Enduring Bestseller Introduces Millions to Yoga and Meditation
2021 MARKS 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI
By Paramahansa Yogananda
“Yogananda’s Autobiography has become a timeless classic in spiritual literature. The extraordinary and miraculous experiences in his life are testimony that he was in God-consciousness. If you really want to understand the infinite possibilities inherent in the field of consciousness, then read this book.”
– Deepak Chopra, world-renowned author and expert in the field of mind-body healing
The book that helped pave the way for yoga’s proliferation in the West turns 75 this year—Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, widely regarded as the father of yoga in the West. In continuous print since 1946, this critically acclaimed spiritual classic remains the go-to book for millions of seekers and yoga enthusiasts around the world.
Autobiography of a Yogi has captured the hearts and minds of people from fields as diverse as academia, business and popular culture—including Harvard’s Diana Eck, the Beatles’ George Harrison, top Indian batsman Virat Kohli, and Apple founder Steve Jobs, who gave instructions for the book to be gifted to all those attending his memorial service. Recognized around the world as a literary masterpiece, it has been translated into more than 50 languages, including more than 15 Indian languages.
Paramahansa Yogananda made an indelible impression on the spiritual landscape of the United States. Arriving in America in 1920 from his native India, he established Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) that same year. Throughout his ministry, he taught the underlying unity of all the great faith traditions—devoting himself to fostering greater harmony and cooperation among all religions, races and nationalities. He brought the knowledge of yoga and meditation to millions through his public lectures and writings, as well as through the many SRF meditation centers he established throughout the world.
In 2014, an award-winning documentary about his life and work, AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda, was released in theaters.
In the preface to the book, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, author and translator of many classic works on yoga and the wisdom traditions of the East, writes: “As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has an importance both timely and timeless….His unusual life document is certainly one of the most revealing…of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West.”
World renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar met Sri Yogananda on two occasions early in his life. He recalled that after beginning his career performing in the West, “someone gave me Autobiography of a Yogi. Reading it, I really found out what he was, more than having met him earlier….the moment I started reading that book, it did something to me that I can’t describe. I have read many books on yoga, by yogis; but I was never impressed like with this book. It has some magic in it….This was a book which I felt came straight from the heart..”
In the 300-plus interviews conducted for the book American Veda, author Philip Goldberg found that Autobiography of a Yogi “prompted more Americans to explore Indian spirituality than any other text.”
The book is both a vivid account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. Sri Yogananda devoted himself to writing the book following a 10-year period of lecturing in major cities in the United States and Europe (1925-1935) and a return trip to India in 1935-1936. He did most of his writing at the coastal hermitage of SRF in Encinitas, CA, as well as at his retreat in the California desert, and at the Los Angeles international headquarters of SRF, drawing from the 25 years he had spent gathering facts and verifying stories about the many saints he met during his early years in India.
With engaging candor, warmth and wit, Sri Yogananda chronicles his profound encounters with India’s myriad saints and sages on his youthful search for an illumined teacher, 10 years of training in the hermitage of the revered yoga master Swami Sri Yukteswar, and the 30 years he lived and taught in America. He also recounts his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the Catholic stigmatic Therese Neumann, and many others.
Autobiography of a Yogi is published by Self-Realization Fellowship, and is available in mass-market paperback, quality paperback, hardcover, and eBook, as well as in an unabridged audio edition read by Academy Award® winner Sir Ben Kingsley. SRF has also just released a deluxe edition to commemorate the book’s 75th anniversary that is hardbound with slipcase, containing more than 100 photos in sepia duotone and full color.
For more information about Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, and other books and recordings published by Self-Realization Fellowship, please visit: yogananda.org
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