Autobiography of a Yogi
Paramahansa Yogananda
Autobiography of a Yogi
ClassicsNonfictionBiography & MemoirReligion & Spirituality
100 chapters·16h 34m listening
4.25from 75,952 ratingson Goodreads
"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda is a spiritual autobiography published in 1946. It chronicles Yogananda's journey from childhood in India through his search for his guru, his establishment of Kriya Yoga meditation teachings, and his travels to America where he lectured and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship. The book introduces Eastern spiritual wisdom and methods of God-realization to Western readers, featuring encounters with saints, scientists, and spiritual figures across two continents. Designated one of the most important spiritual books of the twentieth century, it has sold millions of copies worldwide.
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About the book
Published in 1946, Autobiography of a Yogi is Paramahansa Yogananda’s account of his life, from a childhood in Gorakhpur in northern India to his years of training under his guru, Sri Yukteswar, and his journey to the United States in 1920. There he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and taught meditation for more than three decades. The book introduces Western readers to the practice of Kriya Yoga and to the line of teachers behind it, and recounts Yogananda’s meetings with saints, scientists and public figures, among them Mahatma Gandhi. Written with warmth and a strong sense of wonder, it presents spiritual experience as something to be pursued by discipline, and became one of the most widely read books on Eastern spirituality in the West.
Characters
Paramahansa Yogananda — Author and memoirist
Born Mukunda Lal Ghosh, he recounts his spiritual education and his work bringing yoga teachings to the West.
Swami Sri Yukteswar — Spiritual teacher
Yogananda's guru, whose exacting instruction shapes his religious life.
Lahiri Mahasaya — Spiritual predecessor
A householder and teacher of Kriya Yoga revered by Yogananda's family and spiritual lineage.
Mahavatar Babaji — Spiritual figure
The teacher presented in the memoir as the source of the modern Kriya Yoga lineage.
Bhagabati Charan Ghosh — Yogananda's father
A disciplined railway official and devotee whose household forms the setting of Yogananda's childhood.
Ananta — Yogananda's brother
An elder brother who tries to reconcile Mukunda's spiritual ambitions with family expectations.
About the author
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) was an Indian spiritual teacher, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, in northern India. As a young man he became a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, graduated from the University of Calcutta, and took monastic vows under the name Yogananda; in 1917 he founded a school for boys at Ranchi that combined ordinary education with yoga training. In 1920 he travelled to Boston as a delegate to an international congress of religious liberals, and stayed in the United States, founding the Self-Realization Fellowship, with its headquarters in Los Angeles, and lecturing across the country to large audiences. During a visit to India in 1935–1936 he met Mahatma Gandhi and received the title Paramahansa from his guru. His Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) introduced millions of readers to meditation and Kriya Yoga. He died in Los Angeles in 1952.