Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

Yogananda (1893 –1952) was born with the name Mukunda Lal Ghosh. As well as documenting his own path through life, his autobiography offers many interesting anecdotes about the succession of sages and holy men and women he encounters along the way.

Mukunda writes fondly of his parents and his brothers and sisters, and the sometimes miraculous events of their family life. His father is an official working for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway who is keen for his son to take a similar position. Mukunda has other ideas.

Shortly after being healed of cholera Mukunda has a vision of Himalayan yogis, from which develops a desire to find a spiritual teacher. After several abortive attempts to reach the Himalayas he chances upon Ram Gopal, a yogi he calls the sleepless saint.

The yogi tells him the Himalayas have no monopoly on saints. A room where a devotee can close the door and be alone is their cave, their sacred mountain, where they can find the kingdom of God.

With these words Mukunda is released from his obsession with the Himalayas. Only later, and much closer to home, does he meet Swami Sri Yukteswar, who becomes his guru and initiates him into Kriya Yoga.

Kriya Yoga, we are told, is an ancient science of union with the Infinite through a simple, psychophysiological method which allows extra oxygen to be transmuted into life current. The actual technique must be learned from a Kriya yogi, being quite different in use and in outcome to the bodily postures of Hatha yoga.

Sri Yukteswar is both a swami and a yogi. A swami belongs to an ancient order of monks that strive to set aside limited worldly pursuits in order to devote their time to discovering the eternal self and to help others to do the same. A yogi (or yogini, a female yogi) has mastered a technique by which the body and mind are disciplined, with the aim of freeing the true self.

Among the many memorable characters Mukunda introduces us to are Gandha Baba, the “perfume saint”, who can materialise the perfume of any flower, and the Tiger Swami, renowned for fighting and subduing tigers with his bare hands. Then there’s Bhaduri Mahasaya, the “levitating saint”, Afzal Khan , a fakir who misuses his powers, and Giri Bala, a yogini who needs no food, living directly on the life forces. We are also privy to an unforgettable meeting with Mahatma Gandhi.

Some people may consider the many accounts of materialisation and instantaneous healing described by Yogananda to be a little far-fetched, but perhaps one would do well to keep an open mind.

Among the many gems in this book requiring a stretch of the imagination are the stories of two different yogis who have an arm severed by an assailant. Both yogis reattach their arm and it becomes fully healed, leaving their repentant attacker deeply moved. It’s what you might call an extreme example of non-attachment! But joking aside, even reading about it left a profound impression upon me.

The book has an emphasis, naturally enough, on the benefits of Kriya Yoga, although the technique itself is not explained here. I personally don’t regard the discipline of any type of yoga, or long hours spent in meditation, necessarily the best pathway to enlightenment. There again, I was lucky enough to have been taught by Gladys Franklin.

Yogananda comes across as a sincere seeker who discovers the answer to his questions through the methods and teachings of his guru, and writes about it in an entertaining, eloquent style. Despite personally having no wish to take the way of the yogi, I found each episode of this fascinating story acting as a type of catalyst, making me re-examine closely my own opinions regarding our continuing journey through life. That’s exactly what a book should do!

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda was first published in 1946. There is a free (and legal) version available from the Project Guttenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7452.

C.E.J.