By Renu Singh Parmar
“If I don’t see you, remember I am working for you in some other place. My seeing you all the time will not necessarily help you. You will receive more by meditating deeply and regularly. I am not here only to help you in this life, but in the beyond also.”
— Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
Today, on His birthday, these words of Paramahansa Yoganandaji assure us that the true bond between guru and disciple is sustained through deep meditation, faith, and divine grace, beyond physical presence and even beyond this earthly life.
Yoganandaji was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh on 5 January 1893 in Gorakhpur, India, to spiritually devoted parents, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh and Gyan Prabha Ghosh. From an early age, he was drawn to prayer and meditation, and experienced profound inner states, including visions of divine light, which he later described in Autobiography of a Yogi as moments that permanently shaped his resolve to seek God above all else.
As he grew older, this longing deepened into an intense quest for God. Still in his teens, Mukunda made several determined but unsuccessful attempts to reach the Himalayas, believing that great saints lived there who could guide him toward spiritual realisation. Though these journeys did not succeed outwardly, they strengthened his faith and resolve.
In 1910, at the age of seventeen, his prayers were answered when he met Swami Sri Yukteswar, his divinely ordained guru. Under his strict yet loving guidance, Mukunda underwent years of rigorous spiritual training. Through obedience, meditation, and surrender, he was prepared for his life’s mission. Later, he embraced monkhood and took on the name Paramahansa Yogananda, signifying the attainment of the highest bliss through union with God.
Yoganandaji taught that all human striving is, at its core, a search for God. He said: “Mankind is engaged in an eternal quest for that ‘something else’ he hopes will bring him happiness, complete and unending. For those individual souls who have sought and found God, the search is over: He is that Something Else.”
In 1917, he founded the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) in Ranchi to spread the practice of scientific meditation and balanced spiritual living. In 1920, he travelled to the United States and established the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in Los Angeles. Through these two organisations, he disseminated the powerful teachings of Kriya Yoga and meditation worldwide through lectures, centres, and home-study lessons.
For more than thirty years, Paramahansa Yogananda taught tirelessly in the West, emphasising devotion to God, regular meditation, and the unity of all true religions. He encouraged seekers to not merely believe, but experience God directly.
His spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, has touched millions of hearts and continues to draw souls toward the path of God-realisation. Two of his other major works, including God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita and The Second Coming of Christ, further reveal the universal truths shared by Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.
Today, on his birth anniversary, Yoganandaji’s presence continues to be felt by sincere seekers who call upon his divine guidance. Through devotion, discipline, and God’s grace, he assures us that the search for lasting happiness finds its fulfilment in God alone.
