The book begins with his childhood and family life, then finding his guru, becoming a monk and establishing his teachings of Kriya Yoga meditation.

The book has been in print for seventy-five years and translated into over fifty languages by the Self-Realization Fellowship,[3] a spiritual society established by Yogananda.

The book describes Yogananda's childhood family life, his search for his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri,[9] the establishment of his first school, Yogoda Satsanga Brahmacharya Vidyalaya,[10] and his journey to America where he lectured to thousands,[11] established Self-Realization Fellowship[12] and visited Luther Burbank,[13] a renowned botanist to whom the book is dedicated.

The book then describes Yogananda's return visit to India in 1935, where he encountered leading spiritual figures such as Therese Neumann[14][15] in Bavaria, the Hindu saint Ananda Moyi Ma,[16] Mahatma Gandhi,[17] Rabindranath Tagore,[18] Nobel Prize-winning physicist Sir C. V. Raman,[19] and Giri Bala, "the woman yogi who never eats.

In the preface he wrote, "His unusual life-document is certainly one of the most revealing of the depths of the Hindu mind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be published in the West.

[22] Yukteswar heard him say, "About fifty years after my passing," he said, "my life will be written because of a deep interest in yoga which the West will manifest.

In 1999, Autobiography of a Yogi was designated one of the "100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century" by a panel of theologians and luminaries convened by HarperCollins publishers.

[4] According to Philip Goldberg, who wrote American Veda, "... the Self-Realization Fellowship, which represents Yogananda's Legacy, is justified in using the slogan, 'The Book that Changed the Lives of Millions.'

"[27] Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, told his story of attending Steve Jobs' memorial service, where the attendees were handed a small brown box on their way out.

Later on this book was auctioned off with a letter of authenticity[32] The actress Mariel Hemingway says that she was introduced to the Autobiography of a Yogi by Peter Evans, a direct disciple of Yogananda.

She was "mesmerized by the Autobiography of a Yogi and loved the whole great Hindu tradition of spiritual seeking ..."[33] The actor Dennis Weaver gave a copy of the book to Linda Evans, saying that it had changed his life.

"[34] Andrew Weil, director of the program in integrative medicine at University of Arizona, wrote the book Eating Well for Optimum Health.

Srinivas Aravamudan has described its contents as "miracle-infested territory" whose "single most memorable feature ... is a repetitive insistence on collocating the miraculous and the quotidian. ...

Aravamudan notes the "aggressive marketing" of the Yogoda Satsang and Self-Realization Fellowship, that Yogananda himself "worked the mass media" and used a technique described as "Guru English".

[38] James Dudley, in his book Library Journal: Autobiography of a Yogi, wrote: "Yogananda's masterly storytelling epitomizes the Indian oral tradition with its wit, charm, and compassionate wisdom.

[44] An unabridged audio book (15 CDs) version narrated by Ben Kingsley and published by Self-Realization Fellowship (2004) is available in English and German (ISBN 0-87612-095-8).