Biography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda and the Origins of Modern Yoga

Notes 207

62. The premises of Yogananda’s January 22 and January 13, 1925, lectures at the Mt.
    Washington center, respectively, as advertised in the Los Angeles Times.


63. Interestingly, this same emphasis on Christian teachings as support for the unity
    of religions that was so appealing to Yogananda’s audiences is reported as being an
    alienating force for many modern seekers, who look to metaphysical and Asian-
    based traditions specifically to escape what they see as the oppressive influence of
    Christianity. See specifically Williamson 2010.


64. Yogananda 1951: 211.


65. Yogananda 1951: 212.


66. See, for instance, the account of Hilda Charlton, who received her first taste of
    yogic training from a man named Daya, whom she came to call the “Bogey Yogi,”
    and his teachings regarding the Perfected Masters of Wisdom of the Great White
    Lodge (see Charlton 1990: 26). Yogananda was also reportedly asked if there were
    really masters from Lemuria living inside Mt. Shasta after some of the monks at
    Mt. Washington read about them in a book. To this he replied: “There have been
    colonists. However, no masters” (Walters 2004: 65).


67. Yogananda 1926a: 3.


68. Yogananda 1986: 231.


69. Yogananda 1926b: 4.


70. Yogananda 1926b: 4.

Chapter 5

1. Rinehart 1999: 95.


2. Rinehart 1999: 69.


3. Dobe 2015: 184.


4. Satyeswarananda 1991: 179.


5. As previously noted, all references to and quotes from the Autobiography contained
   in this study are taken from the 1951 edition unless otherwise specified.


6. The Indian branch of Ananda Satsanga (Kriyananda’s organization) had conducted
   a fairly detailed study of these changes up through 1959. However, this informa-
   tion has since been removed from their official website. An abridged account of the
   changes can be found in “Changes to Autobiography of a Yogi” 2015.


7. Yogananda 1951: 484.


8. This, of course, suggests that the reason Yogananda has not been acknowledged as
   contributing to the landscape of modern postural yoga in America is because schol-
   ars assume that the SRF is an accurate representation of his teachings. However, the
   evidence I have cited thus far suggests that āsana may have been a larger aspect of
   practice at Yogananda’s centers than I have argued even herein.


9. See, for instance, Yogananda 1951: 480.