About This Paramahansa Yogananda Passage [Longer Commentary]

By advocating for the extension of love—from one’s family to the broader community, and then to all sentient beings—Yogananda is essentially asking us to practice love actively and intentionally. Such an approach suggests that our capacity to love can grow, much like a skill that can be honed with deliberate effort. As we push the boundaries of whom and how we love, we’re not only deepening our connections but also breaking down barriers that segregate and divide.

Lastly, Yogananda’s perspective on love offers a refreshing take on the concept of divine connection. Instead of seeing love as a force limited to a select few relationships, he views it as an accessible bridge to understanding and compassion for all. This universal approach reminds us that beneath our varied backgrounds and beliefs lies a shared humanity. By embracing this, we foster not only personal growth but also greater societal harmony.

Commentary from Swami Kriyananda 

In the first two of this series of papers I made several references to this as being a new age. Swami Sri Yukteswar, Paramhansa Yogananda’s guru, stated in his book, The Holy Science, that we entered this age at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Pursuant to the ancient teachings of India, he named it, Dwapara Yuga….

The public, however, gazing on all this confusion, feels bewildered. Is it surprising that people should want to glance back for comfort to traditions that they find at least recognizable? After all, the relativity of time claimed by Einstein hasn’t thrown anyone’s clocks out of kilter. Scientific discoveries haven’t altered any of the fundamental human realities.

What is most notable about modern times is that, on every level of endeavor, human perceptions have been expanding. New windows have been opening out onto the universe. There is a need now to make sense of these new perceptions of reality. We cannot simply reject them. Nor can we continue to embrace them, like adolescents, for their shock value. We must assess the new realities with mature judgment.

First, we must accept the fact that they are indeed new. And we must transcend the fear that true values are being threatened. For Truth is not a house divided. It is no enemy to itself. And self-proclaimed “wisdom” that is not rooted in Truth, however much it may seem sanctioned by tradition, is mere superstition.

In this paper, I shall explain at some length what Sri Yukteswar meant by the new age, and the reasons he gave for his claim that we have entered it. I’ll present facts in support of his statement that could not have been mustered at that time, a century ago, when he made it. For science, then, had yet to make the discoveries that would justify, and that since have justified, his claims…

—Swami Kriyananda [Religion in the New Age].

* [Swami Kriyananda’s Ananda branch of Yogananda’s followers believe that Paramhansa Yogananda is the correct spelling of their teacher’s name. The Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) branch uses the Paramahansa Yogananda spelling. Since this commentary is excerpted from Swami Kriyananda’s writings, the Paramhansa Yogananda spelling is used.]—AD

Additional Yogananda Quotes

“The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the “Christian” Bible, for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all…

It is an erroneous assumption of limited minds that great ones such as Jesus, Krishna, and other divine incarnations are gone from the earth when they are no longer visible to human sight. This is not so… Jesus Christ is very much alive and active today. In Spirit and occasionally taking on a flesh-and-blood form, he is working unseen by the masses for the regeneration of the world. With his all-embracing love, Jesus is not content merely to enjoy his blissful consciousness in Heaven. He is deeply concerned for mankind and wishes to give his followers the means to attain the divine freedom of entry into God’s Infinite Kingdom…”

—Yogananda [The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004)].

“These teachings have been sent to explain the truth as Jesus intended it to be known in the world—not to give a new Christianity, but to give the real Christ-teaching: how to become like Christ, how to resurrect the Eternal Christ within one’s Self…”

—Yogananda [The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004)].