An Introduction:
No matter how different each of our lives might seem, what we are all looking for is the same — when seen through the eyes of wisdom. “Happiness that is delightfully varied, though its essence is changeless,” Paramahansa Yogananda said, “is the inner experience everyone is seeking.”
The problem is that mostly we have been looking for that type of lasting happiness in the wrong place. We fulfil a desire only to find the accompanying joy wanes as a fresh desire takes root. We might even attain great wealth or achievement to realize we have yet a deep yearning for “something more.”
Can that longing be satisfied in this life? Is it actually possible to possess a joy that we never tire of, which the saints of all spiritual paths have told us is our birthright?
Paramahansaji explains how you can definitively answer that eternal question for yourself by daily applying a science of meditation — Kriya Yoga — revived in this modern age by his renowned lineage of gurus.
Through that step-by-step method of going within, anyone who pines for more than the false promises of fickle pleasures can gradually prove the soul as that long-sought ever new joy — and then let that joy overflow into all arenas of life.
From the talks and writings of Paramahansa Yogananda:
We are all seeking happiness, a happiness that does not come and go. We want lasting happiness — happiness that is always new and ever-existing. We do not want the kind of happiness that will grow stale. We want ever new joy.
I have never known any pleasure of the world as great as the spiritual joy of Kriya Yoga. I would not give it up for all the comforts of the West or all the gold in the world. I have found it possible through Kriya Yoga to carry my happiness always with me.
Kriya Yoga, practised deeply, will dissolve breath into mind, mind into intuition, intuition into the joyous perception of soul, and soul into the cosmic bliss of Spirit.
Every good action you perform digs like a pickaxe into the soil of consciousness and brings forth a little spray from the fountain of God’s joy. But the pickaxe of meditation, which is the highest form of good action, opens the inner surface of consciousness and lets all the joy of life spout forth.
Uniting the soul with Spirit is Yoga — reunion with that great Happiness everyone is seeking. Isn’t this a wonderful definition? In the ever new Bliss of Spirit you are convinced that the joy you feel is greater than any other happiness, and nothing can get you down.
I met a very wealthy man in New York. In the course of telling me something about his life, he drawled, “I am disgustingly rich, and disgustingly healthy —” and before he could finish I exclaimed, “But you are not disgustingly happy! I can teach you how to be perpetually interested in being ever newly happy.” He became my student. By practising Kriya Yoga, and by leading a balanced life, ever inwardly devoted to God, he lived to a ripe old age, always bubbling with ever new happiness.
We invite you to read an excerpt from a talk by Paramahansa Yogananda that further explains the difference between ordinary states of consciousness and experiencing within the ever new joy of Spirit.
You can also listen to Paramahansa Yogananda speak about the power of Kriya Yoga to bring true happiness and a total transformation of consciousness.
