Samadhi – Spiritual Wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda is considered to be one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20th century. Although he is known for his Autobiography of a Yogi, his less-known but deep spiritual poetry also provides immense wisdom.

Samadhi is a beautiful poem by Yogananda that describes the awakened state the yogi and mystic was in, especially during meditation. I have reproduced large amounts of the original poem, providing a modern interpretation of the spiritual teachings contained within.

I hope you enjoy this video and find value in its precious words.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any comments or questions, or if I can be of assistance in any way.

Hope you enjoy, and sending peace and love to all!

#spirituality #awakening #poetry

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Vanished are the veils of light and shade,
Lifted the vapors of sorrow,
Sailed away the dawn of fleeting joy,
Gone the mirage of the senses.

Love, hate, health, disease, life and death –
Departed, these false shadows on the screen
of duality.

Waves of laughter, scyllas of sarcasm, whirlpools
of melancholy,
Melting in the vast sea of bliss.

Bestilled is the storm of maya
By the magic wand of intuition deep.

The universe, a forgotten dream, lurks
subconsciously,
Ready to invade my newly wakened memory divine.

I exist without the cosmic shadow,
But it could not live bereft of me;
As the sea exists without the waves,
But they breathe not without the sea.

Dreams, wakings, states of deep turiya sleep,
Present, past, future, no more for me,
But the ever-present, all-flowing, I, I everywhere.

Consciously enjoyable,
Beyond the imagination of all expectancy,
Is this, my samadhi state.

Smoldering joy, oft-puffed by unceasing meditation,
Which blinded my tearful eyes,
Burst into eternal flames of bliss,
And consumed my tears, my peace, my frame,
my all.

Thou art I, I am Thou,
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!

One tranquilled, unbroken thrill of eternal, living, ever-new peace!

Not an unconscious state
Or mental chloroform without wilful return,
Samadhi but extends my realm of consciousness
Beyond the limits of my mortal frame
To the boundaries of eternity,
Where I, the Cosmic Sea,
Watch the little ego floating in Me.

Not a sparrow, nor a grain of sand, falls
without my sight
All space floats like an iceberg in my mental sea.

I am the Colossal Container of all things made!
By deeper, longer, continuous, thirsty,
guru–given meditation,
This celestial samadhi is attained.

From Joy we come,
For Joy we live,
In the sacred Joy we melt.

~ Paramahansa Yogananda

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Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga. A chief disciple of the Bengali yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of yoga to the West, to prove the unity between Eastern and Western religions and to preach a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality. His long-standing influence in the American yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture of Los Angeles, led him to be considered by yoga experts as the "Father of Yoga in the West."

He published his book, Autobiography of a Yogi, in 1946, to critical and commercial acclaim; since its first publishing, it has sold over four million copies, with HarperSan Francisco listing it as one of the "100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century". Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had ordered 500 copies of the book for his own memorial, for each guest to be given a copy. The book has been regularly reprinted and is known as "the book that changed the lives of millions." A documentary about his life commissioned by the SRF, Awake: The Life of Yogananda, was released in 2014. His continued legacy around the world, remaining a leading figure in Western spirituality to the current day, led authors such as Philip Goldberg to consider him "the best known and most beloved of all Indian spiritual teachers who have come to the West....through the strength of his character and his skillful transmission of perennial wisdom, he showed the way for millions to transcend barriers to the liberation of the soul.

* Biography taken from Wikipedia