The Yogi
March 7, 1952 — One of the most revered spiritual teachers of the modern era died on this day. His name was Paramahansa Yogananda.
Born in India, Yogananda came to the United States in 1920 and helped introduce millions of Westerners to yoga and meditation through his lectures, writings, and the Self-Realization Fellowship.
Yogananda taught that religion should be rooted in direct spiritual experience rather than blind belief. As he put it: “The true basis of religion is not belief, but intuitive experience.”
On the evening of March 7, 1952, Yogananda delivered a speech at the Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles honoring India’s ambassador. As he finished reciting a poem about his homeland, he collapsed and died of heart failure.
His final lines were:
“Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God —
I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.”
Yogananda’s spiritual memoir, Autobiography of a Yogi, has since sold millions of copies and remains one of the most influential books on Eastern spirituality ever published.
