| Youth | | | | life's mission with the founding and |
| Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in | | | | running of a school for boys in a remote |
| Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India into a | | | | hamlet of Bengal, called Dihika, by the |
| devout Bengali family.[1] According to | | | | side of river Damodar, that combined |
| his elder brother, Sananda, from his | | | | modern educational techniques with yoga |
| earliest years young Mukunda's awareness | | | | training and spiritual ideals. A year |
| and experience of the spiritual was far | | | | later, the school relocated to Ranchi. |
| beyond the ordinary. In his youth he | | | | This school would later become Yogoda |
| sought out many of India's Hindu sages | | | | Satsanga Society of India, the Indian |
| and saints, hoping to find an illuminated | | | | branch of Yogananda's American |
| teacher to guide him in his spiritual | | | | organization. |
| quest. | | | | Move to America |
| In Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, | | | | In 1920, he went to the United States as |
| he relates numerous stories of saints, | | | | India's delegate to an International |
| scientists, and miracle workers that he | | | | Congress of Religious Liberals convening |
| visited as a youth, including the | | | | in Boston. That same year he founded |
| renowned scientist Jagdish Chandra Bose, | | | | Self-Realization Fellowship to |
| his personal tutor Mahendranath Gupta | | | | disseminate worldwide his teachings on |
| (biographer of Ramakrishna), the Nobel | | | | India's ancient practices and philosophy |
| winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, | | | | of Yoga and its tradition of meditation. |
| the 'Tiger Swami', the 'Perfume Saint', | | | | For the next several years, he lectured |
| the 'Saint with Two Bodies', the | | | | and taught on the East coast and in 1924 |
| 'Levitating Saint', and others. | | | | embarked on a cross-continental speaking |
| Yogananda's seeking after various saints | | | | tour. Thousands came to his lectures. [2] |
| mostly ended when he met his guru, Swami | | | | The following year, he established in |
| Sri Yukteswar Giri, in 1910, at the age | | | | Los Angeles an international headquarters |
| of 17. He describes his first meeting | | | | for Self-Realization Fellowship, which |
| with Sri Yukteswar as a rekindling of a | | | | became the spiritual and administrative |
| relationship that had lasted for many | | | | heart of his growing work. Yogananda was |
| lifetimes: | | | | the first Hindu teacher of yoga to make |
| We entered a oneness of silence; words | | | | his permanent home in America, living |
| seemed the rankest superfluities. | | | | there from 1920-1952. |
| Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from | | | | Visit to India, 1935-6 |
| heart of master to disciple. With an | | | | In 1935, he returned to India to visit |
| antenna of irrefragable insight I sensed | | | | Sri Yukteswar and to help establish his |
| that my guru knew God, and would lead me | | | | Yogoda Satsanga work in India. During |
| to Him. The obscuration of this life | | | | this visit, as told in his autobiography, |
| disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal | | | | he met with Mahatma Gandhi, the Bengali |
| memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, | | | | saint Sri Anandamoyi Ma, Nobel winning |
| and future are its cycling scenes. This | | | | physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, |
| was not the first sun to find me at these | | | | and several disciples of Sri Yukteswar's |
| holy feet! | | | | Guru Lahiri Mahasaya.[2] While in India, |
| After passing his Intermediate | | | | Sri Yukteswar conferred upon him the |
| Examination in Arts from the Scottish | | | | title Paramahansa, which means "supreme |
| Church College, Calcutta, he did his | | | | swan."[2] In 1936, while visiting |
| graduation in religious studies from the | | | | Calcutta, Yogananda lost his Guru, Sri |
| Serampore College, a constituent college | | | | Yukteswar, who died in the town of Puri. |
| of the University of Calcutta. This | | | | Back in America |
| allowed him to spend time at Sri | | | | After returning to America, he continued |
| Yukteswar's ashram in Serampore. In 1915, | | | | to lecture, write, and establish |
| he took formal vows into the monastic | | | | churches in Southern California. On March |
| Swami Order and became 'Swami Yogananda | | | | 7, 1952, he died while giving a lecture |
| Giri'.[2] In 1917, Yogananda began his | | | | at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. |
