A Yogi’s autobiography for the credulous

Paramahamsa Yogananda is a holy cow in the world of yoga and spirituality. Any one pointing fingers at him is ridiculed and considered a heathen in the path of yoga and spirituality. His book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ is considered to be a spiritual classic. I read this book in my teens and frankly I found that there is something fishy about this book. This book is also considered as an encyclopedia of Hinduism and Indian Culture by many. There was a movie theatre in Bangalore called ‘Plaza’ (It no longer exists now) whose owner was a disciple of Paramahamsa Yogananda. Before the start and during intermissions of the movies, the theatre would display advertisements on Yogananda’s book  ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’. This book came with an attractive package with the picture of Yogananda with flowing hair and looking effeminate and androgynous.  I brought and read this book after being exposed to these advertisements.

Yogananda’s book is considered as gospel truth by many people on the path of yoga. However if you really look into the book it is more like a fantasy book of children interspersed with teachings of Hindu Philosophy and Indian culture. Yogananda depicts outlandish miracles like yogis splitting themselves into two bodies, creating a palace out of thin air and raising an animal from the dead. There is also this guy Babaji who is an eternal youth and has an immortal body. Babaji is eternally frozen at the age of twenty five. There are references to so many of these incredible miracles which fall into the realm of fantasy. Yogananda went to the west to bridge the prominent religion of Christianity and Hinduism. In his narration and imagery he often uses christian fantasies. For example when his guru Yukteshwar dies, Yogananda has a vision of him resurrected just like Christ. Even the belief of the physically immortal Babaji is closely linked to the ever living christian image of Jesus. Yogananda also talks about science and talks about how matter and energy can be inter converted and we are also made to believe that yogis execute miracles by using these technologies gained through their yogic practices. I feel this book is a lot of bunkum and Yogananda doesn’t have basic understanding of the human situation which is so indicative of  spiritually evolved personages and he uses childish imagery to market and hook up the gullible masses to his system of practice. 

Yogananda was one of the first gurus to be successful in the west after Vivekananda. Initially he mimicked Vivekanada in his attire and talks. But unlike Vivekanada, Yogananda peddled in lot of fantasies and fictions. In his own life Yogananda was an obese and overweight person prone to fits of anger. But he built an aura and brand around himself which showed a peaceful and other worldly yogi. Yogananda suffered from several ailments and died at the age of 59 in 1952. He collapsed due to exhaustion after giving a lecture.

The photograph on the cover of his autobiography is not a photograph but a painting of Yogananda which shows him with ‘Feminine’ and ’spiritual features’. If you look at the photographs of yogananda they are not close to the portrait shown on the book cover and there has been a deliberate effort on the part of the painter to create a portrait of Yogananda to make him ‘look spiritual’. Incidentally the painter was the brother of Yogananda. Yogananda discovered very early on that image building and good branding are the most important for becoming a successful yogi. I have also met many people from the Self Realization foundation who put in a lot of effort to ‘look spiritual’.

Yogananda also claimed that he taught his brand of Kriya Yoga to Mahatma Gandhi and Gandhi was very much appreciative of his work. There is no reference of Gandhi speaking highly of yogis like Yogananda other than in the literature of SRF. Gandhi used to meet thousands of people and Yogananda was one of them. Many accounts of the Mahatma’s daily meetings have been recorded by his secretary Mahadev Desai and Yogananda does not feature in any of these memoirs. On many occasions Gandhi has ridiculed the ascetic and other worldly practices of yoga and meditation. He also did not have any great regard for yogis and sanyasis. Like a good marketing genius Yogananda used to ride on the popularity of several of the popular people he mentions in his book like Gandhi, Ramana Maharishi, Rabindranath Tagore and Anandamayee.  

There is also an accusation by another famous yogi Yogendra,  who founded the yoga institute in Santa Cruz, Mumbai,  about how Yogananda stole the limelight from him as they both had the same name and Yogendra was more popular during the time Yogananda started his holy business. Yogendra was a highly intelligent and rational yogi and had become quite popular during his tour to America in 1930’s. He was a sanyasi during those times and was called by the name of swami Yogananda. He later changed to his name Yogendra after he got married and became a householder. Yogendra accussed Yogananda of stealing his popularity initially and blamed him for teaching false yoga. Unlike Yogananda who peddled in fantasies, Yogendra was a practical yogi who for the first time set up an institute to scientifically study the effects of yoga postures and practices on the human body.

Many sincere seekers of truth and wisdom have been misguided by books like Yogananda’s Autobiography, which can be classified as spiritual fiction. The Theosophists indulged in this trickery through their fake stories of hidden Himalayan masters and Mahatmas. The english plumber turned writer Cyril Henry Hoskins, who called himself Lobsang Rampa wrote a whole series of books on the miraculous world of Tibetian lamas. After his true identity was exposed he claimed that he was a medium of the deceased lama and had an astral connection with him. Same is the case with Carlos Castenada and his fictitious guru Don Juan. In recent times we have another spiritual fiction writer Robert Svaboda who has written about the world of Aghoras and their practices as taught to him by his fictitious guru Vimalananda.

A famous writer once remarked that ‘all fiction may be autobiography, but all autobiography is certainly fiction’. I consider ’Autobiography of a yogi’ as a good reading and in the league of fantasy books written by authors such as Tolkien and Rowland. If you are really interested in genuine spiritual books you can do well to read Vivekanada, Anand Coomarswamy, Radhakrishnan, Ramana Maharishi, Krishnamurthi, Martin Buber and D.T.Suzuki. If we need to understand real Indian culture then we can do well by reading genuine books on its history and culture and not some fantasy books. The SRF  and many other related organizations claim that the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ is a text book in Indian philosophy and culture. This claim is nonsense and reduces genuine Indian history, culture and philosophy to a childish fantasy of a hypnotic yogi.