Autobiography of a YOGI

Autobiography of a YOGIpyByParamhansa YoganandaWITH A PREFACE BYW. Y. Evans-Wentz, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.“Except ye see signs and wonders,ye will not believe.”-John 4:48.Copyright, 1946, byParamhansa YoganandaDedicated To The Memory OfLUTHER BURBANKAn American SaintContentsPreface, By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZList of IllustrationsChapterMy Parents and Early LifeMother’s Death and the AmuletThe Saint with Two Bodies (Swami Pranabananda)My Interrupted Flight Toward the HimalayaA “Perfume Saint” Performs his WondersThe Tiger SwamiThe Levitating Saint (Nagendra Nath Bhaduri)India’s Great Scientist and Inventor, Jagadis Chandra BoseThe Blissful Devotee and his Cosmic Romance (Master Mahasaya)I Meet my Master, Sri YukteswarTwo Penniless Boys in BrindabanYears in my Master’s HermitageThe Sleepless Saint (Ram Gopal Muzumdar)An Experience in Cosmic ConsciousnessThe Cauliflower RobberyOutwitting the StarsSasi and the Three SapphiresA Mohammedan Wonder-Worker (Afzal Khan)My Guru Appears Simultaneously in Calcutta and SeramporeWe Do Not Visit KashmirWe Visit KashmirThe Heart of a Stone ImageMy University DegreeI Become a Monk of the Swami OrderBrother Ananta and Sister NaliniThe Science of Kriya YogaFounding of a Yoga School at RanchiKashi, Reborn and RediscoveredRabindranath Tagore and I Compare SchoolsThe Law of MiraclesAn Interview with the Sacred Mother (Kashi Moni Lahiri)Rama is Raised from the DeadBabaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern IndiaMaterializing a Palace in the HimalayasThe Christlike Life of Lahiri MahasayaBabaji’s Interest in the WestI Go to AmericaLuther Burbank — An American SaintTherese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist of BavariaI Return to IndiaAn Idyl in South IndiaLast Days with my GuruThe Resurrection of Sri YukteswarWith Mahatma Gandhi at WardhaThe Bengali “Joy-Permeated Mother” (Ananda Moyi Ma)The Woman Yogi who Never Eats (Giri Bala)I Return to the WestAt Encinitas in CaliforniaILLUSTRATIONSFrontispieceMap of IndiaMy Father, Bhagabati Charan GhoshMy MotherSwami Pranabananda, “The Saint With Two Bodies”My Elder Brother, AnantaFestival Gathering in the Courtyard of my Guru’s Hermitage in SeramporeNagendra Nath Bhaduri, “The Levitating Saint”Myself at Age 6Jagadis Chandra Bose, Famous ScientistTwo Brothers of Therese Neumann, at KonnersreuthMaster Mahasaya, the Blissful DevoteeJitendra Mazumdar, my Companion on the “Penniless Test” at BrindabanAnanda Moyi Ma, the “Joy-Permeated Mother”Himalayan Cave Occupied by BabajiSri Yukteswar, My MasterSelf-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles HeadquartersSelf-Realization Church of All Religions, HollywoodMy Guru’s Seaside Hermitage at PuriSelf-Realization Church of All Religions, San DiegoMy Sisters — Roma, Nalini, and UmaMy Sister UmaThe Lord in His Aspect as ShivaYogoda Math, Hermitage at DakshineswarRanchi School, Main BuildingKashi, Reborn and RediscoveredBishnu, Motilal Mukherji, my Father, Mr. Wright, T.N. Bose, Swami SatyanandaGroup of Delegates to the International Congress of Religious Liberals, Boston, 1920A Guru and Disciple in an Ancient HermitageBabaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern IndiaLahiri MahasayaA Yoga Class in Washington, D.C.Luther BurbankTherese Neumann of Konnersreuth, BavariaThe Taj Mahal at AgraShankari Mai Jiew, Only Living Disciple of the great Trailanga SwamiKrishnananda with his Tame LionessGroup on the Dining Patio of my Guru’s Serampore HermitageMiss Bletch, Mr. Wright, and myself — in EgyptRabindranath TagoreSwami Keshabananda, at his Hermitage in BrindabanKrishna, Ancient Prophet of IndiaMahatma Gandhi, at WardhaGiri Bala, the Woman Yogi Who Never EatsMr. E. E. DickinsonMy Guru and MyselfRanchi StudentsEncinitasConference in San FranciscoSwami PremanandaMy Fathermap of IndiaMap of IndiaPREFACEBy W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.Jesus College, Oxford; Author ofThe Tibetan Book of the Dead,Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa,Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines,etc.The value of Yogananda’sAutobiographyis greatly enhanced by the fact that it is one of the few books in English about the wise men of India which has been written, not by a journalist or foreigner, but by one of their own race and training—in short, a bookaboutyogisbya yogi. As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has importance both timely and timeless. To its illustrious author, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing both in India and America, may every reader render due appreciation and gratitude. His unusual life-document is certainly one of the most revealing of the depths of the Hindu mind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West.It has been my privilege to have met one of the sages whose life- history is herein narrated-Sri Yukteswar Giri. A likeness of the venerable saint appeared as part of the frontispiece of myTibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines.1-1It was at Puri, in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal, that I encountered Sri Yukteswar. He was then the head of a quiet ashrama near the seashore there, and was chiefly occupied in the spiritual training of a group of youthful disciples. He expressed keen interest in the welfare of the people of the United States and of all the Americas, and of England, too, and questioned me concerning the distant activities, particularly those in California, of his chief disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda, whom he dearly loved, and whom he had sent, in 1920, as his emissary to the West.Sri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own community or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall his tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long and somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly firm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic. He had chosen as his place of earthly abode the holy city of Puri, whither multitudes of pious Hindus, representative of every province of India, come daily on pilgrimage to the famed Temple of Jagannath, “Lord of the World.” It was at Puri that Sri Yukteswar closed his mortal eyes, in 1936, to the scenes of this transitory state of being and passed on, knowing that his incarnation had been carried to a triumphant completion. I am glad, indeed, to be able to record this testimony to the high character and holiness of Sri Yukteswar. Content to remain afar from the multitude, he gave himself unreservedly and in tranquillity to that ideal life which Paramhansa Yogananda, his disciple, has now described for the ages. W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ1-1:Oxford University Press, 1935.Author’s AcknowledgmentsI am deeply indebted to Miss L. V. Pratt for her long editorial labors over the manuscript of this book. My thanks are due also to Miss Ruth Zahn for preparation of the index, to Mr. C. Richard Wright for permission to use extracts from his Indian travel diary, and to Dr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz for suggestions and encouragement.PARAMHANSA YOGANANDAOctober 28, 1945Encinitas, California

ByParamhansa YoganandaWITH A PREFACE BYW. Y. Evans-Wentz, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.“Except ye see signs and wonders,ye will not believe.”-John 4:48.

ByParamhansa Yogananda

WITH A PREFACE BYW. Y. Evans-Wentz, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.

“Except ye see signs and wonders,ye will not believe.”-John 4:48.

Dedicated To The Memory OfLUTHER BURBANKAn American Saint

ContentsPreface, By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZList of IllustrationsChapterMy Parents and Early LifeMother’s Death and the AmuletThe Saint with Two Bodies (Swami Pranabananda)My Interrupted Flight Toward the HimalayaA “Perfume Saint” Performs his WondersThe Tiger SwamiThe Levitating Saint (Nagendra Nath Bhaduri)India’s Great Scientist and Inventor, Jagadis Chandra BoseThe Blissful Devotee and his Cosmic Romance (Master Mahasaya)I Meet my Master, Sri YukteswarTwo Penniless Boys in BrindabanYears in my Master’s HermitageThe Sleepless Saint (Ram Gopal Muzumdar)An Experience in Cosmic ConsciousnessThe Cauliflower RobberyOutwitting the StarsSasi and the Three SapphiresA Mohammedan Wonder-Worker (Afzal Khan)My Guru Appears Simultaneously in Calcutta and SeramporeWe Do Not Visit KashmirWe Visit KashmirThe Heart of a Stone ImageMy University DegreeI Become a Monk of the Swami OrderBrother Ananta and Sister NaliniThe Science of Kriya YogaFounding of a Yoga School at RanchiKashi, Reborn and RediscoveredRabindranath Tagore and I Compare SchoolsThe Law of MiraclesAn Interview with the Sacred Mother (Kashi Moni Lahiri)Rama is Raised from the DeadBabaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern IndiaMaterializing a Palace in the HimalayasThe Christlike Life of Lahiri MahasayaBabaji’s Interest in the WestI Go to AmericaLuther Burbank — An American SaintTherese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist of BavariaI Return to IndiaAn Idyl in South IndiaLast Days with my GuruThe Resurrection of Sri YukteswarWith Mahatma Gandhi at WardhaThe Bengali “Joy-Permeated Mother” (Ananda Moyi Ma)The Woman Yogi who Never Eats (Giri Bala)I Return to the WestAt Encinitas in California

Preface, By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZList of Illustrations

Chapter

ILLUSTRATIONSFrontispieceMap of IndiaMy Father, Bhagabati Charan GhoshMy MotherSwami Pranabananda, “The Saint With Two Bodies”My Elder Brother, AnantaFestival Gathering in the Courtyard of my Guru’s Hermitage in SeramporeNagendra Nath Bhaduri, “The Levitating Saint”Myself at Age 6Jagadis Chandra Bose, Famous ScientistTwo Brothers of Therese Neumann, at KonnersreuthMaster Mahasaya, the Blissful DevoteeJitendra Mazumdar, my Companion on the “Penniless Test” at BrindabanAnanda Moyi Ma, the “Joy-Permeated Mother”Himalayan Cave Occupied by BabajiSri Yukteswar, My MasterSelf-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles HeadquartersSelf-Realization Church of All Religions, HollywoodMy Guru’s Seaside Hermitage at PuriSelf-Realization Church of All Religions, San DiegoMy Sisters — Roma, Nalini, and UmaMy Sister UmaThe Lord in His Aspect as ShivaYogoda Math, Hermitage at DakshineswarRanchi School, Main BuildingKashi, Reborn and RediscoveredBishnu, Motilal Mukherji, my Father, Mr. Wright, T.N. Bose, Swami SatyanandaGroup of Delegates to the International Congress of Religious Liberals, Boston, 1920A Guru and Disciple in an Ancient HermitageBabaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern IndiaLahiri MahasayaA Yoga Class in Washington, D.C.Luther BurbankTherese Neumann of Konnersreuth, BavariaThe Taj Mahal at AgraShankari Mai Jiew, Only Living Disciple of the great Trailanga SwamiKrishnananda with his Tame LionessGroup on the Dining Patio of my Guru’s Serampore HermitageMiss Bletch, Mr. Wright, and myself — in EgyptRabindranath TagoreSwami Keshabananda, at his Hermitage in BrindabanKrishna, Ancient Prophet of IndiaMahatma Gandhi, at WardhaGiri Bala, the Woman Yogi Who Never EatsMr. E. E. DickinsonMy Guru and MyselfRanchi StudentsEncinitasConference in San FranciscoSwami PremanandaMy Father

map of IndiaMap of IndiaPREFACEBy W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.Jesus College, Oxford; Author ofThe Tibetan Book of the Dead,Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa,Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines,etc.The value of Yogananda’sAutobiographyis greatly enhanced by the fact that it is one of the few books in English about the wise men of India which has been written, not by a journalist or foreigner, but by one of their own race and training—in short, a bookaboutyogisbya yogi. As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has importance both timely and timeless. To its illustrious author, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing both in India and America, may every reader render due appreciation and gratitude. His unusual life-document is certainly one of the most revealing of the depths of the Hindu mind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West.It has been my privilege to have met one of the sages whose life- history is herein narrated-Sri Yukteswar Giri. A likeness of the venerable saint appeared as part of the frontispiece of myTibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines.1-1It was at Puri, in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal, that I encountered Sri Yukteswar. He was then the head of a quiet ashrama near the seashore there, and was chiefly occupied in the spiritual training of a group of youthful disciples. He expressed keen interest in the welfare of the people of the United States and of all the Americas, and of England, too, and questioned me concerning the distant activities, particularly those in California, of his chief disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda, whom he dearly loved, and whom he had sent, in 1920, as his emissary to the West.Sri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own community or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall his tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long and somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly firm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic. He had chosen as his place of earthly abode the holy city of Puri, whither multitudes of pious Hindus, representative of every province of India, come daily on pilgrimage to the famed Temple of Jagannath, “Lord of the World.” It was at Puri that Sri Yukteswar closed his mortal eyes, in 1936, to the scenes of this transitory state of being and passed on, knowing that his incarnation had been carried to a triumphant completion. I am glad, indeed, to be able to record this testimony to the high character and holiness of Sri Yukteswar. Content to remain afar from the multitude, he gave himself unreservedly and in tranquillity to that ideal life which Paramhansa Yogananda, his disciple, has now described for the ages. W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ1-1:Oxford University Press, 1935.

map of IndiaMap of India

map of India

Map of India

By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.Jesus College, Oxford; Author ofThe Tibetan Book of the Dead,Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa,Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines,etc.

The value of Yogananda’sAutobiographyis greatly enhanced by the fact that it is one of the few books in English about the wise men of India which has been written, not by a journalist or foreigner, but by one of their own race and training—in short, a bookaboutyogisbya yogi. As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has importance both timely and timeless. To its illustrious author, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing both in India and America, may every reader render due appreciation and gratitude. His unusual life-document is certainly one of the most revealing of the depths of the Hindu mind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West.

It has been my privilege to have met one of the sages whose life- history is herein narrated-Sri Yukteswar Giri. A likeness of the venerable saint appeared as part of the frontispiece of myTibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines.1-1It was at Puri, in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal, that I encountered Sri Yukteswar. He was then the head of a quiet ashrama near the seashore there, and was chiefly occupied in the spiritual training of a group of youthful disciples. He expressed keen interest in the welfare of the people of the United States and of all the Americas, and of England, too, and questioned me concerning the distant activities, particularly those in California, of his chief disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda, whom he dearly loved, and whom he had sent, in 1920, as his emissary to the West.

Sri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own community or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall his tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long and somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly firm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic. He had chosen as his place of earthly abode the holy city of Puri, whither multitudes of pious Hindus, representative of every province of India, come daily on pilgrimage to the famed Temple of Jagannath, “Lord of the World.” It was at Puri that Sri Yukteswar closed his mortal eyes, in 1936, to the scenes of this transitory state of being and passed on, knowing that his incarnation had been carried to a triumphant completion. I am glad, indeed, to be able to record this testimony to the high character and holiness of Sri Yukteswar. Content to remain afar from the multitude, he gave himself unreservedly and in tranquillity to that ideal life which Paramhansa Yogananda, his disciple, has now described for the ages. W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ

1-1:Oxford University Press, 1935.

Author’s AcknowledgmentsI am deeply indebted to Miss L. V. Pratt for her long editorial labors over the manuscript of this book. My thanks are due also to Miss Ruth Zahn for preparation of the index, to Mr. C. Richard Wright for permission to use extracts from his Indian travel diary, and to Dr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz for suggestions and encouragement.PARAMHANSA YOGANANDAOctober 28, 1945Encinitas, California

Author’s Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to Miss L. V. Pratt for her long editorial labors over the manuscript of this book. My thanks are due also to Miss Ruth Zahn for preparation of the index, to Mr. C. Richard Wright for permission to use extracts from his Indian travel diary, and to Dr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz for suggestions and encouragement.

PARAMHANSA YOGANANDAOctober 28, 1945Encinitas, California

Back to Index Next