Full Review:
Although this is not the book with which to begin your exposure to Yogananda’s life and teachings (that would be Autobiography of a Yogi), it is one of the very few places where you can appreciate the yoga master’s life from youth. The author, younger brother Sananda, vividly relates the powerful effect on the entire family of having a child saint in its midst. Stories demonstrating young Yogananda's rare combination of devotion, will, and divine atunement will remind you of how the child Jesus impressed adult relatives. And yet he certainly was a boy during those early years - playing pranks, gradually learning lessons, and steadily expanding the spiritual burden he was to shoulder as an adult teacher in Europe and the Americas.

If you have read his Autobiography and crave further connection with Yogananda's spirit, pick up “Mejda” - you’ll not be disappointed. Sananda brings alive many astounding experiences he and his saintly brother shared - stories not available anywhere else in print. Don’t neglect the appended Q&A and Discourses sections. Even if you’ve been taking Yogananda’s Self-Realization Lessons in meditation, you'll find some unique points pertaining to the Bhagavad Gita, how reincarnation happens, the role of life force in yoga, etc. in these appendices.   —RP, 12/03/2002