Paramahansa Yogananda
Posted by Darshana Sanrakshak Shambhala on January 30, 2011 at 3:29pm in Meditation Group
Paramahansa Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in
Gorakhpur, India, into a devout and well-to-do Bengali family. In his youth he
sought out many of India's sages and saints, hoping to find an illumined teacher
to guide him in his spiritual quest.
Paramahansa Yogananda began his
life's work with the founding, in 1917, of a "how-to-live" school for boys,
where modern educational methods were combined with yoga and meditation training
and instruction in spiritual ideals. Visiting the school a few years later,
Mahatma Gandhi wrote: "This institution has deeply impressed my
mind."
For the next several years, Paramahansa Yogananda lectured and
taught on the East coast and in 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking
tour. The following year, he established in Los Angeles an international
headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, which became the spiritual and
administrative heart of his growing work on meditation and self
transformation.
Paramahansa Yogananda emphasized the underlying unity of
the world's great religions, and taught universally applicable methods for
attaining direct personal experience of God. To serious students of his
teachings he introduced the soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga meditation,
a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India, which had been
lost in the Dark Ages and revived in modern times by his lineage of enlightened
masters.
In 1935, Paramahansa Yogananda began an 18-month tour of Europe
and India. During his yearlong sojourn in his native land, he spoke in cities
throughout the subcontinent and enjoyed meetings with Mahatma Gandhi (who
requested initiation in Kriya Yoga meditation), Nobel-prize-winning physicist
Sir C. V. Raman, and some of India's renowned spiritual figures, including Sri
Ramana Maharshi and Anandamoyi Ma. It was during this year also that his guru,
Swami Sri Yukteswar, bestowed on him India's highest spiritual title,
paramahansa. Literally supreme swan (a symbol of spiritual discrimination), the
title signifies one who manifests the supreme state of unbroken communion with
God.
Under his direction, the personal guidance and instruction that he
had given to students of his classes was arranged into a comprehensive series of
Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study.
Paramahansa
Yogananda's life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, was published in 1946 and
expanded by him in subsequent editions. It is widely regarded as a modern
spiritual classic.
On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda entered
mahasamadhi, a God-illumined master's conscious exit from the body at the time
of physical death.