Autobiography of a Yogi Review – the book written by Paramahansa Yogananda
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yoganda is a book about the different experiences of a well known yogi in the East and West throughout his lifetime.
This book got into my hands thanks to one of my blog readers in India. When I was visiting Delhi the first time one reader contacted me expressing his wish to meet me. I agreed as that particular day I had some free time. I’m glad I met that person because we had an interesting conversation, I visited his beautiful home and met his wonderful wife.
At the end of our meeting he gave me the Autobiography of a Yogi book and insisted that I read it. I promised to do so and I finished reading the book in 2 weeks (my edition contains 500 pages).
Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, the author of this book, was the first Indian yogi to have come to America to spread the teachings of one particular yoga technique. He founded Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (Self Realization Fellowship).
In the book the yogi talks about his early life, the death of his mother, countless encounters with other spiritually advanced people and the miracles connected to them. He mentions the events that occurred in his life as a result of fully trusting God, the meeting of his own guru, his meditation experiences and his conversations with God.
In this review I will summarize the chapter called “Two Penniless Boys in Brindaban”. It’s about how Yogananda accepted the challenge given by his brother to prove that God can provide what the person needs if only one trusts God.
Two Penniless Boys in Brindaban
Yogananda’s (the book author’s) brother wasn’t a real believer in God. Seeing Yogananda’s search for spiritual advancement once he made a remark that Yogananda was wasting his life. Ananta, the yogi’s brother, believed that firstly the person should financially secure his life and then search for God.
One day, when Yogananda was visiting his brother, Ananta decided to challenge the validity of the yogi’s claims that God always provides for him and that he has no financial concerns. He made a plan to send Yogananda with Jitendra (the yogi’s friend, who would go as a witness) to a nearby town of Brindaban.
No money at all would be given to these two travelers and Ananta required them to come back to his town (Agra) before 12 o’clock the same night. The conditions required them not to beg, not to reveal this predicament to anyone and they could not come back without having a meal. Ananta said that if they would accomplish this challenge, he would be the most astonished man in town and would indeed believe in all yogi’s spiritual claims.
Without any hesitation the yogi accepted the challenge but Jitendra, the yogi’s friend, didn’t welcome the news as excitingly because his faith in God wasn’t strong.
Half an hour later both friends were in possession of two one way tickets to Brindaban.
Not even able to wait until the train arrives to the town, Jitendra angrily noted that he didn’t see any sign how God would supply them with a meal. The yogi told his friend to be more patient as God would surely provide something for them to eat.
Just before their stop two men entered their train compartment. One of the men enquired if the boys were heading to Brindaban. When receiving no reply the man continued:
“You are probably flying away from your families under the enchantment of Sri Krishna. I am a devotee myself. I will make it my duty to see that you receive food and shelter.”
The boys refused the man’s help. When the train halted and the boys got off the train, they noticed that those two men got off the train too and caught a horse cab. The men invited the boys to share the horse cab with them.
They took the boys to a beautiful ashram. The boys soon found out that this ashram was about to be visited by a high status people who at the last minute couldn’t come. The food was ready for the royal patrons and the men were happy that the food won’t be wasted since the two boys came as guests.
The men left the boys with the ashram hostess and went away. The hostess gave them the best food they have ever tasted. Once their stomachs were filled they left the ashram.
The heat outside was unbearable so the boys hid under a tree of the ashram. As soon as Jitendra experienced the heat his nagging started again:
“A fine mess you have got me into! Our meal was only accidental! How on earth are you going to take me back to Ananta’s place?”
“You forget God quickly, now that your stomach is filled;” – answered the yogi – “The same Lord who fed us will return us to Agra”.
Soon after this conversation a young man approached the tree and offered to be the boys’ host and guide. When the boys refused his help the young man addressed the yogi:
“You are surely not banishing me?”
It turned out that this young man saw the yogi in his visions whilst meditating and understood that this yogi was his guru. Once Yogananda found this out, he agreed to be guided by this young man.
This young man, Pratap, invited them to his home but due to time constraints the boys couldn’t visit it. Pratap showed them a few temples of the town and before the darkness came he bought two tickets for the boys to get back to Agra. He also gave them some money and sweets.
The yogi thought to himself: “Scoffed at by Ananta, has God’s bounty not far exceeded necessity?”
Jitendra was disappointed in himself. During the train journey back home he promised that he would never doubt God again and acknowledged that all this time his trust in God was very shallow.
When they came back to yogi’s brother’s house, Ananta indeed met them with pure astonishment. He now completely understood Yogananda’s indifference to the financial security.
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This is only one of many interesting and enlightening stories found in the Autobiography of a Yogi book. Other great chapters are “The Science of Kriya Yoga” (a description of a particular yoga technique Yogananda taught others and was initiated by his guru), “The Law of Miracles” (the so seeming miracles that yogis cause and why they are completely natural and at the disposal of those trusting in God) and “The Tiger Swami” (about a saint who could easily fight tigers because he conquered the fear of this animal and kept his body strong and healthy).
This book will be truly useful for those who find it hard to fully trust God and for the doubters of yoga benefits. On the negative side, this book may lead some people to believing that their spiritual progress has to be marked by external events (e.g. gurus approaching them) and thus this may lead to disappointment if such events don’t occur.
However overall I’m really glad I read this book because it deepened my understanding about the abilities one can obtain by deepening their spirituality. I’m also grateful to the author for an enlightening chapter about how it’s possible to transcend universal laws once the person understands the unity of everything in this world.
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My name is Simona Rich and I help people improve themselves through the articles and products of this website. Although I have found my life's purpose and now I spend my time traveling throughout India and sharing my knowledge, my life used to be completely different.