Paramahansa Yogananda: The Yogi Who Brought Kriya to the West
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 25 September 2026
Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur in 1893, is the reason most Westerners have heard of Kriya yoga. He came to the United States in 1920 as a delegate to a religious congress in Boston, stayed for most of his remaining thirty-two years, founded Self-Realization Fellowship, and in 1946 published Autobiography of a Yogi — a book still in print in dozens of languages.
The short answers
- Born 5 January 1893 in Gorakhpur; died 7 March 1952 in Los Angeles.
- Disciple of Sri Yukteswar from 1910; took monastic vows in 1915 as Swami Yogananda Giri.
- Founded Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (1917) and Self-Realization Fellowship in the USA (1920).
- Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) introduced millions to Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya and Kriya.
- Taught Kriya as a universal method, emphasising the harmony of Christ's and Krishna's teachings.
From Gorakhpur to Boston
Mukunda grew up in a family devoted to Lahiri Mahasaya. After years of searching, he met Sri Yukteswar in Varanasi in 1910 and trained with him in Serampore and Puri. He founded a school for boys at Ranchi in 1917, the beginning of Yogoda Satsanga Society. In 1920 he sailed to America to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston.
Teaching America
Through the 1920s he toured the country, filling large halls and teaching what he called the "Yogoda" energisation exercises and meditation. He established the Mount Washington headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles in 1925. He met President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, and his lessons were distributed by post, a novel method for its time. In 1935–36 he returned to India, met Gandhi, and received the title Paramahansa from Sri Yukteswar.
Autobiography of a Yogi
Published in 1946, the book tells his own story and the stories of the saints he met — Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, the "levitating saint", Anandamoyi Ma and others. It mixes memoir, scripture and the miraculous in a warm, conversational voice. Its influence is hard to overstate: George Harrison gave copies away, and Steve Jobs arranged for copies to be handed out at his memorial.
What he taught
- Self-realisation — knowing the soul as one with Spirit — as the purpose of life.
- Kriya as a method, practised alongside devotion and right living.
- Unity of religions, especially the inner meaning shared by the Gospels and the Bhagavad Gita.
- Practical living — his talks cover diet, work, marriage and willpower as much as mysticism.
His passing
He died on 7 March 1952 in Los Angeles, after a speech at a banquet for the Indian ambassador. SRF published a notarised statement from the Forest Lawn mortuary director noting an absence of visible decay for twenty days. Devotees read this as a sign of his attainment; others note the embalming context.
Learning from his teaching
Read the Autobiography once, cover to cover
Then return to the chapters on Sri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya; they reward rereading.
Try his energisation idea simply
Before sitting, gently tense and relax each body part from feet to head with slow, even breathing — without force or holding.
Sit with devotion
He always paired technique with feeling. Begin meditation with a short prayer or chant from your own tradition.
Explore the official lessons if drawn
SRF and YSS offer structured lessons leading to Kriya initiation; Ananda offers its own path. Compare and choose carefully.
Cautions worth reading
- Kriya yoga in this lineage is given by initiation, in person, from an authorised teacher. This page describes the people and their teaching; it does not teach the initiatory techniques, and reconstructing them from books or videos is not the same thing and can be unsettling or harmful.
History and devotion
Yogananda's life is thoroughly documented through newspapers, immigration records, recordings, film footage, letters and his own books. Supernatural episodes in the Autobiography are his testimony. The mortuary statement on his body is a genuine document; its interpretation is a matter of belief.
Questions people ask
+ What is Autobiography of a Yogi about?
+ What organisation did Yogananda found?
+ Where is Yogananda buried?
+ Did Steve Jobs read Autobiography of a Yogi?
Sources
- Paramahansa Yogananda, *Autobiography of a Yogi* (Philosophical Library, New York, 1946; later editions by Self-Realization Fellowship).
- Philip Goldberg, *The Life of Yogananda* (Hay House, 2018).
- Paramahansa Yogananda, *God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita* (Self-Realization Fellowship, 1995).
- Walter Isaacson, *Steve Jobs* (Simon & Schuster, 2011) — on Jobs and the Autobiography.
Dates and places are drawn from published biographies; stories of miracles are reported as the tradition tells them. Nothing here is medical advice.