Autobiography of a Yogi
by Paramahansa Yogananda
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paramahansa YoganandaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000
ISBN: 0876120834
Number of pages: 503
Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship
Book Reviews of Autobiography of a Yogi
Book Review: If you read only one book in your life, read this one
Summary: 5 Stars
I first began to doubt the fundamentalism of my childhood when, at age 11, my father told me, "You've never lived before."
"But I DO remember," I replied - referring to a memory of having lived in Korea or China, awakened by a specific incident at age 5. Finally I screamed, "How do you know"?
"Because it says that in the Bible" - and he read me from Paul " . . . to man it is given but once to live. . ." I wondered what else was erroneous in the Bible - or at least our interpretation of the Bible . . .
At about the same time, my teacher at school explained why the rotation of the earth results in night and day. Huh? Then how did Joshua command the SUN to stand still so that the day could be lengthened long enough to win that battle? (I, of course, did not have access to modern thought regarding this passage - see [...]).
Doubt piled upon doubt, and I finally concluded that my fundamentalism had been wrong. I became an atheist at age 23.
At first I was ecstatic, like walking on air. My Army superiors in Korea noticed my sudden and dramatic acquisition of a sunny disposition and concluded that I had fallen in love. Sorta true - I was in love with the freedom of atheism, now freed from the feeling that I should defend the indefensible. But soon my new atheism also began to present difficulties.
My first chore was to find a way to fit reincarnation within atheism. I had barely begun working on that one when, some 4 months after my conversion, I had a vision. I saw the girl that my guardian angel wanted me to marry - after I had decided that I would seek a girl from Mexico (for reasons too complicated to explain here).
Clearly, that blond girl at Kiest Park in Dallas wasn't Mexican. Later I did get married in Mexico; oh, my.
Was I grateful for the accurate heads up? NO! I was furious. I demanded that my guardian angel buzz off. I could feel his presence depart. I wondered, "Did I make a mistake"? But I decided I'd live my life as an experiment, to see how far I could get by reason alone.
Many other unexplainable experiences followed as the years passed by.
After getting my Ph.D. and landing a position in the psych dept. at SMU, I began to give lectures to my graduate class about how it seemed to me it all fit together. My lectures started at 7pm and lasted until midnight. Anyone was invited to leave early, but many hung around until 2am - occasionally later - discussing the material I had talked about.
After one such marathon session, another student - an older undergraduate - asked me the next day, "What on earth did you talk about last night? (name forgotten) called me at 2 in the morning and talked for over an hour about your lecture."
Sure enough, the next day, in came that grad student. He said, "You know, you're teaching Hinduism."
"Hinduism! I exploded. I do teach Hinduism in one of my undergraduate classes and I see no connection between it and my own understanding of the universe."
He replied, "Just change the terminology; you'll see. Maybe this book will help." - and he gave me his copy of Be Here Now, by Baba Ram Dass.
At first, it had all the impact of a comic book - nil. But one day as I was thumbing through it, I saw an ink drawing of Jesus being nailed to the cross. Suddenly I wept - and wept and wept and wept.
The book was beautiful, with quotes from the Prophet Mohammad, Lord Buddha, and other great souls - in addition to Jesus. I thought, this is wonderful! Why didn't anyone tell me that such a loving approach to religion was possible - totally free from bigotry?
I went to the SMU bookstore, intent on buying how-to-do-it books from the Sufis, or yogis, or even mystics of Christianity or Judaism. I picked up 7 and headed for the check out lane.
Along the way, I saw a stack of books still on the floor - not yet shelved - with a very appealing cover. Autobiography of a Yogi? Not what I wanted. I was looking for something practical. And I didn't want to buy another book - I already had chosen so many - I probably wouldn't read all of them anyway.
As I was standing in the check-out lane, I heard a voice in my right ear that kept saying, "False economy, false economy." A few times earlier in my life I had heard that voice - which I thought of as coming from my guardian angel.
Having learned painful lessons from previous rejection of my guardian angel's recommendations, I went back and picked up the Autobiography.
When I got home, I grabbed a Sufi book that I thought was just what I wanted. I started to read the first sentence, but I lost my train of thought before reaching the end of it. I started again; and again lost focus. I could not read that book!
All the while, the Autobiography pulled me like a magnet. So I picked it up. Couldn't put it down all day and the next day too.
At first I was turned off by his seeming acceptance that there really is a God. Yoganandaji knew so much - all my own mystical experiences were explained. How could such a wise person believe in God?
But I sent away immediately for the Lessons from SRF. I had had few really happy days up to that time - at age 37. But soon my guru, Yoganandaji, began to fix all the kinks that I had created. And so fast! Along the way my atheism faded; but so?
At the end of the first year of Lessons, I asked SRF for instructions on how to practice Kriya Yoga. When I received those lessons, a light bulb went on.
"I already have been taught how to do this technique," I thought to myself. And, thus reminded,I remembered another incident that also culminated at age 11.
It began perhaps in second grade, when a kid on the playground asked me to take 20 deep breaths and then stick my thumb in my mouth and then "blow," - but without allowing any air to pass. He said my mind would go into another place and I'd lose awareness of this world and fall over. Not to worry, he said, he'd catch me. And it happened as he said.
So within that context, several years later, in August of 1947 (age 11), I had an encounter with a strange man during our summer trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles (my mom's family lived there). During an outing to Grumman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to see the footprints in the concrete, I saw a long-haired Indian man who was laying down the law to two large white guys. Weird; you wouldn't see that in Kansas City!
I was staring at the hump in his back - his hair having been tucked under his jacket - from across the street while waiting for the light to change. I knew I shouldn't stare . . . but he had his back to me, so he couldn't know. But after the light turned green, I began to feel him watching me as we crossed the street toward the corner where he stood.
As I put my foot on the curb, he wheeled around so fast that I thought he was going to slug me for staring at him. I almost froze in place. But he just looked intensely into my eyes.
A few weeks later after returning home, I kept feeling the urge to practice the 20-breaths-and-blow stuff that the second grader had taught me. But when I tried it, almost nothing happened. I tried again, to no effect. I was about to try a third time when I heard the voice of my guardian angel.
He said, "No, that's not how it's done. Sit on the edge of the bed, sit with your back straight . . ." and he taught me what (26 years later) I learned was called Kriya Yoga. And upon reflection, I remembered his face from the Hollywood encounter - the face of Yoganandaji.
A few years after learning Kriya Yoga, my best friend in high school had thrust the Autobiography into my hands and said, "Read this." But I replied, "My parents would hit the ceiling if I brought home a book like this."
Years later, a fellow faculty member at SMU suggested I read it. No dice - I was a level-headed atheist. I would search for answers in physics, mostly.
Later still, the person who would become my best friend from my days at SMU urged me to read it. But I was, at that time, too depressed and too skeptical to buy it.
But when I did finally read it, it changed my life.
Summary of Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. The quality paperback edition offered here includes a bonus CD, The Voice of Paramahansa Yogananda, featuring excerpts from the Self-Realization Fellowship Collector's Series of rare recorded talks by Paramahansa Yogananda, and includes 80 quality archival photographs.With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda tells the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounter with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West. The author clearly explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events commonly termed miracles. His absorbing life story becomes the background for a penetrating and unforgettable look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence. Selected as One of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century, Autobiography of a Yogi has been translated into 20 languages, and is regarded worldwide as a classic of religious literature. Several million copies have been sold, and it continues to appear on best-seller lists after more than sixty consecutive years in print. Profoundly inspiring, it is at the same time vastly entertaining, warmly humorous and filled with extraordinary personages. Self-Realization Fellowship's editions, and none others, include extensive material added by the author after the first edition was published, including a final chapter on the closing years of his life.
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