Recording intelligenceAI-generated brief · check the source for context

Meeting My Master Sri Yukteswar

26:19 recording · EN · 4 speakers

Listen to the original

Brief overview

Yogananda passes his exams by grace, leaves home for Benares, and finally meets his guru Sri Yukteswar.

  1. Divine help arrives through ordinary people and chanceNantu's coaching and printed Sanskrit sheets in a vacant lot are read as two expressions of one timely rescue.
  2. Never admit you live by food, not GodDayananda's rule against mentioning hunger ends in the counsel to die rather than credit rice, money or men with sustaining you.
  3. A guru's love is unconditional and demands surrenderSri Yukteswar offers unconditional love and his hermitages, then warns he will not accept a disciple without complete obedience.
Executive Summary AI
  • Chapter 10 of Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, read for LibriVox by Christine Rucker, covers "I meet my master Sri Yukteswar".
  • Neglecting study for midnight meditation in Calcutta's crematory grounds, Mukunda is rescued when his classmate Nantu coaches him on the likely Hindu high school finals questions, and stray Sanskrit verses found in a weed-filled corner lot carry him through the one subject Nantu forgot.
  • Having kept his promise to his father to finish secondary school, he leaves home with his friend Jitendra Mazandar for the Mahamandal hermitage in Benares, where head swami Dayananda forbids him to mention hunger and the residents mock his meditation.
  • After a twenty-four hour fast ends with the meal delayed until nine o'clock, Dayananda — who had gone four days without food or drink on the train — tells him never to admit that he lives by the power of food rather than the power of God.
  • Praying in the attic he hears a voice promise "Thy master cometh today", and in a lane off the Benares marketplace he finds Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, whose hermitage lies in Serampore only 12 miles from Calcutta, and who predicts he will return home in 30 days.
Key Quote
“Faith in God can produce any miracle except one passing an examination without study.”
— Christine Rucker
Key Quote
“Don't try to catch God so soon!”
— Christine Rucker
Key Quote
“Never admit that you live by the power of food and not by the power of God.”
— Dayananda

Transcript

0:00 Chapter 10 of Autobiography of a Yogi. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Christine Rucker.
0:17 Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. I meet my master Sri Yukteswar.
0:26 Quote,
0:32 Faith in God can produce any miracle except one passing an examination without study.
0:33 End quote.
0:38 Distastefully, I closed the book I had picked up in an idle moment.
0:44 The writer's exception shows his complete lack of faith, I thought. Poor chap chap he has great respect for the midnight oil my promise to father had been that i would complete my high school studies i cannot pretend to diligence spots along the Calcutta bathing ghats. The adjoining crematory grounds, especially gruesome
1:08 at night, are considered highly attractive by the yogi. He would find the deathless essence
1:15 must not be dismayed by a few unadorned skulls. Human inadequacy becomes clear in the gloomy abode
1:24 of miscellaneous bones. My midnight vigils were
1:27 thus a different nature from the scholars. The week of final examinations at the Hindu high
1:35 school was fast approaching. This interrogatory period, like sepulchral haunts, inspires a well-
1:43 known terror. My mind was nevertheless at peace. Braving the ghouls, I was exhuming a knowledge not found in lecture halls. But it lacked the art of Swami Pranabananda, who easily appeared in two places at one time. dilemma was plainly a matter for the infinite ingenuity this was my reasoning though to many it seems illogic the devotee's irrationality springs from a thousand inexplicable demonstrations of god's instancy in trouble hardly a glimpse of you these days. A classmate accosted me one afternoon on Gurpar Road.
2:27 Hello, Nantu. My invisibility at school has actually placed me there in a decidedly
2:33 awkward position. I unburdened myself under his friendly gaze. Nantu, who was a brilliant student,
2:40 laughed heartily. My predicament was not without a comic aspect you are utterly unprepared for the
2:48 finals i suppose it is up to me to help you the simple words conveyed divine promise to my ears
2:56 with alacrity i visited my friend's home he kindly outlined the solutions to various problems he
3:03 considered likely to be set by the instructors.
3:06 These questions are the bait which will catch many trusting boys in the examination trap.
3:12 Remember my answers and you will escape without injury. The night was far gone when I departed.
3:19 Bursting with unseasoned erudition, I devoutly prayed it would remain for the next few critical days. Nantu had coached me
3:28 in my various subjects, but under press of time had forgotten my course in Sanskrit.
3:35 Fervently, I reminded God of the oversight. I set out on a short walk the next morning,
3:42 assimilating my new knowledge to the rhythm of swinging footsteps.
3:47 As I took a shortcut through the weeds of a corner lot, my eye fell on a few loose printed sheets.
3:54 A triumphant pounce proved them to be Sanskrit verse. I sought out a pundit for my aid in my
4:01 stumbling interpretation. His rich voice filled the air with the edgeless honeyed
4:07 beauty of the ancient tongue. Note, Sanskrit polished complete. Sanskrit is the eldest sister
4:16 of all Indo-European tongues. Its alphabetical script is Devanagari, literally divine abode. Quote, who knows my grammar knows God. End quote.
4:30 Panini, great philologist of ancient India, paid this tribute to the mathematical and psychological
4:36 perfection in Sanskrit. He who would track language to its layer must indeed end as omniscient. End note. These exceptional stanzas cannot possibly
4:49 be evade in your Sanskrit test. The scholar dismissed them skeptically. But familiarity
4:56 with that particular poem enabled me on the following day to pass the Sanskrit examination.
5:03 Through the discerning help Nantu had given, I also attained
5:07 the minimum grade for success in all my other subjects. Father was pleased that I had kept my
5:14 word and concluded my secondary school course. My gratitude sped to the Lord, whose sole guidance
5:21 I perceived in my visit to Nantu and my walk by the unhabitual route of the debris
5:27 filled lot. Playfully he had given dual expression to his timely design for my rescue. I came across
5:36 the discarded book whose author had denied God precedence in the examination halls. I could not

Showing the first 40 of 187 lines.