170 Biography of a Yogiroom, Sri Yukteswar manifests himself before the awestruck Yogananda in his
astrally resurrected form. Immediately enveloping his guru in an “octopus grip,”
Yogananda exclaims: “Master mine, beloved of my heart, why did you leave me?
... Why did you let me go to the Kumbha Mela? How bitterly have I blamed
myself for leaving you!”^37 Instead of his earlier stern expression, Sri Yukteswar’s
face now wears an “angel- bewitching smile.” He addresses Yogananda lovingly as
his son. At last the reconciliation of Yogananda’s guilt- driven anxiety is found,
and with it arrives perhaps the most explicit revelation of metaphysical realization
the book has to offer.
Sri Yukteswar’s cosmological exposition is not entirely new. We have already
been made privy to the basic elements of Yogananda’s light- based metaphysics in
previous chapters and have also been introduced to the idea of astral yogic resur-
rection (Lahiri Mahasaya) and immortality (Babaji). However, the placement of
this uniquely lengthy metaphysical treatise is not unintentional. At this point,
more than any other in the work, Yogananda’s personal narrative works in perfect
tandem with his didactic intent. We perceive the revelation of the work’s cosmo-
logical schema through Yogananda’s wonder- filled eyes as Sri Yukteswar describes
his new state of being. Thus, the chapter effectively plays on the convergence of
Yogananda’s emotional attachment to his guru and his quest for spiritual knowl-
edge and realization. The reader is compelled to accept the metaphysical exposi-
tion because, like Yogananda, she is both hungry for spiritual truth and has grown
to trust and admire the figure who serves as its mouthpiece.
The Metaphysical Treatise
In addition to its narrative and biographical elements, the Autobiography also
provides the fullest expression of Yogananda’s metaphysical schema. Hints of this
framework appear in East- West as well as in his other minor publications, but it is
not until his master work that Yogananda provides us with a full exposition of the
philosophical and metaphysical underpinnings of his worldview.
This schema, though referenced throughout the book, is developed in stages
beginning with the chapter entitled “The Science of Kriya Yoga.” There Yogananda
explains the method of practice belonging to his tradition as an accelerated path
of human evolution. In doing so, he links the practice to the authority of a scien-
tific approach (as the title of the chapter suggests) while simultaneously introduc-
ing a metaphysical framework in which the evolution of the body is linked to
a transformation on the astral, or subtle, level. This system is further developed
a few chapters later in “The Law of Miracles,” where Yogananda turns to popu-
lar scientific theory— specifically, an interpretation of Einstein’s work and other