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Yogananda, Paramahansa, 1893-1952

"Autobiography of a Yogi"


"You are asking illumination from me," the yogi continued musingly,
"while I am wondering-inconsiderable as I am, and with the little
meditation I have done-if I have succeeded in pleasing God, and
what worth I may find in His eyes at the final reckoning."
"Sir, have you not been singleheartedly seeking God for a long
time?"
"I have not done much. Behari must have told you something of
my life. For twenty years I occupied a secret grotto, meditating
eighteen hours a day. Then I moved to a more inaccessible cave
and remained there for twenty-five years, entering the yoga union
for twenty hours daily. I did not need sleep, for I was ever
with God. My body was more rested in the complete calmness of the
superconsciousness than it could be by the partial peace of the
ordinary subconscious state.
"The muscles relax during sleep, but the heart, lungs, and
circulatory system are constantly at work; they get no rest. In
superconsciousness, the internal organs remain in a state of suspended
animation, electrified by the cosmic energy. By such means I have
found it unnecessary to sleep for years. The time will come when
you too will dispense with sleep."
"My goodness, you have meditated for so long and yet are unsure
of the Lord's favor!" I gazed at him in astonishment. "Then what
about us poor mortals?"
"Well, don't you see, my dear boy, that God is Eternity Itself? To
assume that one can fully know Him by forty-five years of meditation
is rather a preposterous expectation.


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