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From a talk given at Self-Realization
Fellowship Hermitage, Encinitas, California, at a service
commemorating the anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda’s
mahasamadhi (a God-realized master’s conscious
exit from the body at the time of physical death).
Here in this very hermitage, one evening in 1940, our
Guru wrote his poem “When I Am Only a Dream.”
He was sitting at his desk and a few of us sat quietly
at his feet. He wrote a few lines; then he paused and
read them to us. With eyes closed, we meditated upon his
words. Then he wrote a little more, paused, and read to
us again. And so he continued, far into the night, writing
this beautiful poem. It isn’t just a poem; it is
a divine experience.
I come to tell you all of Him,
And the way to encase Him in your bosom,
And of the discipline that brings His grace.
Those of you who have asked me
To guide you to my Beloved’s presence—
I warn you through my silently talking mind,
Or speak to you through a gentle significant glance,
Or whisper to you through my love,
Or loudly dissuade you when you stray away from Him.
But when I shall become only a memory, or a mental image,
or silently speaking voice,
When no earthly call will ever reveal
My whereabouts in unplumbed space,
When no shallow entreaty or stern stentorian command will
bring from me an answer—
I will smile in your mind when you are right,
And when you are wrong I will weep through my eyes,
Dimly peering at you in the dark,
And weep through your eyes, perchance;
And I will whisper to you through your conscience,
And I will reason with you through your reason,
And I will love all through your love.
When you are able no longer to talk with me,
Read my Whispers from Eternity;
Eternally through it I will talk to you.
Unknown I will walk by your side
And guard you with invisible arms.
And as soon as you know my Beloved
And hear His voice in silence,
You will know me again more tangibly than you knew me
on this earth plane.
And yet when I am only a dream to you,
I will come to remind you that you too are naught
But a dream of my Heavenly Beloved;
And when you know you are a dream, as I know now,
We will be ever awake in Him.
Please
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