When Paramahansa Yoganandaji first introduced the Self-Realization (Yogoda Satsanga) magazine in 1925, as a means of providing regular contact with the thousands of students from his classes across America, he stated, “I will talk to you all through the columns of this magazine.” For close to a century this periodical of spiritual living has served to introduce readers to the timeless universal truths he was ordained by his gurus to spread worldwide — helping many thousands to understand that they could put into practice the time-tested principles and techniques of Yoga to transform their lives and attain direct personal experience of God.
Looking ahead, we want to share with you our plans for the next phase in the evolution of Yogoda Satsanga magazine. These directly relate to recent milestones in the dissemination of our Guru’s teachings of Kriya Yoga. As you know, in 2019 Yogoda Satsanga Society of India launched the complete and enhanced edition of the YSS Lessons, which includes the most in-depth presentation of Paramahansaji’s teachings and techniques ever published, drawing extensively from the totality of his more than thirty years of writing, lecturing, and personal instruction to devotees. After the release of the basic series of Lessons, the new Kriya Yoga series was launched, followed by the Supplement Lessons series, which includes presentations on a multitude of key subjects and will continue for several years. And soon we will be launching the Advanced Lessons (available to Kriyabans), and the weekly Satsanga With Paramahansa Yogananda series, providing YSS Lessons students with an additional lifelong source of guidance and instruction.
- Weekly videos of inspirational talks with guided meditations, featuring beloved close disciples of Paramahansaji from past years such as Sri Daya Mata, Sri Mrinalini Mata, Swami Anandamoy Giri, and others, in addition to current YSS / SRF sannyasis;
- Talks, meditations, and timely messages from YSS/SRF President Swami Chidananda Giri;
- Online SRF World Convocation;
- A YSS Online Dhyana Kendra and SRF Online Meditation Center with a full schedule of daily group meditations;
- A greatly expanded website with inspirational blog posts on many subjects;
- A full-featured digital app for studying the YSS Lessons, to be expanded with many additional tools and content later this year;
- And much more.
The response of thousands of seekers to the new YSS Lessons and our online programmes — YSS students and those discovering YSS for the first time — has been extremely positive, with many attesting to the transformative power of Paramahansaji’s teachings and their timely relevance to the ubiquitous challenges in today’s world. Many have commented that having this broad spectrum of offerings has helped them to experience in a greater way the global spiritual community and fellowship that our Guru envisioned for YSS and SRF.
Through all these programmes, the flow of inspiration that began modestly with publication of the first issue of our magazine in 1925 has expanded exponentially, making the wisdom and inspiration of Paramahansaji’s teachings accessible to seekers on an unprecedented scale, far beyond what was possible when he inaugurated the magazine.
A New Annual Print Issue for Yogoda Satsanga Magazine
In connection with these recently expanded presentations of our Guru’s teachings, we have taken a fresh look at how Yogoda Satsanga magazine can best continue to fulfil its role, complementing the YSS Lessons and our array of online offerings. As most of you know, in the past couple of decades our world has seen huge changes in the way information and instruction is published and distributed to worldwide audiences. Magazines, newspapers, and other printed media have diminished in effectiveness and reach; while websites, online video, and other digital media have opened immensely greater opportunities to share a richer variety of content than ever before. As mentioned above, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India has evolved and benefitted from this in many ways. This brings us to our plans for the magazine.
Starting immediately, we are reducing the frequency of the printed magazine while continuing to expand our online offerings of inspiring multimedia content. We are in the process of creating a special section of the YSS website called “Yogoda Satsanga Magazine.” In addition, beginning early next year, a special large-format printed issue of Yogoda Satsanga will be published annually at the beginning of each year, replacing the current quarterly issues. These annual printed issues of Yogoda Satsanga magazine will include previously unpublished inspiration from Paramahansa Yogananda, as well as articles by current and past YSS/SRF presidents. In addition, articles by other authors will provide a broad offering of inspiration and practical how-to-live guidance; and there will also be news coverage of notable YSS events of the year.
We hope that our readers will eagerly look forward to these special annual issues; and at the same time, that this change will allow YSS Lessons students to have more time to focus upon and absorb the priceless material that is now coming through the Supplement Lessons and other Lessons series, much of which has never been published before. (Find out more about the YSS Lessons.) This schedule of one annual issue instead of four quarterly issues will be in effect for the next 2 – 3 years, after which we will re-evaluate the best role for the magazine for future years.
The 2022 annual issue, to be published in January of 2022, will be the next printed issue. In the meantime, we invite readers to enjoy the new Yogoda Satsanga online webpage. This includes:
- A curated list of links to content featured elsewhere on our website that was formerly covered in the printed magazine: blog entries, YSS news, etc.
- An easy-to-access library of all online services, talks, and guided meditations.
- A digital version of the annual print issue (when it becomes available).
If you have not signed up to receive YSS’s monthly newsletters by email, we encourage you to do so now by visiting test.yssofindia.org / enewsletter. Much new inspirational material is featured in each edition, sent to thousands worldwide.
Later this year we also will be inaugurating a special online library of many years of selected inspirational content from past issues of the magazine. It will include hundreds of pages of material from Paramahansaji, Sri Daya Mata, and other favourite authors whose words were eagerly absorbed by past Yogoda Satsanga magazine readers — as well as rare photos and YSS news (now YSS history!). This exceptional wisdom-resource will reside on the YSS website and be accessible to all who subscribe to the annual print edition.
Soon we will be posting on our Yogoda Satsanga magazine webpage more information about how to subscribe to Yogoda Satsanga to receive the annual print issue (which will also be available in digital format) and access the online library of past articles from the magazine. In the meantime, you can access several free articles on the magazine’s page, and if you would like to purchase still available previous print issues of the magazine you can do so on our bookstore at the link below. We look forward to continuing on this journey with you as you enjoy anew — or for the first time — this seminal magazine created to bring India’s spiritual wisdom and Paramahansa Yogananda’s unique voice and practical teachings directly to you.
