Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru

Goldberg's objective, yet respectful, biography of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda shows diligent commitment to present an unbiased, indepth account of the great yoga master. It was a joy to read and glean new jewels of understanding about the spiritual giant as well as those whose lives threaded with his. I loved every single page!

Have just finished reading the exceptionally interesting “The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru” by Phil Goldberg.To finally discover the details of a major part of his life were like finding the missing parts of the jigsaw after 44 years of curiosity. The details of a major part of his epochal life and how he so patiently persevered with it was deeply inspiring. What struck me also was the need to convey the value of reading this book to other students of Yogananda or Yoga. So many sincere students of his have dismissed an interest in reading this book on account of the fact that it has not been written by a reputed sanyasin who wears an ochre robe. Phil Goldberg has greatly respected experience and credentials as an author and is an honest biographer. He was greatly helped with access to the historical files by the board of directors of Self Realization Fellowship. This world is full of constraints and limitations and even though such an amazing subject is disappointingly short at less than 300 pages. I deeply hope one day Phil or some other great author can go into even more biographical detail with another riveting 1000 page tome.The great avatar wrote very little about the larger portion of his life while being resident of America. After reading the book you realize that his great humility did not want to focus on the dark forces he had to contend with on an almost daily basis. To advertise negativity can in itself give it a life-force and as a great soul he promoted all the good qualities he witnessed in the west while turning a blind eye to the aggressive racial discrimination, yellow journalism, Christian zealotry, jealous husbands, irate fathers, over anxious mothers and ongoing delusional actions of enormous disloyalty from those he was so tirelessly trying to help. The sheer and almost at times universal misunderstanding of his divine nature found endless repetitive ways to express itself while at the same time consistantly allowing Yogananda to exude the sweet forgiving understanding of a great saint. I was just chatting yesterday with a close friend who told me how once he was locked up in a jail in Florida, in the early 70’s for no other reason than for having long hair. I told him of the extreme angst and discrimination I received 46 years ago when I turned vegetarian. The point being that the generation of today has so little concept of how social evolutionary values have advanced in some areas and sadly deeply digressed in others. In the 1940’s it was illegal for an Asian to marry a white girl in California just to cite one example. And California was regarded as being way too tolerant by the other states!!Personally because I have read most info on Yogananda from the different books put out by SRF. I found the first 100 pages at best to be passed over, as it is just a repeat of Mejda or other books written by persons who had a more personal relationship to the events. But when Mr. Goldberg launched into Yogananda landing in Boston the book took on a whole new light of revealing and inspiring information. Life is so full of struggles and hard work and to see how a great saint deals with them and to walk in their shoes, as the pages turn, was a great darshan and series of lessons. I urge anyone to not dismiss this exceptional biography of truly Shakespearian drama, which has for so many years sat quietly in silent history but has finally been made available.

Philip Goldberg has done a brilliant job of giving a balanced, detailed, well researched, objective and highly readable view of a fascinating man, a Hindu teacher who had a huge impact on spirituality and religion in America in the first part of the 20th century. Goldberg describes some of Yogananda’s early mystical experiences in the early chapters (drawn from his subject’s own famous Autobiography of a Yogi and other sources) but makes sure to leave room for both believers and non believers to come to their own conclusions. When he moves on to the years yogananda spent in the US the author gives us details of the many financial and personal hardships he encountered without losing sight of his mission and the depth of his subject’s spirituality. Goldberg’s knowledge of Hinduism and his very readable way of putting Yogananda’s life story in the context of American and world history is another reason to love this book. I came away in awe of the time and commitment it must have taken to research and write such a volume! And to achieve the right tone. Which he has. An excellent addition to the bookshelf or kindle of any spiritual seeker or anyone interested in religion in America.

The Life of Yogananda by Phil Goldberg is a deeply profound, superbly written account of the life of Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the truly great spiritual masters of this or any time, and is essential reading for anyone on a spiritual path. One one hand, It IS a remarkable biography about a true spiritual giant like Yogananda while simultaneously shedding new light on the life and personality of a very remarkable human being. At the same time, it IS also a book about America’s most famous yogi that counts among its many virtues the addition of the untold stories and facets of Yogananda’s life that were not popularly reported. But Phil Goldberg’s biography of Yogananda is all this, and so much more. There are many, many "spiritual" books around, but Goldberg’s book about Yogananda does what so very few do. In an inexplicable, yet undeniable way, possibly due to Goldberg’s attunement with Yogananda while writing this book, or possibly due to Goldberg’s own enlightened consciousness, or both, this book has the power to open hearts, and uplift one’s consciousness while reading it. Goldberg has does something very very rare. He has written a book about Yogananda that actually vibrates with the presence, energy, and transmission of Yogananda himself!! In its pages, one not only feels Yogananda’s Love, Wisdom, and Compassion, but one actually FEELS Yoganands’s blessing pouring through the pages, uplifting, inspiring, and awakening the reader with every turn of the page. For those of us not lucky enough to have known this great spiritual master while in his body, Phil Goldberg’s biography of Yogananda does the next best thing. It is a virtual darshan that brings Yogananda fully alive within the readers fully opened heart and elevated consciousness. Not many books are capable of this. Phil Goldberg’s does this many times over.

Perfect book......just go for it....peace of mind

Very interesting to look into the life of Yogananda whose teachings have impacted the life of so many, including my own. This book allows us to see how someone so close to divine understanding delt with the troubles, trials and hardships of a very human life. Very enlightening and inspirational!

This book the product of cut and paste from other books on Master. I was truly disappointed as it added nothing new to what we already knew from his Autobiography, articles, and the extensively quoted ‘Mejda’. Don’t waste your money!

I couldn't stop reading it. A very objective and balanced perspective on the life of this great yogi-saint. Highly recommended.

Well, I put four stars because the pictures on the cover are lovely.Master's loving gaze blessing us, and guiding us when our own eyes of wisdom are shut.I wish the author had written this as a simple list of verified facts and quotes, rather than trying to impress his own, narrow and oft misguided impressions and thoughts on the reader.Constantly trying to guess the thoughts of a manifested master, an Avatar for the coming age. When one's mind is busy with commonplace thoughts of the world, quite a task !A lot of these anecdotes are taken from other books and from the talks Guruji gave.