Paramahansa Yogananda ( Beng. পরমহংস যোগানন্দ; January 5, 1893 , Gorakhpur , India - March 7, 1952 , Los Angeles , USA ) - an Indian yogi who played a significant role in the spread of ancient spiritual practice in the West - Kriya Yoga . In his famous book, The Autobiography of Yoga , Yogananda, using his own example and the example of his guru , Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri , describes the ideal life of a yoga man who devoted himself to serving God and humanity.
Paramahansa Yogananda | |
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परमहंस योगानं | |
Photograph of Yogananda autographed | |
Birth name | Mukunda Lal Ghosh |
Date of Birth | January 5, 1893 |
Place of Birth | Gorakhpur , Uttar Pradesh , India |
Date of death | March 7, 1952 (59 years old) |
Place of death | Los Angeles , California , USA |
A country | |
Occupation | Indian yogi and guru |
Autograph | |
Yogananda founded two non-profit societies that unite all religions: the Self-Realization Fellowship (the Russian Federation of Self-Realization ) with international headquarters in the United States and the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) with central management in India . In March 2017, in honor of the YSS century, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a commemorative stamp depicting Yogananda, noting, among other things, the monk's merit in spreading the spiritual ideas of India abroad [1] [2] .
Famous people inspired by Yogananda's ideas included George Beatles guitarist George Harrison [3] [4] [5] , famous American breeder Luther Burbank (a separate chapter is devoted to his autobiography yoga), opera singer Amelita Galli-Curci [6] and also Apple founder Steve Jobs . Jobs’s biography , Walter Isaacson , claims that “The Autobiography of Yoga” was the only book on Steve’s iPad : “... More revealing was that he downloaded only one book, The Autobiography of Yoga, about meditation and spiritual beginnings, which he first read as a teenager, then again in India and since then I reread every year ” [7] . In addition, a close friend of the entrepreneur, billionaire Mark Benioff , said that before his death, Jobs bequeathed to distribute boxes with “Autobiography of Yoga” at the exit from the memorial service [8] [9] .
Childhood and family
Paramahansa Yogananda was born on January 5, 1893 in the Indian city of Gorakhpur, in the family of the Vice-President of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Bhagabati Charana Ghosh and housewife Gyana Prabhi Ghosh. Both parents belonged to the Kshatriya caste and were disciples of Saint Lahiri Mahasayi . In addition to Yogananda, there were seven other children in the family who were brought up in conditions of strict discipline. The father of the family, despite his high position, was modest and was not interested in worldly entertainment, preferring to seek wisdom in the Bhagavad Gita . Yogananda wrote about his father in his "Autobiography of Yoga":
Aside from all luxury, he wore the same pair of old shoes until they became useless ... My father never tried to increase his authority with money. There was a case when, having organized the city bank of Calcutta, he refused the profit due to him in the form of a certain share of shares. He simply wanted to do something useful for the society in his free time [10] .
Gyana Prabha Ghosh often referred to traditions from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana when it was necessary to restore discipline in the house. After her sudden death (she died when Yogananda was eleven years old), the father took over all the duties of the house, refusing the services of a servant. A year after the mother’s death, Yogananda’s brother, Ananta Lal Ghosh, decided to show a note that she left before she left. From it, Yogananda learned that when he was very young, Lahiri Mahasaya himself put him on his lap, saying: “Little mother, your son will be a yogi. Like a spiritual locomotive, he will transport many souls to the kingdom of God ” [11] .
Life in an ashram
After the death of mother Yogananda, who had experienced serious religious zeal before, decided to devote his life entirely to the search for God. After a long search for a proper spiritual mentor, in 1910 he met his future guru, Sri Yukteswar, at the Bazaar in Benares . Yogananda spent the next ten years at his ashram. Sri Yukteswar not only taught him all the subtleties of Kriya Yoga, but also explained the essence of the Christian teaching, since he believed that there was a great connection between the Hindu and Christian scriptures. This is evidenced by the fact that as far back as 1894, long before the meeting with Yogananda, Sri Yukteshwar wrote the book “Holy Science” , which explains the community of religions.
In the ashram Yogananda first gained the experience of "cosmic consciousness", which, he claims, brought him a previously unfamiliar feeling of supreme bliss, and also for a short time granted him spherical vision. He later recalled: “Back in the back of my head, I could see men walking at the far end of Paradise Gat Alley, and also a lazily approaching white cow. Then she disappeared behind the ashram brick fence, but I still saw her clearly ... An ocean of joy splashed around the calm, endless shores of my soul. I realized that God's Spirit is inexhaustible Bliss ” [10] .
In parallel with his duties at the ashram, Sri Yogananda continued to study at the branch of Calcutta University , which later, in 1915, graduated with satisfactory grades because he did not want to devote much time to study, preferring to serve God and the guru. However, Sri Yukteswar did not approve of this attitude of his student, saying that in the West, where he was destined to go, the bachelor of humanities would be taken more seriously than just a monk of the Order of Swami.
Spreading Kriya Yoga in the West
According to Sri Yukteshvara, Mahavatar Babaji himself, a Himalayan yogi who gave the world Kriya Yoga, instructed Yogananda to go to the West to tell Western people about the possibility of combining righteous activities with deep meditation that brings salvation. Babaji reported this to Sri Yukteshvara at the Kumbh Mela religious festival in Allahabad in January 1894, when they talked about whether Indian yoga teachings could be made useful to the West [12] . Later, Babaji confirmed his words in a personal meeting with Yogananda himself, which is described in his autobiography.
When Swami Yogananda spiritually matured to spread Kriya Yoga science in the West, he accepted an invitation to the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston in 1920. There he read his famous lecture “Religion as a science”, which later appeared as a separate book. The lecture was such a success that Yogananda decided to stay in Boston for three years in order to continue lecturing and initiate everyone in Kriya Yoga. In 1920, he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship organization (a branch of the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India created in India in 1917) to spread Kriya Yoga around the world at special events (so-called initiations) and in the form of printed lessons. The organization operates to this day, and at the head of the SRF, despite its venerable age, still stands one of his closest students, Sri Mrinalini Mata [13] .
In 1924, began his great transcontinental lecture tour of the United States. In January 1925, in a crowded to capacity hall of the Philharmonic in Los Angeles, designed for 3,000 seats, Yogananda gave one of his biggest lectures. His fame spread so quickly that in 1927 he met with US President Calvin Coolidge in the White House [14] . The Washington Herald newspaper of January 25, 1927 wrote: “Mr. Coolidge welcomed Swami Yogananda with sincere joy and told him that he had read a lot about him. For the first time in the history of India, Swami was officially adopted by the President of the United States. " [10]
During his lifetime, Paramahansa Yogananda, who later became known as the father of yoga in the West, dedicated a hundred thousand people to Kriya Yoga [15] , and he predicted that after his departure, Kriya science would spread to all continents. Now his organization has Self-Realization Fellowship with more than 500 temples and meditation circles around the world, and his lessons, which teach ancient techniques of concentration and meditation, are spread in seven languages [16] [17] .
Death
Paramahansa Yogananda died in Los Angeles on March 7, 1952, after ending his speech at a banquet in honor of Indian ambassador Binei R. Sen. It is stated [18] [19] that he accomplished mahasamadhi , that is, he consciously left his body, as was done earlier [10] by his guru Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri and paramguru Lahiri Mahasaya . Previously, he had repeatedly predicted that he would die “ standing on his feet, speaking of God and India ” [20] . Yogananda is buried in the “Star Cemetery” Forest-Lon . The head of the morgue of this memorial park, Harry T. Rove, wrote in a notarized note that even three weeks after the death of Yogananda, there were no signs of corruption on his body, which in itself is a unique phenomenon [10] .
Notes
- ↑ PM Narendra Modi releases commemorative stamp on Yogoda Satsanga Society (not available link) . The Economic Times (March 7, 2017). Archived March 12, 2017.
- ↑ Surabhi Shaurya. PM Narendra Modi at Yogoda Satsanga Society of India: It is unfortunate that people link "adhyatma" with religion . India (March 7, 2017).
- ↑ Joshua M. Greene. The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison. - Wiley, 2007. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-0470127803 .
- ↑ TERESA WATANABE. Has Yoga Stretched Too Far? Los Angeles Times (August 23, 2000).
- ↑ Joshua M. Greene. George Harrison's Spiritual Life // Hinduism Today . - 2006. - March.
- Ound g g Ast Ast Charles Charles Charles ound ound ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g - New York: Doubleday, Doran, & Company, 1929.
- ↑ Walter Isaacson. Steve Jobs. - Astrel, 2011. - 704 p. - ISBN 978-5-271-39378-5 .
- ↑ Alyson Shontell. Self Realization . Business Insider (September 11, 2013).
- ↑ Laurie Segall. Steve Jobs' last gift . CNN Tech (September 10, 2013).
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Paramahansa Yogananda. "Autobiography of yoga." - Self-Realization Fellowship, 2010. - 624 p. - ISBN 978-0876120996 .
- ↑ Sananda Lal Ghosh. Mejda: The Family and the Early Life of Paramahansa Yogananda. - p. 51. - 328 p. - ISBN 978-0876122655 .
- ↑ Sri Sri Yukteswar Giri. The Holy Science. - ISBN 978-81-89535-19-3 .
- ↑ Los Angeles Times. Self-Realization Fellowship elects Sri Mrinalini Mata as new leader .
- ↑ John Newport. Biblical Worldview: Conflict and Dialogue. - Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997. - p. 67. - 630 p. - ISBN 978-0802844309 .
- ↑ A Pioneer of Yoga in the West .
- ↑ Locations .
- ↑ SRF Catalog .
- ↑ Sri Durga Mata. Trilogy of Divine Love. - Joan Wight Publications, 1993. - p. 118. - 210 p. - ISBN 978-0963583802 .
- ↑ Final Years and Mahasamadhi .
- ↑ Paramahansa Yogananda. Men's Eternal Quest. - Self-Realization Fellowship, 2012. - ISBN 978-0-87612-233-4 .
Literature
- Bowden, Henry Warner. Dictionary of American Religious Biography. - Greenwood Press , 1993. - ISBN 0-313-27825-3 .
- J. Gordon Melton , Martin Baumann. Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. - ABC-CLIO , 2010.
- Miller, Timothy. America's Alternative Religions. - Borrego Publications; 1st edition (1991), 1995. - ISBN 0-7914-2397-2 .