Paramahansa Yogananda on Spiritualizing Family Life

The greatest of all happiness, next to divine happiness, is to be at peace with one’s immediate relations, those with whom one must live every day in the year. When people try to handle the extremely complicated machinery of human feelings without any training whatsoever, the consequent results are often disastrous. Very few persons realize that most of our happiness lies in the art of understanding the law of human behavior.

The greatest thing a husband or wife can wish for the spouse is spirituality; for soul unfoldment brings out the divine qualities of understanding, patience, thoughtfulness, love. But each should remember that the desire for spiritual growth cannot be forced on the other. Live love yourself, and your goodness will inspire all your loved ones.

We should make ourselves attractive by wearing the fine garment of genuinely courteous language. We should first of all be courteous to our immediate relatives. When one can do that, he will be habitually kind to all people. Real family happiness has its foundation on the altar of understanding and kind words. It is not necessary to agree on everything in order to show kindness. Calm silence, sincerity, and courteous words, whether one is agreeing or disagreeing with others, mark the person who knows how to behave.

I have joined my heart to thee: all that exists art thou.
O Lord, beloved of my heart, thou art the home of all;
where indeed is the heart in which thou dost not dwell?

– Jafar

As I say to devotees all the time, if you would win Daya Ma’s love, love my God. That intoxicates me. When I see devotees who love my Beloved, I am drunk with joy. Nothing else can reach Daya Mata’s heart, in that sense—nothing personal. I love those who love my Beloved. I love those who are striving on the path. I don’t care what their weaknesses are—a thousand million weaknesses can be there. That is not important to me, for I know that if they are sincere in their efforts to love God and follow Guru’s guidance, they will surely overcome those impediments and find that perfect freedom that is our birthright as souls.

–Daya Mata (‘Finding the Joy Within You’, p255)

HAU BAL BAL JAAU RMAIA KARNE II
KARN KRN ABOL II
‘Gurbani’ in Punjabi

“There is none as forlorn as I am, and none as Compassionate as You, what need is there to test us now? May my mind surrender to Your Word, please, bless Your humble servant with this perfection. I am sacrifice, a sacrifice to the LORD. O LORD, why are You silent? For so many incarnations, I have been separated from YOU, LORD, I dedicate this life to YOU. Says Ravi Das (BHAGAT), placing hopes in YOU, I live, it is so long since I have gazed upon the Blessed Vision of Your DARSHAN

If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.

– Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

Do not look at your own form, be it beautiful or ugly;
look at the true object of your love, and the goal of your search. Do not look at your own state, which is feeble and vile; look at the true object of your hopes and aspirations.
In whatever state you are, seek God. Seek God as if your lips were dry and you were seeking water. Dry lips are a sign that you will eventually reach a spring. Dry lips are a message from the water: ‘If you keep searching, you will find me.’
To seek is a blessed activity; it destroys the obstacles on the path to God. If you seek, you will find.

Wisdom

Every day you should sit quietly and affirm, with deep conviction: “No birth, no death, no caste have I; father, mother, have I none. Blessed Spirit, I am He. I am the Infinite Happiness.” If you again and again a again repeat these thoughts, day and night, you will eventually realize what you really are: an immortal soul.

—Paramahansa Yogananda, “Man’s EternalQuest”

Be it the world or the space, He is with you.
He chastises to make the impure pure. Neglect devotion and be bound by fetters of pain and doubt. Seek freedom, the remedy of all pain. Seek the roots from which sprout leaves and fruit. Water the roots and grow to perfection. And when the fruit blossoms, give it to your friends.

Rumi

Be it the world or the space, He is with you.
He chastises to make the impure pure. Neglect devotion and be bound by fetters of pain and doubt. Seek freedom, the remedy of all pain. Seek the roots from which sprout leaves and fruit. Water the roots and grow to perfection. And when the fruit blossoms, give it to your friends.

Rumi

If a man is unkind and speaks cruelly, his vast wealth will not last long before perishing.
Harsh language and overly severe punishment, like a keen file, grind down a king’s conquering powers. A king’s wealth wanes when, without thoughtful involvement, he lets ministers work, then furiously faults their efforts.

– Tirukkural 57: 566-568