156 Biography of a YogiIn this sense, the text is also an auto- hagiography. Robin Rinehart coined
this term to describe the writings of Rama Tirtha, a known and significant influ-
ence upon Yogananda, and the ways in which they reflect Rama Tirtha’s hopes
to “shape the way people would remember him”^1 and “chronicle reflexively his
own experience of himself as a spiritually advanced person.”^2 Timothy S. Dobe
has expanded this notion to include auto- hagiography’s reliance on “strategies
of self- assertion that work through exemplarity and lineage” and thus constitute
a “narrative practice that helps position the singular saint amid a host of better
known holy men and women.”^3 In Yogananda’s case, this is all certainly true. His
concern with lineage should be seen not only in terms of the authority it pro-
vides from both a traditional South Asian and a Western standpoint but also as
reflecting a fundamental aspect of his identity. Yogananda consciously constructs
a self- reflexive narrative of his self- discovery and spiritual growth in the ongoing
tradition of powerful and spiritually enlightened Yogis ranging from the ancient
ṛṣis to his guru and the other realized masters he encounters in the course of the
narrative. The exploration of superpowers and their underlying metaphysics thus
serves a related function by contextualizing the Yogi not just among his peers but
also in the cosmos as a whole.
Finally, it should be noted that contrary to Dobe’s statement above, many
of Yogananda’s accounts concern individuals that can hardly be considered
“better known holy men and women.” Some certainly are, as in the case of
Gandhi or Neumann. Others, however, not only would have been unknown
to the average American reader but are hardly represented as exemplary by
Yogananda. Here one thinks of the Perfume Saint, whom we will meet shortly,
or the random unnamed Yogi described to Yogananda by the police officer
who interrupts his first flight from home. Since the fame of this Yogi, whose
arm is mistakenly chopped off by the same police officer only to miraculously
grow back three days later, never extends past a newspaper clipping presented
to Yogananda, it is difficult to argue that he is meant to serve a real legitimating
function. Rather, this story resembles the anecdotal asides that proliferate in
travel narratives and memoirs of the period. The list of literature enumerated
by Davis at the outset of chapter 3 of this study was of interest not only to
spiritual seekers looking east for ancient wisdom but also to more casual audi-
ences who were simply dazzled by the sights and wonders of the Orient. The
crowning jewel of such literature, Brunton’s A Search in Secret India (1934),
which comprises a journalistic memoir of the author’s encounters with Indian
Yogis and wonder- workers, features precisely such narratives. The structure
of Yogananda’s book, especially with regard to the significant portions occu-
pied with stories of Yogis and their superpowers, bears a striking similarity to
Brunton’s bestseller.