Hinduismus · Yoga · Bhakti · Advaita Vedanta

Paramahansa Yogananda

পরমহংস যোগানন্দ · মুকুন্দলাল ঘোষ · परमहंस योगानन्द

1893 – 1952Historisch belegte Person

Bengalischer Mönch aus der Linie des Kriya-Yoga (Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar), der von 1920 bis zu seinem Tod in den Vereinigten Staaten lebte. Er gründete die Self-Realization Fellowship und die Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, führte Zehntausende in die Meditation ein und schrieb die Autobiographie eines Yogi (1946), eines der meistgelesenen spirituellen Bücher des 20. Jahrhunderts. Er lehrte die Einheit des Yoga Krishnas und des ursprünglichen Christentums. Sein verlegerisches Erbe und die Berichte über seinen Tod sind bis heute umstritten.

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Paramahansa Yogananda, retrato de la «pose estándar» · Public domain

In eigenen Worten

«The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultimate verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship.»

Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), cap. 1, «My Parents and Early Life», primera frase

Zum Einstieg ein Werk

Autobiography of a Yogi

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Der zentrale Gedanke

Kriya yoga: A meditation technique based on controlling life energy along the spine, which Yogananda presents as an ancient science revived by Mahavatar Babaji and spread by Lahiri Mahasaya from 1861.

Im Zusammenhang sehen

Biografie

5 Min. Lesezeit

Unterstützte Übersetzung aus dem spanischen Original, Durchsicht durch einen muttersprachlichen Übersetzer ausstehend.

Ein Kind aus Gorakhpur in einem Haus von Schülern

Mukunda Lal Ghosh wurde am 5. Januar 1893 in Gorakhpur im Norden Britisch-Indiens geboren, als viertes von acht Kindern einer bengalischen Familie aus der Kaste der Kayastha. Sein Vater, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, war leitender Angestellter der Eisenbahngesellschaft Bengal-Nagpur; seine Mutter, Gyana Prabha, starb, als der Junge elf Jahre alt war. Beide waren Schüler Lahiri Mahasayas, jenes Familienvaters aus Benares, der in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts eine Meditationstechnik namens Kriya-Yoga verbreitet hatte. Dieses häusliche Erbe – eine Fotografie des Meisters an der Wand, die Erinnerung an eine ihm zugeschriebene Heilung – ist der Ausgangspunkt all dessen, was Yogananda später erzählen sollte. Von Anfang an ist festzuhalten, dass fast alles, was wir über seine Kindheit wissen, aus seinem eigenen Bericht stammt, ein halbes Jahrhundert später in erbaulicher und belehrender Absicht niedergeschrieben.

Sri Yukteswar und der Orden der Swamis

Als unruhiger Heranwachsender suchte Mukunda Heilige und Asketen in Kalkutta und Benares auf und lief sogar von zu Hause in Richtung Himalaya davon. 1910, mit siebzehn Jahren, begegnete er in Benares dem Mann, der sein Guru werden sollte: Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Schüler Lahiri Mahasayas, Amateurastronom, Verfasser von Die heilige Wissenschaft und Leiter einer kleinen Einsiedelei in Serampore am Ufer des Hugli. Zehn Jahre lang wechselte er zwischen der Disziplin dieser Einsiedelei und dem Studium am Serampore College, das der Universität Kalkutta angegliedert war und wo er 1915 seinen Abschluss erwarb. Im Juli jenes Jahres empfing er von seinem Meister die Gelübde des Mönchsordens der Swamis, Zweig Giri, und nahm den Namen Yogananda an, »Glückseligkeit durch göttliche Vereinigung«.

1917 gründete er in Dihika in Bengalen eine Knabenschule, die den gewöhnlichen Lehrplan mit Yoga und Leben im Freien verband; im folgenden Jahr zog sie dank der Förderung durch den Maharadscha von Kasimbazar nach Ranchi um. Daraus ging die Yogoda Satsanga Society of India hervor, die Institution, die sein Werk auf dem Subkontinent bis heute bewahrt.

Boston, 1920: Yoga als Wissenschaft der Religion

Im August 1920 schiffte er sich als Delegierter Indiens für den International Congress of Religious Liberals nach den Vereinigten Staaten ein, den die Unitarische Vereinigung in Boston einberufen hatte. Sein Vortrag »Die Wissenschaft der Religion« vertrat eine These, die er sein Leben lang wiederholen sollte: dass die Religionen ein gemeinsames Ziel haben – die unmittelbare Erfahrung Gottes als Freude – und dass der Yoga eine überprüfbare Methode bietet, es zu erreichen. Im selben Jahr gründete er in Boston die Organisation, die ab 1935 Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) heißen sollte.

Im folgenden Jahrzehnt war er aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach der sichtbarste indische Lehrer Nordamerikas. Er bereiste das Land mit Vortragsreihen, die Säle mit Tausenden von Zuhörern füllten und als Kurse in »Yogoda« angekündigt wurden, einem System von »Energetisierungs«- und Konzentrationsübungen, das er in Lieferungen verkaufte. 1925 richtete er seinen Hauptsitz im ehemaligen Hotel auf dem Mount Washington in Los Angeles ein. 1927 empfing ihn Präsident Calvin Coolidge im Weißen Haus. Historiker – unter ihnen Anya Foxen und Philip Goldberg – betonen, wie sehr er den Yoga in die Sprache der praktischen Psychologie, des persönlichen Erfolgs und des liberalen amerikanischen Christentums zu übersetzen verstand. Dieser Erfolg hatte auch seine Schattenseite: Die Presse brachte ihn mit der »Hindu-Gefahr« in Verbindung, in einigen Städten kam es zu rassistischen Spannungen, und 1929 verklagte ihn sein früherer Mitarbeiter Swami Dhirananda auf ausstehende Gehälter.

Die Rückkehr nach Indien und der Titel Paramahansa

1935–1936 reiste er über Europa und den Nahen Osten nach Indien zurück. In Konnersreuth in Bayern besuchte er die stigmatisierte Therese Neumann, in Wardha Gandhi, dem er nach eigenem Bericht die Technik des Kriya beibrachte; er begegnete auch Ramana Maharshi und Anandamayi Ma. Sri Yukteswar verlieh ihm den Mönchstitel Paramahansa, »höchster Schwan«, und starb am 9. März 1936 in Puri. Nach seiner Rückkehr nach Kalifornien schenkte ihm sein wohlhabendster Schüler, der Unternehmer James J. Lynn aus Kansas City, die Einsiedelei von Encinitas über den Klippen des Pazifiks.

Die Autobiographie und die Jahre des Schreibens

In der Einsiedelei schrieb er ein Jahrzehnt lang an dem Buch, das ihn überdauern sollte: Autobiography of a Yogi (Autobiographie eines Yogi), im Dezember 1946 in New York bei The Philosophical Library erschienen. Das Werk lässt sich schwer einordnen: Es ist zugleich Memoiren, Hagiographie seiner Linie – Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar –, Katalog von Heiligen und Wundern und Einweihungshandbuch. Was darin über Levitationen, Materialisationen oder Auferstehungen erzählt wird, ist für den Historiker Glaubenszeugnis und keine belegte Tatsache, und als solches stellt es dieser Atlas dar. Sein Einfluss hingegen ist eine Tatsache: Das Buch wurde in mehr als fünfzig Sprachen übersetzt, hat sich mehrere Millionen Mal verkauft und gehört zu den Büchern, die die meisten Menschen im Westen zur Meditation geführt haben. Die Erstausgabe von 1946 ist in den Vereinigten Staaten heute gemeinfrei; die SRF hat den Text in späteren Ausgaben weiter überarbeitet.

In denselben Jahren entstanden die Kommentare, die die SRF nach seinem Tod veröffentlichen sollte – zur Bhagavad Gita, zu den Evangelien und zu den Rubaijat des Omar Chayyam –, zunächst als Fortsetzungen in seinen Zeitschriften East-West und Inner Culture erschienen. 1946 beantragte er nach der Änderung des Einwanderungsrechts die amerikanische Staatsbürgerschaft, die er 1949 erhielt. 1950 weihte er den Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades ein, mit einer Gedenkstätte für Gandhi, die einen Teil von dessen Asche birgt.

Der Tod im Biltmore

Am 7. März 1952 hielt er bei einem Bankett im Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles zu Ehren des indischen Botschafters Binay Ranjan Sen eine kurze Ansprache und las die Schlussverse seines Gedichts »My India«. Nach Aussage der Zeugen aus der SRF brach er zusammen, als er geendet hatte. Der Totenschein nannte als Todesursache einen akuten Koronarverschluss; seine Schüler sprechen von Mahasamadhi, dem bewussten Verlassen des Körpers. Er ist auf dem Friedhof Forest Lawn in Glendale begraben.

Ein umstrittenes Erbe

Yoganandas Erbe ist auch eine Geschichte von Institutionen. Die SRF und die Yogoda Satsanga Society, nach ihm von Rajarsi Janakananda (Lynn), Sri Daya Mata und deren Nachfolgern geleitet, verwahren seine Lektionen, seine Aufnahmen und seine Verlagsrechte. 1962 schloss die SRF einen ihrer Mönche aus, Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters), der 1968 bei Nevada City die Gemeinschaft Ananda gründete. Der Prozess, den die SRF 1990 gegen Ananda wegen der Verwendung des Ausdrucks »Self-Realization« und wegen der Urheberrechte an den Werken, Fotografien und Aufnahmen des Meisters anstrengte, dauerte zwölf Jahre: Die Gerichte verweigerten der SRF das Exklusivrecht an Namen und Bild, die Geschworenen gaben ihr 2002 hinsichtlich des Eigentums an den Rechten und der Verletzung bei bestimmten Aufnahmen recht. Ananda seinerseits gibt die Erstausgabe der Autobiographie neu heraus und vertritt eigene Fassungen seiner Lehren.

Ein weiterer Streitpunkt ist die Erzählung von seinem »unverwesten« Leichnam, die sich auf einen Brief des Bestattungsleiters von Forest Lawn stützt, dessen vollständige Fassung eine gewöhnliche Einbalsamierung erwähnte. Außer Frage steht dagegen die Reichweite seines Werks: Yogananda war der erste indische Guru, der fast sein ganzes Erwachsenenleben im Westen verbrachte und dort eine Institution hinterließ, die ihn zu überdauern vermochte.

Quellen: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452). · Goldberg, Philip. The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru. Carlsbad (California): Hay House, 2018. · Yogananda, Swami. The Science of Religion. Los Ángeles: Yogoda and Sat-Sanga Headquarters, 4.ª ed., septiembre de 1925 (copyright 1924; 1.ª ed. en la India). Ejemplar digitalizado en Internet Archive. · Self-Realization Fellowship. Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam. Los Ángeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958 (reproduce la carta notarial de Harry T. Rowe, director de la funeraria de Forest Lawn, publicada antes en Self-Realization, mayo-junio de 1952). · Kriyananda, Swami (J. Donald Walters). The Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi. Nevada City (California): Ananda Publications, 1977; reeditado como The New Path, Crystal Clarity, 2009.

Zeitleiste

Das Leben, Jahr für Jahr

Jeder Punkt ist ein belegtes Ereignis. Klicken Sie, um es mit Quelle und Grad der Gewissheit zu lesen.

18931908192319371952

5. Januar 18930 JahreGorakhpur

Birth of Mukunda Lal Ghosh

Born into a Bengali family; his parents, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh and Gyana Prabha, are disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya.

BelegtWikidata, «Paramahansa Yogananda» (Q312549): nacimiento 05-01-1893 en Gorakhpur, muerte 07-03-1952 en Los Ángeles, sepultura en Forest Lawn (Glendale); 84 enlaces entre wikis.

Nach dem Tod

1962Kriyananda's departure
1990SRF v. Ananda lawsuit

5. Januar 1893 · 0 Jahre
Birth of Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Born into a Bengali family; his parents, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh and Gyana Prabha, are disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya.
Belegt
1904 · 11 Jahre
Death of his mother
The death of Gyana Prabha, which he dates to his eleventh year, opens by his own account an intense spiritual search.
Wahrscheinlich
1910 · 17 Jahre
Meeting Sri Yukteswar
Meets Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, and becomes his disciple at the Serampore hermitage.
Belegt
Juli 1915 · 22 Jahre
Swami vows: Yogananda
After graduating from Serampore College (University of Calcutta), he takes the vows of the Swami order, Giri branch, with the name Yogananda.
Belegt
1917 · 24 Jahre
Ranchi school and Yogoda Satsanga Society
Founds at Dihika a school for boys that moves to Ranchi in 1918 with the support of the Maharaja of Kasimbazar; origin of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.
Belegt
Oktober 1920 · 27 Jahre
Congress of Religious Liberals
Indian delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals; delivers "The Science of Religion" and founds the organisation that will become Self-Realization Fellowship.
Belegt
1925 · 32 Jahre
Mount Washington headquarters
Acquires the former Mount Washington hotel, which becomes SRF's international headquarters.
Belegt
1927 · 34 Jahre
Received by Calvin Coolidge
President Coolidge receives him at the White House; the press reports it as an unprecedented visit by an Indian teacher.
Belegt
1929 · 36 Jahre
Swami Dhirananda's lawsuit
His former associate Basu Kumar Bagchi (Swami Dhirananda) sues him for unpaid wages and royalties; the case is settled.
Belegt
1935 · 42 Jahre
Journey to India and title of Paramahansa
Visits Therese Neumann in Bavaria and Gandhi at Wardha; Sri Yukteswar confers on him the title of paramahansa. Self-Realization Fellowship is legally incorporated.
Belegt
9. März 1936 · 43 Jahre
Death of Sri Yukteswar
His master dies at Puri while he is in Calcutta; the chapter on Sri Yukteswar's "resurrection" in the Autobiography is a visionary account.
Belegt
1936 · 43 Jahre
The Encinitas hermitage
Back in California he receives as a gift from James J. Lynn (Rajarsi Janakananda) the Encinitas hermitage, where he will write the Autobiography.
Belegt
Dezember 1946 · 53 Jahre
Publication of Autobiography of a Yogi
The Philosophical Library publishes the first edition; that edition is now in the public domain in the United States.
Belegt
1949 · 56 Jahre
American citizenship
Obtains the citizenship he had applied for in 1946, after the Luce–Celler Act.
Belegt
August 1950 · 57 Jahre
Dedication of the Lake Shrine
Dedicates the Lake Shrine and the Gandhi World Peace Memorial, which holds part of Gandhi's ashes.
Belegt
7. März 1952 · 59 Jahre
Death at Ambassador Sen's banquet
After a short speech and the reading of his poem "My India" he collapses; death certificate: acute coronary occlusion. His disciples call it mahasamadhi.
Belegt
Mai 1952
The Forest Lawn letter
SRF publishes Harry T. Rowe's notarised letter on the absence of visible signs of decay; the full version mentions embalming.
Belegt
1962
Kriyananda's departure
SRF's board asks Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) to resign; he will found Ananda in 1968.
Belegt
1990
SRF v. Ananda lawsuit
SRF sues Ananda over the name "Self-Realization" and the rights in Yogananda's works, photographs and recordings; the litigation ends in 2002.
Belegt

Werke

Grundlegende Werke

Die Werke, ohne die sich das Vermächtnis nicht verstehen lässt.

Schriftliches Werk · 1946

Autobiography of a Yogi

An account of his life from childhood in Gorakhpur to the founding of his work in America, woven together with the story of his lineage—Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar—and with encounters with figures such as Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, Therese Neumann, Anandamayi Ma and Luther Burbank. It mixes memoir, hagiography and doctrinal exposition: it presents kriya yoga as a science of liberation and narrates wonders to be read as testimony of faith. One of the most widely read spiritual books of the twentieth century, translated into more than fifty languages, it was the gateway to meditative yoga for several generations of Western readers.

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13 Ausgaben · amazon.de

Veröffentlichte Vorträge · 1975

Man's Eternal Quest

Lectures given mostly in SRF temples between the 1930s and 1952: the nature of God, reincarnation, karma, health, family life, world peace. It shows Yogananda the preacher, with humour, homely examples and a more intimate tone than the Autobiography, and is the most direct route to his spoken teaching.

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4 Ausgaben · amazon.de

Nachgelassenes Werk · 1995

God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita

A translation of and commentary on the Gita's eighteen chapters read as an allegory of yoga: the field of Kurukshetra is the body, the Pandavas are the soul's faculties and the battle is meditation against the ego's habits. It develops the correspondence between the verses and the subtle centres of the spine, and presents Krishna as the guru who teaches kriya yoga. Alongside the Autobiography, it is his most ambitious doctrinal work.

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5 Ausgaben · amazon.de

Nachgelassenes Werk · 2004

The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You

A reading of Jesus's words as a teaching of yoga: the "second coming" is not a future historical event but the awakening of Christ consciousness in each person through meditation. It comments on the baptism, the Sermon on the Mount, the miracles and the resurrection in parallel with the Bhagavad Gita, and argues for the essential unity of original Christianity and Krishna's yoga.

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3 Ausgaben · amazon.com

Das gesamte Werk (38)

Alle 38 Werke in der Bibliothek ansehen

Zitate

Zitate, die in einem bestimmten Werk nachgewiesen sind. Jedes trägt seine Herkunft und seinen Grad an Verlässlichkeit.

The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultimate verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship.

GeprüftAutobiography of a Yogi (1946), cap. 1, «My Parents and Early Life», primera frase

1 / 5

Letzte Worte

Späterer Bericht von Zeugen

«"Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God— I am hallowed; my body touched that sod."»

Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God— I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.

These are the closing lines of his poem "My India", which he read at the end of his speech at the Biltmore Hotel banquet (7 March 1952) for Ambassador Binay Ranjan Sen. The account comes from Self-Realization Fellowship witnesses—among them Sri Daya Mata, who was in the room—and was spread through Self-Realization magazine (May–June 1952), the In Memoriam booklet and later editions of the Autobiography. There is no independent transcript of the moment; the exact coincidence between the last line and his collapse belongs to the devotional account.

Quelle: Self-Realization Fellowship. Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam. Los Ángeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958 (reproduce la carta notarial de Harry T. Rowe, director de la funeraria de Forest Lawn, publicada antes en Self-Realization, mayo-junio de 1952).

Fragen

Was das Werk beantwortet

Zwölf große Fragen der Menschheit und was sich aus den Texten darauf antworten lässt, mit Belegen. Wir legen niemandem Worte in den Mund.

Was ist das Absolute? Gibt es Gott?
God is formless Spirit and also Divine Mother to whom one speaks
Persönlich und unpersönlich zugleichAusdrücklich gesagt
Paramahansa Yogananda describes God with the Vedantic formula of existence, consciousness and bliss, which he renders as ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss: an omnipresent, formless Spirit from which creation proceeds. In chapter 14 of Autobiography of a Yogi he recounts an experience of cosmic consciousness in which he perceives the whole universe as light within his own being. But his work is also intensely devotional: he speaks with God as Divine Mother, prays, asks and receives answers, and holds that the divine can manifest in the form the devotee loves. In his commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and the Gospels he presents both facets as complementary. The divine has, for him, a formless ground and a personal face that are equally real.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Wer bin ich? Gibt es ein wahres Selbst?
The soul is individualised Spirit returning to God through many lives
Eine sich entwickelnde SeeleAusdrücklich gesagt
Paramahansa Yogananda defines the soul as individualised Spirit: a reflection of God, of the same blissful nature, which has forgotten its origin by identifying with body and ego. That soul passes through many incarnations, subject to the law of karma, and inhabits not only physical bodies but also subtle sheaths; in chapter 43 of Autobiography of a Yogi, his master Sri Yukteswar, after his death, describes to him the astral and causal worlds and the three bodies of the human being. The practice of Kriya Yoga hastens that evolution. The goal is reunion with Spirit, in which, according to Yogananda, the soul knows its unity with God without wholly losing its individuality. The true self is thus a divine soul on its way back, not the ego with which it is confused.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Warum leiden wir?
Pain arises from misused free will and pushes the soul back to God
Karma und das Lernen der SeeleAusdrücklich gesagt
Paramahansa Yogananda explains suffering with two intertwined ideas. The first is karma: the human being, endowed with free will, sows by its acts the causes of what befalls it, in this life or others, and pain is the harvest of actions contrary to divine law. The second is maya, the cosmic delusion that makes the soul identify with the body and forget its divine nature; from that forgetfulness it seeks happiness in what cannot give it. Yogananda often compares the world to a film projected by God's light, in which suffering is real for those absorbed in it. Pain has, in his view, a function: it awakens longing for something more and pushes the soul, over many lives, to seek God.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Was geschieht nach dem Tod?
The soul passes into astral worlds and reincarnates until it is free
Wiedergeburt nach dem KarmaAusdrücklich gesagt
Yogananda offers a detailed description of the beyond in the chapter of Autobiography of a Yogi entitled «The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar». He relates that his master, who died in 1936, appeared to him in a body of flesh and blood and explained the structure of the after-death worlds: the human being has a physical, an astral and a causal body; at death one passes into the astral world, made of light and energy, where one remains for a time according to karma, and afterwards most return to incarnate on earth. Only when desires and karma have been exhausted does the soul also leave the astral and causal bodies and unite with Spirit. In his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita he develops the image of the soul changing bodies as one changes clothes. Kriya yoga, he holds, speeds up that evolution.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Wie erlangt man Befreiung oder Erlösung?
Kriya Yoga, a technique received from the guru, accelerates evolution towards union with God
Durch disziplinierte ÜbungAusdrücklich gesagt
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda presents Kriya Yoga as the principal means of liberation. In the chapter devoted to its «science» he describes it as a psychophysiological method, based on controlling the life energy through the breath, which accelerates spiritual evolution and lets the practitioner achieve in a few years what would take many lives of natural development. The technique is received by initiation within a lineage of masters (Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar) and is practised together with devotion to God, ethical discipline and daily meditation. The goal is Self-realisation and conscious communion with God, whom Yogananda conceives as ever-new Bliss.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Braucht es einen Lehrer?
The guru-disciple bond and initiation into the lineage are the sure path
UnverzichtbarAusdrücklich gesagt
Autobiography of a Yogi is, in large part, the story of searching for a master and of the relationship with him. Paramahansa Yogananda narrates his meeting with Sri Yukteswar, whom he recognised as the guru he had been awaiting, and the years of discipline in his hermitage, where he learned an obedience he describes as liberating. Kriya Yoga is transmitted through initiation within a lineage of masters (Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar and himself), and Yogananda presents the true guru as a channel of God whose help accompanies the disciple beyond death. The organisation he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, maintains that conception of the guru lineage as guarantor of the teaching.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Ist die Welt wirklich?
A universe of light dreamed by God, with physical, astral and causal worlds
DaseinsebenenAusdrücklich gesagt
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda describes the universe as a projection of light similar to a motion picture, sustained by God's consciousness: in the chapter on the law of miracles he presents it as God's cosmic dream, whose ultimate substance is light. That universe has levels. In the chapter on the resurrection of his master Sri Yukteswar he relates the description the latter allegedly gave him of the astral and causal worlds, subtler than the physical, in which souls live between incarnations. The physical world is real as a level of creation, but it is maya, an illusion relative to God, and the yogi learns to perceive it as such.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Was ist Liebe?
All human love reflects the love of God, which draws the soul back
Sehnsucht und VereinigungAusdrücklich gesagt
For Paramahansa Yogananda love is God's nature and the force that draws the soul back to Him. He holds that the love of parents, friends or lovers is a partial reflection of divine love, which expresses itself through them and is never exhausted in any one of them; that is why no human love fully satisfies. The devotee must learn to recognise God behind every affection and direct to Him a constant longing, until feeling His love in deep meditation. In Whispers from Eternity and in the prayers of How You Can Talk with God he addresses to God petitions of personal love, as Divine Mother or as Beloved, and in Autobiography of a Yogi he describes experiences of ecstatic communion. Friendship, to which he gives great value, is for him the purest form of human love.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Sind wir frei, oder ist alles vorherbestimmt?
The stars point to karma, but the wise can outwit them
Karma und WahlAusdrücklich gesagt
In chapter 16 of *Autobiography of a Yogi*, «Outwitting the Stars», Yogananda recounts his master Sri Yukteswar's teaching on astrology: the birth chart does not cause destiny but indicates it, because a child is born at the moment when the celestial rays harmonise with his individual karma. That karma, however, is not final. Prayer, will power, deep meditation and the counsel of a sage can soften or cancel its effects. Yogananda thus acknowledges a real determination inherited from previous lives, but stresses that the soul, made in God's image, keeps the power to free itself. His teaching of *Kriya Yoga* is presented precisely as the swiftest means to burn accumulated karma.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Wozu meditieren oder beten?
Talking with God as a child demands of a father, with Kriya as method
Freundschaft mit GottAusdrücklich gesagt
Yogananda joins two elements that appear separately in other teachers. On one side, a precise technique, *Kriya Yoga*, which in *Autobiography of a Yogi* (1946) he describes as a scientific method of controlling life energy to accelerate spiritual evolution. On the other, a deeply personal conception of prayer: in *Whispers from Eternity* and in his booklet *How You Can Talk With God* he teaches one to address God as Father, Mother or Friend, not with fearful pleading but with a child's confident demand, until an answer comes. Meditation stills mind and body so that this communion is possible; its end is conscious union with God, which he calls Self-realisation.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Kann die Vernunft das Letzte erkennen?
A science of the soul, transmitted by initiation and verifiable by intuition
Esoterisches WissenAusdrücklich gesagt
Yogananda presents religion as an experimental science. In *The Science of Religion* (1920) he holds that all religions seek the same end, the removal of pain and the attainment of bliss, and that the methods for reaching it can be tested in experience. His instrument is not reason but intuition, the soul's faculty that perceives truth directly. In *Autobiography of a Yogi* he narrates the transmission of *Kriya Yoga* through a lineage of masters —Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar— as an ancient technique lost and recovered, received through initiation and verified in practice. Reason and modern science are cited as allies, but subordinate to intuitive knowledge.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen
Sich von der Welt zurückziehen oder sie verwandeln?
Acting in the world without attachment, anchored in daily meditation
Kontemplation im HandelnAusdrücklich gesagt
Paramahansa Yogananda, a monk of the order of swamis, taught mainly Western lay people and maintained that the spiritual life does not require abandoning family or work. His model is the one he attributes to his lineage: Lahiri Mahasaya, master of kriya yoga, was a householder with a job and responsibilities, and in Autobiography of a Yogi he presents him as proof that realisation is compatible with life in the world. In his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita he interprets Krishna's exhortation to Arjuna as a call to fulfil one's own duty without attachment to the fruits, sustained by meditation. He recommended a balance between activity and recollection, a life of simple living and high thinking, and proposed the creation of world brotherhood colonies, communities in which spiritual practice would be united with work and life in common.
Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

Affinitäten und Spannungen

Frage für Frage aus den Positionen berechnet. Den Grund jeder Übereinstimmung und jedes Widerspruchs zeigt ein Klick.

Denkt ähnlich wie

Denkt anders als

Widerspruch beiScheinbarer Widerspruch

Paramahansa Yogananda · Nisargadatta Maharaj

The lineage that transmits and the guru within: two grateful disciples

Yogananda presents the authentic guru in Autobiography of a Yogi (chs. 10 and 12) as a channel of God: kriya yoga is received by initiation within a lineage, from Mahavatar Babaji to Sri Yukteswar, and obedience to his master was for him liberating. Nisargadatta holds in I Am That that the real guru is one's own being and that whatever any master says must be tested in one's own experience: the outer guru is an occasional help; the inner one, permanent. It looks like a contrast between a path of lineage and one without intermediaries. Yet Nisargadatta attributed all he had realised to having believed his master, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, without reservation, and he gave mantra initiation within a lineage; and Yogananda taught that the disciple's goal is to discover God in his own soul.

Warum: The contradiction is apparent because both describe the same relationship from opposite ends. Both had a decisive guru and both belonged to a lineage with initiation; they differ in where they place the emphasis. Yogananda writes for Western readers to whom he wants to present a living tradition and an organisation, Self-Realization Fellowship, that guarantees transmission; hence he stresses lineage. Nisargadatta speaks to seekers who came to his home in Bombay with years of accumulated practices, and he urges them not to depend on anyone, himself included. The Hindu tradition knows this double face well: the outer master points to the inner one, which is the Self.

Übereinstimmung bei

Paramahansa Yogananda · Jesus of Nazareth

Christ consciousness: a yogi comments on the Gospels

Yogananda devoted an extensive commentary to the Gospels, published posthumously as The Second Coming of Christ, and the organisation he founded honours Jesus alongside the masters of his lineage. What he finds there is a teaching of personal communion with God: Jesus withdraws to pray alone, calls God Abba in Gethsemane (Mk 14:36) and teaches asking with a child's trust of a Father who knows what is needed (Mt 6:5–13). Yogananda teaches exactly that prayer, to a God addressed as Father, Mother or Friend (How You Can Talk with God), and joins it to a meditation technique. For both the Absolute is someone who listens and answers, and prayer is intimacy rather than formula.

Warum: The relationship is documented in one direction: Yogananda read and commented on the Gospels and presented Jesus as a realised master. His reading, however, is yogic and Vedantic: he distinguishes the historical Jesus from a universal Christ consciousness, reads some passages in terms of reincarnation and meditative technique, and conceives God as having a formless ground besides a personal face. None of this appears in the Synoptics, which present a first-century Jew who presupposes the God of Israel and announces his Kingdom, and Christian theology rejects reincarnation. They agree on the way of praying, not on the doctrine surrounding it.

Übereinstimmung bei

Paramahansa Yogananda · Sadhguru

Yoga as a testable science: from kriya to inner engineering

Both present yoga not as belief but as a method anyone can verify. Yogananda holds in The Science of Religion (1920) that all religions seek the elimination of pain and the attainment of bliss, and that their methods can be tested; in Autobiography of a Yogi (ch. 26) he describes kriya yoga as a technique for controlling life energy that accelerates spiritual evolution. Sadhguru calls yoga an inner technology in Inner Engineering and invites people neither to believe nor disbelieve but to test in their own experience. In both, the central technique, kriya in one and Shambhavi Mahamudra in the other, is transmitted by initiation, and in both the guru's grace is what makes practice bear fruit. Method and master go together.

Warum: They converge because they share a strategy for presenting yoga to global audiences, inaugurated at the end of the nineteenth century: translating an initiatory tradition into the language of science and efficacy, for readers who distrust dogma. There is no relation between them and their lineages are different. They differ in theology: Yogananda is intensely devotional, speaks to God as Divine Mother and comments on the Gospels; Sadhguru prefers an impersonal language, in which the ultimate is a dimension of life accessed through experience. The claims of both about the effects of their techniques are doctrinal: the library sets them out, it does not verify them.

Anekdoten und Erzählungen

Zeugnis1910

The meeting in a Benares lane

In 1910 Mukunda was living at the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal ashram in Benares, dissatisfied with its discipline. One day, sent to the market, he saw at the end of a lane a man in an ochre robe standing motionless as if waiting. By his account he recognised him at once as the face he had been seeing in meditation for years, ran to him and fell at his feet; the stranger told him he had been waiting for him for years. It was Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. That meeting opened a decade of training at the Serampore hermitage, which the Autobiography describes as a hard apprenticeship full of rebukes and dry humour, far from the sugary image of the Indian master. The episode sets the model of the guru-disciple relationship that Yogananda would pass on in the West: a recognition that precedes the choice.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Single source: Yogananda himself, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), ch. 10, "I Meet My Master, Sri Yukteswar". There is no independent testimony of the meeting; the 1910 date is confirmed by the biographies (Goldberg, 2018).

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Zeugnis1935

Gandhi's kriya at Wardha

In August 1935 Yogananda spent several days at Gandhi's ashram at Wardha. His secretary, Mahadev Desai, welcomed him with a garland; the community ate in silence and Gandhi was keeping his weekly day of silence, so their first conversation was partly in writing. Yogananda described kriya yoga to him and, by his account, Gandhi asked to learn the technique: he initiated him together with several members of the ashram. Yogananda devotes one of the longest chapters of the Autobiography to the episode, with an enthusiastic defence of non-violence as spiritual law. The photographs of the visit are documented; the initiation rests on his testimony and that of his travelling secretary, C. Richard Wright.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), ch. 44, "With Mahatma Gandhi at Wardha", which reproduces Wright's travel notes. Photographs of Yogananda with Gandhi survive (Wikimedia Commons). No mention of the initiation is known in Gandhi's own writings.

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Zeugnis1935

The stigmatic of Konnersreuth

In July 1935, on his way to India, Yogananda went out of his way to Konnersreuth in Bavaria to meet Therese Neumann, the Catholic peasant woman who bore the stigmata of the Passion and was said to have eaten nothing since 1926. The local bishop granted him permission to see her; according to the Autobiography she confirmed that she lived "by God's light" and he witnessed one of her Friday trances. Yogananda presents her as proof that the body can be sustained by cosmic energy, an idea central to his teaching on energisation. The Church never officially recognised Neumann's inedia, and her case remains disputed.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), ch. 39, "Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist". The visit is plausible and fits the known itinerary; the claims about inedia are Neumann's and her circle's, unverified.

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Hagiographische Erzählung1936

Sri Yukteswar's 'resurrection'

Sri Yukteswar died at Puri on 9 March 1936. Three months later, on 19 June, in a hotel room in Bombay, Yogananda states that his master appeared to him in flesh and blood, embraced him and spoke to him for two hours about the astral world of Hiranyaloka, where he now served as a saviour of souls. The chapter recording the conversation is one of the most detailed expositions of his cosmology: physical, astral and causal bodies, rebirth on subtle planes and final liberation. For devotees it is a revelation; for the historian, a visionary account by a single witness.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), ch. 43, "The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar". No other testimony exists; classified as a hagiographic, visionary account.

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Zeugnis1952

'My India' at the Biltmore

On the evening of 7 March 1952 the Indian community of Los Angeles and many guests gathered at the Biltmore Hotel to honour the new ambassador, Binay Ranjan Sen. Yogananda, who according to his disciples had announced days earlier that his time was ending, spoke of India and America and of his hope for a "united world". He then read his poem "My India". As he spoke its last line—the body that touched that soil—he collapsed. The SRF members present described a smile and his gaze fixed between the eyebrows; the medical certificate spoke of a heart attack. The scene is the centre of the devotional account of his mahasamadhi.

Herkunft der Erzählung: An account by SRF witnesses published in Self-Realization (May–June 1952) and in Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam (1958); the current institutional version is YSS, "Final Years and Mahasamadhi". The medical cause comes from the death certificate cited by Time.

Umstritten1952

The 'incorrupt' body: origin of the story

The story that Yogananda's body did not decay comes from a specific document: a notarised letter by Harry T. Rowe, mortuary director of Forest Lawn Memorial-Park (Glendale), published in full by SRF in its magazine Self-Realization (May–June 1952) and in the In Memoriam booklet. Rowe wrote that during the twenty days the body lay in view, until 27 March, staff observed none of the usual signs of deterioration and no odour, and spoke of a "phenomenal" state of immutability; Time reported it on 4 August 1952. Later editions of the Autobiography reproduce only extracts. The full letter, however, states that the body was embalmed about twenty-four hours after death and mentions a slight brown spot on the tip of the nose on 26 March. In 1995 the sceptic Harry Edwards ("Incorruptibility: Miracle or Myth?") and Professor Angel, who obtained the death certificate signed by an embalmer, argued that the "miracle" arises from selective quotation; embalmers consulted judged such preservation under a glass lid normal.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Primary source: Harry T. Rowe's letter in Self-Realization (May–June 1952) and in Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam (SRF, 1958); reported by Time (4 August 1952). Critique: Harry Edwards (1995) and David C. Lane's summary in Integral World. SRF continues to present the case as a sign of sanctity.

Belegt1990–2002

SRF v. Ananda: twelve years in court

In 1990 Self-Realization Fellowship sued the Ananda Church of Self-Realization, founded by its former monk Swami Kriyananda, for adding "Self-Realization" to its name and for publishing Yogananda's writings, photographs and recordings. In July 1995 the Ninth Circuit partly affirmed and partly reversed the lifting of the preliminary injunctions over the marks; by the end of the litigation SRF had not obtained exclusive rights to the words "Self-Realization" or to Yogananda's name and likeness, and Ananda kept "Ananda" in its name. In 2000 the same court held that Yogananda's writings and lectures were not works made for hire for the church and sent the question of his assignments back to trial. The 2002 jury accepted that Yogananda had wanted SRF to own his rights and found infringement, but awarded only about $29,000 for the sound recordings. Ananda maintains the suit was an attempt to control the legacy; SRF, that it defended the integrity of the work. Meanwhile the first edition of the Autobiography, whose copyright was not renewed, passed into the US public domain.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Court decisions: 59 F.3d 902 (9th Cir. 1995) and 206 F.3d 1322 (9th Cir. 2000); 2002 verdict as reported by The Union (Grass Valley). Partisan account: Ananda Sangha. The $29,000 figure comes from the press and Wikipedia ("Kriyananda").

Quelle: Self-Realization Fellowship Church v. Ananda Church of Self-Realization, 59 F.3d 902 (9th Cir. 1995), y decisión del Noveno Circuito de 23 de marzo de 2000 (n.º 97-17407) sobre los derechos de autor de las obras de Yogananda.

Lehren

Die Begriffe, die das Denken gliedern, in ihrem Zusammenhang erklärt.

Kriya yogakriya-yoga

A meditation technique based on controlling life energy along the spine, which Yogananda presents as an ancient science revived by Mahavatar Babaji and spread by Lahiri Mahasaya from 1861. As he describes it, the practitioner mentally circulates the life current up and down through the spinal centres; each cycle would equal a year of natural evolution, so that the technique "quickens" liberation. It is taught only after preparation (the Lessons) and through initiation, and its technical content is not published. Yogananda identifies it with Patañjali's pranayama and with the "offering of breath" of the Bhagavad Gita (IV.29). That the technique comes from antiquity is a claim of the lineage, not a verified historical fact.

Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26; God Talks with Arjuna; SRF Lessons.

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Self-realizationself-realization

For Yogananda, "Self-realization" is the knowing—in body, mind and soul—that one is made in the image of God rather than a limited personality. It is not a belief but an experience reached through meditation and recognised by causeless peace and joy. The term allowed him to render in English the Vedantic idea of realising the Self (atman) without sectarian vocabulary, and it gave its name to his organisation. The same word was at the centre of the 1990 lawsuit: the courts did not grant SRF exclusive rights to a phrase naming a general religious idea.

Autobiography of a Yogi; Man's Eternal Quest; SRF v. Ananda litigation.

Quelle: Self-Realization Fellowship, sitio oficial (biografía, Forest Lawn, publicaciones).

Christ consciousness and the unity of Krishna and Christchrist-consciousness

Yogananda distinguished between Jesus, the historical man, and "Christ consciousness", the divine intelligence present throughout creation (the Kutastha Chaitanya of Indian tradition). Jesus and Krishna would be two full incarnations of that consciousness, and their teachings—the Sermon on the Mount and the Bhagavad Gita—would say the same thing. The "second coming" would be the birth of that consciousness in each person. SRF altars show Jesus, Krishna and the gurus of the lineage together. The thesis let him present yoga to a Christian audience without asking for conversion, and is one of the keys to his American success.

The Second Coming of Christ; God Talks with Arjuna; The Yoga of Jesus.

Quelle: Wikipedia (en), «Paramahansa Yogananda bibliography» (catálogo de títulos de SRF y YSS), consultada el 2026-10-25.

Energization (Yogoda)energization

A system of exercises Yogananda devised in 1916 and taught from the 1920s as "Yogoda": tensing and relaxing muscle groups with concentrated attention so as to draw life energy consciously into the body through the medulla oblongata, which he called the "mouth of God". The underlying idea is that the body is sustained above all by cosmic energy directed by the will, not only by food and oxygen. The exercises remain part of SRF and Ananda practice. Historians such as Anya Foxen place it in dialogue with the physical culture and New Thought of the period.

Yogoda booklets (1925); Autobiography of a Yogi; SRF Lessons; Foxen (2017).

Quelle: Foxen, Anya P. Biography of a Yogi: Paramahansa Yogananda and the Origins of Modern Yoga. Nueva York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

The world as a cosmic motion picturecosmic-motion-picture

To explain the doctrine of maya, Yogananda used the image of the cinema: the universe is a film projected by the divine beam of light; images of pain and joy are real to someone absorbed in the screen, but they do not touch the light that makes them possible. The sage goes on watching the film without forgetting the projector. The metaphor, which appears in the Autobiography and many talks, allowed him to address the problem of evil and suffering without denying their reality in experience, and to present meditation as turning towards the source of the light.

Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 30 ("The Law of Miracles"); Why God Permits Evil and How to Rise Above It.

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

The SRF line of gurusguru-parampara-srf

Yogananda presented himself as the last link in a chain of masters: Mahavatar Babaji, an immortal Himalayan figure known only through his disciples' accounts; Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895), a Benares householder; Swami Sri Yukteswar (1855–1936); and himself. To that line he added Krishna and Jesus as inspirers. He declared that after him there would be no further guru in the organisation and that his teachings would be the guru. The historicity of Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar is documented; that of Babaji rests solely on testimonies from the lineage.

Autobiography of a Yogi, chs. 33–36; Goldberg (2018).

Quelle: Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).

Retreats

Retreats und Zentren

Orte und Begegnungen, die mit dieser Lehre verbunden sind. Wir stellen den Kontakt zu den Veranstaltern her.

Encinitas, California · Estados Unidos
SRF How-to-Live retreats in Encinitas
Self-Realization Fellowship
Encinitas was one of Yogananda's most beloved places: here is the Hermitage where he wrote much of Autobiography of a Yogi, beside gardens on the Pacific cliffs. Self-Realization Fellowship runs its How-to-Live retreat centre in this setting, silent retreats intended, in the teacher's words, as a dynamo of silence where one may be recharged by the Infinite. Guests join the monastics for morning and evening meditation and may attend classes and receive spiritual counselling. There are personal retreats as well as conducted weekends with a more concentrated schedule on the teachings and techniques.
Informationen anfordern
Ranchi, Jharkhand (y ashrams en Dakshineswar, Noida, Dwarahat y Chennai) · India
Yogoda Satsanga Society: Ranchi ashram and sadhana sangams
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India is the organisation Yogananda founded in India in 1917, the sister society of Self-Realization Fellowship. Its Ranchi ashram grew out of the boys' school the young yogi opened there, and preserves places connected with his life. Together with the ashrams at Dakshineswar, Noida, Dwarahat and Chennai, it organises retreats and sadhana sangams, gatherings of intensive practice with group meditations and classes given by monastics of the order. It is the reference path in India for studying his Lessons, which are available in English and in several Indian languages.
Informationen anfordern
Pacific Palisades, Los Ángeles, California · Estados Unidos
Lake Shrine: SRF meditation gardens
Self-Realization Fellowship
Lake Shrine is the sanctuary Yogananda dedicated in 1950 beside a small natural lake in Pacific Palisades, a few minutes from the Pacific. Its meditation gardens, open to people of every faith, are designed for quiet recollection, and its temple holds Sunday meditation and inspirational services. After the January 2025 fire in the area, the gardens have reopened by advance reservation while recovery continues, but the retreat house remains closed until further notice. It is one of the most visited of the places the teacher founded during his lifetime, and a gentle introduction to his spirit.
Informationen anfordern
Estudio en casa (correo postal y aplicación) · Internacional
Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons
Self-Realization Fellowship
The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons are the home-study course Yogananda himself prepared to pass on his teaching to those who could not be with him. The basic series teaches three techniques: the Energization Exercises, the Hong-Sau Technique of Concentration and the Aum Technique of Meditation, together with guidance on prayer, affirmation and daily life. After the first months the student may apply for Kriya Yoga initiation. They arrive by post and through an app, and include access to spiritual counselling from the order's monastics, who remain the custodians of his method.
Informationen anfordern

Alle Retreats ansehen →

Videos

Aufnahmen, Gespräche und Dokumentarfilme. Die Videos werden von YouTube wiedergegeben; sie werden nicht hier gespeichert.

Paramahansa Yogananda on the Dream-Nature of the World
Originalaufnahme· EN· 5 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
Paramahansa Yogananda on How to Destroy Suffering by Its Roots
Originalaufnahme· EN· 3 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
Paramahansa Yogananda on Karma
Originalaufnahme· EN· 5 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
God Is as Real as You Are | Paramahansa Yogananda
Vortrag· EN· 4 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda – Theatrical Trailer
Dokumentarfilm· EN· 2014· 2 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
Trailer Oficial Español – Awake: La Vida de Yogananda
Dokumentarfilm· ES· 2014· 1 min
AntropoDocs & Films
Yogananda // Official Trailer (HD) – French Version
Dokumentarfilm· FR· 2014· 2 min
Jupiter Films
Il Sentiero della Felicità – Awake, The Life of Yogananda – Trailer Ufficiale
Dokumentarfilm· IT· 2014· 2 min
Cineama
Celebrating Yogananda's Founding of the SRF International Headquarters 100 Years Ago
Vortrag· EN· 2025· 79 min
Self-Realization FellowshipOffizieller Kanal
«Karunamay Gurudeva» — Kirtan Chanting by the Sannyasis of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
Aufnahme Dritter· HI· 7 min
Yogoda Satsanga Society of IndiaOffizieller Kanal
Energization Exercises of Paramhansa Yogananda
Aufnahme Dritter· EN· 17 min
The Expanding Light Retreat

Galerie

Bilder mit geprüfter Lizenz. Jedes bewahrt seine Urheberschaft und seinen Herkunftsnachweis.

Beziehungen

Einflüsse, Schülerschaften und Verwandtschaften. Die belegte Beziehung wird von der durch Analyse ermittelten Ähnlichkeit unterschieden.

Begegnete
Luther Burbank
Friendship with the Santa Rosa botanist, who received kriya initiation from him; he dedicated the Autobiography to him (ch. 38 and dedication).
Belegte Beziehung
Schüler von
Sri Yukteswar
His guru from 1910 to 1936; ordained him swami in 1915 and gave him the title of paramahansa in 1935.
Belegte Beziehung
Beeinflusst von
Lahiri Mahasaya
Teacher of his parents and of Sri Yukteswar; Yogananda spread his kriya yoga.
Belegte Beziehung
Beeinflusst von
Jesus of Nazareth
He devoted his major Gospel commentary to him and placed him in the SRF lineage alongside Krishna.
Belegte Beziehung
Beeinflusst von
Patañjali
He identifies kriya yoga with the pranayama of the Yoga Sutras and quotes Patañjali when explaining it.
Belegte Beziehung
Begegnete
Ramana Maharshi
Visited him at Tiruvannamalai in late November 1935 with his secretary C. R. Wright; the visit is recorded in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi and in photographs. The first edition of the Autobiography does not mention it.
Belegte Beziehung
Begegnete
Mahatma Gandhi
Spent several days at Wardha in August 1935 and, by his account, initiated him into kriya yoga.
Belegte Beziehung
Begegnete
Anandamayi Ma
Meeting in 1936 in Calcutta, narrated in the Autobiography (ch. 45) and photographed.
Belegte Beziehung
Begegnete
Therese Neumann
Visit at Konnersreuth (Bavaria) in July 1935.
Belegte Beziehung
Begegnete
Rabindranath Tagore
Meeting at Santiniketan, where they compared their schools (Autobiography, ch. 29).
Belegte Beziehung
Lehrer von
Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters)
Disciple from 1948; removed from SRF in 1962, he founded Ananda in 1968.
Belegte Beziehung
Lehrer von
Sri Daya Mata
Disciple from 1931 and president of SRF from 1955 to 2010; witness of his death.
Belegte Beziehung
Verwandte Gedanken mit
Swami Vivekananda
Both presented yoga to the West as a universal science of religion; Yogananda reached the United States a quarter of a century later.
Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit
Zeitgenosse von
Sri Aurobindo
Bengali contemporaries with spiritual readings of the Gita and of the evolution of consciousness; no meeting is recorded.
Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit

Von anderen Einträgen aus verknüpft

Quellen

Für diesen Eintrag herangezogene Bibliografie und Kataloge.

Yogananda, Paramhansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Nueva York: The Philosophical Library, 1946 (1.ª ed.; texto en Project Gutenberg #7452).
Goldberg, Philip. The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru. Carlsbad (California): Hay House, 2018.
Wikidata, «Paramahansa Yogananda» (Q312549): nacimiento 05-01-1893 en Gorakhpur, muerte 07-03-1952 en Los Ángeles, sepultura en Forest Lawn (Glendale); 84 enlaces entre wikis.
Yogananda, Swami. The Science of Religion. Los Ángeles: Yogoda and Sat-Sanga Headquarters, 4.ª ed., septiembre de 1925 (copyright 1924; 1.ª ed. en la India). Ejemplar digitalizado en Internet Archive.
Self-Realization Fellowship. Paramahansa Yogananda: In Memoriam. Los Ángeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958 (reproduce la carta notarial de Harry T. Rowe, director de la funeraria de Forest Lawn, publicada antes en Self-Realization, mayo-junio de 1952).
Time, 4 de agosto de 1952: nota sobre la carta de Harry T. Rowe (Forest Lawn Memorial-Park) acerca del cuerpo de Yogananda.
Wikipedia (en), «Paramahansa Yogananda», consultada el 2026-10-23 (secciones Death, Lawsuits; resumen de los párrafos de la carta de Rowe sobre el embalsamamiento y la mancha en la nariz).
Kriyananda, Swami (J. Donald Walters). The Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi. Nevada City (California): Ananda Publications, 1977; reeditado como The New Path, Crystal Clarity, 2009.
Self-Realization Fellowship Church v. Ananda Church of Self-Realization, 59 F.3d 902 (9th Cir. 1995), y decisión del Noveno Circuito de 23 de marzo de 2000 (n.º 97-17407) sobre los derechos de autor de las obras de Yogananda.
«Jury: Copyrights violated by church», The Union (Grass Valley, California), 2002 (veredicto del jurado en el pleito SRF contra Ananda).
Ananda Sangha, «Self-Realization Fellowship vs. Ananda: Religious Freedom Lawsuit 1990-2002» (versión de una de las partes).
Self-Realization Fellowship, sitio oficial (biografía, Forest Lawn, publicaciones).
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, sitio oficial.
Open Library, registros de ediciones de Paramahansa Yogananda (consultados por ISBN).
Foxen, Anya P. Biography of a Yogi: Paramahansa Yogananda and the Origins of Modern Yoga. Nueva York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Wikimedia Commons, metadatos de licencia de las fotografías de Paramahansa Yogananda (API imageinfo) y Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection (LCCN 2016842956).
Yogananda, Swami. Songs of the Soul. Los Ángeles: Yogoda Sat-Sanga, 1923. Ejemplar digitalizado en Internet Archive.
Williamson, Lola. Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion. Nueva York: New York University Press, 2010.
Lane, David C. «The Incorruptible Body of Paramahansa Yogananda» (Integral World), que resume y cita el artículo de Harry Edwards «Incorruptibility: Miracle or Myth?» (noviembre de 1995) y las gestiones del profesor Angel ante el registro civil de Los Ángeles (certificado de defunción firmado por el embalsamador Kenneth I. Johnson).
Self-Realization Fellowship Church v. Ananda Church of Self-Realization, 206 F.3d 1322 (9th Cir., 23 de marzo de 2000): los escritos y conferencias de Yogananda no eran «obras por encargo»; cuestión de las cesiones devuelta a juicio.
Wikipedia (en), «Kriyananda» (salida de SRF en 1962, fundación de Ananda en 1968, pleito SRF contra Ananda 1990-2002 y su desenlace), consultada el 2026-10-25.
Wikipedia (en), «Paramahansa Yogananda bibliography» (catálogo de títulos de SRF y YSS), consultada el 2026-10-25.
Self-Realization Fellowship Bookstore, catálogo de libros de Paramahansa Yogananda.
Crystal Clarity Publishers (editorial de Ananda), catálogo de obras de Paramhansa Yogananda, incluida la reimpresión de la primera edición de 1946 de Autobiography of a Yogi.
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, «Final Years and Mahasamadhi» (versión institucional de los últimos años, del banquete del Biltmore y de la carta de Forest Lawn).
Venkataramiah, Munagala (Swami Ramanananda Saraswati), ed. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1955 (conversaciones anotadas entre 1935 y 1939; incluye la visita de Yogananda y de su secretario C. R. Wright a finales de 1935).
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, librería en línea: fichas de «Who Made God?» (ISBN 9788189535360), «Developing Dynamic Will», «Awake in the Cosmic Dream» (grabación del 5 de enero de 1952, ℗ 1987 SRF), «The Great Light of God» (grabación del 23 de diciembre de 1951, ℗ 1993 SRF) y «Self-Realization: The Inner and the Outer Path» (grabación del 25 de diciembre de 1950, ℗ 2002/2004 SRF). Consultadas el 2026-10-25.

Rechteinhaber: Self-Realization Fellowship (Los Ángeles) y, en la India, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, como herederas de Yogananda; el jurado de 2002 confirmó la titularidad de SRF. La primera edición de 1946 de Autobiography of a Yogi está en dominio público en EE. UU.
Offizielle Website: yogananda.org/

Bestätigung ausstehend

Was dieser Eintrag noch nicht klären konnte. Wir sagen es lieber, als es aufzufüllen.

Anotado (2026-10-25): Folletos de YSS publicados solo en la India (The Art of Living, Developing Dynamic Will, Man's Greatest Adventure, Nervousness: Cause and Cure, Seek God Now, Who Made God?, Habit—Your Master or Your Slave?, etc.; una decena según Wikipedia «Paramahansa Yogananda bibliography»): no registrados uno a uno. → agrupados en la obra «yss-booklets» con tres ediciones verificadas; faltan ISBN verificados de The Art of Living, Increasing the Power of Initiative, Habit, Man’s Greatest Adventure y Seek God Now (Open Library no los registra y Google Books tenía la cuota agotada).
Revistas East-West (1925-1934) e Inner Culture (1934-1942): primera publicación de muchos textos; no se tratan como obras.
Confirmar ISBN de Solving the Mystery of Life (SRF, 2025) y de Cosmic Chants en español.
Fecha exacta del primer encuentro con Calvin Coolidge (enero o febrero de 1927 según las fuentes).
Cotejar el texto íntegro de la carta de Harry T. Rowe (In Memoriam, 1958) para citar literalmente la fecha de la carta y la mención del embalsamamiento.
Obras de Swami Kriyananda basadas en Yogananda (Conversations with Yogananda, The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, Revelations of Christ): pertenecen a la ficha de Kriyananda, no se registran aquí como obras de Yogananda.
Sala de lectura (2026-10-25): los cuatro textos registrados (Autobiography 1946, The Science of Religion 1925, Songs of the Soul 1923, Whispers from Eternity 1929) son dominio público en EE. UU. y en la UE, pero no en España hasta el 1-1-2033 (80 años desde 1952): van con caution. Revisar entonces.
Sala de lectura: Metaphysical Meditations (1932) y Scientific Healing Affirmations (1924) podrían ser dominio público en EE. UU.; no se ha localizado un texto completo con OCR limpio.
Grabaciones de su voz: además de las tres añadidas y Beholding the One in All, SRF edita otras charlas grabadas (catálogo de la librería de SRF/YSS); inventariar la serie completa.

Recherchiert am 2026-10-25