Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur, India, was a Hindu monk, yogi, and guru who spent his final 32 years in the United States. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) and its Indian counterpart, the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), to teach meditation and Kriya Yoga. A chief disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Yogananda was sent by his spiritual lineage to bring yogic teachings to the West. He immigrated to the U.S. at age 27, aiming to bridge Eastern and Western religions and promote a balance between Western material progress and Indian spirituality. His deep impact on American yoga, especially in Los Angeles, earned him the title "Father of Yoga in the West" from yoga experts.

Yogananda was one of the first Indian religious teachers to settle in the U.S. and the first prominent Indian hosted at the White House, by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. The *Los Angeles Times* called him "the 20th century's first superstar guru." Arriving in Boston in 1920, he gave a successful transcontinental speaking tour before settling in Los Angeles in 1925. Over the next 25 years, he founded a monastic order, trained disciples, led teaching tours, acquired California properties for SRF, and initiated thousands into Kriya Yoga. By 1952, SRF had over 100 centers in both India and the U.S., with groups in nearly every major American city. His principles of "plain living and high thinking" attracted followers from all backgrounds.

In 1946, he published *Autobiography of a Yogi*, which became a critical and commercial success, selling over four million copies. Harper San Francisco ranked it among the "100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century." Steve Jobs ordered 500 copies for his memorial guests, and Elvis Presley frequently gave it away. The book is often called "the book that changed the lives of millions." A 2014 SRF-commissioned documentary, *Awake: The Life of Yogananda*, was released. Biographer Phillip Goldberg described Yogananda as "the best known and most beloved of all Indian spiritual teachers who have come to the West."

Born into a Hindu Bengali Kayastha family, Yogananda was the fourth of eight children of Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, vice president of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, and Gyanprabha Devi. His father’s job moved the family to Lahore, Bareilly, and Kolkata. At age 11, his mother died, leaving him a sacred amulet from a holy man, who said it would vanish when its purpose was fulfilled. As a youth, he traveled widely with friends, seeking Hindu sages like the Soham "Tiger" Swami, Gandha Baba, and Mahendranath Gupta. After high school, he briefly joined a Mahamandal Hermitage in Varanasi but left, dissatisfied with its focus on organization over meditation. In 1910, at age 17, he met his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri; at that moment, his amulet mysteriously disappeared. Yogananda described their meeting as a reunion across lifetimes.

He trained under Sri Yukteswar for ten years (1910–1920) at hermitages in Serampore and Puri. Sri Yukteswar told him he was sent by the great guru Mahavatar Babaji for a special world mission. After passing his Intermediate Examination from Scottish Church College, Calcutta, in 1915, Yogananda earned a B.A. from Serampore College. That July, he took monastic vows, choosing the name Swami Yogananda Giri. In 1917, he founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal, blending modern education with spiritual training.