Too Near: A Divine Poem by Paramahansa Yogananda

In honor of the birth commemoration (January 5th) of the great Satguru, Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, I would simply like to share one of his divine poems. His tremendous impact both on my own life and the Western culture of spirituality is beyond words. 

Sri Yoganandaji arrived in Boston in 1920 and gave a lecture on “The Science of Religion” which later became his first publication. Shortly after, he released his second book—not on yoga, nor Vedanta, nor the Bhagavad-Gita, nor the second coming of Christ. It was a book of poems, Songs of the Soul.  "Why poetry?" you may ask. How did this fit into his mission?

In India, poetry is considered a divine art. Many of India's holy scripture are written in poetic verse. Sri Yoganandaji spoke about poetry as a way of communing with God as Beauty (Sundara). “God is poesy. It is another expression of His beauty…If we love God, we love poetry.”*

TOO NEAR
BY: PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA, SONGS OF THE SOUL, FIRST EDITION, 1923.

I stood in silence to worship Thee
In Thy temple large—
With blue etheric dome,
Lighted by the spangling stars,
Shining with the lustrous moon,
Tapestried with golden clouds—
Where reigns no dogma loud.
I prayed and waited
For Thee to come. I cried—
Thou didst not come.
I’ll wait no more,
Nor send my feeble prayer,
Footsteps Thine to hear—
They are not heard without:
In me Thou art—too near.

Songs of the Soul can be purchased here.

*Yogananda, Paramahansa. Divine Romance, Self-Realization Fellowship, 2002, p358.