Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian yogi who played a significant role in spreading Kriya yoga in the West. His powerful words, spiritual lessons, and life-changing teachings influenced and inspired millions of people all around the world. George Harrison, Krishna Das, Steve Jobs are just a few examples of people who followed Yogananda’s guidance through his books and lectures. In this article, we want to share with you the most inspirational and thought-provoking Paramahansa Yogananda quotes that may help you to take a deeper look at your life and the way you view the world!
Here they are the most inspirational Yogananda quotes!
60 Paramahansa Yogananda Quotes
#1
“You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative principle works in you.”
Yogananda
#2
“Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself.”
Yogananda
#3
“Make up your mind that you will be happy whether you are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, happily married or unhappily married, young or old, smiling or crying. Don’t wait for yourself, your family, or your surroundings to change before you can be happy within yourself. Make up your mind to be happy within yourself, right now, whatever you are, or wherever you are.”
Yogananda
#4
“Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire – for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness – that is the way to live in this world.”
―Yogananda
#5
“Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become.”
Yogananda
#6
“If you criticize others judgmentally, rather than simply commenting on their behavior impartially, that shows that you have their faults to work on in yourself. By criticizing others, moreover, you increase those faults in yourself. What you condemn in others, you will have to experience, someday, yourself. That is the karmic law. In that way, people are taught compassion.”
Yogananda
#7
“Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment.”
Yogananda
#8
“Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! Forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! Control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise.”
Yogananda
#9
“It takes long time-many incarnations of right action, good company, the help of the guru, self-awakening, wisdom, and meditation-for man to regain his soul consciousness of immortality. To reach this state of Self-realization, each man must practice meditation to transfer his consciousness from the limited body to the unlimited sphere of joy felt in meditation.”
Yogananda
#10
“Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others’ shortcomings and by harshly examining our own.”
Yogananda
#11
“Stillness is the altar of spirit.”
Yogananda
#12
“Your trials did not come to punish you, but to awaken you – to make you realize that you are a part of Spirit and that just behind the sparks of your life is the Flame of Infinity.”
Yogananda
#13
“If religion means primarily God-consciousness, or the realization of God both within and without, and secondarily a body of beliefs, tenets, and dogmas, then, strictly speaking, there is but one religion in the world, for there is but one God.”
Yogananda
#14
“Retire to the center of your being, which is calmness.”
Yogananda
#15
“The wave is the same as the ocean, though it is not the whole ocean. So each wave of creation is a part of the eternal Ocean of Spirit. The Ocean can exist without the waves, but the waves cannot exist without the Ocean.”
Yogananda
#16
“Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them.”
Yogananda
#17
“Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don’t know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being robots, conditioned by their environment. True self-analysis is the greatest art of progress.”
Yogananda
#18
“Having lots of money while not having inner peace is like dying of thirst while bathing in the ocean.”
Yogananda
#19
“Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.”
Yogananda
#20
“The body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind.”
Yogananda
#21
“Even when you do not know where the next dollar is coming from, you should refuse to be apprehensive. When you do your part and rely on God to do His, you will find that mysterious forces come to your aid and that your constructive wishes soon materialize. This confidence and consciousness of abundance are attained through meditation.”
Yogananda
#22
“Every tomorrow is determined by every today.”
Yogananda
#23
“I don’t want people to think that they can attain realization simply by listening to others or by reading books. They must practice what they read and hear.”
Yogananda
#24
“Attachment is blinding; it lends an imaginary halo of attractiveness to the object of desire.”
Yogananda
#25
“Every day try to help uplift physically, mentally, or spiritually suffering people, as you would help yourself or your family. If, instead of living in the misery-making selfish way, you live according to the laws of God, then, no matter what small part you may be playing on the stage of life, you will know that you have been playing your part correctly, as directed by the Stage Manager of all our destinies. Your part, however small, is just as important as the biggest parts in contributing to the success of the Drama of Souls on the Stage of Life. Make a little money and be satisfied with it by living a simple life and expressing your ideals, rather than make lots of money and have worries without end.”
Yogananda
#26
“The deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.”
Yogananda
#27
‘You have seen how your health has exactly followed your subconscious expectations. Thought is a force, even as electricity or gravitation. The human mind is a spark of the almighty consciousness of God. I could show you that whatever your powerful mind believes very intensely would instantly come to pass.’ “Knowing”
Yogananda
#28
“The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man’s slavery.”
Yogananda
#29
“The greatest sin is to call yourself a sinner. You are a child of God. Though gold is covered with mud for centuries, it remains gold. So the pure ‘gold’ of the soul can be covered over with the mud of delusion for eons, but in its true nature it remains forever undefiled.”
Yogananda
#30
“To work with God’s happiness bubbling in the soul is to carry a portable paradise within you wherever you go.”
Yogananda
#31
“The rejuvenating effects of sleep are due to man’s temporary unawareness of body and breathing. The sleeping man becomes a yogi; each night he unconsciously performs the yogic rite of releasing himself from bodily identification, and of merging the life force with healing currents in the main brain region and in the six subdynamos of his spinal centers. Unknowingly, the sleeper is thus recharged by the cosmic energy that sustains all life.”
Yogananda
#32
“You possess the power of thought and the power of will. Utilize to the uttermost these divine gifts!”
Yogananda
#33
“Be satisfied with your part. Do not bemoan your fate. In this life, everyone has trouble which he thinks nobody else has. Never wish to be in the shoes of someone else who you think is better off than you are. It is best to wish for nothing but to ask the Lord to give you what is for your highest good. You are a part of the Lord’s creation: He needs everybody to carry on this drama. Never compare yourself with anybody else. You are what you are. Nobody is like you. Nobody can act your part as you can. Similarly, you should not try to play somebody else’s part. What is important is to do the will of Him who sent you; that is what you want. While you do your part, think all the time that God is working through you.”
Yogananda
#34
“The human mind is a spark of the almighty consciousness of God. I could show you that whatever your powerful mind believes very intensely would instantly come to pass.”
Yogananda
#35
“When you make up your mind to do good things, you will accomplish them if you use dynamic will power to follow through. No matter what the circumstances are if you go on trying, God will create the means by which your will shall find its proper reward.”
Yogananda
#36
“The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice.”
Yogananda
#37
“If you retain the joyous aftereffects of meditation throughout the day or part of the day, you will see that this joy will correctly guide you in everything. Saints are guided by this joy, in the consciousness of which no erroneous actions are possible. Retain the acquired joy of meditation throughout the day.”
Yogananda
#38
“Ordinary love is selfish, darkly rooted in desires, and satisfaction. Divine love is without condition, without boundary, without change. The flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch of pure love.”
Yogananda
#39
“No action is ever an isolated event. Always, it invites from the universe a reaction that corresponds exactly to the type and the force of energy behind the deed.”
Yogananda
#40
“When the mind is calm, how quickly, how smoothly, how beautifully you will perceive everything.”
Yogananda quotes
#41
“Never do anything that taints your mind. Wrong actions cause negative or evil mental vibrations that are reflected in your whole appearance and personality. Engage in those actions and thoughts that nurture the good qualities you want to have.”
Yogananda
#42
“If you don’t invite God to be your summer Guest, He won’t come in the winter of your life.”
Yogananda
#43
“Opportunities in life come by creation, not by chance. You yourself, either now or in the past (including the past of former lives), have created all opportunities that arise in your path. Since you have earned them, use them to the best advantage.”
Yogananda
#44
“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.”
Yogananda
#45
“Is a diamond less valuable because it is covered with mud? God sees the changeless beauty of our souls. He knows we are not our mistakes.” Yogananda
#46
“If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.”
Yogananda quotes
#47
“I am the Cosmic Ocean of sound and the little wave of the body vibration in it.”
Yogananda
#48
“The sun shines equally on diamond and charcoal, but one has developed qualities that enable it to reflect the sunlight brilliantly, while the other absorbs all the sunlight. Emulate the diamond in your dealings with people. Brightly reflect the light of God’s love.”
Yogananda
#49
“The one who pursues a goal of evenmindedness is neither jubilant with gain nor depressed by loss.”
Yogananda
#50
“Persons of strong character are usually the happiest. They do not blame others for troubles that can be traced to their own actions and lack of understanding. They know that no one has the power to add to their happiness or detract from it, unless they themselves allow the adverse thoughts or wicked actions of others to affect them.”
Yogananda
#51
“Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others!”
Yogananda quotes
#52
“Mind is the creator of everything. You should, therefore, guide it to create only good. If you cling to a certain thought with dynamic will power, it finally assumes a tangible outward form. When you are able to employ your will always for constructive purposes, you become the controller of your destiny.”
Yogananda
#53
“Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world.”
Yogananda
#54
“Do not take life’s experiences too seriously. For in reality, they are nothing but dream experiences. Play your part in life, but never forget that it is only a role.”
Yogananda
#55
“Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the fires of divine wisdom.”
Yogananda
#56
“I am no longer the wave of consciousness thinking itself separated from the sea of cosmic consciousness. I am the ocean of Spirit that has become the wave of human life.”
Yogananda quotes
#57
“Practice loving those who do not love you. Feel for those who do not feel for you. Be generous to those who are generous only to themselves. If you heap hatred on your enemy, neither he nor you are able to perceive the inherent beauty of your soul.”
Yogananda
#58
“The balanced rhythm of the universe is rooted in reciprocity,”
Yogananda
#59
“To fly away from problems may seem the easiest solution. But you gain strength only when you wrestle with a strong opponent. One who doesn’t have difficulties is one who doesn’t grow.”
Yogananda
#60
“Incredible amounts of energy are hidden in your brain; enough in a gram of flesh to run the city of Chicago for 2 days. And you say you are tired?”
Yogananda
We hope you are inspired by these inspirational Yogananda quotes as much as we are!