Autobiography of a Yogi
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In 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda (January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952), published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was instrumental in introducing Vedic philosophy to the West.
It has since been translated into eighteen languages and remains a bestseller. It includes Yogananda's and Sri Yukteswar's explanations of various verses and events of the Bible such as the Garden of Eden story. Further, it provides descriptions of Yogananda's encounters with leading spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann, the Hindu saint Sri Anandamoyi Ma, Mohandas Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore,Nobel Prize winning physicist Sir C. V. Raman, and noted American plant scientist Luther Burbank,to whom it is dedicated.
Overview
Since its first publication in 1946 "Autobiography of a Yogi" is still the most well known and widely distributed of all of Yogananda’s writings. The impact it has had in the West regarding traditional Western conceptions of Yoga and our understanding of the religious heritage of India is considerable. It has been adopted for course use in more than 200 colleges and universities and is considered to be one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century.Written with considerable wit and candor, Yogananda takes the reader on a personal journey through an India most would have thought to exist only in India's ancient past. An authoritative text on the spiritual science of yoga (not merely the Hatha Yoga postures so familiar in the West) the book is not so much a year by year chronicle of Yogananda's life, as it is a tribute to Yoga, India and all of the saints who had a profound influence on his life.
Detailed description
Spiritual quest begins in childhood
Yogananda writes openly and directly about his intense desire, even in childhood, to know what lay behind all the experiences of life and death, and "What is behind the darkness of closed eyes?" It seems evident that the death of his Mother when he was 11, to whom he was deeply devoted, greatly intensified his personal search for God. He states "I loved Mother as my dearest friend on earth. Her solacing black eyes had been my refuge in the trifling tragedies of childhood." Later Yogananda states that in a spiritual vision none less than God told him, "It is I who have watched over thee, life after life, in the tenderness of many mothers. See in My gaze the two black eyes, the lost beautiful eyes, thou seekest!"
While still a student in high school, Yogananda longed to dedicate his life to God alone. With three friends he attempted to run away from home and find his long sought guru amid the Himalayan mountains. But it was not until after his graduation from high school, which he had promised his father he would finish, that Yogananda was to meet the great sage Swami Sri Yuketeswar Giri. He then spent the better part of ten years under his guru's strict discipline;
"Discipline had not been unknown to me: at home Father was strict, Ananta often severe. But Sri Yukteswar's training cannot be described as other than drastic. A perfectionist, my guru was hypercritical of his disciples, whether in matters of moment or in the subtle nuances of behavior. "
"If you don't like my words, you are at liberty to leave at any time," Master assured me. "I want nothing from you but your own improvement. Stay only if you feel benefited."
"I am hard on those who come for my training," he admitted to me. "That is my way.Take it or leave it; I never compromise. But you will be much kinder to your disciples; that is your way. I try to purify only in the fires of severity; these are searing beyond the average toleration. The gentle approach of love is also transfiguring. The inflexible and the yielding methods are equally effective if applied with wisdom." He added," You will go to foreign lands, where blunt assaults on the ego are not appreciated. A teacher could not spread India's message in the West without an ample fund of accommodative patience and forbearance."(I refuse to state the amount of truth I later came to find in Master's words!)
My guru was reluctant to discuss the superphysical realms. His only "marvelous" aura was one of perfect simplicity. In conversation he avoided startling references; in action he was freely expressive. Many teachers talked of miracles but could manifest nothing; Sri Yukteswar seldom mentioned the subtle laws but secretly operated them at will.
Spiritual prodigy
One of the most remarkable aspects of Yogananda’s life story that may initially escape attention is how very young he was at the time he met and was welcomed into the homes of many of India’s greatest sages. Affectionately called by many "choto mahasaya" which translates to "little sir" he was treated more as a younger peer than as an outsider. The book "Mejda" written by his younger brother Sananda Lal Ghosh sheds much light on the depth of his spiritual attainment well before his graduation from high school and his training with Sri Yuketeswar.
Spiritual lineage and influences
Before the age of 17 when Yogananda finally met his guru, Sri Yukteswar, one person stands out (perhaps even more so than Yogananda's Mother) as having a profound influence on his early life. And that was Lahiri Mahasaya of Banaras (Varanasi). Lahiri Mahasaya was the guru of Yogananda's parents and also the guru of Sri Yukteswar.As early as the first chapter we learn that at around the age of 8 that Yogananda was instantly healed of cholera after his Mother's insistence that he pray to Lahiri Mahasaya. Beginning with chapter 31 of his autobiography, Yogananda spends the next five chapters interweaving the life of Lahiri Mahasaya with that of Lahiri Mahasaya's guru, Mahavatar Babaji. Using the stories and biographical facts collected on his return trip to India in 1935 from various disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya (including the wife of Lahiri Mahasaya) as well as Yogananda's own personal testimony, he pays tribute to the three individuals who formed an unbroken spiritual chain in his life and whose collective influence are inseparable from his life and teachings; Mahavatar Babaji, his chief disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, and his own guru Sri Yukteswar.
The science of Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga is a specific technique of meditation that is referred to throughout Yogananda's autobiography.Yogananda writes in Chapter 26:"Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his great guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages." In Chapter 4 Lahiri Mahasaya is quoted in regards to Kriya saying,"This technique cannot be bound, filed, and forgotten, in the manner of theoretical inspirations. Continue ceaselessly on your path to liberation through Kriya, whose power lies in practice."Yogananda goes on to say in Chapter 26:
Because of certain ancient yogic injunctions, I may not give a full explanation of Kriya Yoga in a book intended for the general public.Here a broad reference must suffice.Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which human blood is decarbonated and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues. The advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies to materialize and dematerialize at will.Kriya Yoga is twice referred to by Krishna, India's greatest prophet, in the Bhagavad Gita. One stanza reads: "Offering the inhaling breath into the exhaling breath, and offering the exhaling breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both breaths; thus he releases prana from the heart and brings life force under his control.St. Paul knew Kriya Yoga, or a similar technique, by which he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was therefore able to say: "I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ, I die daily."
God,miracles,religion and science
Yogananda's autobiography which was written between 1931 and 1946 can even today be an overwhelming read. The miraculous events recounted in his autobiography comprise a body of work unprecedented in Western literature. Some twenty chapters of Yogananda's autobiography are expressly written about one or more miracles. Chapter thirty entitled "The Law of Miracles" attempts to give us a "rational" understanding of the miraculous powers of saints, and the eternal relationship between God, human life, religion and science.
Referring to our natural fascination with miracles, and those who possess miraculous power, Yogananda at the end of chapter 35 quoted Lahiri Mahasaya, "In reference to miracles Lahiri Mahasaya often said "The operation of subtle laws that are unknown to people in general should not be publicly discussed or published without due discrimination". If in these pages I have appeared to flout his cautionary words, it is because he has given me an inner reassurance. However, in recording the lives of Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Sri Yukteswar, I have thought it advisable to omit certain miraculous stories. I could hardly have included them without writing, also, an explanatory volume of abstruse philosophy.
Changes from the 1946 edition
The most obvious changes from the first edition of Yogananda's Autobiography can be seen in chapters 48 and 49. What had been the final chapter number 48 "At Encinitas in California" underwent significant revision in later editions. A subsequent chapter "The Years 1940-1951" was added by Yogananda. Some of the content of the original "Encinitas" chapter was omitted altogether and other parts moved to the new "1940-1951" chapter. The differences are easily seen by comparing an online version of the 1946 edition (which at this writing may still be in the public domain) alongside a current printed copy from Self Realization Fellowship.
According to the section "Author's Revisions and Wishes for Later Editions of Autobiography of a Yogi" posted at the Self Realization Fellowship website in June of 2006 honoring the 60th year of the books publication which was also printed in the Fiftieth Anniversary Edition;
Three editions of Paramahansaj's autobiography appeared during his lifetime. In the third edition, published in 1951, he made significant changes-revising the text thoroughly, deleting material, amplifying various points, and adding a new final chapter, "The Years 1940-1951" (one of the longest in the book).Some further revisions made by him after the third edition could not be incorporated until the publication of the seventh edition, which was released in 1956.
The following Publisher's Note was printed in the seventh edition:
"This 1956 American edition contains revisions made by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1949 for the London, England, edition; and additional revisions made by the author in 1951. In a 'Note to the London Edition,' dated October 25, 1949, Paramahansa Yogananda wrote: 'The arrangement for a London edition of this book has given me an opportunity to revise, and slightly to enlarge, the text. Besides new material in the last chapter, I have added a number of footnotes in which I have answered questions sent me by readers of the American edition.'
"Later revisions, made by the author in 1951, were intended to appear in the fourth (1952) American edition. At that time the rights in Autobiography of a Yogi were vested in a New York publishing house. In 1946 in New York each page of the book had been made into an electrotype plate. Consequently, to add even a comma requires that the metal plate of an entire page be cut apart and resoldered with a new line containing the desired comma. Because of the expense involved in resoldering many plates, the New York publisher did not include in the fourth edition the author’s 1951 revisions.
"In late 1953 Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) bought from the New York publisher all rights in Autobiography of a Yogi. SRF reprinted the book in 1954 and 1955 (fifth and sixth editions); but during those two years other duties prevented the SRF editorial department from undertaking the formidable task of incorporating the author's revisions on the electrotype plates. The work, however, has been accomplished in time for the seventh edition."
And also clarifying the English spelling of Paramahansa;
Early editions of Autobiography of a Yogi gave the author's title as "Paramhansa," reflecting the common Bengali practice of omitting silent or near-silent a’s in spelling. To ensure that the sacred significance of this Veda-based title would be conveyed, in later editions the standard Sanskrit transliteration has been used: "Paramahansa," from parama, "highest or supreme" and hansa, "swan"—signifying one who has attained highest realization of his true divine Self, and of the unity of that Self with Spirit
Chapter listing
As titled in the 1997 Anniversary Edition
1. My Parents and Early Life
2. My Mother's Death and the Mystic Amulet
3. The Saint with Two Bodies (Swami Pranabananda)
4. My Interrupted Flight Toward the Himalayas
5. A "Perfume Saint" Displays His Wonders
6. The Tiger Swami
7. The Levitating Saint (Nagendra Nath Bhaduri)
8. India's Great Scientist , J. C. Bose
9. The Blissful Devotee and his Cosmic Romance (Master Mahasaya)
10. I Meet my Master, Sri Yukteswar
11. Two Penniless Boys in Brindaban
12. Years in my Master's Hermitage
13. The Sleepless Saint (Ram Gopal Muzumdar)
14. An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness
15. The Cauliflower Robbery
16. Outwitting the Stars
17. Sasi and the Three Sapphires
18. A Mohammedan Wonder-Worker (Afzal Khan)
19. My Master, in Calcutta, Appears in Serampore
20. We Do Not Visit Kashmir
21. We Visit Kashmir
22. The Heart of a Stone Image
23. I Receive My University Degree
24. I Become a Monk of the Swami Order
25. Brother Ananta and Sister Nalini
26. The Science of Kriya Yoga
27. Founding a Yoga School in Ranchi
28. Kashi, Reborn and Discovered
29. Rabindranath Tagore and I Compare Schools
30. The Law of Miracles
31. An Interview with the Sacred Mother (Kashi Moni Lahiri)
32. Rama is Raised from the Dead
33. Babaji, Yogi-Christ of Modern India
34. Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas
35. The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya
36. Babaji's Interest in the West
37. I Go to America
38. Luther Burbank – A Saint Amid the Roses
39. Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist
40. I Return to India
41. An Idyl in South India
42. Last Days With My Guru
43. The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar
44. With Mahatma Gandhi at Wardha
45. The Bengali "Joy-Permeated Mother" (Ananda Moyi Ma)
46. The Woman Yogi Who Never Eats (Giri Bala)
47. I Return to the West
48. At Encinitas in California
49. The Years 1940-1951
External links
- [Gutenberg] site for the 1946 edition of Autobiography of a Yogi
- Free online edition of [Autobiography of a Yogi]
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