Quick Take
- Narration: Swami Kriyananda narrates his own memoir, and the effect is extraordinary. His voice carries the weight of lived devotion, and listening to him speak about Yogananda creates an intimacy no professional narrator could replicate.
- Themes: Discipleship, spiritual transformation, the nature of a guru-disciple relationship
- Mood: Devotional and intimate, with moments of genuine intellectual clarity about spiritual practice
- Verdict: A singular document for anyone on or curious about the Yogananda-Kriya Yoga path, and a remarkable audio artifact of a direct disciple speaking in his own voice.
I came to The New Path through Autobiography of a Yogi, as many listeners probably do. Yogananda’s autobiography is one of the most unusual books I have encountered, a text that operates on a register entirely its own. But the Autobiography is Yogananda writing about his own journey, and I found myself wanting to know what it was like to be in the room with him. Kriyananda’s memoir is as close as audio can bring you to that answer.
The fact that Swami Kriyananda narrates this himself changes everything about the experience. He died in 2013, and this recording is one of the few places where you can hear his voice. He was in his eighties when he recorded it, and the accumulation of his discipleship, sixty years at the time of this revised edition, is audible in how he speaks about Yogananda. This is not a performance. It is testimony.
Our Take on The New Path
Kriyananda was a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda from 1948 until Yogananda’s death in 1952. The New Path covers that discipleship, the training, the daily life of the ashram, the teaching Kriyananda received and witnessed, with a frankness that reviewers have noted sets it apart from hagiographic accounts. One long-time reader praised Kriyananda’s willingness to discuss the less flattering dimensions of the community that formed around Yogananda, the big egos and true believers that tend to cluster around any spiritual figure, with an honesty that reflects real understanding rather than institutional defensiveness.
The book functions on three levels simultaneously: biography of Kriyananda, memoir of the Yogananda ashram years, and a clear-eyed introduction to the spiritual teachings themselves. That last element is what one reviewer called a primer on the spiritual path, and it is genuinely useful for listeners who are engaging with Kriya Yoga and its principles for the first time through this book.
Why Listen to The New Path
For anyone drawn to the Yogananda-Kriya Yoga tradition, this is essential context. Autobiography of a Yogi was written by Yogananda himself; The New Path was written by someone who sat at his feet. The perspective is fundamentally different and complementary. One reviewer found their copy in a Delhi bookstall in 1990, intrigued by the title before they knew what it contained. That serendipitous quality, the sense of finding something that speaks directly to where you are, is something the book generates for certain readers with unusual force.
The twenty-hour runtime is substantial, but the combination of memoir richness, spiritual teaching, and Kriyananda’s self-narration means it rewards sustained attention. Multiple listeners describe it as life-changing, a phrase I generally treat with suspicion, but in the context of a book explicitly about spiritual transformation and the possibility of perceiving one’s life differently, it carries more weight than usual.
What to Watch For in The New Path
This is not an introduction to Eastern spirituality in the general survey sense. It assumes a reader with genuine curiosity about the Yogananda tradition specifically. Listeners who approach it as curious outsiders may find the devotional register unfamiliar, particularly in the sections describing Kriyananda’s experiences of heightened spiritual states. The book asks you to inhabit a framework where these experiences are real and significant, not metaphorical.
Reading Autobiography of a Yogi first is strongly recommended. The New Path exists in dialogue with that book, and many of the figures, teachings, and events Kriyananda references carry more meaning if you have the earlier context. The revised and expanded edition that this audiobook represents also includes sections not in the original, making it the definitive version for serious students of the tradition.
Who Should Listen to The New Path
Anyone engaged with Yogananda’s teachings or Kriya Yoga practice who wants to hear from someone who lived inside the tradition at its source. Listeners with a serious interest in Hindu spiritual traditions, discipleship, and the transmission of esoteric teaching through direct relationship. Also meaningful for readers drawn to spiritual memoir as a genre regardless of tradition. Skip if you have no prior familiarity with or curiosity about the Yogananda lineage, as the devotional register will be inaccessible without that foundation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should you read or listen to Autobiography of a Yogi before The New Path?
Yes, strongly recommended. The New Path is in direct conversation with Autobiography of a Yogi and assumes familiarity with the figures and teachings Yogananda wrote about. Kriyananda’s memoir adds a witness perspective that gains its full weight when you know what Yogananda himself wrote about the same period and the same figures.
What makes Kriyananda’s self-narration significant beyond normal author-narrated audiobooks?
Kriyananda died in 2013, making this recording a historical document as much as an audiobook. He was one of Yogananda’s direct disciples, and hearing him speak about that discipleship in his own voice creates an intimacy and authenticity that professional narration simply cannot approximate. The weight of sixty years of practice is audible in how he speaks.
Is The New Path appropriate for listeners new to Eastern spirituality, or does it require background knowledge?
It works best with some prior exposure to the Yogananda tradition specifically. The book does function as an introduction to Kriyananda’s spiritual teachings, as multiple reviewers note. However, the devotional register and the specific claims made about spiritual experience assume a reader open to engaging with these frameworks as genuine rather than metaphorical.
How does this revised and expanded edition differ from the original The Path?
The revised edition commemorates Kriyananda’s 60th year of discipleship to Yogananda and includes a new introduction and sections not published in the original. For listeners familiar with the earlier version, these additions make this the more complete account. For new listeners, it is simply the definitive version to start with.
