The last one during Yogananda’s lifetime
In 1951, for the third edition of the Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda added an additional chapter 49, “The years 1940-1951”. In a footnote at the beginning of the new chapter, Yogananda writes: “Much new material in Chapter 49 has been added to the third edition of this book. In response to requests made by a number of readers of the first two editions, I have answered, in this chapter, various questions about India, yoga, and Vedic philosophy.” He also described the development of his centers and various activities during the last years.
Otherwise Yogananda was mostly satisfied with the existing chapters: In the first 47 chapters only few changes were made in the main text (6 paragraphs added, 4 deleted, 13 modified). Mostly one finds footnote changes (40). Thus Yogananda writes at the beginning of the book, in a NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION (dated April 12, 1951): “The third edition contains several new pictures, slight revisions of the text, many new notes and footnotes, and a new chapter, “The Years 1940-1951′”.
Some readers might be interested in knowing exactly what kind of “slight changes” Yogananda made for this edition. Here is the gist of the changes in the main text:
-At the end of chapter 9, part of a paragraph is deleted, about Yogananda’s memory of the seraphic Master Mahasaya. Instead three philosophical ending paragraphs are added, about the God-love of all saints, their humility and bliss, and Divine Mother’s play with devotees in important and unimportant matters.
-The end of chapter 12 another two paragraphs are added: Discouraging some students without realization to enter the swami-path: Instead they are advised to practice kriya. And that saints see just two classes of men: Those who seek God and those who don’t.
– In Chapter 32, two sentences about Lahiri Mahasaya, regarding the divine decree of his life, smouldering and bursting into flame, were deleted.
– In chapter 37 a Bhagavad Gita quote is included: “If there should rise…” The poetic words of Emma Lazarus from the Statue of Liberty are taken out, replaced by Walt Whitman’s poem, “Hymn to America”.
-In chapter 38 a line is deleted which says that both Luther Burbank and Henry Ford believe in reincarnation.
– In chapter 44, a paragraph by Gandhi about the law of love was taken out. Instead a paragraph was included about the necessity of spiritual vision, and that science has brought a sense of insecurity and insubstantiality of matter to humanity, which can go nowhere else but to the Spirit within.
– The poem “The Soundless Roar”, and the description of the flag of India were added.
That is basically all in the first 47 chapters. The rest are minor changes.
The last existing chapter 48 was partly “exported” into the new chapter 49, and several paragraphs in it were modified: The description of world-brotherhood colonies has been shortened and changed, but not deleted: There is an “urgent need” for them in the world.
It seems noteworthy that Yogananda had his autobiography end with a fervent tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, in a text “In Memoriam”. Thus he directed, once again, the reader’s admiration generously not to himself and his work, but to another great soul, as he had done throughout the book.
Interestingly, Yogananda included in this 1951 edition only very few of the changes which were included in the 1949 Rider edition (which also used, of course, British spelling and hyphens). Maybe his added chapter 49 superseded what had been done for the Rider-edition.
By this edition, in 1951, the Autobiography of a Yogi was already available in seven languages!
India was proud of Yogananda: Great and famous Masters like Ramana Maharishi and Anandamoyee Ma had highest regard for Yogananda, as a true ambassador of the ancient Vedic philosophy. The famous Swami Shivananda of Rishikesh wrote that Yogananda has been an ideal representative of the ancient sages and seers, the glory of India.
Not long after the 3rd edition appeared, Yogananda left his body, which remained in a phenomenal state of incorruption for weeks: No normal sign of decay was visible when the casket was closed: Yogananda looked, after having been “dead” for three weeks, as if he were peacefully asleep: Never before had America witnessed such an inexplicable case.
In this way, it seems, the great Master gave a powerful last testimony to the truth of the “miraculous” yogic teachings he had described in his Autobiography of a Yogi.
Next chapter: 4th edition