Introduction: Footprints of Paramahamsa Hariharananda

A yogi of immense learning and unfathomable power, Paramahamsa Hariharananda embodied the love of Jesus, the mind of Shankara, and the devotion of Shri Chaitanya. Notwithstanding his great stature, he was humble, accessible, and kind. He left his physical body in 2002 at the age of 95 years.

The Ocean of Divine Bliss: The Complete Works of Kriya Yoga Master Paramahamsa Hariharananda is a monument, a gateway, and a resource. The Complete Works have been compiled to acknowledge Hariharanandaji's stupendous accomplishments on his one hundredth birthday. The Complete Works honor his life and endeavor, and show us what is possible in our own lives. The Complete Works are an invitation to begin or intensify our practice of Kriya Yoga, which Paramahamsa Hariharananda mastered. These volumes will serve as a resource for students of spiritual development through the ages.

In this Foreword, we will seek to convey a sense of our Gurudev, Paramahamsa Hariharananda, to help you take his measure. Because of his greatness and the difficulty understanding his nature and achievement, this is quite a challenge.

We can witness phenomena in the material world and assess them. The Himalayas are a vast mountain range before which we stand in humble awe. The Grand Canyon astounds us with its depth and breadth. The Pyramids and the Taj Mahal amaze us as we realize what human beings can plan and build. We can readily enough measure the stature of natural and human creation, but what is the measure of a fully-realized human being?

We can look at the impact such beings have made, and what they have left behind as they have walked through life. We can look at their footprints on the sands of time. The Complete Works are a few of Gurudev's footprints, and this Foreword will share others.

Perhaps Gurudev's most significant "books" are each of his thousands of students. These too are volumes Gurudev has written; we are his footprints.

Even though he is a giant, we call him "Baba," an affectionate term that connotes the intimacy and love of "Papa." By knowing a little about how Baba loved, served and lived, you will know more about the depth and wonder of this world, and what is possible to attain. You will know that in the face of the sometimes frightening challenges of life, the pervasive suffering and apparently meaningless struggle, there is Divinity that knows you and cares — and is awakening in you. Your life is not an empty dream. You will begin to understand who Paramahamsa Hariharananda is, and who you really are.

Paramahamsa Hariharananda was born into a brahmin family on May 27, 1907 at Habibpur in the Nadia district of West Bengal state, and left his mortal body in Miami, Florida, on December 3, 2002. These places and dates are the bookends of an extraordinary life. You will find more details about his life in the short biography at the end of this Foreword, but the story of his memorial service fit for a king will quickly put his life in context.

Paramahamsa Hariharananda was a monk, a swami, and there are tens of thousands of monks in India. Ordinarily, a monk's demise would receive little notice, but the government assembly of Orissa, a state in India, made the extraordinary decision to give Paramahamsa Hariharananda a funeral with a state honor guard, and this simple monk's passing was covered by state and national newspapers.

When Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, whom Gurudev designated as his successor, arrived in Orissa from the United States with the physical body of Gurudev, numerous state dignitaries and military personnel greeted the airplane. The military honor guard fired their rifles, and the sound of the bugle provided a surprising and touching background. Numerous police cars escorted the hundreds of vehicles that traveled from the airport to Balighai Hariharananda Gurukulam Ashram located on the Puri-Konarka marine drive, where Paramahamsa Hariharananda's body was tenderly laid on a newly-made bed, and where thousands of people came to pay their last respects to him.

A ceremonial congregation of monks from other orders and monasteries participated in, and assisted with, the memorial service. Unprecedented in the history of Orissa and Puri, almost 300 monks from other orders attended. One old and venerable monk remarked on this, saying that in his long memory, he had seen only one other time that as many as 200 monks from other orders attended a memorial. These monks, who have dedicated their lives to God, showed their honor, love, and respect for Gurudev by graciously attending the memorial service.

Baba taught that an ounce of practice is better than a ton of theory, so while The Complete Works are important as a monument and as a reference, if you find Paramahamsa Hariharananda's work attractive, the most important thing that you can do is to practice what he taught. If you have been initiated in Kriya Yoga, practice it every day (and even every moment of every day), and if you have not been initiated, take initiation and practice. You can then use The Complete Works to support your practice.

“Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (John 4:48).

In the Book of John, Jesus says that unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Perhaps miracles are most important not for what they accomplish, but for their ability to transform our understanding of the way the world works. They help us to see that there is much more to the world than meets the eye.

Baba routinely performed what we would consider to be miracles. We will share a few of his miracles here, some "signs and wonders," to help you see that he was not an ordinary human being. You will find more stories in these volumes.

Baba's miracles were a natural exercise of his capacities. For example, just as you would listen to your child tell you about her day in school, Baba would listen to what his disciples said. His "listening" went beyond words, though. He could listen to the heart and mind as well as to the voice. Baba would answer unspoken questions or concerns, and give useful advice in all areas of life.

Here is an example from a disciple. “Baba once told me, ‘You are not getting along with your wife.’ I had told him nothing about this, and in a way, he could not have known, but he did. He gave me practical guidance, and then he said, ‘People wonder how I, a celibate monk, can give advice on marriage. I can do this because I remember being married many times in prior lives.’”

Baba showed us in other ways that his knowledge was not limited to his locale. Here is a story from another of Baba's students:

“So one day Baba sends me searching for a particular kind of pen. The pen has four different colored inks. I look all through New York City and I can't find this kind of pen. So I'm in a store that I've never been in before and I find a different pen that I think he'll like. I didn't find the pen he wanted, but I found a different pen. So I bring him back the pen and he's looking at the pen. He says, 'Very nice pen. Very nice pen. But you go back to that store, you look just a little bit to the left of where you found this pen. Surely the pen you are looking for is there.' I said, 'Baba. It's not there.' ‘Look,’ he says, ‘I’m telling you it’s there. You go back.’ So the next day I go back to the store. And I'm thinking Baba's never been in this store. Before yesterday, I've never been in this store. And I look just a little bit to the left of where I found the first pen. I looked where Baba said the four-color pen would be and I found it, exactly where he said it would be. There it was. How?"

This student also observed that there was a moral to the story: keep looking, and keep looking where Gurudev tells us to look. This has application in our spiritual development.

Paramahamsa Hariharananda could also work on a larger scale. A group of kriyavans (Kriya Yoga initiates) was sitting with Baba on the covered patio of his ashram in Homestead, Florida. A worried disciple came to the group and said, "Baba, the weather report says that the hurricane is very dangerous and that it is headed right this way." Sitting in his orange robes, Baba turned his gaze inward briefly. Then he said, "It will not come. One blow!" as he clenched his right fist and playfully punched the air. A few days later, the Associated Press reported that the hurricane had been headed for Homestead when it mysteriously veered out to sea. It has been said that a hurricane is more powerful than the H-Bomb. Baba is even stronger.

Source: the Foreword and short biography in The Ocean of Divine Bliss: The Complete Works of Kriya Yoga Master Paramahamsa Hariharananda (pages xviii–xlii).