Yogoda Satsanga Society of India - Overview

Overview

For more than ninety years, YSS has been dedicated to carrying on the spiritual and humanitarian work of its founder who is widely revered as the father of Yoga in the West. He founded YSS to make available the universal teachings of Kriya Yoga, a spiritual science of pranayama life-force control and meditation techniques originating in India. These nonsectarian teachings embody a complete philosophy and way of life for achieving all-round success and well-being, as well as methods of meditation for achieving life's ultimate goal — union of the soul with Spirit (God).

As expressed in the Aims and Ideals formulated by Yogananda, the society seeks to foster a spirit of greater understanding and goodwill among the diverse peoples and religions of our global family, and to help those of all cultures and nationalities to realize and express more fully in their lives the beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit.

YSS's headquarters, Yogoda Satsanga Math, is situated in Dakshineswar, in the state of Kolkata with branches in Dwarahat, in the state of Uttarakhand, and Ranchi, in the state of Jharkhand. It has grown to include more than 180 centres around the country. In addition to meditation centres throughout India, there are twenty-three educational institutions, from primary grades through college level. Yogananda has created four ashrams in India: Ranchi, Kolkata, Noida, Dwarahat.

Yogoda, a word coined by Yogananda, is derived from Yoga, union, harmony, equilibrium; and da, "that which imparts". "Satsanga" is composed of Sat, truth and Sanga, fellowship. For the west, Yogananda translated the Indian name as Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) which is located in Los Angeles, California, USA.

The teachings of Yogananda are made available, today as during his lifetime, through the printed Yogoda Satsanga Society Lessons. This comprehensive home-study series—studied by many thousands of people all over the world—gives instruction in all the meditation techniques of the Kriya Yoga science, as well as in the many other aspects of balanced spiritual living taught by Yogananda.

Paramahansa Yogananda actually started a small ashram in Dihika, West Bengal (near Asansol), in 1917 prior to moving to Ranchi, where he established and developed his first major ashram in India. The original site where Paramahansa Yogananda started his fledgling Dihika ashram, has been purchased in 1992 by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and is being maintained by them as a heritage site of the organization. "In 1997 YSS started a Kendra here. Soon thereafter, a charitable homeopathic dispensary was added. From mid 2010, this Kendra was slowly remodelled into a retreat centre with a boundary wall and a guesthouse. Subsequently, the work of constructing a Dhyana Mandir—with an accommodation for about 75 devotees—was taken up at this site."