“You don’t know what a terrible cataclysm is coming!”
Imagine the great master Paramhansa Yogananda intoning these words with ringing divine power and truth. He never said or did anything without direct guidance from God, so we can make no mistake about the nature of such a prophecy. What is this terrible cataclysm, then, and when is it coming? Are we really living in a divine dream that may yet turn into such a nightmare as the World Wars and other calamities of recent history? We can speculate much, and even perceive likely glimpses of what is to come, but the real questions probe deeper and more poignantly into the divine purpose at hand.
Yogananda’s words were not a one-off prediction or merely a suggestive remark. Swami Kriyananda also spoke and wrote strongly about this topic on many occasions. Yet there remains a certain, intentional vagueness surrounding these ominous foretellings. Swami and Master were not pessimists or fatalists. They were keenly aware of the mass karma at play in this world and of the messy, transitional nature of this emerging age of energy (Dwapara Yuga), still breaking the heavy chains of the previous age of matter (Kali Yuga). Moreover, such saints and masters know the power of divine grace—in no small part dependent upon the self-effort of those willing to receive it—to mitigate and even avert massive and disastrous karma.
Furthermore, the potential for spiritual progress in such hard times is immense. The horrors of World War II, to use but one example, are also the source of countless inspiring stories of courage, faith, honor, and other great spiritual virtues. The darkness and difficulty of such times provide a powerful backdrop for the Light to shine. Each person on earth makes a karmic choice to participate during such events and, in doing so, exercises the simple mechanism of free will: to move toward God and the Light, or to move, in some measure, toward the shadows of fear, unwillingness, or evil. Can the choice really be so simple? And for those who are willing, even amidst the “crash of breaking worlds,” can the gains really be so great? What an extraordinary opportunity lies before us.
Great souls like Yogananda and Kriyananda—by no means the only ones to do so in recent times—have made these predictions emphatically and consistently over the last hundred years, often as though such cataclysmic events lurk just around the corner. We don’t know exactly when or what will befall us, but in the end it matters little. Mitigation and grace notwithstanding, karma comes as inevitably as a train down the tracks. Already we see the fissures and formidable cracks forming in economics, the natural world, geopolitics, and society. When “the big one” arrives is far less important than what we do to prepare in our own lives each passing day.
Devotees and spiritual seekers are naturally more likely to heed these forewarnings, but to what end? Preparing emergency supplies such as food, medicine, and other essentials is practical and wise, but it only scratches the surface. To buy land, grow food, and cultivate spiritual community is better still. Best of all—and above all—is to develop a strong inner and outer spiritual life through daily meditation, prayer, service, and devotion. This is also the very purpose of Ananda, usually framed in a more positive light: to support individual seekers in the search for God and to create spiritual communities that further that goal. We need not dwell on these foreboding possibilities to seek, serve, and love God now. If anything, they simply underscore the only true purpose of life: to realize God and to share Him with all.
Why, then, make these seemingly awful predictions—or perhaps we should simply call them statements—about what is to come? Surely one purpose is to underscore the importance and urgency of seeking God now, in this transitory and troubled life. This is not a cheap sales pitch that creates a problem only to sell a solution—a familiar tactic! Rather, it is the compassionate warning of a true Divine Friend, extending a compassionate hand of love and salvation to those who are ready to receive it.
From Yogananda’s immortal poem God’s Boatman:
Oh! I will come back again and again!
Crossing a million crags of suffering,
With bleeding feet, I will come,
If need be, a trillion times,
As long as I know that
One stray brother is left behind.
We needn’t worry, nor wait to see what terrible cataclysm may come. We already possess the keys of awakening to overcome all that and far more. Each day, and this life itself, is a precious opportunity to make spiritual progress and return home,
…to the opalescent pool
Of iridescent joy,
There where my Father distributes
His all-desire-quenching, liquid peace.
