When Paramhansa Yogananda went to west, although he had a B.A. degree he could not speak English fluently.When people on the ship he was traveling came to know about his purpose to visit America (Participation in religious congress*) he was requested by fellow travelers to a talk

Swami ji(he was a swami then) to his consternation could not speak a single sentence and kept on standing there.After some time,people understood his plight n started laughing at him. Swamiji prayed ardently and suddenly started his discourse so eloquently people were taken aback

Swamiji was in a trans and could not remember anything he spoke of.Later many people came over to thank him for the talk and apologised shame facedly about their misgiving
Being deciple of a God like Guru comes in handy

Later in America when he started self realization fellowship,he saw American people had no idea how to sit cross legged on an Asana,leave alone lotus posture. So he invented some energising excercises to make their bodies supple.These are mandatory to receive kriya initiation

All aspirants must practice energising excercises before they receive kriya initiation
Swamiji provided hard back chairs for the elderly to keep their spine straight. In all ashrams and kendras, there are chairs to support back,after all the basic idea is to keep spine straight

He initiated more than one lakh people in America into the path of kriya yoga
No other saint or Guru has done such impossible task of expansion of Santan dharma on foreign soils
He also gave a technique of ajapa jap to associate with breath. Americans could not pronounce हंसः +

He eased it out for them in English(hong sau) explaining the meaning so that they could chant it with the rythm of breath,another pre requisite to receive kriya initiation
I am sharing this thread with his permission,blessings and love to humanity or i would not be able to write

*international congress of religious liberals
Jai Guru
Today's pic from his childhood home,the place visited by mahavtar babaji sri yukteshwar and swami kevalananda