Review: Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found this book fascinating. Yognanda's way of writing is warm and easy to read, despite being written in 1946. The text much more accessible than I had imagined. The topic itself, and how you receive it is all down to what you choose to belief and understand from it.

As an agnostic I found it was able to teach me a little bit about religion that I would normally shun, especially bible related information. Yogananda actually explained some of the religious concepts in the Christian faith and the bible, explaining where they have been misinterpreted and the truth of them. He made them more digestible as he explained a lot of the science and backed it up with sources and evidence, even from that period of time. For me personally, a believer in the concept of us all being one energy and made of atoms that vibrate, and after having read and understood those concepts before reading this book, a lot of the 'miracles' made a lot of sense - and he explained them in the same terms that I already understood.

Having spent time meditating off and on, it wasn't an impossible concept, but I did wonder where the idea of Yoga exercises come from as that doesn't seem to be a part of the teaching as it is never mentioned in this book.

A few things that I still struggled with were:
1) the concept of God, a single being that created all that we live in, and the idolisation of that being; it was never explained fully, other than in 'we are Gods dream', which didn't really explain much.
2) how spending 16 hours a day or more in a trance-like state actually helps or serves anyone; I am not sure where the 'being of service' concept comes from; being off in another consciousness or plane of existence (a concept I could accept) means you are not living this life you have been assigned, and showing others how to do the same doesn't really help the world we are living in - though the world is dismissed as just being a delusional chaos that distracts us according to Yogananda - and in 2024 it definitely suits that description.
3) why do people that do this deserve idolisation from others and special respect from other world leaders? I can understand the fascination but not the kissing of the feet.

I also wondered, as it's mentioned many times in the many miracles described, that if these yogis/swamis/saints can all see the future or someone's personal life path, exact events and outcomes in the future like a psychic, and can choose to intervene or not, does that mean that nothing any human being does is actually choice or 'free will' but in fact every single thing is 'fated'? And how then does that work in the concept of breaking free of karma and working it out on a human level to enable you to reach the cosmic levels of consciousness to bring you close to 'God' the single creator?

So although I found this book fascinating, helping me understand many things and religious concepts, it hasn't changed my stance, though it was thought provoking and something I will ruminate on a lot in the years to come.

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