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Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes

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Famous Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes

“{Yogananda on the death of his dear friend, the eminent 20th century scientist, Luther Burbank} His heart was fathomlessly deep, long acquainted with humility, patience, sacrifice. His little home amid the roses was austerely simple; he knew the worthlessness of luxury, the joy of few possessions. The modesty with which he wore his scientific fame repeatedly reminded me of the trees that bend low with the burden of ripening fruits; it is the barren tree that lifts its head high in an empty boast. I was in New York when, in 1926, my dear friend passed away. In tears I thought, 'Oh, I would gladly walk all the way from here to Santa Rosa for one more glimpse of him!' Locking myself away from secretaries and visitors, I spent the next twenty-four hours in seclusion... His name has now passed into the heritage of common speech. Listing 'burbank' as a transitive verb, Webster's New International Dictionary defines it: 'To cross or graft (a plant). Hence, figuratively, to improve (anything, as a process or institution) by selecting good features and rejecting bad, or by adding good features.' 'Beloved Burbank,' I cried after reading the definition, 'your very name is now a synonym for goodness!”

LoveScienceDeathJoyFriendshipGriefSadnessNew YorkGoodnessMourningBrotherhoodModestyBotanyLuther BurbankBurbank
Book:Autobiography of a Yogi
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“The body is only a garment. How many times you have changed your clothing in this life, yet because of this you would not say that you have changed. Similarly, when you give up this bodily dress at death you do not change. You are just the same, an immortal soul, a child of God.”

GivingChildrenSoulBodyDeathDyingChangedGiving UpDressesThis LifeGrievingImmortalClothingsDeath Of A Loved OneGarmentsChild Of GodLove And DeathLoss Of A Loved OneImmortal SoulYou Have Changed
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“At physical death man loses his consciousness of the flesh and becomes conscious of his astral body in the astral world. Thus physical death is astral birth. Later, he passes from the consciousness of luminous astral birth to the consciousness of dark astral death and awakens in a new physical body. Thus astral death is physical birth. These recurrent cycles of physical and astral encasements are the ineluctable destiny of all unenlightened men.”

MenWorldBodyDeathLosesDarkConsciousnessDestinyBirthConsciousFleshCyclesLuminousPhysical Body
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“Births and deaths are inevitable for man only during the state of ignorance in which he thinks he is the body and cannot exist without it. Only the man who will not seek the awakening of wisdom must suffer the nightmares and delusive dreams of births and deaths and the fanciful miseries and limitations attending them. (gt)”

ThinkingMenStatesDreamBodyDeathSufferingIgnoranceHe ManBirthMiseryAwakeningLimitationInevitableNightmareAttendingBirth And Death
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“Death is not a blotting-out of existence, a final escape from life; nor is death the door to immortality. He who has fled his Self in earthly joys will not recapture It amidst the gossamer charms of an astral world. There he merely accumulates finer perceptions and more sensitive responses to the beautiful and the good, which are one. It is on the anvil of this gross earth that struggling man must hammer out the imperishable gold of spiritual identity.”

MenWorldSelfEarthBeautifulSpiritualDeathJoyExistenceStruggleDoorsIdentityPerceptionGoldResponseFinalsImmortalitySensitiveCharmGrossHammersAnvils
Book:Autobiography of a Yogi
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“Take life as it comes and death as it comes. Death is really beautiful; if it were a bad thing, God would not let it happen to us. It is really freedom, an entry into another, higher life. We must utilize this life in order to realize the life beyond this one. Beyond this earth garden is the infinite land wherein we meet those whom we have thought lost. Although we must not seek death, when it comes we should know that it is the final examination for a great reward.”

IfsKnowsShouldHappensEarthBeautifulDeathOrderLostRealizingLandHigherGardenInfiniteRewardsFinalsThis LifeBad ThingsExaminationEntryReally BeautifulGreat Reward
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“To the last day of your life, be positive; try to be cheerful. Even at the very end, don't think, "I am finished." Instead of pitying yourself, you should be thinking, "O ye who are left on this desolate shore still to mourn and deplore, it is I who pity you." Death will not give you any trouble if you have a clear conscience; and if you go with this thought: "Lord, I am in Thy hands."”

IfsThinkingGivingShouldTryingStillsEndsHandsLastsLife IsDeathLeftLordClearTroubleConscienceFinishedPityShoreCheerfulMournBeing PositiveLast DayDesolateClear Conscience
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“If death were the end, then there is no God, and there are no realised masters - it is all a pack of lies. The great ones wouldn't urge you to became better, for what would be the use if, good or bad, we are all junked at the end of life? What would be the value of the scriptures? There would be no justice whatsoever if this present existence is all there is to each individual life. What of those souls who lived only a few years, or lived in blind or crippled bodies?”

IfsYearsSoulEndsUseBodyWould BeDeathLyingValuesIndividualJusticeExistenceMastersBlindScriptureUrgesPacksRealisedThere Is No GodGreat OnesEnd Of LifeCrippledIndividual Life
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it.”

IfsWorldGivingMadeBodyDeathEffortDyingThis WorldDependsGiving UpOceanAngelLiarsImperfectionThievesThings ChangeAfter DeathHereafterCheaterBefore Death
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“Those who look at the surface of the sea must behold the birth and death of the waves, but those who seek the depths of the ocean behold one indivisible mass of water. Similarly, those who acknowledge "life" and "death" are tossed by sorrow, while those who live in the illimitable superconsciousness behold and feel the One Ineffable Bliss.”

FeelsLooksDeathWaterSeaBirthSorrowOceanMassDepthWaveSurfaceAcknowledgeBlissLife And DeathIndivisibleIneffableBirth And Death
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“There is in India a story of a dying youth who, hearing the sobs of grief around him, cried: Insult me not with your cries of sympathy. When I soar to the land of eternal light and love; it is I who should feel for you. For me, disease, shattering of bones, sorrow, excruciating heartaches no more. I dream joy, I glide in joy, I breathe in joy evermore.”

FeelsShouldStoriesDreamLightDeathJoyGriefLandDyingCryYouthSorrowDiseaseEternalAnd LoveIndiaHearingBonesBreatheHeartacheInsultCriedSoarShatteringEvermoreLight And LoveEternal Light
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“An adept of Kriya Yoga conquers death by taking the soul beyond identification with the physical body, consciously and at will; and then returning to the consciousness of the mortal form again. By this process, he experiences the body as merely the material dwelling place of the soul. He can remain therein as long as he wants; and after that body has fulfilled its usefulness, he can quit it at will without suffering physical pain or mental pain due to attachment, and enter his omnipresent home in God.”

WantLongSoulHomeBodyPainFormDeathSufferingProcessConsciousnessMaterialsYogaDuesQuittingMortalsConquerAttachmentFulfilledDwellingUsefulnessIdentificationPhysical BodyAdeptPhysical PainDwelling PlaceMental Pain
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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“The greatest dread of ordinary man is death, with its rude imposition interrupting fortuitous plans and fondest attachments with an unknown and unwelcome change. The yogi is a conqueror of the grief associated with death. By control of mind and life force and the development of wisdom, he makes friends with the change of consciousness called death-he becomes familiar with the state of inner calmness and aloofness from identification with the mortal body.”

MenMindStatesBodyDeathForceGriefConsciousnessPlansDevelopmentOrdinaryFamiliarMortalsAttachmentDreadRudeCalmnessIdentificationConquerorOrdinary ManYogiImpositionUnwelcomeInterruptingFortuitousAloofness
Author:Paramahansa Yogananda
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