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Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramhansa Yogananda

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Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramhansa Yogananda AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI - PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA To review a book by a religious man about himself is at the best of times a very daunting task. This is particularly true about the reviewer who is not very religious by nature, although a believer in the Almighty. But organized religion has never interested me and I find that most of the religious scriptures give rise to superstition and blind obedience. With such a bent of mind I started my reading of Paramhansa Yogananda’s book. Paramhansa Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur on 5th January 1893, as Mukunda Lal Ghosh in a well-to-do Bengali family. The family consisted of four brothers and four sisters apart from his parents. His father Shri Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, employed as Vice President in the Bengal Nagpur Railways was a strict but very devout soul. His mother was very caring and kind-hearted. Both his parents were staunch disciples of Shri Lahiri Mahasaya of Benaras and were initiated by him in Kriya Yoga. There is nothing remarkable about Mukunda’s childhood except for the fact that at the age of eight he contacted Asiatic cholera, a life threatening condition in those days. But his mother made him look at a portrait of Shri Lahiri Mahasaya installed in their house. A blazing light that emanated from the photograph cured Mukunda. After this incident he continued to have visions where even the Goddess Kali appeared and a spiritual bond was established at a very early stage of his life. Paramhansa Yogananda lost his mother at a young age and was very devastated by her death. But an amulet which she had left behind for him and was given to him by his elder brother Ananta, brought about an instant change in his mindset. He began to crave for spiritual fulfillment and made various attempts to flee to the Himalayas. But he was thwarted and was made to conform about the need to finish his high school studies. His father had assured him that he could pursue his religious activities after finishing his high school studies. His school days were strewn with anecdotes of meetings with spiritual men who could perform miracles at will. Some of the anecdotes although validated by him are hard to comprehend. In fact the whole book is full of miracles performed by various yogi saints. There are instances of dead men being raised to life by yogis. Thus Yogananda illustrates in his book what utter faith in a Guru can accomplish. His father’s generous purse helped him to visit various places in search of a Guru, and in Benaras he finally met Shri Yukteswar Giri. Mukunda was immediately drawn towards him and professed his wish to become his disciple. Shri Yukteswar whose Guru was Lahiri Mahasaya instructed Mukunda to meet him after four weeks at his Ashram in Serampore near Calcutta. On reaching the Serampore Ashram as planned, Mukunda was instructed by Shri Yukteswar to complete his college education. Although a very mediocre student (by his own admission) with an aversion to studies, Mukunda went back to his father’s house to complete his college education. He was admitted to Scottish Church College in Calcutta. We come to learn that Mukunda was so instructed because he was the chosen one to propagate the concept of God realization and Kriya Yoga to the western world, particularly America. A university degree would lend more credibility to his stature in western countries. A mythical saint named Babaji who happened to be the Guru of Lahiri Mahasaya, had made the prophecy that he would send a disciple to Shri Yukteswar to acquire the knowledge and divinity for such a venture. It should be mentioned here that historically there is no proof that Babaji existed. But it is stated in the book that Babaji is three hundred years old and still counting. He could materialize and dematerialize at will and only a select few had the good fortune of meeting him and receiving his blessings, Mukunda being one of them. His principal disciple Lahiri Mahasaya was considered as one of the foremost exponent of Kriya Yoga. Lahiri Mahasaya passed on his knowledge to Shri Yukteswar. Kriya Yoga which had been lost in the Middle Ages at the time of Lord Krishna was revived by Babaji in the nineteenth century, and initiated into a selected group of disciples. Considering these facts it becomes very difficult to reconcile to the narrative. But the writer has penned the episodes with great conviction. The science of Kriya Yoga is mentioned on numerous occasions in the book. It became widely known in modern India through Lahiri Mahasaya, the Guru of Shri Yukteswar. Kri means to do or to act and embraces the natural principle of cause and effect. Kriya Yoga as Yogananda simplistically defines is Union (Yoga) with the infinite through a certain action or rite. But Yogananda also states that due to yogic injunctions he is unable to describe the technique to the general public. The actual technique has to be learned from a Kriyaban or a Kriya Yogi. Yogananda scientifically explains that Kriya Yoga is a process by which human blood becomes decarbonized and is recharged with oxygen. The excess oxygen rejuvenates the brain and spinal centres. Therefore, the decay of tissues is arrested and releases pure energy. This or a similar technique was known to Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets. Due to individual indifference the method was lost in the Dark Age. Babaji rediscovered this technique and refined the same to its present state. Lord Krishna and later Patanjali laid stress on the art of breathing or pranayama as the corner stone of Kriya Yoga. Yogananda also adds that advanced Kriya Yoga can bring about natural spiritual unfoldment. Any Yogi who masters the first step of Kriya Yoga proceeds to the second stage and is able to materialize and dematerialize his body at will. Yogananda who had mastered this method through the good offices of Shri Yukteswar, could levitate or float up in the ceiling as he experienced once in his bedroom while he was in America. There is a lot of theory that Yogananda has explained in the chapter on Kriya Yoga. To a layman like me most of it is Greek. Therefore, it would be very naïve on my part to delve more deeply into the intricacies of Kriya Yoga. The teachings of Jesus Christ and his disciples Mark, Luke, Peter and John form a major part of Yogananda’s treatise. Shri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya have given during their discourses various examples of the divine thoughts of Jesus Christ. In fact the book is replete with quotations from Christ and all his principal disciples. In order to understand or give due credence to religious discourses by Shri Yukteswar or even Yogananda, quotations from the New Testament have been used in abundance. It is apparent that Shri Yukteswar and Yogananda made a thorough study of the New Testament. This begs the question as to why Christianity was the only religion that received such importance in the discourse of these eminent Yogis. Why not Islam or Buddhism for that matter? There is certainly a lot to learn and imbibe from all religious thoughts. It is more so for Hinduism which is elastic by nature and tolerant in its approach. Was there a deliberate attempt to woo the western world by expounding copious amount of Christian scriptures? Mukunda completed his University education albeit with great difficulty and some divine intervention. He was then initiated into the monk order by Shri Yukteswar Giri. He had the privilege of choosing his own name as Yogananda. Thus began his spiritual journey. One of his first tasks was to foster the spread of education by opening a school in Ranchi. In 1918 through the kind patronage of the Maharaja of Kassimbazar, he opened a Bramhacharya Vidyalaya whose syllabus embraced high school studies apart from yoga concentration and physical development. What started with a handful of students, proliferated to two thousand pupils by the second year. A remarkable feat one has to acknowledge. Swami Yogananda’s book is inundated with instances of his meetings with luminaries of his time. From the scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Maharaja of Mysore, to Lords of England and Scotland and even Therese Neumann, the Catholic stigmatist of Konnersreuth Bavaria. He has devoted chapters to most of these great men detailing his interactions with them. His writings reveal that he was able to create favorable impression with these exalted personalities. It is not clear whether Yogananda’s religious fervor made any impact on these eminent men. Swami Yogananda was deep in meditation when he got a vision of going to America. And sure enough a letter arrived, inviting him to be a delegate from India to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. Swami Yogananda expressed his anxiety about his lack of proficiency in spoken English to his Guru Shri Yukteswar. He was assured that God would help him to overcome this hurdle. Funded very generously by his father, Yogananda set sail in August 1920 on the Sparta, a passenger boat. Since the voyage was long, he met fellow passengers on the boat who having come to know the purpose of his visit to America, invited him to speak to his fellow passengers about ‘Battle of life and how to fight it’. When he rose to speak in the saloon of the ship, he was tongue-tied at first. Not a single sentence would come forth from his mouth. Yogananda uttered a silent prayer to his master.
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