Human life can be likened unto a house fitted with three windows ....of the Body, Mind
and Soul. Thru these openings come pouring forth the three kinds of divergent perfect light of God—known as Health Rays, Faculty Rays, Wisdom Rays. These triune Rays are responsible for the perfect health, mental equanimity and enlightenment of the soul of man. That is why man is spoken of as being created in the image of God. But then arises the question, if man is made after God’s likeness why does he suffer in so many ways? The answer is, man —a Divine Child— shares the independence of the Divine Being. Man essentially was made as a God—but as such ...he has the privilege and free choice of God to eclipse that image with error, or to keep it unobscured and dazzling ....with rays of health, power and peace. Man has the peculiar independence and free power to live in the house of life with its health, strength and light-giving windows ...open or closed. Thus it is that when he closes the windows of life, the Ultra Violet Conscious Cosmic Rays are shut out and he lives in the darkness of physical disease, mental disquietude or abysmal soul-ignorance.

Most people have one or more of their windows of life ...shut and jammed for years. That is why they suffer from chronic maladies. Their rescue lies in the knowledge of the law by which they may open their windows themselves and bask once more in the all-healing Conscious Cosmic Rays.

Man wants instantaneous healing by God’s power but he fails to understand that the work of healing lies within himself and that God never wanted him to be sick in the first place. God gave man the original privilege and free choice to receive Rays or shut them out. God cannot change His law arbitrarily just by the bribery of special ceremonies or blind prayer or partiality. He can be moved only by law and love. Love is law. When man closes the health-power-and-light-giving windows of life and keeps them closed indefinitely, he must himself make the effort to open those windows again to let the freely-willing-to-help, knocking-to-enter, Light in. Hence, all physical diseases, psychological inharmonies and soul maladies born of ignorance ...come from man’s own fault of shutting out the Rays of God. And the logical, lawful conclusion is, whether knowingly or unknowingly he shut the breath-giving windows of life, he must open them again by self-effort. Ignorance of law cannot be an excuse for escaping the effects of a law which is broken.

There are many ways of opening the three jammed windows of life. Those ways can be generally named as Healing. And Healing in general can be classified as Physical Healing, Psychological Healing of worries, fears, nervousness, etc., and Spiritual Healing of soul-ignorance.

There are many kinds of healing, each of which can be used in healing physical, mental or spiritual diseases.

Of the different kinds of healing by medicine, injection, affirmation, massage, nerve or vertebral adjustment, by imagination or will or faith, Vibratory Healing is of great importance.

Vibratory Healing consists in creating and sending vibrations to diseased individuals, internally by energy charged by will-power or externally by super-consciously-impregnated chants, intonations of the human voice, enlivening words, phrases and affirmations.

The methods of internal vibrations of energy can only be done by a system of spiritual exercises such as Yogoda offers. Willingness and determination keep the blood vitalized with pep and life-energy. If even the layman can keep his mental initiative, willing-to-work attitude all the time, he will find his blood charged with life-current, making it immune against the invasion of bacteria. Keeping yourself smiling from within, pulsating with joy, and in ever-readiness to act, spiritually ambitious in helping others, all these not only are good exercises for the mind but keep the body constantly supplied with Fresh Cosmic Energy descending into the body thru the door of the Medulla Oblongata. Strong Will pulls energy from the Conscious Cosmic Rays surrounding the body through the door of the Medulla Oblongata. Man shall not live by bread (food chemicals) alone but by every word (vibratory life-energy) which flows (into the body of man) thru the mouth of God (i.e. the opening of the Medulla thru which the Conscious Cosmic Life Principle enters the body of man). Hence strengthen your Will and determination in everything. Your body shall be internally vibrating with life current. A man of strong Will, by his highly vibrating mind, can shake out disease, failure and ignorance. But the Will vibration must be stronger than the vibration of physical or inner disease. The more chronic the disease is, the stronger, steadier and more unflinching should be the determination, faith and effort of the Will to get well.

In connection with singing, chanting or intoning away physical disease or worry or spiritual ignorance, one must know the law of intonation, from high to low, low to whisper, whisper to mental, sub-conscious to super-conscious ...Chanting. This is the method of converting loud meaningful words into realized experiences--assimilating the truth of a word or words by chanting loudly and mentally until they become a part of the soul’s realization.

Or one must induce the super-conscious, peaceful state first and from that stage chant mentally or whisperingly or loudly as he pleases.

But in all cases the intonations whether mental or physical (i.e. audible) must be injected with super-conscious mentality, faith and steadiness in the beginning or at the end, to be effective in accomplishing a specific healing.

Mental chanting is best for individuals, loud chanting ranging from low to high or vice versa is good in congregations.

Before chanting, the law of repetition should be understood or explained. Some western minds often fail to grasp the changing depths of conviction in Hindu chantings and see only a monotonous repetition of a word or words. Of course repetition of words without understanding their meaning with deep and deeper feelings and realization is useless. That is what the Bible meant by saying, "Take not the name of the Lord thy God in vain," that is, do not say, "O God, O God" without attention or while thinking of other things or while the mind is wandering. Long intellectual prayers full of word-jugglery may satisfy the intellectually hungry but they are only the empty noises of a victrola without the soul in them.

It is better to say just one phrase as "O Father, heal me," or "I am well for Thou art in me" extemporaneously (as it comes) repeating it vigorously from low to high or high to whisper and lastly from a whisper to mental affirmations until one feels what he is saying, i.e., repeating a phrase with varying depth of soul-feeling until one realizes the meaning of his utterance in every fiber of his being. This is At-onement with one’s own affirmations through loud and mental chanting.

And the moment the phrase reaches the super-consciousness and the inner conviction ...a volley of energy will shoot down and vibrate and heal the diseased tissues of the body, mind and soul, electrocuting physical bacteria, paralyzing mental fears and conflagrating ignorance into ashes.

In our Hindu Tantra (Hymnal) Scriptures we find the advice that all mystic incantations, seed words, have to be revivified in the soul of the chanter, vitalized and specifically intoned or changed in order to produce the desired results. Mere repetition ...without deep feeling of mantras or incantations —does not produce results.

It is a fact that if a born and universally-known coward says loudly, "On, ye brave, march on with me to glory or the grave," it would have very little effect in rousing courage in people. Healing affirmations like "The Father is in Thee, be Thou well," in order to be efficient must be uttered only by him who has felt the Father in Himself.

The police commissioner of Chicago declared recently in a bulletin that if the sounds of vehicles, etc., could be cut down, city people would live ten years longer. In other words, inharmonious noise affects the nervous system of people, weakening this medium through which vital energy is supplied to all the principal organs of the body, the circulatory system, brain, etc. With the deterioration of the nervous system, the energy and thermal supply of the blood becomes low, making it a fit home for bacteria of disease.

On the contrary, harmonious sounds, chants impregnated with Super-Conscious Soul-force, Will-Power and Faith, awaken the drooping tissues of the nervous system by rousing Vital Energy in them. Hence the external method of vibrating the voice according to the aforesaid methods can heal all inharmonious conditions of the Body, Mind and Soul. A sincere kind word, an inspired song, a soul-solacing voice of wisdom have dispelled many sorrows and inflamed into many the light of lasting joy.

"Legislation on marriage, to be effectual, must be enacted in the home, in the school, in the doctor’s consulting room. Force is helpless here; it is education that is needed, not merely instruction, but the education of the conscience and the will, and the training of the emotions."

Concentration is not a new idea even to the Western world. But our conception of the range and application of its exercise is not identical with the conceptions in the home of its birth, in India. The Oriental concept of concentration includes all that we in the West mean by it, and more.

The word con-centrate means "with" and "centre." To get at the heart of things. To reach the centre. This means Unity, Wholeness, Balance.

We all concentrate. But we do it automatically. All living things automatically concentrate. The animal gathers all his forces together in a moment of absolute stillness or silence before the attack. Until we gain the conscious command of our bodily, mental and spiritual forces we do not, and can never, have complete concentration.

What is concentration?

It is to fix the attention on one thing. This is unity of thought. When the mind is held down to one thing, it is like a spirited horse that is prancing hither and thither ...being brought to a stand-still or made to walk straight ahead. So, when the mind, jumping from thought to thought, is gathered to one point, it reflects its brilliant light on the powers within, and we begin to know ourselves.

Self-control by will-power is gained by following the teachings on concentration according to Eastern methods.

Self-development spiritually, and not psychic development, will follow. No crystal or other physical contact should be used. Results from such methods may seem great to the novice but they are misleading and dangerous. The physical contact of the fingers to the eye-balls is all right at first but must give way to non-contact later.

What is the purpose, the use, of Concentration? Concentration is a discipline, that is, drill, or training. Drill, training or exercise, is to make our body, our mind, and our soul more enduring, more pliable, adaptive and responsive. The Self of man through the developed Will-power makes or can make the body and mind obey, independent of external circumstances.

How can we apply this purpose, this aim of Concentration to ourselves and to our daily life? If one is a slave to physical comfort, let him slowly cut out all unnecessary things. For instance, if he is lazy and sleeps too long or when sleep is not needed, let him rise early. If one talks much and at every chance, let him cut out useless verbiage. If one over-eats let him slowly reduce his food. This makes Concentration do us practical good.

Concentration is absence of extremes. It is balanced Body, Mind and Soul action. Moderation in all things will increase concentrative power.

In the Upanishads we read: "The rule for achieving concentration, is investigation, restraint of breath, restraint of the senses, fixed attention, meditation, absorption. This is the six-fold Yoga."

Unless the aim be single, it cannot succeed," said Chu, the Chinese philosopher. The following story illustrates this point:

Once in ancient India a tournament was held to test marksmanship in archery. A wooden fish was set up on a high pole. The eye of the fish was the target.

One Prince of India after another came and tried his skill. None hit the mark. Before each one took his shot the teacher asked him what he saw. Invariably each one said: "I see a fish high upon the pole,with head, fins, eyes and tail."

But when Arjuna the Prince of India who is the hero of the Bhagavad Gita, came to try his skill, the teacher asked him what he saw.

As Arjuna took aim he replied "I see the eye of the fish." He it was who hit the mark.

Concentration is mind and brain control. Each of us in our own experience can recall that our minds have different states of activity.

1. The dull state.

2. The active, it may be a scattered state.

3. The calm peaceful state.

Those three states correspond to the three qualities of matter called in Sanscrit, gunas, meaning a thread. What are these three qualities of matter? They are:

1. Tamas—inertia, the brute crude state. The mind in this state is easily carried away by passion.

2. Rajas—excessive ambition, egotism, arrogance, discontent. The mind is restless. Desire leads it to increase possessions, to engage and become entangled in more and more of external action. Energies are scattered and wasted. Dissatisfaction attends ones effort.

3. Sattwa—Mind collected, serene, illumined. The state of spiritual attainment.

How does one reach the Sattwa state? Stimulate your physical and mental activities. Acquire the spiritual patience to practice the meditation lessons daily. Regulate and direct your physical forces.

The mind states corresponding to these three qualities are:

Sub-conscious is the Tamas quality, or darkness, ignorance.

Conscious is the Rajas quality, or changing and unsettled mind.

Super-conscious is the Sattwa quality, or purity.

We can bring the sub-conscious under control, by doing our exercises according to Yogoda teachings. You will, if you follow your instructions, awaken conscious will. You will then subject the sub-conscious and expand your conscious mind into the super-conscious. This is the natural result of concentration and meditation properly done.

Our greatest need is to be active spiritually. To live rightly, we must devote some time each day to making our mind introspective, under Will-Control. Living up to our ideals is the first requisite. Applying our attention to whatever we are doing is concentration in a practical sense. It is worth more than sitting in silence and not using the Will-Power.

This using the Will in daily duties, that is, fixing the attention on what we do, develops our more subtle powers of perception. In all investigation certain instruments are necessary. Finer and finer instruments of precision are being constantly invented. For spiritual observation we need a form of mind which can discern the subtle things imperceptible to our ordinary sense faculties. The concentrated mind is such an instrument and the only one fitted for this kind of higher research.

When light is diffuse we cannot see well. Focus or concentrate it and things grow distinct. So will the hidden powers of the universe be revealed to us, and a greater knowledge be ours, as we gather up our Mind Forces and unite them.

As we unfold our spiritual nature we cannot fail to help and to benefit others. There is one universal life everywhere. Only he who has realized in his life that subtle Spiritual Being, hidden in every heart, will know how to solve the riddle of life in a way to render lasting benefit to his fellow man. There is One Power, One Intelligence, One Universal Mind which we call God. Our mind is a reflex, a part of that Universal Mind. When our mind works with the law, it becomes united with the Greater Mind.

Spiritual development is indicated and measured by the intelligence with which one applies his knowledge to the accomplishment of moral purposes.

Consciousness distinguishes nothing beyond the plane of fixed attention.

Consciousness receives, it is therefore passive. Will gives, it is therefore a power.

We must live the life to know the doctrine. As the Ancient Egyptians said, "to know the Truth, be the Truth."

Pay particular attention to the Book of Discipline of the ancient school of Dzyan:

"Do not speak too plainly to beginners on the Path before their ears are trained to listen and before their eyes are trained to see. Because some hear without understanding, and each sees in his own way."

Motive is the index of the Soul’s attitude. Motives are hidden from our view. The student alone knows what his motive is. Let it be unselfish and the result to him will be good.

Speak not the mysteries to the uninitiated, not to the casual friend, nor to the new Disciple. With prudence keep locked within your breast the teachings received ...until you find a listener who will understand your words and sympathize with your aspirations. Failure will result if you give out Eastern Teachings to those who have not practiced the Eastern Discipline.

Those who take up the Eastern method of spiritual development are expected to live up to their ideals; to eat to live ...and not live to eat. When under special training for certain attainments they are to be strict as to eating, drinking, recreation and association, and to be free from selfish and unworthy motives.

Spiritual life comes from within. To achieve this, the correct attitude of mind, in which the teachings are treasured and practiced, will develop the power of intuition.

Here are the Golden Precepts: "A clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for one’s co-disciple, loyalty to the Truth and to your Teacher."

"For peace is not the absence of war.

It is the virtue that is born

From the vigor of the soul."

—Romain Rolland.

"Both you and I have passed through many births; You know them not, I know them all."—Bhagavad Gita.

Of the many riddles that have perplexed the intellect of man in all climes and times, the most intricate is himself. Of the myriad mysteries that have called forth his energies to struggle for solution, from the very dawn of history, the most mysterious is his own nature. It is at once the most insoluble enigma and the problem of all problems. As the starting-point and the repository of all we know and feel and do, there never has been, nor will be, a time when man’s own nature will cease to demand his best and foremost attention.

Though thru hunger after that truth, which of all others has the most intimate connection with his very existence; though through an all-absorbing desire for an inward standard by which to measure the outward universe; though through the absolute and inherent necessity of finding a fixed point in a universe of change, man has sometimes clutched at handfuls of dust for gold, and even when urged by a voice higher than reason or intellect he has many times failed rightly to interpret the real meaning of the divinity within—still, there never was a time since the search began when some race, or some individuals, did not hold aloft the lamp of truth.

Taking a one-sided cursory and prejudiced view of the surroundings and the unessential details, sometimes disgusted also with the vagueness of many schools and sects, and often, alas! driven to the opposite extreme by the violent superstitions of organized priestcraft—men have not been wanting, especially among advanced intellects, in either ancient or modern times, who not only gave up the search in despair, but declared it fruitless and useless. Philosophers might fret and sneer, and priests ply their trade even at the point of the sword; but Truth comes to those alone who worship at Her shrine for Her sake only, without fear and without shop-keeping.

Light comes to individuals through the conscious efforts of their intellect; it comes slowly, though, to the whole race, through unconscious percolations. The philosophers show the volitional struggles of great minds: history reveals the silent process of permeation through which Truth is absorbed by the masses.

Of all the theories that have been held by man about himself, that of a Soul-Entity separate from the body and Immortal ...has been the most widespread; and among those that held the belief in such a Soul, the majority of the thoughtful have always believed also in Its pre-existence.

At present the greater portion of the human race having organized religion ...believe in the idea of pre-existence of the Soul; and many of the best thinkers in the most favoured lands, though nurtured in religions avowedly hostile to every idea of pre-existence of the Soul, have endorsed it. Hinduism and Buddhism have it for their foundation: the educated classes among the ancient Egyptians believed in it; and ancient Persians arrived at it; the Greek philosophers made it the cornerstone of their philosophy; the Pharisis among the Hebrews accepted it, and the Sufis among the Mohamedans almost universally acknowledged its truth.

There must be peculiar surroundings which generate and foster certain forms of belief among nations. It required ages for the ancient races to arrive at any idea about a part even of the body surviving after death; it took ages more to come to any rational idea about this something which persists and lives apart from the body. It was only when the idea was reached of an entity whose connection with the body was only for a time, and among those nations only who arrived at such a conclusion that the unavoidable question arose: Whither? Whence?

The ancient Hebrews never disturbed their equanimity by questioning themselves about the Soul. With them death ended all. Karl Haeckel justly says: "Though it is true that in the Old Testament, preceding the exile, the Hebrews distinguish a life principle, different from the body, which is sometimes called ‘Nephesh’, or ‘Ruakh’, or ‘Neshama’, yet all these words correspond rather to the idea of breath than to that of Spirit or Soul. Also in the writings of the Palestinian Jews, after the exile, there is never made mention of an individual Immortal Soul, but always only of a life breath emanating from God, which after the body is dissolved, is re-absorbed into the Divine ‘Ruakh’."

The ancient Egyptians and the Chaldeans had peculiar beliefs of their own about the Soul, but their ideas about this living part after death must not be confused with those of the ancient Hindu, the Persian, the Greek, or any other Aryan race. There was from the earliest times a broad distinction between the "Aryas" and the (non-Sanskrit speaking) "Mlechhas" in the conception of the Soul. Externally it was typified by their disposal of the dead—the "Mlechhas" mostly trying their best to preserve the dead bodies, either by careful burial or by the more elaborate processes of mummifying, and the Aryas generally burning their dead.

Herein lies the key to a great secret—the fact that no Mlechha race, whether Egyptian, Assyrian, or Babylonian, ever attained to the idea of the Soul as a separate entity which can live independent of the body, without the help of the Aryas, especially of the Hindus.

Although Herodotus states that the Egyptians were the first to conceive the idea of the Immortality of the Soul and states as a doctrine of the Egyptians "that the Soul, after the dissolution of the body, enters again and again into a creature that comes to life: then the Soul wanders through all the animals of the land and the sea and through all the birds, and finally after three thousand years returns to a human body;" yet modern researches into Egyptology have as yet found no trace of metempsychosis in the popular Egyptian religion. On the other hand, the most recent researches of Maspero, A. Erman, and other eminent Egyptologists tend to confirm the supposition that the doctrine of palingenesis was not at home with the Egyptians.

With the ancient Egyptians the Soul was only a double, having no individuality of its own, and never able to break its connection with the body. It persists only so long as the body lasts, and if by chance the corpse is destroyed, the departed soul must suffer a second death and annihilation. The soul after death was allowed to roam freely all over the world, but always returning to where the corpse was at night, always miserable, always hungry, and thirsty, always extremely desirous to enjoy life once more, and never being able to fulfill it. If any part of his old body was injured, the soul was always injured in those parts, and this idea explains the solicitude of the ancient Egyptians to preserve their dead. At first the deserts were chosen as the burial-place, where the dryness of the air did not allow the body to perish soon, thus granting to the departed soul a long lease of existence.

In course of time one of the gods discovered the process of making mummies, through which the devout hoped to preserve the dead bodies of their ancestors almost an infinite length of time, thus securing the departed ghost immortality, however miserable it might be.

The perpetual regret for the world in which the soul can take no further interest, never ceased to torture the deceased. "Oh, my brother," exclaims the departed, "withhold not thyself from drinking and eating, from drunkenness, from love, from all enjoyments, from following thy desire by night and by day; put not sorrow within thy heart, for what are the years of man upon earth? The West is a land of sleep and of heavy shadows, a place wherein the inhabitants, when once installed, slumber on in their mummy forms, never more waking to see their brethren; never more to recognize their fathers and mothers; with hearts forgetful of their wives and children. The living water, which earth giveth to all who dwell upon it, is for me stagnant and dead; that water floweth to all who are on earth, while for me it is but liquid putrefaction, this water that is mine. Since I came into this funeral alley I know not where nor what I am. Give me to drink of running water . . . let me be placed by the edge of the water with my face to the North, that the breeze may caress me and my heart be refreshed from its sorrows."

Among the Chaldeans also, although they did not speculate so much as the Egyptians as to the condition of the soul after death, the soul is still a double and is bound to its sepulchre. They also could not conceive of a state without this physical body and expected a resurrection of the corpse again to life; and though the goddess Ishtar, after great perils and adventures, procured the resurrection of her shepherd husband, Dumuzi, the son of Ea and Damkina, "the most pious votaries pleaded in vain from temple to temple for the resurrection of their dead friends."

Thus we find that the ancient Egyptians or Chaldeans never could entirely dissociate the idea of the soul from the corpse of the departed or the sepulchre. The state of earthly existence was best after all, and the departed are always longing to have a chance once more to renew it and the living are fervently hoping to help them in prolonging the existence of the miserable double, and striving the best they can to help them.

This is not the soil out of which any higher knowledge of the Soul could spring. In the first place, it is grossly materialistic, and even then it is one of terror and agony. Frightened with almost innumerable powers of evil, and with hopeless agonized efforts to avoid them, the souls of the living, like their ideas of the souls of the departed—though they might wander all over the world —could never get beyond the sepulchre and the crumbling corpse.

We must turn now for the source of the higher ideas of the Soul to another race—whose God was an all-merciful, all-pervading Being, manifesting Himself through various bright, benign, and helpful Devas: the first of all the human race who addressed their God as Father. "Oh, take me by the hands even as a father takes his dear son," with whom life was a hope and not a despair; whose religion was not the intermittent groans escaping the lips of an agonized man during the intervals of a life of mad excitement; whose ideas come to us redolent with the aroma of the field and forest; whose songs of praise, spontaneous, free, joyful, like the songs which burst forth from the throats of the birds when they hail this beautiful world illuminated by the first rays of the Lord of the Day, come down to us through the vista of eighty centuries even now as fresh calls from heaven—we turn to the ancient Aryas.

"Place me in that deathless, undecaying world, where is the light of heaven, and everlasting lustre shines." "Make me Immortal in that realm where dwells the King Vivasvan’s son, where is the secret shrine of heaven." "Make me Immortal in that realm where they move even as they list." "In the Third Sphere of inmost heaven, where worlds are full of light, make me Immortal in that Realm of Bliss." These are the prayers of the Aryans in their oldest record—the Rigvedasamhita.

We find at once a whole world of difference between the Mlechha and the Arya ideals. To the one ...this body and this world are all that are real, and all that are desirable. A little life fluid which flies off from the body at death to feel torture and agony at the loss of the enjoyments of the senses can, they fondly hope, be brought back if the body is carefully preserved; and a corpse became more an object of care than the living man. The other found out that that which left the body was the real man, and when separated from the body it enjoyed a state of bliss higher than it ever enjoyed when in the body. And they hastened to annihilate the corrupted corpse by burning it.

Here we find the germ out of which a true idea of the Soul could come. Here it was—where the real man was not the body, but the Soul; where all ideas of an inseparable connection between the real man and the body were utterly absent—that a noble idea of the freedom of the Soul could rise. And it was when the Aryas penetrated even beyond the shining cloth of the body with which the departed soul was enveloped, and found its real nature of a formless individual unit principle that the question inevitably arose: Whence?

It was in India and among the Aryas that the doctrine of the Pre-Existence, the Immortality, and the Individuality of the Soul ...first arose. Recent researches in Egypt have failed to show any trace of the doctrines of an independent and individual Soul existing before and after the earthly phase of existence. Some of the Mysteries were no doubt in possession of this idea, but in those it has been traced to India.

"I am convinced," says Karl Haeckel, "that the deeper we enter into the study of the Egyptian religion, the clearer it is shown that the doctrine of metempsychosis was entirely foreign to the popular Egyptian religion; and that even that which single Mysteries possessed of it was not inherent to the Osiris teachings, but derived from Hindu sources."

Later on we find the Alexandrian Jews imbued with the doctrine of an Individual Soul, and the Pharisis of the time of Jesus, as already stated, not only had faith in an Individual Soul, but believed in its wanderings through various bodies; and thus it is easy to find how Christ was recognized as the incarnation of an older prophet and Jesus himself directly asserted that John the Baptist was the prophet Elias come back again. "If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come."—Matt. xi, 14.

The idea of a Soul and of its Individuality among the Hebrews evidently came through the higher mystical teachings of the Egyptians, who in their turn derived it from India. And that it should come through Alexandria is significant, as the Buddhistic records clearly show Buddhist missionary activity in Alexandria and Asia Minor.

Pythagoras is said to have been the first Greek who taught the doctrine of palingenesis among the Hellenes. As an Aryan race, already burning their dead and believing in the doctrine of an Individual Soul, it was easy for the Greeks to accept the doctrine of reincarnation, through the Pythagorean teachings. According to Apuleius, Pythagoras had come to India, where he had been instructed by the Brahmins.

So far we have learned that wherever the Soul was held to be an individual, the real man, and not a vivifying part of the body only, the doctrine of its pre-existence had inevitably come, and that externally those nations that believed in the independent individuality of the Soul had almost always signified it by burning the bodies of the departed; though one of the ancient Aryan races, the Persian, developed a peculiar method of disposing of the bodies of the dead at an early period, and without any Semitic influence; the very name by which they call their "towers of silence" comes form the root Dah—to burn.

In short, the races who did not pay much attention to the analysis of their own nature never went beyond the material body as their all in all and even when driven by higher light to penetrate beyond, they only came to the conclusion that somehow or other, at some distant period of time, this body will become incorruptible.

On the other hand, that race which spent the best part of its energies in the inquiry into the nature of man as a thinking being—the Indo-Aryan—soon found out that beyond this body, beyond even the shining body which their forefathers longed after, is the real man, the principle, the individual who clothes himself with this body, and then throws it off when torn. Was such a principle created? If creation means something coming out of nothing, their answer is a decisive "No." This Soul is without birth and without death; it is not a compound or combination but an independent individual, and as such it cannot be created or destroyed. It is only traveling through various states.

Naturally, the question arises: Where was it all this time? The Hindu philosophers say: "It was passing through different bodies in the physical sense, or, really and metaphysically speaking, passing through different mental planes."

Are there any proofs apart from the teachings of the Vedas upon which the doctrine of reincarnation has been founded by the Hindu philosophers? There are; and we hope to show later on, as valid grounds as for any other universally accepted doctrine. But first, we will see what some of the greatest of modern European thinkers have thought about reincarnation.

I. H. Fichte, speaking about the Immortality of the Soul, says—

"It is true there is one analogy in Nature which might be brought forth in refutation of the continuance. It is the well-known argument that everything that has a beginning in time must also perish at some period of time; hence that the claimed past existence of the Soul necessarily implies its pre-existence. This is a fair conclusion, but instead of being an objection to, it is rather an additional argument for its continuance. Indeed one needs only to understand the full meaning of the metaphysico-physiological axiom, that in reality nothing can be created or annihilated, to recognize that the Soul must have existed prior to its becoming visible in a physical body."

(This article will be concluded in the next issue.)

*Metaphysical Magazine, 1895.

There is no doubt that Science yearns to arrive at the final reason of all things. After having examined phenomena, it seeks to explain their reason.

It is my modest opinion that Science will never arrive at explaining the wherefore of phenomena, which will always remain a zone of mystery, a closed wall.

Upon this closed wall the human spirit must write the one word "God."

Therefore, to my belief, there is no question of any conflict between Science and Faith. These matters belong to the polemics of twenty or thirty years ago, but I think that we of this generation have gone beyond this point. Science has its own field; that of experience; Religion has another field, that of Spirit.

It has been said: What is the use of all the Philosophy of this world if it cannot teach us to bear a trouble with equanimity? There is an intermediate zone set apart for meditation on, rather than for examination of, the supreme ends of existence.

Philosophy alone can illumine Science and bring it within the realm of the Universal Idea.

—From a public speech, February, 1927.

Beneath the ocean vast of intuition,

Deeply cast yourself.

You touch the Cause Supreme,

Spread with pearly wisdom’s beam;

And watch

Tumultuous difference and want ...retreat,

When your soul the Supreme Soul would meet.

Armoured by Will of Steel.

Untouched by lamentation, worry sharks;

Moving in deep wisdom’s light,

Your darkness disappears.

Soul solace will appear.

With heart made pure and clear,

You will see Him everywhere,

One, one Living Sea, eternal, near.

The storm of breath

Has roused the waves in stealth,

Over thy mental sea.

Speak thy Command,

"My storm be calm,

All, all waves to melt in One-Soul-Sea."

I said,

"It was but in a dream

That I found myself

Soaring through clouds of life and death.

I am awake.

For me there is neither birth nor death,

The form of the dream-vase will go.

Its too-little-living-space within

Vanished into the Greater Space."

Miss Lillian Guenther executed a dance to the music of "Ave Maria" in a Los Angeles church recently.

Though sacred dancing is somewhat new in modern orthodox Christian churches, it nevertheless can be a beautiful means of expression of the divine rhythm and harmony of creation.

What sound is this—

At dead of night

That wakes me from deep slumber?

Is it a cannon’s distant roar

Or wild waves dashing ‘gainst some shore?

What tumult this

Within my brain—

Awakened by this grand refrain?

What sound so wild—

And yet so sweet?

I ne’er have heard its like before.

Oh! ’tis no distant sound I hear,

Yogoda’s touched my finer ear;

And bids me wake and rise

To hear the strain of Life’s tide

Rushing thru my veins!

With hands elate,

My heart was lifted up in prayer

To the Great Spirit,

That I might receive

The Blessing of my Master,

Garnered in the treasurehouse

Of Cosmic Love.

The Master’s ringing call

Was in my own:

"Come, Spirit, come!

Give me the bounty

Of the Master’s Love!

Pour into my being

His overflowing Bliss!

Tune me, O God!

To receive His Mighty Prayer!

Come, Father, come!"

* * *

Then, like a stream of molten gold,

There flowed to me such treasure,

As ne’re in fabled tales was told

Of riches without measure.

The burden was so exquisite

The body trembled to sustain It,

And heart and soul surged after It,

In eager striving to attain It.

And still It flowed,

Until at last my heart o’erflowed

With gratitude to God,

And to His Servant Blest,

Who sent me this Beatitude.

Clara Clemens (Mme. Ossip Gabrilowitsch) has been playing the title role in a dramatized version of "Joan of Arc" by her father, Mark Twain, in New York City and other cities. Mme. Clemens’ book, "Why Be Nervous?" has just been published.

Huston Ray, the "Music Healer," gave a piano recital and musical-scientific demonstration of Sound-Wave Therapy at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 27th.

George Liebling, pianist-composer, was heard at Aeolian Hall in New York City on April 8th, when he accompanied Gladys St. John and John Uppman who sang five of Mr. Liebling’s own compositions before an enthralled audience. Mr. Liebling is at present visiting Minneapolis as a guest teacher for the MacPhail School of Music.

Dr. Frederick B. Robinson, who recently wrote a preface for Swami Yogananda’s "Songs of the Soul," has recently been appointed to the Presidency of the College of the City of New York.

Ayenara Alexeyewa and Holger Alexeyev-Mehner have been presenting their original Russian Ballets with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company throughout its winter season.

Some of the Ballet offerings which these two artists and their company have presented in the Opera Houses of Europe, South America and America are "The Red Terror," a symbolic theme of Russia dealing with the three great phases, of which the last is the coming of the Redeemer; "The Black Swan and the Lily," an exquisite conception with spiritual appeal, the music of which is composed by Vladimir Butzow, a new Russian composer of genius; "Rama and Sita," a legend of India, founded on a theme of loving sacrifice and honor dearer than life: Oscar Wilde’s "the Nightingale and the Rose," and ballets based on Aztec legends of Mexico.

Emanuel de Marnay Baruch, M.D., Ph.D., who was recently invited to lecture before the Universities of Vienna and Tuebingen, gave an interesting talk on "Christ and the League of Nations" at Manhattan church in New York, on April 24th.

Vladimir Rosing, Russian tenor and Director of the Rochester American Opera Company, which is sponsored by Mr. George Eastman, brought his company to New York City and gave several operatic performances at the Guild Theatre during the week of April 3rd. The New York critics and public alike received these offerings with enthusiastic appreciation.

John D. Larkin, Jr., president of the Larkin Co., Inc., of Buffalo, one of the largest Mail Order Houses in America, has been a Yogoda Correspondence Course student for about two years. He praises the technique of Yogoda in the following words:

"I have found that Yogoda, as taught by Swami Yogananda, is a remarkable system of exercises. Fundamentally these teachings give to men and women a new realization of their being. After nearly two years of practicing these exercises based on Nature’s principles, I have found them to be of inestimable practical value in creating and preserving physical vitality and nerve force. Yogoda teaches how to control every muscle of the body and how to command all our energy. It develops balance and makes of one a powerful instrument for action. The daily practice of these exercises fosters health, promotes poise and concentration, develops the attributes of Will and self-control, unmistakably leading those who practice faithfully to an increasingly harmonious expression of their own powers."

Douglas Grant Duff Ainslie of the Athenaeum, London, noted lecturer and author, was a delegate to the recent International Congress of Philosophy which met at Harvard University. Mr. Ainslie has written a very fine Preface to Swami Yogananda’s "Science of Religion," which will be published in the next edition of that work.

Louise Crow, noted portrait and landscape artist who has exhibited at the Salon in Paris and other European art centers, recently put her portrait of Swami Yogananda on exhibition at the Independent Artists and Sculptors Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Of this portrait, the art critic of the Washington Post said, "The robe is singing in its rich color. . . The figure is undoubtedly effective by reason of the strong contrast of the brilliant robe and the dark flowing hair." Miss Crow’s works were on exhibition at the Ainslie Gallery in New York City in February.

Louis E. Van Norman, traveler, author, editor, Commercial Attache of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce, writes of Yogoda as follows: "The Yogoda lectures and class-work have been of benefit to my wife and myself beyond my power to express. We did not seek Yogoda because of a desire for physical healing. Thank God, we are both well, normally healthy. However, nerves, worry, and the uncertainties of modern American life, as well as a hunger for spiritual understanding which could square our traditional Christian faith with the hard realities of practical life, urged us to seek the teachings of Swami Yogananda. We know, as the poet says, ‘The world is too much with us.’ Listening to the sweet, noble, and practical philosophy of Yogoda’s art of living has given us peace and comfort. We are determined, insofar as it lies within our ability, to practice the Yogoda exercises faithfully."

Ayenara Alexeyewa and Holger Alexeyev-Mehner, who have been presenting their original Russian Ballets with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company during its winter season, are devoted Yogoda students. They write: "Yogoda has been to us a fountain of life in the desert of modern materialistic civilization."

George Liebling, pianist-composer, member of the celebrated Liebling family, and the youngest pupil of Liszt, has appeared in piano recitals before Queen Victoria and other crowned heads of Europe, and is honored as a master pianist and composer in London, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, and in Italy, as well as in America. Mr. Liebling tells of his experiences with Yogoda in the following words:

"Yogoda has developed in me the higher understanding of life and creation. It has quickened all my senses so that I am able to feel, to aurealize, to visualize and accordingly to enjoy the results of my successes and of my ambitions, quicker than I ever thought of before. I feel stronger in health and activity, in energy, determination, concentration and faith. And I feel deepest veneration, admiration and gratitude to Swami Yogananda for all he has done for me."

The following two songs have recently been written for Yogoda students, and may be used at Yogoda meetings at the local Center.

Yogoda! Yogoda!

Thou art my joy, my stay;

Thou cheerest me, thou leadest me

Thru every joyous day!

I’ll ever loyal be

I’ll follow thy pure light,

In every hour of doubt

Its thou dost guide aright!

Yogoda! Yogoda!

Thou calmest all my fears;

Thou soothest all my sorrows,

Thou driest all my tears.

Thou’st led me up to heights

From whence I’ll no more roam;

Thou’st led me to my Father’s House

Thou’st brought me—Home!

Onward Students onward!

Help the message send.

And with mighty power

Error’s shackles rend.

To be true and loyal

To the teachings old,

Brings God’s erring children

Back into the fold!

Onward upward students!

Victory we’ll win,

In Om’s Great Vibration

We will there know Him.

Like the mighty Ganges

Flowing to the Bay.

We as God’s own children

Seek the Cosmic Ray.

We are all together

In our great desire,

Knowing Thee our Father

To this we aspire.

From the Sages ever

Came this mighty Truth,

Let our lives and actions

Be the constant proof—

That we too are ransomed

From this mortal life,

And thru countless ages

Ever free from strife.

Onward, upward ever!

Is our motto here;

Bliss will reign within us,

Om is very near.

Send the message forward

At the break of day,

Better, safer, quicker,

Is Yogoda’s way.

When curry powder (Major Gray’s) is mixed with either egg, or vegetables, etc., it is called egg curry or vegetable curry. The curry powder is a mixture of turmeric and a few other spices.

Do not eat curry every day as it causes thirst and too must love of taste. But once in a while it is good to use, as it stimulates the generation of saliva and the flow of the digestive juices.

Take a teaspoonful of curry powder and mix it well in a tablespoonful of water. Then fry it in one tablespoonful of hot melted butter for a few minutes until it becomes a little brown and the water almost evaporates. Now mix this well by stirring it in a glass of hot water. Boil the curried water for ten minutes. Add two tablespoonfuls of raw whole wheat flour gravy and boil for four or five minutes. Half a tablespoonful of melted butter and a quarter teaspoonful of salt. Then pour this on the boiled sliced eggs or boiled or fried vegetables and then heat curry and eggs or vegetables on the fire for five minutes.

Eat more ground-up raw vegetables, finely ground-up nuts (pecans, almonds, pistachios) and lots of fruits. The best meat substitute is ground nuts.

Include sunshine and oxygen in your menu.

When you are tired, it is not only food or sleep or rest which can revive your energy. The internal way of dispelling fatigue is to vibrate your body by your Will Power. You will also be surprised to find that if you run for ten minutes, or bask for half an hour in the sunshine, your fatigue will be removed.

Read the "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. A few lines daily from the Bhagavad Gita by Sir Edwin Arnold called "Song Celestial." Read from Shakespeare one page daily. Read a history of philosophy. Read the Christian Bible, ten lines each day from St. John. Read the poems of Walt Whitman and of Emerson. Read Tagore’s "Gitanjali" and Francis Thompson’s "Hound of Heaven."

Intellectuality is improved by introspecting and mentally assimilating the subjects that you study. Always first understand what you read and then assimilate what you feel is right and reject what you feel to be incompatible with your reason. But do not pass hasty judgments. You must aim to know everything of some definite study and something of everything.

Most people fail and are not prosperous because they have hypnotized themselves with the consciousness of their failures and they do not make repeated steady efforts to succeed. Along with repeated efforts about anything, creative effort should be attached. That is, energy and effort should not be wasted on a wrong venture but on the right business suited to you, and found out or created by your thinking penetrating self. The world is full of imitators and there are few creative workers. The one who creates does not wait for opportunity, blaming the fates, circumstances and the gods. He seizes opportunities or creates them with the magic wand of his Will, Effort and Searching Discrimination.

In the study of spiritual books, be warned against the self-sufficiency of the intellect. Although you may hear or read the words, "Cosmic Consciousness" many times, that does not mean that you know about it. The best way to understand scriptures is to read and study, and not read ...only satisfying the intellect, and pass on. Intellectual study of the scriptures without corresponding realization produces vanity, and false conviction that one knows, and is detrimental to realization, but intellectual study of the scriptures with the sole desire to learn, know and feel, does lead to realization.

Before studying scriptures, calm and steady yourself, then take two or three lines and meditate several minutes on them. Then when the meaning becomes one with yourself, close the book and go about your business. Do not hurriedly go through any book of deep spiritual nature. For if you study such a book only intellectually, you will be falsely satisfied and will not want to realize the truth in it because you became apparently satisfied by intellectually knowing it. The way of studying scriptures by realization will awaken new inspiration in you. You have listened about spiritual recipes long enough. That will not satisfy you. You must try to digest them yourself. One hour of regular meditation is more than one month of theoretical study of scriptures. In meditation direct knowledge is received.

"Persons on different planes of consciousness have defined the word mysticism in various ways but true mysticism cannot be misinterpreted by those to whom the glorious things of the Spirit are revealed as experience and not as doctrines to be theorized upon. True Mysticism, which is also True Religion and which magnifies and sublimates man’s highest faculties and attributes, is rare among men but its existence is undeniable and its effects unmistakable. This Realization of the Divine, which exists potentially in each and every one of us, which causes Saints and Sages to forget or ignore personality and to practically lose themselves in the infinitude of life’s Bliss, Wisdom and Power, cannot be expressed in words. Mystics have sought in vain for language to express this Transcendent State of Consciousness and they have always failed. However one might say that in this failure lies their success, establishing the proof of the existence of the light ineffable. If such deep, sublime truth could be expressed in relative language it would be limited and not that blessed Absolute which is beyond definition.

The symbol signifies the single spiritual eye of meditation, the pranic star door through which we must enter to find Cosmic Consciousness, taught by the Yogoda method of meditation. "Therefore when thine eye be single, thy body shall be full of light. . . . Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness."—Luke II:34-35.

"Yogoda" means the system which teaches one to harmonize all the forces and faculties that operate for the perfection of body, mind and soul. "Sat-Sanga" means "fellowship with truth."

The first school to teach the methods of Yogoda was founded by Swami Yogananda in 1917 at Ranchi, India. Later, two more schools were established at Puri and Bankura, Bengal, India. The Ranchi School has as its patron the Maharajah of Kasimbazar, Sir Manindra Chandra Nundy, Member of the Imperial Council, Government of India, and one of the wealthiest and most progressive princes of India. In 1920, Swami Yogananda, founder of the Yogoda system, came to America as the delegate from India to the International Congress of Religions in Boston. Since that time, he has established Yogoda and Sat-Sanga Centers in many American cities, with national Headquarters at the Mount Washington Educational Center, Los Angeles, California.

Every morning at seven o’clock Swami Yogananda sends a Divine Healing Prayer Vibration to his students and all who ask his help in healing and liberating themselves from physical or mental disease or the spiritual suffering of ignorance. Anyone who wishes to avail himself of this help, which the Swami is happy to extend to all, may write to the Los Angeles headquarters, briefly stating the nature of his or her trouble.

We hope that every Yogoda student will see his way clear to donate a regular monthly sum to the upkeep of the Mount Washington Educational Center, so that its energies may be free to devote to educational activities of a world-wide nature. We want to feel that every Yogoda student is taking an active interest in our work, and is willing to do his share in maintaining it and helping to spread its message of peace and a fuller understanding of life. Checks should be made out to The Mount Washington Educational Center, 3880 San Rafael Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.

We welcome gifts of books for our fast-growing circulating library, or odd and interesting gifts for our Museum, in Los Angeles.

Swami Yogananda wants to recruit a Spiritual Army. Yogoda needs real workers, robust in body and mind, of calm disposition, mental shock-absorbers who will allow nothing to upset or anger them, who will join us for life, or who can receive at least one year’s training to be teachers, according to the rules of the institution. Make your application now, telling your occupation, education, age, marital status, also financial condition (if you wish to give this information). Please send a recent photograph of yourself. The Yogoda Teachers Training School has not yet been opened, and no residential students are accepted at present. But plans are going forward all the time to start this work at the earliest possible moment. Watch EAST-WEST for news of all plans and developments.

Washington Post for January 9, 1927: "The Yogoda message is non-sectarian, humanitarian, and capable of fusing together in unity the different religious factions, though not in any way causing them to lose their individuality."

Mlle. Julliette Villiere, noted French lawyer, chose "Mahatma Gandhi’s Trial" as the subject of her oration at the formal opening of the Court Season in Paris last December. The meeting was attended by the leading members of the French legal profession and many other notibales, including ex-president Poincare. Mlle. Villiere held her audience fascinated while she described sympathetically the great non-violent movement of Gandhi.

Princess Fethie, a leader among the new women of Turkey, is a granddaughter of the late Sultan Abdul Hamid. She is not only an advocate of more freedom for Turkish women, but is actively engaged in business at Athens.

Sushuma Tagore, niece of the famous Hindu poet, Rabindranath Tagore, is at present travelling in America to study conditions here. She recently attended the 15th annual convention of the Hindustan Association of America in Pittsburgh.

On Easter Day, we had a beautiful Sunrise Service which was attended by about three hundred people. The weather was perfect, and the solar god of day was greeted at this service by music from the flute and organ and by vocal offerings. Swami Dhirananda spoke on the significance of Easter, and said, in effect, that the Resurrection and Ascension should be considered not only as historical events but also as spiritual experiences belonging to every child of the Most High.

After the service, a delightful breakfast was served at the Center. A feature of the Easter Day ceremonies was the dedication of the Meditation Room at the Center, to which devotees may repair at any time to seek the sweet silence of the soul.

February 12th was set apart at the Center as "Gardening Day." An appeal was made for donations of various kinds of seeds, bulbs, plants, shrubs, trees, etc.

A May-Day dinner was given at the Los Angeles Center which, like all previous dinners given at the Yogoda Headquarters, proved to be a most enjoyable occasion of Sat-Sanga good fellowship. Yogoda students believe that God made them to be glad and they try to carry out His will. "Joy is the grace we say to God."

The non-sectarian Sunday School continues its constructive weekly meetings. The service opens with prayer affirmations. Then the children practice the Yogoda physical and concentration exercises. They learn to feel the Divine Energy thru the whole body and thru the separate parts. The smaller children then retire to the East Sun Porch to a Primary Class. The life and teachings of Christ are taught them and they are given an understanding of the Divine Life in nature and animal life as well as in man.

Lessons to the older children, in March, dealt with the faculties of Sensation, Perception, Ideation, Feeling, Volition and Intuition. Questions are encouraged and fully answered, and many illustrations given, that the children may comprehend these subjects and their practical application. The services close with meditation and prayer.

The Hospital Committee reports wonderful progress. Seventy patients were visited during the week of February 20th. Seven patients whom the doctors had said would never leave their beds, were able to leave the hospital and to be about.

The Publicity Committee reports great activity. Thirteen hundred circulars to new names, and eight hundred to old students, were mailed out in connection with a violin recital at the Yogoda Headquarters.

The Mt. Washington Helpers Association reports the following accomplishments as a result of their activities since January 1, l927:

1. Payment of the Street Bond Assessment amounting to over $500.00.

2. Purchase of complete table service, consisting of dishes, silverware and glassware to serve 125 persons.

3. Repair of storm drain, purchase of pipe, cement and other material. Mr. Hirtado donated his labor.

4. Remodelling of the upstairs porch at the Center into a Meditation Room. Payment for materials and assistant labor. Mr. Bradley donated his services.

5. Purchase of a hotel range adequately fitted to prepare the monthly Hindu dinners that are growing in popularity.

6. In addition, the Association has paid all of the expenses connected with the various entertainments given under its auspices at the Yogoda Headquarters.

This Association invites the cooperation and membership of all those interested in the growth and development of the Yogoda Headquarters at Mt. Washington in a practical and material way. The dues are nominal—25c a month.

On February 4th, the Mount Washington Educational Center issued a leaflet giving a summary of its Yogoda and Sat-Sanga activities and services in Los Angeles since the founding and opening of the Institution by Swami Yogananda in October 1925, to December 31, 1926. The report reads as follows:

Total attendance in lectures,weekly classes, special classes conducted at Mount Washington Education Center 20,000.

Total Sunday School attendance: 4,500. Children 1,500; Adults 3,000

Personal interviews to Yogoda students and non-students, helping them with advice and prayer concerning personal problems: 2,500

Prayers, help and written instructions on physical, domestic, moral and spiritual problems given students and non-students (by mail): 4,000

Inquiries received and answered relating to Yogoda Correspondence Course: 4,000

Calls made upon sick people in Los Angeles hospitals and homes: 500

Also lectures given before well-known clubs, churches, civic organizations and on the radio. Numerous plays, musical recitals, holiday parties and other entertainments were also given.

The Mount Washington Educational Center recently offered an exceptionally fine devotional Hindu play to the Los Angeles public. This was "The Illumination of Buddha," in which "not action, but an atmosphere; not the life of Buddha, but his message," was sought to be presented. The play was adapted from Sir Edwin Arnold’s "Light of Asia," and received many congratulations on its literary and artistic success in the dramatization of this famous poem.

The music for the play was an original score composed for the occasion. It was oriental in style and received much favorable comment. The stage scenery was also original and very effective. It was designed, constructed and hand-painted by members. The stage costumes were designed and made at the Yogoda Center by its Sewing Committee. These costumes were artistic triumphs and added much to the beauty of the play. The dancing numbers were performed by the pupils of the Marshall Hall Studio of Dance craft. The Housekeeping Department of the Center, rendered much self-sacrificing service during the preparations for the play. All the Center members sold tickets and cooperated in every way to make this fine play a success.

The play was presented on the evenings of March 18th and 19th to audiences of several hundred people. Swami Dhirananda took the leading role of Gautama, afterwards Buddha, the Enlightened One. The Swami also trained all the other members of the cast in their parts and the result was a truly beautiful, inspiring and ennobling performance whose spiritual influence was felt by every member of the audience. At the end of the performance, Swami Dhirananda was presented with an Eastman Kodak and floral tributes from his students.

Our last issue of EAST-WEST gave most of the details of Swami Yogananda’s series of lectures at the Washington Auditorium in Washington, D.C. This beautiful hall seats 7000 people and on several occasions the hall was full and overflowing. According to the general manager of the Auditorium, all records for attendance were broken by the crowds that came to hear the Swami nightly at the Auditorium.

The Washington clubs which were addressed by the Swami included the Lions Club, the Men’s City Club, the Women’s National Press Club, the Y’s Club, the Soroptomist Club, the Quota Club, the Susan B. Anthony Foundation, the Chapel Service of the George Washington University, and the student body of the American University and of the Dunbar High School.

Swami Yogananda was officially presented to President Calvin Coolidge by the Hon. J. Balfour, Second Secretary of the British Embassy, on January 24th. The President was very cordial. Following this presentation, the Swami was entertained at luncheon at the British Embassy.

Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci, one of the national sponsors of Yogoda, completed her winter season with the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York in February and began a concert tour of the southern and mid-western states. Her Washington, D.C. concert took place on February 9th and Swami Yogananda was her personal guest on that evening. The accompanying picture was taken on that occasion.

The Swami was also the guest of Mme. Galli-Curci in January at the Metropolitan in New York, when accompanied by Sushuma Tagore, niece of Ragindranath Tagore, he heard her matchless voice in "La Traviata."

The Washington Yogoda classes were very large and enthusiastic. There were over 1200 students in the various classes given by the Swami in February and March. A large number of these Washington students are men and women in prominent Government positions and with influential connections that will serve to spread the message of Yogoda far and wide.

Some of the distinguished Washingtonians who became Yogoda students are Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton, author and poet; Louis E. Van Norman, traveler, author, editor, Commercial Attache of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce; Robert B. Patterson, inventor, author and Superintendent of the Potomac Electric Power Company, Hugh M. Sterling, attorney; Walter Beck, dramatic artist and teacher of dramatic art; John B. Wilson, author on scientific subjects, organist of the Brightwood M. E. Church, and Associate Chemist of the Water and Beverage Laboratory, Bureau of chemistry, United State Department of Agriculture; John B. Freeman of the National City Company; Miss Elizabeth Barnes, statistician with the Bureau of the Census, author and social worker; Mrs. Gertrude Bonnin, author and president of the National Council of American Indians, Inc.; Swan Alfred Larson, writer under the name of "Alfred Emerson"; Hester M. Poole, 94 years old and an active Clubwoman; Mrs. Sarah C. Prentice, 82 years old; Bess Davis Schreiner, artists representative; Mrs Harriet Chace, officer of the National League of American Pen Women; Mrs. Henry Riggs Rathbone, poet and wife of the U. S. Senator from Illinois; Louise Gunton Royston, author; Louise Crow, noted artist; Eva Dell Meyers, Health Director of the Epiphany Gymnasium, Wardman Park Health Club; Charles A. Harbaugh, of the United States National Bureau of the Budget; and Mrs. Anna E. Hendley, honorary president of the Susan B. Anthony Foundation, Inc.

Mrs. John B. Henderson, who resides at the Henderson Castle in Washington, is the author of a book "The Aristocracy of Health." On March 7th, she gave an honor dinner for Swami, which was reported in the Washington Herald as follows:

"Mrs. John B. Henderson entertained last evening with one of her famous vegetarian dinners, her guests being asked to meet the Swami Yogananda. Others in the company were:

Dr. Sao-Ke Alfred Sze, the Minister of China; Dr. Gade, Minister of Norway on special mission, and Mme. Gade; Admiral and Mrs. Edward Eberle; Assistant Secretary of State and Mrs. Robert E. Olds; Former Governor and Mrs. Gifford Pinchot; Count and Countess de Benque; Mrs. Marshall Field; Engineer Commissioner and Mrs. J. Franklin Bell; Baron and Baroness Von Below;

Mr. and Mrs. Gist Blair; German Counsul General in New York and Mrs. Karl von Lewinski; Mrs. Stephen B. Elkins; Dr. Van Asch van Wyck, Charge d’affaires of the Netherlands."

A Hindu Luncheon was given in honor of Swami Yogananda at the Willard Hotel Ballroom on February 28th, at which several hundreds of his Washington students were present. There was a musical program and the Swami gave a short talk on "The Art of Living."

The Washington Yogoda students, after the class-work was over, clamoured for a Yogoda Center of their own where the work could be carried on and expanded. Accordingly, Swami appointed two Committees to organize the "Washington Yogoda Society," and these Committee members have already organized a splendid, growing Yogoda Society in Washington with office headquarters in the Colorado Building. Most of the office equipment has already been donated by the students.

On April 2nd, Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton read the "Article of Association and By-Laws" to the assembled students, who ratified them. On April 10th, at the meeting, Mrs. Seton read an original poem about the Swami’s looking for his mother’s eyes and finally finding them everywhere.

On April 2nd, Mr. Alvin Hunsicker of New York, a member of the Yogoda National Committee, addressed the Washington Yogoda Society at Assembly Hall in the Washington Auditorium on "Suggestions for Physical Exercise, and Concentration and Meditation." On April 3rd he gave a public lecture on "The Mystery of Man and Mind."

The Washington Yogoda Society brought the Detroit leader, Brahmacharee Nerode, to Washington as their guest, and he gave a public lecture on April 24th at the Masonic Auditorium on "Mystic Evolution." This lecture was followed by a Yogoda class conducted by Brahmacharee Nerode in Washington.

On the afternoon of April 27th, Brahmacharee Nerode held a meeting to teach Yogoda to the children of Yogoda students. This is the first of a series of meetings which the Washington Yogoda Society plans to arrange for children. On the night of April 27th Brahmacharee held a review class for the Washington Higher Initiation students, and on April 28th, he reviewed the Yogoda lessons with all students.

The Washington students were all enthusiastic about Brahmacharee’s teachings and his spiritual influence. He expressed praise for the efficient methods and firm foundation of the new Washington Yogoda Society.

On Sunday, May 1st, the Society will hold their first regular weekly meeting for the study and review of the Yogoda lessons, at 1731 Eye Street, N.W.

Swami gave a class in Washington for colored students and had an earnest class of about fifty people. They held a Social Gathering on March 5th, where Swami played the Hindu Esraj, and the Burleigh Singers sang Negro spirituals. On this occasion, Swami appointed Mrs. Minnie C. Mayo as the leader of the Afro-American Yogoda Sat-Sanga Association in Washington.

This Center has a beautiful home of its own at 14 Iowa Circle, N.W. Public meetings are held each Sunday night at 5 o’clock with a lecture, music and healing vibrations. On Wednesdays the Afro-American Yogoda Center students meet to transact business and review the Yogoda exercises.

In honor of the birthday anniversary of "The Father of his Country," Swami Yogananda visited Mount Vernon on February 22, 1927, to lay a wreath on Washington’s tomb. He was accompanied by a score or more of his Washington students. The Swami delivered the following address to his students and the assembled visitors at Mount Vernon:

"As Washington performed his duty he never forgot the Giver of all gifts. That is what inspired me in his life. In India he always inspired me with this thought. His love for Truth was greater than love of party politics. I believe that though patriotism is necessary, it should not exclude Spiritual Truth because patriotism which excludes international well-being is built on loose stones. But patriotism which is firmly built on the everlasting source of Truth, that patriotism which loves Truth and Truth Alone, that nation is based on such patriotism as Washington possessed ...and the great good that he did to the world and to America, is ever awake with us. He is ever living in the minds of the world, and we must always be inspired by his example ...for he inspired not only thousands, hundreds of thousands, but millions.

"Most great men that serve live... hundreds of years before their time. He came, he conquered, he mastered himself and the situations in which he was placed and then withdrew and led the life of a hermit in seclusion here. There are politicians ....and politicians—those puny ones who cater to the mob sentiment and who put the national mansion on a loose foundation; but men like Lincoln and Washington have always tried to solidify the foundations of the national mansions with the eternal rock of Truth and Spirituality. The politicians who are going to live forever are the direct beneficiaries of his labors, his aspiration, his trials, and great strength. The whole world, after all, should remember that these national boundaries are all man-made. Time shall again erase these boundaries and as we love to love our nation we must always remember and regard the love and patriotism of all other nations. And if you love co-operation, harmony and patriotism, then you must love the patriotism and independence of all other nations. One’s own patriotism must not exclude the patriotism of others. Our national ideals must not militate against other ideals ...but we must find harmony in nations. It was for ideals like this that great men like Lincoln and Washington lived and died.

"In studying Washington’s life and his principles, I find he was a man of wide vision; he did not live by the stereotyped customs of his time. He lived for the ideal of freedom and independence inspired only by the Love of Truth and not by party politics. He is not only an inspiration to America’s best ...but he is a source of inspiration to all nations. His love of Truth, his great strength, deep understanding, not only made him America’s national hero, but all nations of the world are proud of him and glorify him.

"Let us all with united hearts bless the soul of George Washington that he may forever live in our memory ...not only in image, but a perpetual source of spiritual inspiration of liberty. With Thy grace, with Thy strength, in Thy name, O Spirit, our One Father, we are all gathered here to worship the national hero, the international hero, the inspirer of millions, and we wish him good-will, eternal good-will for the great services that he rendered to us. In the name of Jesus Christ and the Great Spirit and with our hearts filled with sincerity, love and gratitude, we offer this wreath in the name of India, America, and all nations."

Swami Yogananda gave a series of public lectures in Buffalo at the Elmwood Music Hall each night from April 3rd to April 17th. The Buffalo Courier-Express for April 4, 1927, in a long report of the Swami’s opening lecture, said in part:

"More than 3,000 heard his first lecture. The audience overflowed the seating arrangements in the hall and many stood through the two hours occupied by his lecture, prayer and reading of a poem and the remainder of the program. The lecture was followed with great attentiveness as was demonstrated by the promptness with which responses came from the audience on a few occasions when the speaker asked questions of them.

"That his message not only had aroused the curiosity of his hearers, but had reached a responsive chord in their minds, was demonstrated by the number of those who sought to greet him personally and those who purchased his books at the conclusion of the meeting."

About twenty of the leading artists of Buffalo furnished the musical program at the Yogoda lectures. These included prominent violinists, pianists, sopranos and tenors.

These club lectures aroused a great deal of enthusiasm for Yogoda in Buffalo. They were reported in the various Buffalo newspapers. The Swami’s talk on "How to Develop Personal Magnetism" before the Zonta Club was reported in the Buffalo Times, Courier-Express, and the News. The Courier-Express for April 13, 1927, said in part:

"Coming from the Zonta Club weekly luncheon yesterday at the Statler, everybody, half in jest, half in earnest, was voicing comments as to whom he next intended to shake hands with. The idea was that they had been hearing Swami Yogananda tell how the magnetism of one person is conveyed to another through the handshake, and if one wished to be successful in business, art, music, literature, spiritually rich, or prosperous, one would better keep in the company of those successful in such fields, and if one did shake hands, make that handshake with such personalities.

"However, the Swami impressed upon his hearers that not alone association with successful people would bring success, materially or spiritually. One must be in tune with the Cosmic Source of all riches. . . "The Swami said, ‘Only when a spiritual man is sure of the steadiness of his own personal magnetism, can he afford to shake hands or associate with persons imbued with wrong or undesirable magnetism. Young moral novices who start to reform wicked people without developing their own personal magnetism strongly ...are exposed to the danger of losing themselves. It is only Christ-like persons with strong magnetism who can associate with and be fruitful friends to publicans and sinners."

Dr. Luigi von Kunits, eminent musician, composer and Conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra of Toronto, Canada, accompanied by Mrs. von Kunits and their son, came to Buffalo from Toronto during April especially to review the Yogoda class work under Swami Yogananda. Dr. von Kunits has been a Yogoda Correspondence Course student for several years. During his visit, Dr. von Kunits played the organ at Elmwood Music Hall preceding the Swami’s evening lecture.

The accompanying picture was taken during Dr. von Kunits’ Buffalo visit, and shows him playing the sweet-toned dulcetina recently sent Swami from India. Swami is seen playing the Hindu Esraj, an instrument which many musicians consider to most nearly approach the musical capacities of the human voice. It was invented by a Mohammedan princess and is very scientifically constructed.

The leading Buffalo clubs invited Swami Yogananda to speak before their members. He addressed the following clubs:

Rotary Club, on "How to Recharge Your Business Battery Out of the Cosmos."

Shrine Club, on "East and West."

Lions Club, on "India’s Contribution to American Methods."

American Artists Club, on "Art of Overcoming Nervousness."

Mercer Club, on "Mystic India."

American Legion, on "My Impressions of Mount Vernon and George Washington."

Buffalo Flour Club, on "Oriental Milling."

Zonta Club, on "How to Develop Personal Magnetism."

Town Club, on "India’s Influence on American Life."

Women’s City Club, on "Mystic India."

Buffalo Consistory Luncheon, on "All Round Success Thru Concentration."

Gyro Club, on "Law of Success."

Mutual Life Insurance Company agents meeting, on "Success."

American Business Club, on "Super-Methods of Success."

WMAK Radio, on "The Art of Living."

Lockport Rotary Club, on "Mystic India."

Williamsville Rotary Club, on "India."

Niagara Falls Lions club and Kiwanis Club, on "Mystic India."

The next series of Yogoda lectures will be given, it is planned, in Chicago in September, 1927, and in Washington, D. C. in December.

The Detroit Yogoda Center continues to grow under the inspiring leadership of Brahmacharee Nerode, A.B. His Wednesday evening Yogoda review classes are splendidly attended. At his Gita class he expounds the great eternal truths found therein. His public lectures on Sundays are chosen with great care and wisdom. On the one hand, they elucidate the fundamental and universal principles of Yogoda, and on the other hand, they bring out the contrast or similarity of the various Western schools of thought. His recent subjects have been, "Key to Self-Expression," "Victory of Life," "Human Aura." "Life Beyond Death," "Why Give Up?", "New Year and New Resolutions" and "Healing Vibrations." Brahmacharee recently addressed the Jewish Temple of Detroit.

A Detroit Yogoda Guild has been formed of the women students of the Center. It has given splendid service since its formation in February. It recently presented to Swami Yogananda a rare and valuable antique from a Tibetan monastery consisting of three pieces—incense burner, scroll and vase. Swami was delighted with the gift. Members of the Guild have donated furniture, office equipment, bulletin board and Sunday School supplies to the Detroit Center; also donated, was a large Mimeographing machine. The Flower and Health Fund Committee report helpful activities.

Brahmacharee has recently moved to a section of Detroit where his apartment overlooks the lake and woods of Palmer Park. In these quarters he holds his Sunday School meetings on Monday evenings. The Yogoda Guild entertains the children after the service, on these occasions.

On St. Patrick’s Day, an entertainment was given at the Detroit Center. Another enjoyable Social Gathering took place on April 23rd.

On two occasions recently, Brahmacharee accepted invitations to visit the Cincinnati and the Washington Yogoda Centers, where he lectured and taught Yogoda classes.

During Easter week, Brahmacharee Nerode fasted for seven days. He conducted his usual Gita class and Sunday service during this period. On the seventh day of his fast, he demonstrated unusual spiritual power while preaching on Healing Vibration. Since then, many Detroit Yogoda students are observing a complete or partial fast on Wednesdays for the purpose of recuperating their mental and physical energies as prescribed by the ancient sages of India and the foremost medical authorities of modern times.

In connection with the Easter week fast of Brahmacharee’s the Detroit Yogoda Center sent the following letter to its members:

"Dear Student:

"As you know, our great Teacher Swami Yogananda broadcasts healing, soothing and power-giving soul-vibrations to all Yogodans at seven o’clock every morning. Do you open your Mind and Heart stations to feel these Life-transmitting prayer-waves generated by the dynamic soul of our beloved Swami? Receive them and ‘Let not your heart be troubled’ (John 14-1:27).

"Brahmacharee Nerode, has started a fast for seven days, living on water alone, with the purpose of fasting his body of all fleshy appetites. On the fourth and on the seventh days of his fast, that is , on Sunday, March 6th, and Wednesday, March 9th, between 8:00 P.M.and 9:00 P.M., he will send forth, from our Center, pure soul-vibrations to all fellow Yogodans. If radio waves, generated by dead electricity working through dead matter, can penetrate through dead barriers of space, then soul vibrations, generated by living Life-energy and vibrant human will working through living human cells guided by intense Yogoda meditation and concentration, can certainly accomplish a thousandfold more.

"So receive at your soul centers the healing vibrations on March 6th and 9th between 8:00 and 9:00 P.M. His prayers will travel ‘with healing on their wings’ (Mal. 4:2). Remember the promise "I am the Lord that heals thee’ (Ex 15:26) that is in everyone.

"So have faith and ‘Thy health shall spring forth’ (Isa. 58:8).

" ‘Pronam,’ Detroit Yogoda Sat-Sanga Center."

During the week of March 27th, Swami Yogananda visited Detroit and was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Rall. In response to many requests from Detroit students, Swami arranged to give a Higher Initiation Class to his Yogoda students in Detroit. This class was held at the Hotel Tuller Ball-room on March 30th. The calm, receptive and reverential mood which marked the entire period of Initiation was eloquent manifestation of the joy and earnestness with which these higher teachings were received. Since that time, Brahmacharee Nerode has reviewed the Initiation teachings with the members of the class on several occasions.

On May 1st, Brahmacharee visited Swami Yogananda in Buffalo.

Swami Yogananda visited Cincinnati to address his students on March 27th, on "Mystery of Culturing Habits." The Cincinnati Enquirer for March 29th reported the event as follows:

"Swami Yogananda came to town on Sunday and at the Yogoda Center on Sunday night attracted to the meeting in the Masonic hall on East McMillan Street, half a thousand men and women as the magnet draws the steel. These disciples of his Yogoda classes were so eager to hear what this East Indian savant had to say of his recent visit to the White House, his interview with the President and his tremendous success in forming a new Center in the national capital with Senators, Congressmen, cabinet members and members of the diplomatic circle as his followers, that this audience would not permit their leader to answer their welcome for seven or eight minutes, so long and so vociferous was the applause that greeted this bringer of a message of good will and good health to Cincinnati.

"Swami Yogananda remained over Monday at the Hotel Alms in order to see the executives of the Yogoda Center here, and to dine en famille last night with Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Assur at their home on the Grandin Road.

"Brahmacharee Nerode who comes here once a month to keep alive the flame of Swami Yogananda’s teachings, is one of the latter’s pupils, and is in charge of the very flourishing Detroit Center, where Swami Yogananda will spend some time. Swami left on the 10:00 o’clock train, surrounded by many flowers and hosts of good wishes, promising to return again before he goes East."

On February 20th, the Detroit leader, Brahmacharee Nerode, visited Cincinnati to address that Center on "Evolution and Involution." This was followed later in the week by a Yogoda class for new Cincinnati students. Brahmacharee’s inspiring presence and clear presentation of the Yogoda teachings were much appreciated by the Cincinnati Center. During the week of May 1st, Brahmacharee again visited the Cincinnati Center to address the students.

On April 28th, Swami Yogananda came from Buffalo to Cincinnati for a short visit. He was accompanied by Mr. William Kronmeyer, New York attorney, who helped to draw up the constitution for the Cincinnati Yogoda and Sat-Sanga Center.

In the afternoon Swami was entertained at a tea. The gathering included several of the students who belonged to the special Yogoda class formed last autumn. Later the same evening, the Swami addressed his beloved Cincinnati students on "India."

The Sunday evening public lectures of the Cincinnati Center are held at the Veterans Memorial Hall. In addition, special review Yogoda meetings are held each week at the Walnut Hills Masonic Temple Building on McMillan Avenue. These meetings are well attended and serve to keep the Yogoda exercises and teachings ever-fresh in all the students’ minds, inspiring them in all the acts of their daily life. It is only thru the constant contact with spiritual power, such as is received thru the practice of the Yogoda teachings, that humanity can hope to solve the great problems of life and of death, and to fulfill all the high purposes of its destiny.

The various Committees of the Pittsburgh Yogoda Center report encouraging progress. The Healing Committee met on February 25th from 5:00 to 9:00 P.M. for a Yogoda raw-food dinner and to transact business. The chairman spoke on healing and arranged for special healing hours when the committee planned to send forth healing vibrations to those in need. The Advertising and Membership Committees are arranging for greater publicity work and for the formation of a children’s Sunday School at the Center. The Los Angeles Center sent a helpful letter on the conduct and organization of such non-sectarian Yogoda Sunday Schools. The Prosperity Committee of the Pittsburgh Center is planning to give a benefit performance this spring. This play may possibly be given on "India Day" in Pittsburgh and in Cleveland.

Mr. E. A. Zartman, after a year’s fruitful service as leader of the Pittsburgh Yogoda Center, turned over his office to Mr. S. D. Gupta, who will be assisted by Mr. P. C. Mukerji as associate leader.

On March 26th, a Hindu American Banquet celebrating the first anniversary birthday of the Pittsburgh Yogoda Sat-Sanga Center was given at the Soldiers Memorial Hall. Swami Yogananda came from Washington to attend as honor guest. About three hundred devoted Pittsburgh students attended. The banquet was planned prepared and served by Yogoda workers. A menu of special Hindu dishes was served. A musical program was given, and Swami addressed the assemblage. The secretary of the Pittsburgh Center wrote, "Swami was the banquet; the material food served as an accompaniment to Swami’s spiritual food."

On March 25th, Swami spoke over KQV on "The Contribution of Yogoda to the World." Since then many inquiries and expressions of appreciation of Swami’s message have been received by Station KQV.

On March 27th, Swami Yogananda conducted a meeting of the Pittsburgh Yogoda students and appointed an Executive Committee.

Swami returned to Pittsburgh for a brief visit on April 20th to conduct another business meeting at the Pittsburgh Center.

Cleveland Yogoda activities are progressing very harmoniously under the leadership of Rev. E. A. Lohman and the various Committees. Rev. Lohman keeps office hours at the Cleveland Yogoda office in the Old Arcade from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. daily, and conducts a Silence service each noon. The office has been attractively furnished and equipped by donations from the Yogoda students.

On Wednesday afternoons and evenings, there are review Yogoda meetings and meditation services. The children’s training class is held each Saturday morning. On Sunday nights, public lecture meetings are conducted.

On February 11th, the Cleveland Yogoda students, in company with Dr. Shaw, gave a dramatic presentation of the Tannhauser Opera at the New Thought Center. This offering was well received. Half of the proceeds went to the Cleveland Center.

On February 14th, Rev. Lohman conducted a review meeting of the Higher Initiation Class students.

Yogoda’s a fleet.

Myriads of boats, treasure-laden.

Come Everyman!

As you perceive treasure: it is yours.

Aboard a Yogoda!

A song in your heart

And wings of inspiration for your soul.

National Headquarters, Mount Washington Educational Center, 3880 San Rafael Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. Phone Garfield 6406. Swami Dhirananda in charge.

Leader, Rev. Edward A. Lohman, 3518 Poe Ave. Phone Atlantic 2031. Office hours 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Noon Silence service at Room 601, Old Arcade, Cleveland.

Leader, Dr. M. W. Lewis, 18 Field Road, Arlington, Mass, or 253 Elm Street, West Somerville, Mass.

Leader, Thos. M. Stewart, M.D., Secretary, Mr. Chas. Kuehn, P. O. Box 943, Cincinnati. Sunday evening meetings at Veteran’s Memorial Hall, 322 Broadway.

Leader, Brahmacharee Nerode, A.B., 750 Strathmore Drive, Apt. 405; phone Arlington 0947. Public meetings every Sunday night; also Sunday School for children. Wednesday evening meetings for students only. All meetings at 3782 Woodward Avenue.

Leader, Mr. S. D. Gupta. Sunday evening meetings at Congress of Clubs, 408 Penn Avenue. "Pittsburgh Yogoda Light," published monthly.

General Committee: Robert B. Patterson, Chairman; John B. Freeman, Vice-Chairman; John B. Wilson, Treasurer; Charles A. Harbaugh, Business Secretary; Miss Jo Motter, Executive Secretary. Office at 907 Colorado Building. Phone Main 7485.

Afro-American Yogoda Sat-Sanga Association. Leader, Mrs. Minney C. Mayo. Wednesday and Sunday evening meetings, at 14 Iowa Circle, N.W.

The following report of Sat-Sanga activities in India, has been sent to EAST-WEST by Swami Satyananda, principal of the Sat-Sanga and Yogoda School at Ranchi, Bengal, founded by Swami Yogananda and the Maharaja of Kazimbazar in 1916.

Swami Satyananda tells us of the celebration of the Foundation-Day of the Ranchi School, in the following words:

The eleventh birthday of the Ranchi Brahmacharya School was celebrated on March 23, 1927, holy day of the Vernal equinox. Great enthusiasm prevailed in the institution. Early in the morning the boys and teachers formed into a party and went round the streets singing holy songs. United prayers were offered in the decorated Prayer Hall of the School. A meeting was also held where the teachers and the students took part. The subliminity of the occasion was roused when every one felt that the time had finally come when the Founder-Acharya, Swami Yogananda, and his great message of Brahmacharya education (an all round education of balanced life and celibacy) were being appreciated at their true worth. Honor was also done toward the good Maharaja, Sir Marindra Chandra Nandy, K.C.I.E., the Founder-Patron of the institution. The programme was brought to a close by a special dinner arranged for the occasion.

On this day, festivals were also held in other branch institutions. Our sea-side institution at Puri observed the Sat-Sanga festival on this occasion for three days. Swami’s Master, Srimat Swami Sriyukteswar Giriji, was Himself present there. The Puri meeting was an assembly of learned men, followers of the Master, and students and teachers of the Puri school. The Master delivered His message of Truth and Education with His usual firmness and strong conviction. After the festival the Master accepted a few engagements to be held during the next few days in different Sat-Sanga Associations.

The 18th of March, 1927, the beautiful Full Moon day of the spring in India, was an all-India "Holi" festival day. It is believed that Lord Krishna, the divine incarnate, Himself enjoyed this festival with the masses thousands of years ago. The union of God and man in the holy play of Love is the great significance of this "Holi" festival, which is one of those true great national festivals with a democratic spirit which constitute the cementing bond among the Hindus, the real nationality of whom lies in spirituality. A kind of healthy crimson powder is freely used by the people on this occasion. Taken in its true light, this festival, which gives an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful nature of the loving God, may be called a non-sectarian holy day.

This day also reminds us of the Saint Gouranga, the Lord of Love, who was born at this time in Bengal about 450 years ago.

The Empire Club of Canada, in Toronto, affiliated with the Royal Colonial Institute of London, recently wrote inviting Swami Yogananda to visit Canada and to address their members.

Swami recently met George Arliss, the noted English actor, in Buffalo, and presented him with a set of his books.

The February number of Reality contained a beautiful poem on Swami Yogananda by E. J. Irvine.

The Buffalo Arts Journal for April contained an appreciating account of Swami and the Yogoda work in Buffalo.

Elbert Hubbard II entertained Swami Yogananda at luncheon on April 13th at the Roycroft Inn in East Aurora. Swami greatly admired the beautiful articles made by the Roycrofters.

Mr. Edward C. Bull, President of the Pierce-Arrow Sales company, and one of the Buffalo Yogoda patrons, placed one of his Pierce-Arrows at Swami’s disposal during his Buffalo stay.

Emilie Zieseniss, author and translator, who was a Yogoda student in the recent classes in Washington, D.C., intends to translate the books of Swami Yogananda into the German language.

The Fourteenth Annual Congress of the International New Thought Alliance will be held in Indianapolis at the Claypool Hotel from June 19th to 26th. Yogoda books and literature will be on sale at these meetings. Swami Yogananda was one of the outstanding speakers at the Congress in New York last year.

Mr. William C. Kronmeyer, New York attorney, is engaged at present in preparing for the Yogoda and Sat-Sanga movement in America, a National set of By-Laws and a Constitution for the various local Centers.

Mr. R. J. Cromie, publisher of the Vancouver Sun, is travelling in eastern United States at present, and plans to visit Swami Yogananda in Buffalo during May. Last year Mr. Cromie was entertained at The Mount Washington Educational Center, headquarters of Yogoda and Sat-Sanga in Los Angeles.

Syndicated pictures of Swami Yogananda are appearing in the rotogravure sections of various Sunday newspapers throughout America. On April 3rd, the Buffalo Courier-Express and the Buffalo Times printed rotogravure pictures of Swami’s newest photograph taken in Washington.

During the coming summer vacation months, Swami Yogananda will spend some time as the guest of Amelita Galli-Curci and Homer Samuels at their summer home in the Adirondacks. He will also visit Mr. J. W. Mott of the Hotel Traymore in Atlantic City.

George Liebling, celebrated pianist-composer, has dedicated his beautiful composition for the piano, "The Voices of the Wind," to Swami Yogananda, and has given the copyright to Yogoda and Sat-Sanga, who will soon publish it. The words to this inspiring melody are by Sir Edwin Arnold, author of "The Song Celestial," "Light of Asia" and other poetical works of immortal fame. Sir Edwin and Mr. Liebling first had this song published in 1900 in London, where it enjoyed a very large sale.

Mme. and Mr. Liebling came from New York to Buffalo on April 24th to visit Swami Yogananda and to attend his Buffalo Yogoda class.

We cannot see the Universal Plan

Through this small peep-hole

That we call the world.

We are not fragments from the ether

Hurled by chance,

To flicker once and die,

Nor can we say we know the life of any man

Until we know the Pattern of the Whole,

The vestures of his migratory soul.

He is not made or marred in this one span.

What we consider inspiration here

Is not a gift, but fruit of labor earned,

And he who by an unjust fate is spurned,

—Or so we think

....upon another sphere has shirked.

For in our countless lives

It is the law! He only mounts who strives.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Quite unlike any other candy you ever ate.

Mild, delicious, refreshing.

Tastes somewhat like candied pineapple,

But is

All food has some inner quality either of a beneficial or injurious nature. Our CACTUS CANDY is made from the Fresh Cactus Fruit, the cooling life-saver of desert regions. It possesses a medicinal and spiritual value.

The CACTUS CANDY is enclosed in beautiful Gift Boxes. The picture of our Center is burned on the top of the box, and the picture of the California Giant Redwood Trees is burned on the inside of the cover.

**********.

What the people of the Far East

are thinking and doing?

If so, read

A monthly magazine in English first published in June, 1925. Is attracting world-wide attention and rapidly making its way to the front rank of international journalism. Contributors to The Young East include some of the best-known Japanese, Chinese and Indian writers, thinkers and philosophers.

We specialize in all Books for the Study of Oriental Languages and other Branches of Oriental Literature, of which we keep a Large Stock. Catalogues issued Periodically, and sent gratis on application.

Some Standard Publications

Letters on Religion and Folklore by the late F. W. Hasluck, M.A., annotated by Margaret M. Hasluck, B.A., (Cantab.) M.A., (Abdn.) with many illustrations. Roy 8vo cloth, pp. vii 256.

Buddhist Psychology: An inquiry into the analysis and theory of mind in Pali Literature, by Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids, D.Litt., M.A. Second edition with supplementary chapters. 8vo cloth, pp. x. 302. Paper bound.

Essays in Zen Buddhism (First Series), by Prof. D. T. Suzuki.

Agents to the Royal Asiatic Society; School of Oriental Studies, London; Asiatic Society of Bengal Calcutta; Bihar and Orissa Research Society, India; Society of Oriental Research, Chicago; Siam Society, Bangkok, etc., etc.

Well-planned and indexed sections listing all metaphysical movements, such as New Thought, Unity, Metaphysical, Rosicrucian, Christian Science, Yogoda and Sat-Sanga, Theosophy, Bahai, Jewish Science, Emanuel, Mohammedan, Buddhist, Sufi and allied movements; also esoteric orders and societies. Astrologers, phrenologists, spiritualists, graphologists, psychologists, vegetarians, character and vocational analysts; also humane and humanitarian societies; also metaphysical libraries, periodicals, published articles and photographs of note—all are listed and descriptive details given for the benefit of the inquiring student, investigator, organization manager and teachers throughout the world. Many other valuable reference features which cannot be listed here for lack of space.

ORIENTAL is a channel of a more profound information of the life and thought, art and culture of the Orient. It presents a cultural basis for cooperation between the Orient and the Occident, emphasizing those sentiments and ideals which make for world-peace.

Articles by Tagore, Gandhi, Bertrand Russell, Laurence Binyon, H. M. Hyndman, Okakura Kakuzo, Romain Rolland, Count Hermann Keyserling, Anatole France, Henri Borel, Thomas F. Carter, Liang Chi Chao, Nicholas Roerich and others.

YOGODA. Eighth edition. Descriptive pamphlet of the System originated by Swami Yogananda for Bodily Perfection thru contacting Cosmic Energy, and for mental and spiritual development along the lines of the great Hindu Teachers.

SCIENTIFIC HEALING AFFIRMATIONS. This book has become a world-wide inspiration. Swami has used these affirmations at Healing Meetings in many of the large American cities, and thousands have been liberated and healed of disease of the body, mind and soul. This book gives not only many beautiful and inspiring Affirmations to use for awakening your inner powers and thus free yourself from the consciousness of sickness, poverty, bad habits and mental sloth, but it also EXPLAINS the scientific reason for healing thru the power of thought, will, feeling and prayer. Unique methods of healing for different types of mind. How to Contact the Curative Life Principle and Cosmic Source.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHART. Ninth Edition. This book gives a Chart for Analyzing Human Nature and Conduct. Practical understanding of inherent and acquired natures. A Psychological Mirror for Self-Knowledge and Self-Discipline, highly recommended by Harvard and Calcutta University professors. Used with great practical success at Swami’s Residential Schools in India.

SCIENCE OF RELIGION. Fourth Edition, with Frontispiece of the Swami. The Quintessence of Hindu Scriptures and Philosophy. Attaining Practical God-Realization. The Four Great Paths to Cosmic Consciousness. The Fundamental Human Hunger for Spiritual Experience and How to Satisfy it. This book contains the Essence of the Teachings of the Swami’s Great Master.

SONGS OF THE SOUL. Fifth enlarged Edition. Intuitional Poems inspired thru spiritual Realization. For Chanting, Meditation and Soul Revelation. "Exquisite imagery and psychological description of mystic experience." "Classical solemnity of thought with fascinating suggestiveness of modern inspired poets." "We mark in some poems the power of Milton, in others the imagery of Keats, and in all the philosophic depth of the Oriental Sages." With a Preface by Dr. Frederick B. Robinson, President of New York City College.

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