Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda Biography

Paramahansa Yogananda was a spiritual saint from Gorakpur, UP. He was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893. ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ is his autobiographical book which attracted not only Indians, but also westerners to the world of meditation and Kriya Yoga. He had numerous disciples from all over the world. He died on March 7, 1952 aged 59 at Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California, US. Yogananda's remains are interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum in Glendale.

Mukunda was inclined towards spirituality at a younger age. He sought Hindu sages and saints at a younger age hoping to find an illuminated teacher to guide him in his spiritual quest. He met his guru, Swami Yukteswar Giri, in 1910, at the age of 17. He passed his Intermediate Examination in Arts from the Scottish Church College, Kolkata in 1915 and graduated from the Serampore College, Calcutta University. During this time, he spent his time at Yukteswar's ashram in Serampore. In 1915 he became 'Swami Yogananda Giri’. In 1917, Yogananda founded a school for boys in Dihika which combined modern educational techniques with yoga training and spiritual ideals. The school relocated to Ranchi year later was renamed as Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.

In 1920, Yogananda went to US as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston. Same year he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship through which he taught India's culture, traditions and philosophy of Yoga and meditation. Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major portion of his life in America who lived there from 1920 to 1952. During 1935-1936 he visited India and returned back.

Published: N/A

Updated: February 10, 2014