80. Sri Yogananda. Part2

Therese only knew ordinary German, but during the trance, she would utter phrases in ancient Aramaic, and at appropriate times she would speak in Greek or Hebrew languages

Sri Yogananda and his American companions met her and he was struck by her simplicity and holiness. She was a picture of health with rosy cheeks. She confirmed with her own lips that she does not eat or drink (except the wafer). She also told that she was a helpless onlooker as she watches the ‘Passion of Christ’ from Thursday midnight to Friday afternoon. Her wounds bleed at that time.

They were given permission to watch the saint during the trance. Just before entering the room, Yogananda put himself in communion with her brain, so that he could see what she was seeing. As he entered the chamber he was awestruck at the terrifying spectacle. Therese was lying in bed covered with white sheet. There was a continuous one inch stream of blood coming out of the lower eyelids of her eyes. Blood was also coming out of her chest wound. Cloth around her forehead was covered with blood from the stigmata of the crown of thorns.

I could see she was watching Jesus carrying the heavy timbers of the cross. At one point Jesus fell and Therese lifted her head in consternation.

Their party only stayed for few minutes, as other people were waiting in line

I have abbreviated this episode considerably. There is much more detail in the book (the autobiography of a Yogi) along with her picture with Sri Yogananda and Mr. Wright.

What was the purpose of the life of Therese Neumann? According to Sri Yogananda:

That whatever happened to Jesus Christ during ‘The Passion’ was not a fiction but a reality. Sudden appearance of stigmata, with flowing blood, proved it. Yogananda being in tune with her brain watched it himself. Her life verified and authenticated it. It reassured His followers. It also told that Jesus was still present.

Giri Bala. This woman saint from India had not eaten or taken liquids for over fifty six years. One time a Ruler investigated this fact by keeping her isolated in a room in his palace for two months. Sri Yogananda had heard of her and was keen to see her. One day he and his companions reached her in her village in their car. They met her brother on the way, and he stated that he had not seen her sister eat or drink for five decades.

They arrived at her ancestral home. A short figure appeared through the open doors. The lady was approaching seventy and was in excellent health. Her face showed benevolence, and Self-Realization. . She allowed her pictures to being taken She agreed to tell them and the swarm of villagers who had collected to see these foreign visitors and an automobile, as if they were from another planet, her life story. Yogananda was worried that she might refuse because mystics often shun publicity

She said she was twelve when she joined her husband. She had the problem of overeating. Her mother-in-law shamed her relentlessly. One day she was so distraught by the constant taunting that she said that from now onwards she was not going to eat!

She prayed to God incessantly, and begged Him to send a Guru who will teach her to live without food. She fell in a spell like state. She went to the river to take her bath. As she came out of the river, still in wet clothes, in broad daylight, her master materialized before her. He said that her prayer was heard by the God, and He was deeply touched by its extraordinary nature, and he was the Guru she had asked for. From now onwards she will get her nourishment through astral light. The Guru cast around them a protective aura so that nobody could disturb them. Then he taught her secret and sacred mantra and techniques which she had to perform daily for the rest of her life.

She never felt hungry, and had no excretions. She slept very little and meditated at night. She did her household duties during the day.  Unlike Therese Neumann she practiced a secret Yoga technique.

What was the purpose of her life? She herself answered it. That it was to prove that man was Spirit and to demonstrate that with Divine attachment he can gradually learn to live without food. This mote thinks that it was to show the majesty and glory of God. To show that He is outside the laws. He can do whatever He wants to. He can make impossible, possible. Also He sees everything and hears everything, because He saw and heard this twelve year old little girl in an anonymous village in rural India.

Yogananda asked her that why she doesn’t tell others this technique that would solve the world hunger.  She said that she was strictly prohibited to tell it to others. That would be against God’s plan.

Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar. 

This is the most amazing, unprecedented story in all of the spiritual or religious literature. I cannot say enough about its uniqueness. Nobody has come back in this world, after his death, and told some of his experiences of other world(s), in great detail, or any detail. Nobody has ever come back, except as a spirit. Period.

Readers must, by now, be familiar with Sri Yukteswar, the guru of Sri yogananda. About three months after his death, he reappeared in a Bombay hotel room where Sri Yogananda was staying. It happened in afternoon while he was sitting and meditating in bed. The whole room was transformed with light and splendor. Sri Yogananda was filled with ecstasy as he saw Sri Yukteswar. He tightly embraced his master, Sri Yukteswar

“ My son” the master said, tenderly

He told that his present flesh and blood body was an exact replica of the body buried in the sands of Puri. He was resurrected in another planet Hiranyaloka (Illumined Astral Planet ). The inhabitants of that planet were highly developed spiritually, but still they had some impurities that required further purification. Sri Yukteswar was assigned, by God, to help them in the purification process.

To be continued