Adi Shankaracharya / Yogananda / 3

Patience
Do not look for a spiritual flower every day. Sow
the seed, water it with prayer and right endeavor.
When it sprouts, take care of the plant, pulling out the
weeds of doubt, indecision, and indifference that may
spring up around it. Some morning you will suddenly
behold your long-awaited spiritual flower of Realization.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, in a “Para-gram”

No known comparison exists in the three worlds for a true guru. If the philosopher’s stone be assumed as truly such, it can only turn iron into gold, not into another philosopher’s stone. The venerated teacher, on the other hand, creates equality with himself in the disciple, who takes refuge at his feet. The guru is therefore peerless, nay transcendental.”
– Adi Shankaracharya

Patience
Your are your own enemy and you don’t know it.
You don’t learn to sit quietly. You don’t learn to give
time to God. And you are impatient and expect to attain
heaven all at once. You cannot get it by reading books
or by listening to sermons or by doing charitable works.
You can get it only by giving your time to Him in deep
meditation.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s Eternal Quest”

Patience
Let us forget the sorrows of the past and make up
our minds not to dwell on them in the New Year.
With determination and unflinching will, let us renew
our lives, our good habits, and our successes. If the
last year has been hopelessly bad, the New Year must
be hopefully good.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, “Self-Realization Magazine”

The Guru
In the beginning of one’s spiritual search, it is
wise to compare various spiritual paths and teachers.
But when you find the real guru destined for you,
the one whose teachings can lead you to the Divine
Goal, then restless searching should cease. A spiritually
thirsty person should not go on indefinitely seeking
new wells; rather he should go to the best well and
drink daily of it’s living waters.
–Paramahansa Yogananda, SRF Lessons