Yogananda's God! God! God!
One-Pointed Concentration
The final quatrain of the great guru’s poem from Songs of the Soul catalogues all of the day’s endeavors, haloing them in that one-pointed concentration, which is “unheard by any” but is nevertheless a central focus in the life and mind of the devotee.
First Quatrain: “From the depths of slumber”
The speaker declares that the first thing he acknowledges as he wakes every morning is his Divine Beloved; he “whispers: / God! God! God!” The speaker compares metaphorically the process of waking up to “ascend[ing] the spiral stairway of wakefulness.”
The speaker does not declaim his Beloved’s name loudly upon awakening but takes that name with a quiet “whisper.” The speaker begins his day with calmness, after his consciousness has risen “from the depths of slumber.”
Second Quatrain: “Thou art the food, and when I break my fast”
The devotee then avers that the Divine is the very food he eats at breakfast. To end his “nightly separation from [the Divine],” he takes his meal, realizing that he is tasting Divine Essence. And as he enjoys the food given by the Beloved, he “mentally says: God! God! God!” Again, just a simple, quiet acknowledgment keeps his thoughts ever trained on the Lord.
Third Quatrain: “No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind”
The speaker then averss that he keeps his thought on his Divine Beloved even “in the battle din of activity.” He engages in his daily duties of struggle but keeps a “silent war-cry,” and that silent cry is, “God! God! God!” He keeps the “spotlight of his mind” focused on the Divine.
Fourth Quatrain: “When boisterous storms of trials shriek”
The speaker acknowledges that his daily duties at times are filled with difficulties; he metaphorically dramatizes them as “boisterous storms” that “shriek” and “worries” that like hungry wolves “howl.” But instead of allowing those tribulations to crowd his mind, he “drown[s] their noises, loudly chanting: / God! God! God!”
Ordinarily, just a quiet whisper, mental chant, or silent war-cry will suffice to bring the calm the speaker seeks, but when “storms of trials” and “worries howl” for attention, he must chant aloud to bring about their retreat.
Fifth Quatrain: “When my mind weaves dreams”
In the fifth quatrain, the speaker retires for the night, and his mind fills with “threads of memories.” He does not allow his mind to merely “weave[ ] dreams”; he metaphorically turns those woven dreams into a “magic cloth” on which he imprints the name of his Divine Beloved: God! God! God!”
Sixth Quatrain: “Every night, in time of deepest sleep”
Because the speaker has disciplined his mind, he can enjoy a “time of deepest sleep” when “[His] peace dreams and calls, Joy! Joy! Joy!,” and that joy yields the same chant of one-pointed concentration that the devotee has practiced daily: that joy “comes singing evermore: / God! God! God!”
Seventh Quatrain: “In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping”
Again because of the discipline of concentration, the speaker’s soul can “constantly hum” the name of the Divine Beloved in all activities that engage the speaker, “waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping, / Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving.” No matter what he does or where he goes, his mind remains focused one-pointedly on the Divine.
Paramahansa Yogananda
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