Yogananda's After This
An Adventure in Blissful Freedom
“After the prison-petals of earth-life fade”
In “After This,” Guruji reminds his devotes that even after he leaves his body, his soul will retain the one and only desire that is left to a self-realized saint: he will not wish to return to an incarnation, “Unless to mingle the dewdrop tears of other prisoned soul with mine, / And show them the way that I my freedom won.” He will gladly return in order to give others the methods by which he earned his “freedom.”
“Oh, I would not mind dwelling”
The great spiritual leader then dramatizes the many activities that occur on the earth, stating that he “would not mind dwelling / In roses and daffodils, for a time, / If it is of my own free will.” Students of the Paramahansa Yogananda have learned that their souls reincarnate in an evolutionary upward progression from the mineral to the saint. As a human being, the soul has the opportunity to understand its condition and aid in it own evolution.
The great yogi, then, poetically avers that he would not mind having his soul live in the plant kingdom, if he had the ability to choose that existence. The soul who has gained self-realization, or union with Divinity, has that awe-inspiring ability.
The great guru then remarks that if he were forced to remain bound to physical bodies “forever,” he would not fancy that. Not only would he not like to “stay behinds bars of beauty / Of violet sun-gold rays,” he would not want to be forced “to live / Even in a golden heavenly cage.” The emphasis is on the ability to exercise completely his own free will. As a self-realized soul, this yogi knows the ultimate freedom, which he would not trade for the best of earthly circumstances.
“From flower to flower will I fly”
Because he possess the ability to exert his own free will, he can willingly undergo any physical transformation without losing that ability; therefore, he can truthfully assert, “From flower to flower will I fly,” and “I will wear the blackness of the night,” and he will not mind being the most “famous man” or the least known man. His soul can retain its own bliss, no matter what God instructs him to be or do.
“I will be the tiniest cosmic spark”
As a free soul nurtured eternally by bliss, this great yogi will be content to be “the tiniest cosmic spark,” “the clouds,” “the babble of the brook,” or “the voice of the nightingale.” It simply matters not where his soul may be sent; he will retain his consciousness of ever-new bliss.
“As emotion-waves, I will surge in the sea of souls”
As the great yogi continues his drama, he metaphorically transforms his being into many entities. Finally, he offers a catalogue of individual activities through which he will become united with all of humanity: “Holding to the log of laughter / I will float to the shores of bliss.” He will “sing through the voices of all,” and he will “preach through all temples and prayers.”
He will “love with the love of God,” because “the hearts of all will be [the great yogi’s] heart.” All souls will be his soul, and all smiles, his own smile. His capacity to engender his own stature in others will demonstrate the unity of God and God’s creation.
Paramahansa Yogananda
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