Lahiri Mahasaya (born Shyamacharan Lahiri in 1828) was a 19th-century Indian yogi who revived and taught Kriya Yoga, a technique for spiritual attainment that he had received from his guru, Mahavatar Babaji, in the Himalayas. As an accountant and family man, he demonstrated how profound spiritual enlightenment and inner peace could be achieved while living a fully engaged life as a householder, breaking down social and caste barriers to spread Kriya Yoga to people of all backgrounds and faiths. He is now best known in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, which documented Yogananda's spiritual lineage back to Lahiri Mahasaya.