The Autobiography of a Yogi

A spiritual classic by a master of kriya yoga whose words tell a story of “saints” who could bi-locate (be in two places at once) and communicate with their minds. This 1946 book has been in print for over 50 years!!

Coming to America to Bring Yoga to the West

I got this book from the library some years ago and it made such an impression on me that I remembered much of it and it continued to influence me until I finally bought a copy. Yogananda came from India to the US early in the twentieth century. He tells us in this fasccinating and entertaining book about his childhood and his trip on the boat to the US. He came to bring yoga to Westerners, to impart what he had learned through intensive spiritual study and the practice of yoga to the ignorant people of America. And he did just that. His stories about his guru back in India who could bi-locate (be in two places at once), communicate psychically, and materialize objects makes for fascinating reading.

Teaching Spiritual Yoga

A “yogi” is a person who practices yoga. The yoga of Yogananda was not the type concerned with weird physical positions (that type is called hatha yoga), but rather the advanced spiritual type known as kriya yoga. This type of yoga combines meditation with techniques to control the movement of life energy, moving energy and attention from outer distractions to inner concentration. The goal of a yogi is to reach samadhi, a state of union with the eternal. In India, Yogananda witnessed some amazing sights, including materializations. His devotion to his guru was total and his decision to leave India a difficult one, driven only by a desire to bring the benefits of yoga to those who knew nothing about it.

Meeting Saints

The book not only tells of the feats of these modest masters, it also chronicles the extraordinary events in Yogananda’s life. I enjoyed reading of his trip to Europe in which he traveled in an old Ford and met Therese Neumann, the Catholic saint who had the stigmata and who took no solid food. He also traveled far into the rural hinterlands of India where the residents had never seen a car and met with a lady who, like Neumann, did not need to eat. These saints somehow draw nourishment without the intake of food. He was ever interested in “saints” of whatever religion. He was close to Luther Burbank, the botonist who understood the nature of life. Yogananda refers to Burbank as a saint because of his intimacy with plant life. Yogananda also tells us of his meeting with Mahatma Ghandi, India’s simple leader who showed the world how moral courage alone could move mountains (or, in this case, move the British empire to finally give India its independence). The book paints a colorful picture of life in the early twentieth century.

The California Fellowship

Yogananda taught his version of yoga to many Westerners and founded an institute in California, the Self-Realization Fellowship that continues teaching his principles. When he died in 1952, Yogananda’s body remained perfectly preserved for a number of days. In kriya yoga, which Yogananda praticed, masters determine their own “death” (called maha samadhi). Of course, there is no real death. Those who reach this highest state of spiritual development merely let go of their physical body and remain in the spiritual realm.

I was moved by Yogananda’s story and the wisdom in this book. It has been a classic of spiritual literature for over half a century and I highly recommend it. Some of what you’ll read here is truly astounding and cannot be explained, but Yogananda writes with a conviction that rings with truth.

Note: There are two organizations that that promote the teachings of Yogananda. The Self-Realization Foundation (SRF) which is the organization founded by Yogananda, and the Ananda Church of Self-Realization founded by J. Donald Walters, a man who was expelled from the SRF. In 1998, the SRF sued Ananda over use of the term “Self-Realization” but the judge ruled that the term is generic and can be used by anyone. It is regrettable that the continuation of the work of Yogananda is marred by these feuds.