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A bonus audio CD is included, featuring the first four chapters of the full audio-book (also available from Self-Realization Fellowship), as narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley.

Average Customer Rating:

Good but a tad laborious

Customer Rating:

I found the autobiography good but a tad laborious to read. I finally finished it the other day. I am more impressed with Yoganandas works and commentaries all of which I give 5 stars. He has great insight and he was one of the pillars of the spiritual world. Even though I gave this a 3, I still think it is a good idea to read it for some background. Doron Alon Author of "The Bible and the Law of Attraction" ISBN-10: 1435723368 ISBN-13: 978-1435723368

Great stories, questionable propaganda

Customer Rating:

When I first read the Autobiography of a Yogi in Danish translation it made me enter Self-Realization Fellowship and ignore the hooks in the book. They include: * Romantic idealisations of things Indian. * Great and glorious claims that are not really backed up, but wrapped in by "the scriptures aver", the ancient rishis (seers) found" etc. He has never specified which scriptures says man needs a million years to reach cosmic consciousness, and which rishis found that gold, silver, other metals and gems can protect against planetary influences, to my knowing. * Hiding that the author made changes in the kriya methods - left out parts that are claimed to be essential by others in the kriya tradition, simplifying other things, and leaving out that his own guru gave much less positive prospects for those who learn it - 144 times less, I saw. A Yogananda biography, *Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences* (Portland: Yoga Niketan, 2006), by an Indian kriya yogi who knew Yogananda well, thows added light on Yogananda's writings too. It appears that Yogananda many times hid unpleasant things, including tense quarrels with his guru (p. 85) . The biographer even questions that Yogananda's guru bestowed on him the title Paramhansa. Quote: "[One] day, Ananda-da -- Ananda Mohan Lahiri -- was with us. It was almost nightfall. Maharaj ji [Yogananda's guru Yukteswar] was standing on the upstairs veranda and someone was standing next to him. Ananda-da and the writer [Dasgupta] were downstairs. Before going upstairs, Yoganandaji went to a drainage spot, a bit apart from the area, and began to urinate into the drainage passage. This caught Gurudev's [Yukteswar's] attention and he cryptically joked, "Yogananda has become a 'paramhansa' [great swan, or great soul]!" After urinating, Yoganandaji saw Ananda-da standing at the front door and quietly said, "Ananda-da! Did you hear? Swamiji [Sriyukteshvarji] called me a 'paramhansa!'" Later, Ananda-da laughed and said to the writer, "You'll see. Yogananda will one day use this title!" (p. 84) The Autobiography is filled with stories of the miraculous. However, the Yogananda biographer questions some of the tales. "When examined with an investigative eye, many of the accounts could have been caused by ordinary means, nevertheless, in Swamiji's perception, all happened supernaturally. (p. 101)" And with reference to an alleged meeting of Yogananda and a secretive yogi called Babaji, the biographer writes: "Yoganandaji was a man who lived in the world of imagination and spiritual feelings. He saw some things directly and some things with the eyes of his feelings. Towards the end, he often did not perceive a difference between the two (p. 99)." It would be well to keep these points in mind throughout the book, so as not to be enamoured by, frankly, Yogananda propaganda. Another problem with the SRF editions of the Autobiography after Yogananda's passing, is the heavy editing. There appears to be over a thousand changes in it. Some of them are minor and non-essential, whereas others reflect the drift of Yogananda's fellowship sectwards with the years.

Read the best excerpt in this book

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Why the author was drawn to becoming a Yogi as a child is very revealing. Paramahansa plainly relates that he believed he would have power over animals, such as having tigers as pets. What child doesnt fantisize about super powers?; India at the turn of the last century was rooted in superstition,with countless Fakirs demonstrating all manner of powers from levitating to producing the the smell of various flowers at the tip of ones fingers,as the author relates. The Discovery channel has shown how such feats,(tricks)are performed by fakirs(fakers),but such knowledge would not have been known by the author who obviously absorbed the cultural beliefs of that time period and built on such magical thinking. Many of his stories as heresay,such as a herb appearing in the hand of a relative,and monks that live without eating for hundreds of years. Other accounts,such as witnessing the astral projections of other gurus,and bringing the dead back to life,leave me wondering whether Paramarhansa purposely fabricated such accounts to enhanse his teachings or whether he was honestly delusional in his perceptions. The most memorable account to me,and perhaps the one which has imspired so many ratings of 5, is the following discription of a meditation experience he had: ....."My body became immovably rooted; breath was drawn out of my lungs as if by some huge magnet. Soul and mind instantly lost their physical bondage, and streamed out like a fluid piercing light from my every pore. The flesh was as though dead, yet in my intense awareness I knew that never before had I been fully alive. My sense of identity was no longer narrowly confined to a body, but embraced the circumambient atoms. People on distant streets seemed to be moving gently over my own remote periphery. The roots of plants and trees appeared through a dim transparency of the soil; I discerned the inward flow of their sap. The whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal vision was now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously all-perceptive. Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far down Rai Ghat Road, and noticed also a white cow who was leisurely approaching. When she reached the space in front of the open ashram gate, I observed her with my two physical eyes. As she passed by, behind the brick wall, I saw her clearly still. All objects within my panoramic gaze trembled and vibrated like quick motion pictures. My body, Master's, the pillared courtyard, the furniture and floor, the trees and sunshine, occasionally became violently agitated, until all melted into a luminescent sea; even as sugar crystals, thrown into a glass of water, dissolve after being shaken. The unifying light alternated with materializations of form, the metamorphoses revealing the law of cause and effect in creation. An oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my soul. The Spirit of God, I realized, is exhaustless Bliss; His body is countless tissues of light. A swelling glory within me began to envelop towns, continents, the earth, solar and stellar systems, tenuous nebulae, and floating universes. The entire cosmos, gently luminous, like a city seen afar at night, glimmered within the infinitude of my being. The sharply etched global outlines faded somewhat at the farthest edges; there I could see a mellow radiance, ever-undiminished. It was indescribably subtle; the planetary pictures were formed of a grosser light. The divine dispersion of rays poured from an Eternal Source, blazing into galaxies, transfigured with ineffable auras. Again and again I saw the creative beams condense into constellations, then resolve into sheets of transparent flame. By rhythmic reversion, sextillion worlds passed into diaphanous luster; fire became firmament. I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart. Irradiating splendor issued from my nucleus to every part of the universal structure. Blissful AMRITA, the nectar of immortality, pulsed through me with a quicksilverlike fluidity. The creative voice of God I heard resounding as AUM, {FN14-1} the vibration of the Cosmic Motor. Suddenly the breath returned to my lungs. With a disappointment almost unbearable, I realized that my infinite immensity was lost. Once more I was limited to the humiliating cage of a body, not easily accommodative to the Spirit. Like a prodigal child, I had run away from my macrocosmic home and imprisoned myself in a narrow microcosm. My guru was standing motionless before me; I started to drop at his holy feet in gratitude for the experience in cosmic consciousness which I had long passionately sought. He held me upright, and spoke calmly, unpretentiously. "You must not get overdrunk with ecstasy. Much work yet remains for you in the world. Come; let us sweep the balcony floor; then we shall walk by the Ganges." I fetched a broom; Master, I knew, was teaching me the secret of balanced living. The soul must stretch over the cosmogonic abysses, while the body performs its daily duties. When we set out later for a stroll, I was still entranced in unspeakable rapture. I saw our bodies as two astral pictures, moving over a road by the river whose essence was sheer light. Sri Yukteswar taught me how to summon the blessed experience at will, and also how to transmit it to others if their intuitive channels were developed. For months I entered the ecstatic union, comprehending why the UPANISHADS say God is RASA, "the most relishable." One day, however, I took a problem to Master. "I want to know, sir-when shall I find God?" "You have found Him." "O no, sir, I don't think so!" My guru was smiling. "I am sure you aren't expecting a venerable Personage, adorning a throne in some antiseptic corner of the cosmos! I see, however, that you are imagining that the possession of miraculous powers is knowledge of God. One might have the whole universe, and find the Lord elusive still! Spiritual advancement is not measured by one's outward powers, but only by the depth of his bliss in meditation. "EVER-NEW JOY IS GOD. He is inexhaustible; as you continue your meditations during the years, He will beguile you with an infinite ingenuity. Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God never dream of exchanging Him for any other happiness; He is seductive beyond thought of competition. "How quickly we weary of earthly pleasures! Desire for material things is endless; man is never satisfied completely, and pursues one goal after another. The 'something else' he seeks is the Lord, who alone can grant lasting joy."... As far as I am conserned the above is a beautiful excerpt which is the prize of the book,sandwich among what is either boring, fanciful,and questionable. I am sorry to shatter any goal anyone has of this author being a Guru with all the answers. Just consider the author's 'teachings' regarding a heathy diet, basically cow fat(ghee)on too many starchy carbohydrates, he dropped dead of a heart attack in his late 50s; yet in a clip on Youtube he is teaching how one can live 100 years. If you search Youtube you can hear the author's voice which is in the same "grand sounding authoritarian style" of the politicians of the 1930s. I think it shows an accurate image of a man who unequivically believes in the power of amulets but who just may be attempting to oversell the power of being a Yogi with a few good Avatar stories,topped off by an Indian-style Lazareth-raised-from-the-dead account,but then again he may have been honestly delusional. I suggest buying The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Classic must read

Customer Rating:

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I would highly recommend it to any one interested in spirituality, India, history, Yoga and just life. Slow start, but interesting, inspiring and really a classic. I ran into the book after someone recommended it to me, and I am so glad I did....my favorite parts about the living saint Babji and the miracles the author witnessed. Fun and thought provoking. Loved it.

Someone has opened his heart for all

Customer Rating:

In fact I read this after I read the book ""God Talks to Arjuna"by Paramhansa Yogananda. The variuos terminology given in the book and the Kriya Yoga has attaracted me to become a member of the Yogoda Satsang Society and get the lessons. I have never read any other Auto Biography so vivid and truthful account of what transpires the young man seeking God. Though I was at the age of 49/50 at the time of reading this book in the year 1997 the details are still very much deeply imprinted on my mind as if I have read it now. This shows as to how much this book has the powerful grip of the Author and one has to read only once. I strongly recommmend this book to those who wants to do something different than eating , sleeping , producing kids and vanishing away like any other insects than Human. Ramamrat Iyer