COMING HOME
Finding Shelter in the Love and Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda
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Fourteen stories of divine love and longing that answer two of life's most important questions: Is it really possible—in this day and age—to have a close, personal relationship with God? And if this is the case, who can show me the way?
Copyright 2020, White Pearl Press
Coming Home Finding Shelter in the
Love and Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda
By Margaret Wolff
For the first time in the history of the modern world, the fundamental yearning for “something to believe in” is an operative part of the American conversation. Words such as “meditation” and “spirituality” have given voice to the collective hunger to live with greater meaning.
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COMING HOME offers a bird’s-eye view into the lives of 14 spiritual travelers who receive a divine invitation to jumpstart their spiritual life. Readers catch sight of what it means to discover and cultivate a spiritual bond with the Divine that is so familiar and centering that it feels like coming home. The experience—and the book itself—is a port in the storm.
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Told through the lens of the universal yoga teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, the stories are—individually and collectively—a tribute to the radiant potential of the human spirit. These heartfelt accounts of the “coming home experience” capture the profound peace, the sense of sanctuary, the joy and gratitude that comes from saying “Yes!” to the divine invitation.
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COMING HOME is published by . White Pearl Press .
Excerpts
“I once heard a story about a man who knew Paramahansa Yogananda who had a sudden desire for a new car. He goes right out and buys a car and drives over to show it off to the Master. Yogananda looks at the car and smiles, then says, “If you had just let that desire go, Divine Mother would have given you a Cadillac.” God's prepared to give us a lot more than what we think we need or deserve. If we get out of Her way, great stuff happens.”
“I have a Guru. I have the teachings. I can pray. I can meditate. It’s an embarrassment of riches. I can face anything now. It doesn't mean I don't get scared. It doesn't mean I don't fall into old patterns or old habits, but I know now, with every fiber of my being, that I am loved and I am His.”
"It's really special to open your heart to God's unconditional love, but it’s more special to unconditionally give your heart to God. It’s not an easy thing to do. The world can be frustrating, sometimes. Being unconditional is about trusting the Guru and giving him my heart in those difficult moments. That trust is part of the promise I made to him and to God, and it’s then that God and Guru and the world need my heart the most."
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About Paramahansa Yogananada
Paramahansa Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India in 1893. His fervent longing for God drew him, at 17, to Swami Sri Yukteswar, the enlightened master who guided his spiritual journey. Eight years later, he took vows as a monk of the ancient Swami Order and received the name Yogananda—bliss, ananda, through divine union, yoga. The religious title Paramahansa was later bestowed on him by his guru.
In 1920, Yogananda sailed to America as India’s delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals. He spent the next 30 years bringing India’s ancient meditation techniques to thousands of seekers of all religions all over the world who—then as now—were searching for the true meaning of life and the means to live from their highest potential.
Autobiography of a Yogi, the warm and evocative story of Yogananda’s search for God and his expansive vision of the divine potential in every human being, is hailed as one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century and continues to inspire millions of spiritual seekers around the globe. Awake: The Life of Yogananda, the award-winning documentary on his life and work, was released worldwide in 2014.
Though he passed away in 1952, Yogananda is known worldwide as the "Father of Yoga in the West" and is regarded as one of the preeminent spiritual figures of our time. Under the direction of President and Spiritual Head Brother Chidananda, monks and nuns of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)—the non-profit, non-sectarian spiritual organization Yogananda created in 1920 to disseminate his teachings—conduct classes, retreats, and online meditations, and provide spiritual counsel to SRF’s thousands of members and friends.
To learn more about Paramahansa Yogananda and the work of Self-Realization Fellowship, please visit Yogananda.org. To learn more about Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the organization Paramahasaji founded in 1917 in India before coming to America, please visit yssofindia.org.
Courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calif.
About Margaret Wolff
Margaret Wolff is the author of 21 books and 150 blogs, stories, interviews, and essays. Her work has appeared in Beliefnet, Parabola, Yoga Journal, The Collective Wisdom Initiative, Feminist.com, Yoga International, and Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Though she earned degrees in Art Therapy, Psychosynthesis, and Leadership Studies, Wolff’s education began in the midnight hours of her childhood with an unseen but palpable presence she called “The Magic” that filled her with uncharacteristic bravado—and sometimes joy. She began to write poems and stories at an early age that ultimately helped her understand her place in the world. Storytelling—the arts—became a soulful, transformative journey, an exploration of her inner life.
Being an Art Therapist and a writer ultimately became a winning combination for Wolff. She’s done deep dives into spiritual and artistic processes that help others negotiate chaos in their lives and went on to present 250 keynotes and retreats for groups such as The Parliament of World Religions, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and American Montessori Society, and served as a delegate to The Global Peace Initiative of Women, a United Nations conference in Geneva.
The most alchemical work of Wolff’s life came, however, in the mid ‘70s when she discovered that the ease and grace of her childhood covenant with “The Magic” could again be hers by practicing Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings. She did. And it has. Forty years later Coming Home: Finding Shelter in the Love and Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda took flight.
