169th Birth Anniversary of Sri Sri Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri.
“I give you my unconditional love” with this eternal promise of his taintless love, the ‘Embodiment of Wisdom’ Jnanavatar Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri welcomed young Mukunda (later known as Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Father of Yoga in the West and the author of the best-selling spiritual classic ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’) to his ashram. Unknown to the divine drama of events, his visit had been anticipated and eagerly awaited since a decade and a half by the stoic Master.
In January 1894 at the holy Kumbh Mela in Allahabad Sri Yukteswarji had met the deathless Himalayan Master Mahavatar Babaji. Being aware that Yoganandaji was again in incarnation (Mukunda was born on 5 January 1893 at Gorakhpur) Babaji promised to send a young chela to Sri Yukteswarji to train for “yoga dissemination in the West.” Babaji also asked him to write a short comparative account of the underlying harmony between the scriptures of Sanatana Dharma and Christianity. He complimented him with the words, “I saw that you are interested in the West, as well as the East. I felt the pangs of your heart, broad enough for all men.” He was asked to show by parallel references that the “inspired sons of God have spoken the same Truths.”
Sri Yukteswarji accepted the divine command in his characteristic humility, and with intuitive wisdom and deep study he wrote the book The Holy Science, in a short period of time. Quoting the words of the blessed Lord Jesus, “he showed that his teachings are in essence one with the revelations of the Vedas”. Further, in the various Sutras of the book Sri Yukteswarji explains the five states of the human heart. Namely; dark, propelled, steady, devoted, and clean. As he enlightens; “By these different states of the heart man is classified, and his evolutionary status determined.”
Born as Priya Nath Karar on May 10, 1855 in Serampore, Bengal, he became the disciple of the exalted yogi Sri Lahiri Mahasaya of Benaras. Later he joined the Swami Order and received the new name of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri.
Keeping his promise to Babaji, Sri Yukteswarji trained young Yoganandaji for a decade in his ashram. In the chapter “Years in my Master’s Hermitage” in his ‘Autobiography of a Yogi,’ Yoganandaji gives an eloquent and endearing account of his life with Sri Yukteswarji — The Lion of Bengal. He writes that he never found his master deluded or emotionally intoxicated with greed, anger, or human attachment. His was an aura of “healing calm”. He reminded many disciples under his guidance of their need for Kriya Yoga (the ancient scientific technique of meditation for God realization) with these cautionary words; “The darkness of Maya is silently approaching. Let us hie homeward within.”
Sri Yukteswarji felt a serious responsibility towards students who sought his counsel. His training meant to purify in the fires of severity; that were searing beyond average toleration. When Yoganandaji understood the impersonal nature of his guru’s task, he found him to be trusting, considerate, and silently loving.
Yoganandaji writes about his beloved Guru; “His was a strange nature, never utterly to be known; a nature deep and still, unfathomable to the outer world, whose values he had long transcended”. Further info.: yssofindia.org
