PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA
AND HIS WORLDWIDE WORK

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in the holy city of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. From his earliest years, it was clear that his life was marked for a divine destiny. According to those closest to him, even as a child the depth of his awareness and experience of the spiritual was far beyond the ordinary. In his youth he sought out sages and saints, hoping to find an enlightened guru.

It was in 1910, at the age of seventeen that he met and became a disciple of the revered sage Sri Sri Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri. Sri Yukteshwarji was one of a line of exalted gurus, with whom Yogananda had been linked from birth: Sri Yogananda's parents were disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya, guru of Sri Yukteshwarji. When Yoganandaji was an infant in his mother's arms, Lahiri Mahasaya had blessed him and foretold: "Little mother, thy son will be a yogi. As a spiritual engine, he will carry many souls to God's kingdom." Lahiri Mahasaya was a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji, the deathless master who revived in this age the ancient science of Kriya Yoga. Mahavatar Babaji revealed the sacred Kriya to Lahiri Mahasaya, who handed it down to Sri Yukteshwarji, who taught it to Paramahansa Yogananda.

After Sri Yogananda graduated from Calcutta University in 1915, his guru bestowed on him the formal vows of a sannyasi of the venerable monastic Swami Order. In 1917, he began his organizational work with the founding of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. He started an ashram in Ranchi, Jharkhand, which included a "how-to-live" school for boys, where modern educational methods were combined with yoga training and instructions in spiritual ideals. Perpetuating these principles, the Yogoda educational and medical institutions now comprise thwety-three schools for boys and girls and many charitable allopathic, ayurvedic, and homeopathic clinics throughout India. These include a degree college in arts, commerce, and science, a boys' school, girls' school, music school, pre-school, Sevashram clinic with allopathic and homeopathic sections, and an eye clinic in Ranchi; a degree college in Palpara; and higher secondary schools, primary schools, and homeopathic medical dispensaries in Bherir Bazar, Chandigarh, Ghatal, Ismalichak, Kulabahal, Lakhanpur, Palpara, Payarachak, and Suraikhet.

Three years later, in 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston, U.S.A. Just before his departure, Mahavatar Babaji blessed him confirmed his divinely ordained world mission: "You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West. Long ago I met your guru Yukteshwar at a kumbha Mela; I told him then I would send you to him for training. Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God-realization, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the nations through man's personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father."

Paramahansaji's maiden address in Boston, on "The science of Religion," was enthusuastically received. For the next several years, Paramahansaji lectured and taught on the East coast of the United States, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. In Los Angeles, he began a two-month series of lectures and classes in January of 1925. As elsewhere, his talks were greeted with interest and acclaim. The Los Angeles Times reported: "The Philharmonic Auditorium presents the extraordinary spectacle of thousands... being turned away an hour before the advertised opening of a lecture with the 3000 seat hall filled to its utmost capacity."

Later that year, Yoganandaji established in Los Angeles the International Headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship. Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and Self-Realization Fellowship were founded by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda as the instruments for the dissemination of his teachings on the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its liberating Raja Yoga technique of meditation.

Paramahansaji returned to India in 1935 for a long-awaited reunion with his guru, Swami Sri Yukteshwarji. It was while he was here that Sri Yukteshwarji bestowed on him India's highest spiritual title "Paramahansa." During his eighteen-month trip, he also traveled through Europe and gave classes and lectures in London and Rome, as well as aall over India. Reporting on one of Paramahansaji's classes, a Mysore newspaper, The Daily Post wrote: " The audience was very enthusiatic and attentive... Town Hall, the largest hall in Bangalore... was packed to overflowing with 3000... some on windowsills, in aisles, doorways, on the stage, and standing outside... seeking to know God."

When in his mother land, Yoganandaji devoted much of his attention to the guidance of his disciples and his Yogoda Satsanga work. He established a permanent foundation of the Society and its centers in various parts of India.

Mahatma Gandhi invited Paramahansaji to his Wardha ashram. At Gandhiji's request Yoganandaji initiated the Mahatma and a few satyagrahis into the liberating technique of Kriya Yoga. In the South the guru was an official guest of the State of Mysore. Here he was greeted by Sir C. V. Raman, Nobel laureate and President of the Indian Academy of Science. In Arunachala, the guru met the renowned sage Ramana Maharshi. Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, founder of Banaras Hindu University and many other educators and leaders greeted him. He also met the revered saint Ananda Moyi Ma.

Upon his return to America at the end of 1936, he began to withdraw somewhat from his nationwide public lecturing so as to devote himself to building an enduring foundation for his worldwide work and to the writings that would carry his worldwide work and to the writings that would carry his message for future generations. His life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, was published in 1946 and substantially expanded by him in 1951.

On March 7, 1952, Paramahansaji enetered mahasamadhi, a God-illumined master's conscious exit from the body at the time of physical death. His passing occasioned an outpouring of reverent appreciation from spiritual leaders, diginitaries, friends, and disciples all over the world. His Holiness Swami Sivananda, founder of The Divine Life Society, wrote: "A rare gem of inestimable value, the like of whom the world is yet to witness, Paramahansa Yogananda has been an ideal representative of the ancient sages and seers, the glory of India."

Today the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the guidance of Sri Sri Daya Mata, one of his earliest and closest disciples. As Sanghamata and President of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India/Self-Realization Fellowship since 1955, Daya Matatji faithfully carries out Paramahansa Yoganandaji's ideals and wishes for the disemination of his teachings worldwide. In addition to publishing Paramahansa Yogananda's books, lectures writings and informal talks - including a comprehensive series of Yogoda Satsanga/Self-Realization Lessons for home study - YSS/SRF guides members in their practice of Sri Yoganandaji's teachings; overseas YSS/SRF ashrams, temples, retreats, kendras, and meditation centers around the world, as well as the YSS/SRF monastic communities; and coordinates the Worldwide Prayer Circle, which serves as an instrument to help bring healing to those in physical, mental, or spiritual need and greater harmony among the nations.