The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda took me a very long time to read. Almost four months to be more specific. I read the book in the morning while drinking my smoothie. At times I was almost ready to quit reading it but I suffered through. The stories were so unbeleavable that, sometimes, the book reads more like fiction than fact. Incidents of dead gurus materializing out of thin air, spontaneous healing of deadly diseases or masters bringing people from dead using only tools such as mineral bracelets didn’t really inspire me. I guess I expected more after hearing that Steve Jobs read this book every year. However, there were some good chapters and thoughtful passages. Here are a few that resonated with me:

Something to keep in mind when traversing the societal ladders:

Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others!

Much of our suffering comes from our expectations of others:

Wrath springs only from thwarted desires. I do not expect anything from others, so their actions cannot be in opposition to wishes of mine. I would not use you for my own ends; I am happy only in your own true happiness.

Science is a story humans tell themselves. The laws of the cosmos remain true, independent of those stories:

It is never a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief.

A strong case for quieting the mind through yoga and/or meditation:

Yoga is a method for restraining the natural turbulence of thoughts, which otherwise impartially prevent all men, of all lands, from glimpsing their true nature of Spirit. Yoga cannot know a barrier of East and West any more than does the healing and equitable light of the sun. So long as man possesses a mind with its restless thoughts, so long will there be a universal need for yoga or control.

On the impermanence of material things:

Though the human race and its works disappear tracelessly by time or bomb, the sun does not falter in its course; the stars keep their invariable vigil.

The Buddha said that attachment is the root of suffering:

Imagine the happy life of one unattached to the material world; free of the clothing problem; free of food craving, never begging, never touching cooked food except on alternate days, never carrying a begging bowl; free of all money entanglements, never handling money, never storing things away, always trusting in God; free of transportation worries, never riding in vehicles, but always walking on the banks of the sacred rivers; never remaining in one place longer than a week in order to avoid any growth of attachment.



For a list of the books I am and have been reading see my profile on Goodreads.

