Paramahansa Yogananda

Lore & Background

Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, to a Hindu Bengali Kayastha family. He was the fourth of eight children. His father was vice president of Bengal-Nagpur Railway. From a young age, he sought out Hindu sages and saints. At age 17, he met his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, and trained under him for ten years. In 1915, he took formal monastic vows and chose the name Swami Yogananda Giri. He founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal in 1917, which later moved to Ranchi and became the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.

In 1920, while meditating, Yogananda received a vision of Americans and soon after accepted an invitation to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. He sailed to the United States in August 1920, arriving in late September. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship later that year. After lecturing on the East Coast and a cross-continental speaking tour, he established an international center in Los Angeles in 1925. He lived his final 32 years in the United States, training disciples, acquiring properties, and initiating thousands into Kriya Yoga. By 1952, SRF had over 100 centers in India and the United States.

Reader's Guide

Paramahansa Yogananda's significance lies in his role as one of the first Indian religious teachers to settle in the United States and his enduring influence on Western spirituality. His 1946 book, Autobiography of a Yogi, has sold over four million copies and was listed by Harper San Francisco as one of the '100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century.' It was a favorite of Steve Jobs and Elvis Presley. Yogananda's 'plain living and high thinking' principles attracted followers from all backgrounds. His organization, Self-Realization Fellowship, had groups in nearly every major American city by 2012. A biographer, Phillip Goldberg, considers him 'the best known and most beloved of all Indian spiritual teachers who have come to the West.' A documentary about his life, Awake: The Life of Yogananda, was released in 2014. He remains a leading figure in Western spirituality, having demonstrated a unity between Eastern and Western religions and advocated for a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality.

Did You Know?

• Yogananda was among the early prominent Indians to visit the White House, hosted by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927.
• His autobiography, Autobiography of a Yogi, was one of Elvis Presley's favorite books, and he often gave it out.
• Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs ordered 500 copies of Autobiography of a Yogi for each guest at his memorial.
• Yogananda's well-guarded amulet, given by his mother, mysteriously vanished when he met his guru Sri Yukteswar at age 17.