East Indian author, mystic and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. World traveled and a world teacher, he carried Eastern philosophy to the West.
He was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh to a devout and well-to-do Bengali family. During childhood, Yogananda had vivid memories of being a yogi during previous lifetimes in the Himalayas. A spiritually precocious child, he was encouraged toward the religious calling by his mother, and he met many holy men and yogis who aided him along his path.
In 1910, at age 17, he met the revered Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, whom he had often seen during his meditations, and the recognition, joy, and empathy between Master and disciple was immediate and joyful. He completed his studies at Calcutta University while being taught spiritual discipline by his guru for close to a decade, in the Indian tradition. In 1915, he took formal vows as a monk of India’s venerable monastic Swami Order, at which time he received the name Yogananda.
A natural born teacher, in 1917, he founded a “how-to-live” school for boys, where modern educational methods were combined with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. His curriculum was always more concerned with developing the whole individual rather than only the intellect. He joked that having renounced the life of a family man, he ended up with even more children than he might have fathered.
In 1920, he was invited to serve as India’s delegate to an international congress of religious leaders convening in Boston. His address to the congress, on “The Science of Religion,” was enthusiastically received. When Yogananda arrived in America on 9/20/1920, the “New World” was ready to receive the advanced teachings that had previously been reserved for monastics and chelas in ashrams. Science, literacy, communication, and new spiritual insights had just begun breaking down the dark ages of theology and dogma. He founded his fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India’s ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation, introducing the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures to help raise the consciousness of humanity.
Yogananda lectured and taught on the East coast of American for several years and in 1924 began a speaking tour across the country. His lectures, in which he spoke of the underlying unity of the world’s great religions, were attended by thousands drawn to his message. His personal students were taught the ancient soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga. Prominent figures in science, business and the arts came to him, and he was received in the White House by President Coolidge.
Yogananda’s articulate and sincere introduction to the disciplines of the East opened the door for many other Indian teachers and gurus, as a serious interest in yoga and meditation made great inroads in the West. His main mission was to build a lasting bridge of World Brotherhood based on raising the spiritual awareness between the East and West.
In 1925, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles. His writing began to increase in the ‘30s, including a series of lessons for home study. In 1935, Yogananda toured Europe for six months and India for a year, meeting Mahatma Gandhi and other renowned spiritual figures. At this time his own guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, bestowed on him India’s highest spiritual title, Paramahansa (supreme swan).
A lifelong celibate and mystic, Yogananda wrote that he burned the prophesies about his life written down by the family’s astrologer because he did not want to be controlled by its prediction of marrying three times. Though his family pressed him to marry, his determination to follow the spiritual path was resolute. He did not accept deterministic astrology but pointed out that the most difficult times give rise to the greatest achievements.
His life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi” was published in 1946 and expanded by him in subsequent editions. A perennial best seller, the book has been in continuous publication since it first appeared and has been translated into 18 languages. It is widely regarded as a modern spiritual classic.
On 7 March 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda died during a banquet after concluding a speech in Los Angeles, CA.
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