This year’s Taj Literary Festival was held from 27th to 29th of February. Spirituality as a genre was introduced for the first time in the festival and an interactive session on the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi was held.
Swami Ishwarananda of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and Dr. David Frawley, founder and director of American Institute of Vedic Studies, who has termed Paramahansa Yogananda as “the father of Yoga in the West,” were invited for the session.
The invitees discussed the efficacy, necessity, credentials, and the universal appeal of the book, and of the teachings of Paramahansa Yoganandaji. They both shared their personal choicest chapters from the book and also explained why they liked those chapters the most. They also stressed the importance of regular practice of meditation to attain the real objective of life, Self-realization.
A question and answer session was held at the end. Around 1,000 attendees including the Commissioner of Agra, Mayor of Agra, participant leaders of other faiths, and many school children attended the programme. The guest attendees were each given a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi at the end.
The impact of the whole interactive session was profound. The YSS book stall saw a sale of more than Rs 45,000 and many membership forms were taken.
Prior to this, a press conference was organized in Agra where all the print and electronic media persons were told about the importance of the book. 15 Hindi editions of Autobiography of a Yogi were presented to the media persons. The response was very positive and well covered in all newspapers.
