Yogananda, Paramahamsa, Mukunda Lal Ghosh was born in 1893
and died in 1952.
Self-Realization Fellowship founder and modern Hindu
instructor.
Yogananda was one of the first Hindu missionaries to arrive
in the United States.
In 1920, he traveled to Boston to speak at the International
Congress of Religious Liberals, but he never returned to India.
He finally made his home outside of Los Angeles, where he
created a center and spent the remainder of his life.
He was considered somewhat of a curiosity during his early
years in America, and there are photographs of him with President Calvin
Coolidge.
Yogananda's teachings were primarily based on the ancient
Yoga Sutras' ash tanga yoga, but he also emphasized the theory of kriya
("active") yoga, which is said to hasten spiritual achievement.
The Self Realization Fellowship is basically an American
organization with historical origins in India, and most of Yogananda's
adherents and both of his successors were Americans.
See Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi,
published in 1997, for further details.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
