Paramahansa Yogananda

Father of Yoga in the West

Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian and American Hindu monk who founded the Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate Kriya Yoga teachings.^[1] He was among the first Indian religious teachers to settle in the US and was hosted at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927.^[2] The Los Angeles Times called him "the 20th century's first superstar guru".^[3][2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Religion: Hinduism
Born: 5 January 1893
Birthplace: Gorakhpur, North-Western Provinces, British India (now in Uttar Pradesh, India)
Birth name: Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Died: 7 March 1952
Place of death: Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California, United States
Resting place: Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Education: B.A. (Calcutta)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, he was the fourth of eight children in a Bengali Kayastha family.^[4] At age 17 he met his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, and trained under him for ten years.^[5] In 1920 he sailed to the United States to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston.^[6][7] During his 1935–1936 visit to India, his guru gave him the monastic title Paramahansa, meaning "supreme swan"^[5][8]

He died on March 7, 1952, after speaking at a banquet for the Indian ambassador in Los Angeles.^[9] A boys' school that merged contemporary educational approaches with yoga instruction and spiritual values was started by Yogananda in Dihika, West Bengal during 1917.^[5] The Self-Realization Fellowship's worldwide headquarters was set up by Yogananda in Los Angeles in 1925.^[10] The memoir "Autobiography of a Yogi" was released by Yogananda in 1946; more than four million copies of it have been sold.^[11]

What the cited sources add

Goldberg also states that Yogananda distributed some teachings by mail order, a newfangled technology in the 1920s.^[3] A KCET article by Meares reports that Yogananda's Encinitas compound was a gift in 1935 from a wealthy Kansas City insurance executive named J.J. Lynn.^[12] The same article describes that Yogananda would often teach in an outdoor "temple of leaves" and used a tennis court for yogic exercises.^[12] The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India website states that Yogananda founded the society in 1917 to make Kriya Yoga teachings available.^[13]

The Encinitas Temple website notes that the nearby Meditation Gardens have become a pilgrimage center for thousands yearly.^[14]

References

Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About Yogoda Satsanga Society of India", Yogoda Satsanga Society of India; Yogananda 1997 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chidan, "In America and across the world, India reclaims its yoga heritage", The Times of India, June 19, 2019; Goldberg, "The Yogi Of The Autobiography: A Tribute To Yogananda", HuffPost, March 7, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Goldberg, "The Yogi Of The Autobiography: A Tribute To Yogananda", HuffPost, March 7, 2012. facts only, no text reused. huffpost.com
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sananda Lal Ghosh, (1980), Mejda, Self-Realization Fellowship, p.3-4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yogananda 1997 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Swami Yogananda Giri speaks on "the inner life", ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe p.9, March 5, 1921 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Melton Baumann 2010; Hevesi, Dennis, "Sri Daya Mata, Guiding Light for U.S. Hindus, Dies at 96", New York Times, December 3, 2010; Boston Meditation Group Historical Committee. In The Footsteps of Paramahansa Yogananda: A guidebook to the places in and around Boston associated with Yoganand; Sister Gyanamata "God Alone: The Life and Letters of a Saint" p. 11; Yogananda 1997 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Paramahansa means "supreme swan" and is a title indicating the highest spiritual attainment." Miller, p. 188.; Melton, "Religious Celebrations", ABC-CLIO, 2011, p. 512 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kriyananda 1977; Miller, p. 179.; Mata, "My Spirit Shall Live On: The Final Days of Paramahansa Yogananda", Self-Realization Magazine, Spring 2002; Goldberg, "The Life of Yogananda", Hay House, Inc, 2018, p. 277-178; "Guru's Exit – TIME", August 4, 1952; Daya Mata 1990, p. 256 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Melton Baumann 2010; Lewis Rosser, "Treasures Against Time", Borrego Publications, 1991, p. Foreword p. xiii; Netburn, "If you practice yoga, thank this man who came to the U.S. 100 years ago", Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2020; Sahagun, "Guru's Followers Mark Legacy of a Star's Teachings", Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2006; Yogananda 1998, p. 341 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Paramahansa Yogananda" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Autobiography of a Yogi", Yogoda Satsanga Society of India; Goldberg, "The Yogi Of The Autobiography: A Tribute To Yogananda", HuffPost, March 7, 2012; Zaleski 1984; Segall, "Steve Jobs' last gift", CNNMoney, September 10, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Meares, "From Hip Hotel to Holy Home: The Self-Realization Fellowship on Mount Washington", KCET, August 9, 2013. facts only, no text reused. kcet.org
"About Yogoda Satsanga Society of India", Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. facts only, no text reused. yssofindia.org
Self-Realization Fellowship . Encinitas Temple. Retrieved on March 25, 2019.. facts only, no text reused. encinitastemple.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Paramahansa Yogananda (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.