[review] Autobiography of a Yogi, a book by Paramahansa Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi (Amazon link) is a book written by Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian spiritual master, who recounts his own life journey and his path toward spiritual enlightenment. Written over more than 10 years and first published in 1946, the book quickly became a bestseller and inspired many people around the world.

I first heard about this book in the biography of Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson : “[Steve Jobs] literally read it as a teenager, then reread it in India and reread it once a year ever since.” Those who attended Steve Jobs’ funeral were given a copy of this book. That piqued my curiosity: why was Steve Jobs so drawn to this book? Why did he remain a jerk even after repeatedly reading such a spiritual book?

I started reading it one day in May (2023), and it took me very little time to read its 700 pages because the book was so captivating.

In this book, Paramahansa Yogananda shares his personal story, from his childhood in India to his spiritual quest, through his encounters with numerous saints and sages. He describes his search for truth and self-realization through yogic and meditative practices, as well as his mystical experiences and spiritual achievements.

The book also recounts the lives of other Kriya Yoga spiritual masters such as Sri Yukteswar Giri (his master), Lahiri Mahasaya (his master’s master), and Mahavatar Babaji (his master’s master’s master). Yogananda also tells of paranormal phenomena he witnessed: a man able to produce any scent, another who could appear in two places at once, a yogi who didn’t need to eat to live, his master able to read thoughts, etc.

These mystical phenomena are numerous and are recounted from the very beginning of the book, which may prevent very scientific readers from continuing. However, these numerous phenomena serve only to affirm that we are more than this material body.
The goal is not to have magical powers (who cares if we can manifest anything in this physical world), these people with magical powers are there to tell us, “Look! You don’t know everything. Reality Reality is still unknown to you.”

The book was reread and revised by one of Yogananda’s disciples, Tara Mata, a very intelligent woman, who gave the book (1) its very pleasant non-linear structure (2) mystical experiences that build to a crescendo, leading readers to first accept a little magic, then the divine nature of Babaji, until the end of the book where the reappearance of Sri Yukteswar Giri, after his death, arrives as an obvious, expected event. The description given by Sri Yukteswar Giri of other astral & intermediate worlds is, in my opinion, the most important information in this book.

Moreover, the book can be very funny. The funniest chapter is the one about the theft of a cauliflower (chapter 15). Hilarious!

There are bits of information here and there that will make great anecdotes to tell. You also find a few books to read afterward:

• Having studied astrology and especially Indian astrology for several years, I naturally really enjoyed chapter 16 on astrology, which I read and reread who knows how many times. The birth chart has “the purpose of awakening in man the will to escape the prison of the universe. What he has done, he can undo.”” The gemstones to change according to the Dasha would allow to “minimize or cancel the negative effects” of karma. Sri Yukteswar Giri (his master) seems knowledgeable about astrology/astronomy, as well as religious texts. I read his (only) book The Holy Science (Amazon link) and I was not disappointed. I admit that after reading the book, I had more admiration for Sri Yukteswar Giri than for Yogananda. I may have been influenced by the love Yogananda had for him.
• Yogananda was a specialist of the Bhagavad Gita, even writing two volumes on this mystical text from the Mahabharata epic (which all Indians know). This text seems to have had a great influence on him, as he quoted it all the time.
• The Sanskrit root of “karma” is KRI: to do, to act and react. Sanskrit is considered the most refined alphabet because each letter has its own pronunciation. I quote: “The Sanskrit alphabet, of ideal structure, comprises fifty letters, each with a determined and invariable pronunciation”. After reading several books on the subject, I am very tempted to learn Sanskrit, but I think I need to be realistic. I’ll have to settle for a few well-known mantras.
• Why must we have impeccable speech? I quote: “A mantra or words of sacred songs were inscribed on the talisman. Nowhere else but in India has the power of sound and vach, the human voice, been the subject of such in-depth research. The vibration of Aum that resonates throughout the universe (the ‘Word’ or the ‘sound of many waters’ of the Bible) has three manifestations or gunas: creation, preservation, destruction (Taittiriya Upanishad I: 8). Whenever a human being utters a word, he activates one of the three aspects of Aum. This is the reason why the Scriptures expressly ask man to speak the truth.”” Kabbalists and Tibetans have very well understood the power of letters.
• Explanation of Genesis: “Genesis is deeply symbolic and cannot be understood through a literal interpretation,” he explained. Its “tree of life” is the human body. The cerebrospinal system indeed resembles an upside-down tree; the hair corresponds to the roots, while the afferent and efferent nerves constitute the branches. The tree of the nervous system is rich in sensations, or delicious fruits, those of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, which man may legitimately enjoy; but the experience of sex, or the “apple” in the midst of this garden that is the human body, is forbidden to him. The “serpent” represents the energy of the cerebrospinal system, coiled upon itself and stimulating the sex nerves. “Adam” represents reason, and “Eve,” feeling. When the emotion, or Eve-consciousness, of a human being is dominated by the sexual impulse, his reason, or Adam, also succumbs.” […] “The knowledge of “good and evil” promised to Eve by the “serpent” refers to the experiences of duality and opposition imposed on mortal beings by maya. By falling into illusion through the misuse of his feelings and reason, or Eve- and Adam-consciousness, man lost his right of entry into the heavenly garden where he could be self-sufficient. The personal responsibility of every human being is to allow his “parents,” or his dual nature, to return to unified harmony, or Eden.” […] “Theologians have misinterpreted the words of Christ, the Master said, as, for example, in the passage: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6.) By these words, Jesus did not affirm that he was the only Son of God, but that no man attains the ineffable Absolute, the transcendent Father, beyond creation, unless he has previously manifested the “Son” or Christ Consciousness acting within creation. Jesus, who had attained complete unity with Christ Consciousness, identified himself totally with it, for his own ego had been dissolved long ago.”
• The Indian caste system is briefly explained in the book. I quote:
  • “The caste system, defined by the great lawgiver Manu, was admirable. He clearly understood that the natural evolution of men divides them into four main groups: those who serve society by their physical labor (Sudras); those who serve society by their mental faculties and talents—farmers, merchants, and businessmen in general (Vaishyas); the administrators, rulers, those who ensure the protection of the country, that is, the executives and warriors (Kshatriyas); and those of contemplative nature, spiritually inspired and inspiring (Brahmins). “Neither birth, nor sacraments, nor learning, nor ancestry can decide whether a person is twice-born (that is, a Brahmin), declares the Mahabharata, only character and conduct can decide.””
  • “Originally, membership in one of the four castes did not depend on a man’s birth, but on his innate abilities which were revealed in the purpose he proposed to attain in life,” writes Tara Mata in the January 1935 issue of East-West magazine. This purpose could be: (1) kama, desire, activity where the senses predominate (Sudra stage); (2) artha, gain, satisfaction, but also control of desires (Vaishya stage); (3) dharma, self-discipline, a life of responsibilities and right actions (Kshatriya stage); (4) moksha, liberation, spiritual life, religious teaching (Brahmin stage). These four castes serve humanity through: (1) the physical body, (2) the intellect, (3) the will, (4) the Spirit. These four stages also correspond to the eternal gunas or natural qualities: tamas, rajas, and sattva, that is: inertia, activity, expansion or mass, energy, intelligence. Each of the four natural castes carries the specific characteristics of a guna: (1) tamas (ignorance), (2) tamas-rajas (mixture of ignorance and activity), (3) rajas-sattva (mixture of right actions and knowledge), (4) sattva (knowledge). Thus nature has assigned to each man the caste that corresponds to him according to the guna or the mixture of two gunas that predominates in him. Naturally, every human being possesses within him the three gunas in varying proportions. A guru can determine a person’s caste or degree of evolution.”
• How to travel in the Indian jungle without being eaten by tigers? I quote: “Francis Birtles, an Australian explorer, recounted finding the Indian jungle “diverse, beautiful, and safe.” In fact, he owed his safety to flypaper! “Every night, I spread a large number of sheets around my campsite and was never disturbed,” he explained. “The reason is psychological:” The tiger is an animal full of dignity. It prowls around the camp and challenges man until it gets its paws entangled in the sticky paper; then it slinks away. No self-respecting tiger would dare face a human being after getting stuck in flypaper!”

It’s no wonder that with such accessible, engaging style and such forward-thinking information for its time, the book had a significant influence on Western spirituality and inspired many readers to explore yoga, meditation, and the spiritual quest.

What I really like about the example of Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar Giri is that you can be completely spiritual while still having a worldly, down-to-earth life (a job, a family). Sri Yukteswar Giri didn’t want to depend solely on his disciples’ generosity, so he was financially independent, and his ashram truly belonged to him. There’s a sentence in the book that I’ll paraphrase, which says that if God managed to make man such a perfect being, He will also know how to give him the riches and comfort he needs. In short, abundance is a given for spiritually advanced beings. Gone are the days when people had to choose between family/abundance/material comfort and spirituality.

If you’re interested in the ideas behind yoga and Indian spiritual beliefs, this book is a must-read.

The only criticism you could level at the book is the omnipresence of Kriya Yoga. That’s only natural, because Yogananda was born with the mission of introducing Kriya Yoga to the West, and it took three generations of gurus to carry it out. This form of yoga is presented as the “fast and direct path to God” through which “man can accelerate his evolution”.A few chapters later, this information seems to be downplayed by the author’s master, Sri Yukteswar Giri, as he reappears (after death) saying that those who have reached the stage of sabikalpa will immediately have access to a higher astral world. But it’s still an intermediate world, not God. So after death, from what I’ve understood, another maya/samskara awaits us, whether we practice Kriya Yoga or not, and not yet God/Total Freedom. Indeed, there seem to be 3 types of worlds before Total Freedom: the physical world as we know it, an astral world we mistake for “heaven,” and yet another causal world before attaining Total Freedom.

The precise techniques of Kriya Yoga are not discussed in this book because each practitioner must be initiated by a guru,so that one can always trace back the practitioner’s “lineage,” and to benefit from all the necessary protections. According to the book, it’s a special breathing method “by which the human blood is cleared of carbon dioxide, then recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen transmute into a life current that regenerates the brain and spinal centers. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi has the power to diminish or prevent tissue decay. The advanced yogi can transmute his cells into pure energy.”.

Some ideas expressed in this book echo those in other books, notably:

• Con người và 7 cõi giới by author Dang Duc Truyen, a Vietnamese book I’ve mentioned before, which also talks about intermediate astral worlds and man as a micro-universe.
• The Holy Science (Amazon link) by Sri Yukteswar Giri (Yogananda’s master). If the book’s goal is to demonstrate that the Vedas and the Bible talk about the same thing, just using different words and analogies, there’s a gem right at the start of the book. He shows that contrary to belief, we are not in the middle of a cycle of decline (Kali Yuga), but we have already left that period and have long since (since 1899) begun a new cycle favorable to science and spirituality (Dwapara Yuga) that will last 2000 years. Note: no, I’m not talking about the Age of Aquarius; the Age of Aquarius is also based on a wrong astrological and astronomical calculation.
• The Secret Teachings of the Tibetan Buddhists (Amazon linkand Transcendental Knowledge (Amazon link) by Alexandra David-Néel: which explains that the world we observe is perceived only through our 5 senses. It is not absolute reality.
  • “All our conceptions, ideas, beliefs […] are products of our vain imaginations, without reality from the point of view of an absolute Reality, which is, moreover, inconceivable. They are samskaras, those mental confections […] which it is difficult for man to stop producing in order to let his mind remain at rest (nirvana).” Since these are samskaras, mental confections, one can, as in Autobiography of a Yogi, make anything appear—a meal, a castle, a scent—when one is an advanced yogi.
  • “The essence of space, its own nature, space in itself are beyond all expression, all imagination. Likewise is the original mind, empty of own essence, of own qualities: ungraspable.” It’s impossible to describe the Absolute because there are no words or logical concepts to describe it. When you truly access the Absolute (and no longer have access to its hologram), you cannot describe it because you no longer see its hologram.
• Science is beginning to grasp all this information, particularly with the hypothesis that the universe might be holographic,whose mathematics can prove its coherence. This CIA document made public in 2003 about the Gateway Experience can very well explain, using quantum physics, biomedical notions, etc., the mystical phenomena observed in “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
• Autobiography of a Spiritual Genius by Gopi Krishna, which warns of the negative effects of a Kundalini rise when one is not yet ready.

However, before starting any spiritual practice, it’s important to take the time to research and seek protection, as noted in the book “The average human body is like a fifty-watt light bulb that cannot handle the billion-watt surge caused by excessive Kriya practice.” Once, I received a very strong energy like that, unexpectedly, and it completely threw me off and left me disoriented for days. So, you can’t overdo it too quickly. Any training takes time and protection. From what I’ve gathered, Kriya Yoga requires a year of physical and mental preparation before accessing the actual Kriya Yoga method.