72 pages 2 hours read

Paramahansa Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1946

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Index of Terms

Aum

Aum is the primal creative vibration, the Creative Word, that is behind the manifestation of the physical world. Yogananda calls it “the vibration of the Cosmic Motor” (162).

Avatar

An avatar (sometimes avatara) is an incarnation of the divine on earth. Examples include Babaji, Krishna, and Christ. The word means “descent,” and Yogananda states, “In the Hindu scriptures, avatara signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh” (332).

Bhakti

Bhakti means devotion. It is one of the main paths to God and is the path followed by Yogananda.