Yogananda - Songs of the soul

This book made available by the Internet Archive. PUBLISHER'S NOTE It is with deep satisfaction that we offer this treasury of poems by Paramahansa Yogananda. The present volume fulfills a long-standing desire to restore to print those poems of his that were published in earlier years under the title Songs of the Soul, and to bring together under that title many of Paramahansaji's other poems from various Self-Realization publications, past and present. Considerable thought and research have gone into the preparation of this edition. Original writings and transcripts were compared with variant renderings introduced by early editors, and by Paramahansaji himself; for he would sometimes pen corrections and creative variations that came to him when rereading a poem, or interpolate a fresh inspiration while reciting a passage in the course of a lecture or devotional service. The number of such variations in a poem is generally proportionate to the frequency of its use.

In many cases they are slight a more precise word, a different turn of phrase, occasionally a deletion (or addition) of a thought, or of certain lines, to fit a particular context. The present endeavor has been to adhere to Paramahansaji's original handwritten or spoken version, and from the modifications he introduced, to retain those that substantially clarify his thought or otherwise add to the beautiful imagery of his inspiration. We were happy to find and restore not only illustrative words and phrases, but also entire lines or stanzas that had been omitted from these poems when they were originally published. The following are a few examples: In the selection, Flower Offering, some of the phrases omitted or changed in the first version printed in 1923, and now restored in this new edition are ("devotion-sweetened musk" instead of "devotion's perfume") ("With silent song in me" this line was omitted "I come to worship Thee") An entire new stanza has been added. Written in rough draft by Paramahansaji, but never printed: ("For naught from Thee I pray or long That 1 bring offering and song. I just want to tell In secret what 1 feel.") In Thy Homecoming, "the steady sentinels" was misread and printed originally as "speedy sentinels": ("The steady sentinels of sun and moon are patiently waiting for Thy homecoming").

In A Mxyyoy New, the word "loyal" had been omitted: ("Would loyal show, all true"). The charming line, ^-7^ ^Sc^rezJlM S6^^ ioll^ d^ ("Ere the sorcerer Sleep doth call"), had also been left out. In At the Roots oj Eternity, several unused descriptive words and phrases from the original handwritten copy were restored, such as: ("with singing leaves," instead of "swaying trees") ("with bounding planet-balls," instead of "whirling planets") Vll / ("nectar loot," which had not been included). In Listen to M}i Soul Song, possibly the editor could not make out the handwritten word "gloaming," f^ ^^ifi^ui:f^ ("Beneath the gloaming of dim devotion of eyes unseeing"). It was originally printed as "gloom of dim devotion." That first printing also omitted the phrase "of eyes unseeing." Similar corrections and restorations were made in many of the other poems as well, such as the addition in Variety of two previously unpublished stanzas at the end, and the picturesque phrase ("Thy debut, O Eternity"). With this scanning of original manuscripts and transcriptions, we feel we have accomplished the review of these poems that Paramahansaji had started, but did not have time to finish.

Since in many cases there was more than one "original" or "approved" version, we have chosen for this edition the rendering most often recited by Paramahansaji himself. Where such evidence was lacking, we selected those words or phrases deemed most characteristic of his unique mode of expression as cited in the foregoing examples. Vlll Songs of the Soul is an outpouring of Paramahansa Yogananda's direct perceptions of God God in nature, in man, in everyday experiences, and in the spiritually awakened state of samadhi meditation. Most of the poems were written during the 1920s and 1930s. This was a period when Paramahansaji was traveling extensively throughout the United States to lecture in her principal cities. He wrote about what he saw, and about the inner experiences evoked by those perceptions.

His writings are not the considered renderings of a poet's fancies, but a revelation of the interior experiences of a soul ever awake in God, responding to the wonders of nature; to the memories of a beloved motherland; to the deep impressions made by new friends and acquaintances; above all, to the divine realizations born of that soul's intimate communion with God. SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP Los Angeles, California July 1983 AIMS AND IDEALS of Self-Realization Fellowship As set forth by Paramahansa Yogananda, Founder Sri Daya Mata, President To disseminate among the nations a knowledge of definite scientific techniques for attaining direct personal experience of God. To teach that the purpose of life is the evolution, through self-effort, of man's limited mortal consciousness into God Consciousness; and to this end to establish Self-Realization Fellowship temples for God-communion throughout the world, and to encourage the establishment of individual temples of God in the homes and in the hearts of men. To reveal the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions. To point out the one divine highway to which all paths of true religious beliefs eventually lead: the highway of daily, scientific, devotional meditation on God. To liberate man from his threefold suffering: physical disease, mental inharmonies, and spiritual ignorance.

To encourage "plain living and high thinking"; and to spread a spirit of brotherhood among all peoples by teaching the eternal basis of their unity: kinship with God. To demonstrate the superiority of mind over body, of soul over mind. To overcome evil by good, sorrow by joy, cruelty by kindness, ignorance by wisdom. To unite science and religion through realization of the unity of their underlying principles. To advocate cultural and spiritual understanding between East and West, and the exchange of their finest distinctive features.

Grand Canyon of the Colorado, The 143 Great Lightland, The 107 Hart of Heaven, The 139 Harvest, The 144 Human Mind, The 29 I Am He 89 I Am Here 159 I Am Lonely No More 163 In Me 99 In Stillness Dark 17 In the Land of Dreams 151 Invisible Mother 66 I Was Made for Thee 48 Leave Thy Vow of Silence 145 Life's Dream 134 Listen to My Soul Song 132 Little Eternity, The 78 Luther Burbank 80 Make Us Thyself 41 Methought I Heard a Voice 158 Milk-White Sail, A 77 Mirror New, A 156 Mohawk Trail 130 My Cosmic Mother's Face 69 My India 168 My Kinsmen 87 My Mother's Eyes 102 My Native Land 167 My Prisoner 162 My Soul Is Marching On 5 Mystery 146 Nature's Nature 121 Noble New, The .' 19 Oceanic Presence 148 xii On Coming to the New-Old Land America 62 One Friend 67 One That's Everywhere 13 Paupack's Peak 31 Pikes Peak 114 Protecting Thorns 38 Royal Way, The 120 Samadhi 95 Scenes Within 56 Screen of Life, The 10 Shadows 12 Silence 18 Some Treasure of My Own 164 Spell, The 155 Splinters of Thy Love, The 74 Tattered Dress, The 79 Tattered Garment 49 They Are Thine 165 Thou and I Are One 46 Thou In Me 106 Thy Call 34 Thy Cruel Silence 137 Thy Divine Gypsy 44 Thy Homecoming 108 Thy Secret Throne 136 'Tis All Unknown 37 Toiler's Lay, The 128 Too Near 100 To the Aurora Borealis 91 Two Black Eyes 68 Undying Beauty 40 Vanishing Bubbles 9 Variety 59 Wake, Wake, My Sleeping Hunger, Wake! 20 xiii What Use? 50 When I Am Only a Dream 176 When 1 Cast All Dreams Away 172 When I Take the Vow of Silence 184 When Will He Come? 6 Wherel Am 15 Whispers 131 Yogoda Dream Hermitage A Dream Dropped From Heaven 63 Photographs Associated With the Life of Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda, 1923 24 Paramahansa Yogananda, New York, 1926 45 Self-Realization Fellowship Hermitage, Encini tas, California 64 Paramahansa Yogananda with Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, California, 1924 80 Gyana Prabha Ghosh, Paramahansa Yogananda's mother 102 Paramahansa Yogananda with Amelita Galli Curci and Homer Samuels, at "Sul Monte," New York, 1926 126 International headquarters of SRF/YSS, atop Mount Washington, Los Angeles 134 Paramahansa Yogananda, LakeChapala, Mexico, 1929 174 "The Last Smile": Paramahansa Yogananda, an hour before he consciously left his body, March 7, 1952, Los Angeles 185 XIV Dedicated to my earthly father, who has helped me in all my spiritual work in India and America CONSECRATION At Thy feet I come to shower All my full heart's rhyming flower: Of Thy breath bom, By Thy love grown, Through my lonely seeking found, By hands Thou gavest plucked and bound.