Yogananda (Paramahansa Yogananda) [key], 1893–1952, Indian mystic. He was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, of a Kshatriya (warrior caste) family. Before attending Calcutta Univ. he met his guru, Sri Yukteswar, and after graduating (1914) he became a monk in the order of Shankara, taking the name Yogananda. In 1917 he founded the Yogoda Sat-sang school for boys in Calcutta (now Kolkata). In 1920 he went to the United States where he lectured widely, teaching a secret technique of meditation, which he called kriya yoga. He founded (1920) the Self-Realization Fellowship to carry on his work and lived in the United States until his death. His organization, which has its headquarters in Los Angeles, has centers throughout the world.
See his Autobiography of a Yogi (1946).
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