Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS)
The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917, is the Indian wing of his kriya-yoga lineage — twin to the Self-Realization Fellowship (1920) in the West — headquartered at Dakshineswar with the educational complex at Ranchi.
Overview
Yogananda founded a school for boys at Dihika (1917), moved to Ranchi (1918), and sailed to America (1920) where he founded SRF; “Yogoda” (his coinage for the energy-revitalization technique) and “Satsanga” (fellowship in truth) name the Indian society, which he kept as the lineage’s eastern root.
Core teachings
Kriya Yoga (the technique received through the Mahavatar Babaji-Lahiri Mahasaya-Sri Yukteswar line), the scientific study of religion (his Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946, is the movement’s classic), the harmony of the Gita’s yoga and Christ’s teachings.
Practice and work
The Yogoda Satsanga lessons (home-study course in meditation and balanced life), temples and retreats (Dakshineswar ashram beside Kali’s temple — fitting the lineage’s Ramakrishna associations; Ranchi’s campus), schools and colleges (the YSS educational institutions).
Modern status
The YSS continues under SRF’s president; the Autobiography’s continuing global readership makes the lineage among the most-read in modern yoga.
Verification notes
- Founding (1917) and the SRF relationship are documented.
- Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).