Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh

Indian Holy Man, Author, Spiritual and Kriya Yoga Teacher in United States, Founder of Self-Realization Fellowship, introduced many Westerners to Kriya Yoga through is book, "Autobiography of a Yogi"

"The mind is like an elastic band. The more you pull, the more it stretches. The mind-elastic will never break. Every time you feel limitations, close your eyes and say to yourself, “I am the Infinite,” and you will see what power you have."

"There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first...when you learn to live for others, they will live for you."

"There is no stronger force that you can employ against temptation than wisdom. Complete understanding will bring you to the point where nothing can tempt you to actions that promise pleasure but in the end will only hurt you."

"Truth is no theory, no speculative system of philosophy. Truth is exact correspondence with Reality. For man, truth is unshakable knowledge of his real nature, his Self as soul."

"Two persons who unite their lives to help each other toward divine realization are founding their marriage on the right basis: unconditional friendship."

"True happiness, lasting happiness, lies only in god, “Having whom no other gain is greater.” In Him is the only safety, the only shelter, the only escape from all our fears. You have no other security in the world, no other freedom. The only true freedom lies in God."

"We would not be human if we did not miss loved ones; but in feeling lonesome for them we don’t want selfish attachment to be the cause of keeping them earthbound. Extreme sorrow prevents a departed soul from going ahead toward greater peace and freedom."

"Wars are brought about not by fateful divine action but by widespread material selfishness. Banish selfishness - individual, industrial, political, national - and you will have no more wars."

"What you are is much greater than anything or anyone else you have ever yearned for. God is manifest in you in a way that He is not manifest in any other human being. your face is unlike anyone else’s, your soul is unlike anyone else’s, you are sufficient unto yourself; for within your soul lies the greatest treasure of all - God."

"Learn to be calm and you will always be happy."

"Very few of us know how much we can put into life if we use it properly, wisely, and economically. Let us economize our time - lifetimes ebb away before we wake up, and that is why we do not realize the value of the immortal time God has given us."

"Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself."

"Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment."

"Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become."

"You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may learn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk in water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult."

"Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time."

"You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you."

"If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty."

"Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations."

"Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise."

"Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along."

"So long as we believe in our heart of hearts that our capacity is limited and we grow anxious and unhappy, we are lacking in faith. One who truly trusts in God has no right to be anxious about anything."

"Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable."

"You have come to earth to entertain and to be entertained."

"The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success."

"The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man's slavery."

"Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire - for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness - that is the way to live in this world."

"Stillness is the altar of spirit."

"To work with God's happiness bubbling in the soul is to carry a portable paradise within you wherever you go."

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."

"Every morning I offer my body, my mind and any ability that I posses, to be used by Thee, O infinite creator, in whatever way Thou dost choose to express Thyself through me. I know that all work is Thy work, and that no task is too difficult or too menial when offered to Thee in loving service."

"The wave is the same as the ocean, though it is not the whole ocean. So each wave of creation is a part of the eternal Ocean of Spirit. The Ocean can exist without the waves, but the waves cannot exist without the Ocean."

"Every tomorrow is determined by every today."

"The entire universe is God's cosmic motion picture, and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation; mankind's deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one's current role, rather than with the movie's director, or God."

"Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing."

"You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides him from you."

"The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all about, one must know God."

"Retire to the center of your being, which is calmness."

"Absolute, unquestioning faith in God is the greatest method of instantaneous healing."

"A genuine smile distributes the cosmic current, prana, to every body cell. The happy man is less subject to disease, for happiness actually attracts into the body a greater supply of the universal life energy."

"A lazy person never finds God."

"All good human experiences — marriage, love, success, study, meditation, exercise, self-discipline — are necessary steps in the growth of the fruit of Self-realization."

"All souls are equal. The only difference between you and me is that I made the effort. I showed God that I love Him, and He came to me. Love it the magnet from which God cannot escape."

"All successful men and women devote much time to deep concentration. They are able to dive deeply within their minds and to find the pearls of right solutions for the problems that confront them."

"Exercise! Walk daily. Take an early morning walk to keep your heart in good condition."

"As often as we have come on earth we have developed new imperfections and new desires. So we come back here again and again until we fulfill all desires; or until, through increase of wisdom, we banish those desires. We must satisfy our desires, or, by cultivating wisdom, do away with them altogether."

"As you march along this path, every moment of your life is precious. You are here in this world for only a little while; everything is temporary. But association with God is permanent and forever, and so you must not be deluded by the temptations of the world and forget God. God can be known. The Master of the universe, whose light twinkles in the stars, whose life-throb is in every blade of grass — you must find Him. The most important thing in this world is to seek and to find God."

"Anything you hate, you attract to yourself that you may learn to overcome that prejudice. That is the law."

"At times life seems to be a cruel game. The only justification for it is that in reality it is only a dream. That is why there are so many differences in the world. Some people are poor, some are rich, some healthy, some sick, and so on. You have had many experiences through many incarnations and you will have others in future incarnations, but they should not frighten you. You must play all parts in the motion picture of life, inwardly saying: 'I am Spirit.' This is the great consolation that wisdom gives us."

"Aum is the best symbol for those who want to worship a personal God. It is a better symbol than images, such as those of Kali, Krishna, and others; because in worshipping God as an image, the mind limits the Infinite to that form. It becomes difficult for the sadhaka ("practitioner", meditator) to think of God beyond that 'ishta', when in fact God is Spirit. While meditating on Aum, the mind expands with the omnipresence of that vibration, and the Spirit-nature of Brahman inherent therein is realized as Sat-chit-ananda — ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss."