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Paramahamsa Yogananda [1893-1952] – his name meaning ‘divine union with God through yoga – was an exceptional Indian yogi and guru who settled in America and introduced the Western world to yoga and meditation through his writings and public appearances. He was the first prominent Indian guru to be hosted in the White House [by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927] and was named the 20th-century first superstar Guru by the Los Angeles Times.
Yogananda is probably best known through his book Autobiography of a Yogi, which introduced millions of people to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga. The book is still considered among the ‘100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century.’ He formed his organisations Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) and Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India, through which He spread His teachings throughout the world. Yogananda was a chief disciple of His Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, and was sent by his lineage of Kriya masters to spread the teachings of yoga to the West. His goal was to emphasise the unity between Eastern and Western religions and preach a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality. He spent His last thirty-two years living in America, where He was a strong influence on the American yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture in the Los Angeles area. Yoga experts considered him as the ‘Father of Yoga in the West.’
Yogananda initially arrived in Boston in 1920, from where he started traveling and speaking across the USA. He settled in Los Angeles in 1925, and for the next twenty-five years expanded his teachings and influence worldwide. He created a monastic order and trained disciples. During that period, he became famous, and by 1952 had formed more than 100 centers where He initiated thousands into Kriya Yoga. His ‘plain living and high thinking’ principles attracted people from all backgrounds among his followers.
Yogananda taught that no matter what spiritual tradition a person follows, they can reach the ultimate spiritual state: ‘Self-Realisation’ or ‘Oneness with God.’ He defined Self-Realisation as ‘knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the Kingdom of God; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all you need to do is improve your knowing.‘ To achieve Self-Realisation, he taught the ancient science of Kriya Yoga, which he described as the ‘jet-airplane route to God.’
Yogananda’s importance in establishing the eastern teachings of Self-Realisation in a conservative, Christian society cannot be overestimated. A visionary, teacher, activist, and leader, Yogananda was a spiritual giant who bridged the enormous gap between the East and the West in the 20th century. His teachings continue to ripple through the world today and can be seen in the flourishing yoga and meditation trends and the way many regards the world around themselves and their places within it. Yogananda was a spiritual pioneer who paved the way for other Indian Self-Realisation teachers who followed him and the rebirth of spirituality in the 1960s and 1970s.
‘Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself…’
‘Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become.’
‘You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy, you may learn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk on water and live in fire, but control of the mind is better and more difficult.‘
‘Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time.’
‘You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative principle works in you.’
‘Making others happy, through the kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.’
‘Live each moment completely, and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment.’
‘There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.‘
‘The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man’s slavery.’
‘Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.’
‘Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! Forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! Control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise…‘
‘Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable.’
‘Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.’
‘You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides Him from you.‘
‘The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.’
‘Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire – for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness – that is the way to live in this world.’
‘It is not your passing thoughts or brilliant ideas so much as your plain everyday habits that control your life…Live simply. Don’t get caught in the machine of the world— it is too exacting. By the time you get what you are seeking, your nerves are gone, the heart is damaged, and the bones are aching. Resolve to develop your spiritual powers more earnestly from now on. Learn the art of right living. If you have joy, you have everything, so learn to be glad and contented… Have happiness now.’
‘Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them.’
‘Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing.’
‘The wave is the same as the ocean, though it is not the whole ocean. So each wave of creation is a part of the eternal Ocean of Spirit. The Ocean can exist without the waves, but the waves cannot exist without the Ocean.‘
‘Before embarking on important undertakings, sit quietly, calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. The great creative power of Spirit will then guide you.’
‘The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is all about, one must know God.‘
Early Life
Yogananda was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, to a Hindu Bengali Kayastha family. Yogananda had seven siblings; He was the fourth of the eight children and second of the four sons. His father was Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, who worked as the Vice President of Bengal-Nagpur Railway; his mother was Gyanprabha Devi. Since early childhood, Mukunda displayed deep spiritual knowledge and awareness beyond the ordinary as described by his younger brother Sananda. As a family, they were shifting places very often during his early childhood due to the nature of his father’s job. They lived in several cities in India, such as Lahore, Bareilly, and Kolkata. In his book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi,’ he stated that his mother, who died when he was eleven, gave him a sacred amulet before her death. His mother had been given that sacred amulet by some holy man who told her to give it to her son Mukunda to wear, which would disappear into the ether after some time. During his upbringing, he traveled to different cities and holy places in India, for which his father was obtaining train passes. Often he was traveling with his friends. On such occasions, he visited many sages and saints in the hope of finding an illuminated Master who would guide him in his quest to attain the highest. In that process, he met Soham ‘Tiger’ Swami, Gandha Baba, and Mahendranath Gupta, among others.
Leaving Home
After finishing high school, Yogananda formally left home and joined a Mahamandal Hermitage in Varanasi. He soon became dissatisfied with its insistence on organisational work instead of meditation and God-perception. In 1910, when he was seventeen, after seeking out various teachers had ended, he met his Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. For the next ten years (1910–1920) as a disciple of Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda was trained by him at Sri Yukteswar hermitages in Serampore and Puri. Later on, Sri Yukteswar informed Yogananda that he had been sent to him by the great Guru of their lineage, Mahavatar Babaji, for a unique world purpose of yoga dissemination.
Yogananda completed his Intermediate Examination in Arts at the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, in 1914. He also graduated with a degree Bachelor of Arts at Serampore College. During His formal studies, he spent time at Sri Yukteswar’s ashram in Serampore.
In July 1914, after graduating from college, he took formal vows into the monastic Swami order; Sri Yukteswar allowed him to choose his spiritual name: Swami Yogananda Giri. In 1917, Yogananda founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal, that combined modern educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. A year later, the school relocated to Ranchi. Among the school’s first batch of pupils was his youngest brother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, who learned yoga asanas and taught asanas to Bikram Choudhury. This school would later become the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Indian branch of Yogananda’s American organisation, Self-Realization Fellowship.
Moving to America
In 1920, while in meditation one day at his Ranchi school, Yogananda received a vision – faces of a multitude of Americans passed before his mind’s eye, intimating to him that he would soon go to America. After giving the charge of the school over to its faculty (and eventually to his brother disciple Swami Satyananda), he left for Calcutta; the following day, he received an invitation from the American Unitarian Association to serve as India’s delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening that year in Boston. Seeking out his Guru’s advice, Sri Yukteswar advised him to go; later, while in deep prayer in his room, he received a surprise visit from Mahavatar Babaji, the Great Guru of his lineage, who told him directly that he was the one chosen by the Masters to spread Kriya Yoga to the West. Reassured and uplifted, Yogananda soon afterward accepted the offer to go to Boston. This account became a standard feature of his lectures.
In August 1920, he left for the United States and landed near Boston. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) to disseminate his teachings on India’s ancient practices, yoga philosophy, and meditation tradition. Yogananda spent the next four years in Boston; in the interim, he lectured and taught on the East Coast and, in 1924, embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. In 1925, he established an international center for Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, California, which became his growing work’s spiritual and administrative heart. Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a significant portion of his life in America. He lived in the United States from 1920 to 1952, interrupted by an extended trip abroad in 1935–1936, and through his disciples, developed various Kriya Yoga centers around the world.
Brief Return to India
In 1935, Yogananda returned to India via oceanliner with two of his western students to visit his Guru, Sri Yukteswar Giri, and help establish his Yogoda Satsanga work in India. While en route, his ship detoured in Europe and the Middle East; he undertook visits to other living western saints like Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist of Konnersreuth, and places of spiritual significance: Assisi, Italy to honor St. Francis, the Athenian temples of Greece and prison cell of Socrates, the Holy Land of Palestine and the regions of the Ministry of Jesus, and Cairo, Egypt to view the ancient Pyramids.
In August 1935, he arrived in India at the port of Mumbai; due to his fame in America, he was met with many photographers and journalists during his short stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Upon taking a train eastward and reaching the Howrah Station near Kolkata, he met a huge crowd and a ceremonious procession led by his brother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, and the Maharaja of Maharaja Kasimbazar. Visiting Serampore, he had an emotional reunion with his Guru, Sri Yukteswar, noted in detail by his western student C. Richard Wright. During his stay in India, he saw his Ranchi boys’ school become legally incorporated and took a touring group to visit various locales: the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore, Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela of January 1936, and Brindaban to see an exalted disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Keshabananda.
He also met with other people who caught his interest: Mahatma Gandhi, whom he initiated into Kriya Yoga; woman-saint Anandamayi Ma; Giri Bala, an elderly yogi woman who survived without eating; renowned physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, and several disciples of Sri Yukteswar’s guru Lahiri Mahasaya. While in India, Sri Yukteswar gave Yogananda the monastic title of Paramahansa, meaning ‘supreme swan’ and indicating the highest spiritual attainment, which formally superseded his previous title of ‘swami.’ In March 1936, upon Yogananda’s return to Calcutta after visiting Brindaban, Sri Yukteswar died (or, in the yogic tradition, attained mahasamadhi) at his hermitage in Puri. After conducting his Guru’s funeral rites, Yogananda continued teaching, conducting interviews, and meeting friends for several months before planning his return to the US in mid-1936.
According to his autobiography, in June 1936, after having a vision of Krishna, he had a supernatural encounter with the spirit of his Guru Sri Yukteswar while in a room at the Regent Hotel in Mumbai. During the experience, in which Yogananda physically grasped and held onto his Guru’s solid form, Sri Yukteswar explained that he now served as a spiritual guide on a high-astral planet, and expounded truths in great detail regarding the astral realm, astral planets, and the afterlife; the lifestyles, abilities and varying levels of freedoms of astral beings; the workings of karma; man’s various superphysical bodies and how he works through them, and other metaphysical topics. With new wisdom and renewed energy from the encounter, Yogananda and his two western students left India via oceanliner from Mumbai, staying for several weeks in England, where they conducted several yoga classes in London and visited historical sites before leaving for the US in October 1936.
Return to America
In late 1936, Yogananda’s arrived in New York, and he and his companions then drove across the continental US back to his Mount Washington, California headquarters. Rejoined with his American disciples, he continued to lecture, write, and establish churches in southern California. He took up residence at the SRF hermitage in Encinitas, California, a surprise gift from his advanced disciple Rajarsi Janakananda. It was at this hermitage that Yogananda wrote his famous Autobiography of a Yogi and other writings. Also, at this time, he created an ‘enduring foundation for the spiritual and humanitarian work of Self Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.’
In 1946, Yogananda took advantage of a change in immigration laws and applied for citizenship. His application was approved in 1949, and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
The last four years of his life were spent primarily in seclusion with some of his inner circle of disciples at his desert retreat in Twenty-nine Palms, California, to finish his writings and finish revising books, articles, and lessons written previously over the years. During this period, he gave a few interviews and public lectures. He told his close disciples, ‘I can do much more now to reach others with my pen.‘
In the days leading up to his death, Yogananda began hinting to his disciples that it was time for him to leave the world.
Death
On March 7, 1952, he attended a dinner for the visiting Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Binay Ranjan Sen, and his wife at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. At the conclusion of the banquet, Yogananda spoke of India and America, their contributions to world peace and human progress, and their future cooperation, expressing his hope for a ‘United World’ that would combine the best qualities of ‘efficient America’ and ‘spiritual India.’ According to an eyewitness — Daya Mata, a direct disciple of Yogananda, who was head of the Self-Realization Fellowship from 1955 to 2010 — as Yogananda ended his speech, he read from his poem My India, concluding with the words ‘Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God — I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.‘ As he uttered these words, he lifted his eyes to the Kutastha center (the Ajna Chakra or ‘spiritual eye’), and his body slumped to the floor while He entered mahasamadhi. The official cause of death was heart failure. His funeral service, with hundreds attending, was held at the SRF headquarters atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles. Rajarsi Janakananda, who Yogananda had chosen to succeed him as the new president of the Self-Realization Fellowship, ‘performed a sacred ritual releasing the body to God.’
According to the book ‘Divine Interventions: True Stories of Mysteries and Miracles That Change Lives,’ for three weeks after his death, Yogananda’s body ‘showed no signs of physical deterioration and his unchanged face shone with the divine luster of incorruptibility.‘ A notarized letter from Harry T. Rowe, the mortuary director, added: ‘The absence of any visual signs of decay … offers the most extraordinary case in our experience… This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one… Yogananda’s body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability… No odor of decay emanated from his body at any time… For these reasons, we state again that the case of Paramahamsa Yogananda is unique in our experience.‘
Yogananda’s remains are interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum (normally closed off to visitors but Yogananda’s tomb is accessible) in Glendale, California.
In 1910, when He was seventeen, after seeking various teachers mainly had ended, he met his Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. His well-guarded amulet then mysteriously vanished, having served its spiritual purpose. He described His encounter with Sri Yukteswar in ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ as something of a rekindling of a relationship that had lasted for many lifetimes. In Yogananda’s own words:
‘We entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the rankest superfluities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of Master to disciple. With an antenna of irrefragable insight, I sensed that my Guru knew God and would lead me to Him. The obscuration of this life disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, and future are its cycling scenes. This was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet!‘
In 1917, in India, Yogananda ‘began his life’s work with the founding of a “how-to-live” school for boys, where modern educational methods were combined with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals.’ In 1920 ‘he was invited to serve as India’s delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston. His address to the Congress, on “The Science of Religion,” was enthusiastically received.’ For the next several years he lectured and taught across the United States. His discourses taught of the ‘unity of “the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the original Yoga taught by Bhagavan Krishna.”‘
In 1920, he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and, in 1925, established in Los Angeles, California, USA, the international headquarters for SRF. Yogananda wrote the Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You and God Talks With Arjuna – The Bhagavad Gita to explain his belief in the harmony and oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to present that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions.
Yogananda wrote down his Aims and Ideals for Self-Realization Fellowship /Yogoda Satsanga Society:
In his published work, The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, Yogananda gives ‘in-depth instruction in the practice of the highest yoga science of God-realisation. That ancient science is embodied in the specific principles and meditation techniques of Kriya Yoga. Yogananda taught his students the need for a direct experience of truth instead of blind belief. He said that ‘The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul’s power of knowing God. To know what religion is all about, one must know God.‘
Echoing traditional Hindu teachings, he taught that the entire universe is God’s cosmic motion picture and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation. He taught that humanity’s deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one’s current role rather than with the movie’s director or God.
He taught Kriya Yoga and other meditation practices to help people achieve that understanding, which he called Self-realisation.
‘Self-realisation is the knowing – in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God’s omnipresence is our omnipresence; and that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.‘
In his book, ‘How you can talk with God’, he claims that anyone can talk with God if the person keeps persevering in the request to speak with God with devotion. He also claimed that God had spoken to him many times, apart from making miracles happen in his life. In the book, he claims that ‘We may in a vision see a face of some divine/saintly being, or we may hear a Divine voice talking to us, and will know it is God. When our heart-call is intense, and we do not give up, God will come. Therefore, it is important that we remove from our mind all doubt that God will answer.’
Kriya Yoga
The ‘science’ of Kriya Yoga is the foundation of Yogananda’s teachings. An ancient spiritual practice, Kriya Yoga is ‘union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite (kriya). The Sanskrit root of kriya is kri, to do, to act and react.’ Kriya Yoga was passed down through Yogananda’s spiritual lineage: Mahavatar Babaji taught the Kriya technique to Lahiri Mahasaya, who taught it to his disciple, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Yogananda’s Guru.
Yogananda gave a general description of Kriya Yoga in his Autobiography:
‘The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half-minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.‘
Sri Mrinalini Mata, the former president of SRF/YSS, said, ‘Kriya Yoga is so effective, so complete because it brings God’s love – the universal power through which God draws all souls back to reunion with Him – into operation in the devotee’s life.‘
Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi that the ‘actual technique should be learned from an authorised Kriyaban (Kriya Yogi) of the Self-Realization Fellowship /Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.’
According to the book ‘Divine Interventions: True Stories of Mysteries and Miracles That Change Lives,’ for three weeks after his death, Yogananda’s body ‘showed no signs of physical deterioration and “his unchanged face shone with the divine luster of incorruptibility.”‘ A notarised letter from Harry T. Rowe, the mortuary director, added: ‘The absence of any visual signs of decay … offers the most extraordinary case in our experience… This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one… Yogananda’s body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability… No odor of decay emanated from his body at any time… For these reasons we state again that the case of Paramahamsa Yogananda is unique in our experience.’
List of Direct Disciples
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
Yogananda’s remains are interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum (normally closed off to visitors but Yogananda’s tomb is accessible) in Glendale, California.
Autobiography of Yogi
In 1946, Yogananda published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, which has been translated into forty-five languages. In 1999, it was designated one of the ‘100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century’ by a panel of spiritual authors convened by Philip Zaleski and HarperCollins publishers. Autobiography of a Yogi is the most popular among Yogananda’s books. According to Philip Goldberg, who wrote American Veda, ‘the Self-Realization Fellowship which represents Yogananda’s Legacy, is justified in using the slogan, “The Book that Changed the Lives of Millions.”‘ It has sold more than four million copies and counting. In 2006, the publisher, Self-Realization Fellowship, honoured the 60th anniversary of Autobiography of a Yogi ‘with a series of projects designed to promote the legacy of the man thousands of disciples still refer to as “Master”.’
Autobiography of a Yogi describes Yogananda’s spiritual search for enlightenment, in addition to encounters with notable spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann, Anandamayi Ma, Vishuddhananda Paramahansa, Mohandas Gandhi, Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore, noted plant scientist Luther Burbank (the book is ‘Dedicated to the Memory of Luther Burbank, An American Saint’), famous Indian scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Nobel laureate in physics Sir C. V. Raman. One notable chapter of this book is ‘The Law of Miracles,’ where he gives scientific explanations for seemingly miraculous feats. He writes: ‘the word “impossible” is becoming less prominent in man’s vocabulary.’
The ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ has inspired many people, including George Harrison, Ravi Shankar and, notably, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computer. In the 2011 book ‘Steve Jobs: A Biography,’ the author writes that Jobs first read the Autobiography as a teenager. He re-read it in India, and later while preparing for a trip, he downloaded it onto his iPad2 and then re-read it once a year ever since. Steve Jobs planned every detail of his memorial service, held at Stanford University in October 2011, including the brown box each attendee received as a farewell gift. The box contained the book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahamsa Yogananda. Steve Jobs’ last message was clear: ‘Here is Yogananda’s book…. Actualize yourself.’
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