Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, was a yogi and teacher who brought the practice of Kriya Yoga to the West. A disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, he took monastic vows in 1915, founded a school for boys in Bengal and in 1920 sailed to Boston to address a congress of religious liberals. He stayed in the United States for most of the rest of his life, lecturing to large audiences and founding the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles. Autobiography of a Yogi, published in 1946, became one of the most widely read spiritual books of the century.