Finding the Joy Within You- Personal Counsel for God-Centred Living

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Finding the Joy Within You is a compassionate and deeply encouraging book-that speaks to all who long to know that God is real, that He is near to us at all times, and that we can live every day of our lives in intimate communion with Him.

In this collection of talks, informal counsel, and personal reminiscences, Sri Sri Daya Mata shares the guidance and inspiration she received as a close disciple of Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the preeminent spiritual figures of our time and author of the widely acclaimed Autobiography of a Yogi.

During her more than twenty years of day-to-day association with the great teacher, he lovingly guided her along the path of spiritual discipline to that ultimate goal sought by truth-seekers throughout the ages: direct personal experience of God. This anthology conveys the in-depth guidance she absorbed during those transforming years -the practices and principles that lead to realization of the infinite love and joy that are hidden within every human being, just waiting to be discovered.

Amid the pressures of the modern world, it is sometimes difficult to think of such a goal as attainable, or even approachable. Finding the Joy Within You offers compelling testimony to the contrary, showing how anyone-regardless of outer circumstances can learn to live in the continual joy and security of a God-centred life.

Sri Sri Daya Mata (1914-2010) was one of the earliest and closest disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda (see inside back flap). A true "Mother of Compassion," as her name signifies, she has inspired those of all faiths and from all walks of life with the wisdom and great love of God conveyed through her talks, writings, and recordings. Referring to her first volume of spiritual counsel, Only Love, the former Ambassador of India to the United States, Ν. Α. Palkhivala, wrote: "Sri Daya Mata personifies love and compassion and the other timeless values of Indian culture.... Her speeches are not dry academic dissertations on abstract theological principles, but intensely personal hymns testifying to her ecstatic vision of the Creator."

Daya Mataji entered Paramahansa Yogananda's ashram in Los Angeles in 1931. From the beginning it was evident that Paramahansaji had singled her out for a special role. He later told her that he had given to her the same intense spiritual discipline that his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, had given to him-a significant remark, since she was to inherit the spiritual and organizational mantle that Sri Yukteswar had bestowed on him.

Not long before his passing the Guru informed her that he would soon leave his body. Stunned, Daya Mataji asked how his work could continue without him: "Master, usually when the leader goes, an organization no longer grows but begins to die out. How will we carry on without you? What will hold and inspire us when you are no longer in the flesh?" Quietly Paramahansaji answered: "When I am gone, only love can take my place. Be so drunk with the love of God that you will know nothing else but God; and give that love to all." These words became the guiding light of her life.

The great Guru's life came to a close in 1952. In 1955, succeeding the late, saintly Rajarsi Janakananda, Sri Daya Mata became the third president of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India/Self Realization Fellowship. As spiritual successor to Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, she saw to the faithful carrying out of his ideals and wishes concerning YSS/SRF, the spiritual guidance of its members, and the training of the monastic disciples who reside in the various Yogoda Satsanga/Self-Realization ashrams.

Nearly forty years ago I had the great good fortune to meet Paramahansa Yogananda, that divine soul whose spirit and teachings are so beautifully conveyed in this volume of talks by his foremost living disciple, Sri Daya Mata.* The experience of meeting Paramahansaji is etched in my memory as one of the unforgettable events of my life. It was in March of 1952. I had taken up my duties as India's Ambassador to the United States late in 1951, and was on an official tour visiting the different parts of the country. Upon my arrival in Los Angeles, the uppermost thought in my mind was to meet Paramahansaji, whose teaching of Self- Realization was exercising a great spiritual influence not only in the United States, but in many other countries of the world.

Even though I had heard much about Paramahansaji and his work, I was not really quite prepared for what I found at the Self-Realization Centre on Mt. Washington. From the moment I arrived, I felt as if I had gone back three thousand years to one of the ancient ashrams we read about in our holy scriptures. Here was the great rishi (illumined sage) surrounded by his disciples, all clad in the saffron robes of the sannyasi (renunciant). It seemed an island of divine peace and love in a sea buffeted by the tumult of the modern age.

From 1931 until 1952, it was my privilege and duty to record stenographically Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings for posterity: his public lectures and classes, the Sunday and Thursday inspirational services he conducted at his Self-Realization Fellowship Inter- national Headquarters and temples, and much of his informal spiritual counsel to disciples.

The teachings presented in the Guru's classes and lectures around the nation-particularly the detailed instructions on yoga meditation techniques taught to those who enrolled for the private classes he held in each city-were compiled into the Yogoda Satsanga Society Lessons. Of the inspirational talks he gave over the years to members and the interested public at Self- Realization temples and the international headquarters, over a hundred have been published in two anthologies, Man's Eternal Quest and The Divine Romance; others appear in each issue of Yogoda Satsanga annual-series booklets. The purpose of the present volume (and its predecessor, Only Love) is to convey the personal guidance and inspiration Paramahansaji gave to the close disciples who lived around him-those who received through day-to-day association with the great Master his in-depth spiritual training and discipline.

This collection of talks offers compelling testimony that every one of us-whatever our outer circumstances can learn to live each day in the continual joy and security found at the deepest level of our being. Finding the Joy Within You is a compassionate and practical guide to a life of attunement with the Divine-the fruit of the author's sixty years of living for God and sharing His joy with others.

Sri Daya Mata was born on January 31, 1914, in Salt Lake City, Utah. From her earliest years she had a deep longing to know God. At the age of eight, when she first heard about India in school, she felt a mysterious inner awakening, and with it a conviction that India held the key to the fulfilment of her life. That day, when school was over, she ran home and exclaimed jubilantly to her mother, "When I grow up I will never marry; I will go to India." Prophetic words from a child.

When Daya Mata was fifteen, she was given a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, "Song of the Lord." This scripture deeply moved her, for it revealed God's compassionate love for and understanding of His children. He was seen to be approachable, knowable; and His children were called divine beings, who through self-effort could realize their spiritual birthright, oneness with Him.