Autobiography of a Yogi

• Petals
• Thwarting the ego is not the best thing to do
• Subtle Disyoga Tricks and Others
  • Sensible Teachings and Others
  • More on textual findings
  • Stop hoping for sacredness too
  • Let being yourself and your individuality come first
  • Don't forget the dear little nest as you try for good things
  • Led astray by wolves?
• Further Clarifications
  • Welcomed in the West can mean playing major games of the West lots of times too
  • Yogananda did not swim across the Atlantic Ocean
  • What a throng hails, is hardly outstanding all the time
  • "Incarnated Rigidity"
  • Forewarned, forearmed
  • Echoes
  • Values then and now
  • Is a Hindu swami a Christian or super-Christian?
  • Gospel evidence compared with Yogananda teachings
  • Advancing Guru Work
  • Check things yourself

'Petals' Illustrations

THE chapters of this version of the Autobiography begin with a modest illustration:

Figure 1. Petals

In the middle is a picture that might be linked to a core idea that heads the chapter. Around the picture there are three or more "petals", or coloured areas for linked thoughts. [Cf. Mmb; Mum; Tor, and Idea-maps].
      If you follow the arrows from right to left, you get something like "an extended, general idea complex" to reflect on.

Thwarting the ego is not the best thing to do

It is better to keep one's ego healthy than attack and try to subdue it, at least according to psychodynamics. A smooth-functioning everyday life should be reckoned with as a delicious miracle. Besides, great and ostensible miracles rarely happen.
      There is normal egohood and not normal egohood. Dysfunctional egohood gives burdens, but normal and sane egohood is good to have and good to develop, no matter what blunderbuss decrees gurus repeat. We need a normal egohood and the development of mind that is a function of it. The Ego of Freudianism is not the same as selfishness, and this has to be pointed out. To go for and foster normal egohood development is fit, and also contrary to hasardous "kill-the-ego" teachings.
      Good and staunch rationalism is much due to normal egohood development. Egohood is to be developed in stages and along very many alleys of man. It allows for rational handling, rational coping, and much life goes down the drains for lack of it.
      Gurus from Faroffstan (humorously) may look exotic and talk of great miracles that abound around them - more often far away than nearby here - as a matter of fact. And want you to "kill the ego". First observe: The effects of stunting normal and sane egohood are not health-giving, and may foster creeps. Some gurus foster creeps, accordingly, even devoted-looking ones.
      Accordingly,
      It is fit to defend sane egohood development against massive demands on obedience, "god-servile humility" that serves tyranny, and worse.
      You had better bulwark against guru attacks against sane egohood development. Forewarned is forearmed. In cultish settings such attacks serve submission or obedience. Do not believe too much in unattested miracles either.
      You may find lots of guru concepts, like "sacred, holy, and great" not quite ideal anyhow - whereas being skilful, updated and thrifty balancing is top help towards enlightenment if things go well.
      It is far better to clarify one's concepts than to switch to and fro between the self-contraditions that seem persuasive or "impressive with the ladies" at the moment. After all, Yogananda talks against himself all too often. It backfires too.
      As Yogananda too says, here and there, self-help is the thing. Buddha advocates the same principle. Buddha also permits you to check and verify the value of his own teachings. Yogananda is into the same thing in some places.

Science and religion should go hand in hand. All the results of scientific investigation are definite and are connected by reason, whereas religion is often dogmatic. When Jesus urged his disciples to have faith, he didn't mean blind belief. It breaks my heart when I see blind dogmatism. Yogananda [Mae 48]

So try to see for yourself. Yogananda's over-all work is one of blunderbuss attempts at "convincing all": "If I had a thousand mouths, I would speak through them all to convince you [Mae 111]." Convince about what? "That "you can know within your own consciousness that what I am saying is true. You don't have to believe; you can know (op cit)." I suggest you read him in this light, which is a light he talks for: that you should not believe him either, but go for knowing by yourself.
      Speaking of gullibility, the autobiography contains many fantastic stories, for example about resurrecting oneself, materialising a palace, and further. In the light of the foregoing, remain alert that in at least one case we have to deal with one man's version (tale). Such evidence is at the lowest rung of the scientific scale of proving things. It is talked of as anecdotal evidence. It may or may not be all true to fact; it is is proof value that is low, only. The way to deal with strange tales is; "Maybe so, maybe no, what do I know?" That is at bottom of rational inquiries. In the case of the tale where a palace appears overnight, there are other versions around too, to compare with [Ysl].
      The book may easily capture juvenile fancy and ideation. If romanticism gets the better of guys, they may end up in a cult. Even though what the guru set up in 1935 was called a non-sectarian church of all religions by him then, in recent times words like "cult" and "sect" is used to describe it, also by former monastics of his religious order. One third of all his monastics left the guru church's premises around 2002.

Swami Yogananda brings the ideals of this Sat-Sanga Order to America, and calls his educational, non-sectarian message by the name of "Yogoda Sat-Sanga" [later renaming it].
[www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/7587/SRFmagazines.htm]

Subtle Disyoga Tricks and Others

"Dis-yoga" is a short way of suggesting many things that dilute, counteract, or take away the benefits of adequate meditation. Gurus who obscure truth and clog higher reason, practice disyoga too.

Even to take up and adhere to somewhat beneficial practises is a pity too, to the degree that inferior teachings, doings and methods squirm and oust out massive use of the best ways and means, of course.

Yogananda started to teach many disyoga elements, regrettably, but it is wise to focus on good ways and means. They are found by careful study of such as research results and not committing oneself to guru bullies that dwarf common sense.

Win the Disyoga Tricks

There are sensible yoga teachings and others. To strive to go deeper than surface things and shared exaggerations forms part of good yoga. Getting skilful in good yoga techniques is the way.

The guru Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) authored his autobiography - helped by disciples - to make known some holy men of India, and to spread a form of yoga the guru eventually changed. According to his early philosophy the first cause of his work is your Self. Then again, he also teaches the world is unreal - nothing and nobody goes on in it in case - and that God is the sole Doer. So there you have it: guru mishmash abounds. Better be forewarned about it than succumb to it.
      Yogananda taught both valuable yoga teachings and inferior teachings. At times they conflict and contradict one another. There are many examples. The solution to this problem is not to claim that all his guidelines are infallible or get disillusioned about everything and every guru, but to prefer the higher teachings, and focus on the valuable content. This is the best counsel I can give. Then, what is the valuable content?

First, focus on the methods to stay sane, to do them skilfully and not overreach, and not so much on his divergent words and self-contradicitions. Second, whenever there are self-contradictions in the guru's teachings, focus on the higher ones to you: those that you find to be most valuable in your set of circumstances. And refrain from overreaching - which otherwise is a danger beneath an exhorting Yogananda.
      By such priorities and in these way you may succeed to get the best out of Yogananda and the medley that is published by his church.

There is more than one form of yoga. Some gurus teach abstinence, others the opposite. Since abstaining from a fulfilling and rewarding life brings about many unneeded, accruing troubles, abstain from abstaining too much!
      How modern or up-to-date is the Autobiography is at present? It was written and edited by the largely Americanised guru Paramahansa Yogananda over fifty years ago. Its first edition appeared in 1946, and editors have elaborated some of his material in later editions, adding extensive footnotes. His book is devotional and romantic, and marked by jolly good propaganda. For example a black basalt statue of the bloodthirsty goddess Kali with a necklace of skulls around her neck and her tongue protruded, is called beautiful by him. Well, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (Proverb)."

One day you will wake up . . . and see how foolish it is that people think they are suffering. - Yogananda [Jse 31]

"I always start from within"

"I always start from within to bring knowledge out . . . Perhaps I was too proud to think." Yogananda [Jse 289, hum] The book rallies its ideas from a wide range of sources, but the basic orientation is that "swamihood (monkhood) is good", "Vedanta teachings are good", and kriya yoga is good.
      To these three embedded notions:

1. To be a monk is to be aligned to one of the last stages of life in Hindu thinking. In other words, a monk is supposed by many to be more or less "dead" to life, as to having normal sex. In actual practice it can be different.
2. The guru author never says there are many forms of Vedanta competing with one another, but there are in fact many divergent Vedanta teachings. Nor does he show how basic yoga teachings (philosophies) have changed over the centuries as to which teachings were in vogue. Today Vedanta teachings flourish and dominate, and in earlier days other teachings did. Yoga was not founded on Vedanta.
3. The guru wanted to convince Westerners that they should become his disciples, a lot of them, and changed his teachings to that end. For example, he began to tell kriya yoga works 12 times faster than his own guru does, and that the fine Goal can be had 144 times faster too - after a change of teachings in 1934, one may add. He also taught his guru had infallible insight, and yet went farther than him as to prospects. So Yogananda changed both his teachings and the techniques he spread. Few have become aware of it so far. [LINK]

"That it [Hinduism] has made, and can continue to make, a genuine contribution to Western religious thought is undeniable; that the invasion of the gurus is a part of that contribution is highly debatable." [Ebu. "Hinduism"]

The swami (monk) Yogananda stated he had a devotional temperament. Devotional Hinduism arose between the 300s and 1000s AD. Many forms of yoga existed before that, and many different forms of Hinduism too. Along with the rise of Hindu devotionalism came up to over-fervent worship coupled to various gods, images, statues and so on. It is not necessary to be devotional, believing or crank to profit from yoga and its teachings, but "the guruism of crazed devotionalists" looks more than suspect.
      ♦ Be geared to what is of current value, at any rate.

More on textual findings

" Religious life is sustained by dualistic concepts." [Ebu. "Indian philosophy."]

The frequent uses of certain terms as opposed to the comparative lack of others, denote 'sale' on various 'markets' - and also finding an entryway to promote certain things or ideas that yogis go for by and large. See whether self-sufficiency, frivolity, and handiness are under-promoted in the autobiography.
      In addition to or over and above mere qualitative calculations of main terms and how often they appear all over, it is feasible to probe into qualitative nuances of words and term and concepts. The term "semantic differential" seeks to describe it. In such cases you form an opinion of how warm or friendly certain words or perspectives seem to yourself; you feel your way into how different words may be charged. It is not easy to do these things, and there is not always one correct answer to be had either. [Cf. Trap]
      Since the more or less culturally determined, in part subjectively added 'overtones' or association medleys of terms vary and differ among us, there is no reason to make a big deal of these things here. We should be aware that very many shades and nuances and particular meanings put into words can differ much, as studies have shown. And most often it pays to be much tentative when it comes to qualitative studies of this and that form of literature.
      But we do have a little study of how often and in what sense(s) the guru uses words denoting ego in his autobiography text and further: [LINK]
      ♦ You may study words and their connotations in order to get closer to the outlooks of the author or perhaps his background - or the Western audience he trying to reach.

Stop hoping for sacredness too

In a pragmatic literature analysis, what may be called the mental charge of terms can be investigated quite tentatively, perhaps a bit too subjectively.
      Some recurrent terms in Yogananda's autobiography revere holiness or sacredness in an Indian way, and some very frequent terms may not be familiar to all of us.
      You should try to note the effect on yourself of what you encounter. For example, how great and worthy you feel after the reading, and what you want to go after yourself. Is it self-sufficient communities that you fall for? If so, you had better be warned that Yogananda's fellowship has largely backed off from them. It is too bad if you discover it after you enroll out of duped idealism and never find your heaven on earth in the fellowship anyhow.
      ♦ Yogi training consists in letting go of ideas in a process of inward-turning (interiorisation). Hopes and fixated urges hinder that inward-turning.

Let being yourself and your individuality come first

Just try to watch the complementary role you are invited into. If it is good, try and keep it that way. If your role is that of an underling - and it follows from the premises that it is going to become that - you had better investigate into what you renounce. Degrees of freedom; your own style, perhaps, and so further. We say, "Look before you leap."
      If the guru's book enamoured you and his fellowship has deflected from goals and standards advocated in the book, just find gladness inside. You can learn or be jolly good in what you are doing anyhow. Otherwise, getting stabbed in the back (in one or more figurative ways) may set in motion vicious circles revolving around lowered self-esteem and lowered heed for oneself. If bitten or smitten, try to hinder infections, for prevention may be a hundred times better than uncertain cures.
       To be an individual requires freedom: freedom from and freedom to, for example. The plodding way of individuals are uncertain, but they hardly include becoming "proxy people", vicars or sextons of bigwigs.
      ♦ Humbling is not a big goal in sane yoga, but in many monastic settings it becomes important and hailed, regrettably.

Don't forget the dear little nest as you try for good things

Find a good outlet for dominant drives in yourself, instead of trying to curb it all. For example, the guy fond of shooting may get a career in the Army - just as simple as that. Some get hailed, some get killed - but that is another story.
      For all that, one should not strive to make oneself hated by one's mate and others in the dear little nest, for that is almost always unfit.
      ♦ There is more than one good side to yoga and to monastic training too. It behooves a person to increase the boons and reduce the perhaps marring elements in both, so as to make good use of the best of them.

Led astray by wolves?

Oddly against the gospel teachings of Jesus against false Christs and having other masters than himself [Matthew 28:8; 24;4, 5, 11; John 10:9,10,11 etc.], Yogananda presents many of his friends as Yogi Christs and in harmony with Jesus. He does not leave out his father, either.
      Yogananda uses another christ concept than the Catholic Church [LINK]. To him, there are many christs, not just Jesus..
      ♦ If you believe everything you are told, you end up confused. Instead, limit faith, just as Buddha advises. [LINK]

Some More Clarifications

Welcomed in the West can mean playing major games of the West lots of times too

A LEGEND about St. Denis, the Italian who became the patron saint of France, says that after he was beheaded on Montmartre around 275, he lifted up his head in his arms or hands and walked six miles. "The beginning is the most difficult (Proverbial)." [Op]
      "All beginning is hard," a proverbs says, right or wrong. So, setting oneself up as a disciple of this or that Christ figure could cost much too - if none has done it before in that place and circumstances, perhaps. And what costs a whole lot - you could have to make yourself hard to attain it, suave to keep it intact, so that the full cup is not spilled, as they say in Scotland - and later things could get out of hand anyway, just as Jean-Jacques Rousseau sums up in the very first lines of his novel Emile: "Everything deteriorates in the hands of man."
      It may not be true in all cases. But after St. Denis had walked six miles, what happened to the head that was in his hands? You may guess it. Hence, Rousseau's saying can be alarmingly true even if this and that legend is far from true to fact and even if sound guesswork (or heuristics) comes into it. There may still be figuratively fine points hidden in a legend. One of them could be:
      ♦ What actually happened may not have been as impressive as what is told and retold later on.

The Science of Religion Was Yogananda's First Book

Yogananda published his first book, The Science of Religion, before coming to America in 1920. The book never sold well, even though Yogananda wanted to reach a wide audience. Another swami wrote it, making it heavy and pedantic — after Yogananda had written down his ideas for it in a brief outline: Because he didn't feel qualified to write them in English at the time, he asked swami Dhirananda to write them as a booklet. Dhirananda was, in other words, the ghost writer. [Link]

Now, there are some other versions of how the book came about, and some more words here on-site [LINK].
      The guru came to Boston by boat in 1920 and learnt by steps and stages how to conform to American audiences and sermonise for the public. Much of what he talked of was favourably welcomed in the West, after years of adaptations to the public, but let's face it: Back on the boat he didn't have a clue on how much was to be done, he confides in his autobiography.
      Like many other Hindus, Yogananda did not eat meat. He was a vegetarian, and in the United States he very soon was surprised that people sold hot dogs. And he gasped with relief when being told that hot dogs did not contain dog meat. Well, cow's meat hardly sounds better to a devout Hindu and all that are truly fond of animals.
      In the 1920's, after the first hard years in and around Boston in Massachusetts, the guru travelled across the United States to inform about his yoga methods. The autobiography is devoted to the main medley of methods, kriya yoga, without divulging exactly how to do it. But you can learn the essence of kriya breathing here, and for free. There are no breaches of loyalty into it either: [LINK]
      Big audiences filled some of the largest lecture halls in America. There are good stories about happenings at that time too, stories that are not included in the Autobiography.
      ♦ Making skilled use of significant clues can be evolved.

What a throng hails, is hardly outstanding all the time

YOGANANDA'S initial impact was largely impressive. And not too long ago, around the turn of the millennium, followers of many religious traditions recognised Autobiography of a Yogi as one of the hundred most influential books of the 1900s. But the gusto of inspiration could stem from deep inside the reader and in part be projected outwards (and in vain). And this is the teaching of the yogi Sankara, whom Yogananda hails: In brief, due to deep, essential projections and the hiding of these projections, the outer world is perceived. That is a significant part of Adi Shankara's teaching. To conform to ways that counteract the ideal aims of good yoga and things that renowned yogis have advocated, is not a sign of good sense. You can bulwark against that form of idiocy when there is time.
      ♦ To the shallow, there is time enough.

"Incarnated Rigidity"

In the Autobiography you will be told that practice of the method Yogananda knows about, will save you, nay, bring you the best of human existence, and your apotheosis (god-making). Along with yoga methods come organizations and the enculturations they may bring. Some of them bring about neuroses that could mould your mind and lifestyle far and wide, and perhaps in no happy way. Some directions invade your love life, personal hygiene, and further. There are many do's and don'ts around, and not all of them are really needed - [LINK].
      Being given many, many do's and don'ts instructions from authority figures tend to serve other-directedness in your life, and much other-directedness could go very much against the true aims of yoga and contemplation - as helps to assert yourself and live a better, more rewarding life for your individual existence. Trying to get a personally favourable balance of adjustment does not have to be unfair, but much depends on what guru you have got and what he is after.
      Generally speaking though, it is not kingly to enroll as a yeller in a sect through semi-ritualized the crying for Mother God ("and she will come").
      These notes bring on a few more problem:

1. If initial faith in gurus that have plotted or banded together has been raised, it could bring you good help through the workings of faith on a soul and its conditions. Where such dumbfounded beginner's faith is first "played upon" by a very bossy in-group, and next somewhat tarnished by observations and comments and much else in the life, the theorised effect of firm faith (even wrong faith may help) could dwindle. If so, hope to fix more and better faith in realism, positive attainments and yourself, for example. There are worse things to do than that, and Yogananda advocates all of them! He advocates lots of what we do, like it or not.
2. Social contracts: If you enroll under a guru dynasty, you may bind yourself to some kind of social contract. Cults may show it very well. If you don't play your role (part) well, you may get stigmatised or heavily burdened. If you hold your own, persecutions may set in too.
3. Yogananda's organization has drifted somewhat away from what is envisioned in the first edition of his autobiography. But the leaders or the dead guru don't assume any responsibility for such a violation of a proposed or set-up half-contract, do they? And if they claim Yogananda to give infallible guidelines (we once received it in writing from the SRF headquarters), much may go wrong.
         Further, in most churches leaders pick and choose from basic material, and selectivity is rooted in deep stands - some elements get promoted and others are pushed aside. For example, Yogananda's first teachings that Satan is just metaphoric, was very counteracted by his retelling of an episode where Satan attacked him in Bombay in 1937. [THE TALE] Conflicting utterances by a founder is a gate to problems. It is best to be aware of it in advance, if at all.

1. He could not bring about the how-to-live school he had envisaged.
2. Also, he publicly announced he would go for a certain publishing enterprise some time later. It did not succeed.
3. What is more, Yogananda wanted to have quite self-supporting communities, one may read in his Autobiography. SRF has largely dropped it.

Care

Many who believe "too much" may later end up in deep trouble for it. One of the consequences could be inability to trust anybody ever again. It is often as simple as that if great emotions have been evoked in the first place. Emotions are often of a no-yes type. Distress brought on by gurus can have many outlets too.
      Often the organism is not up to the pressures it endures. If so, maybe gentle flower remedies and homoeopathic pills can help. Such influence encourage the organism to make necessary adjustments.

• Attitude: "Everybody is a liar" - after being severely cheated.
• Broken faith with someone
• Religious hypocrisy
• Life does not seem worth living
• Shirker, apathetic
• Vituperative, abusive, from great disappointments and the like

Forewarned, forearmed

"Prevention is better than cure (Proverb)." It is better to be informed beforehand against too big words and the problems they may cause others later, little by little, perhaps. High titles and social prestige can make innocents put great trust in vain utterances. It might bring about disappointments and terrible distress later, once the discrepancy between big phrases and actual happenings strike the victim of bossy, high-flung phrases. If you are forewarned, what strikes you eventually may not be like a lightning. Accordingly, keeping at least an ounce of savoury scepticism in you could do you much good later.
      And there is still more to it.
      There is likely to be much to be aware of once you are out of your waters. Certain gurus advocate tenets and advance values that gurus held in high esteem, but there is much variance in this. And old Indian teachings vary as well as to what they inculcate. Yoga as a system and tradition is not unified in all respects, and Hinduism is not either; it contains a vast body of perhaps irreconcilable tenets. Much has drifted and changed over the centuries. There isn't always agreement in a tiny nest either.
      If you pick and choose a monk to counsel you as to what is best, the summa bonum for man in general, it is hardly to be expected that he will insist that his fare of renunciation far and wide is inferior. For he has built his life expectancy on that fare. Bear in mind that "As you yell out in the mountain passes, so will your echo be." People often choose the ones they give ear to, their counsellors, and when the persons get the expected lessons they came for in the first place, it suggests that perhaps they went out to confirm hidden attitudes too. One should guard against underhand drivel, for drivel or insensible counsel both could bring on reduced quality of life.
      Study the one you ask for counsel or yoga methods for a good time before you commit yourself. It takes time. This is all attuned to old guru counsels in the matter. In ancient India people didn't pick a guru at first glance. The established culture was to check each other out thoroughly before more commitment, and maybe for many years.
      ♦ In the quest for high quality tenets, one is likely to learn to welcome works by deans, professors, doctors and possibly experts otherwise. Keep an eye on high-quality books published by renowned publishers, often university publishers. Note what books are given good scores in high-quality journals too, and then you may have a mental cargo that might help against being taken in and dumbfounded.

Modern Echoes

Reflect on what is tidy and easy enough to follow through for yourself. It is not forbidden to travel and have a look at various gurus before you decide on anything. Maybe the second opinion helps, maybe not. Counsels vary, and in part in tune with the calibre and education and stands of those who counsel. Thus, there are many sorts of echoes around.
      Watch out for possibly neurosis-forming attitudes in encountering "modern bwanas" in the U.S.A.:

1. Idealisation.
2. Idyllisation.
3. Giving up too much of yours in the hope of a better life or uncertain returns.

Values back then and now

"It is a fool who does not change his mind (Proverb".

Yogananda shows in lectures from his early years in the United States and in later lectures that his favoured ideas on various subjects changed. Interestingly, this pertains to his outlooks of the devil too. He states somewhere that first he understood Satan as something figurative. Later, after he had been attacked by him one night in Bombay, he had no reason to talk of Satan as merely figurative any longer.
      The story of Satan-with-tail attacking Yogandanda strongly is here: [MORE].
      As for the values inculcated more or less in roundabout ways in Yogananda's autobiography, we don't find much Tantra lore on how to make love, but there is no talk ultimate benefits of limiting sex severely. However, people are different. Gurus too differ in that respect, suffice to say.
      "Learn to ask for a qualified second opinion in good time," is the counsel against being fooled by Lorelei or someone else. It could help against being outsmarted away from frivolous ways.
      ♦ Yogananda claims he was attacked by Satan, yet said our biggest enemy is bills -

Is a Hindu Swami a Christian or Super-Christian?

"Don't believe everything you hear" is at times handy. In meeting with over-bombastic phrases, slogans, and further, maybe sound slapstick helps, maybe not.
      ♦ Clean dealings are a boon.

Advancing guru work

Yogananda was a Hindu yogi, one of the first of that sort to visit The United States. Swami Vivekananda came some dozens of years earlier, and talked in public in Boston first. He made such a dramatic, vivid and favourable impression on Americans that he obviously paved the way for later yogis. Yogananda rose to become one of the most famous of them. His title was changed from 'swami' to 'paramahansa' (supreme swan) in 1936, on a visit back in India. [Cf. Via]
      Yogananda settled in the United States. They say millions have read his books. As for his yoga teachings, they may be hard to tackle, due to an initiate pledge that binds one hand and foot. There are many sides to many things - here is more material on the kriya pledge: [LINK].
      ♦ The Autobiography is a means to attract future devotees to gurus and "the work" (SRF), where some are severely disappointed, but have next to no direct influence of the monk(s)-nuns run organisation at large.

Check It Yourself

The many editions of Yogananda's autobiography are reported to have sold over a million copies, translated into more than 19 languages.
      As for footnotes, I have incorporated almost all from the 1946 edition. Later SRF editions have substantial additions to the footnotes, and more pictures and captions. I have compared with both the 1971 and 1981 editions.
      ♦ Later editions seem to have been "tampered with" somewhat by SRF by additions and changes. An example: "Never admit that you live by the power of food and not by the power of God!" in the first edition became "Never believe that you live . . ." in the 12th edition [Ha 88]. Others have studied these changes and additions. There are many others.

Literature  

Ha: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1981.

Jse: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Journey to Self-realization: Discovering the Gift of the Soul. New ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1997.

Lort: Freud, Anna. Jeg'et og forsvarsmekanismene. (The Ego and the Defence Mechanisms) Rev. ed. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1964.

Op: Simpson, John, and Jennifer Speake. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Trap: Nida, Eugene, and Charles Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: United Bible Societies / Brill, 1974.

Ysl: Bhattacharya, Jogesh Chandra. Yogiraj Shri Shri Lahiri Mahashaya. Kadamtala, Howrah: Shrigurudham (Ghosh), 1964. On-line read-only text at Yoganiketan, Portland, Mn: www.yoganiketan.net/main.htm

Via: Nikhilananda, swami. Vivekananda. The Yogas and Other Works. Rev. ed. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1953.



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