BOOK REVIEW by Wayne
THE DIVINE ROMANCE
Paramahansa Yogananda
ISBN 0-87612-240-3
If you could feel even a particle of divine love,
so great would be your joy -- so overpowering --
you could not contain it.
I remember starting the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" over a decade ago, maybe as much as two decades. However, I remember putting it down within the first 50 pages or so. My distinct sense at the time was that this stuff from the "Godmen" of India was not for me.
Now, I realize why my initial impression was as it was. At the time, I had not had any experiences that allowed me to relate to what Yogananda was saying. It was as if the words were Greek to me. They were hollow, they carried no meaning. It was not that they were not full of meaning ... rather, it was that I, personally, was blind to the meaning that was there.
Reading "The Divine Romance" was a pure treat. I couldn't put it down. Finally, I was conversing with someone who truly understood many of the things that I have been going through for over four years now. Here was a kindred spirit touched by the same fire within, for whom spirit (or God) was the only reality left that was worthy of attention. Here was a soul inflammed, spreading his light to others from the 1900's through March 7, 1952. I found it curious that my metaphysical writings began almost exactly 41 years later on March 5, 1993. I also found it curious that I was finally moved to read this book that I bought during the heights of my mania in the Summer of '93.
The pure mind of the child, which is open and imaginative,
free of prejudices and habits, is more attuned to the mind of God.
But when the child grows up and experiences the trammels of material life,
his mind takes on the limitations of that existence and becomes restricted
in its scope.
You become your worst enemy when you limit your mental power.
To work with your mind is tremendously worthwhile.
You haven't tried its powers at all.
To break through the mental limitations is what you should strive for.
I have always done that, because I wanted to be different.
And when I met my guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar,
I realized how supernally different he was.
Most people are copies of someone
else, imitating what others do.
They have no independent thinking.
You should be a different individual,
expressing the very best of your own unique nature.
Why shouldn't you develop your mind power
and use it for any attainment you desire?
All around are storms of difficulties, and everyone is after his own;
nobody is thinking of you.
And in this clash of individualities you are a little mind
about to be crushed and swept away.
But if you reason this way ---
"God loves me even as he loved Jesus, Krishna,
and Buddha.
He cannot be partial;
He has given me this mind, which contains the germ of infinite power,
and I am going to cultivate that power"
--- you will win.
Personally, I needed a context for understanding how to apply the great powers of my own mind more directly in the service of spirit. Yogananda was able to reacquaint me with that part of me that knew what constituted right action in the use of mind. Now, the floodgates are opened wide for Beyond Imagination to pour forth its activity and teachings in a manner that can truly create the Foundations for a New World that anxiously awaits its birth.
If you have had an awakening experience and are looking for words from another that can relate to your firsthand experience, perhaps it is time for you to be reunited with the wonderful expression of the I AM that was Paramahansa Yogananda.