Welcome to Citizendium

This wiki was upgraded in Mar 2022; see the Forum for changes. Existing members need a new account. Help Write Articles about our World Welcome to Citizendium, a wiki for providing free knowledge where authors use their real names. We write the kinds of encyclopedia-style articles that Wikipedia and other sites can't write. We regard information as a public good and welcome anyone who wants to share their knowledge on virtually any subject. Our online community prides itself on being congenial and supportive. Our goals have changed. Please read about who we are in 2022. See Recent Changes—an overview of articles we are writing now. Please help today! Please make your donations here. Donations go to keep our servers running. See our financial report. Become a member--it's free! Join via our We are no longer using Google Docs to take applications. Please do this instead: Instructions for joining this wiki. Start a new article Improve existing articles Quick Start | How to collaborate | How to format pages Wikipedians are very welcome! Read our policies. We strive for objectivity. We prefer new material but importing is allowed in certain conditions. See articles considered ready for reading. Browse articles by area of interest (Workgroup): Agriculture Earth Sciences Journalism Physics Anthropology Economics Law Politics Archaeology Education Library & Info. Sci. Psychology Architecture Engineering Linguistics Religion Astronomy Food Science Literature Robotics Biology Games Mathematics Sociology Business Geography Media Sports Chemistry Health Sciences Military Theater Classics History Music Topic Informant Computers Hobbies Philosophy Visual Arts Our help system and forum Questions and answers to help you find the information you need

Some of our finest Citable Articles (146) Developed Articles (1,127) (16,431 total articles) Words are only postage stamps delivering the object for you to unwrap. — George Bernard Shaw        —add a quotation about knowledge or writing Featured Article: Paramhansa Yogananda Paramhansa Yogananda circa 1920. Paramhansa Yogananda (5 Jan 1893–7 Mar 1952) was one of the first Indian teachers from the Hindu spiritual tradition to reside permanently in the West, and in particular, he was the first to teach yoga to Americans. He emphasized the universality of the great religions, and ceaselessly taught that all religions, especially Hinduism and Christianity, were essentially the same in their essence. The primary message of Yogananda was to practice the scientific technique of kriya yoga to be released from all human suffering. He emigrated from India to the United States in 1920 and eventually founded the Self-Realization Fellowship there in Los Angeles, California. He published his own life story in a book called Autobiography of a Yogi, first published in 1946. In the book, Yogananda provided some details of his personal life, an introduction to yoga, meditation, and philosophy, and accounts of his world travels and encounters with a wide variety of saints and colorful personalities, including Therese Neumann, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Luther Burbank, and Jagadis C. Bose. Paramhamsa, also spelled Paramahamsa, is a Sanskrit title used for Hindu spiritual teachers who have become enlightened. The title of Paramhansa originates from the legend of the swan. The swan (hansa) is said to have a mythical ability to sip only the milk from a water-and-milk mixture, separating out the more watery part. The spiritual master is likewise said to be able to live in a world like a supreme (param) swan, and only see the divine, instead of all the evil mixed in there too, which the worldly person sees. Yogananda is considered by his followers and many religious scholars to be a modern avatar. In 1946, Yogananda published his Autobiography of a Yogi. It has since been translated into 45 languages, and in 1999 was designated one of the "100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century" by a panel of spiritual authors convened by Philip Zaleski and HarperCollins publishers. Awake: The Life of Yogananda is a 2014 documentary about Paramhansa Yogananda, in English with subtitles in seventeen languages. The documentary includes commentary by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, among others. Footnotes Continued...