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Considering the vast collection of books that I have “for the betterment of humankind”, it is difficult to select a favourite. However, none has intrigued or inspired me more than Autobiography of a Yogi. From his early days of being the “Mad Monk” Mukunda Lal Ghosh to his later days as Paramahansa Yogananda, his story is one of true illumination.
The greatest impact of this book for me has been in raising my interest in India and its masters and saints; learning how experienced yogis perform miracles and attain self-mastery.
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- The Saint with Two Bodies (Swami Pranabananda) was able to appear in two places at once.
- The Perfume Saint (Ghanda Baba) had the ability to astrally-project scent and permeated odorless blossoms with rose and jasmine.
- The Levitating Saint (Bhaduri Mahasaya) was able to defy the law of gravity as a yogi’s body was purported to lose its grossness after certain pranayamas.
- The Sleepless Saint (Ram Gopal) took residence in a cave, engaging in yoga union for twenty hours daily, never sleeping.
- The Fasting Saint (Giri Bala) employed a certain yogic technique that allowed her to survive without eating. It was a Kriya technique that freed the body from its dependence on mortal food – the use of a mantra and breathing exercises.
- The Catholic Stigmatist (Therese Neumann) – although German, not Indian – was cured of blindness as a child. As an adult, she abstained from food and water, except for a daily consecrated host, slept for a mere hour or two a night, and experienced the stigmata.
Unwavering faith and devotion is also a part of the yogi’s journey. Mukunda demonstrated his deep trust on many occasions as a young devotee under his guru Sri Yukteswar.
- Yogananda claimed to only need inheritance from the Heavenly Father; his older brother Ananta sent him and a fellow disciple on train to a selected town without money or means to return home; so moved was Ananta upon their return (having not begged for food nor rupees, circumstance amply provided them) that he asked Yogananda to initiate him into Kriya Yoga.
- While awaiting the return of his guru by train, Yogananda received a telepathic message that he would be late, and sure to his vision, his guru arrived on the train of his instruction.
- When asked by his sister Roma to assist in bringing her husband Satish around to spiritual matters, Yogananda implores the Divine Mother to provide nourishment for them without request. At the temple they are visiting, they are treated to a lavish meal and Satish begins to change his ways.
In describing his guru Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda said, “A master – one who has realized himself as the omnipotent soul, not the body – perceives in all men a striking similarity.” The goal of yoga is divine union; a true master seeks union in both the earthly and the heavenly realms. With mastery come the disappearance of separation and the return of original oneness.
