Paramahansa Yogananda with his book “Autobiography of a Yogi” – Wikimedia Commons
10 Remarquable Facts about Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi, and guru. He introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) also known as Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India. He lived his last 32 years in America.
A chief disciple of the Bengali yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of yoga to the West. This was to prove the unity between Eastern and Western religions and to preach a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality.
Let us look at 10 remarquable Facts about Paramahansa Yogananda
1. Yogananda was referred to as the Father of Yoga in the West
Paramahansa Yogananda meditating by Yogananda – Wikimedia Commons
His long-standing influence in the American yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture of Los Angeles, led him to be considered by yoga experts as the Father of Yoga in the West.
When Steve Jobs died, he planned every detail of his own memorial service, held at Stanford University in October 2011, including the brown box each attendee received as a farewell gift. The box contained the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. It is stated that Steve’s last message was that here is Yogananda’s book to Actualize yourself.
2. Paramahansa was the first prominent Indian to be hosted in the White House
He was the first major Indian teacher to settle in America, and the first prominent Indian to be hosted in the White House by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. His early acclaim led to him being dubbed as the 20th century’s first superstar guru, by the Los Angeles Times.
Arriving in Boston in 1920, he embarked on a successful transcontinental speaking tour before settling in Los Angeles in 1925. For the next two and a half decades, he gained local fame as well as expanded his influence worldwide: he created a monastic order and trained disciples, went on teaching tours, bought properties for his organization in various California locales, and initiated thousands into Kriya Yoga
3. Yogananda published his book, Autobiography of a Yogi, in 1946
Paramahansa Yogananda writing – Wikimedia Commons
The book received both critical and commercial acclaim; since its first publishing. It has sold over four million copies, with HarperSan Francisco listing it as one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century.
The book has been regularly reprinted and is known as the book that changed the lives of millions.
4. In 1917, Yogananda founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal
The school combined modern educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. A year later, the school relocated to Ranchi.
One of the school’s first batch of pupils was his youngest brother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh. He learned yoga asanas there and in turn taught asanas to Bikram Choudhury.
This school would later become the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Indian branch of Yogananda’s American organization, Self-Realization Fellowship.
5. Paramahansa founded the Self-Realization Fellowship
While in the United States, he founded the fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India’s ancient practices and philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation.
Yogananda spent the next four years in Boston; in the interim, he lectured and taught on the East Coast. In 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour and thousands came to his lectures.
6. Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major portion of his life in America
In 1925, he established an international center for Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, California, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his growing work.
He lived in the United States from 1920 to 1952, interrupted by an extended trip abroad from 1935 to 1936, and through his disciples, he developed various Kriya Yoga centers around the world.
7. In 1935, Yogananda returned to India to help establish his Yogoda Satsanga work
Paramahansa Yogananda (right), Anandamayi Ma (middle), and her husband Bholanath (left) – Wikimedia Commons
He returned to India via ocean liner, along with two of his western students, to visit his guru Sri Yukteswar Giri and to help establish his Yogoda Satsanga work in India. In August 1935, he arrived in India at the port of Mumbai and due to his fame in America, he was met by many photographers and journalists during his short stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Upon taking a train eastward and reaching the Howrah Station near Kolkata, he was met with a huge crowd and a ceremonious procession led by his brother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, and the Maharaja of Kasimbazar. Visiting Serampore, he had an emotional reunion with his guru Sri Yukteswar.
8. Paramahansa was kept under surveillance by the FBI and the British authorities
Yogananda was put on a government watch list and kept under surveillance by the FBI and the British authorities, who were concerned about the growing independence movement in India. A confidential file was kept on him from 1926 to 1937 due to concern over his religious and moral practices.
Philip Goldberg’s biography describes Yogananda as being up against a perfect storm of America’s worst defects: media sensationalism, religious bigotry, ethnic stereotyping, paternalism, sexual anxiety, and brazen racism.
9. Yogananda became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1946
Paramahansa Yogananda (right) with Luther Burbank (left) – Wikimedia Commons
In late 1936, Yogananda returned to the United States. He continued to lecture, write, and establish churches in southern California.
In 1946, Yogananda took advantage of a change in immigration laws and applied for citizenship. His application was approved in 1949, and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
10. In the days leading up to his death, Yogananda began hinting to his disciples that it was time for him to leave the world
The last four years of his life were spent primarily in seclusion with some of his inner circle of disciples at his desert retreat in Twentynine Palms, California to finish his writings and to finish revising books, articles, and lessons written previously over the years.
On March 7, 1952, he attended a dinner for the visiting Indian Ambassador to the U.S. After giving his speech, he lifted his eyes to the Kutastha center, and his body slumped to the floor. His funeral service, with hundreds attending, was held at the SRF headquarters atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles.
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