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Yogananda's Monastic Initiation

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Brief overview

Yogananda takes monastic vows under Sri Yukteswar in July 1914, and defends yoga as a universal science.

  1. Initiation into the Swami order, July 1914Sri Yukteswar dyed white silk ochre and draped it as a renunciate's robe a few weeks after his disciple's graduation.
  2. A new name carries order, quality and natureMukunda Lal Gosh becomes Yogananda of the Giri branch, one of the ten Dasanamis that also include Sagar, Bharati, Aranya, Puri, Tirtha and Saraswati.
  3. Yoga is a science, not an Eastern specialityA swami is not always a yogi; the eightfold path is a tested procedure, and the claim that yoga is unsuitable for Westerners is called wholly false.
Executive Summary AI
  • Chapter twenty four of Autobiography of a Yogi opens with the narrator refusing his father's offer of an executive position with the Bengal Nagpur Railway, and Sri Yukteswar agreeing to initiate him into swamiship the next day, recalling Lahiri Mahasaya's warning that a God not invited as a summer guest will not come in life's winter.
  • On a sunny Thursday in July 1914, a few weeks after his college graduation, his guru dyed a new piece of white silk in ochre on the inner balcony of his Serampore hermitage and draped it on him as a renunciate's robe, choosing silk rather than the customary cotton because he would one day go to the West.
  • He is renamed Yogananda, bliss through divine union, of the Giri branch, and the chapter explains that the Swami order was organized in its present form by Shankara, that no man can give himself the title, and that its ten subdivisions include Giri, Sagar, Bharati, Aranya, Puri, Tirtha and Saraswati.
  • The narrator then distinguishes the swami, a monk by formal connection with an ancient order, from the yogi, who follows a tested step-by-step discipline, and sets out Patanjali's definition of yoga and the eightfold path from yama and niyama through asana, pranayama and pratyahara to dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
  • He closes by answering Western critics who never practised yoga, quoting the Swiss psychologist Dr. C.J. Jung on yoga as controllable experience and mental hygiene, and warning that in the new atomic age the finer forces of the mind must be liberated lest the unleashed atomic giant turn on the world.
Key Quote
“if you don't invite god to be your summer guest he won't come in the winter of your life”
— Lahiri Mahasaya
Key Quote
“Someday you will go to the west where silk is preferred”
— Sri Yukteswar
Key Quote
“forsaking your family name of mukunda lal gosh henceforth you shall be called yogananda of the giri branch of the swami order”
— Sri Yukteswar

Transcript

0:00 chapter twenty four of autobiography of a yogi this is a librivox recording or librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot i become a monk of the swami order master my father has been anxious for me to accept an executive position within the bengal nagpur railway but however he smiled graciously very well tomorrow i will initiate you into swamyship he went on quietly lahiri mahasaya often said if you don't invite god to be your summer guest he won't come in the winter of your life dear master i could never falter in my goal to belong to the swami order like your revered self
1:14 i smiled at him with measureless affection he that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the lord how he may please the lord but he that is married careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife i had analysed the lives of many of my friends who after undergoing certain spiritual discipline had then married their resolutions to meditate deeply. To a lot God a secondary place in life was, to me,
1:46 inconceivable. Though he is the sole owner of the cosmos, silently showering us with gifts from life
1:53 to life, one thing yet remains which he does not own, and which each human heart is empowered to
2:01 withhold or bestow man's love. The the creator in taking infinite pains to shroud with mystery his presence in every atom of creation could have had but one motive
2:11 a sensitive desire that men seek him only through free will with what velvet glove of every humility has he not covered the iron hand of omnipotence the following day was one of the most memorable in my life. It was a sunny Thursday,
2:27 I remember, in July 1914, a few weeks after my graduation from college. On the inner balcony
2:33 of his Serampo hermitage, Master dipped a new piece of white silk into a dye of ochre,
2:40 the traditional colour of the Swami order. After the cloth had dried, my guru draped it around me as a
2:46 renunciate's robe. Someday you will go to the west where silk is preferred, he said. As a symbol I
2:54 have chosen for you this silk material instead of the customary cotton. In India, where monks
2:59 embrace the ideal of poverty, a silk-clad swami is an unusual sight many yogis however wear garments of silk which preserves certain subtle bodily currents better than cotton i am averse to ceremonies sri yukt physical body of the disciple is represented as dead crem give you the privilege of choosing it yourself he said smilingly the name literally means bliss ananda through divine union yoga be it so forsaking your family name of mukunda lal gosh henceforth you shall be called yogananda of the giri branch of the swami order
4:15 as i knelt before sri yukteswar and for the first time heard him pronounce my new name my heart overflowed with gratitude how lovingly and tirelessly he had laboured that the boy mukunda be some day transformed into the monk nor ego, feeling, sky nor earth, nor metals am I. I am he, I am he, blessed spirit, I am he.
4:50 No birth, no death, no caste have I, father, mother have I none, I am he, I am he,
4:57 blessed spirit, I am he. Beyond the flights of fancy, formless am I, permeating the flights of fancy formless am i permeating the limbs of all life bondage i do not fear i am free ever free i am he i am he blessed spirit i am he monastic order which was organized in its present form by Shankara. Because it is a formal order,
5:26 with an unbroken line of saintly representatives serving as active leaders, no man can give
5:32 himself the title of Swami. He rightfully receives it only from another Swami. All monks thus trace
5:39 their spiritual lineage to one common guru, Lord Shankara. vows of poverty chastity and obedience to the spiritual teacher many catholic christian monastic orders resemble the order of swamis
5:53 in addition to his new name usually ending in ananda the swami takes a title which indicates his formal connection with one of the ten subdivisions of the Swami order. These Dasanamis, or ten Agnomens,
6:06 include the Giri, mountain,
6:08 to which Sri Yukteswar and hence myself belong.
6:12 Among the other branches are the Sagar, sea,
6:15 Bharati, land, Aranya, forest,
6:18 Puri, tract, Tirtha, place of pilgrimage,
6:22 and Saraswati, wisdom of nature. The new received by a swami thus has a twofold significance and represents the attainment of supreme bliss ananda through some divine quality or state yoga and through harmony with nature as expressed in her infinite vastness of oceans mountains skies the ideal of selfless service to all mankindices of caste creed class colour sex or race a swami follows the precepts of human brotherhood his goal he justify his title of swami one who seeks to achieve union with the swa or self
7:31 it is needless to add that not all formally titled swamis are equally successful in reaching their high goal sri yktiswar was both a swami and a yogi a swami formerly a monk by virtue of his connection with the ancient order is not always a yogi anyone who practises a scientific technique ofunciation, but a yogi engages himself in a
8:06 definite step-by-step procedure by which the body and mind are disciplined and the soul liberated,
8:13 taking nothing for granted on emotional grounds or by faith. A yogi practices a thoroughly tested
8:20 series of exercises which were first mapped out by the early rishis. Yoga has produced in every age of India men who became truly free, truly yogi-christs,
8:31 like any other science.
8:33 Yoga is applicable to people of every climate and time.
8:36 The theory advanced by certain ignorant writers that yoga is unsuitable for Westerners is
8:42 wholly false, and has lamentably prevented many sincere students from seeking its manifold blessings yoga is a method for restraining the natural turbulence of thoughts yoga cannot know a barrier of east and west any more than does the healing and equitable light of the sun so long will there be a universal need for yoga or control
9:11 the ancient rishi patanjali defines yoga as control of the fluctuations of the mind stuff his very short and masterly expositions the yoga sutras form one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy. In contradistinction to Western philosophies,
9:26 all six yoga systems embody not only theoretical but practical teachings.
9:32 In addition to every conceivable ontological inquiry,
9:36 the six systems formulate six definite disciplines
9:39 aimed at the permanent removal of suffering and the attainment of timeless bliss.
9:44 The common thread linking all six systems is the declaration that no true freedom for man is possible
9:50 without knowledge of the ultimate reality.

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