Yogananda Podcast

We are delighted to be joined by Vivek Atray, one of India's most renowned Motivational Speakers, a Best Selling Author, a Columnist, a Visiting Professor and a devoted disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. In this minute we focus on the formulation and importance of the Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society of India study at home lessons (now also available on digital platforms). Som...

Swami Yogananda travelled extensively in USA during the mid 1920s, speaking to large audiences in cities: breaking new ground; exposing minds and souls to yogic philosophy. In this minute we have contributions on this topic from Brother Chidananda, Varun Soni, Philip Goldberg and hear the voice of our guru Paramahansa Yogananda. One question he asks in this minute is as relevant now as it was back...

Basu Kumar Bagchi (Swami Dhirananda) and Mukunda Lal Ghosh (Paramahansa Yogananda) grew up together, serving together to establish spiritual sangas, libraries, and schools in their youth.  They worked very closely during the formative years for Ranchi School (Brahmacharya Vidyalaya). The early success of Boston and Los Angeles would have been difficult to attain without (Swami Dhirananda). This mi...

Amelita Galli-Curci was devoted to Paramahansa Yogananda and praises the impact his teachings had on her life and career. The teachings are our Guru in recent times and the new Self-Realization Fellowship lessons no doubt have a similar impact on devotees around the world. We discuss the famous opera, Aida, that forms part of this minute. Amelita also delightfully meditates with Guruji, albeit wit...

In this minute, we look at the nature of reality, dreams and mysticism, both through our own experience and as taught by Paramahansa Yogananda. When you wake up a from a dream you think, ah it was just a dream. Guruji tells in reality this whole life is a dream, we are not material beings having a spiritual dream, we are spiritual beings having a material dream. Tahiel, a Self-Realization Fellowsh...

In this episode Paramahansa Yogananda talks about the science behind the energization exercises, Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg talks about the science of enlightenment and Bro. Chidananda creates context by describing the effects of Kriya Yoga. We go into detail of neuroscientific findings on meditation and ask the question, what is energy? 0:00 Botany; 1:39 Summary of minute; 2:40 Electrify,...

Reva joins us from London to discuss Yoga and Meditation in the context of this minute where Brahmachari Martin (of Self-Realization Fellowship), Varun Soni and Mas Vidal weigh in on their definitions. Why are people moving away from religion? What is meditation? Why is Hatha Yoga not taught in SRF (in as much depth as Kriya Yoga)? We offer some guidance, as given by Paramahansa Yogananda (and som...

What is meant by true or the original Christianity? We discuss Paramahansa Yogananda's extensive coverage of Jesus Christ's life, high inclusion in the Self-Realization Fellowship’s lineage of gurus and the controversies and interpretations of the Bible’s New Testament and Gospels. In 2021 we interviewed subject matter expert Professor Clooney of Harvard University about this subject (still availa...

“We’ll have a big place on a mountain”, is what Swami Yogananda told one of his students in Boston, three months before moving to Los Angeles and miraculously establishing the Self Realization Fellowship headquarters on Mt. Washington. We conduct a deep dive on the background stories, the spiritual and the financial aspects of life in the early stages of the famous ashram. Our guest Christine (Mik...

Yuri Branco joins us from São Paolo, Brazil. In the past we have interviewed guests that have done tremendous work through guruji, outside of Self-Realization Fellowship. Yuri and Yogananda Brazil provides a tremendous example of how SRF publications can inspire people in the various branches of society: children, schools, libraries and even prisoner rehabilitation charities. In this interview Yur...

This minute focusses on the inspirational life of James Lynn, who became Rajarsi Janakananda, the much-loved first president of Self-Realization Fellowship. We delve into the book published about him: A Western Yogi, which contains excerpts of his life and letters to our guru, Paramahansa Yogananda. In his youth he was an excellent student, as an adult a business extraordinaire and above all, spir...

We are joined by our friend Josh, from the Young Adult Sangha, to cover in detail Swami Yogananda’s momentous move to LA. His journey from the East to the West coast was intriguing; as will be seen from the fantastic stories from we discovered about the events along the way. In this minute we also have appearances from Varun Soni, Felicia Tomasco, Stefanie Syman and Mas Vidal all setting the scene...

How did Swami Yogananda spend his first years in America and Boston. He had to live in humble circumstances but quickly adapted to the American lifestyle. To attract devotees, it was necessary to use a curious and innovative vocabulary that was decades ahead of its time, talking about concepts such as concentration power, everlasting youth, life energy and life force control. He had some help from...

Special interview with Neil Patel, founder of Chi Kri and fellow disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. We discuss how Neil has used yoga for his own self-transformation as well as to raise the general consciousness in the troubled society we live in, with Yogananda's divine guidance. Neil has harnessed his creative spiritual flair to tackle knife-crime with rap and hip-hop music and reached prominent...

This minute focusses on the monastic life led by our guru as he becomes Swami Yogananda. What does “Yoga is freedom” mean to you? Rodrigo joins us from Brazil to help us tackle this intriguing question that the minute asks us to ponder on. We talk in detail about Paramahansa Yogananda’s experience in cosmic consciousness (samadhi). The multiple images used in this minute are dear to our hearts, fu...

Life in Sri Yukteswar's hermitage for Mukunda (Paramahansa Yogananda) was hard work! In this episode we discuss what it would have been like to live the brahmacharya life of an aspiring yogi, striving to know God. Even though Sri Yukteswar had a disciplinarian style of teaching, there were plenty of fascinating stories over the ten-year period Mukunda spent in the hermitage, till the time he joine...

This minute focusses on the significance of Mukunda's meeting with Swami Sri Yukteswar and what why it is so important to have a God realized Master when we're looking for God. Our guest Mohit gives us an interesting perspective, as a YSS devotee in India, that moved to the west. There are interesting revelations about Banyan trees, thorns and the relationship between the river ganga water flow an...

This minute depicts the monumental moment from the life of Paramahansa Yogananda: the meeting with his Guru Sri Yukteswar. We take the time to really set the scene to ensure maximum impact: discuss his difficult time in the ashram with Swami Dayananda, the receipt and disappearance of mysterious astral Amulet. The artistic cinematography of that moment is discussed, and the reasons for the intrigu...

In this special episode we welcome subject matter experts: Walter Cruttenden and Donna Nairi. Walter and Donna are fellow devotees, who share passion for the scientific and metaphysical exploration of the Yugas. We discuss the spiritual implications of Sri Yukteswar’s famed hypothesis on the correct length of the Yugas, compare this with other traditions (including mainstream Hinduism which is con...

After the tragic death his mother — Gyan Prabha Ghosh, Mukunda (Paramahansa Yogananda) finds himself occupied with the search for his Guru. Joined in this episode by our friend, Mark, we discuss each individual's unique journey to find their guru, sharing stories of our own experiences, as well as what it means to recognise people from past lives. 1:41 Meet Mark; 10:03 Summary of minute; 12:36 Cra...

Minute 22 goes straight to Divine Mother. We analyse how she responds, so sweetly, to Mukunda (Paramahansa Yogananda). When reviewing the tiger story from the minute we can’t help but debate the difference between dreams and reality. What is the purpose of the dream death? Mike is convinced that he is not actually dreaming, but how can we be sure? We can’t help but bring into the dialogue current...

Stewart joins us from Glasgow and shares his unique insight into all things in Minute 21. We discuss the psyche of the young Mukunda, to understand the emotional pangs that are featured in the minute, with material from biographies that you may not have heard before. We take a deep dive into esoteric matters such as death, cremations, burials and resurrection (in particular of Sri Yukteswar). We a...

In this minute, Chris, Mike and Priyank discuss a big event in Paramahansa Yogananda's youth, the sudden passing of his mother. Minute 20 breaks into this event in artistic flair, we cover the topics of Indian weddings, SRF weddings, visions and share some personal soul-shaking experiences which turn our minds to God and Guru. 2:20 Summary of minute; 4:44 Mukunda's reaction to his mother passing;...

We welcome Pablo, from Le Paris, as we grapple with timeless question: what is the meaning of life. Paramahansa Yogananda also had to search, even though he was an avatar, born realised. Mas Vidal tells us that we have to be shaken to awaken our desire to know the ultimate truth. Did you know that the human body is potentially infinite? We discuss what this means and what ramification this has on...

We discuss how well the science of Kriya Yoga as taught by Paramahansa Yogananda resonates with the current state of consciousness in humanity today. The weight of religion and dogma looms heavily and provides a stark contrast to empirical process of meditation and related practices.    Anita Goel offers a fantastic opportunity for the audience to delve into the frangible link between biology and...