Paramahansa Yoganada

Paramahansa Yogananda's life was as fascinating, mystical, and foreseeable by their parents as the other three gurus in my doctoral research. Yogananda's birth was

prophesied to his mother by her guru, Lahiri Mahasaya. He told her that she would have a son who would follow in his path and lineage of his gurus.

Yogananda was one of eight children born to an upper-middle-class Bengali family in India and was of the Kshatriya caste. Born on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur in northeastern India near the Himalaya Mountains, his birth name was Mukunda Lal Ghosh. His father was Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, the vice-president of the Bengal railway company. Yogananda's mother was Gyana Prabha, a religious and generous person.

At the young age of eight years, Yogananda was stricken with the deadly cholera disease. When all hope was given up by the doctors, his mother suggested to him to mentally bow before the photo of her guru, Lahiri Mahasaya. The sick and weak child inwardly knelt before the picture. At once, a blinding light filled the room and enveloped Yogananda. He immediately felt well again. Shortly after this,

Yogananda had another unbelievable vision.

Just like the mystical inspiration that the sixteen-year-old Ramana Maharshi experienced, the eight-year-old Yogananda also had a spiritual vision. He was sitting on his bed and wanted to know what was behind the darkness of his closed eyes. A flash of light manifested to his inner gaze, followed by pictures like on a movie screen within his forehead of meditating saints in mountain caves. The young boy asked them who they were. They replied that they were Himalayan yogis. This response remained with Yogananda for most of his young adult life. Throughout his growing up years, he made many secretive planned escapades to see these yogis. He believed that the Himalayas were the place where he would find God.

When Yogananda was eleven years old, he had a premonition vision of his beloved mother's death. This actual painful loss strengthened his longing for God and his yearning for the Himalayas to find God there. About one year later after his mother’s death, Yogananda's elder brother, Ananta, gave him a gift of a small box from their mother. An astrally produced silver amulet with a sacred mantra written on it was to be given to Yogananda. On receiving the talisman, Yogananda felt a blaze of illumination, and some of the grief for his mother was assuaged. When he started his education and training as a yogi, the amulet mysteriously vanished.

Yogananda loved to travel, which was easy for him as his father was vice-president of the railroad system. On Yogananda's travel adventures, he once met the Nobel prize winner, Jagdish Chandra Bose, and a variety of unbelievable powerful saints and gurus. One saint could float in the air while meditating. Another one, Swami Pranabananda, could materialize his body to another place, and others could heal the blind and other ailments. Another saint showed Yogananda the power of God's mantras while clasping a leaf that became a diamond. These highly spiritual people reminded Yogananda that spiritual knowledge is meant only for God-realization. It is not for ostentatious display of personal gain as one can lose all spiritual gain.

Yogananda had good academic ability but felt that knowledge of God was more important. He finally completed his high school. At his father's request and to curb his roving feet for religious searching, Yogananda began learning Sanskrit. His teacher, Swami Kebalananda, was also an authority in yoga and a disciple of Yogananda’s parents' guru, Lahiri Mahasaya. Yogananda ended up with more spiritual learning than Sanskrit.

After graduating from high school and to satisfy his search for God, Yogananda entered an ashram in Benares. Here the discord and focus on only organizational duties gave little time for Yogananda's spiritual training. Accidently, he met his guru, Swami Yukteswar, who advised him to return to his father in Calcutta. Swami Yukteswar also encouraged Yogananda to visit him in one month and to enter university. Yogananda reluctantly enrolled at the Scottish Church College, an affiliate to The University of Calcutta in Calcutta. In June 1915, Yogananda proudly received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calcutta.

Under the tutelage of Swami Yukteswar, Yogananda was taught Kriya Yoga, a process of meditation that includes the metaphysical science of the mind. During the many years with his g

uru, Yogananda's lifelong yearning for God was accomplished. He also learned from his guru the ability to understand many mystical mysteries and their scientific relationship that were revealed to him by the many holy teachers he met. Yogananda also felt the impulse of using his spiritual knowledge for the good of this world. His learning of Kriya Yoga is a scientific process that involves the technique of conscious control and the ability to embrace God's awareness. Swami Yukteswar also taught Yogananda how to transmit this spiritual ability to the dedicated learner. On July 1915, after spending ten years at his guru's ashram, Yogananda was ordained into the Swami Order of the Giri (mountain) Branch by his guru, Swami Yukteswar. In this ceremony, his birth name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh was changed to Yogananda, as he is known today.

In 1917, Yogananda founded his first school for boys in Dihika, Bengal then transferred it to Ranchi, in Behar. The education of girls followed after. His schools taught yoga and meditation as well as acedemic subjects. In 1920, Yogananda was invited as a delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. Earlier, in 1893, Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of Ramakrishna, had also gone to the World Parliament of Religions as a delegate, paving the way for other spiritual teachers in America.

With the financial help of his father, Yogananda was able to spend three years in the United States. He lectured, taught, and wrote his first book of poems, Songs of the Soul. In 1925, with the generous donation of students, Yogananda established the Self-Realization Fellowship that became a worldwide organization.

Yogananda's guiding philosophy emerged from his spiritual zeal, experiences, and training. His pragmatic view of spiritual knowledge was that God was the sole Reality who manifests creation and is in it. He believed that the human being, in essence, was God, and we can become spiritualized by connecting inwardly with God. Through his teaching method of Kriya Yoga, he taught that the human mind was a powerful instrument that could lead to identity with God. His technique for Kriya Yoga was specifically to be learned from an authorized Kriya Yoga practitioner.

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s an educator, Yogananda believed that real education must incorporate moral and spiritual values as these would quicken human evolution and eventually transform the world. In the establishment of his Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, Yogananda trained his disciples in spirituality according to his ancient monastic order. His relationship with all who came to his educational centres was as a mother gathering her children to teach them. Yogananda’s main idea was to focus on God-realization. All who came to his classes, whether they were ordinary, wealthy, or of importance, were gathered in love like children. He taught by being an example and influence much like his guru's predecessors. In his effort for the worldwide dissemination of Kriya Yoga, Yogananda was one of the first teachers to teach students indirectly by distance learning through his published works.

In 1927, Yogananda was officially received in the White House by President Coolidge. Yogananda passed away at fifty-nine years of age in Los Angeles on March 7, 1952.

Photos Courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, California