When PY meets PY: Political Yogi meets Paramahansa Yogananda

On 27^th 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 – 11^th 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 11^th 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 3^rd 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 – 6^th 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 7^th 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 …