Journey to Self-Realization - Collected Talks and Essays. Volume 3 [Hardcover]

Paramahansa Yogananda (Author)

Book Description

Series: Collected Talks and Essays | Publication Date: September 1, 1997

Paramahansa Yogananda's Collected Talks and Essays, which includes, Man's Eternal Quest and The Divine Romance, present in-depth discussions of the sweeping range of inspiring and universal truths that have captivated millions in his Autobiography of a Yogi. Readers will find these talks alive with the unique blend of all-embracing wisdom, practical encouragement, and love for humanity that have made the author one of our era's most revered and trusted guides to the spiritual life.

In this anthology, Journey to Self-Realization, Paramahansa Yogananda shows us how we can experience the Divine Presence within us and in all life - not just as a passing inspiration but as a constant inner realization. Through this expanded awareness, we receive the gifts of the soul: peace, divine love, ever new joy, intuitive guidance for every question and crossroads we encounter in the amazing adventure of human life.

Topics include:
Remolding Your Life
Acquiring Attunement with the Source of Success
Renewing and Transforming Your Body, Mind, and Spirit
The Wisdom Way to Overcome Karma
How to Quicken Your Spiritual Progress
How to Express Everlasting Youthfulness
Receiving God s Answers to Your Prayers
The True Signs of Progress in Meditation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Yogananda has become an image - a remarkable, deep, sweet, poetic, ecstatic man enraptured of cosmic life - who has changed the map of American religious life. --Robert Ellwood, Ph. D., Chairman, School of Religion, University of Southern California

About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West", Paramahansa Yogananda - author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi - is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India on January 5, 1893, he devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Daya Mata, one of his earliest and closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 1955. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 462 pages
• Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship; 1st edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876122551
• ISBN-13: 978-0876122556
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #966,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West," Paramahansa Yogananda - author of the bestselling classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" - is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India on January 5, 1893, he devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Daya Mata, one of his earliest and closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 1955. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberating effects from knowing laws of the universe..., November 15, 2002

By 

richardpinneau.com (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Journey to Self-Realization - Collected Talks and Essays. Volume 3 (Hardcover)

There can never be an meaningful summary of such an expansive collection of spiritual talks. "Journey" has 44 chapters, but truly hundreds of topics are covered, elucidating the complex puzzles of spiritual and material realms as they interact. Practical guidance for beginners and advanced students alike intermingle with revelatory explanations of the working of the Cosmos and of its Creator. The ordering is not that of an encyclopedia because it is a collection of talks given for different reasons on different occasions - the ordering may well be called divine.

An intellectual may scoff at the idea of divine illumination of any speaker, but monastics who used to accompany Yogananda on his lecture circuits have described how the process expressed itself. Given a particular topic for the day's presentation, Yogananda's introduction would usually begin logically enough; but throughout the lecture seemingly unrelated issues would usually pop up, commence a digression, be tied back in with the main theme, and the main theme resume. Afterwards, the monastic would not infrequently hear from audience members how they thought that they came to hear about the title-subject of the talk but were astonished to hear needed comforting/guiding paragraphs inserted that addressed some unspoken distress or dilemma in their lives.

If you are open to seeing how the Divine can work in your life, just hold your question or need in mind for a few moments; then, in good faith, open the volume at seeming random and read a few pages. There is such wisdom and attunement with the Creator in these pages that it is scarcely possible not to benefit. If you try this experiment and can't see that there is a relation to what you think is your need... please be patient: meditate and still the mind from its anxieties; the relevance of the yoga master's inspiration will almost always become clear. If you come from a skeptical or scientific-linear background such as mine, it may take some time to ask with real, sincere surrender of the heart (not an attitude encouraged in our materialist/intellectualist culture). But with developing relaxation, concentration, and the gradual opening of the heart one can learn to... ASK. And will as a result... RECEIVE.

May I share a few samples of the wise comfort from this volume?
"I believe you can destroy any karma you want to. ... God as the master of this universe has no karma; if you KNOW that you are one with God, there can be no karma for you." (p. 232)
"In reacting to life, most people either say, 'Praise the Lord,' or urge us to be afraid of Him... I think this is very foolish. What can you say to God that will be praise? He is not moved by flattery ...it will not make any difference to Him. But it will make a difference in you. Praise Him - or better still, LOVE Him - and you will feel better." (p. 39)
"Even when you do not have the opportunity to meditate long or deeply, always think that you are working for God. When your mind can remain anchored in Him, you will not suffer any more; no amount of disease or illness will be able to touch you inwardly." (p. 37)

Perhaps it will be helpful for the new reader to be reassured that although Yogananda often talks about the immense benefits to be reaped once you have mastered spiritual pinnacles (e.g., from above examples: "if you know that you are one with God" or "love Him" or "When your mind can remain anchored in Him"), you don't have to wait until you reach mastership to get benefits. Although my experience does not allow me yet to confirm the blessings that come with full "knowing" or "loving" or "anchoring" -- I can testify that the more I practice and move toward these ideals, the greater the blessings I receive. From the methods that Yogananda offers in these talks and in his other publications I have RECEIVED far more than I dared ASK for. I wish the same for you.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HARDBALL..., April 30, 2000

By 

Bill Butler "Bill Butler" (Tarzana, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey to Self-Realization - Collected Talks and Essays. Volume 3 (Hardcover)

This is the last book of Yogananda's trilogy. The first is "Man's Eternal Quest". The second is "The Divine Romance". And this is the third. The first is just wonderful. Buy it! And also "The Divine Romance". They are very user-friendly for everyone. I know the head of the Self-Realiaztion Fellowship's Publishing Department. Brahmachari Fred. He's a wonderful gent. But I hope he doesn't get angry at me. If you are new to Yogananda's teachings, go it slow with this book. Take it in "nibbles". The first book is the softest. It aims at LIVING. The second is a bet harder. It aims at DEATH. This one aims directly at YOU! No punches are pulled. It's like the preliminary book to becoming a Self-Realizationist. Yogananda socks it to you. There. I said it. He is telling you what to do in order to get to God. It is interesting reading. I think it just might scare off some people who have not read and studied the other two books. Even in dietetics, he gets rough here. Same thing really. Just more detailed and descriptive. Much more direct. Beyond direct. If you have never read Yogananda's works, start with "Man's Eternal Quest". This book, "Journey to Self- Realization" is my favorite. And I'm sorry Brahmachari Fred if I disrupted sales. But this is pretty "hard whiskey" for a beginner. I really love it though.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Road to God directed by a Realized Master, March 16, 2002

By 

Arni Sigurdsson [e-mail] (Reykjavik Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey to Self-Realization - Collected Talks and Essays. Volume 3 (Hardcover)

This is the third book in a trilogy of Yoganandas talks collected by Sri Daya Mata,
one of his closest disciples. The other two are - Mans Eternal Quest and Divine Romance.
These books changed the way I look at life, and my way of thinking, and are true gems for
people on the Spiritual path and seekers of truth.
Thank you Yogananda!