Paramhansa Yogananda (sometimes spelled Paramahansa Yogananda), 1893 – 1952, was a great yoga master and the first from India to take up permanent residence in the West, in Los Angeles, in particular.
Yogananda arrived in America in 1920, and traveled throughout the United States on what he called his “spiritual campaigns” where hundreds of thousands filled the largest halls in major American cities to see him. Yogananda continued to lecture and write up to his passing in 1952.
Yogananda’s initial impact on the western culture was truly impressive. But his lasting spiritual legacy has been even greater. His Autobiography of a Yogi, first published in 1946, helped launch a spiritual revolution in the West. Translated into more than a dozen languages, it remains a best-selling spiritual classic to this day.
Yogananda’s message was nonsectarian and universal. Before embarking on his mission to the West, he received this admonition from his teacher, Swami Sri Yukteswar:
The West is high in material attainments, but lacking in spiritual understanding. It is God’s will that you play a role in teaching mankind the value of balancing the material with an inner, spiritual life.
