Paramahansa Yogananda

A body unchanged for twenty days

Harry T. Rowe, Mortuary Director at Forest Lawn, wrote in a notarized letter that staff expected decay through the glass lid of the casket, that none appeared, and that the body on 27 March looked as on 7 March. SRF's publications call this a phenomenal state of immutability.

No odor of decay emanated from his body at any time.

Reported by Harry T. Rowe, mortuary director, in a letter sent to SRF, dated 15 May 1952 in Ananda's account. Recorded May 1952; quoted by Time, 4 August 1952.

The letter is real, but the body was embalmed. According to David Lane, citing Harry Edwards (1995), the fuller text of Rowe's statement says embalming took place on the night of 8 March with a customary quantity of fluid, and the death certificate carries embalmer Kenneth I. Johnson's signature. Edwards says Rowe's surprise concerned the absence of cosmetic creams. Two embalmers told him twenty days was not unusual, especially under a glass lid. The Skeptic's Dictionary reports that Rowe also noted a brown spot on the nose. We did not read the full letter, so these points rest on Lane, Carroll and SRF excerpts.

A notarized letter by the mortuary director supports the observation, so this sits at the top of the unusual band. The body was embalmed under glass, which is the plain reading of the same facts. Known here only through a summary, so lowered by about 10. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.

Sources: Religion: Guru's Exit; Those Who Knew Yogananda: Encinitas' Swami; The Skeptical Yogi, Part Ten: Conclusion; Incorruptible bodies; Forest Lawn Memorial-Park

Conscious departure at the Biltmore

Disciples say he entered mahasamadhi, a yogi's conscious exit from the body, on finishing a speech, and that he had hinted at the event beforehand. Time reports he joked 'Wish me luck' the day before.

Reported by SRF monastics, in Self-Realization magazine; Time. Recorded May to June 1952; Time, 4 August 1952.

The death before an audience is firmly documented. The medical verdict was acute coronary occlusion. Consciousness or intent cannot be shown. Neither explanation excludes the other for believers, but the medical finding stands.

His death at the end of a speech is firmly documented, and the medical cause was coronary occlusion. Scored is the death and the reported hints; a conscious exit cannot be shown. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.

Sources: Religion: Guru's Exit; Master's Mahasamadhi

Healed of cholera by a photograph

As a child with Asiatic cholera he says he gazed at Lahiri Mahasaya's photograph at his mother's urging, saw a blinding light, and recovered.

I gazed at his photograph and saw there a blinding light, enveloping my body and the entire room.

Reported by Yogananda, of his own childhood. Recorded Published 1946, about forty-five years later.

Childhood memory published decades later in a devotional work, with no medical witness. Recovery from cholera was common enough, and the diagnosis is unconfirmed.

His own childhood memory, published about 45 years later, with no medical witness and no confirmed diagnosis. Recovery from cholera was common enough. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.

Sources: Autobiography of a Yogi

Kashi reborn and found

Yogananda says a Ranchi pupil named Kashi died of cholera in Calcutta, that he promised to find him again, and that he located the soul in a baby by a yogic technique.

Reported by Yogananda. Recorded Published 1946.

A sole first-person report. The boy's family, the school records and the later child were not traced. The tale cannot be tested in its present form.

A sole first-person report, and the family, school and child were never traced. Finding a reborn soul is contrary as described and nothing corroborates it. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.

Sources: Autobiography of a Yogi