Paramahansa Yogananda
1893 CE–1952 CE · Modern · Gorakhpur
1893–1952 CE (born 5 January 1893, Gorakhpur; died 7 March 1952, Los Angeles)
Mukunda Lāl Ghosh, born at Gorakhpur in North India, became a disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, in whose hermitage he was trained in Kriyā Yoga, a method of meditative breath-discipline transmitted in his lineage from Lahiri Mahasaya. Taking the monastic name Yogananda, he founded an educational ashram for boys at Ranchi (1917), then traveled in 1920 to the United States as a delegate to a congress of religious liberals in Boston, and stayed to teach. In 1925 he established the Self-Realization Fellowship with headquarters on Mount Washington in Los Angeles, lecturing widely across America for the rest of his life. His 'Autobiography of a Yogi' (1946) became a global bestseller and introduced a vast Western readership to yoga and Indian spirituality. He died in Los Angeles in 1952. His life is well documented, though his autobiography also contains devotional and miraculous material that belongs to its genre.
Did you know?
The first ship out after the war
In 1920 Paramahansa Yogananda sailed from India to Boston aboard the City of Sparta — reported to be the first passenger ship to make the India-to-America crossing after the First World War — to address the International Congress of Religious Liberals. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship that same year and spent most of the next 32 years in the United States, lecturing across the country until his death in Los Angeles in 1952.
How we know
Yogananda: b. Jan 5, 1893, d. Mar 7, 1952 (Los Angeles); sailed Aug 1920 on the City of Sparta (arrived Boston Sept 19, 1920), addressed the International Congress of Religious Liberals Oct 6, 1920; founded Self-Realization Fellowship 1920; resided in the US 1920–1952 (1952−1920 = 32; age at crossing 1920−1893 = 27). Sources: Wikipedia; yogananda.org (SRF centennial); Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 37.
The 1946 memoir Steve Jobs gave every guest at his own memorial
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) came from India to the United States in 1920 and published his Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946, nine years before Steve Jobs was born in 1955. Jobs is reported to have first read the book as a young man and to have re-read it once a year, and at his 2011 memorial each guest received a copy at his own instruction.
How we know
Yogananda b. Jan 5, 1893, arrived in the US (Boston) 1920, published Autobiography of a Yogi 1946, d. Mar 7, 1952; Steve Jobs b. Feb 24, 1955, memorial held Oct 2011 (Stanford) where guests received the book per his instruction (SRF/YSS; Isaacson biography).
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Gorakhpur
What they did here
Birthplace; born Mukunda Lāl Ghosh on 5 January 1893.
About Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in eastern Uttar Pradesh, north India, on the Rāptī River. It is the birthplace of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), author of Autobiography of a Yogi and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Paramahansa Yogananda’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Paramahansa Yogananda’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Works
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