Paramahansa Yogananda’s timeless legacy continues to trend across Europe and the USA as spiritual seekers rediscover Kriya Yoga in 2026. This ancient meditation science, preserved through Swami Hariharananda, offers modern solutions for mental clarity and inner peace. From Los Angeles to the Netherlands, the global community embraces these sacred initiations to balance material success with profound spiritual realization.
It may be funny to say, but for me the wonders are not out of the world yet. Do you also believe in miracles? Fortunately, I once followed reading a book: “An Autobiography of a Yogi”, which was once written by very famous Swami Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda’s own baptismal name was “Mukonda Lal Gosh” (1893-1952), was the man who changed the world by bringing it into contact with the world-renowned Kriya yoga. He was one of the first Indian gurus to bring the Kriya message to the United States of America in 1920 at the behest of his master. After his monastic ordination in 1911, he was invited as a speaker in 1920, becoming the first Indian realized yoga master at the Conference of World Religions in Boston.
With whom was Yogananda in direct contact?
After 15 years of relentless spiritual labor in the U.S., Yoganandaji returned to India in 1935. During this stay he met great personalities such as Ramana Maharshi, Anandamoyi Ma, Kashimoni Devi -the holy wife of Shyamacharan Lahiri- and Mahatma Gandhi. He understood the universal importance of Kriya Yoga as the scientific basis of all religions. Mahatma Gandhi and several of his disciples were initiated into Kriya Yoga in the Wardha ashram by Yoganandaji in 1935. During Yoganandaji’s stay in Kolkata in 1935, Paramahamsa Hariharananda was initiated by him into the 2nd Kriya. His gurudev Shriyukteshwar granted him the highest title for a monk during this period: Paramahamsa.
Who was the great Swami Hariharanandaji?
Swami Hariharanandaji Picture: Stichting Kriya Yoga
After reading the book The Biography of a Yogi, I was immediately impressed by Indian Kriya Yoga. At that time, in the 1990s, I was part of the Bangoer family from Suriname, who had once moved from India to Suriname as contractors. The parents of my girlfriend at the time were very passionate supporters of Yogananda’s successor, the Hariharanandaji, whom I mentioned earlier. They told me that the Swami would visit the Netherlands that coming weekend, and thought it was the same for me. The right time was to be initiated into kriya yoga.
What did I learn from the Yoga initiation?
My initiation into Kriya Yoga took place a few days before Haranandaji’s arrival in the Netherlands in a sacred Hindu temple in The Hague. The price I had to pay for this consisted of five fruits, five flowers, and one hundred Dutch guilders, (They still existed at that time.) I can still remember very well that I was allowed to enter the holy temple in The Hague. The initiation session took place that day under the guidance of Peter van Breukelen (Swami Petronella). There were several aspiring Kriya Yoga participants present, and I felt like there was a chilling silence and calm in the room where the blessing would take place.
How was your first introduction to Kriya Yoga in practice?
The blessing was very disciplined, and I can still remember very clearly how Peter van Breukelen pressed his fingers on my eyelids to let me behold the holy light. After we had been busy with the initiation for a few hours, Peter told the group present that Paramhansa Hariharanandaji would visit the Netherlands this coming weekend, and that he would like to meet the group that was initiated by Peter today in person in Houten. I heard the message but was not at all sure if I would dare to meet such a special holy man as Hariharanandaji.
How did Haranandaji suck me in?
When I came home that evening for dinner with the very hospitable Hindustani family and told them that I had heard that Haranandaji (1907-2002) would be in the Netherlands this weekend, the house became too small. The entire family present spontaneously started to convince me that this meeting was not to be missed. After a lot of nagging on their part, I agreed to go. That Saturday we arrived with many family members at the assembly hall in the Dutch village of Houten, near Utrecht. When I walked into the room, I saw hundreds of people dressed in white in the room. Almost all of them sat on the floor in the devout position. Suddenly, everyone stood up and folded their hands reverently.
Who was that “gnome” in his orange suit and red hat?
Suddenly, a not too big man appeared in an orange suit with a red woolen hat as protection from the cold that day in the Netherlands. Sorry to say it, but I had a hard time holding back my laughter at that moment. The “little man” walked up to the platform, and after he had assumed his devout posture, and everyone in the yoga posture sat with their eyes closed, began to preach a kind of sermon. The sermon was translated into Dutch by Peter van Breukelen. Suddenly, in the middle of his sermon, the swami said, “Peter, shell I go?” The all have their eyes close the don’t she me when I walk away?” The audience laughed, he had achieved a goal, everyone was relaxed in one fell swoop.
What did I have with this great Indian master on that day?
After he had finished his sermon, the swami had the visitors come to him with questions that wanted to be blessed to be allowed to kiss his ring. Suddenly, while he was engaged in these blessings, he asked me and the other persons who had been initiated the week before the event to come and sit forward in the room on a rug in front of his platform. I got very nervous and wondered if I wanted to do this. But before I could answer, the swami looked me in the eye from afar, I don’t know what happened exactly, but I spontaneously started walking in the direction of the stage and sat cross-legged on the rug in front of the stage.
Do you believe in miracles?
I felt like the swami literally took over my will. I sat down on his blanket and waited quietly to see what was going to happen. Suddenly, Swami Hariharanandaji came my way and sat down on the rug in front of me. He looked straight at me and laughed: “How tense you are, let go of that tension, he said to me in a laughing voice.” I countered that it was difficult for me to relax because of some physical pains. The swami laughed, he grabbed me by my hips and shoulders with his hands, and I have never felt so relaxed as I did at that moment. The pain disappeared spontaneously and was left behind in that room that day as well.
Do you also believe that there are more roads leading to our destination?
Yes, I believe in a certain destiny after our lives, and believe that there is more than one holy person in the world, but I will always keep the encounter with Hariharanandaji in my heart. This holy man has largely devoted the rest of my life; Determines. My gratitude is great, and my thoughts are still with the great man, OHM, almost every day of my life. Do you recognize something from my story? Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting this greatness? Please let me know.
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