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Carnegie Hall commemorates 100 years of Yogananda’s spiritual music
The organizers note that attendees will experience firsthand how chanting “focuses the heart, draws the mind inward, and elevates consciousness.”
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Staff Reporter - Wed, 15, Apr 2026
- 04:15 EDT
- 85
Poster of the event / Self‑Realization Fellowship via Facebook
Self-Realization Fellowship, an international spiritual organization founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda, with its international headquarters in Los Angeles, is celebrating 100 years since Paramahansa Yogananda first introduced Indian devotional chanting to thousands in New York.
Scheduled for April 18 at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the event, titled “The Divine Art of Music,” will honor Yogananda’s vision of music as a practice for awakening the soul.
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Attendees will be invited to experience firsthand how chanting “focuses the heart, draws the mind inward, and elevates consciousness,” the organizers noted in a statement.
“Music that is saturated with soul force is the real universal music, understandable by all hearts,” wrote Yogananda in the prelude to his Cosmic Chants, highlighting the significance of music.
The event will begin with a brief talk by Brother Devananda, a longtime monk of Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship.
He will share insights into Kriya Yoga, its tradition of meditation, and how songs serve as a powerful means of divine communion.
Yogananda described the songs and hailed their healing abilities, remarking, “One who sings these spiritualized songs with true devotion will find God-communion and ecstatic joy, and through them the healing of body, mind, and soul.”
The introductory talk will be followed by a devotional chanting session led by the Self-Realization Fellowship monks’ kirtan group.
The event marks the 100th anniversary of Yogananda’s 1926 series of free lectures at Carnegie Hall. Self-Realization Fellowship noted the 2,800-seat venue was stretched to its limit, and more than a thousand people were turned away at the door.
Paramahansa Yogananda first arrived in America in 1920 from India as an invited delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston. There, he delivered a speech, “The Science of Religion,” marking a pivotal point for yoga in the West.
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