Autobiography of a Yogi is a personal account of Paramahansa Yoganada’s life and his journey to becoming a world renowned meditation and spiritual teacher. Yogananda takes us back to his earliest memories in Gorakhpur, India when he went by his given name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh, to his final breaths (relayed by the editor) in 1952.
The young Mukunda always had a burning desire to know God beyond a just a concept. Over the years, Yogananda recounts his ever increasing zeal to know truth and become a realized being. During that journey, Yogananda came across several Indian masters who lived and breathed conscious living and spiritual depth.
The journey of ever deepening consciousness fascinated Yogananda at every turn. His eldest brother tried several times to thwart his Godly aspirations but to no avail. In this fascinating read, Yogananda tells stories of superhuman abilities that were performed by several masters in India. Yogananda recounts one master materializing two bodies at the same time, another being able to teleport his body, while yet another coming back after death just as Christ did.
The most powerful part about Yogananda’s journey is not the amazing superhuman happenings that he shares with the reader, but deep spiritual teachings that he so eloquently entangles into the pages of the book. He explains that these powers are worthless and a waste of time if they are not accompanied by deeper self-realization.
Yogananda describes self-realization as the complete union (yoga) of the individual soul consciousness with the all encompassing God consciousness. As the individual becomes one with the whole, the spiritual union forever changes the practitioner. Yogananda’s teachings are based on this concept with the underlying message that everyone and anyone can reach this lofty goal, just as the masters of the ages have.
Read Autobiography of a Yogi if you are interested in diving deep into a fascinating and deeply profound journey of a man that became a world renowned spiritual teacher. You may also be interested in watching the documentary Awake: The Life of Yogananda.
Book Citation – Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi. Philosophical Library, 1946.
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