An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

part of the universal structure. . . . The creative voice of God I heard 
resounding as 
Aum . . .
Suddenly the breath returned to my lungs. With a disappointment 
almost unbearable, I realized that my infinite immensity was lost. Once 
more I was limited to the humiliating cage of a body, not easily accom-
modative to the Spirit.
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Yogananda learned to live a two-fold existence, in the world yet in a 
state of constant awareness of the eternal, in unity with God. In 1915 he 
obtained his degree and became a monk in the Swami Order, taking the 
name of Yogananda, meaning 
ananda
– bliss, through 
yoga,
divine union. 
In 1920 he visited the USA and set up the Self-Realization Fellowship to 
disseminate the teachings of Kriya Yoga. His technique of 
Yogoda
was 
based on the idea of recharging the life force from cosmic energy, and 
meditation as a path to God, through direct experience.
In 1935 Sri Yukteswar gave Yogananda the highest spiritual title of 
Paramahansa, literally 
parama
– highest, 
hansa
– swan’, traditionally the 
mount of Brahma the Creator, signifying someone who lived in a state of 
constant unity with God. Not long afterwards Sri Yukeswar died, but 
subsequently reappeared to Yogananda and divulged a huge amount 

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Religious and Spiritual Experience
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of information about the afterlife. Paramahansa Yogananda died of a 
heart attack in California, at the end of a banquet in honour of the Ambas-
sador of India. Yogananda had just finished speaking about closer ties 
between the two countries. His passing was viewed as 
mahasamadhi
, 
a conscious exit from his body, which showed no signs of decay for 
20 days afterwards.