The Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda

In this deeply encouraging talk, Brother Chidananda delves into how India’s beloved scripture of yoga, the Bhagavad Gita, can provide us with tremendous wisdom for how we conduct our everyday lives and pursue our highest goals. As Paramahansa Yogananda said, no matter where one is on the spiritual path “the Gita will shed its light on that segment of the journey.” This talk was recorded at the 200...

SRF monk Brother Jayananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can practice the yoga science of meditation to discover God’s presence within — as the limitless Source of all-fulfilling love and joy.   This talk, which was the opening class at the 2019 SRF World Convocation in Los Angeles, begins with special words of inspiration from Brother Chidananda, president and spiritual head...

SRF monk Brother Bhimananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on the spiritual practice of gratitude. Would you like to know how the simple act of expressing gratefulness can transform your life? Looking for the good in others and showing our appreciation can bring joy to us and those around us — and create a ripple effect of kindness in our world. When we cultivate gratitude for our bless...

Sri Mrinalini Mata (1931 – 2017), fourth president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, draws on her personal training from Paramahansa Yogananda and decades of experience living a God-centered life to convey the supreme importance of cultivating a deep, personal relationship with God. She explains how inner communion with the Divine through meditation becomes an anchor...

SRF monk Brother Kamalananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on the nature of the soul and how we can discover for ourselves the answers to profound questions such as, “Why are we here and what is the purpose of existence on this planet? How did we get here and where are we going?” As a soul we are a perfect individual reflection of the eternal, ever-newly blissful consciousness of God —...

SRF monk Brother Bhumananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to cultivate a spiritual outlook that allows us to see every experience as an opportunity for growth and transformation. Would you like to know how to approach life in a way that brings the greatest strength and fulfillment? Life is a cosmic school, and its challenges are meant to help us awaken the limitless potential of...

SRF monk Brother Prafullananda shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on the power of friendship to transform our lives. Would you like to know how to build friendships that are deeply fulfilling and uplifting? True friendship is unconditional and all-inclusive. By striving to express kindness, love, and understanding to all, we can deepen our close relationships and also broaden the reach of ou...

SRF monk Brother Sevananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to become receptive to divine guidance. Would you like to know how to approach all of life’s decisions with a sense of clarity and inner assurance? Our own limited perceptions and understanding can often lead us astray, but intuition is the soul’s direct knowing of truth. Through the practice of meditation and humbly askin...

Self-Realization Fellowship monk Brother Govindananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we must, in our earnest search for truth, go beyond merely weighing intellectual concepts to reach our own spiritual realization. After all, experiencing truth for ourselves is the essential goal of the spiritual path. Most of us have wondered about the nature of reality and if it was possible to...

SRF monk Brother Vimalananda shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can harness the power of habit to shape our lives. Would you like to become adept at creating the positive habits that will help you achieve your highest aspirations? We have created our present habits through repetition of certain thoughts and actions, and we can use the same method to overcome a bad habit by consciou...

SRF monk Brother Satyananda shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can take simple yet powerful actions to foster peace. Would you like to know how you can help establish peace in our world? Through the practice of meditation and prayer we can experience divine peace within and radiate it to the world. And as we cultivate greater calmness we can more readily act as peacemakers, even in...

Sri Daya Mata (1914 – 2010), beloved third president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, shares insightful wisdom from her personal experience as one of Paramahansa Yogananda’s closest disciples. The joyous and uplifting spirit of hope and encouragement that Daya Mata conveys in this talk allows all to feel the divine love and God-realization with which she was able to...

Self-Realization Fellowship nun Sister Ranjana shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to harmonize the demands of our daily lives with our spiritual goals. Have you ever wondered what the secret is to finding a balanced and lasting sense of well-being? Today’s world offers many enticing distractions, but we can consciously choose to focus on the things that will bring us the greatest fulf...

Self-Realization Fellowship monk Brother Kamalananda shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on where fear comes from and how we can overcome it. Would you like to learn how to live beyond worries and fears? The soul is fearless, being a spark of the Divine, but when we identify with the ego and feel separate from God then fear arises. Through the practice of meditation, positive affirmation, and...

SRF monk Brother Tyagananda shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we have the ability to let go of the past, stop worrying about the future, and cultivate a devotional relationship with God in the present. Would you like to know how to live in the present moment in the most meaningful and abundant way? By doing so we can transform our lives — filling each moment with divine peace, love,...

SRF monk Brother Saralananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can gradually awaken from our perceived limitations and false sense of being separated from the Divine, to experience the reality of our infinite essence as the soul — full of love and joy. While we sleep we create a dream world that seems very real to us. Paramahansa Yogananda taught that this universe is similarly G...

SRF monk Brother Nikhilananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how a God-illumined guru can guide us toward divine realization through step-by-step methods for spiritual development, and the power of example and unconditional love. On the spiritual path it is a great blessing to have the guidance of one who has traveled to its end and can help us based on personal experience of truth....

SRF monk Brother Prafullananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can find the true happiness we are all seeking by experiencing the presence of the Divine within. Have you ever wondered if it is possible to possess a lasting happiness, one that transcends the fleeting pleasures of this world? When we give priority to a daily practice of seeking God through meditation, we can disc...

SRF monk Brother Achalananda conveys wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can find the greatest success and fulfillment in both our inner and outer endeavors. Within each one of us lie divine powers — such as willpower, positive thought, and initiative — that enable us to achieve our noblest pursuits. When we continually practice these in our daily lives, while striving to attune with the D...

SRF nun Sister Ranjana shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how we can anchor ourselves in the awareness and protection of the Divine to experience true solace and safety — no matter what is going on around us in this world. When we are able to use the science of Kriya Yoga and the power of positive thinking to establish a bond with God that is based in love and understanding then we will b...

In this inspiring talk Sri Mrinalini Mata, fourth president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, draws on her personal training from Paramahansa Yogananda and decades of experience living a God-centered life to share how we can bring about the perfect attunement with God which our souls seek. Emphasizing the importance of developing an intuitive understanding of how to...

Self-Realization Fellowship nun Sister Draupadi shares wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to address two fundamental—and interwoven—questions on the spiritual path: “What can I do to nurture a personal relationship with God?” and “What will help me to sustain that relationship through all the ups and downs of daily life?” She explains how becoming anchored in a personal relationship with the...

SRF nun Sister Bhakti speaks on the importance of a guru in one’s spiritual search, and how to receive more fully the love and wisdom that the guru offers. This talk was given at the 2018 Self-Realization Fellowship World Convocation. Sister Bhakti’s presentation of this essential topic on the spiritual path interweaves delightful and instructive stories of Paramahansa Yogananda’s direct disciples...

SRF monk Brother Achalananda presents ideas from Paramahansa Yogananda on how to attain an awareness of the Divine you can take with you wherever you go. “God is omnipresent, God is everywhere, and so in this sense we automatically take Him with us wherever we go. But on the other hand, although He is everywhere, we are not always aware of Him. And so it is helpful to do things that remind us of G...

SRF monk Brother Satyananda shares an important key for letting go of any emotional drama that is currently fighting for our attention in meditation. Drawing from Paramahansaji’s commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, “God Talks With Arjuna,” and other works, Brother Satyananda shows us ways to empower ourselves to release mental dramas and calm our restless minds as we enter divine communion. You can...