Paramahansa Yogananda
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Not to be confused with Swami Yogananda.
| Paramahansa Yogananda | |
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| Born | Mukunda Lal Ghosh 5 January 1893 Gorakhpur, (present day Uttar Pradesh, India) |
| Died | 7 March 1952 (aged 59) Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California. |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Founder of | Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India |
| Order | Self-Realization Fellowship Order |
| Guru | Swami Yukteswar Giri |
| Philosophy | Kriya Yoga |
| Literary works | Autobiography of a Yogi, Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, God Talks With Arjuna — The Bhagavad Gita |
| Notable disciple(s) | See the section below - "Noted direct disciples" |
| Quotation | "You are walking on the earth as in a dream. Our world is a dream within a dream; you must realize that to find God is the only goal, the only purpose, for which you are here. For Him alone you exist. Him you must find." – from the book The Divine Romance |
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Contents
Biography
Youth
Yogananda at age six
Yogananda's seeking after various saints mostly ended when he met his guru, Swami Yukteswar Giri, in 1910, at the age of 17. He describes his first meeting with Yukteswar as a rekindling of a relationship that had lasted for many lifetimes:
We entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the rankest superfluities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of master to disciple. With an antenna of irrefragable insight I sensed that my guru knew God, and would lead me to Him. The obscuration of this life disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, and future are its cycling scenes. This was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet![3]Later on Yukteswar informed Yogananda that he had been sent to him by Mahavatar Babaji for a special purpose.[3]
After passing his Intermediate Examination in Arts from the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, in June 1915, he graduated with a degree similar to a current day Bachelor of Arts or B.A. (which at the time was referred to as an A.B.), from Serampore College, the college having two entities, one as a constituent college of the Senate of Serampore College (University) and the other as an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta. This allowed him to spend time at Yukteswar's ashram in Serampore. In 1915, he took formal vows into the monastic Swami order and became Swami Yogananda Giri.[3] In 1917, Yogananda founded a school for boys in Dihika, West Bengal, that combined modern educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. A year later, the school relocated to Ranchi.[3] This school would later become the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Indian branch of Yogananda's American organization, Self-Realization Fellowship.
Move to America
In 1920, Yogananda went to the United States aboard the ship City of Sparta, as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston.[4][5] That same year he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India's ancient practices and philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation.[6] For the next several years, he lectured and taught on the East coast[7] and in 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour.[8] Thousands came to his lectures.[3] During this time he attracted a number of celebrity followers, including soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir Rosing and Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, the daughter of Mark Twain. The following year, he established an international center for Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles,California, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his growing work.[5][9] Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major portion of his life in America. He lived there from 1920—1952, interrupted by an extended trip abroad in 1935–1936 which was mainly to visit his guru in India though he undertook visits to other living western saints like Therese Neumann the Catholic Stigmatist of Konnesreuth and places of spiritual significance en route.[3]Visit to India, 1935–1936
In 1935, he returned to India to visit Yukteswar and to help establish his Yogoda Satsanga work in India. During this visit, as told in his autobiography, he met with Mahatma Gandhi, and initiated him into the liberating technique of Kriya Yoga as Gandhi expressed his interest to receive the Kriya Yoga of Lahiri Mahasaya; Anandamoyi Ma; renowned physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman; and several disciples of Yukteswar's guru Lahiri Mahasaya.[3] While in India, Yukteswar gave Yogananda the monastic title of Paramahansa. Paramahansa means "supreme swan" and is a title indicating the highest spiritual attainment.[10] In 1936, while Yogananda was visiting Calcutta, Yukteswar died in the town of Puri.Return to America 1936
After returning to America, Yogananda continued to lecture, write, and establish churches in southern California. He took up residence at the SRF hermitage in Encinitas, California which was a surprise gift from his disciple Rajarsi Janakananda.[11][12] It was while at this hermitage that Yogananda wrote his famous Autobiography of a Yogi and other writings. Also at this time he created an "enduring foundation for the spiritual and humanitarian work of Self‑Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India."[13]The last four years of his life were spent primarily in seclusion with some of his inner circle of disciples at his desert ashram in Twenty-nine Palms, CA to finish his writings and to finish revising books, articles and lessons written previously over the years.[14] During this period he gave few interviews and public lectures. He told his close disciples, "I can do much more now to reach others with my pen."[15]
Death
In the days leading up to his death, he began hinting that it was time for him to leave the world.[16]On 7 March 1952, he attended a dinner for the visiting Indian Ambassador to the US, Binay Ranjan Sen, and his wife at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.[17] At the conclusion of the banquet, Yogananda spoke of India and America, their contributions to world peace and human progress, and their future cooperation,[18] expressing his hope for a "United World" that would combine the best qualities of "efficient America" and "spiritual India."[19] According to an eyewitness – Daya Mata, a direct disciple of Yogananda, who was head of the Self-Realization Fellowship from 1955–2010[20][21] — as Yogananda ended his speech, he read from his poem My India, concluding with the words "Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God—I am hallowed; my body touched that sod".[22] "As he uttered these words, he lifted his eyes to the Kutastha center (the Ajna Chakra), and his body slumped to the floor."[16][23] Followers say that he entered mahasamadhi.[23][24]
His funeral service, with hundreds attending, was held at the SRF headquarters atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles. Rajarsi Janakananda, the new president of the Self-Realization Fellowship, "performed a sacred ritual releasing the body to God."[25] Yogananda's remains are interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum (normally closed off to visitors but Yogananda's tomb is accessible) in Glendale, California.[21]
Teachings
Paramahansa Yogananda giving a class in Washington, D.C.
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In 1920 he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and in 1925 established in Los Angeles, California, USA, the international headquarters for SRF.[5][26][27]
Yogananda wrote down his Aims and Ideals for Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society:[28]
Yogananda wrote the Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You and God Talks With Arjuna — The Bhagavad Gita' to reveal the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions.[29]
- To disseminate among the nations a knowledge of definite scientific techniques for attaining direct personal experience of God.
- To teach that the purpose of life is the evolution, through self-effort, of man’s limited mortal consciousness into God Consciousness; and to this end to establish Self-Realization Fellowship temples for God-communion throughout the world, and to encourage the establishment of individual temples of God in the homes and in the hearts of men.
- To reveal the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions.
- To point out the one divine highway to which all paths of true religious beliefs eventually lead: the highway of daily, scientific, devotional meditation on God.
- To liberate man from his threefold suffering: physical disease, mental inharmonies, and spiritual ignorance.
- To encourage “plain living and high thinking”; and to spread a spirit of brotherhood among all peoples by teaching the eternal basis of their unity: kinship with God.
- To demonstrate the superiority of mind over body, of soul over mind.
- To overcome evil by good, sorrow by joy, cruelty by kindness, ignorance by wisdom.
- To unite science and religion through realization of the unity of their underlying principles.
- To advocate cultural and spiritual understanding between East and West, and the exchange of their finest distinctive features.
- To serve mankind as one’s larger Self.
In his published work, The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, Yogananda gives "his in-depth instruction in the practice of the highest yoga science of God-realization. That ancient science is embodied in the specific principles and meditation techniques of Kriya Yoga."[14] Yogananda taught his students the need for direct experience of truth, as opposed to blind belief. He said that "The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience. Intuition is the soul's power of knowing God. To know what religion is really all about, one must know God."[3][29]
Echoing traditional Hindu teachings, he taught that the entire universe is God's cosmic motion picture, and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation. He taught that mankind's deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one's current role, rather than with the movie's director, or God.[3]
He taught Kriya Yoga and other meditation practices to help people achieve that understanding, which he called Self-realization:[5]
Self-realization is the knowing – in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; and that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.[30]
Kriya Yoga
Main article: Kriya Yoga
The "science" of Kriya Yoga is the foundation of Yogananda's teachings. Kriya Yoga is "union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite (kriya). The Sanskrit root of kriya is kri, to do, to act and react." Kriya Yoga was passed down through Yogananda's guru lineage – Mahavatar Babaji taught Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya, who taught it to his disciple, Yukteswar Giri, Yogananda's Guru.[3]Yogananda gave a general description of Kriya Yoga in his Autobiography:
The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.[3]Sri Mrinalini Mata, current president of SRF/YSS, said, "Kriya Yoga is so effective, so complete, because it brings God's love – the universal power through which God draws all souls back to reunion with Him – into operation in the devotee's life."[31]
Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi that the "actual technique should be learned from an authorized Kriyaban (Kriya Yogi) of Self-Realization Fellowship (Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.)"[3]
Autobiography of a Yogi
Main article: Autobiography of a Yogi
Cover of first edition of Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi describes Yogananda's spiritual search for enlightenment, in addition to encounters with notable spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann, Anandamayi Ma, Vishuddhananda Paramahansa, Mohandas Gandhi, Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore, noted plant scientist Luther Burbank (the book is 'Dedicated to the Memory of Luther Burbank, An American Saint'), famous Indian scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Nobel laureate in physics Sir C. V. Raman. One notable chapter of this book is "The Law of Miracles", where he gives scientific explanations for seemingly miraculous feats. He writes: "the word 'impossible' is becoming less prominent in man's vocabulary."[3]
The Autobiography has been an inspiration for many people including Steve Jobs (1955–2011), co-founder, former chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. In the book Steve Jobs: A Biography the author writes that in preparation for a trip, Mr. Jobs downloaded onto his iPad2, the Autobiography of a Yogi, "the guide to meditation and spirituality that he had first read as a teenager, then re-read in India and had read once a year ever since."[36]
Claims of bodily incorruptibility
As reported in Time Magazine on 4 August 1952, Harry T. Rowe, Los Angeles Mortuary Director of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, where Yogananda's body was embalmed,[37] wrote in a notarized letter[3]The absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda offers the most extraordinary case in our experience... No physical disintegration was visible in his body even twenty days after death... No indication of mold was visible on his skin, and no visible drying up took place in the bodily tissues. This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one... No odor of decay emanated from his body at any time...[38]Rowe continues, "on March 27th there was no reason to say that his body had suffered any visible physical disintegration at all. For these reasons we state again that the case of Paramahansa Yogananda is unique in our experience."[38]
Robert Todd Carroll in his book The Skeptic's Dictionary wrote that the director of Forest Lawn may have given an accurate statement, but calling this lack of physical disintegration "an extraordinary phenomenon" is misleading; a typical embalmed body will show no notable desiccation for one to five months, without the use of refrigeration or creams.[39]
Legacy
Paramahansa Yogananda's dissemination of his teachings is continued through the organization he founded – the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS).[34][40] Yogananda founded Yogoda Satsanga Society of India in 1917 and then expanded it in 1920 to the United States naming it the Self-Realization Fellowship. In 1935 he legally incorporated it in the U.S. to serve as his instrument for the preservation and worldwide dissemination of his teachings.[41] Yogananda expressed this intention again in 1939 in his magazine Inner Culture for Self-Realization that he published through his organization:Paramahansa Swami Yogananda renounced all his ownership rights in the Self-Realization Fellowship when it was incorporated as a nonprofit religious organization under the laws of California, March 29, 1935. At that time he turned over to the Fellowship all of his rights to and income from sale of his books, writings, magazine, lectures, classes, property, automobiles and all other possessions...[42]SRF/YSS is headquartered in Los Angeles and has grown to include more than 500 temples and centers around the world and has members in over 175 countries including the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine.[43] In India and surrounding countries, Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings are disseminated by YSS which has more than 100 centers, retreats, and ashrams.[40]Rajarsi Janakananda was chosen by Yogananda to become the President of SRF/YSS when he was gone.[5][44] Daya Mata, a religious leader and a direct disciple of Yogananda who was personally chosen and trained by Yogananda, was head of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India from 1955–2010.[6] According to Linda Johnsen, the new wave today is women, for major Indian gurus have passed on their spiritual mantle to women including Yogananda to the American born Daya Mata[45] and then to Mrinalini Mata. Mrinalini Mata, a direct disciple of Yogananda, is the president and spiritual head of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India as of 2014. She too was personally chosen and trained by Yogananda to help guide the dissemination of his teachings after his death. She is assisted by the SRF Board of Directors, which includes other direct disciples of Yogananda trained by him.[40]
Noted direct disciples
The members of this list were drawn from Yogananda's book Journey to Self-Realization, unless otherwise noted, and the date and location of first discipleship to Yogananda are given.[46]
See also |
Notes
- "Song of the Morning". Retrieved November 2014.
References
- Boston Meditation Group Historical Committee (1989). In The Footsteps of Paramahansa Yogananda: A guidebook to the places in and around Boston associated with Yoganandaji. Boston, MA.
- Bowden, Henry Warner (1993). Dictionary of American Religious Biography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-27825-3.
- Bowen, Richard (2004). Sayings of Yogacharya. Milwaukee, WI: Ariadne Publishers. ISBN 0964934345.
- Daya, Mata (1990). Finding the Joy Within. Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 0-87612-288-8.
- Daya, Mata (Spring 2002). Self-Realization Magazine: My Spirit Shall Live On – The Final Days of Paramahansa Yogananda. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 978-0-87612-566-3.
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Harry T. Rowe, Mortuary Director (16 May 1952). Paramahansa Yogananda's Complete Mortuary Report. Los Angeles, CA.
- Ghosh, Sananda Lal (1980). Mejda: The Family and the Early Life of Paramahansa Yogananda. Self-Realization Fellowship Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87612-265-5.
- Goldberg, Philip (2012). The Autobiography of a Yogi: A Tribute to Yogananda. Huff Post Religion.
- Goldberg, Philip (2012). American Veda. Harmony; 1 edition (2 November 2010): 109.
- Dennis Hevesi (December 3, 2010). "Sri Daya Mata, Guiding Light for U.S. Hindus, Dies at 96". New York Times (New York, NY).
- Isaacson, Walter (2001). Steve Jobs: A Biography. Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9.
- Jordan, Frank C., Secretary of State of California (1935). Articles of Incorporation of the Self Realization Fellowship Church. Los Angeles CA: State of California.
- Kress, Michael (26 March 2001). "Meditation is the Message". Publishers Weekly (New York). Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.
- Kriyananda, Swami (1977). The Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi. Crystal Clarity Publishers. ISBN 978-0-916124-11-3.
- J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598842043.
- Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternative Religions. Borrego Publications; 1st edition (1991). ISBN 0-7914-2397-2.
- Mrinalini Mata (2011). Self-Realiztion Magazine: The Blessings of Kriya Yoga in Everyday Life. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship.
- Rosser, Brenda Lewis (1991). Treasures Against Time: Paramahansa Yogananda with Doctor and Mrs. Lewis. Borrego Publications. ISBN 0-9629016-0-1.
- Self-Realization Fellowship (1939). "Inner Culture for Self-Realization". Los Angeles, CA: Volume 12, page 30.
- Self-Realization Fellowship (1952). "Self-Realization Magazine". Los Angeles, CA: Volume 24, No. 22.
- Self-Realization Fellowship (2001). Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam: Personal Accounts of the Master's Final Days. Los Angeles, CA. ISBN 978-0-87612-170-2.
- "Self-Realization Fellowship website". Retrieved 24 November 2011.
- Sahagun, Louis (6 August 2006). Guru's Followers Mark Legacy of a Star's Teachings. Los Angeles Times.
- Thomas, Wendell (1930). Hinduism Invades America. New York, NY: The Beacon Press, Inc.
- Yogananda, Paramahansa (1997). Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 0-87612-086-9.
- Yogananda, Paramahansa (1995). God Talks With Arjuna – The Bhagavad Gita. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 0-87612-030-3.
- Yogananda, Paramahansa (1997). Journey to Self-Realization, Discovering the Gifts of the Soul. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 0-87612-255-1.
- Yogananda, Paramahansa (2004). The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship. ISBN 0-87612-555-0.
- Watanabe, Teresa (12 November 2004). "A Hindu's Perspective on Christ and Christianity". Los Angeles Times.
- Zaleski, Philip (1984). The 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
External links
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Categories:
- Paramahansa Yogananda
- 1893 births
- 1952 deaths
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Works related to SRF Articles of Incorporation 1935 at Wikisource
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