In theory, Meetings with Remarkable Men, by George Gurdjieff, was conceived with “similar objectives” to those of Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda. But this can only be said in quotation marks, because the discrepancy between the works is so striking that it would not be an exaggeration to consider them models, one of truth and the other of falsification. One is truly instructive, presenting truly remarkable men and thus achieving its “goal”; the other is merely a succession of accounts whose purpose is nothing more than to inflate the ego of an author who, whenever he seems about to say something important, he cunningly states that he will only say it in a volume yet to be published and that you, the reader, will have to buy. But above all, what both works reveal is a contrast between personalities that, if not opposite, are absolutely distinct. The qualities that shine through in Yogananda are completely absent in Gurdjieff: the former inspires respect and admiration, while the latter inspires only antipathy.