Living at my parents’ home necessitated my fitting in with their lifestyle. This wasn’t always easy. My father, especially, had no understanding of the life of a devotee. I remember him entering my room one evening without knocking. I was meditating, and had lit a stick of incense to provide a spiritual atmosphere. Without apology … Read more
By an interesting coincidence, one month before Tara summoned me to New York I had already been thinking that a book was needed, one I might even write myself. This would be the first of the books Master had himself told me to write. The idea was inspired by an article I’d just finished reading … Read more
The goal of this book is to take the reader down the road to a place that has become known in the world as Ananda: a community (now there are several of them) and a religious mission dedicated to spreading the message of unity in religion, and of Self-realization, as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda. Ananda, … Read more
The Sufi woman saint, Rabbi’a, lay on her deathbed, her body ill and in pain. Three disciples of hers came to console her. “He is no true lover of God, after all,” said one, “who is not willing to suffer for God’s sake.” “This smacks of egoism to me,” replied the saint. Another of the … Read more
Looking back now, thirty-four years (to the day, as it happens) after that meeting in New York, it is clear to me that everything that happened was for a divine purpose. From SRF’s point of view, they weren’t ready to develop the work into a world mission of the magnitude Master had visualized. Tara … Read more
Daya Mata used sometimes to tease me for being what she called “naive.” In one respect she was right. I trusted in friendship, and believed that ours superseded any mere organizational consideration. I often expressed myself to her without giving my words careful thought, as friends will. I couldn’t help the frustration I felt at … Read more
Binay-da was reluctant to see me leave Calcutta for New Delhi. I postponed that trip, accordingly, and remained near him for several months. Our discussions centered on the work and how to develop it. The alternative to starting afresh, as I wanted to do, was to concentrate on clearing out (as I put it) the … Read more
I returned to America in April, 1960, for a visit. Stopping off in Japan on the way, I visited some of its famous gardens and had “darshan,” as they put it in India, of the huge statue of Buddha at Kamakura. My return to Mt. Washington lingers fondly in my memory: the love of my … Read more
This period lives in my memory as one of the spiritual highlights of my life. The joy and inner freedom I’d experienced during my seclusion in the Himalayas lingered with me still. Nothing, I realized, was important except loving God. If I could bring people onto the path, that was gratifying; it was what I … Read more
Daya Mata and her party left India in about September, 1959. Shortly thereafter I traveled to the Himalayas, where I made a quiet retreat near the village of Lohaghat, in the Almora district. Fern Hill Estate was a large property owned and managed by an English family. I had been invited to stay in a … Read more