Paramahansa Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi traces Yogananda's path from a spiritually ardent youth in India to a world teacher of Kriya Yoga, weaving his meeting with Sri Yukteswar, portraits of saints such as Lahiri Mahasaya and Anandamayi Ma, and visionary episodes into a lucid, devotional narrative. Its prose, alternately anecdotal and analytical, balances humor with metaphysical exposition and seeks to reconcile yogic discipline with modern rationality.
Published in 1946, it stands in a transnational modernist milieu, introducing Hindu mysticism to Western readers without sacrificing traditional rigor. Yogananda (1893-1952), shaped by the devotional and reformist currents of the Bengal Renaissance and trained by Sri Yukteswar in the lineage of Lahiri Mahasaya, came to Boston in 1920 as India's delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals.
He soon founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and lectured across America to a technologically confident yet spiritually searching public. This encounter with Western modernity, joined to rigorous Kriya discipline and a comparative interest in science and scripture, impelled a memoir that would serve as both testimony and method. Recommended to seekers, scholars of religion, and historians of modern yoga, this classic offers an accessible doorway to yogic practice and an enduring map of cross-cultural spirituality. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted.
Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Author Biography · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.