Paramahansa Yogananda - The Divine Romance: Collected Talks and Essays on Realizing God in Daily Life – Volume 2

About This Book

The Divine Romance is the second in a series of anthologies of Paramahansa Yoganandas collected talks and essays. Included in these anthologies are lectures, classes, and inspirational writings originally published by Self-Realization Fellowship in its magazine founded by Sri Yogananda in 1925 (known since 1948 as Self-Realization ). Most of the talks were given at the Self-Realization Fellowship temples he established and at the international headquarters of his society in Los Angeles. He spoke extemporaneously, using no written text, regardless of his topic. That his words have been preserved for present and future generations is due primarily to the devoted efforts of one of his earliest and closest disciples, who served for many years as his confidential secretary and assisted him in carrying out his spiritual and humanitarian work. For more than two decades Sri Daya Mata (president of Self-Realization Fellowship from 1955 until her passing in 2010) recorded stenographically his public lectures and classes, the guidance he gave informally when meeting with small groups of disciples, and much of his personal counsel. The Divine Romance, like the other volumes in this series, provides readers with a generous selection of Paramahansa Yoganandas written and spoken words on a wide range of subjectsand offers as well a glimpse of the dynamic and loving personality of the great world teacher.

Copyright 2000, 2011 Self-Realization Fellowship
All rights in this digital edition of The Divine Romance
are reserved by Self-Realization Fellowship.

Note to the Reader

Subject only to any conditions established by the distributor from which you obtained this book, Self-Realization Fellowship welcomes you to download this edition onto any number of your own devices for your individual, non-commercial use; and to print excerpts for your own reference.

Kindly note, however, that upon acquiring this edition the reader agrees to abide by applicable national and international copyright laws; and to abstain from distributing, reproducing, or transmitting the contents to other individuals or entities, by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) without the publishers prior written consent. We appreciate your cooperation in respecting the authors work and in helping to preserve its integrity by upholding these principles.

Thank you for supporting our non-profit publishing endeavors in connection with the legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda.

Authorized by the International Publications Council of
SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP
3880 San Rafael Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90065-3219

The Self-Realization Fellowship name and emblem (shown above) appear on all SRF books, recordings, and other publications, as an assurance that a work originates with the society established by Paramahansa Yogananda and faithfully conveys his teachings.

Second edition, 2000. Ebook edition, 2017.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 86-063172
ISBN: 978-0-87612-240-2 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-87612-241-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-87612-781-0 (Kindle edition)
ISBN: 978-0-87612-782-7 (ePub edition)

Dedicated by Self-Realization Fellowship
to our beloved president,
SRI DAYA MATA
whose faithful devotion to recording the
words of her guru for posterity has
preserved for us and for the ages the
liberating wisdom and God-love
of Paramahansa Yogananda

The Spiritual Legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda

His Complete Writings, Lectures, and Informal Talks

Paramahansa Yogananda founded Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920 to disseminate his teachings worldwide and to preserve their purity and integrity for generations to come. A prolific writer and lecturer from his earliest years in America, he created a renowned and voluminous body of works on the yoga science of meditation, the art of balanced living, and the underlying unity of all great religions. Today this unique and far-reaching spiritual legacy lives on, inspiring millions of truth-seekers all over the world.

In accord with the express wishes of the great master, Self-Realization Fellowship has continued the ongoing task of publishing and keeping permanently in print The Complete Works of Paramahansa Yogananda . These include not only the final editions of all the books he published during his lifetime, but also many new titlesworks that had remained unpublished at the time of his passing in 1952, or which had been serialized over the years in incomplete form in Self-Realization Fellowships magazine, as well as hundreds of profoundly inspiring lectures and informal talks recorded but not printed before his passing.

Paramahansa Yogananda personally chose and trained those close disciples who have headed the Self-Realization Fellowship Publications Council since his passing, and gave them specific guidelines for the preparation and publishing of his teachings. The members of the SRF Publications Council (monks and nuns who have taken lifelong vows of renunciation and selfless service) honor these guidelines as a sacred trust, in order that the universal message of this beloved world teacher will live on in its original power and authenticity.

The Self-Realization Fellowship emblem (shown above) was designated by Paramahansa Yogananda to identify the nonprofit society he founded as the authorized source of his teachings. The SRF name and emblem appear on all Self-Realization Fellowship publications and recordings, assuring the reader that a work originates with the organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda and conveys his teachings as he himself intended they be given.

Self-Realization Fellowship

Contents

The Universal Nature of Love

Fatherly Love Is Based on Reason

Motherly Love Is Based on Feeling and Is Unconditional

Conjugal Love

Love Between Master and Servant

FriendshipGrandest Relationship of Human Loves

The Unconditional Divine Friendship of Guru and Disciple

Gods Love Sublimely Manifest in Bhagavan Krishna

The Perfect Love Between Soul and Spirit

The Beginning of the Cosmic Dream

The Evolution of Intelligence

Reincarnation Is a Series of Dreams Within a Dream

Life Is a Dream Unworthy of Our Tears

We Dream Our Own Limitations

Dont Take Life So Seriously

In Meditation Delusive Dreams Vanish

Never Become Mentally Ruffled

It Is Your Own Dreams That Frighten You

The Power of the Mind Is Limitless

Only in God Are You Safe From Delusion

Scientists Work in Cooperation With God

Belief Is Only the First Step

Self-realization Is Necessary to Experience God

The First Experiment Is Silence

The End Result of Truth Is Always Good

There Are No Harmless Lies

The Importance to You of Others Happiness

Wont Power Leads to Will Power

A Practical Experiment in Religion

There Is Always a Way Out

No If About the Working of Gods Laws

Seeing Is BelievingThe Science of Religion

Why We Are All Different From One Another

Three Ways to Deal With the Effects of Actions

Even the Fate of Death Can Be Changed