Finding God through Yoga: Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global Age

363 Pages·2019·6.37 MB·English

by  David J. Neumann

Finding God through Yoga

FINDING GOD THROUGH YOGA
Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global
Age
David J. Neumann
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
Chapel Hill
© 2019 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by Jamison Cockerham
Set in Arno, Kododa, and Scala Sans
by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration: Portrait of Paramahansa Yogananda ca. 1920 from Wikimedia Commons; the Encinitas
Hermitage of the Self-Realization Fellowship, Encinitas, Calif.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Neumann, David J., author.
Title: Finding God through yoga : Paramahansa Yogananda and modern American religion in a global age /
David J. Neumann.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018029691 | ISBN 9781469648620 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469648637 (pbk :
alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469648644 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Yogananda, Paramahansa, 1893–1952. | Yogis—United States— Biography. | Self-
Realization Fellowship—History. | Yoga. | Hinduism—United States—History. | United States—Religion
—History.
Classification: LCC BP605.S43 Y668 2018 | DDC 204/.36—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029691
To
CHRISTA
for everything,
as always
Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Paramahansa Yogananda, the Father of Yoga in the West
1 The Making of a Modern Religious Seeker: From Mukunda Lal Ghosh to
Swami Yogananda, 1893–1920
2 The Founding of a Home for Scientific Religion: Swami Yogananda and
Southern California’s Spiritual Frontier, 1920–1925
3 The Creation of a Yogi Guru Persona: Marketing Swami Yogananda and His
Yoga Instruction, 1925–1935
4 The Apotheosis of a Global Guru: Paramahansa Yogananda and His
Autobiography, 1933–1946
5 The Death of an Immortal Guru: Charisma, Succession, and Paramahansa
Yogananda’s Legacy, 1946–1952
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Figures
Yogananda commemorative stamp issued by the government of India, 2017
Yogoda Satsanga Ashram, Dakshineswar, Calcutta, India
Mukunda Lal Ghosh’s childhood home at 4 Garpar Road, Calcutta, India
Mukunda as a high school student
Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Calcutta, India
Swami Yukteswar, Yogananda’s guru
Swami Yogananda as a young man
Mount Washington Center, Self-Realization Fellowship International
Headquarters
Advertisement for a Yogananda talk in Los Angeles, 1925
Advertisement for Yogananda’s Yogoda Correspondence Course
James Lynn, Rajarsi Janakananda
Two significant SRF properties: the Encinitas Hermitage and the Lake Shrine
“Last Smile” photograph of Yogananda, taken March 7, 1952, just before his
mahasamādhi
The Biltmore Hotel banquet room where Yogananda entered mahasamādhi
Paramahansa Yogananda shrine, Encinitas Books & Gifts, Encinitas, California