My tryst with the book, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, has been an enduring one!

It lay on my bedside table for a good four years and more, with the bookmark firmly tagged at 75 pages. I seldom glanced regretfully at the book as the pages l had already visited were way too heavy on my fleeting mind!

However, recently, l suddenly had this urge to delve further into the spiritual philosophy of the author, Paramahansa Yogananda, and wondered, perhaps the added realization and bent of mind of the last few years was necessary to grasp the message he so magically conveys in the book. As is said — “When the disciple is ready, the Guru appears”; so too perhaps, my internal readiness was a primary requisite for absorbing the subtle nuances of this intensive textual spiritual discourse.

Filled with interesting anecdotes (some of them appear as ‘illusions’ to the ordinary) that the Yogi personally experienced, and his understanding of the mysterious  ‘cosmic influences’ imparted to him by his Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the ‘Autobiography’ unwittingly takes the reader on a joyous spiritual and philosophical journey of the ‘unknown’ and ‘unseen’—even of what life after death may be!

This book is probably the most explicit description of the powers of Kriya Yoga, practiced in its purest disciplined form, and of the mystical lives led by the truest of advanced yogis, who master the art of reducing ‘karmic burden’ while traversing the path to ‘Inner Consciousness’! If you read the book with the mindset of a hardcore nonbeliever, then you would probably call it an overwhelming fantasy! But if you keep an open mind, as I did, then this is an uncanny invitation to explore the world of Kriya Yoga, and a soul-warming revelation for the spiritually inclined mind! It’s certainly a must-read for those who wish to rise above the mundane just to feel blissfully better.

P.S. This best-selling book, first published in 1946, has been translated to over 50 languages and is available in multiple editions!