Paramahansa Yogananda on Divine Love

February 27, 2024

Paramahansa Yogananda-on-Divine-Love

If you could feel even a particle of divine love, so great would be your joy — so overpowering — you could not contain it.

The greatest love you can experience is in communion with God in meditation. The love between the soul and Spirit is the perfect love, the love you are all seeking. When you meditate, love grows. Millions of thrills pass through your heart….If you meditate deeply, a love will come over you such as no human tongue can describe; you will know His divine love, and you will be able to give that pure love to others.

I remember when my Master [Swami Sri Yukteswar] asked me, ‘Do you love everybody equally?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ But he said, ‘Not yet, not yet.’ Then my youngest brother came to study in my school at Ranchi, and I had that consciousness that he was mine. I realized then why my Master had said, ‘Not yet.’ Gradually that consciousness wore off, and I realized that my brother was but a part of all humanity which I loved….One day, again, Master asked me, ‘Do you love the whole world?’ I just said, ‘I love.’ And he smiled and said, ‘Your work is finished.’

The love of God, the love of the Spirit, is an all-consuming love. Once you have experienced it, it shall lead you on and on in the eternal realms. That love will never be taken away from your heart. It shall burn there, and in its fire you shall find the great magnetism of Spirit that draws others unto you, and attracts whatsoever you truly need or desire.

Remember this: When I have left this world, only love can take my place. Be so drunk with the love of God night and day that you won’t know anything but God; and give that love to all.

—Paramahansa Yogananda to Sri Daya Mata (SRF’s third president) shortly before his passing

More inspiration from Paramahansa Yogananda on this subject can be found on the “How-to-Live Wisdom” section of our website, on the page “Love: Human and Divine.”

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