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Biography of Paramhansa Yogananda

Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur, where he lived from 1893 to 1902.

From 1901 to 1904 (until the age of eleven) he lived in Lahore, where the Divine Mother lovingly answered his prayers to receive the two kites

From 1904 to 1906 the Yogananda family lived in Bareilly. At that time Yogananda lost his beloved mother, who died in Calcutta.

For a short time, from May to July 1906. Yogananda, then called Mukunda, lives with his family in Chittagong. At the age of thirteen he moved to Calcutta and made the acquaintance of numerous saints and yogis. At the age of seventeen, in 1910, he met his guru, Sri Yukteswar, who encouraged him to enroll in university

In 1916, under the name of Swami Yogananda, he visited Japan. In 1917 he started a school in Dihika, in Bengal, and in 1918 he moved it to Ranchi. In 0910 he left for America, where he remained for the rest of his life, successfully spreading the message of Kriya Yoga. For the first three years, from 1920 to 1923, he resided and taught permanently in Boston.

Since 1913 Yogananda has made numerous trips from one coast to another in the United States, giving lectures in the largest rooms of major American cities. Thousands of people listen to it in every city. In 1914 he visited Alaska, in 1929 Mexico. He writes election books for the remote study of his teachings. It also publishes a magazine, to which it initially gives the name of East-West. Among his famous students of that time are the symphonic conductor Leopold Stokowski, the horticulturist Luther Burbank, George Eastman (inventor of the Kodak camera), Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch (daughter of Mark Twain), the Italian soprano Amelita Galli-Curci , Vladimir Rosing (eminent tenor and director
of the American Opera Co.) and Luigi von Kunits (director of the New Symphony Orchestra of Toronto). 11 October 25, 1925 Yogananda establishes his headquarters in Mount Washing-ton, Los Angeles. From 1915 to 1933 he continues to lecture in front of thousands of people across America. His fame spreads.
On January 24, 1927, President Coolidge welcomed him to the White House.

In 1929 he is received by the President of Mexico, Portes Gil, and in 1949 he will meet Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during his visit to San Francisco. In 1934 Yogananda ended his "campaign" in America and retired mainly to Mount Washington.

In 1935 he returns to India. Along the way he stops in Europe, visiting England (where he gives speeches in London and visits Stonehenge), Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany (where he meets Teresa Neumann, the Switzerland, Italy (Venice, Assisi, Rome), Greece (the temples of Athens), Israe-le (Bethlehem and Jerusalem), Egypt (the ancient pyramids). In India he goes to Bombay, Wardha (where he visits Mahatma Gandhi, Calcutta, Serampore, Ranchi, Mysore (where he meets CV Raman, Nobel Prize in Physics), Banga-lore, Hyderabad, Madras, Arunachala (where he visits Ramana Maharishi), Kashmir. He gives many speeches.
In December 1935 Sri Yukteswar confers on him the highest spiritual title, Paramhansa. In 1936 Yogananda visits the Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, goes to Agra (where he visits the Taj Mahal), Brindaban (where he meets Swami Ke-shabananda and visits the ancient temples), Delhi, Meerut (once the residence of his brother Ananta), Bareilly (visiting a childhood friend), Gorakhpur (his birthplace) and Benares (where he visits the Vishvanath temple and Lahiri Mahasaya's home. At the beginning of March 1936, when he returned to Calcutta, a telegram draws to Puri: there Sri Yukteswar enters mahasamadhi on March 9. On June 19, in Bombay, Yogananda witnesses the resurrection of his guru.

In September 1936 he returned to England for a few weeks, giving speeches again. He arrives in New York in late October and returns to Mount Washington in the last months of 1936.
Yogananda receives as a gift from his most advanced disciple, Rajarshi Janakanan-da, a beautiful hermitage in Encinitas.

A period of intense writing begins for him.
The Golden Lotus Tempie of All Religions is inaugurated in Encinitas in 1938, which will sink into the ocean in 1942. In 1938 Yogananda inaugurates the Self-Realization Church of All Religions (the Church of realization of the Self of all religions) in Washington, DC. In 1939 the headquarters of the Yogoda Satsanga Society was founded in Dakshineswar, India. In 1942 Yogananda inaugurated the Self-Realization Church of All Religions in Holly-wood.
In the early 1940s Yogananda started a "world brotherhood colony" in Encinitas, inviting families to live there. In 1943 he inaugurated the Self-Realization Church of All Religions in San Diego. In 1946 he published his most famous work, Autobiography of a Pgi. In 1947 he inaugurated a Self-Realization Church of All Religions in Long Beach and another, in 1948, in Phoenix. In 1949 he received the property of Lake Shrine as a gift, which he inaugurated in August 1950. In 1951 he opened the India Center in Hollywood, with a restaurant and a library. In the years between 1950 and 1951 Yogananda spent a lot of time in his desert retreat at Twenty-Nine Palms, completing his writings, especially the comments on the Bhagavad Gita.

On March 7, 1951, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, during an event in honor of the Indian ambassador to the United States, Mr. Sen, Yogananda leaves the body. He knew in advance the day, the cause and circumstances of his death. His case is unique in American history: for three weeks, until the moment the coffin was closed, his body showed no sign of decomposition. The western world was stunned at this miraculous state of incorruptibility.