146 Biography of a Yogicakras by way of prāṇāyāma and mantra practice. The final goal is to concentrate
this energ y in the third eye in order to achieve oneness with the effulgent univer-
sal sound. In Yogoda, on the other hand, the practitioner awakens the energetic
potential of his body by means of conscious muscular contraction and relaxation
in order to hone his will. He thus creates a cooperative relationship between body,
will, and mind through the conscious movement of nerve energ y and is able to
recharge his “body battery” from the infinite reservoir of the cosmos. Yogoda is
advertised as a “tissue- will system of bodily perfection”^45 and no ecstatic states are
explicitly mentioned. However, the ultimate goal of the concentration exercises is
to put the practitioner “intuitionally in tune with the Cosmic Vibration.”^46 How
closely Yogananda understands such an attuned state to correspond to the tradi-
tional yogic state of samādhi is unclear.
What is clear from Yogananda’s metaphysical adaptations of Indian practices
is his reliance on the scientization of yogic superpower and the overall normaliza-
tion of the superhuman Yogi. Because of Yogananda’s devotional temperament,
it is not unreasonable that he would have considered adherence to the ritual
details of Kriya Yoga practice secondary to the effects of the practitioner’s earnest
and faithful intention. Considering his good- natured chastisement of Hamid
Bey’s glandular manipulation as a means to inducing trance states, we can safely
deduce that Yogananda considered faith and devotion— or what he terms “love
of God”— to be a far more powerful mechanism than those methods that relied
entirely on technical expertise.
This would at first appear to be at odds with Yogananda’s ongoing articula-
tion of that his spiritual method was profoundly “scientific” in nature. Yogananda
repeatedly claims that belief is only the initial necessary condition for “religion”
and is therefore not at all synonymous with faith. One’s religion is scientific
insomuch as it is based on experimentation, and experimentation is above all
practice. Faith requires practice, and practice requires will. Yogananda thus essen-
tially updates Krishna’s famous message to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gītā when he
declares that since one can never stop willing, one must hone one’s will toward
growth.
A New Yoga for the Willful Yogi
In Yogananda’s words, Yogoda “combines the basic laws utilized by the ancient
Hindu yogis, with the discoveries of modern physiological science.”^47 As such,
Yogoda— and consequently the Yogi whom it produces— is not only modern
and scientific in its approach but also profoundly natural. Like Blavatsky and
Vivekananda before him, Yogananda appeals to the ultimate unity of nature in