142 Biography of a Yogito the basic calisthenics that would inherit this function. Because the Indian
branch of the SRF, still officially known as the Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS),
has been under Western management since Yogananda’s passing (with no small
amount of legal wrangling ), its teachings reflect the version of Kriya Yoga,
along with its Energization Exercises, propagated by Yogananda in America.
No āsana practice is taught at the modern- day Ranchi school, though it sug-
gestively specifies that “Paramahansa Yogananda encouraged their practice as
very beneficial.”^35
However, a closer look at the offshoots of the SRF demonstrates that not
only was Yogananda very much aware of āsana practice but that he taught it in
the United States. Examining the offerings of the SRF’s most prominent splinter
group, Kriyananda’s Ananda Church of Self Realization (operating as Ananda
Sangha worldwide), one quickly notices the presence of postural practice as
part of the prescribed method. Kriyananda has been emphatic about preserving
Yogananda’s original message, even going so far as to release an alternate version
of the Autobiography, presented as it was first printed in 1946 before the SRF
introduced a long series of edits that continued well past Yogananda’s death. If
Kriyananda’s ostensible devotion to Yogananda’s legacy is not enough to estab-
lish the origins of his postural offerings, a comparative analysis of the āsanas
presented in Kriyananda’s Yoga Postures for Higher Awareness (1967) illustrates
a remarkable level of consistency with Ghosh’s full sequence. Particular āsanas,
such as śaśaṅgāsana (“Rabbit Pose”), and distinctive variations on other com-
mon postures are, to the best of my knowledge, unique to Ghosh’s lineage in
contemporary yoga practice and particularly serve to distinguish its variations
from the more common Mysore style that originates from disciples of Tirumalai
Krishnamacarya.
One is left to assume, then, that Yogananda treated āsana practice much
as he treated other more advanced haṭha yogic techniques like khecarī mudrā.
Disciples who claim he did not teach āsanas were simply not in the inner circle
that Yogananda had deemed worthy or capable of such practices. Indeed, non-
SRF- affiliated teachers of Yogananda’s legacy maintain that this was precisely the
case and that Yogananda instructed select male disciples in āsana practice and
encouraged them to maintain it “if they felt it beneficial.” Interestingly though
perhaps not surprisingly, no such instruction was extended to female disciples.^36
Several photographs substantiate such claims, showing Yogananda instructing
groups of disciples in relatively advanced poses, such as śīrṣāsana (headstand)
and mayūrāsana (peacock pose). Other proponents of Kriya Yoga, who trace
their lineage through Lahiri Mahasaya or Sri Yukteswar in ways that sometimes
circumvent Yogananda altogether, likewise make references to the practice of
“Hatha” (by which they almost certainly mean āsana) as a complement to the