Autobiography of a Yogi
Paramahamsa Yogananda (first published 1946)
During Steve Job's memorial service, visitors were each given a copy of the above book. The same book that Jobs read during his wandering years in India and the same one that he read annually to recharge himself. It must have guided him to think outside the box to see things
that others fail to see. But hearing the stories about his regimental and sometimes brutal work expectations, you may need a lot of tenacity to be in his team of game-changers.
At least three people that I know had confessed to me that this book had truly transformed the way they viewed life afterwards. It further increased my curiosity to grab a copy. That task was not difficult. A free e-book is available on-line.
Well, after completing the book, I still appear the man I use to be. Time will tell whether anything happened. Maybe my inner eye is still shut to receive the wisdom. My scepticism has made me a numbskull, too thick to be enlightened.
What it did do, however, is to make me realise that there are many things in this world are beyond the comprehension of an average man. Like the illusionary acts of David Copperfield, Houdini and David Blaine, some of the stunts claimed to have been done for these holy men beg explanations of extraordinary proportions. They talk of ability to have 'out-of-body' experiences at will, the capacity to predict future events, the potential to identify follower to continue the lineage, the capability to control the autonomic functions of the body, to live without food and air for days on end and much more.
There is mention of a scientist, Luther Burbank, who is said to have 'spoken' to his cacti to 'persuade' them to shed off their thorns. He managed to coax the cacti not to be afraid of its environment to arm itself with protection. Subsequent generations of cacti grew 'thornless'! Cross reference with Wikipedia confirms Burbank to be an eminent botanist with the fame on developing 800 varieties of plants, a spineless cactus for cattle-feed and a genetic variant potato which saved the Irish famine.
The swami also narrates his experience visiting a Catholic priestess in Europe, Therese Neumann, who goes into a trance during the Passion of Christ to speak in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek and to have spontaneous bleeding (stigmata) from places Jesus Christ did - heart, crown, wrist, arms, etcetera. She is said to have survived for 12 years only on prayer wafer.
Swami Yogananda and his followers in Self-Realisation Fellowship try to build a bridge between Hinduism and Christianity. His call by his guru to go to America is to continue what Swami Vivekananda did to introduce Hinduism to the West.
Chandragupta of the Maurya Empire halted the advancing Alexander of Macedonia's garrisons in Punjab. Alexander, in return, was deeply fascinated with Hindu philosophy. Asoka. in his youth, is said to have met Alexander in the royal courts. On his return, he is said to have taken a yogi, Kalanos, to Macedonia but he apparently plunged into a burning fire to end his life! It appears like Alexander gets no respect! Diogenes, in Greece, had told Alexander not to block the sun when Diogenes was sunbathing and the Commander had stopped to pay respect to the philosopher. In India, Alexander had the same treatment!
There is another explanation for the existence of caste in the Hindu society. Unlike the popular belief, one is not born into a particular caste. The caste was a way to emphasise that people by default are born with certain pre-ordained aptitude. Those with scholastic abilities can get involved in the professions that involve brain work; those with physical attributes could defend the country; those with economic shrewdness may indulge in business; those who carry orders well can perform pre-determined jobs and the rest can do works unattractive to the community. Unfortunately, over time, this distribution of manpower had been hijacked by the need to keep certain trade secrets within the practitioners and the caste system ascertained by birth prevailed!
The autobiography tells the coming of age of Mukunda Ghosh in Bengal, through cholera, his self-discovery, his astral linkage with Swami Yukdeswar, his audience with some interesting holy men with compelling lifestyles and finally a telepathic conversation with his deceased guru. Deceased only in physical body but to be very much alive on a distant planet with a different outlook on existence.
Just because all the thing mentioned in the book appears out of the world, it should not be pushed aside as mumbo jumbo. The human potential is phenomenal. This very nature is the one that has made us be the longest surviving species on this planet, outliving bigger and more powerful beings. We have also managed to be the defacto leaders of the world. Like Arthur C. Clarke said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic!"
Experimentations into the crypts of mind are already ongoing. Clairvoyance, telepathy, psychokinesis, travelling through space and time, precognition, powers of healing of body and mind have created renewed interest in the scientific circles. The problem is that they are still labelled as pseudo-science by the general public. Aeons ago, in the land bounded by the Indus, these ideas were accepted facts. The only thing is that they were expressed in symbolic fashions which modern man finds it difficult to comprehend.
During Steve Job's memorial service, visitors were each given a copy of the above book. The same book that Jobs read during his wandering years in India and the same one that he read annually to recharge himself. It must have guided him to think outside the box to see thingsthat others fail to see. But hearing the stories about his regimental and sometimes brutal work expectations, you may need a lot of tenacity to be in his team of game-changers.
At least three people that I know had confessed to me that this book had truly transformed the way they viewed life afterwards. It further increased my curiosity to grab a copy. That task was not difficult. A free e-book is available on-line.
Well, after completing the book, I still appear the man I use to be. Time will tell whether anything happened. Maybe my inner eye is still shut to receive the wisdom. My scepticism has made me a numbskull, too thick to be enlightened.
What it did do, however, is to make me realise that there are many things in this world are beyond the comprehension of an average man. Like the illusionary acts of David Copperfield, Houdini and David Blaine, some of the stunts claimed to have been done for these holy men beg explanations of extraordinary proportions. They talk of ability to have 'out-of-body' experiences at will, the capacity to predict future events, the potential to identify follower to continue the lineage, the capability to control the autonomic functions of the body, to live without food and air for days on end and much more.
There is mention of a scientist, Luther Burbank, who is said to have 'spoken' to his cacti to 'persuade' them to shed off their thorns. He managed to coax the cacti not to be afraid of its environment to arm itself with protection. Subsequent generations of cacti grew 'thornless'! Cross reference with Wikipedia confirms Burbank to be an eminent botanist with the fame on developing 800 varieties of plants, a spineless cactus for cattle-feed and a genetic variant potato which saved the Irish famine.
The swami also narrates his experience visiting a Catholic priestess in Europe, Therese Neumann, who goes into a trance during the Passion of Christ to speak in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek and to have spontaneous bleeding (stigmata) from places Jesus Christ did - heart, crown, wrist, arms, etcetera. She is said to have survived for 12 years only on prayer wafer.
Swami Yogananda and his followers in Self-Realisation Fellowship try to build a bridge between Hinduism and Christianity. His call by his guru to go to America is to continue what Swami Vivekananda did to introduce Hinduism to the West.
Chandragupta of the Maurya Empire halted the advancing Alexander of Macedonia's garrisons in Punjab. Alexander, in return, was deeply fascinated with Hindu philosophy. Asoka. in his youth, is said to have met Alexander in the royal courts. On his return, he is said to have taken a yogi, Kalanos, to Macedonia but he apparently plunged into a burning fire to end his life! It appears like Alexander gets no respect! Diogenes, in Greece, had told Alexander not to block the sun when Diogenes was sunbathing and the Commander had stopped to pay respect to the philosopher. In India, Alexander had the same treatment!
There is another explanation for the existence of caste in the Hindu society. Unlike the popular belief, one is not born into a particular caste. The caste was a way to emphasise that people by default are born with certain pre-ordained aptitude. Those with scholastic abilities can get involved in the professions that involve brain work; those with physical attributes could defend the country; those with economic shrewdness may indulge in business; those who carry orders well can perform pre-determined jobs and the rest can do works unattractive to the community. Unfortunately, over time, this distribution of manpower had been hijacked by the need to keep certain trade secrets within the practitioners and the caste system ascertained by birth prevailed!
The autobiography tells the coming of age of Mukunda Ghosh in Bengal, through cholera, his self-discovery, his astral linkage with Swami Yukdeswar, his audience with some interesting holy men with compelling lifestyles and finally a telepathic conversation with his deceased guru. Deceased only in physical body but to be very much alive on a distant planet with a different outlook on existence.
Just because all the thing mentioned in the book appears out of the world, it should not be pushed aside as mumbo jumbo. The human potential is phenomenal. This very nature is the one that has made us be the longest surviving species on this planet, outliving bigger and more powerful beings. We have also managed to be the defacto leaders of the world. Like Arthur C. Clarke said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic!"
Experimentations into the crypts of mind are already ongoing. Clairvoyance, telepathy, psychokinesis, travelling through space and time, precognition, powers of healing of body and mind have created renewed interest in the scientific circles. The problem is that they are still labelled as pseudo-science by the general public. Aeons ago, in the land bounded by the Indus, these ideas were accepted facts. The only thing is that they were expressed in symbolic fashions which modern man finds it difficult to comprehend.
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