Practicing a Saintly Life
31 Days in the Company of the Saints
Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi certainly didn’t tell about his meetings with saints just to entertain us, or to tell some interesting stories. Rather in each saint, in each meeting, hides a practical teaching for us, to help us on the path toward Self-realization. Here then, is a proposal: let’s practice the company of a saint, using a quote from the Autobiography of a Yogi for each day of the coming month. At their side we will absorb a special blessing, learning to live a saintly life.
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You may daily receive these sayings on your cell phone or computer through telegram. Each day a message will be sent to you. You can choose the time of day. It is free. Go here: https://t.me/daily_practices_bot If you don’t have telegram, your device will ask you to download the app. Enjoy!
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Day 1
Ananda Moyi Ma
The Joy-Permeated Mother
Casting aside every inferior attachment, Ananda Moyi Ma offers her sole allegiance to the Lord. Not by the hairsplitting distinctions of scholars but by the sure logic of faith, the childlike saint has solved the only problem in human life–establishment of unity with God.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Ananda Moyi Ma, offering like her our “sole allegiance to the Lord,” with “the sure logic of faith”. May our heart’s desire thereby become just one: the “establishment of unity with God.”
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Day 2
Swami Pranabananda
The Saint With Two Bodies
“Why are you stupefied at all this? The subtle unity of the phenomenal world is not hidden from true yogis. I instantly see and converse with my disciples in distant Calcutta. They can similarly transcend at will every obstacle of gross matter.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Swami Pranabananda, not to endeavour to manifest two bodies, but to open our mind to the amazing and powerful potentials of our soul, as we are made in the image of God.
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Day 3
Jagadis Chandra Bose
India’s Great Scientist and Inventor
Bose’s speech on this great occasion might have issued from the lips of one of the inspired ancient rishis. “I dedicate today this Institute as not merely a laboratory but a temple.” His reverent solemnity stole like an unseen cloak over the crowded auditorium. “In the pursuit of my investigations I was unconsciously led into the border region of physics and physiology. To my amazement, I found boundary lines vanishing, and points of contact emerging, between the realms of the living and the non-living. Inorganic matter was perceived as anything but inert; it was athrill under the action of multitudinous forces. “A universal reaction seemed to bring metal, plant and animal under a common law.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Jagadis Chandra Bose, understanding that “metal, plant, and animal” are all “under a common law,” and that nothing, not even “inorganic matter” is inert, but rather filled with the same and only life, “under the action of multitudinous forces.”
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Day 4
The Saint of Introspection
A Wandering Sadhu at the Kali Temple
“I have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely painful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one’s thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes the stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates to produce seers. The way of ‘self-expression,’ individual acknowledgments, results in egotists, sure of the right to their private interpretations of God and the universe.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into the wandering sadhu whom Yogananda met at a Kali Temple, and practice “self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one’s thoughts” and “true self-analysis.”
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Day 5
Master Mahasaya
The Blissful Devotee
“He can serve as an earthly prototype for the very angels of heaven!” I thought fondly, watching him one day at his prayers. Without a breath of censure or criticism, he surveyed the world with eyes long familiar with the Primal Purity. His body, mind, speech, and actions were effortlessly harmonized with his soul’s simplicity.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Master Mahasaya, trying to be, like him, “without a breath of censure or criticism,” expressing our souls’ purity and simplicity, so that we too can gradually become like the “angels of heaven.”
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Day 6
Bhaduri Mahasaya
The Levitating Saint (Nagendra Nath Bhaduri)
“Master, you are wonderful!” A student, taking his leave, gazed ardently at the patriarchal sage. “You have renounced riches and comforts to seek God and teach us wisdom!” It was well-known that Bhaduri Mahasaya had forsaken great family wealth in his early childhood, when single-mindedly he entered the yogic path. “You are reversing the case!” The saint’s face held a mild rebuke. “I have left a few paltry rupees, a few petty pleasures, for a cosmic empire of endless bliss. How then have I denied myself anything? I know the joy of sharing the treasure. Is that a sacrifice? The shortsighted worldly folk are verily the real renunciates! They relinquish an unparalleled divine possession for a poor handful of earthly toys!”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Bhaduri Mahasaya, firmly renouncing “a poor handful of earthly toys” to acquire, in time, “a cosmic empire of endless bliss.”
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Day 7
Swami Kebalananda
The Saintly Sanskrit Teacher
“I learned later that Lahiri Mahasaya had often characterized Kebalananda as rishi or illumined sage. Luxuriant curls framed my tutor’s handsome face. His dark eyes were guileless, with the transparency of a child’s. All the movements of his slight body were marked by a restful deliberation. Ever gentle and loving, he was firmly established in the infinite consciousness. Many of our happy hours together were spent in deep Kriya meditation.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Swami Kebalananda, to learn how we too can become “firmly established in the infinite consciousness” while being “ever gentle and loving.”
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Day 8
The Perfume Saint
Gandha Baba (Swami Vishudhananda)
“How long did it take to master your art?” “Twelve years.” “For manufacturing scents by astral means! It seems, my honored saint, you have been wasting a dozen years for fragrances which you can obtain with a few rupees from a florist’s shop.”… Performances of miracles such as shown by the “Perfume Saint” are spectacular but spiritually useless. Having little purpose beyond entertainment, they are digressions from a serious search for God.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s remember the Perfume Saint, not to learn the art of materialization, but to firmly reject any attraction to phenomena, which so easily distracts the seeker.
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Day 9
Therese Neumann
The Catholic Stigmatist of Bavaria
“Don’t you eat anything?” I wanted to hear the answer from her own lips. “No, except a consecrated rice-flour wafer, once every morning at six o’clock.” “How large is the wafer?” “It is paper-thin, the size of a small coin.” She added, “I take it for sacramental reasons; if it is unconsecrated, I am unable to swallow it.” “Certainly you could not have lived on that, for twelve whole years?” “I live by God’s light.” How simple her reply, how Einsteinian! “I see you realize that energy flows to your body from the ether, sun, and air.” A swift smile broke over her face. “I am so happy to know you understand how I live.” “Your sacred life is a daily demonstration of the truth uttered by Christ: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Therese Neumann, into her ability to live not “by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The mouth of God,” Yogananda explained, is the medulla oblongata, and his technique to learn to live from “every word” are the Energization Exercises.” So let’s practice them deeply, thinking of Therese Neumann.
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Day 10
The Tiger Swami
Sohong Swami
“Mind is the wielder of muscles. The force of a hammer blow depends on the energy applied; the power expressed by a man’s bodily instrument depends on his aggressive will and courage. The body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind. Through pressure of instincts from past lives, strengths or weaknesses percolate gradually into human consciousness. They express as habits, which in turn ossify into a desirable or an undesirable body. Outward frailty has mental origin; in a vicious circle, the habit-bound body thwarts the mind. If the master allows himself to be commanded by a servant, the latter becomes autocratic; the mind is similarly enslaved by submitting to bodily dictation.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Tiger Swami, not to obtain an impressive body like him, but to assimilate his understanding that the “mind is the wielder of muscles,” that “the body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind,” and that “outward frailty has mental origin.” By breaking old thought habits of sickness and physical weakness, applying the practice of affirmation, we can obtain better health and increased vitality.
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Day 11
Trailanga Swami
The Miracle Saint
A skeptic once determined to expose Trailanga as a charlatan. A large bucket of calcium-lime mixture, used in whitewashing walls, was placed before the swami. “Master,” the materialist said, in mock reverence, “I have brought you some clabbered milk. Please drink it.” Trailanga unhesitatingly drained, to the last drop, the containerful of burning lime. In a few minutes the evildoer fell to the ground in agony. “Help, swami, help!” he cried. “I am on fire! Forgive my wicked test!” The great yogi broke his habitual silence. “Scoffer,” he said, “you did not realize when you offered me poison that my life is one with your own. Except for my knowledge that God is present in my stomach, as in every atom of creation, the lime would have killed me. Now that you know the divine meaning of boomerang, never again play tricks on anyone.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Trailanga Swami, deeply understanding “the divine meaning of boomerang,” refraining therefore from any harmful action. On the contrary, we consciously sow love which will result in love received.
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Day 12
Sri Yukteswar
The Jnanavatar, incarnation of Wisdom
“Endless literary controversy is for sluggard minds. What more liberating thought than ‘God is’–nay, ‘God’
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Sri Yukteswar, practicing constantly the liberating japa he recommends, “God, God, God,” or “God is, God is, God is.”
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Day 13
Lahiri Mahasaya
The Yogavatar, incarnation of Yoga
The great guru taught his disciples to avoid theoretical discussion of the scriptures. “He only is wise who devotes himself to realizing, not reading only, the ancient revelations,” he said. “Solve all your problems through meditation.ctx_py_Autobiography_foot_238 Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life. Though man’s ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be endless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Lahiri Mahasaya, attuning ourselves “to the active inner Guidance,” knowing that for every problem and dilemma we face “the Divine Voice has the answer.”
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Day 14
Srimati Kashi Moni
The “Sacred Mother” – Lahiri Mahasaya’s Wife
He touched my forehead. Masses of whirling light appeared; the radiance gradually formed itself into the opal-blue spiritual eye, ringed in gold and centered with a white pentagonal star. ‘Penetrate your consciousness through the star into the kingdom of the Infinite.’ My guru’s voice had a new note, soft like distant music. Vision after vision broke as oceanic surf on the shores of my soul. The panoramic spheres finally melted in a sea of bliss. I lost myself in ever-surging blessedness. When I returned hours later to awareness of this world, the master gave me the technique of Kriya Yoga.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Kashi Moni, into her divine experience of the spiritual eye. Let’s visualize it, ever shining in our forehead. Let our heart say, “I really want to go there too!”
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Day 15
Mahavatar Babaji
The Great Avatar
‘Child, you must meditate more,’ he said. ‘Your gaze is not yet faultless–you could not see me hiding behind the sunlight.’ With these words in the voice of a celestial flute, Babaji disappeared into the hidden radiance.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Mahavatar Babaji, and arrange our day to allow us to “meditate more,” training our “gaze” to be less “faultless”.
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Day 16
Rabindranath Tagore
The Saintly Nobel Prize Poet
Rabindranath invited me to stay overnight in the guest house. It was indeed a charming spectacle, in the evening, to see the poet seated with a group in the patio. Time unfolded backward: the scene before me was like that of an ancient hermitage–the joyous singer encircled by his devotees, all aureoled in divine love. Tagore knitted each tie with the cords of harmony. Never assertive, he drew and captured the heart by an irresistible magnetism. Rare blossom of poesy blooming in the garden of the Lord, attracting others by a natural fragrance! In his melodious voice, Rabindranath read to us a few of his exquisite poems, newly created. Most of his songs and plays, written for the delectation of his students, have been composed at Santiniketan. The beauty of his lines, to me, lies in his art of referring to God in nearly every stanza, yet seldom mentioning the sacred Name. “Drunk with the bliss of singing,” he wrote, “I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Rabindranath Tagore, assimilating his creative flow of art, song, and poetry, “seldom mentioning the sacred Name,” while always expressing the infinite beauty of God.
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Day 17
Swami Keshabananda
The Saint In the Himalayas
“Many times,” Keshabananda went on, “both before and after his passing, Lahiri Mahasaya has appeared bodily before me. For him no Himalayan height is inaccessible!”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Swami Keshabananda, knowing for certain, like him, that the great avatars are with us always, tangibly. They guide will guide our devoted heart.
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Day 18
Mahatma Gandhi
India’s Political Saint
“A beggar cannot renounce wealth,” Master would say. “If a man laments: ‘My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all and enter a monastery,’ to what worldly sacrifice is he referring? He did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!” Saints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible material sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of selfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Mahatma Gandhi, making like him “tangible material sacrifices,” renouncing every “selfish motive,” while merging our “inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.” Such merging not only expands our consciousness, but inspires us to serve humanity, as Gandhi did.
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Day 19
Sri Ramakrishna
The “Christlike Master” of Dakineshwar
“Let us sit here for a few minutes. My Master [Ramakrishna] always asked me to meditate whenever I saw an expanse of water. Here its placidity reminds us of the vast calmness of God. As all things can be reflected in water, so the whole universe is mirrored in the lake of the Cosmic Mind. So my gurudeva often said.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Ramakrishna, who advised to meditate every time we see “an expanse of water.” We may visualize our mind as a lake which is calming down, thereby reflecting Divinity. We then practice to maintain that calm mental lake during our entire day.
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Day 20
Giri Bala
The Woman Yogi who Never Eats
The little saint seated herself cross-legged on the verandah. Though bearing the scars of age, she was not emaciated; her olive-colored skin had remained clear and healthy in tone…. “Mother,” I went on, “please forgive me, then, for burdening you with many questions. Kindly answer only those that please you; I shall understand your silence, also.” She spread her hands in a gracious gesture. “I am glad to reply, insofar as an insignificant person like myself can give satisfactory answers.” “Oh, no, not insignificant!” I protested sincerely. “You are a great soul.” “I am the humble servant of all.” She added quaintly, “I love to cook and feed people.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Giri Bala, never feeling ourselves important, living simply, humbly, lovingly serving others, while trying to become, inwardly, a “great soul.”
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Day 21
The Sleepless Saint
Ram Gopal Muzumdar
“Young yogi, I see you are running away from your master. He has everything you need; you must return to him. Mountains cannot be your guru.” Ram Gopal was repeating the same thought which Sri Yukteswar had expressed at our last meeting. “Masters are under no cosmic compulsion to limit their residence.” My companion glanced at me quizzically. “The Himalayas in India and Tibet have no monopoly on saints. What one does not trouble to find within will not be discovered by transporting the body hither and yon. As soon as the devotee is willing to go even to the ends of the earth for spiritual enlightenment, his guru appears near-by.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into the Sleepless Saint, never running away from our path and Guru, never looking and searching elsewhere, but strengthening our loyalty and dedication to our Master, our path, our techniques, our meditations.
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Day 22
Paramhansa Yogananda
The Premavatar, Incarnation of Love
A cinema audience can look up and see that all screen images are appearing through the instrumentality of one imageless beam of light. The colorful universal drama is similarly issuing from the single white light of a Cosmic Source. With inconceivable ingenuity God is staging an entertainment for His human children, making them actors as well as audience in His planetary theater.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Yogananda, maintaining the awareness that the outer life is a big movie, nothing but “screen images,” all proceeding “from the single white light of a Cosmic Source.” And since Gd has created all this as an “entertainment for His human children,” let’s indeed have fun and be entertained, but wisely, without any attachment or desire.
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Day 23
The Succoring Sadhu
Yogananda’s God-Sent Helper
I noticed a sadhu of noble countenance standing just outside the compound of the pundit’s house. Evidently he had overheard the spirited conversation between the self-styled clairvoyant and myself, for the stranger called me to his side. I felt a tremendous power flowing from his calm eyes. “Son, don’t listen to that ignoramus. In response to your prayer, the Lord tells me to assure you that your sole path in this life is that of the renunciate.” With astonishment as well as gratitude, I smiled happily at this decisive message.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into the Succoring Sadhu, trusting that God will lovingly send us His instruments whenever we need them.
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Day 24
Kara Patri
The Wandering Yogi
I questioned Kara Patri about his wandering life. “Don’t you have any extra clothes for winter?” “No, this is enough.” “Do you carry any books?” “No, I teach from memory those people who wish to hear me.” “What else do you do?” “I roam by the Ganges.”… We sat happily awhile in meditative silence. After we had left his sacred presence, I said to Mr. Wright, “He is a king sitting on a throne of golden straw.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Kara Patri, assimilating his inward non-attachment (while possessing clothes, books, a car etc.), becoming, in our soul “a king sitting on a throne of golden straw.”
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Day 25
Luther Burbank
The Saint Amidst the Roses
“Sometimes I feel very close to the Infinite Power,” he confided shyly. His sensitive, beautifully modeled face lit with his memories. “Then I have been able to heal sick persons around me, as well as many ailing plants.”… As our friendship grew deeper, I called Burbank my “American saint.” “Behold a man,” I quoted, “in whom there is no guile!” His heart was fathomlessly deep, long acquainted with humility, patience, sacrifice. His little home amidst the roses was austerely simple; he knew the worthlessness of luxury, the joy of few possessions. The modesty with which he wore his scientific fame repeatedly reminded me of the trees that bend low with the burden of ripening fruits; it is the barren tree that lifts its head high in an empty boast.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Luther Burbank, being good, even excelling, at whatever we do, while remaining deeply humble and a person “in whom there is no guile.”
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Day 26
Yogananda’s Saintly Mother
Gyana Prabha Ghosh
While at our family estate in Ichapur, Bengal, I was stricken with Asiatic cholera. My life was despaired of; the doctors could do nothing. At my bedside, Mother frantically motioned me to look at Lahiri Mahasaya’s picture on the wall above my head. “Bow to him mentally!” She knew I was too feeble even to lift my hands in salutation. “If you really show your devotion and inwardly kneel before him, your life will be spared!” I gazed at his photograph and saw there a blinding light, enveloping my body and the entire room. My nausea and other uncontrollable symptoms disappeared; I was well. At once I felt strong enough to bend over and touch Mother’s feet in appreciation of her immeasurable faith in her guru.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Yogananda’s Mother, assimilating her “immeasurable faith in her guru.”
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Day 27
Yogananda’s Saintly Father
Bhagabati Charan Ghosh
Father and Mother…were blessed with saintly nature…. Father was a strict disciplinarian to his children in their early years, but his attitude toward himself was truly Spartan. He never visited the theater, for instance, but sought his recreation in various spiritual practices and in reading the Bhagavad Gita. Shunning all luxuries, he would cling to one old pair of shoes until they were useless….“Why be elated by material profit?” Father replied. “The one who pursues a goal of evenmindedness is neither jubilant with gain nor depressed by loss. He knows that man arrives penniless in this world, and departs without a single rupee.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Yogananda’s Father, being free, detached, and even-minded, knowing “that man arrives penniless in this world, and departs without a single rupee.”
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Day 28
The Mysterious Yogi
Bringer of the Mystical Amulet
“You are to be the custodian of a certain silver amulet. I will not give it to you today; to demonstrate the truth in my words, the talisman shall materialize in your hands tomorrow as you meditate. On your deathbed, you must instruct your eldest son Ananta to keep the amulet for one year and then to hand it over to your second son. Mukunda will understand the meaning of the talisman from the great ones. He should receive it about the time he is ready to renounce all worldly hopes and start his vital search for God. When he has retained the amulet for some years, and when it has served its purpose, it shall vanish. Even if kept in the most secret spot, it shall return whence it came.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into the Mysterious Yogi who brought the silver amulet, knowing that the “great ones” always guide us secretly. Maybe they send us less spectacular things or situations, but still, they are always heaven-sent.
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Day 29
Satish Chandra Bose
The husband of Roma, Yogananda’s sister
“Mukunda, how can you admire worthless humbugs?” Satish was saying. “A sadhu’s very appearance is repulsive. He is either as thin as a skeleton, or as unholily fat as an elephant!”… Years later, I visited my brother-in-law in Delhi. I was overjoyed to perceive that he had developed highly in self-realization, and had been blessed by the vision of Divine Mother. During my stay with him, I noticed that Satish secretly spent the greater part of every night in divine meditation, though he was suffering from a serious ailment, and was engaged during the day at his office.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Satish Chandra Bose, who was a materialist, an atheist and a sarcastic man, but who turned into a “silent saint” as Yogananda recounts. May he encourage us that all our worldly and imperfect sides can be transformed, and that we too can finally become a saint.
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Day 30
Tincouri and Ducouri
The Saintly Sons of Lahiri Mahasaya
On the following day I returned to her home and enjoyed several hours of philosophical discussion with Tincouri and Ducouri Lahiri. These two saintly sons of India’s great yogi followed closely in his ideal footsteps.
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Tincouri and Ducouri, and like them follow closely in the ideal footsteps of the Masters, consciously patterning our lives after theirs.
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Day 31
Panchanon Bhattacharya
A Saintly Disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya
Another disciple who was blessed by the sight of his resurrected guru was the saintly Panchanon Bhattacharya, founder of the Calcutta Arya Mission Institution. I visited Panchanon at his Calcutta home, and listened with delight to the story of his many years with the master. In conclusion, he told me of the most marvelous event in his life. “Here in Calcutta,” Panchanon said, “at ten o’clock of the morning which followed his cremation, Lahiri Mahasaya appeared before me in living glory.”
Practicing sainthood today:
Today let’s tune into Panchanon Bhattacharya, who actively served his gurus’ mission by founding an institute. Such effort can have long-lasting effects. In fact Panchanon’s Calcutta Arya Mission Institution exists still today, 135 years after being founded. At any rate, may his example inspire us to actively serve our guru.