“Beloved Burbank,” I cried after reading
the definition, “your very name is now a synonym
for goodness!”
SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA
U.S.A.
December 22, 1924
I have examined the Yogoda system of Swami Yogananda
and in my opinion it is ideal for training and harmonizing
man’s physical, mental, and spiritual natures.
Swami’s aim is to establish “How-to-Live”
schools throughout the world, wherein education will
not confine itself to intellectual development alone,
but also training of the body, will, and feelings.
Through the Yogoda system of physical, mental, and
spiritual unfoldment by simple and scientific methods
of concentration and meditation, most of the complex
problems of life may be solved, and peace and good-will
come upon earth. The Swami’s idea of right
education is plain commonsense, free from all mysticism
and non-praciticality; otherwise it would not have
my approval.
I am glad to have this opportunity of heartily joining
with the Swami in his appeal for international schools
on the art of living which, if established, will come
as near to bringing the millennium as anything with
which I am acquainted.
{FN38-1} Burbank also gave me an autographed picture
of himself. I treasure it even as a Hindu merchant
once treasured a picture of Lincoln. The Hindu,
who was in America during the Civil War years, conceived
such an admiration for Lincoln that he was unwilling
to return to India until he had obtained a portrait
of the Great Emancipator. Planting himself adamantly
on Lincoln’s doorstep, the merchant refused
to leave until the astonished President permitted
him to engage the services of Daniel Huntington, the
famous New York artist. When the portrait was
finished, the Hindu carried it in triumph to Calcutta.
[Illustration: Luther Burbank’s signature—see
bsignature.jpg]
{FN38-2} New York: Century Co., 1922.
THERESE NEUMANN, THE CATHOLIC STIGMATIST
“Return to india. I have waited for you
patiently for fifteen years. Soon I shall swim
out of the body and on to the Shining Abode.
Yogananda, come!”
Sri Yukteswar’s voice sounded startlingly in
my inner ear as I sat in meditation at my Mt.
Washington headquarters. Traversing ten thousand
miles in the twinkling of an eye, his message penetrated
my being like a flash of lightning.
Fifteen years! Yes, I realized, now it is 1935;
I have spent fifteen years in spreading my guru’s
teachings in America. Now he recalls me.
That afternoon I recounted my experience to a visiting
disciple. His spiritual development under Kriya
yoga was so remarkable that I often called him
“saint,” remembering Babaji’s prophecy
that America too would produce men and women of divine
realization through the ancient yogic path.
