A01=David J. Neumann
alternative American religions
Author_David J. Neumann
Category=NHK
Category=QRAX
Category=QRD
Category=QRYM2
commodification of Hinduism
commodification of yoga
conversion in modern religious organizations
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
global gurus
globalized religion
Hindu-Christian syncretism
Indian religious nationalism transnational religious history
missionary Hinduism
modern American Hinduism
modern American yoga
modern denominational yoga
modern Hinduism
modern Indian yogis
modern yoga
neo-Hinduism
new religious movements
religion in Southern California
sacred American landscapes
spiritual autobiography
succession in modern religious organizations
transnational history of the twentieth-century
twentieth-century American yoga
twentieth-century international history
twentieth-century metaphysical movements
twentieth-century religious leaders
twentieth-century spirituality
yoga through correspondence courses
Product details
- ISBN 9781469648637
- Weight: 545g
- Dimensions: 155 x 233mm
- Publication Date: 18 Mar 2019
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), a Hindu missionary to the United States, wrote one of the world's most highly acclaimed spiritual classics, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was first published in 1946 and continues to be one of the best-selling spiritual philosophy titles of all time. In this critical biography, David Neumann tells the story of Yogananda's fascinating life while interpreting his position in religious history, transnational modernity, and American culture. Beginning with Yogananda's spiritual investigations in his native India, Neumann tells how this early ""global guru"" emigrated to the United States in 1920 and established his headquarters, the Self-Realization Fellowship, in Los Angeles, where it continues today.
Preaching his message of Hindu yogic philosophy in a land that routinely sent its own evangelists to India, Yogananda was fueled by a religious nationalism that led him to conclude that Hinduism could uniquely fill a spiritual void in America and Europe. At the same time, he embraced a growing belief that Hinduism's success outside South Asia hinged on a sincere understanding of Christian belief and practice. By ""universalizing"" Hinduism, Neumann argues, Yogananda helped create the novel vocation of Hindu yogi evangelist, generating fresh connections between religion and commercial culture in a deepening American religious pluralism.
Preaching his message of Hindu yogic philosophy in a land that routinely sent its own evangelists to India, Yogananda was fueled by a religious nationalism that led him to conclude that Hinduism could uniquely fill a spiritual void in America and Europe. At the same time, he embraced a growing belief that Hinduism's success outside South Asia hinged on a sincere understanding of Christian belief and practice. By ""universalizing"" Hinduism, Neumann argues, Yogananda helped create the novel vocation of Hindu yogi evangelist, generating fresh connections between religion and commercial culture in a deepening American religious pluralism.
David J. Neumann is assistant professor of history education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
