THE BOOK THAT SPARKED A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION !
Paramhansa Yogananda was the first yoga master of India whose mission was to live and teach in the West. In the 1920s, enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls in America to hear him speak. His initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting influence is greater still. This book, first published in 1946, helped launch, and continues to inspire, a spiritual revolution in the West.
Only rarely does a sage of Paramhansa Yogananda's stature write a firsthand account of his life experiences. Followers of many religious traditions have come to recognize Autobiography of a Yogi as a masterpiece of spiritual literature. Yet, for all its depth, it is full of gentle humor, lively stories, and practical common sense. This is a verbatim reprinting of the original edition, now also including previously unreleased bonus materials. This is the only available edition that contains:
- The original, unedited text, as written by Yogananda himself, free from posthumous changes introduced by others.
- An appendix containing the final chapter, written five years after this edition was first published, presented free from all changes made after Yogananda’s death.
- An all-new foreword and afterword, written by Swami Kriyananda, one of Yogananda’s best-known direct disciples.
This is a verbatim reprinting of the original 1946 edition. Although subsequent reprintings, reflecting revisions made after the author's death in 1952, have sold over a million copies and have been translated into more than 19 languages, the few thousand of the original have long since disappeared into the hands of collectors. Now, with this reprint, the 1946 edition is again available, with all its inherent power, just as the great master of yoga first presented it.
A book about masters of yoga and saints, written by someone who was himself a master of yoga and a saint. This is an unusual and unique book.
Autobiography of a Yogi talks about miracles, meditation and yogic teachings in a way that is easy to understand and even entertaining. For someone interested in spirituality, or even just alternate ways of looking at life, it's incredibly illuminating.
The world is a different place than it would have been without this book. The New Age movement in the West, the impact the book has had on leaders in many fields, and the rise in the practice of yoga and meditation are due in large part to Yogananda’s influence and the influence of his autobiography.
Philip Goldberg wrote in American Veda that “Among the people I interviewed about their key spiritual influences, a high percentage named a book, and by far the book most often mentioned was Yogananda's unique memoir. A distant second was Be Here Now by Ram Dass, and he mentioned the Autobiography.”
Sometimes people read it and have their life turned around entirely. It’s a book that, like other scripture, inspires life-long devotion.
Anyone who is interested should read it. It is a great book in every sense of the word.
