Can a Householder Reach Enlightenment?
"Can someone balancing work, family, and daily stress…
really attain the highest spiritual state?
Here’s what a 250-year-old yogi had to say…"
Trilanga Swami — the legendary wandering monk of India —
lived in silence, deep tapasya, and awe-inspiring longevity.
Rarely did he speak.
Rarer still… did he praise.
But one day in Banaras…
he publicly honored a householder yogi — Lahiri Mahasaya.
A disciple asked in disbelief:
“Swamiji… you’ve renounced the world for truth.
How can you praise someone still living in it?”
Trilanga replied gently…
“My child… Lahiri Mahasaya is like a divine kitten —
resting wherever the Cosmic Mother has placed him.
Though he appears worldly…
he has attained that perfect Self-realization
for which I gave up even my loincloth.”
The message of the story is this:
It’s not where you live… monk or householder…
It’s how you live —
in stillness, in awareness, in grace.
Source
- Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter: 31 An Interview with the Sacred Mother