A Star to Guide Our Destiny

PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA A Star to Guide Our Destiny

Dr. Binay Rajan Sen

When during my West Coast tour as India’s Ambassador to the United States I received a call to meet Swami Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship Centre in Los Angeles, I had little idea of what kind of experience awaited me.

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I had of course heard of the great Swamiji and his work at the Self-Realization Centre, and naturally was excited at the prospect of meeting him. From the moment I stepped into the Centre I felt as if I were entering an ashram such as we read about in our ancient books---a haven of peace and devotion with the disciples, men and women, all dressed in saffron robes (garua), singing what sounded like hymns from Vedic texts. Swamiji was at the door to greet me and my wife. The impact of seeing him was incalculable. I felt uplifted in a way I had never known before. I felt transported back to ancient times, witnessing the great Rishi Vasistha in his ashram surrounded by his disciples. Here was indeed an island of peace and dedication in a sea buffeted by the tumult of the modern age. As I looked at Swamiji’s face, my eyes were almost dazzled by a radiance--- a radiance of spirituality like an aura. His infinite gentleness, his graciousness kindliness enveloped my wife and me like warm sunshine. For the two or three days we were there, Swamiji had us with him all day beginning at

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breakfast time. He was not physically well. But he would not listen when we suggested he rest; he wanted to be with us all the time. He had come all the way from his retreat at 29 Palms in the desert to be with us. That long drive in his state of health must have taken a toll. The banquet, I was told later, had been the biggest gathering ever of Indians settled of the West Coast, and also of India’s friends in America who had come under the spell of Swamiji’s spiritual magnetism. What happened at the banquet that night has been described elsewhere.

It was truly a scene of Mahasamadhi. Life went out in a moment. As we rushed to see if he could be revived, it was immediately clear that a great spirit had passed away in a way that only Richmond 10.16.12

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such a spirit could. I do not think that any of us felt like mourning. It was a feeling above all of exaltation, of having witnessed a divine event. Since that day I have traveled to many lands, and in some of the most unexpected places and occasions I have met people, many of them quite young, who had come to ask me about the life and teachings of Swamiji. Once I was sitting alone in my hotel room in Buenos Aires (Argentina). There was a knock at the door, and a young man in his early twenties came in and sat down beside me. He had seen the photograph of Swamiji with me. I told him what I knew. Again, several years later, at San Marino, that picturesque ancient hill-top independent town in Italy, a girl also in her twenties approached me with the same questions. I could see that this young generation , growing up in a world of confusion and spiritual darkness after the War, was groping for some light, and they perceived in a vague way such light in the words of Swamiji which had traveled across continents. Life and death are impenetrable mysteries. For men like Swamiji, death is not an end to life. Men like him come to the world from time to time to guide straying humanity. Their messages, their teachings, show the path of right living for generations to come. It is through the minds and hearts of these succeeding generations that their life is perpetuated. For great souls, death is a fuller life, not an extinction. I have never pretended to be what is called a spiritual man. I have spent all my life working, believing that through work done with conscience I would find my way. Now, in this evening of my life, as I look back I feel I have had good fortune such as falls to the lot of very few. One of the greatest things in my life has been the opportunity that I have had to meet men

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like Swamiji. Another of the same qualities was Pope John with whom I came in close contact. They enriched my life. A great historian has said of Lord Buddha that He shines like a star across the span of centuries as bright as ever. Swami Yogananda will also join the cluster of stars for all time to come.

The text has been taken from an issue of Bhavan’s Journal, dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda written in October 23, 1977.

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