Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences

Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences
Sri Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta | 2006-06-05 00:00:00 | iUniverse, Inc. | 148 | Religious
"The writer of this book gathered most of the material for this book directly from his personal talks with Swami Yoganandaji himself, as well as from personal talks with Yoganandaji's childhood companion Satyanandaji and Swamiji's relatives, friends and students. But most importantly, this writer was made aware of many hitherto unknown things via three particularly essential ways. First: this writer was blessed with Yoganandaji's affection and trust. Second: this writer was directly initiated by Swamiji's guru Sriyukteshvarji and he was regularly in Sriyukteshvarji's physical company. During this time, this writer was privileged to hear his Gurudev speak descriptively about Yoganandaji carrying out his duties when he was still living in India, as well as Sriyukteshvarji's own feelings at the time and the Divine Grace around such activities. And third: this writer was the exceptional recipient of Swami Satyanandaji's great affection and trust. At an incalculably precious moment in a time when the secret methods of Kriya Yoga sadhana were being spread in India and subsequently in the world, the goddess of fate placed upon this writer this undertaking."-From the Dedication
Reviews
I was surprised how much I liked this. Yes, it shows some of Yogananda's short comings but it also shows his greatness. I thought the person who wrote this thought Yogananda was a very great man. He had his faults but all in all I was very impressed with Yogananda as presented in this book.



This is the grown-up version of Yogananda's story. He was human but a really great human.



This is highly recommended. Also, my thanks to the people who made this book possible. It's really, really good.
Reviews
The original Autobiography of a Yogi is uniformly positive and inspiring, with institutions and initiatives simply popping into being.



In this book, written by a close associate and contemporary in India, more insight is given into what it took (warts and all) to make Yogananada's early projects happen on a human level, with the teams of characters assisting, particularly Swamis Dhirananda and Satyananda.



It also sets the context of a Calcutta profoundly influenced by the Babaji line of gurus as well as the Ramakrishna/Vivekananda line.



I do not believe this book diminishes Yoganandaji, quite the opposite it shows his ultimate success with the challenges of team and project building on a human level, as well as the divine level, already so beautifully encapsulated in the Autobiography itself.
Reviews
First of all, I must warn future readers who revere Yogananda and consider him as their guru, would find this book quite difficult to read. The author, who is a disciple of Sri Yukteshvar, presents a very impartial and honest account of Paramhansa Yogananda. This account also includes unflattering behavior of the great guru while he visited India in 1935.



Before I proceed further, one should realize that the author has great reverence for Yogananda and gives him credit where credit is due. However, the author also revels to the reader that Sri Yukteshvar was not always pleased by Yogananda's behavior when he returned to India. Of course, this new information was not available to the public in the "Autobiography of a Yogi" written by Yogananda himself.



This is an important revelation as well. This shows that if a person is Self-Realized and has attained a high spiritual understanding, he/she will still be prone to errors of judgment, behavior and understanding.



In conclusion, the reason why I gave this book a 5 star rating is because of the new and not always positive information about Yogananda. This shows that Yogananda is "human" after all. I would not recommend this book to most SRF members who view Yogananda as their guru as the information would be pretty hard to digest. However, if a person who admires Yogananda and reads this book with a deep sense of understanding and still revers Yogananda, then this book is for them.
Reviews
FOR ANYONE WHO READ YOGANANDA'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHER WRITINGS THIS BOOK GIVES A LOT OF INSIGHT INTO HIS EARLY LIFE IN INDIA AND WHAT HE EXPERIENCED WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO AMERICA. ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK IS BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO KNEW YOGANANDA IN PERSON AND SOME OF THE INFORMATION CONVEYED FALLS OUTSIDE THE "PARTY LINE" PROMULGATED BY SELF REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP; I.E. IT SHOWS THAT YOGANANDA HAD A HUMAN SIDE WITH MANY PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS TO RESOLVE AND HOW HE HELPED AND WAS HELPED BY OTHER PEOPLE.

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