.
Ask that it be removed!

Heretic !

How could anyone ask or think this question?

This is the article

https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-jesus-poop

Not much to say here. Obviously all those who think or ask or debate this question are not Yogi

😀

Devotee: Is a Master necessary for realisation?” Mrs. Piggot asked first.

Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi: The realisation is the result of the Master’s grace more than teachings, lectures, meditation, etc. They are only secondary aids, whereas the former is the primary and the essential cause.

Devotee: What are the obstacles which hinder realisation of the Self?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: They are habits of mind (vasanas).

Devotee: How to overcome the mental habits (vasanas)?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: By realising the Self.

Devotee: That is a vicious circle.

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: It is the ego which raises such difficulties, creating obstacles and then suffers from the perplexity of apparent paradoxes. Find out who makes the enquiries and the Self will be found.

Devotee: What are the aids for realisation?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: The teachings of the Scriptures and of realised souls

Devotee: Can such teachings be discussions, lectures and meditations?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: Yes, all these are only secondary aids, whereas the essential is the Master’s grace.

Devotee: How long will it take for one to get that?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: Why do you desire to know?

Bhagwan Sri Ramana: Even such a desire is an obstacle. The Self is ever there, there is nothing without it. Be the Self and the desires and doubts will disappear. Such Self is the witness in sleep, dream and waking states of existence. These states belong to the ego. The Self transcends even the ego. Did you not exist in sleep? Did you know then that you were asleep or unaware of the world? It is only in the waking state that you describe the experience of sleep as being unawareness; therefore the consciousness when asleep is the same as that when awake. If you know what this waking consciousness is, you will know the consciousness which witnesses all the three states. Such consciousness could be found by seeking the consciousness as it was in sleep.
Talk—13

From Ramana Maharshi

Grace is Awakening of Shakti. Without which nothing can happen. Since Awakening of Shakti can occur in many forms, people err. They think Ramana Maharshi only talked about self enquiry but in reality he was Awakening Shakti in a very few selected disciples.

I have written about signs of Awakening Shakti elsewhere. Plus there are 5 levels (3 + 2 ) and two depths. These details are learnt much later. Many have told me they have their Shakti awakened by many “guru”. I remain silent. Should I cry for them ? I leave hints. But they cannot grasp

Devotee: To give me hope.

This is what Maharshi said

The meditation is not necessarily sitting in a posture etc but does mean intense desire for liberation and God

Intense. In case I forgotten to say that

An example of intense – Ramkrishna wanted God so much he would cry incessantly for God , rub his face in ground etc

In that intensity they don’t even feel hungry or care for anything in life

Until then you will mark time. For eons

“Through the divine eye in the forehead, (‘the east’), the yogi sails his consciousness into omnipresence, hearing the word or Aum, the divine sound of ‘many waters’: the vibrations of light that constitute the sole reality of creation.” In Ezekiel’s words: “Afterwards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh towards the east; and behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like the noise of many waters; and the earth shined with His glory.” Jesus also spoke of the spiritual eye: “When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light… Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35). “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”— Matthew 6:22.

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

So the way is long even after hearing the Divine sounds

But there is hope! Meditate deeper. The sound is there in everyone. We have just not turned withing. A part of us seeks worldly things and ignorance is insisting on the worldly things.

We have not enjoyed the Divine within so we seek fun on the outside. Once the inner Joy is discovered, slowly we give up the outside!

Lectures are not needed after that.

Lectures are needed to slowly convince our intellect to look within

Then we Discover that our mind is unruly. It won’t listen to it. Then we realize that a true Guru is needed to go within. Not the lecture kind.

Then once you go within slowly , carefully, meticulously, with patience and love for Guru you make the glorious triumph

Simple!

Bad habits die hard. So while in London I visited an authentic shrine of Aurobindo. They have his hair stored there and is a place of samadhi
Plus they have the chair which mother used to sit on
Above are the pictures from there

The third photo is of Aurobindo after his samadhi. His body remained as is without embalming for a few days even in the hot humid Pondicherry weather! This is similar to what happened to Yogananda body

So when a certain state is reached the body loses all function. Some rare souls come back after that happens if that is likely to happen, the body is kept for 21 days. If at 21 days the body starts to show deterioration, then the body is either buried or cremated
Yogananda did not come back
Aurobindo, in my opinion was not given the chance to come back. This is where Satprem, the French follower fought with the Ashram to keep body but his body was not kept

I should add there are deeper techniques where body is preserved by the Yogi for thousands of years. This is only known to the Yogi and he leaves strict instructions on how and where the body is to be kept

There are such Yogi bodies but we cannot find them. Those who go beyond time find it easy to hide from those bound in time

The place is kept emmaculately. Every so often people who follow Aurobimdo go there to meditate

The words that Aurobindo used are very different than traditional Yoga. This created a little confusion. However all that he said is there in traditional Yoga and more

Mira or mother was able to leave the physical body from her childhood. So frequently saw Aurobindo and thought he was Krishna. Finally she met Aurobindo. Aurobindo was at the top of staircase and Mira at bottom. Aurobindo gave her Awakening with his eyes. It was Awakening of Shakti. However inspire of experience, she left Aurobindo for a few more years and then finally came back

I am relating this from memory from years ago. But you get the gist

I am sorry I did not answer clearly in the blogs. We suffer. And we ask why we suffer. We want an explanation. However no matter what explanation you are given, the mind might have temporary peace and it comes back in waves. Till the mind begins to forget
In psychology it goes through DABDA – Denial, anger, bereavement, depression and acceptance. We use religion as a crutch. But the steps in psychology remain the same. Whether you Believe in God or not .
In general all such so called teachers are nothing more than psychologist in a way
A real Guru is different. He can support without a word and give peace. That is what Gorakhnath did to Bharthruhari. You only know the partial story

May I suggest you read Sadhan Shikhar ? It is in Hindu. It is an account of how even the enlightened suffered with the same questions we have

However the reason why we suffer is we ask why me only in pain. Not in happiness! We don’t ask why me when we have a great trip, score high, get college admission. At that time we suffer in ego. We think I deserved it
So the same ego gets pushed in suffering.
Hope that answers your question. Please please please do not share this with everyone. Or about me

But such masters are rare!

They don’t go out and give lectures or give meditation lessons or talk openly about kriya yoga!

They simply unlock. Open doors and you have realization. How soon? Can be instantly. If your a very very weak disciple 12 years later!

That’s it.

The original scriptures were written in Sanskrit. DO NOT EVER THINK THAT THE TRANSLATION DEPICTS THE PERFECT INTERPRETATION. IN FACT TRANSLATION AND MEANING IS ONLY 10% !

Once you learn to meditate very deep, you finally understand Sanskrit language. It’s beautiful. ALL THE SANSKRIT SCHOLARS ARE A FAILURE in a sense. They have only given you a translation not the full effect of the language

Mind you, even the translation with 10% of the interpretation is off extremely high value. But the beauty is in the hidden 90%.

Wherever little I learnt is solely due to the grace of my Guru

Vasishtha Maharaj – Guru of Rama bhagwan, gives us two perfect definitions

1. Agyana – ( ignorance ) Thinking your the body or even thinking your the soul when your already the Divine God itself is Agyana !

2. Mind – this world is like a painting with no substance. The thing that makes us see it as alive and real and and animated is the mind. Without the mind its seen like an imagination. Few reach that level.

Those who do , stop trying to correct the world ! Waste of time. Correct your own vision

Here Maharshi differentiates between wisdom and Gyana. Wisdom is not to think plus no emotions plus no ego plus no imagination. When that happens, what is left is self = Gyana.

However, eliminating thoughts and all the above is not easy. Why can we not still it? Desire. Desire for someone, something in the world.

There are some good desires which are beneficial. Finding a perfect Guru. Wanting to be perfect. Wanting to be ever so calm or peaceful.

If you note I did not include helping others in the list. One should help others. Always. But the desure to help others is ignorance. For a few reasons – one it is because you see the other person as someone other than God ( all is God). You are moving away from adwaita. Third the desire to help others includes the desire that someone be hurt so you can help! Forth while helping you develop ego etc

But you must help all – with out the desure to help. And help them with love for God. Seeing them as God as that is how to help. Helping with this attitude quickly leads to perfection

D.: Is an intellectual understanding of the Truth necessary?

M.: Yes. Otherwise why does not the person realise God or the Self at once, i.e., as soon as he is told that God is all or the Self is all? That shows some wavering on his part. He must argue with himself and gradually convince himself of the Truth before his faith becomes firm.

(From ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’, Talk 596)

So constant help and guidance with mediation is needed

Merely intellectual discussion with one self or a Gyani is not enough

This life is a master novel, written by God, and man would go crazy if he tried to understand it by reason alone. That is why I tell you to meditate more. Enlarge the magic cup of your intuition and then you will be able to hold the ocean of infinite wisdom.

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

So there you have the answer. But strangely enough we never ask why me to the same event when good things happen to us unexpectedly. Tricky selfish polarized mind. It hurts us. Conquer it

“There is no greater power than to smile at failure, no more beautiful an ornament to your being than a genuine smile, and no beauty greater than the smile of peace and wisdom glowing on your face.”

“Be a Smile Millionaire.”

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

So that smile is the genuine smile of inner Joy of being one with Atman

This smile is a reflection of realization. Which is of course rare

But those who have it can hide it also

True silence is not a single thought or emotion! The amazing thing is such people can constantly talk but but are so calm within that they have no emotion or thoughts !
How can they recite the highest without thinking? Simple. They are fully anchored in Divine. Aren’t they Gods?

The animal lives spontaneously, automatically, and if it watches itself live, it must be to a very minute and insignificant degree, and that is why it is peaceful and does not worry. Even if an animal is suffering because of an accident or an illness, this suffering is reduced to a minimum by the fact that it does not observe it, does not project it in its consciousness and into the future, does not imagine things about its illness or its accident.
With man there has begun this perpetual worrying about what is going to happen, and this worry is the principal, if not the sole cause of his torment. With this objectivising consciousness there has begun anxiety, painful imaginations, worry, torment, anticipation of future catastrophes, with the result that most men — and not the least conscious, the most conscious — live in perpetual torment. Man is too conscious to be indifferent, he is not conscious enough to know what will happen. Truly it could be said without fear of making a mistake that of all earth’s creatures he is the most miserable. The human being is used to being like that because it is an atavistic state which he has inherited from his ancestors, but it is truly a miserable condition. And it is only with this spiritual capacity of rising to a higher level and replacing the animal’s unconsciousness by a spiritual super-consciousness that there comes into the being not only the capacity to see the goal of existence and to foresee the culmination of the effort but also a clear-sighted trust in a higher spiritual power to which one can surrender one’s whole being, entrust oneself, give the responsibility for one’s life and future and so abandon all worries.
Of course, it is impossible for man to fall back to the level of the animal and lose the consciousness he has acquired; therefore, for him there is only one means, one way to get out of this condition he is in, which I call a miserable one, and to emerge into a higher state where worry is replaced by a trusting surrender and the certitude of a luminous culmination — this way is to change the consciousness.
Truly speaking there is no condition more miserable than being responsible for an existence to which one doesn’t have the key, that is, of which one doesn’t have the threads that can guide and solve the problems. The animal sets itself no problems: it just lives. Its instinct drives it, it relies on a collective consciousness which has an innate knowledge and is higher than itself, but it is automatic, spontaneous, it has no need to will something and make an effort to bring it about, it is quite naturally like that, and as it is not responsible for its life, it does not worry. With man is born the sense of having to depend on himself, and as he does not have the necessary knowledge the result is a perpetual torment. This torment can come to an end only with a total surrender to a higher consciousness than his own to which he can totally entrust himself, hand over his worries and leave the care of guiding his life and organising everything.
How can a problem be solved when one doesn’t have the necessary knowledge? And the unfortunate thing is that man believes that he has to resolve all the problems of his life, and he does not have the knowledge needed to do it. That is the source, the origin of all his troubles — that perpetual question, “What should I do?…” which is followed by another one still more acute, “What is going to happen?” and at the same time, more or less, the inability to answer.
That is why all spiritual disciplines begin with the necessity of surrendering all responsibility and relying on a higher principle. Otherwise peace is impossible.
And yet, consciousness has been given to man so that he can progress, can discover what he doesn’t know, develop into what he has not yet become; and so it may be said that there is a higher state than that of an immobile and static peace: it is a trust total enough for one to keep the will to progress, to preserve the effort for progress while ridding it of all anxiety, all care for results and consequences. This is one step ahead of the methods which may be called “quietist”, which are founded on the rejection of all activity and a plunging into an immobility and inner silence, which forsake all life because it has been suddenly felt that without peace one can’t have any inner realisation and, quite naturally, one thought that one couldn’t have peace so long as one was living in outer conditions, in the state of anxiety in which problems are set and cannot be solved, for one does not have the knowledge to do so.
The next step is to face the problem, but with the calm and certitude of an absolute trust in the supreme Power which knows, and can make you act. And then, instead of abandoning action, one can act in a higher peace that is strong and dynamic.
This is what could be called a new aspect of the divine intervention in life, a new form of intervention of the divine forces in existence, a new aspect of spiritual realisation.
The Mother, Questions and Answers 1957 – 1958, CWM volume 9, pages 303 – 305.

My thoughts

The step of surrender includes not having tormenting thoughts or worries. Herein less the catch 22. To stop worrying one has to surrender. And to surrender one has to stop worrying. The way to break it is meditation with faith !

It is not a pumping-in from the outside that gives wisdom. It is the power and extent of your inner receptivity that determines how much you can attain of true knowledge, and how rapidly.

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

The deceptive part is you may think you have gone within and got inspiration

But there are a few cautions. I have mentioned it many times – inspiration from within is there when sushumna Nadi is open, you hear celestial music, etcetera

These signs are rare

Rest of the so called inspiration is fluke. Hit or miss

If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you.

~Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 31.

It is true. If your sincere then a Guru will find you. Problem is we are not serious in finding God. We have desires for the world

This weekend I will be in London for a day. I looked far and wide and not a single classmate or friend wants to find reality

The passion for knowing self is not there. We love our sleep don’t we?

It is suspected it is a computer generated image of

Jesus Christ

Source : history101

How is it possible?

This was generated based on the shroud of Turin

However, one thing is sure. Jesus was in the middle East and probably had more middle Eastern features than we imagine

The sastras (scriptures) are not needed for an inward turned mind. They are meant for the rest.

(Bhagavan in ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’, Talk 513)

Why is that ? All vedas, Gita etc come from inner experiences. So once you go within they are not needed

For those who do not go within, it gives them a verbal glimpse of something beautiful

For those who try to within it reminds them to stay on proper technique

For those who occasionally go within it gives various milestones. For exampleOh if you go within, truly, you will hear some enchanting music in your silence etc

For those who are within and perfected they interpret shastra perfectly for us. And now those Who cannot differentiate enlightened from unenlightened it serves as a simple method.

Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life

Saint Frances was one of Yogananda favorite

The last line says it all. Destroying the ego including the thought you have a body is true death

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it’s all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Kent Keith
From . Do It Anyway: The Handbook for Finding Personal Meaning and Deep Happiness in a Crazy World
According to the author, Mother Teresa was so moved by these commandments that she hung them on a wall in her orphanage in Calcutta.

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by .] an article in the New York TimesKent M. Keith

“The Divine Spirit is not a tyrant. He knows He has put us in a world of delusion. He knows we are in trouble; He knows of our struggles. Man only increases the inner darkness of his spiritual ignorance when he thinks of himself as a sinner. It is better for him to try to correct himself, appealing to the Divine Mother for help, beholding in Her the reflection of God’s infi- nite love and forgiveness.
While I was meditating last night, I sang this love song to the Divine:

O Divine Mother, I am Thy little babe, Thy helpless babe, secretly sitting on Thy lap of immortality. I shall steal my way to heaven secreted on Thy lap. In the shelter of Thy lap I shall steal my way to heaven. No karma can touch me, for I am Thy babe, Thy little babe, Thy helpless babe. Secretly on Thy lap I shall steal my way to heaven.

That is the relationship to have with God, for the love of the Mother is the all-forgiving love of the Divine.”

~Paramhansa Yogananda – The Divine Romance.

I would highly recommend everyone read the book the Divine romance. Read any page randomly It will give support through all the emotional anguish we face in the path of God
We see inequality and Injustice all the time. How can we give solace and comfort to the mind? This book resolves many of those issues

Yogananda gave the easy way to God. Of love and surrender to God
However for a very a very few he told them the path of kriya yoga
After they persisted he then opened the road if kriya yoga.
However this is rare. Right now there is no one in the path who can awaken the road. A living perfected Guru is needed
If you don’t get the Awakening, the fully is not with Yogananda or Babaji. Just that our timing with them was slightly off .
But without fail follow his words

The path of Ramana Maharshi is dry. There is no Awakening of the love of God till much later
Yogananda incarnated as love. Every word he said is saturated with love for God and all the people around him

O SERVANT, where does thou seek Me?
Lo! I am besides thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither
in Kaaba nor in Kailash:
Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga
and renunciation.
If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me:
thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, “O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath.”

Here Kabir gives true karma and the path to finding God instantly
If only your can give up the wavering mind!
Another hint he uses the word servant – that is an incomplete translation but more meant as someone enslaved (by passions of the mind and senses )

TELL me, Brother, how can I renounce Maya? When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment about me:
When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its folds.
So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;

And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;

And when greed is vanquished, pride and vain glory remain;
When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to the letter.
Kabir says, “Listen to me, dear Sadhu! The true path
is rarely found.”

Here Kabir has given secrets of the highest Awakening. The sentence you think is a typo is where the secret is hidden

Don’t mentally review any problem constantly. Let it rest at times and it may work itself out; but see that you do not rest so long that your discrimination is lost. Rather, use these rest periods to go deep within the calm regions of your inner Self.

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

Work itself out – very likely for those who go deep in meditation daily

Do not rest so long – meaning don’t be lazy or more importantly don’t care about outcome. For example if you have a debt on credit card thinking god will take care of it is useless.

Do not expect grace or blessings for problems to be solved when you were careless in your actions

But unexpected problems coming from Maya are surely to be solved. Say you want privacy in meditation and you can’t get it or don’t get time. That will be solved miraculously

When I was in medical training working 36 hours at a time , before I started I asked God give me an hour to meditate daily. Fortunately during the hour I of meditation no one ever paged me or called me ever. For 3 years

“The Divine Spirit is not a tyrant. He knows He has put us in a world of delusion. He knows we are in trouble; He knows of our struggles. Man only increases the inner darkness of his spiritual ignorance when he thinks of himself as a sinner. It is better for him to try to correct himself, appealing to the Divine Mother for help, beholding in Her the reflection of God’s infi- nite love and forgiveness.
While I was meditating last night, I sang this love song to the Divine:

O Divine Mother, I am Thy little babe, Thy helpless babe, secretly sitting on Thy lap of immortality. I shall steal my way to heaven secreted on Thy lap. In the shelter of Thy lap I shall steal my way to heaven. No karma can touch me, for I am Thy babe, Thy little babe, Thy helpless babe. Secretly on Thy lap I shall steal my way to heaven.

That is the relationship to have with God, for the love of the Mother is the all-forgiving love of the Divine.”

~Paramhansa Yogananda – The Divine Romance.

Yogananda was enlightened and repeatedly had experienced merger in the self. There were many things he did. But yet kept humility

Such is greatness!

So desirelessness is not easy. What Ramana Maharshi describes is not having desire not only in this gross physical body but also no desire of heaven either. That is two steps. No desire in physical body or subtle body. Final step is no desire in causal or karana body.

That desirelessness is wisdom ! That’s why I am critical of many people who claim knowledge but in reality are worse than any ordinary person. What is the difference – you crave sex or money or Fame or food or jewelry or information about God ( which is not experience – true knowledge of God ) Go brag your information about God and get thousands to bow to you. I like my peace.