Paramahansa Yogananda (Bengali: পরমহংসযোগানন্দ) (5 January 1893 – 7 March 1952), born Mukunda
Lal Ghosh (Bengali: মুকুন্দলালঘোষ), was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced millions of Indians and westerners to
the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his
organization Yogoda Satsanga Society of
India and Self-Realization Fellowship. In 1946, he
published his autobiography, titled Autobiography of a Yogi which is on the list of the "100 best spiritual books of the 20th
Century" created by HarperSan Francisco, a division of HarperCollins
Publishers. The book has been regularly reprinted ever since and is known as
"the book that changed the lives of millions."
Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar
Pradesh, India, to a devout family. According to his younger
brother, Sananda, from his earliest years young Mukunda's awareness and
experience of the spiritual was far beyond the ordinary. In his youth he sought
out many of India's Hindu sages and saints, hoping to find an illuminated teacher to guide him in
his spiritual quest.
In 1910 Yogananda's seeking after various saints
mostly ended when, at the age of 17, he met his guru, SwamiYukteswar Giri. He describes his first meeting with Yukteswar as a rekindling of a
relationship that had lasted for many lifetimes:
We entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the
rankest superfluities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of master
to disciple. With an antenna of irrefragable insight I sensed that my guru knew
God, and would lead me to Him. The obscuration of this life disappeared in a
fragile dawn of prenatal memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, and future are
its cycling scenes. This was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet!
Later on Yukteswar informed Yogananda that he had been
sent to him by Mahavatar Babaji for a special
purpose.
After passing his Intermediate Examination in Arts
from the Scottish Church College,
Calcutta, in June 1915, he graduated with a degree similar to
a current day Bachelor of Arts or B.A. (which at the time was referred to as an
A.B.), from Serampore College, the college having
two entities, one as a constituent college of the Senate of
Serampore College (University) and the other as an
affiliated college of the University of Calcutta. This allowed him to spend time at Yukteswar's ashram in Serampore. In 1915, he took formal vows into the monasticSwami order and became Swami Yogananda Giri. In 1917,
Yogananda founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal, that combined modern
educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. A year later, the school relocated to Ranchi. This school would later become the Yogoda Satsanga Society of
India, the Indian branch of Yogananda's American
organization, Self-Realization Fellowship.
In 1920, Yogananda went to the United States aboard
the ship City of Sparta, as India's delegate to an International Congress of
Religious Liberals convening in Boston. That same year he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India's ancient
practices and philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation. For the next several years, he
lectured and taught on the East Coast and in 1924 embarked on a
cross-continental speaking tour. Thousands came to his lectures. During this
time he attracted a number of celebrity followers, including soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir
Rosing and Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, the daughter of Mark Twain. The following year,
he established an international center for Self-Realization Fellowship in Los
Angeles, California, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his
growing work. Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major
portion of his life in America. He lived in the United States from 1920—1952,
interrupted by an extended trip abroad in 1935–1936 which was mainly to visit
his guru in India though he undertook visits to other living western saints
like Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist of Konnersreuth, and places of
spiritual significance en route.
In 1935, he returned to India to visit his guru
Yukteswar Giri and to help establish his Yogoda Satsanga work in India. During this visit, as told in his autobiography, he met
with Mahatma Gandhi, and initiated him
into the liberating technique of Kriya Yoga as Gandhi expressed his interest to
receive the Kriya Yoga of Lahiri Mahasaya; Anandamoyi Ma; renowned physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman; and several disciples of Yukteswar's guru Lahiri Mahasaya. While in India,
Yukteswar gave Yogananda the monastic title of Paramahansa. Paramahansa means
"supreme swan" and is a title indicating the highest spiritual
attainment. In 1936, while Yogananda was visiting Calcutta, Yukteswar attained
mahasamadhi (final soul liberation) in the town of Puri.
After returning to America, Yogananda continued to
lecture, write, and establish churches in southern California. He took up
residence at the SRF hermitage in Encinitas, California which was a surprise gift from his disciple Rajarsi Janakananda. It was while at this hermitage that Yogananda wrote his famous Autobiography of a Yogi and other writings. Also at this time he created an "enduring
foundation for the spiritual and humanitarian work of Self‑Realization Fellowship/Yogoda
Satsanga Society of India."
The last four years of his life were spent primarily
in seclusion with some of his inner circle of disciples at his desert ashram in Twentynine Palms, California to finish his writings and to finish revising books, articles and
lessons written previously over the years. During this period he gave few
interviews and public lectures. He told his close disciples, "I can do
much more now to reach others with my pen."
In the days leading up to his death, Yogananda began
hinting that it was time for him to leave the world.
On 7 March 1952, he attended a dinner for the visiting
Indian Ambassador to the US, Binay Ranjan Sen, and his wife at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. At the conclusion of the banquet, Yogananda spoke of
India and America, their contributions to world peace and human progress, and
their future cooperation, expressing his hope for a "United World"
that would combine the best qualities of "efficient America" and
"spiritual India." According to an eyewitness – Daya Mata, a direct disciple of
Yogananda, who was head of the Self-Realization Fellowship from 1955–2010 — as
Yogananda ended his speech, he read from his poem My India, concluding with the
words "Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God—I am
hallowed; my body touched that sod." "As he uttered these words, he
lifted his eyes to the Kutastha center (the Ajna Chakra), and his body slumped to the floor." Followers say that he
entered mahasamadhi. The official cause
of death was heart failure.
His funeral service, with hundreds attending, was held
at the SRF headquarters atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles. Rajarsi Janakananda, the new president of the Self-Realization Fellowship, "performed
a sacred ritual releasing the body to God." Yogananda's remains are
interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum (normally closed off to visitors but Yogananda's
tomb is accessible) in Glendale, California.
In 1917 in India Paramahansa Yogananda "began his
life's work with the founding of a 'how-to-live' school for boys, where modern
educational methods were combined with yoga training and instruction in
spiritual ideals." In 1920 "he was invited to serve as India's
delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in
Boston. His address to the Congress, on 'The Science of Religion,' was
enthusiastically received." For the next several years he lectured and
taught across the United States. His discourses taught of the "unity of
'the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the original Yoga taught by
Bhagavan Krishna.'"
In 1920 he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and
in 1925 established in Los Angeles, California, USA, the international
headquarters for SRF. Yogananda wrote the Second Coming
of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You and God Talks
With Arjuna — The Bhagavad Gita to reveal what he
claimed was the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as
taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to
present that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of
all true religions.
Yogananda wrote down his Aims and Ideals for
Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society:
· To disseminate among the nations a
knowledge of definite scientific techniques for attaining direct personal
experience of God.
· To teach that the purpose of life is
the evolution, through self-effort, of man’s limited mortal consciousness into
God Consciousness; and to this end to establish Self-Realization Fellowship
temples for God-communion throughout the world, and to encourage the
establishment of individual temples of God in the homes and in the hearts of
men.
· To reveal the complete harmony and
basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original
Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth
are the common scientific foundation of all true religions.
· To point out the one divine highway to
which all paths of true religious beliefs eventually lead: the highway of
daily, scientific, devotional meditation on God.
· To liberate man from his threefold
suffering: physical disease, mental inharmonies, and spiritual ignorance.
· To encourage “plain living and high
thinking”; and to spread a spirit of brotherhood among all peoples by teaching
the eternal basis of their unity: kinship with God.
·
To demonstrate the superiority of mind
over body, of soul over mind.
· To overcome evil by good, sorrow by
joy, cruelty by kindness, ignorance by wisdom.
· To unite science and religion through
realization of the unity of their underlying principles.
· To advocate cultural and spiritual
understanding between East and West, and the exchange of their finest
distinctive features.
·
To serve mankind as one’s larger Self.
In his published work, The Self-Realization Fellowship
Lessons, Yogananda gives "his in-depth instruction in the practice of the
highest yoga science of God-realization. That ancient science is embodied in
the specific principles and meditation techniques of Kriya Yoga."
Yogananda taught his students the need for direct experience of truth, as
opposed to blind belief. He said that "The true basis of religion is not
belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul's power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all
about, one must know God."
Echoing traditional Hindu teachings, he taught that the entire universe is God's cosmic motion
picture, and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change
roles through reincarnation. He taught that
mankind's deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one's
current role, rather than with the movie's director, or God.
He taught Kriya Yoga and other meditation
practices to help people achieve that understanding, which he called Self-realization:
Self-realization is the knowing – in body, mind, and
soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to
pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that
God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; and that we are just as much a part of
Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.
The "science" of Kriya Yoga is the
foundation of Yogananda's teachings. Kriya Yoga is "union (yoga) with the
Infinite through a certain action or rite (kriya). The Sanskrit root of kriya
is kri, to do, to act and react." Kriya Yoga was passed down through
Yogananda's guru lineage – Mahavatar Babaji taught Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya, who taught it to his disciple, Yukteswar Giri, Yogananda's Guru.
Yogananda gave a general description of Kriya Yoga in
his Autobiography:
The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to
revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary,
cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to
the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute
of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle
progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural
spiritual unfoldment.
Sri Mrinalini Mata, the former president of SRF/YSS,
said, "Kriya Yoga is so effective, so complete, because it brings God's
love – the universal power through which God draws all souls back to reunion
with Him – into operation in the devotee's life."
Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi that the
"actual technique should be learned from an authorized Kriyaban (Kriya
Yogi) of Self-Realization Fellowship (Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.)"
In 1946, Yogananda published his life story,
Autobiography of a Yogi. It has since been translated into 45 languages. In
1999, it was designated one of the "100 Most Important Spiritual Books of
the 20th Century" by a panel of spiritual authors convened by Philip Zaleski and HarperCollins publishers.
Autobiography of a Yogi is the most popular among Yogananda's books. According
to Philip Goldberg, who wrote American Veda, "the Self-Realization
Fellowship which represents Yogananda's Legacy, is justified in using the
slogan, "The Book that Changed the Lives of Millions." It has sold
more than four million copies and counting". In 2006, the publisher,
Self-Realization Fellowship, honored the 60th anniversary of Autobiography of a
Yogi "with a series of projects designed to promote the legacy of the man
thousands of disciples still refer to as 'master'."
Autobiography of a Yogi describes Yogananda's
spiritual search for enlightenment, in addition to encounters with notable
spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann, Anandamayi Ma, Vishuddhananda Paramahansa, Mohandas Gandhi, Nobel laureate in
literature Rabindranath Tagore, noted plant scientist Luther Burbank (the book is
'Dedicated to the Memory of Luther Burbank, An American Saint'), famous Indian
scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Nobel laureate in physics Sir C. V. Raman. One notable chapter
of this book is "The Law of Miracles", where he gives scientific
explanations for seemingly miraculous feats. He writes: "the word
'impossible' is becoming less prominent in man's vocabulary."
Self-Realization Fellowship /
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) is a non-profit
religious organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917, 100 years ago.
In countries outside the Indian subcontinent it is known as the
Self-Realization Fellowship. Paramahansa Yogananda's dissemination of his
teachings is continued through this organization – the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)/Yogoda Satsanga Society of
India (YSS). Yogananda founded Yogoda Satsanga Society of
India in 1917 and then expanded it in 1920 to the United States naming it the
Self-Realization Fellowship. In 1935 he legally incorporated it in the U.S. to
serve as his instrument for the preservation and worldwide dissemination of his
teachings. Yogananda expressed this intention again in 1939 in his magazine
Inner Culture for Self-Realization that he published through his organization:
Paramahansa Swami Yogananda renounced all his ownership
rights in the Self-Realization Fellowship when it was incorporated as a
nonprofit religious organization under the laws of California, March 29, 1935.
At that time he turned over to the Fellowship all of his rights to and income
from sale of his books, writings, magazine, lectures, classes, property,
automobiles and all other possessions.
SRF/YSS is headquartered in Los Angeles and has grown
to include more than 500 temples and centers around the world and has members
in over 175 countries including the Self-Realization
Fellowship Lake Shrine. In India and
surrounding countries, Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings are disseminated by
YSS which has more than 100 centers, retreats, and ashrams. Rajarsi Janakananda was chosen by Yogananda to become the President of SRF/YSS when he was
gone. Daya Mata, a religious leader
and a direct disciple of Yogananda who was personally chosen and trained by
Yogananda, was head of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of
India from 1955–2010. According to Linda Johnsen, the new wave today is women,
for major Indian gurus have passed on their spiritual mantle to women including
Yogananda to the American born Daya Mata and then to Mrinalini Mata. Mrinalini
Mata, a direct disciple of Yogananda, was the president and spiritual head of
Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India from 9 January
2011 until her death on 3 August 2017. She too was personally chosen and
trained by Yogananda to help guide the dissemination of his teachings after his
death. On 30 August 2017, Brother Chidananda was elected as the next president in a unanimous vote by the SRF Board
of Directors.
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