The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru (Paperback) by Philip Goldberg

Paramahansa Yogananda — widely viewed as a central figure in bringing yoga to the modern West — made a profound international impact through his enduring teachings, the organisations he established or inspired, and most notably his celebrated memoir, Autobiography of a Yogi.

First published in 1946, the book has sold millions of copies worldwide and touched countless lives. Yet it presents only a partial picture.

Much of this influential work is devoted to stories about other saints and spiritual personalities, while the three pivotal decades Yogananda spent living, teaching, and building his mission in America receive comparatively little attention. Major aspects of his life — including personal trials, public controversies, setbacks, achievements, friendships, and formative turning points — remain unfamiliar even to many dedicated admirers. In this engrossing biography, author and spiritual scholar Philip Goldberg addresses those omissions, mapping a life that stretched across six decades, two continents, two world wars, and a time of dramatic global change. The result is a clear-eyed, deeply researched portrait that reveals the full scope, subtlety, and human depth of Yogananda’s extraordinary life.