Part 1 (1/2)

Autobiography of a YOGI

by Paraananda

PREFACE

By W Y EVANS-WENTZ, MA, DLitt, DSc

Jesus College, Oxford; Author of THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, TIBET'S GREAT YOGI MILAREPA, TIBETAN YOGA AND SECRET DOCTRINES, etc

The value of Yogananda's AUTOBIOGRAPHYis greatly enhanced by the fact that it is one of the few books in English about the wise men of India which has been written, not by a journalist or foreigner, but by one of their own race and training--in short, a book ABOUT yogis BY a yogi As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has importance both timely and timeless To its illustrious author, who both in India and Aratitude His unusual life-docu of the depths of the Hindu mind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West

It has been es whose life-history is herein narrated-Sri Yukteswar Giri A likeness of the venerable saint appeared as part of the frontispiece of my TIBETAN YOGA AND SECRET DOCTRINES {FN1-1} It was at Puri, in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal, that I encountered Sri Yukteswar He was then the head of a quiet ashrama near the seashore there, and was chiefly occupied in the spiritual training of a group of youthful disciples

He expressed keen interest in the welfare of the people of the United States and of all the A the distant activities, particularly those in California, of his chief disciple, Paraananda, whom he dearly loved, and whom he had sent, in 1920, as his eentlepresence, and worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously accorded to him Every person who knew hihest esteearbed in the saffron-colored garb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the entrance of the her and somewhat curly, and his face bearded His body was muscularly firetic He had chosen as his place of earthly abode the holy city of Puri, whither multitudes of pious Hindus, representative of every province of India, coannath, ”Lord of the World” It was at Puri that Sri Yukteswar closed his mortal eyes, in 1936, to the scenes of this transitory state of being and passed on, knowing that his incarnation had been carried to a triulad, indeed, to be able to record this testih character and holiness of Sri Yukteswar

Content to reave himself unreservedly and in tranquillity to that ideal life which Paraes W Y EVANS-WENTZ

{FN1-1} Oxford University Press, 1935

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I a editorial labors over the manuscript of this book My thanks are due also to Miss Ruth Zahn for preparation of the index, to Mr C Richard Wright for permission to use extracts from his Indian travel diary, and to Dr W Y Evans-Wentz for suggestions and encouragement

PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA OCTOBER 28, 1945 ENCINITAS, CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER: 1

MY PARENTS AND EARLY LIFE

The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultiuru {FN1-2} relationshi+p My own path led e whose beautiful life was chiseled for the ages He was one of the greatin every generation, they have bulwarked their land against the fate of Babylon and Egypt

I findthe anachronistic features of a previous incarnation Clear recollections cai {FN1-3} alimpses of the past, by solimpse of the future

The helpless humiliations of infancy are not banished fro able to walk or express es arose withinees Aradually accustoali syllables ofscope of an infant's mind!

adultly considered liical ferht eneral family bewilderment at my distress Happier memories, too, crowd in onphrase and toddling step These early triuotten quickly, are yet a natural basis of self-confidence

My far-reaching is are known to have retained their self-consciousness without interruption by the dramatic transition to and from ”life” and ”death” If man be solely a body, its loss indeed places the final period to identity

But if prophets down the millenniums spake with truth, man is essentially of incorporeal nature The persistent core of huoity is only teh odd, cleartravels in numerous lands, I have listened to early recollections from the lips of veracious men and women

I was born in the last decade of the nineteenth century, and passed ht years at Gorakhpur This was my birthplace in the United Provinces of northeastern India We were eight children: four boys and four girls I, Mukunda Lal Ghosh {FN1-4}, was the second son and the fourth child

Father and Mother were Bengalis, of the KSHATRIYA caste {FN1-5} Both were blessed with saintly nature Their nified, never expressed itself frivolously A perfect parental harht young lives

Father, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, was kind, grave, at ti him dearly, we children yet observed a certain reverential distance An outstanding uided principally by his intellect But Mother was a queen of hearts, and taught us only through love After her death, Father displayed aze often metamorphosed into my mother's