Dear John,

We did an interview recently with our good friend, Phil Goldberg, author of The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru. The interview was in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first publication of Autobiography of a Yogi in December 1946.

During the interview Phil raised an interesting question: “What would the world be like today without the Autobiography?” This intriguing query launched a series of thoughts that kept falling like dominos in my mind for many days.

First, there are the big, bold strokes of famous people inspired by the book who have had a huge impact on society.

Steve Jobs, the visionary behind Apple, read the Autobiography every year of his adult life. It was the only book he kept on his iPhone, and he left instructions to give a copy of it to everyone who attended his funeral when he died tragically at an early age.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, once gave an interview to a young actor (who happened to be a disciple of Yoganandaji). The actor saw a copy of the Autobiography on a bookshelf behind Mr. Roddenberry’s desk, and asked him, “Have you read that book?” He replied, “Read it? I get lots of my ideas from it. The thought of ‘beaming people up’ came from the chapter, ‘The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar.’”

George Harrison of the Beatles became a disciple, and the music written later in his life was influenced by this association.

Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s undefeated cricket team, said of the Autobiography: “I love this book. A must-read for all those who are brave enough to let their thoughts and ideologies be challenged. The understanding and implementation of the knowledge in this book will change your whole perspective and life.”

Then there are the four million copies in over thirty languages that have been sold to date. In the years that Jyotish and I have been sharing Yogananda’s teachings around the world, we’ve met countless people everywhere who have read it.

Some have said, “Oh, I read the Autobiography years ago. I wish I had followed him.” Others told us, “When I read it, my whole perspective on life changed.” And still others quietly said, “After reading it, I have followed him as a disciple ever since.” Not one person we met who had read it was untouched by its spiritual influence.