72 pages • 2 hours read
Paramahansa YoganandaAutobiography of a Yogi
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1946A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Read Yogananda’s account of Ranchi, the school he founded. Could any elements of the curriculum in his school be usefully adopted in US public schools? What elements might those be, and how and why might they be adopted?
Give some examples of passages from the New Testament that Yogananda uses to illustrate spiritual truth. How does he relate or compare them to passages from Indian scriptures or Indian spirituality generally? What might be his larger purpose in mentioning Christian texts in a book largely about Eastern approaches to the ultimate truths of life?
Yogananda died more than two thirds of a century ago. Write an opinion piece for a newspaper or magazine in which you argue that the teachings and message contained in Autobiography of a Yogi still have relevance today. What might the average person gain from reading the book?
Has Autobiography of a Yogi stimulated your own spiritual search? In what sense? How have the ideas and experiences related by Yogananda expanded your vision of what human life might be or become?
Yogananda describes supernormal occurrences as evidence of his underlying theology. However, he is aware that seemingly impossible occurrences can inspire skepticism as well as belief. How does he navigate this tension?
Discuss how Yogananda describes the master-disciple relationship. What is it based on, and how does it operate? Why does Yogananda search so hard for a personal spiritual master? Examine at least two such relationships.
Write an essay titled “Who Am I?” This phrase is associated with a Vedantic teacher, Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), as part of his method of self-inquiry. Yogananda refers to him in Chapter 41, p. 436. In addition to your own experience and self-reflection, use Yogananda as a reference source. Who are you, in the deepest, truest sense?
As an exponent of an Indian spiritual system, Yogananda believes in reincarnation. Discuss some of the references he makes to it. What commonalities exist between the various depictions of reincarnation in the book? What rhetorical purposes do these anecdotes serve?
Discuss the idea that all the world’s religions essentially point to the same truth. How does Yogananda illustrate this idea, and how convincing is it? Each religion also has its own distinctive features—are those equally important as the elements they share with others?
Discuss the relationship between spiritual knowledge and experience. Yogananda emphasizes the importance of direct experience, but he also gives much intellectual knowledge about the long tradition of Indian spirituality. Is direct experience any use to a person without some intellectual understanding that can give it appropriate context and a wider meaning?
