Spiritual books rarely provide a transformational approach to one’s spiritual path. “Autobiography of a Yogi” is the exception. An extraordinary book on spirituality that will provide any reader with inspiration and new insights they can incorporate into their own spiritual path.
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote “Autobiography of a Yogi” about his life and spiritual experiences. Yogananda was born in India in 1893 and lived an extraordinary life that culminated in founding the Self-Realization Fellowship and introducing Kriya Yoga to the West. Yogananda dropped the body in 1952 in Los Angeles, California.
Anyone who sets out to earnestly learn more about spirituality, beyond the religion they were brought up with, eventually hears about “Autobiography of a Yogi”. The experiences Yogananda relates from his own life provide westerners a glimpse into an eastern approach to one’s spiritual path.
Yogananda details in the book his, almost unbelievable, encounters with numerous yogis in a search for his true spiritual teacher. Upon finding his teacher Yogananda undergoes a period of intense spiritual training. After advancing to the highest spiritual levels, several famous Indian spiritual masters assign Yogananda the responsibility of teaching westerners the similarities between Indian and Christian spirituality.
Of the many great chapters in the book, my favorite is Chapter 43 “The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar”. In his presence Yogananda’s deceased teacher incarnates into physical form and explains how a soul progresses spiritually over a multitude of lifetimes. In this one chapter is the best explanation I’ve read concerning what happens when a person dies and the interrelationship between the three planes of existence: physical, energetic (heaven), and mental.
