"Conserve the vital energy, follow a balanced diet, and always smile and be happy. He who finds joy within himself discovers that his body is charged with electric current, life energy, not from food but from God. If you feel that you can't smile, stand before a mirror and with your fingers pull your mouth into a smile. It is that important!"
--By Paramhansa Yogananda


Paramhansa Yogananda (1893-1952, often misspelled “Paramahansa” Yogananda) was the first yoga master of India to take up permanent residence in the West. Yogananda arrived in America in 1920, and traveled throughout the United States on what he called his “spiritual campaigns.” His enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls in America. Hundreds of thousands came to see the yogi from India. Yogananda continued to lecture and write up to his passing in 1952.

Yogananda's initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting impact has been even greater. Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi (left), first published in 1946, helped launch a spiritual revolution in the West. His message was nonsectarian and universal. Yogananda’s teacher sent him to the West with the admonition, “The West is high in material attainments, but lacking in spiritual understanding. It is God’s will that you play a role in teaching mankind the value of balancing the material with an inner, spiritual life.”
https://www.ananda.org/ananda/yogananda.html


Notes on Using the Online "Autobiography of a Yogi"
https://www.ananda.org/inspiration/books/ay/index.html

You can begin by going straight to Chapter 1, or finding your favorite chapter in the Table of Contents. All the photos are linked from the List of Illustrations, or you can link to the photos from each chapter, where they appeared in the 1946 edition.

All the original footnotes appear in this first online edition. Just click on the linked number of the footnote as it appears in the text.

Publishers Notes, from Crystal Clarity Publishers, provides information about this edition of the "Autobiography of a Yogi," along with frequently asked questions about this great book.

“There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first... when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.”
“Truth is exact correspondence with reality.”
“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.”
Paramahansa Yogananda quotes