About Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) is considered one of the preeminent spiritual figures of modern times.
Author of the best-selling spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, this beloved world teacher came to America in 1920 from his native India, and was the first great master of yoga to live and teach in the West for an extended period (more than 30 years). He is now widely recognized as the Father of Yoga in the West. He founded Self-Realization Fellowship (1920) and Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (1917), which continue to carry on his spiritual legacy worldwide under the leadership of Sri Mrinalini Mata, one of his closest disciples.
Paramahansa Yogananda has profoundly impacted the lives of millions with his comprehensive teachings on:
- the science of Kriya Yoga meditation,
- the underlying unity of all true religions,
- the art of balanced health and well-being in body, mind, and soul.
Self Realization Fellowship founded by Yogananda in 1920
Quotes by Yogananda
but it is man’s response to maya
through the misuse of the divine gift of free choice
that creates in him the sense of egoism
and the desire to act according to its dictates
and to enjoy the fruits of actions.
When man exercises discrimination
and does not respond to cosmic delusion,
he uses his free will rightly to choose only
the influence of the inner divine wisdom.
Thus he escapes the punishment
that results from the false conviction
of being an independent doer of actions
