UC Santa Barbara

This study examines the figure of the Yogi as he moves from nineteenth-century colonial India into the Western, and specifically American, imagination and historical landscape. The study utilizes Paramahansa Yogananda as a case study and approaches his role and contributions from two perspectives: a literary critical approach to his writings and a historical account of the contexts that serve to illuminate his work and career especially where they contribute to our understanding of the modern interaction between Indian and Western thought. Chapters 1 and 2 trace a broad history of Yogis and Yogi-figures, first contextualizing them in their original Indian framework before moving to Western portrayals and interactions. Chapter 3 surveys Yogananda’s life through the lens of sources other than his famous Autobiography, while Chapter 4 analyzes on Yogananda’s teachings in the United States as reflecting the concerns of Progressive Era capitalism and scientific universalism. Finally, Chapter 5 examines the Autobiography itself as a carefully constructed narrative of Yogananda’s spiritual growth and identity as a Yogi.