Master's Poetry

Selected Poems of Paramahansa Yogananda with suitable pictures.

Monday 17 January 2011

The Aurora Borealis by Paramahansa Yogananda



   TO THE AURORA BOREALIS By Paramahansa Yogananda    
This poem was written by Paramahansaji in 1927 while visiting Forest Lake, 
Minnesota about 20 miles north of Minneapolis. The poem is published in 
Songs of the Soul.

From the heart of the northern horizon,
A dim, palpitating fountain of flame
Spread flickeringly
Through the dark stray clouds and the Milky way,
And across the space o'erhead.
Softly glowing, liquid fleecy lights
Rose, quivered, and flooded the southern land.
Aurora lit the sky,
And played with shadows within the deeps of the limpid lake --
Fluttered scintillating, transparent lights
O'er the stars and the sky o'erhead;
And shone on the rippleless lake beneath--
Then floated like dream waves of light
In my mental sea.*

Stilled thoughts, like stars, would glimmer
Through dim mental clouds;
Wisdom's aurora-light would rise from medulla's horizon
And spread, tremblingly, lighting
The dark vapors of mind.
Thou matchless lone imitator of all these --
O Aurora!
Spreader of light and joy o'er cloudy hearts,
Reminder, thou, of bursting, glowing light within my forehead!

From the left and right extreme, invisible lamps
Threw sudden iridescent red or blue sky-kissing searchlights,
Sprouting ethereal mystic flames,
Which joyfully bounded and vanished in the Eternal Ray.
Ever-burning radium, thou, Aurora!

My inner fountain of strange colors
Flooded my mental sky,
Illumining the opaque darkness
Behind which the Light of all lights hides.
A vision it was, of ever-changing, rolling, molten light,
Coaxing the stars, trees, water, earth, and matter, all
To melt their grossness
And become the Cosmic Light.

Aurora, there is hope,
For I shall liquefy in my samadhi's fire
All grossness of my mortal being,
And all creation's dust.
Matter shall change to light;
Darkness will burst into atoms of leaping fire.
My little soul will breathe with the Eternal Breath --
With the birth of each breath, new solar systems will be born;
And as each breath of eternity escapes from me,
Many a universe will cease to breathe.
The feeling bounded by the body will fly free
To feel the universe.
No more shall I clasp but a little clod;
In my bosom I shall bear the burden
Of the twinkling atomic vapors of nebulae,
Shining stars, planets, and all living things.
For I am the Life,
And my body is the universe.
Smaller am I than all little things made --
I can hide behind a speck of electron --
And bigger am I than the sphere in which the cosmos breathes.
I am the Life that shattered its confines of littleness
To become the infinite bigness of all things.

I am the most subtle -- the subtlest of forces is gross enough to hide me --
Yet everything speaks of me.
I wake with the dawn,
I exercise my vital muscular rays in the sun;
I sleep in the night,
Or oft peep through the twinkling lights in the darkness.
I smile in the moon,
I heave in the ocean.
I paint and wipe away
The pictures on the canvas of the sky.
I make the dewdrop, and conjure the flowers with my invisible wand.
I whistle in the canaries and sing in the nightingales.
I melt and sigh in human breasts.
I whisper through conscience.
I roar in the thunder.
I work in the noisy wheels of factories.
And I play hide and seek with the sky, stars, clouds, and waters,
As the mystic light of the aurora.

Sunday 11 October 2009

You and I are Free Forever


You and I are Free Forever
A poem written by Master to Rajarsi Janakananda May 5 1949.

My Little One,
You and I are one.
In Mother Supreme
In Her Eternity's dream.
When this Earth melts in the cosmic death
And our bodies dissolve, as they must,
Still our souls as a blended starlet will shine
Forever, ever expanding in the Divine.
This life is not only a dream,
But a dream
That already has come and gone
In the Mind of the Divine One.
Thus, do I behold with Eternity's eyes of old
All our earthly business pressures
Scant successes, struggles, and nightmares
All already dissolved in Time's cosmic molten stream
Flowing from Her cosmic dream.
You and I though nigh,
Are no more here
In this cosmic motion picture.
Since you are gone
There is no worry,
Struggle none:
Only to calmly remember
We dreamt our dream and now are with Her, only Her.
Dreams are disturbing and hard to take,
But each dreamer should dream half-awake.
Nightmares and beautiful dreams
Are true awhile, but never as they seem
So good or bad, whatever be coming,
Remember you are dreaming, only dreaming.
This dream lies that we are here,
Prisoners of a clot of earth
Chained to life and death
While we are already free-everywhere
'Tis delusion that tells
Salvation and freedom are far away
'Tis wisdom that knows we dwell
In everlasting freedom now and always.
In wakefulness of samadhi's light
Forget all dreams of the cosmic night
You and I are free forever
Now, e'en now, in the Cosmic Mother.
Where we are
No scratch of worries can ever come near.
You and I forever are
Shining in Her Love's star.

Friday 9 October 2009

Thine Ever-Changing Face

Thine Ever-Changing Face
Thine ever-changing face of ocean and sky
I beheld with great joy.
Sometimes calm, unruffled,
Thy ble Face silently suggests:
"I am the creator of all creation - be calm with Me."
Sometimes Thy face breaks into endless laughter
And ripples of light
Displaying silver muscles.
Sometimes Thy skiey oceanic Face
Storms and howls at me:
"I can destroy all creation."
Sometimes Thy boundless Face
Wears the gloom of Nemesis and the sad clouds
Sorrowing with the sorrows of the world.
Sometimes Thy sea-Face smiles; or, scorchingly aglow
With violet rays to burn the darkness of disease,
Thy sunny ocean-Face reveals paternal warmth and care.
Sometimes Thy pale blue sky-and-ocean Face
Wears the dark veil of night
Adorned with the beauty mark of the moon,
And eyes me with maternal love.
Sometimes Thy sky-ocean Face
Suddenly is dark with gloom
And saddened into oblivion of all things,
Meditating on Thy own Spirit alone, saying:
"So long I entertained thee
With My cosmic emotions
Of calmness, power, fear, joy, meditation,
Sun, moon and storm.
Now I hide my Face
Into the bosom of eternity
That thou mayest be able to behold My unseen Face
Sleeping in dreamless wakefulness
Behind the shroud of nothingness."

Thursday 8 October 2009

Yet How Elusive

Yet How Elusive
I looked for You
Ever since You breathed individuality
Into my soul dew
And separated me from You
Because I am the wave
Jerked out of Your sea
I've ever tried myself to reunite
With Your boundless bosom of freedom and light -
Though lashed
And by all other waves and by karma dashed -
Yet again and again
The storm of my own desires o'er the cosmic main
Would send me sailing alone, sad,
With colliding brother waves, cruel restive mad,
I am the wavelet life in great unrest
Swimming on Your cosmic sea-breast.
And yet how elusive You are
So near and so far.
My little life swam in loneliness and worries
Beneath the vistas of centuries,
Beneath countless lights of mily way , moons and suns,
Beneath the darkness of many desires undone,
Beneath the fogs of intricate incarnations
And 'neath clouds of doleful delusions.
Now at last I discovered
Just beneath my ignorance You lay covered,
'Twas I who ignored You -
Not You, not You -
When You were so near
Kept by my absent mind so far:
The ocean of life
Through all my strife
Supporting , ever-sustaining
Ever-pursuing, ever watchfully remaining
To protect me from harm
Just beneath the truant wavelet of my little life
Blessed with Your sheltering charm.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

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Monday 7 September 2009

God! God! God!

God! God! God!
From the depth of slumber,
As I ascend the spiral stairway of wakefulness,
I whisper
God, God, God!
Thou art the food and when I break my fast
Of nightly separation from Thee
I taste thee and mentally say
God, God, God!
No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind
Ever keeps turning on Thee;
And in the battle din of activity my silent war cry
Is ever;
God, God, God!
When boisterous storms of trials shriek
And worries howl at me,
I drown their noises, loudly chanting
God, God, God!
When my mind weaves dreams
With threads of memories,
Then on that magic cloth I do emboss;
God, God, God!
Ever night, in time of deepest sleep,
My peace dreams and calls; Joy! Joy! Joy!
And my Joy comes singing evermore;
God, God, God!
In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping,
Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving,
My soul constantly hums, unheard by any;
God, God, God!
- Paramahansa Yogananda

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Sunday 6 September 2009

Magic Sea

Magic Sea
You alone can make a sea
With eyes of blue, and measurelessly deep
With transparent heart --
'Tis you
All hidden with endless mystery.
With flying fish perching,
On Your silver hair of surf dancing,
Somber sea gulls resting
On Your rich watery tresses
As the sun bestows its kisses
And makes them shine,
O Goddess, blue Brine,
Intoxicating all votaries with Your wine,
Your ever blushing scenic face
Surging in all secret solace --
Who, who could make this blue-eyed maiden
But You alone, ah You?
Man may make a myriad things that be
A little while;
But You alone can make a MAGIC SEA.

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