Editor's entry
~1 min readAutobiography of a Yogi is the spiritual life-story Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in English in California in the early 1940s, first published in 1946 by Philosophical Library in New York. It narrates his upbringing in Bengal, his training under Sri Yukteswar in Serampore, the lineage running back through Lahiri Mahasaya to the figure he calls Mahavatar Babaji, and the Kriya Yoga technique he was sent to introduce to the West. The book mixes memoir with hagiography, miracle accounts (bilocation, materialisations, the incorrupt body of Yukteswar) and instructional asides on yoga philosophy.
It is one of the small handful of Western-published Indian spiritual texts to achieve canonical status — continuously in print since 1946, translated into 50+ languages, and distributed at Steve Jobs’s memorial service per his instruction. Devotional readers treat it as a saint’s life; secular readers and academic Indologists have questioned the historicity of the miracle narratives and the more mythological lineage claims. Its influence on the 1960s–70s Western yoga revival — and on the Self-Realization Fellowship Yogananda founded — is hard to overstate.
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Reception
editor-collectedOne of the small handful of Western-published Indian spiritual texts to achieve canonical status — distributed at Steve Jobs’s memorial service per his instruction, in continuous print since 1946, translated into 50+ languages. Devotional readers consider it a saint’s life; secular readers and academic Indologists have questioned the historicity of the miracle narratives and the more mythological lineage claims. Influence on the 1960s–70s Western yoga revival is hard to overstate.
Index reception note
Frequently asked
3 questions- What is Autobiography of a Yogi about?
- It is Paramahansa Yogananda’s spiritual life-story, written in English in California in the 1940s, narrating his Bengali upbringing, training under Sri Yukteswar, the Kriya Yoga lineage running back through Lahiri Mahasaya to Mahavatar Babaji, and the technique he was sent to introduce to the West.
- Why is the book significant outside yoga circles?
- It has been in continuous print since 1946 and translated into 50+ languages, and was distributed at Steve Jobs’s memorial service per his standing instruction. Its influence on the 1960s–70s Western yoga revival, and on the Self-Realization Fellowship Yogananda founded in 1920, is foundational.
- How do scholars treat the miracle narratives?
- Devotional readers treat the book as a saint’s life. Secular readers and academic Indologists have questioned the historicity of the bilocation, materialisation and incorrupt-body accounts and the more mythological lineage claims, while still recognising the book’s documentary value for early-twentieth-century Indian yoga lineages.
Catalogue record
- Author
- Paramahansa Yogananda
- Title
- Autobiography of a Yogi
- Publisher
- Philosophical Library / Self-Realization Fellowship
- Year
- 1 December 1946
- Pages
- 522
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9780876120798
- Shelf
- Awakening · Consciousness · Esoteric
Availability
By the same author
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