Autobiography of a Yogi is not an ordinary book. It is a spiritual treasure. To read its message of hope to all truthseekers is to begin a great adventure.
Paramhansa Yogananda was the first yoga master of India to take up permanent residence in the West.t. In the 1920’s, as he criss-crossed the United States on what he called his “spiritual campaigns,” his enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls in America.
His initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting influence is greater still. This single volume, Autobiography of a Yogi, first published in 1946, helped launch, and continues to inspire, a spiritual revolution in the West.
Only rarely does a sage of Paramhansa Yogananda’s stature write a firsthand account of his life experiences. Childhood revelations, his visits to saints and masters of India, the years of training he received in the ashram of his guru, and long-secret teachings of Self-Realization are all made available to the Western reader. Followers of many religious traditions have come to recognize Autobiography of a Yogi as a masterpiece of spiritual literature. Yet for all its depth, it is full of gentle humor, lively stories, and practical common sense.
Notes on the Original First Edition
This online edition is identical to the text of the first edition, published in 1946, by Philosophical Library in New York City. This volume also contains reproductions of the photographs from the original edition.
Although Yogananda himself participated in preparing both the second and third editions of the Autobiography of a Yogi, correcting spelling and grammatical errors and addressing questions raised by his readers, there is a unique power to the original that we feel is particularly worth preserving. In order to be faithful to the original edition, we have not corrected errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation.