On 27th September 2014 when Indian Prime
Minister Mr. Narendra Modi spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he
espoused the idea of celebrating International Yoga Day, besides focusing on many other critical issues relevant
for all in today’s interconnected world. Now, mention of Yoga at a global
geopolitical event could have sounded a bit out of sync to some cynics but for
Indians who pride themselves on their Indian-ness, it was music to their ears.
What better message could the prime minister of India give to the world than
talking about Yoga, India’s biggest gift to the humanity!
And the setting was perfect! The concept was of Yoga.
The countries involved were India
and America – world’s largest and
oldest democracy respectively. As the
history chronicles, there has always been a divine connection between these two
powerful and functional democracies of the world, set and strengthened around
Yoga. The person propagating the message of Yoga was himself a yogi – a political
one albeit.
Whenever mention of Yoga is made anywhere in the world,
one remembers two most revered spiritual Gurus from India - Swami Vivekananda
and Paramahansa Yogananda. PM Modi mentions his
namesake’s – Narendra Nath Datta alias Vivekananda – contribution in spread of
Yoga worldwide but so far he hasn’t talked about the Yogi from whom the world learnt to practice Yoga and meditation
i.e. Yoganandaji. Not his fault entirely because still many Indians aren’t fully
aware of this most famous Indian abroad,
besides Mahatma Gandhi, and his monumental works in the field of Spirituality
and Yoga. For the world population, Paramahansa Yogananda is synonymous with
Yoga.
I am sure that when our
respected prime minister initiates his International
Yoga Day celebrations, he will revolve his concept around the teachings of
Yoganandaji as well and involve the disciples from his spiritual headquarters
in America – SRF-YSS in Los Angeles,
California – and spearhead the mission worldwide.
It’s been 120 years since Swami Vivekananda swept America
off its feet! The date was 9/11 – 11th
September, 1893. The city was Chicago. The venue was the Arts Institute of
Chicago. The event was the opening day of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
And sitting on the dais was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy
handsomeness defied his deep spiritual stature. India, a predominantly Hindu
nation, was still under the British rule.
The world had a strong sense
of India as a wealthy nation and thus the desire for every explorer-voyager to
discover it for its treasures and thus had inspired Christopher Columbus
earlier and then Vasco da Gama to set sail for Indian shores from Spain and Portugal
respectively in different points in time. As we know, Columbus instead ended up
discovering the US; da Gama was fortunate to set his foot on the beaches of
Calicut in southern India. India’s invasions were continued by Muslims and
Mughals and then came the Britishers. Britain decided to deceive India into
becoming its richest colony because of its ‘Golden Bird’ image. When we look
into the history book pages, we realize that all these plunderers remained poor
in spite of looting Indian wealth. The fact that they could not learn from the vast
spiritual heritage of India is testimony to their almost blind-like vision and
mindset. And therefore we see that when Vivekananda was chosen to represent India
at Chicago World Congress, the world had very little idea about the most
ancient and the complete religion of the humans i.e. Hinduism.
Swami Vivekananda got up from his
chair and overcame his nervousness by inwardly bowing to Goddess Saraswati and
began his talk: “Brothers and Sisters of America!” The entire arena burst into
loud applause! Never before had any preacher got this kind of reception in the
world convention on religions. After two minutes of rapturous and heart-warming
response, Vivekananda resumed speaking. And as they say, the world got its
first and full glimpse into the Hinduism. The audience was mesmerised by the
divine knowledge of spirituality flowing from the spell-binding oratory of the
Hindu Monk! After familiarizing the rapt spectators with the cornerstones of
Hinduism and Vedic Philosophy, he talked about Yoga, and for the first time in
their life the West became aware about this concept – the focal point of
Spirituality – and about which they were to learn more from another Hindu Monk
twenty seven years from then – in 1920 – who was to devote his life in the
Divine Duty of teaching and spreading Yoga to the Western Populace, from his
base in America. This seer was Paramahansa
Yogananda.
In fact, on the 11th September of 1893 when
Swami Vivekananda was speaking at the Parliament of World’s Religions at the
Arts Institute of Chicago, back home in India in Gorakhpur, an 8 month old
infant by name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh had already been predicted by his parents’
Guru Lahiri Mahasaya as the Divinely destined Yogi to undertake the Divine
Mission of teaching and spreading Kriya Yoga beyond the shores of the country. This
Divine Design had been told to Lahiri Mahasaya by his Guru, the deathless
Babaji, who had been living in the Himalayas for almost 2000 years and had
chosen the advanced soul of Mukunda based on the request of Jesus Christ. Unbelievable?
Yes, it could be so for the ignorants but not for the spiritually conscious souls.
Therefore, as predicted by
Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya in 1893, twenty seven years later on 3rd
August in 1920, another Hindu Monk left the shores of India from the city of
Calcutta via Bombay on the ship City of
Sparta as an Indian delegate at the International Congress of Religious
Liberals being held in the city of Boston.
The scene of 1893 was repeating itself. The date was 10/6 – 6th October, 1920. The city
was Boston. The venue was the Unity House in Boston. The event was the opening day
of the International Congress of Religious Liberals. And sitting on the dais
was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy handsomeness defied his deep spiritual
stature. India, a predominantly Hindu nation, was still under the British rule.
Swami Yogananda
got up from his chair and got over his nervousness by inwardly sending prayers
to his Guru and Mother Divine to help him sail through his maiden speech in
America in English. The reception to his talk on ‘The Science of Religion’ can be gauged by the comments of the
secretary of the American Unitarian Association: ‘Swami Yogananda, delegate from the Brahmacharya Ashram of Ranchi, …In
fluent English and with a forceful delivery he gave an address of a
philosophical character … which has been printed in pamphlet form for a wider distribution.
…’ Soon after, his talk was published in a book under the same title.
And as was destined and divinely designed for him,
Paramahansa Yogananda remained in America for the rest of his years and
dedicated his life in dissemination of timeless teachings of ancient Hindu
Philosophy and God Realization through the practice of scientific method of
Kriya Yoga.
His Boston lecture was so enthusiastically received that
soon he became the most sought after speaker in the country! He gave public lectures, conducted Kriya Yoga classes
and wrote a book of poems ‘Songs of the Soul’. As was said by Sri Yukteswar,
Yoganandaji’s Guru, his words on yoga were
being heard in the West by thousands of thronging seekers! Babaji’s prophecy was coming true: ‘Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God
Realization, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the
nations through man’s personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.’
Under the divine guidance, Paramahansa
Yogananda made America his base and established SRF-YSS – Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsang Society – headquartered in
Los Angeles, California. There residing in one of his SRF-YSS centers at
Encinitas in 1946 he penned down his Autobiography
of a Yogi, the book which is credited as ‘the book which changed the lives of millions’ and became the best-selling
book on spirituality and autobiography globally and has remained so since then.
Paramahansa Yogananda’s spiritual brilliance earned him many celebrity
followers, a few noted ones being the
Beatles, Mark Twain’s daughter Clara Clemens, nobel botanist Luther Burbank, soprano
Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir Rosing, and the sitarist Pandit Ravi
Shankar. Mahatma Gandhi took initiation in the liberating techniques of Kriya
Yoga from Yoganandaji when he visited him at his Wardha Ashram in August of
1935. Yoganandaji took Mahasamadhi on 7th March, 1952. His spiritual legacy has since been shining
all over the world and has transformed the lives of millions of humans and
continues to do so.
The modern age celebrity
follower of Paramahansa Yogananda was the legendary Steve Jobs whose entire spiritual mooring was centered on the Autobiography of a Yogi, the only
download he had on his iPad and the book which had inspired him in his early
quest for spirituality and the book which continued to guide him even later –
in his super successful days as the CEO of the iconic Apple; he used to read
the Autobiography once every year.
Therefore, if India of today
has to stake its claim to its rich heritage of Spirituality and Yoga for the
world population, it has to do so through Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings
because then only the world will be able to connect with this noble initiative
wholeheartedly.
Mr. Prime Minister, may God and Gurus
bless you and guide you in your International Yoga Day mission …
