Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, then British India, was an Indian monk and yogi who helped introduce Hindu yoga and meditation to the West. He is best known for his Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) and for founding the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1920 to disseminate his teachings in America.

Yogananda studied under his guru Sri Yukteswar Giri, becoming a monk and learning classical yoga, astrology, and scriptures. He adopted the name Yogananda when he joined his monastic order; the title Paramahansa was conferred later by his disciples. His teachings center on the universal goal of spiritual union through meditation, moral living, and faith, with an emphasis on Kriya Yoga as a systematic technology of meditation. He promoted a harmonized view of science and spirituality and stressed the compatibility of various religious paths and the unity of all truth.

After arriving in the United States in 1920 as a representative of his order, he organized lectures and established SRF offices in the United States and India. He traveled widely, guiding spiritual communities and sustaining his work through translations of his writings and the practice of meditation instruction.

Yogananda died in 1952 in Los Angeles. His work continues through the Self-Realization Fellowship and the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, which preserve his teachings and meditation programs. His Autobiography of a Yogi remains a widely read introduction to his philosophy and the broader Hindu yogic tradition.