One of the most surprising revelations in Yogananda’s “Autobiography” is the assertion that each of us will continue to be reborn until every last one of our desires has been truly satisfied, such that we never experience that last desire again. Before reading the “Autobiography,” I had thought of the need to work out my karma more in terms of righting wrongs I had done to other persons in a past or this present life. I was also aware of the importance of releasing my attachments to others and to material things, which is an extremely difficult teaching for a Westerner, with the major emphasis we place on loving devotion to our families. Still, somehow I had never associated these karmic goals with a need to rise above all my desires. Fighting demons, yes. Overcoming sensuality, no.
That there is an extremely high bar for overcoming desire is abundantly clear from Chapter 34, “Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas.” This chapter tells the story of one of the two holiest figures in the “Autobiography,” the saintly Lahiri Mahasaya, who was the guru of Yogananda’s parents and whose photographic image cured the child Yogananda of cholera. Lahiri Mahasaya had overcome all of his desires and was ready to be elevated to a God-like plane by the very holiest figure of all, the mysterious and miraculous Babaji, who was reputed to be over 800 years old at the time of Yogananda’s writing: a modern Methuselah.
Babaji discovered that Lahiri Mahasaya still secretly harbored one latent and suppressed desire from a past life: the desire to witness and inhabit a marvelous palace – a bejeweled building so grand and noble as to outshine the Taj Mahal. Next thing you know, in a (mental) snap of his fingers, Babaji created such a palace on a crag in the Himalayas where Lahiri happened not-so-coincidentally to be visiting, and treated the amazed and awed Mahasaya to a tour. This led Mahasaya to exclaim, “Brother, the beauty of this structure surpasses the bounds of human imagination…” Shortly thereafter, Mahasaya encountered “the supreme Babaji” sitting in lotus posture on a jewel-encrusted throne and Babaji addressed him in Lahiri’s own account, saying, “’Lahiri, are you still feasting on your dream desires for a golden palace?’…’Wake! All your earthly thirsts are about to be quenched forever.’ He murmured some mystic words of blessing. ‘My son, arise. Receive your initiation into the kingdom of God through Kriya Yoga.’”
Following the initiation, Lahiri entered an ecstatic state and “felt no need for sleep.” Later, when he reopened his eyes after closing them on Babaji’s command, the enchanted palace had disappeared, but his state of ecstatic peace had not. Lahiri reported “remaining unbrokenly in its bliss for seven days. Crossing the successive strata of Self-knowledge, I penetrated the deathless realms of Reality. All delusive limitations dropped away; my soul was fully established on the altar of the Cosmic Spirit.”
What does this fantastic report or parable teach us? Obviously, that the real Kingdom of God lies within; it does not reside outside in a miraculous palace, no matter how sumptuous or heavenly its construction. It also tells me that the bar for overcoming human desires is set so high as to be nearly unreachable, even by the holiest of supplicants, who like Lahire Mahasaya still retained one last desire. With this new knowledge, I realize that I, with my many, many desires, must yet have many, many future incarnations to live out before I can approach the true threshold of a heaven that resides inside my Self.
Bird of Spirit 