The next morning the boys entered the large hole in the back wall, which in fact was a tunnel leading gently downward. The first thing they noticed as they got deeper inside was a low humming sound.

Remember, your body changes constantly. If you will change your mental “picture,” the incoming cells will fit themselves to the new pattern.

Clearly, then, those eighteen years of Jesus’ life must have been deliberately omitted from the official account of Christ’s life.

Victim consciousness puts the blame on other people. It’s the kind of thinking that says: “I have these difficulties and problems because of what people did to me.”

Drugs seem to inspire a sort of spiritual self-centeredness, an attachment to experiences, that is the very opposite of self-giving. In the long run, they actually reduce one’s sensitivity to reality as a whole.

By the end of Dwapara Yuga in 4100 A.D., mankind will conquer the delusion of space and people will be able to go, not only to other planets, but to distant galaxies.

“So long as you continue to make the effort,” Paramhansa Yogananda said, “God will never let you down.”

Love, to me, means consciousness reaching out to embrace the universe, not merely a human emotion that confines the heart to one or to a few human beings.

The ultimate purpose of visualization and of devotional images is to lift the mind into communion with the Absolute. Always, the quest must be for transcendence.

All delusions endanger one’s peace of mind, strengthen the ego, and deepen one’s sense of isolation from others and from any sense of support from the universe.

If people treat us harshly despite our present kindness to them, it is because the seeds of harshness have not been completely erased from our own consciousness.

The consciousness with which you do your work is the most important aspect, not the outward form.

The avatars come again and again, to correct people’s misunderstandings of the eternal, unchanging truth.

It seems far better to trust in Him, and to try to follow His guidance, rather than to get sidetracked in the questionable truths of astral beings who purportedly speak to us through mediums.

This is a time when people need to “stand up and be counted” – a time for active participation in the outer struggle of light against darkness.

When you see that you made a mistake, admit it honestly to yourself. Don’t feel badly; just say, “I’m trying and I will do better.”

It is a mistake to think that you will ever find the perfect mate. Life, outwardly, cannot be other than a compromise between the ideal and reality.

Today anyone who is truly aware of human directions believes we’re in for very hard times. For devotees, such times present an extraordinary opportunity for service and spiritual growth, greater than any in recorded history.

Are moral values truly arbitrary and subjective? Can we really say people can just do what they like, and that there are no personal consequences they will have to suffer, outside of the need to maintain social order?

Courtesy is a healing balm; it can soothe troubled hearts, and win cooperation even from the hostile.

Yoga makes us more aware of ourselves as bodies of energy, not merely of material substance. The more aware we become that we are energy, the greater control we have in our lives.

Paramhansa Yogananda told us more than once that in a former life he had been William the Conqueror.

How do you react when a test comes? You won’t be worthy of God if you try to run away from your difficulties. ”

Never lend money unless you can feel, in your heart, that you are giving the money away.

What exactly do we mean by saying we have been given free will? If all actions are done by God, how are we free?

Master seldom praised me for my labor. But he sometimes praised me for my devotion.

Most people equate wealth with investments, savings, income, or real property. Yet we’ve all known people who got by quite happily on very little money.

Yogananda never forgot for an instant that the real Doer was God. Inwardly, he was always free and at peace.

Often, during meditation, nearby odors such as car exhaust, cooking, cigarette smoke, or even upholstery can be distracting to the mind, and may awaken mental associations that have nothing in common with the mood of inner upliftment.

Often the most successful people are those who have had the most to overcome because they’ve had to put out a great deal of energy to transcend their challenges.