Person · monk & teacher · India
Paramahansa Yogananda
The Bengali monk who came to Boston in 1920 as India's delegate to a congress of religious liberals, stayed, and built the Self-Realization Fellowship from a headquarters in Los Angeles — the first Indian religious organisation to take permanent institutional root in the United States.
- Date
- 1893–1952
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Not assessed
Worth knowing
Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946, has never been out of print and is the single most widely read Indian devotional book in English. He died in 1952 at a banquet for the Indian ambassador, mid-speech.
Connections (1)
- Monastic foundationSelf-Realization Fellowship
Yogananda came to Boston in 1920 as India's delegate to a congress of religious liberals and did not go home, building the Self-Realization Fellowship from a former hotel on Mount Washington in Los Angeles — the first Indian religious institution to take permanent root in the United States. Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946, has never gone out of print and did more than any other single book to make Indian devotional practice legible to Americans.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Paramahansa Yogananda”. Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946); Self-Realization Fellowship archives.
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