5th of January marks the 133rd birth anniversary of Sri Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji
AVS
Today, 5th of January marks the 133rd birth anniversary of Sri Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji.
Sri Vivekananda Swami ji prepared the ground in Western countries where the seeds of spirituality could be planted by his strong promotion of Sanatana Dharma. It was Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji who mainly carried out the mission of sowing those spiritual seeds!!.
Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji was great Rishi and Mahayogi who guided countless truth seekers, including Westerners, through his timeless spiritual work Autobiography of a Yogi, revealing the core essence of Kriya Yoga.
Yogananda ji was born on 5th of January in the year 1893 at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, in a Bengali Kshatriya family. His childhood name was Mukundalal Ghosh. His father was Bhagavaticharan Ghosh and his mother was Jnanaprabhadevi. Sri Mukundalal ji became the disciple of the great Indian Yogi Sri Yukteshwar Giri Maharaj. After receiving Yoga diksha from him, he served Ishwara Guru and Dharma with the name Paramahamsa Yogananda and gained international fame.
His Sadguru Sri Yukteshwar ji had foretold that Yogananda ji’s divine mission was to spread the ancient Bharatiya ‘Dhyanayogamarga’ of Kriya Yoga to the entire world.
Accepting the invitation to serve as a representative of the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, Yogananda ji traveled to America in the year nineteen twenty. He received many opportunities to deliver spiritual speeches and discourses that attracted thousands of people. He gained many disciples and guided lakhs of Americans towards the path of Sanatana Dharma.
To spread the ideals of the Mahaguru parampara and his own vision, Yogananda ji founded the ‘Yogada Satsanga Society of India’ in the year 1917 in India and ‘Self Realization Fellowship’ in the year 1920 in America. Through these spiritual movements, by conducting lecture tours in Bharat Europe and America, by establishing true meditation centers, and by writing and publishing spiritual articles, he introduced the philosophy of Yoga and the method of meditation to common people.
Though he authored many spiritual works, his most important book is his own life story. In it, he naturally included the vision and lives of his Guru parampara including Sri Mahavatara Babaji, the immortal Yogeshwara who has been living for two thousand years. This spiritual work was translated into many languages, deeply influenced millions of people across the world and continues to attract them towards spirituality even today.
In the year 1952, Sri Yogananda ji attained Mahasamadhi at the ashram in Los Angeles. The report sent to the American government by the mortuary director Harry T Rowe was shocking. He stated that in his official career this was an extraordinary observation. The body of Yogananda ji which was fresh on the day of his passing on March seven remained equally fresh even on March twenty seven. This means that unlike ordinary bodies, there was no decay at all in the mortal body of Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji. The wonders of the Maha Yogis’ transcend time and place.
Of the three major Aarsha Guru Paramparas of Aacharyasri K R Manoj ji, the founder and director of Aarsha Vidya Samajam draws lineage from, one of them is the Guru Parampara of Sri Agastya Maharshi, Sri Mahavatar Babaji, Sri Lahiri Mahashaya ji, Sri Yukteshwar ji, Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda ji and countless Yogeshwaras.
On the birth anniversary of Sri Yogananda ji, we are offering infinite pranams to that Mahaguru.
Aarsha Vidya Samajam