Paramahansa Yogananda’s influence on later spiritual leaders can be seen most clearly in the way he framed yoga and meditation as a universal, experiential “spiritual science.” By presenting Kriya Yoga and related practices in rational, methodical terms, he offered a model that many teachers later adopted when introducing Eastern disciplines to Western seekers. His emphasis on direct inner experience of the divine, rather than adherence to dogma alone, resonated deeply with those who would go on to guide others, shaping a style of teaching that stresses practice, inner verification, and personal transformation. This orientation helped make meditation and yogic disciplines more accessible and acceptable in Western culture, and it informed both explicitly yogic movements and broader currents such as the human potential and New Age streams of thought. Equally significant was his insistence on the underlying unity of the world’s religions. By drawing parallels between figures such as Christ and Krishna and presenting them as expressions of the same divine consciousness, he offered a template for interfaith understanding that many later leaders consciously or unconsciously followed. This East–West synthesis encouraged spiritual teachers to speak of Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian mysticism as complementary rather than competing paths, and it supported a form of interreligious dialogue grounded in shared inner experience. In this way, his work helped legitimize a universalist outlook that has become characteristic of many contemporary spiritual movements. Yogananda’s impact was also transmitted through his direct disciples and institutional legacy. Figures such as Rajarsi Janakananda and Sri Daya Mata carried his teachings forward within Self-Realization Fellowship, while Roy Eugene Davis and others built independent ministries around the Kriya Yoga framework he popularized. The organizational model he established—combining monastic and lay participation, structured lessons, and a network of centers—served as a pattern for later spiritual communities and teachers seeking to create enduring institutions rather than purely informal circles of students. This practical dimension of his work ensured that his influence extended beyond ideas into stable forms of communal and devotional life. Finally, the widespread circulation of *Autobiography of a Yogi* became a powerful, indirect channel of influence on spiritual leaders. The book’s blend of devotional narrative, accounts of yogic masters, and a reasoned presentation of spiritual principles opened many readers to Indian spirituality and the guru–disciple relationship. Some prominent Western teachers have explicitly acknowledged how this text shaped their understanding of Eastern wisdom and its integration with Western thought. Through such