The Voices of Light:
Paramahansa Yogananda

IN THE 19TH CENTURY, AT A TIME WHEN the “Sun never set on the British Empire,” (because, it was joked, God would not trust an Englishman in the dark), Britain had trade and governing routes into all corners of the globe; the beginning of world communications had commenced! In one place within the reach of Britain’s rule and trading was India, a huge country, comprising many different people’s, languages, religions and treasures.

The British way of governing colonies was through establishing bureaucracy and rule systems so that trading was continued without interruptions. In India, however, they found a people who had a very different way of experiencing life than the British. One of the famous English authors of the 1800’s, Rudyard Kipling, (the author of the Jungle Book and many other works), wrote that “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain will meet....” implying that the Eastern way of life would never find full comprehension in the West, and vice versa.

Times have progressed, and India, the largest democracy in the world, has caught onto “Western ways” in many areas including Western medicine, computer software, atomic research, space exploration, and banking. Into the West have come many influences from India, including Yoga, Ayurvedic medicine, Vedic Astrology, Indian Cuisine, and most significantly, Meditation.

One of the first Indian teachers to travel to the West in modern times was Paramahansa Yogananda. A literal translation of his name is, The Great Swan, Union of Bliss. In Indian legend, the Great Swan undertakes a migration into the high country behind the Himalaya Mountains, symbolizing, in human terms, a passage into the highest achievements in personal consciousness.

Paramahansa Yogananda was inspired by his Spiritual Master in India to make the journey to the West, and particularly to America, to bring the concepts of Eastern Spirituality into a predominantly Christian society. Although he died in the 1950’s, Yogananda’s legacy remains in books he wrote describing an Indian Spiritual Master’s experience of the world, and also in the Self-Realization Fellowship centers that he inspired in the US and other countries.

In this article we look at the Design of Paramahansa Yogananda in an effort to fathom how he had such an amazing effect on the world.

Paramahansa Yogananda was born in India on January 5, 1893 into the Incarnation of Penetration. This particular Incarnation gives one access to life from many different levels of perception. Anyone born into this Incarnation can relate from deep levels of intuition and from a place of being a powerful catalyst in other people’s growth, without necessarily being aware of the dramatic effect they have on those people’s lives.

In Design, there are five different expressions of interaction in life, and Yogananda has the Design of a “Manifestor.” In his Design chart, he has (definition) connection from the Heart Center, (the little red triangle Center) through the Spleen Center, (the brown triangle Center) to the Throat Center, (the brown square Center).

Manifestors, particularly those who are empowered from the Heart Center, are designed to push things to “make them happen.” Strangely, in this world where we are all encouraged to “go out and make things happen,” that is, to manifest, only a very small percentage of people are empowered in their own Design to do so. The vast majority of us are Designed to “wait” to be called before we get involved in manifesting things in our life.

It is not as though we lack the ability to recognize what can be done, but rather we are to be guided by direct interaction with Existence into what we are really here to fulfill in our lives. Too much of our lives can be spent on “doing” rather than “being,” leaving us continuously occupied but wondering if there is any purpose to our life at all. “Purpose” comes through relating with our “Being.” Yogananda is one of those rare beings who is designed “to do,” and necessarily, as a manifestor had an enormous responsibility to “do” appropriately, in accordance with his inner intelligence and intuitive guidance.

The “Willful” Manifestor
The Heart Center is the Center relating to willpower. Willpower can express itself in four different ways, through the four different Gates within the Center : through control (21), through community interactions (40), through accumulation (26) and through outrageousness (51).

From his defined Heart Center, Yogananda had access to his Spleen Energy through the Channel the 44 - 26, Surrender, the Peacemaker/Transmitter. This Channel, though very powerful through its origin in the Center of Willpower, connects into the “Feelgood” Center, the Spleen. It represents transmission of Willfulness into the Center relating to our sense of Health and Wellbeing. This Channel accumulates an inherent wish to direct heartfelt intent towards an appreciation of potential benefits to our wellbeing. People with this Channel defined in their Design are very open to bringing improvements into many areas of our lives, particularly in areas relating to having our physical needs met. Yogananda had a great gift for pointing out to people the true needs that are closest to our hearts, and how to accept those needs in order to transcend many unnecessary diversions in our lives.

From the Spleen Center to the Throat Center, Yogananda has the 48 - 16, the Channel of Talent. The Channel is activated by his conscious planet Saturn at the Spleen Center (48), relating to a life’s work of restructuring his personal gifts. At the Throat Center (16) it is activated by his conscious and unconscious Neptune and Pluto, and his ability to instantly recognize (or sometimes overlook) potentially viable endeavors of both spiritual and transformative value that can be related into the material world.

Open Centers
In most Design charts, there are
Centers that are colored white.
These Centers are either “open,” or
“undefined.”

An open Center is one that does not have any gates activated within it. An open Center has the potential to exactly mirror back the energies related to that Center towards anyone who has that Center defined in their own Design. Alternatively, an open Center can become overwhelmed by the energies emanating from others, especially those who have that Center defined in their own Design.

In Yogananda’s Design, he has open Crown and Emotional Centers.
The Crown is our Center for Inspiration, and anyone with a open Crown Center can find inspiration in almost anything life offers. How does someone know whether an inspiration is appropriate for them to pursue? By following their own decision making process, which in Yogananda’s Design is through his spontaneous intuition, instinct and sense of taste, which are the senses relating to his defined Spleen Center.

Yogananda also has an open Emotional Center giving him a potentially “uninvolved” emotional nature. He could appear quite cool to those with defined Emotional Centers, who continuously cycle up and down in their emotional nature. Yogananda would probably find himself puzzled and even concerned as to why people would get so emotionally entangled and excited about events in their lives. On the other hand, when surrounded by people with defined and excitable Emotional Centers, he could find himself highly charged emotionally, unable to control the feelings he experienced.

The Emotional Center is the doorway to Spirit. It is clear that Yogananda had a very close alignment with Spirit by being completely trusting and open Emotionally to his environment. So long as Yogananda remained true to his own nature, his presence would provide reflection for those around him, reflecting the nature of their own spirituality through his open Emotional Center.

Undefined Centers
An undefined Center has gates activated within it, but does not have a completely activated Channel connecting it to another Center. Undefined Centers can either reflect back their own energetic nature to the world, adding the “flavor” of the activated gates, or, they can absorb the energies of those with defined Centers and become conditioned by those people’s Designs. Very few people have no open or undefined Centers in their Designs, and consequently there needs to be a clear understanding of how we relate to the world from these Centers. It all comes down to detachment. Can we allow ourself to be detached from the interplays that happen in our undefined and open Centers?

In Yogananda’s Design, he has an undefined Mental Center, affording him the great ability to clarify thoughts for others. His activated Gates 17 and 11, gave him access to the vast collective thought train through an openness and attunement. His activated Gate 24 (North Node), gave him access to a deep level of mental rationalizing and universal comprehension.

He has an undefined Self Center, giving him the ability to play many roles in his lifetime and appear as “all things to all people.” Very few Western people appreciated what was involved in relating to an Indian Sage in the early 1900’s. The activated Gate 13, gave him a constant reminder that no matter how great the teacher teaching himself, Yogananda would always have to rely on his own resources as a source of Truth.

His undefined Sacral Center gave him a fascination for life and a readiness to commit to anything life offered with his Gate 29. It also gave him a readiness for generosity in his caring for others in his Gate 27 (North Node), when he appreciated the tragic nature of the Spiritual Wilderness in which he found himself, in a country desperately seeking its own identity while being recognized as the leading world power. His activated Gate 59 gave him great intimacy with those around him.

His undefined Root Center, containing his Sun activation in Gate 54, the Gate of Ambition, both worldly and spiritual, and his Earth activation in the Gate 53, of Commencement, allowed him to get other people motivated simply through his presence.
In conclusion

By simply reading the names of his defined Channels, the 16 - 48, (Talent) and the 44 - 26, (The Transmitter), Yogananda can described as a “Talented Transmitter.” He brought with him a conscious ability to communicate alternative and improved ways of living. Coming from his spiritual heritage in India, the improved ways of living that he espoused transmitted an awareness that each individual can naturally acknowledge and live a more openly spiritual life, as a unique, self-realized Being.

Manifestors are potentially highly energized people, and it would be almost impossible to ignore Yogananda’s presence if one met him. Since he was given such direct instruction by his Spiritual Master to build something in the West, he exerted tremendous efforts to make this come about, spending much time founding, with the assistance of helpers and financial backers, the Self-Realization Fellowship. The Temple that Paramahansa Yogananda created in Encinitas, California, facing out over the Ocean towards his beloved India, still holds the tranquility and beauty that this amazing man loved and lived.

Next month: Mohandas Ghandi : A changer of the world’s thinking.

© 2002 Chetan Parkyn

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