Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
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Book Reviews of Autobiography of a Yogi
Book Review: SPIRITUALITY AND KRIYA YOGA REVEALED !
Summary: 5 Stars
Until this amazing book was placed in my hands (literally)a few years ago, I was not aware that there were such beings and modern day Avatars as "Paramahansa Yogananda". It also made me much more aware of India's major role & contributions in the worlds' spiritual development. Even though I had been enjoying the rewarding study of comparative religions for a number of years, this fact was not previously as clear to me .However, the careful reading of this 20th century spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi", set my thinking and life experiences in an entirely new and unexpected direction, which definitely brought them to a more profound and meaningful depth of awareness. Now I am seeing the deeper aspects of the spiritual life in a more effective and practical way, and many new understandings and revelations are being opened to my consciousness. This is definitely a life-changing classic of spiritual literature that is difficult to compare with anything I've previously seen. It is like living in different dimension, where common sense and balance, greater appreciation of other faiths, as well as really new approaches give one the tools to work with that are rare finds. This presentation of truth is extremely motivational for ones ongiong self-improvement. As Yognanda himself began seriously revising this book with each new edition (a trait I admire in any author). The reader will get the most complete and most accurate teachings of this great Yogi from the latest editions (which includes the 49th chapter and many other improvements by the author and his successors), published by Self-Realization Fellowship publishers, via Amazon books.
Not only is this book a good introduction to understanding world spirituality better, it will also take one all the way to Self-Realization. I seriously recommend this edition to all truth-seekers and students of comparative religion, as a major key to unlocking our past conditioning and broadening many narrow views that we become attached to in our earlier development. Here is a balanced and insightful approach to world religion and spirituality that gives true ecumenical recognition to all the worlds major saints and prophets. This spiritual classic will contribute much to bringing harmony, peace, and mutual respect to this world of so many varied belief systems.
Paramahansa Yogananda, with his unique blend of wit, wisdom, insight and intuition shows us the primary elements and truths that are the foundation of all true religions. He does this without criticism, judgment, or dogmatism. Many readers tell me that his message and presence are distinctly evident even after having been translated into other languages. This is the same eternal message that was given the world by other great saviors such as Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Sankara, and Jesus. The author's life is also a testament of all that He wrote about, it just doesn't get more real than this.
I have no doubt that millions of lives have already been changed by this sacred literary is especially interesting to note that the Autobiography of a Yogi has been appearing on Best Seller lists for over 50 years. E.g. Los Angeles Times in the fall of 1997, at Amazon.com online bookseller it was the best selling book in the field of religion for 1998.
Through this divinely inspired spiritual classic, which is having a profound global effect in man's evolutionary spiritual journey, a wonderful experience awaits the sincere reader. Don't make the mistake of only reading it once!
Partial LIST OF SUBJECTS: The author's early life... Meeting your spiritual Master... How the Master-Disciple relationship works... The Science of KRIYA YOGA (the science of consciousness raising through energy control - Pranayama)... Meditation and prayer... Lives of many modern Eastern and Western Saints visited by the author.. Law of Miracles...how they work... Principle of Raja Yoga... How great masters teach their disciples... the inner meanings of Christ and Krishna... The Astral and Spiritual worlds... Evidence of Reincarnation and Karma... How to find your true Path... How to get more out of your own in India... The Spiritual heritage of India... The Science of healing and miracles. The Importance of Yogananda's founding of the Self-Realization Fellowship as his only authorized channel for His writings and Kriya Footnotes on yoga and world religious history.. Mans purpose and goal in life....... AND MUCH MORE-----
ALSO RECOMMENDED: A World in Transition......Sanctuaty of the Eternal Quest... Divine Romance... Journey to Self-Realization... The Science of Religion... God Talks With Arjuna(Bhagavad Gita).. Enter the Quiet heart.......Finding the Joy within Where There is Light... --This text refers to the Quality Paperback edition Published by Self-Realization Fellowship.
Book Review: This book has saved my life
Summary: 5 Stars
At first I thought this book was too good to be true. I had been raised by parents who had no spiritual path, and I ended up as an athiest. In 1990 I had had enough of life and wanted to end it: I was seriously depressed about the meaningless of life: What is there to live for if at the end of life there is annihilation? Are pleasure and power and achievement, and acquisition of material possessions, the best that life has to offer? But, as is written in this wonderful book, "pain is a prod to remembrance," and I started my search for truth. This book was given to me in 1992, and not only has it changed my life, but it has saved my life.In this book Yogananda provides a clear concept of God and describes the purpose of life, which is to find God within ourselves. Yogananda describes a God worth seeking, more than anything else in all the world. He says we are given free will that we may choose to unconditionally love God rather than desire anything this world has to offer. But this is not the distorted image of God that is so often promoted here in the West, rather it is a God of unconditional love, a God who, when known, will more than satisfy our cravings: God is Bliss! And we can know Her!
Yogananda not only provides the concept of a God that we all can cherish, but introduces a scientific method by which we can know Him. Yogananda, in his other writings, promises that if we practice the techniques of Yoga for seven years, we will never give them up: we will be "held" to the spiritual path by our own Self-Realization. When I first started on this path, I had my doubts, but I said to myself, "I will continue to practice these techniques until I prove them wrong, and if they do what Yogananda says they do, I will have gained much."
Since then, I have experienced wonderful changes in my consciousness, and God and Yogananda have given me so much more than I thought possible. The techniques that Yogananda teaches through the Lessons really work, and they work well, even if at first you practice them poorly and only for a little while (the greatest secret to the effectiveness of the techniques is God's hidden blessing, although you must do your part before the blessings can be received). These techniques and the understanding Yogananda gives are priceless gifts.
The Scientific Healing Affirmations alone, found in another of Yogananda's books, have saved my life. I have been extremely sensitive to electromagnetic fields, and through practice of these alone, I have been saved from death from radiation exposure (I work at a Naval Base where radar is exposure is an almost daily occurrence), and someday I expect to completely overcome the sensitivity.
More importantly, my happiness continues to increase year by year, as I deepen my attunement with Yogananda, and as my meditations increase in length and depth. What more could I ask for, than to have a Friend constantly watching over me, blessing me?
Although I am still at the beginning stages of learning how to relate to God as my Beloved, there is no doubt now in my mind that all of what Yogananda writes in Autobiography of a Yogi is true as this truth has become manifest again and again in my life. Life is still challenging (I doubt there will be a time when it is not), but is so much more joyful than I could have ever imagined.
If God is truly Love and Bliss, then couldn't a book by a man of God express that? Yes, indeed!
Book Review: Magic Bullet
Summary: 5 Stars
"Autobiography of a Yogi" was the most compelling book I ever read, which came as a complete surprise. The guru-disciple system through which Yoganada emerged holds no allure for me. And I haven't the patience or interest in any discipline, devotion, or practice designed for spiritual attainment. I've taken part in such things on occasion. But only when I was with company who engaged in some chant, prayer, or meditation, and I feared declining to participate would alienate myself from the group. I've since learned that, for me, there's no more awkward feeling than an insincere approach to something that's sacred to others. If self-elation is the aim of ritual, there's nothing more futile than if it leads to contrition.
In any case, I agree with Alan Watts, who said there is no path by which enlightenment can be achieved. He argued that reaching for the state is blinding to the reality that it's already present, and that the same applies to striving for nirvana by means of spiritual exercise: "There can be no road or obstacle course to that which is," he said.
My acquaintance with the swami's book came in much the same manner as I found myself in circles feigning effort to commune with a higher power: peer pressure, and a lack of self-assertion that overrode any impulse to express my disinterest in what those around me held in high esteem. Everyone in my life seemed to own multiple copies of the book, and claimed to have read it again and again. At the behest of my employer, I agreed to give it a skim. I used to do a lot of things I didn't want to when I was younger to please others. So in my mind, reading Yogananda's autobiography wasn't going to be much different than another trip to the mall on a Saturday with a girlfriend who needed to shop for shoes all afternoon and, for whatever reason, assumed I should derive as much pleasure tagging along. The last thing I expected was to become enthralled, or to enjoy the book more than any I'd ever read.
But something like perfection - or I dare say, divinity - in Yogananda came through his story, penetrated the fortress of my cynicism, and affected me deeply, despite that more than fifty years had passed since he'd written it. The childlike innocence of his faith and the enthusiasm with which he recounts his experiences are intoxicating. It mattered little whether I could identify with his traditions, beliefs, worldview, or mission. The love and joy that those things added to his being, and the ecstasy that filled him by following his path, flowed through me in his voice, which was the most eloquent and lucid writing I ever read.
I recommend "Autobiography of a Yogi" to anyone who might enjoy an exotic tale of extraordinary humanity and the personal journey of a saint, whose profound love of God and his fellow man imbued his life with miracles and visions, his heart with the most benevolent philosophy, and his mind with a sage-like power to communicate transcendent reality through prose so sublime, it'll boggle your mind when you realize English was his second language.
Book Review: REVEALING-AMAZING-INSPIRING AND BELIEVABLE!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first read this book after many years of aimless searching, it not only answrered many of my deepest questions, but set my spirirtual life in a fresh and positive direction. It was also evident from many past experiences that the author had somehow led me to this book and guided my search until now. Here was something special to really work with! It was after a long study of comparative religion and Yoga that the "AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI" revealed to me the fullness and meaning of the inner life of the Spirit,until then my life was only an external and surface adventure.It provided a clear guide for daily living, and a valuable key to my relationship with God and other people as well as all life. When one reads about the lives and works of Saints and the Great Masters of India, the heart and mind are opened up to a greater understanding of what is really behind the superficial differeces which seem to separate mankind.This book will go a long way towards correcting the many misconceptions about the Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism)which presently occupy the Western mind. With great insights and experience the author ( a geat Yogi who lived in the West fo rover 30 years) gives us a clear picture of the intimate workings of the Master-Disciple relationship - the door to Self-Realization. Here one can make a fresh and rewarding start into that most important of all journeys-the way of deep devotion and meditation through the science of yoga, ending in Samadhi-Cosmic Consciousness.
Any student of comparative religion can find a wealth of data and valuable new insights about the past and present course of world religion in this interesting work. It is a treasure of unique concepts about the meaning and purpose of all religion. It is Ecumenical and credits the lives af all prophets. For those who have enjoyed the results of Hatha Yoga practice, here is your inspiration to learn more about the wonderful way of life from a Master who reached its ultimate goals. Yoganada's life story! and writings have influenced the lives of millions of readers, and the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI has been appearing onbest seller lists as recently as 1997( LA Times). It is considered by many to be a modern religious and spiritual classic.....Your outlook will never be the same.
LIST OF SUBJECTS: Author's early life... Meeting your Master... The Master-Disciple relationship... The Science of KRIYA YOGA... Meditation and prayer... Lives of many modern Eastern and Western Saints.. Law of Miracles...how they work... Principle of Raja Yoga... How great masters teach their disciples... the inner meaning of Christ and Krishna... The Astral world... Reincarnation and Karma... How to find your true Path... Travels in India... The Spiritual heritage of India... Footnotes on yoga and religious history.. Mans purpose and goal in life... AND MUCH
ALSO RECOMMENDED: Man's Eternal Quest... Divine Romance... Journey to Self-Realization... The Science of Religion... God Talks With Arjuna(Bhagavad Gita)... Where There is Light...
Book Review: A GLOBAL REVELATION FOR THE 3RD MILLENIUM
Summary: 5 Stars
As a long time student of comparative religion the discovering of this spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" set my thinking and life experience in a very new and unexpected direction. Until I became familiar with the great avatar "Paramahansa Yogananda" my superficial philosophical adventure seemed fulfilling enough. Now I am seeing the deeper aspects of the spiritual life and many new understandings and revelations are being opened to my consciousness. I also read the original edition of this book, which I find somewhat incomplete, as Yognanda himself began seriously revising this book with each new edition. So the reader will get the most complete and most accurate teachings of this great Yogi from the latest editions published by Self-Realization Fellowship publishers, via Amazon books.
I highly recommend this edition to all truth-seekers and students of comparative religion as a major key to unlocking our past conditioning and broadening many narrow views that we become attached to in our earlier development. Here is a balanced and insightful approach to world religion and spirituality that gives true ecumenical recognition to all the worlds major saints and prophets. This spiritual classic will contribute much to bringing harmony, peace and mutual respect to this world of so many varied belief systems.
The author, with his unique blend of wit, wisdom, insight and intuition has shown us the primary elements and truths that are the foundation of all religions. He does this without criticism, judgement, or error. His is the same eternal message that was given the world by other great saviors such as Krishna, Buddha and Jesus.
I have no doubt that millions of lives have already been changed by this sacred literary is surely the work of a God-Realized bieng, a wonderful experience awaits the sincere reader. Don't make the mistake of only reading it once!!!
LIST OF SUBJECTS: Author's early life... Meeting your Master... The Master-Disciple relationship... The Science of KRIYA YOGA... Meditation and prayer... Lives of many modern Eastern and Western Saints.. Law of Miracles...how they work... Principle of Raja Yoga... How great masters teach their disciples... the inner meaning of Christ and Krishna... The Astral world... Reincarnation and Karma... How to find your true Path... Travels in India... The Spiritual heritage of India...
the Importance of Yogananda's founding of the Self-Realization Fellowship as his only authorized channel for His writings and Kriya Footnotes on yoga and religious history.. Mans purpose and goal in AND MUCH
ALSO RECOMMENDED: Man's Eternal Quest... Divine Romance... Journey to Self-Realization... The Science of Religion... God Talks With Arjuna(Bhagavad Gita)... Where There is Light...