Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur to a devout Bengali family. In 1920, Yogananda went to the United States as India’s delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals. That same year he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India’s ancient practices and philosophy of yoga and its tradition of meditation. In 1924, he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. During this time, he attracted numerous celebrity followers, including soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir Rosing, and Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, the daughter of Mark Twain. Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major portion of his life in America. Paramahansa Yogananda enetered mahasamadhi in March 1952. His mausoleum is in Palo Alto, California.
