By Mukti Mata
A disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda for more than sixty years, Mukti Mata (1922–2008) was a Self-Realization Fellowship minister who met the Guru in 1945. In the CD recording excerpted here, she recounts some of her experiences with Paramahansaji.
He was rather like the universe: all-knowing, all-perceiving. And the love he had for every soul who came to him: wondrous, extraordinary, pure, like the light from heaven.
I was introduced to the Self-Realization teachings and to Master unexpectedly in the fall of 1945. I had intuited something coming into my life and said, “Lord, if You exist, I dare You to prove it to me.” This was a very strong demand. Two weeks following that, a friend came by and simply said, “Let’s go to Hollywood.”
I never dreamed that we would be going to a church — Self-Realization Fellowship Church. And when my friend told me the name, I thought, “Well, what does it mean?” I thought perhaps there would be a philosophical minister discussing some kind of philosophical thoughts about religion, and so forth.
But when Master appeared and I saw him, I thought, “This is no ordinary being. This man knows God.” I often think, “How can you explain omniscience to anyone?” He knew our every thought, every feeling, where we had come from, where we were going. (Thank goodness someone knew!) But after that first introduction at the Hollywood Temple, I knew when I left the building that I was walking out physically but not otherwise.
When I was growing up, every two or three years I would draw a pair of brown eyes. And in those eyes I would try to create an expression of eternity. And my concentration sometimes would be so one-pointed that it was as though they came alive for me; they were real. And then when I saw Master, I saw such eyes.
He was rather like the universe: all-knowing, all-perceiving. And the love he had for every soul who came to him: wondrous, extraordinary, pure, like the light from heaven.
