Autobiography of a Yogi

[Matt23]

I still haven't finished it (am about 2/3 of the way through).  

I often wonder why Leo put it on his book list.  It seems to me like there's a lot of nonsense in it.  It's like every chapter is Paramhansa (the author) telling some story about miracles he's encountered or heard of.  Like people levitating, teleporting, knowing the future, and even one guy he encountered who could create any fragrance requested.  He also tries to explain these mystical experiences using a mixture of religious, mystical, and scientific language and concepts.  But it seems like a pretty big stretch with not a lot of backup to it.

I'm struggling to find any benefit from it since it seems to be mostly made up.

There are a few bits of wisdom and history that were interesting and noteworthy.  But few and far between.  Maybe I'm not seeing the inspiration that others see in it.

Hard to distinguish what's fact and fiction.  

I'm interested to hear if anyone has any different opinions (or same too).

I'm also still not done so maybe I'll change my mind.  

Overall: 4.5/10

 

[okulele]

9 hours ago, Matt23 said:

it seems to be mostly made up

or your mind is really closed?

I personally loved the book

[Matt23]

Yeah could be.  In the back of my mind and intuition kept on saying "it could be true" " you don't know if it's not".  I felt a battle inside between "common" sense (not veing grounded) and openmindedness.

I also noticed fear of being one of those kooks who just believes in miracles and being vulnerable to being manipulated.

@okulele what did you enjoy most about the book?  

[Zigzag Idiot]

I'm with both of you. I loved the book but have never completely resolved all of my inner disparities with it.

Yogananda's humor and enthusiasm in his writing is very infectious. I only read it about 3 years ago and want to read it again. For me, the big takeaway is his view of Christ.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_of_Christ_(book)

 

 

[okulele]

On 7/25/2019 at 9:06 PM, Matt23 said:

 what did you enjoy most about the book?  

I don't know really. It just made a big impression on me. Reading these unbelievable things and knowing that this was the man's life and his experiences. It really shows how limited our view of reality usually is and how radically different other's lives can be.

[How to be wise]

@Matt23 I’ve heard western teachers with no religious background whatsoever saying that they experienced teleportation.

[kieranperez]

@Matt23 I can promise you that those miracles are not only possible but have been done by thousands of yogis for thousands of years and you can even meet these people today who do this. 

I don’t blame you for having a closed mind. It really is crazy that this stuff is possible but yeah, the practices and technologies are nonetheless possible and exist. 

Authogbiography of a yogi is really an autobiogrphical romance story between one man and his love of Truth. 

[kira]

@kieranperez have you had any direct experince with it ? have you seen it yourself? or  you just heard of people who heard of people that this or that yogi did it ?
 

asking completly out of curiousity … not questioning whatever its true or not … just curious where your certainty comes from