How the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ changed my outlook on life.

Hello Rodinhooders. Hope everyone is doing great!

When I was sixteen years old, my parents had tried to get me to read ‘The Autobiography Of A Yogi’  but I was young and stupid (I still Am :P) and so I kept procrastinating and finally did not do it till I turned twenty .

At sixteen, my main priorities in life were to go to ‘hang out’ in the mall with friends, watch movies,eat lots of junk food and play video games such as GTA and Call of Duty on the then popular console, PlayStation 2. The closest thing to spirituality that I had attained was understanding the concept of ‘ Inner Peace’ and the fact that there are no shortcuts in life, there is no ‘Secret Ingredient ‘ for success, it’s just hard work and belief in one self. Yes, I got all that from the movie ‘Kung FU Panda’.:P  I was a lost cause back then 😛

Looking back now, I wish I had read’ The Autobiography of A Yogi ‘ earlier,because it has really left an impact on me and changed my outlook on life.

I had read an article about Steve Jobs on the huffingtonpost, and this,motivated me to pick up the book

Here is a small excerpt from it:

‘530 Pages!’,was my first thought on seeing the book

Though I had read plenty of lengthy books before,the sheer volume of the book scared me! Being a student, I was surrounded by books and assignments all day long ,So coming back and trying to read another mammoth book did  not seem like an easy task.

Just as I was about to give up ,a friend introduced me to the Audio book of the ‘Autobiography Of A Yogi’ read out by Sir Ben Kingsley. I was overjoyed.

The Audio book was amazing. It included different voices,mannerisms and tones for all the Gurus : Paramahansa Yogananda , Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri , Lahiri Mahasaya and The Immortal Mahavatar Babaji. It really brought the book alive and I could picture each chapter in my mind.

Some portions of the book were so insightful and full of wisdom that I had to pause the Audio book ,so that I could let it all sink in and understand the wisdom behind the words.

I finished the audio book in two weeks , but now I want to actually read the book, because in the end nothing can compare to actually reading a book and imagining the scenes at your pace and really understanding the lessons taught in it.I want to do this, till the lessons in the book become second nature to me.

530 pages is too Less!!

I now feel that 530 pages is too less! I can’t imagine how Paramahansa Yogananda summarized his entire life journey so eloquently in just 530 pages. Whenever I look at the book now it fills me with a sense of calmness instead of fear that I had felt earlier.

Though I did  not have the opportunity to attend a Rodinhood Open house till date because of my college schedule, I had read articles on trh and seen videos on YouTube of Alok Sir distributing and encouraging people to read the book.I now know why!

I have  booked my tickets for the ROH in Mumbai on 8th March, will hopefully be my 1st of many more Open Houses 🙂  will be bunking college to be there 😛 ( and Yes, I have got the approval from my parents to bunk 😛 )

Please do share your experience about how the amazing journey of Paramahansa Yogananda has blessed your life and if you have not read it yet, please place it at #1 on your Bucket List.

#WannaWearRodinhood’sGoogleGlass!

Cheers

Harshith Mallya