Knowra Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) was an Indian Hindu monk and yoga teacher who introduced Kriya Yoga to many Western readers and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship.
Sri Yukteswar Giri : An Indian spiritual teacher who was Yogananda’s guru and a central influence on his teachings. Yukteswar trained Yogananda in the lineage that informed his presentation of Kriya Yoga.
Kriya Yoga : A meditation discipline that uses regulated breath and attention to advance spiritual realization. Yogananda presented this practice as a central method for spiritual development.
Gorakhpur : A city in Uttar Pradesh, India, associated with Yogananda’s birth in 1893. Yogananda’s life began in this city before his monastic training and travels.
Encinitas Self-Realization Fellowship Temple : A Self-Realization Fellowship temple and retreat site established in Encinitas, California, during Yogananda’s lifetime. Yogananda developed this coastal center as a place for teaching, retreat, and spiritual practice.
Yoga in the United States : The development of yoga teaching and practice in the United States, shaped by migration, religious exchange, and popular culture. Yogananda was among the Indian teachers who made yoga and meditation visible to American audiences.
Lahiri Mahasaya : A nineteenth-century Indian yogi who revived and taught Kriya Yoga to householders. Yogananda traced his Kriya Yoga lineage through Yukteswar to Lahiri Mahasaya.
Raja Yoga : A path of yoga focused on meditation and mastery of the mind, often associated with Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Yogananda framed his teachings within a broad tradition of meditative yoga.
Kolkata : The capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and a major center of Bengali religious and intellectual life. Yogananda grew up in Bengal and encountered spiritual teachers amid its religious culture.
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine : A meditation garden and shrine established by the Self-Realization Fellowship in Pacific Palisades, California. The shrine gives public form to the fellowship’s devotional and meditative community.
Transcendentalism : A nineteenth-century American intellectual movement emphasizing intuition, nature, and spiritual insight. Yogananda’s message appealed to some American audiences already drawn to direct spiritual experience.
Show all 25