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Perennial Bestseller Introduces Millions to Yoga and Meditation
2006 Marks 60th Anniversary of
Autobiography of a Yogi
By Paramahansa Yogananda
“Autobiography of a Yogi is justifiably celebrated as one of the most entertaining and enlightening spiritual books ever written.”*
LOS ANGELES, April 3, 2006 — This year marks the 60th anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (published by Self-Realization Fellowship, the society he founded in 1920), which since its initial release has been instrumental in introducing millions of readers to the spiritual wisdom of the East.
First published in 1946 (the book was revised by the author before his passing in 1952, adding extensive material, including the last chapter), the critically acclaimed spiritual classic is still topping the bestseller lists (from the Los Angeles Times to Amazon.com) and is recognized
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around the world as a literary masterpiece. It has been honored as one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century** and was recently recognized by Time Magazine as a meditation primer. Hailed as a masterpiece when it first appeared in print (“a rare account,” The New York Times; “fascinating,” Newsweek), the book has also been embraced by academic, literary and diplomatic communities, receiving praise from a wide range of important figures, including Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann, eminent British historian and author W.Y. Evans-Wentz (translator of The Tibetan Book of the Dead), and former Ambassador of India to the U.S. Binay R. Sen.
The book has also influenced a wide array of well-known figures from such diverse fields as medicine and pop culture (such as Elvis Presley and Madonna). When asked by The New York Times which book (beside his own) he would most like to have written, Dr. Andrew Weil, health expert and author, responded: “The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, because then I would have had all of the fabulous experiences he described growing up in India in the early part of this century.”
Paramahansa Yogananda’s autobiography presents an illuminating portrait of one of the preeminent spiritual leaders of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence and wit, Yogananda relates the chronicle of his life — the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounters with saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an enlightened teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the more than thirty years (1920-1952) that he lived and taught in America. He also records his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and many others.
The book is both a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation.
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Paramahansa Yogananda reveals the underlying unity of the world’s great religions and clearly explains the subtle laws behind the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events usually called miracles. His life story becomes the background for a penetrating look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence.
The appeal of this classic work of spiritual literature seems only to increase with time. Searching for the basis of its lasting popularity, one finds in the comments of prominent figures in the academic communities of both East and West an emphasis on the book’s authenticity and universal appeal.
In God-Talk in America, award-winning religion author Phyllis A. Tickle noted, “Few books…have had greater impact on popular theology than Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship) that was first published here in 1946 and has maintained steady sales ever since.”
Dr. Robert S. Ellwood, former chairman of the School of Religion at the University of Southern California, writes in his book Eastern Spirituality in America: “In [Yogananda’s] celebrated Autobiography of a Yogi, he offers a stunning account of the ‘cosmic consciousness’ reached on the upper levels of yogic practice, and numerous interesting perspectives on human nature from the yogic and Vedantic points of view.” The late Dr. Anna von Helmholtz-Phelan, professor of English, University of Minnesota, described the book as “one of the most charmingly simple and self-revealing of life-stories…a veritable treasure-house of learning. The great personalities one meets in these pages…return to memory as friends endowed with richspiritual wisdom, and one of the greatest of these is the God-intoxicated author himself. Remarkable…a rich glimpse of a great soul.”
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Dr. Ashutosh Das, of Calcutta University, stated, “Autobiography of a Yogi is regarded as an Upanishad of the new age…it has satisfied the spiritual thirst of truth-seekers throughout the world.”
Yogananda devoted himself to writing the book following a ten-year period of lecturing in major cities in the United States and Europe (1925-1935) and a return trip to his native India. Yogananda did most of his writing at his coastal hermitage in Encinitas, Calif., his retreat in the California desert, and at the Los Angeles headquarters of his society, drawing from the twenty-five years he had spent gathering facts and verifying stories about the Indian saints he met during his early years in India.
Autobiography of a Yogi has since been translated into more than 20 languages and today is widely used as a text and reference work in colleges and universities.
The writing of the book was prophesized in the 19th century by the revered Indian master Lahiri Mahasaya: “About fifty years after my passing, an account of my life will be written because of a deep interest in yoga that will arise in the West.” Years later, Lahiri Mahasaya’s exalted disciple Swami Sri Yukteswar related this prophecy to his disciple, Paramahansa Yogananda: “You must do your part in spreading that message and in writing that sacred life.” It was in 1945, exactly 50 years after Lahiri Mahasaya’s passing, that Yogananda completed work on Autobiography of a Yogi.
For more information about books by Paramahansa Yogananda, please contact: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 3880 San Rafael Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90065; tel: (323) 225-2471, fax: (323) 225-5088; or visit the SRF website at www.yogananda-srf.org.
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*From the recently released book by Tom Butler-Bowdon: 50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom from 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment & Purpose.
**Harper San Francisco’s “The 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century” compiled by Philip Zaleski and a committee of 16 world-renowned scholars and authors.