(Larger Image)
|
Autobiography of a Yogi
by Paramahansa Yogananda
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship (1946-12-12)
ISBN: 0876120796
EAN: 9780876120798
Dewey Decimal #: 294.55
Binding/Media: Mass Market Paperback - 604 pages
SKU: P0069-114-J
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: 11th edition, 6th PB printing, 1974. Sound spine, light tanning, creasing at spine, some cover and edgewear. slight spine tilt, pen markings/underlinings on 3 pages it appears.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda tells the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounter with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West. The author clearly explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events commonly termed miracles. His absorbing life story becomes the background for a penetrating and unforgettable look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence. Selected as "One of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century," Autobiography of a Yogi has been translated into 20 languages, and is regarded worldwide as a classic of religious literature. Several million copies have been sold, and it continues to appear on best-seller lists after more than sixty consecutive years in print. Profoundly inspiring, it is at the same time vastly entertaining, warmly humorous and filled with extraordinary personages. Self-Realization Fellowship's editions, and none others, include extensive material added by the author after the first edition was published, including a final chapter on the closing years of his life.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Magic Bullet
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-06-28
"Autobiography of a Yogi" was the most compelling book I ever read, which came as a complete surprise. The guru-disciple system through which Yoganada emerged holds no allure for me. And I haven't the patience or interest in any discipline, devotion, or practice designed for spiritual attainment. I've taken part in such things on occasion. But only when I was with company who engaged in some chant, prayer, or meditation, and I feared declining to participate would alienate myself from the group. I've since learned that, for me, there's no more awkward feeling than an insincere approach to something that's sacred to others. If self-elation is the aim of ritual, there's nothing more futile than if it leads to contrition.
In any case, I agree with Alan Watts, who said there is no path by which enlightenment can be achieved. He argued that reaching for the state is blinding to the reality that it's already present, and that the same applies to striving for nirvana by means of spiritual exercise: "There can be no road or obstacle course to that which is," he said.
My acquaintance with the swami's book came in much the same manner as I found myself in circles feigning effort to commune with a higher power: peer pressure, and a lack of self-assertion that overrode any impulse to express my disinterest in what those around me held in high esteem. Everyone in my life seemed to own multiple copies of the book, and claimed to have read it again and again. At the behest of my employer, I agreed to give it a skim. I used to do a lot of things I didn't want to when I was younger to please others. So in my mind, reading Yogananda's autobiography wasn't going to be much different than another trip to the mall on a Saturday with a girlfriend who needed to shop for shoes all afternoon and, for whatever reason, assumed I should derive as much pleasure tagging along. The last thing I expected was to become enthralled, or enjoy the book more than any other.
But something like perfection - or I dare say, divinity - in Yogananda's soul came through his story, penetrating the fortress of my cynicism and affecting me deeply, despite that more than fifty years had passed since he'd written the book. The childlike innocence of his faith and enthusiasm with which he recounts his experiences were intoxicating. It mattered little whether I could identify with his traditions, beliefs, worldview, or mission. The love and joy that those things added to his being, and the ecstasy that filled him by following his path, flowed through me in his voice, which was the most eloquent and lucid writing I ever read.
I recommend "Autobiography of a Yogi" to anyone who might enjoy an exotic tale of extraordinary humanity and the personal journey of a saint, whose profound love of God and his fellow man imbued his life with miracles and visions, his heart with the most benevolent philosophy, and his mind with a sage-like power to communicate transcendent reality through prose that's so sublime, it will boggle your mind when you realize English wasn't his native language.
|
|
This is not Yoga!!!
Rating  (1)
Date: 2010-06-03
4 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is not Yoga!!
The first prerequisite for Yoga is to have Vidya, or an intellectual base arrived at by reasoning, though in the final culmination Vidya is left behind. Yoga is an intelligent search for the truth. It doesnt depend on fanciful fables and claims.
And Yogananda really does stretch our credulity!! It starts with him remembering himself as a fetus when he knew all languages and finally selected the one he was hearing as his mother tongue and his first memories right after he was born. The claims keep getting more and more astonishing, beginning with minor miracles like controlling his kite as a child, to fantastical claims like Yogis who never eat, become invisible, fly through the air and do just about anything that Superman does, and much more! There's a photograph of Yogananda standing alone with a caption, "Yogananda standing with his master, who did not care to be photographed, so he made himself invisible." It requires a very strong gullibility to accept this. If anyone wants to become invisible or fly, they should go, not to a Yoga teacher, but to David Copperfield.
I am amazed that people in the West still seem to like this book. Many reviewers write about how they have learned about a 'different culture' and a 'different way of thinking' from this book, as if in India we are quite used to seeing our Yogis flying through the air and so on.
I must make it clear that I am not belittling the book in entirety, it has a childlike purity which makes it a compelling read. Yogananda's transparent sincerity, ability to laugh at himself and his genuine love for god and his thirst for spirituality is all too apparent, and his account of his spiritual quest is often touching and revelatory. This is what gives the book its charm and power. Some of the passages deserve to be counted among the most illuminating accounts of mystical experience ever. But all too often, his eagerness to discover god and people on the spiritual path strays into descriptions of fantastical and unbelievable anecdotes.
It would be quite natural for anyone who first comes into contact with Yoga through this book to develop a strong cynicism about Hinduism and its practises, including Yoga. But this is not Yoga at all. To learn about Yoga, I would recommend reading Swami Vivekananda and Ramkrishna Paramahansa, these were great teachers who also achieved relevatory experiences through Yoga but certainly never made such incredible claims. Yoga is not all about magic and fable that this book makes it out to be.
I am sorry if this review offends anyone who has found this book inspiring. I can understand people being inspired by Yogananda's profound love of God which is so transparent in this book, and which did not fail to move me, but I would like to make my own stand for reason in following the path of Yoga.
..P.J.Mazumdar, author of The Circle of Fire: The Metaphysics of Yoga
|
|
Great book in great condition.
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-06-01
I appreciate being able to find this book in such good condition, used, via Amazon. The story is timeless, deeply spiritual, and inspirational. I read lots of books on religion and spirituality and don't know why I haven't read it already. The content is rich and well written. I can only digest a few pages at a time. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in how eastern religious and spiritual beliefs came to be in the US.
|
|
non functioning CD's
Rating (1)
Date: 2010-05-31
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Buyers beware. I ordered 2 copies of Autobiography of a Yogi and the CD's did NOT work.
AB
|
|
Great Book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-05-02
Is is fabulous book, extremely profound and very interesting reading. You know based on the readings that God does exist and we all can reach him!
|
|
|
|
|