Yes, I got that same response from some of my Hatha Yoga students who read his Autobio. of a Yogi. One of them asked me, "Do you really believe that stuff?" I wanted to ask her if she believed the miracles in the Bible. I think Yogananda believed firmly that people won't pay much attention unless there are wonders performed, just like the Bible says. He wasn't above a few tricks for sure. I read that he used an old carny trick to show his yogic strength: he would have some strong men line up & brace the shoulders of the man in front of him w/ him at the end w/ his hands resting on a wall; then he would push them all back from him w/ ease. The trick is to shrug your shoulders in a certain way to throw them off balance which makes them easy to push back.
However, I had a number of experiences at Ananda that are hard to explain other than as spiritual or psychic ones. One happened at a celebration on Master's birthday in the temple on the Farm. I was one of the first people there & was handed a candle in a cardboard stand. I was told to light it & put it down up front in a line near a big photograph of Master (which was his preferred title). There was a big candle burning in front of his photo, so I lit mine using that one. I sat up front since I was early & watched as devotees filed in & lit their candles. I couldn't help but notice that some lit their candles like I did, but others lit theirs using one of the small ones burning up front. As the ceremony proceeded, I saw that some of the candles burned down quickly while others burned slowly & steadily. I was puzzled why some did & others didn't. There was no steady air draft up front & there was no pattern to the lasting ones. They were randomly scattered here & there, not all on the left or right, etc. The candles were all the same thickness & height. Then, to my pleased amazement, I realized the difference. The lasting ones, like mine, were lit off Master's candle in front of his picture!
I won't go on w/ instances from Ananda, but I have a few associated w/ Master Li that give me reason to believe he's a legitimate, enlightened qigong master. Let me know if you'd like to read one or two.
I was sorry to hear Cuomo made such a bad move. It sounds like all that sexual harassment/abuse he's got trouble w/ may end his time as gov. of NY & that that will be a good thing if his judgement is so poor. The callousness of political leaders & a lot of times, their constituents, never fails to amaze me. Maybe you're familiar w/ Duterte's "war on drugs" in the Philippines which has resulted in deaths somewhere between 8,000 & 15,000 filipinos, depending on whom is counting. Most of these were extra-judicial killings on the streets by masked motorcycle riders & others were done in jails & prisons. Despite a complete disregard for due process & the obvious problem of killing bystanders while executing drug dealers/users, Duterte remains extremely popular in the Php. Why?? How?? His money from the Chinese has never arrived: less than a billion dollars has been received from a promised 24 billion. His campaign to end corruption didn't stop the bankruptcy of the PhilHealth system due to hospitals & doctors falsely claiming they had COVID-19 patients so they could get the 70,000 pesos for their treatment. The only thing he seems able to do is stand up to Chinese poaching in Php fishing waters, which is probably why the CCP hasn't released any more money.