Most beautiful soul of the 20th century
Dear Editor,
I hesitate to write this letter, as it concerns a very great and highly revered figure; an avatar, a spiritual savant. May his enduring consciousness guide my pen.
When I was seventeen, a friend lent me “Autobiography of a yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda. It made a profound impression on me. It is one of those rare works which has the ring of truth on every page. The book is a classic and is an excellent introduction to India’s finest gift to the world - its spiritual heritage. It is an insider’s account of the life of the spirit, the hidden and the sacred; beautifully narrated and based on actual experience. I had never read anything like it before. I reflected frequently on the content of the book. It was as if a new dimension to reality and a new way of look- ing at life had been opened up to me.
Yogananda was a true and great yogi who left India for America, on a mission to share the ancient spiritual wealth of India with westerners, and to show the essential harmony between Hindu spirituality and Christianity. He succeeded magnificently, and today the Self-Realization Fellow-ship (SRF) organization he founded in Los Angeles, California carries on his work.
Decades later, I re-read “Autobiography” and was again struck by its beauty and power. Through the SRF website, I requested the application form for SRF lessons, which are available to all sincere applicants. I received the form by mail, completed it, mailed it back and thereafter received the SRF lessons regularly by mail. I was also issued an SRF student card, which entitled me to attend the annual SRF convocation at the Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles, in August 2015.
During the convocation week, I visited SRF sacred sites in Los Angeles; including the International Headquarters and Mother Center on Mount Washington, the Hollywood Temple, the Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum where Yogananda’s body is interred, the Lake Shrine (one of the most beautiful and spiritually charged places on earth) and the Biltmore hotel, where the Great Master’s exquisite departure from his body (Mahasamadhi) took place in 1952. At the Lake Shrine, where some of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are kept, I was happy to see that world religions, including Islam, are represented and honoured. At the end of the convocation week, I visited the SRF Retreat, Hermitage and Gardens in Encinitas, California, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. I strolled through the expansive and beautiful gardens and saw the hermitage in which Yogananda wrote “Autobiogra-phy of a yogi”, the most famous of his numerous works.
There are, of course, many great spiritual personalities from India and elsewhere but, to his disciples, Yogananda is special, The Beloved. For a long time, he was not well and widely known in India, but that is changing. In 2017, the Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honour.
Yogananda arrived in America in 1920, so the Centennial Anniversary of his arrival approaches. What an event the SRF convocation in August 2020 will be! Thousands of followers and admirers are expected to take part in it. There is no SRF Center in Guyana. Maybe one day there will be. Paramahansa Yogananda was the most beautiful soul of the twentieth century. As the end of his earthly sojourn was approaching, he said “When I am gone, only love can take my place. Be so drunk with the love of God that you will know nothing but God; and give that love to all.”
Jai Guru!
Yours faithfully,
Sieyf Shahabuddeen