Niko Lopes Lopes itibaren Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan itibaren Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

I had a hard time deciding between three and four stars for this book. Individual chapters vary between the sublime and thought-provoking, to seemingly self-serving "advertisements" for the author's brand of yoga. Of course, one would expect a book titled Autobiography of a Yogi to be about his path as a yoga practitioner. But there are many chapters devoted to miracles performed by different yogis and yoganinis (male and female masters, respectively), and many mentions of the host of benefits available from kriya yoga practice. Yet there is no way to begin such a practice save by being initiated by an authentic master of kriya yoga, and Yogananda talks about the practice itself in only the vaguest of terms — all of which makes reading the book a little bit of an exercise in frustration. Despite all that, there are some pearls of wisdom here. Yogananda was very well versed in Christianity, and quotes freely from Christian literature. A large part of his writings are a call for the world to adopt some form of sincere religious practice; not necessarily his. There are frequent essays on the need for spiritual devotion which struck me as true for many religious traditions — it was, at least, true for my own. I had thought that once I finished the book, I would have no cause to return to it; now, I'm not so sure. For that reason, I'm giving it four stars, even though I'm uncomfortable "rating" what for some will be a religious text. As a side note, the gurus in Yogananda's lineage (his master, his master's master, and his master's master's master) are all featured, along with Yogandanda himself, on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Stories of each are prominent in the Autobiography.