January 5, 2020 marks the beginning of a 21-month centenary celebration of His Holiness Paramahamsa Yogananda’s arrival in America on the City of Sparta, the first steamer to set sail from India after World War 1. He came to Boston, Massachusetts, as a delegate from India to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in 1920. Lecturing extensively across the United States and abroad, his pilgrimage marked a turning point in the history of spirituality, firmly establishing the path of yoga in the minds and hearts of eager Americans and people across the world.
Paramahamsa Yogananda was born on 5th January 1893 in Gorakhpur, a holy city in northeast India, in a devout spiritual family. His parents were disciples of the great yogi, Shri Lahiri Mahashaya. As an infant in his mother’s arms, Lahiri Mahashaya blessed him and foretold: “Little mother, thy son will be a yogi. As a spiritual engine, he will carry many souls to God’s kingdom.” Swami Vivekananda also prophesized: “I have laid the foundation for spiritualism, but after me a mahayogi will come who will teach you how to realize God through yoga.”
Beloved by many through the notable biopic — Awake: The Life of Yogananda, the renowned author of Autobiography of a Yogi, was the first guru to bring yoga from India to the West and integrate its principles into Western culture. Yoganandaji believed India’s spiritual wealth and Western society’s material efficiency could lead the world to a balanced existence. He also introduced related practices like vegetarianism and the science of Ayurveda, which have since become widespread in Western culture.
One of India’s most revered saints, who continues to inspire the minds and hearts of spiritual seekers around the world. His life was eventful, miraculous, monumental, epoch-making and divinely ordained to propagate Kriya Yoga. Yoganandaji’s humanitarian mission of love and compassion was much greater than the act of bringing yoga out of India. By shedding a whole new light of understanding from India’s spiritual wealth, he led his pilgrimage of the Spirit in the atomic age and through Western society’s material efficiency. The Guru taught that with greater understanding, humanity could learn to live more peacefully with one another.