Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

No matter what difficulties the world or we are going through, it is possible to overcome any consciousness of being a victim that we might harbor by choosing instead to instill in ourselves the victorious consciousness of a spiritual conqueror.

That is a central message that Brother Chidananda, president and spiritual head of SRF/YSS, shares in this excerpt from a talk he gave in February 2023, as part of a 5-day program in Hyderabad, India.

But to develop that victorious consciousness and “weather the storms of duality” requires that we adopt positive strategies, he says, such as are taught in the “how-to-live” teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, and that we learn one skill above all else — daily meditation.

Brother Chidananda assures us that the injunction of the Bhagavad Gita to “take shelter in yoga” — the science of Kriya Yoga meditation — will lead to our knowing ourselves as divine beings, and that is the greatest remedy for whatever we face and can ultimately lead to our ability to, in Paramahansaji’s words, “stand unshaken midst the crash of breaking worlds.”

Brother Chidananda’s full talk was given as the inaugural address at the “YSS Sangam 2023,” held in Hyderabad, India. Brother Chidananda traveled to Paramahansa Yogananda's homeland on a six-week trip to visit the ashrams of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (the name by which Paramahansaji's work is known in India and several surrounding countries) and to participate in the Sangam.

You can watch the entire inaugural talk as well as a three-hour meditation led by Brother Chidananda and his closing talk at the Sangam at the link below, to dive deeper into knowing how to “take shelter in yoga.”

In this video Brother Chidananda discusses the “how-to-live” skills and powerful meditation techniques taught in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, Paramahansa Yogananda's home-study course presenting his personal and comprehensive instruction in the science of meditation and art of balanced living.