The Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi

Fascination with Eastern spiritual teachings has been growing in the West. People have wondered why millions raised in affluence, and educated in the disciplines of modern science, feel attracted to a message that teaches simple living, and a more intuitive approach to reality. Is yoga, they ask, a mere fad?

In this book a Westerner explains for the first time in depth, and from his own experience, some of the reasons for this appeal.

In Part I of The Path, Swami Kriyananda describes how he examined, and discarded one by one, the fulfillments offered by society around him: material success, worldly recognition, intellectual and artistic achievement. Gradually he understood that lasting human happiness does not come from outer success, but from inner, spiritual realization.

In 1948, he read Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda, an experience which transformed his life. For this book introduced him to his guru, and to the ancient, meditative science of Raja Yoga.

In Part II, Kriyananda describes his life as a close disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, in the Los Angeles headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship, the first great ashram of the West. Kriyananda gives a fascinating and comprehensive explanation of the yogic philosophy and way of life, including hundreds of never-before-published stories and sayings of Yogananda. Kriyananda also compares the teachings of yoga with the teachings of Christ, finding countless parallels between East and West.

In Part III, Kriyananda emerges as he is to-day: the founder of a highly successful spiritual community, and a much-loved, well-respected teacher in his own right, whose words and example are inspiring an ever-widening circle of people to seek the lasting joys of self-realization.

ISBN:8185288437