120 Biography of a YogiIn alignment with this, Lahiri Mahasaya is characterized as being firmly
against any organizations established for the purpose of propagating the tradi-
tion. Although he finally received Babaji’s blessing to spread Kriya outside the
strictly delimited ranks of initiated renunciants, he continued to emphasize the
traditional mode of initiation and transmission centered on the personal relation-
ship between guru and disciple. In 1885 the Arya Mission Institution was estab-
lished with the permission of Lahiri Mahasaya by his chief disciple, Panchanan
Bhattacharya. It was, however, made expressly clear that the purpose of the orga-
nization would be solely for the distribution of books about the general premises
of Kriya and certain herbal medicines, but no actual instruction in Kriya practice
would take place through the institution.
Sri Yukteswar was technically the first to break with this anti- institutionalism.
He established two ashrams, which were partially used to propagate the teach-
ings of Kriya but did not grant initiation independent of actual discipleship
to Sri Yukteswar himself. As previously stated, Sri Yukteswar also at one time
envisioned joining forces with the Ramakrishna Mission in order to offer
instruction in yogic practice. This effort to stem a developing rivalry between
Vivekananda’s organization and his own disciple’s ambitions was not unfounded.
Satyeswarananda describes a young Yogananda who, standing on the bank of
the Ganges at Dakshineswar across from the headquarters of the International
Ramakrishna Mission and Math, firmly declared: “I will make mine bigger than
theirs.”^59
Yogananda’s ambitions began to reach fruition with the opening of the Mt.
Washington Center in Los Angeles in 1925, under the name Yogoda Satsanga,
which had already been used to designate Yogananda’s school in Ranchi.
Yogananda’s East- West, later renamed Self- Realization Fellowship Magazine, made
its debut this same year. To round matters out, around this same time Yogananda
created his signature correspondence course. The course, which is still available by
mail- order from the SRF, consists of a series of lessons ranging from health and
diet to “talks on the development of the mind and heart, and visionary teachings
on spiritual sadhana and other such things.”^60 This idea was not entirely novel.
Ramacharaka had also offered correspondence courses, and in 1910 the New
Thought journal Nautilus advertised a yoga correspondence course by Sakharam
Ganesh Pandit of Bombay, mailed every Thursday.^61 Nevertheless, the course was
instrumental in spreading Yogananda’s message and was indisputably represen-
tative of Yogananda’s overall business model in approaching the dissemination
of his message. Over the next decade, Yogoda centers were established in seven-
teen major cities throughout the United States as well as in several international
locations. Yogananda listed three centers in India, including the Ranchi school, a
Calcutta address, and Sri Yukteswar’s Karar Ashram in Puri.