Autobiography of a Yogi [Hardcover]

Paramahansa Yogananda (Author), W. Y. Evans-Wentz (Preface)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994

Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda tells the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounter with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West. The author clearly explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events commonly termed miracles. His absorbing life story becomes the background for a penetrating and unforgettable look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence. Selected as "One of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century," Autobiography of a Yogi has been translated into 20 languages, and is regarded worldwide as a classic of religious literature. Several million copies have been sold, and it continues to appear on best-seller lists after more than sixty consecutive years in print. Profoundly inspiring, it is at the same time vastly entertaining, warmly humorous and filled with extraordinary personages. Self-Realization Fellowship's editions, and none others, include extensive material added by the author after the first edition was published, including a final chapter on the closing years of his life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is a must-read for the budding yogi, the spiritual veteran looking for a deeper understanding, and everyone in between... --Yogi Times

Fabulous stories from his life keep the reader inspired, informed, and thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. --Yoga Journal

About the Author

Born in India on January 5, 1893, Paramahansa Yogananda devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Sri Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together 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 in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Daya Mata, one of his earliest and closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 1955. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 503 pages
• Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship; 12th edition (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876120826
• ISBN-13: 978-0876120828
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (291 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West," Paramahansa Yogananda - author of the bestselling classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" - is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India on January 5, 1893, he devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together 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 in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Daya Mata, one of his earliest and closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 1955. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

146 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Candid biography, inspired prose, unparalled insights, November 8, 2002

By 

richardpinneau.com (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Autobiography of a Yogi (Mass Market Paperback)

Like Gandhi, Yogananda writes humbly and includes his foibles and the pratfalls he takes as he journeys through life's lessons. In fact, unless you read elsewhere about his life you won't realize how much he understates his own accomplishments while he honors other spiritual seekers and teachers he encounters.

His stories of encounters with amazing saints of all regions and religions are spell-binding, and you may find yourself (like me) devouring the whole book on your first read -- just reveling in the wonders of these true spiritual seekers. On successive readings I delved deeper into the equally fascinating footnotes, learning about the exotic realms of Indian spirituality and its unexpected parallels with the original Christian teachings of Christ, St. John, and St. Paul.

In fact, the countless strata of insights and implications that surface with repeated readings of Autobiography of a Yogi argue for spending a few more dollars on the trade paperback rather than the mass market paperback edition, since you'll want to return numerous times over the years. The Self-Realization Fellowship editions are to be preferred over others. Yogananda himself started that organization (SRF), and the award-winning quality of SRF editing and printing shines through them - in contrast to bootlegged editions printed up by renegade outfits.

In all my reading in spirituality, yoga, and comparative religion, I have discovered no work that so completely fulfills Carl Jung's prophecy that yoga science (the whole science, not just the athletic postures) will offer you ''undreamed-of possibilities'' as Yogananda's autobiography. As the author explains, 'yoga' comes from the root meaning 'union' - and he reveals, ever more deeply, the underlying oneness of Christianity and yoga, of spiritual truth and scientific truth, of the worldly and the spirituality. It will deepen anyone's own faith and sensibility -- of whatever religion (or none), of the science of matter... or mind... or Spirit.

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars :o), April 2, 2005

By 

Mark Burgett (Minneapolis MN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Autobiography of a Yogi - Audio Book narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley (Audio CD)

I would say that this has been one of the best "books" I've ever "read." I got the CD version, and I've had other books on cd that I've listened to in the car, but I was definitely not expecting a 15 disc set with a book of notes about certain parts of each chapter written by Yogananda. It took me nearly 2 weeks to listen to it in my car, but it was the only thing I listened to. Yogananda's spiritual journey is the most fantastic I've ever encountered. Anybody who's open minded to the mysteries of life and nature will benefit from this book. And the author doesn't masacre Sanskrit words and names with his light British accent, but in fact, seems to have an excellent understanding of translingual pronounciations.

63 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GLOBAL REVELATION FOR THE 3RD MILLENIUM, September 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Autobiography of a Yogi (Paperback)

As a long time student of comparative religion the discovering of this spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" set my thinking and life experience in a very new and unexpected direction. Until I became familiar with the great avatar "Paramahansa Yogananda" my superficial philosophical adventure seemed fulfilling enough. Now I am seeing the deeper aspects of the spiritual life and many new understandings and revelations are being opened to my consciousness.

I also read the original edition of this book, which I find somewhat incomplete, as Yognanda himself began seriously revising this book with each new edition. So the reader will get the most complete and most accurate teachings of this great Yogi from the latest editions published by Self-Realization Fellowship publishers, via Amazon books.

I highly recommend this edition to all truth-seekers and students of comparative religion as a major key to unlocking our past conditioning and broadening many narrow views that we become attached to in our earlier development. Here is a balanced and insightful approach to world religion and spirituality that gives true ecumenical recognition to all the worlds major saints and prophets. This spiritual classic will contribute much to bringing harmony, peace and mutual respect to this world of so many varied belief systems.

The author, with his unique blend of wit, wisdom, insight and intuition has shown us the primary elements and truths that are the foundation of all religions. He does this without criticism, judgement, or error. His is the same eternal message that was given the world by other great saviors such as Krishna, Buddha and Jesus.

I have no doubt that millions of lives have already been changed by this sacred literary revelation................

This is surely the work of a God-Realized bieng, a wonderful experience awaits the sincere reader. Don't make the mistake of only reading it once!!!

LIST OF SUBJECTS: Author's early life... Meeting your Master... The Master-Disciple relationship... The Science of KRIYA YOGA... Meditation and prayer... Lives of many modern Eastern and Western Saints.. Law of Miracles...how they work... Principle of Raja Yoga... How great masters teach their disciples... the inner meaning of Christ and Krishna... The Astral world... Reincarnation and Karma... How to find your true Path... Travels in India... The Spiritual heritage of India...

the Importance of Yogananda's founding of the Self-Realization Fellowship as his only authorized channel for His writings and Kriya Yoga............ Footnotes on yoga and religious history.. Mans purpose and goal in life.......... AND MUCH MORE-------------

ALSO RECOMMENDED: Man's Eternal Quest... Divine Romance... Journey to Self-Realization... The Science of Religion... God Talks With Arjuna(Bhagavad Gita)... Where There is Light...