Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

In this video, Brother (Swami) Chidananda, president and spiritual head of SRF/YSS, discusses three powerful methods that — in addition to daily meditation — can increase our ability to receive God’s grace in our consciousness so that we can express it outwardly “in love, kindness, wisdom, service to others and the world, and any kind of noble accomplishment.” (This talk, given in Noida, was livestreamed during Brother Chidananda’s visit to India in February of this year.)

Brother Chidananda describes three, interwoven “how-to-live sciences” as being very useful on the spiritual path — each one an integral part of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. They are:  

• “The yoga science of identity and identification,” to help us find the ultimate answer to that most essential question: Who am I?
• “The yoga science of vibration,” to help us attune our lives with positive and uplifting forces in our environment, and especially the great cosmic creative vibration of Aum.
• “The yoga psychology of Paramahansa Yogananda,” to allow the Guru’s comprehensive wisdom to transform our mental environment and outlook — freeing the mind from its enslavement to the body and the limitations imposed by outer influences, so that it can be a willing instrument of the divine and ever-perfect soul.  

The Kriya Yoga science of meditation — with its techniques and principles that teach us how to live fully identified with our true nature as the soul — is presented comprehensively in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, a home-study course. 

Brother Chidananda first introduced the concept of “spiritual photosynthesis” — the process by which we can turn God’s grace into soul qualities and actions elaborated on in this talk — during an earlier talk, entitled “Meditation: The Path to Divine Bliss and Abundance.” On a separate blog post you can watch an excerpt from that talk where Brother Chidananda is explaining this inspiring concept of spiritual growth.