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[A] man of wisdom and compassion in action, truly one of the leading lights in the spiritual world today. His work and life of selfless service are an inspiration to us all.
—Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen Center; author of Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment and Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be |
Prolific author, accomplished composer, playwright, and artist, and world-renowned spiritual teacher, Swami Kriyananda refers to himself simply as "a humble disciple" of the great God-realized master Paramhansa Yogananda.
From youth, J. Donald Walters (his family name) questioned life's meaning and society's values. During intense inner reflection at age 22, he discovered Yogananda's autobiography. The next day he traveled 3 thousand miles from New York to California to meet the Master, who in a rare move accepted him at once as a monastic disciple.
They were together the last 4 years of Yogananda's life. The Master appointed his young charge head of the monastery and authorized him to teach in his name and give initiation into Kriya Yoga. He also entrusted Kriyananda with two life missions: one instructional—writing, editing, and lecturing—the other, founding "world brotherhood colonies".
Swami Kriyananda and
Paramhansa Yogananda,
1952 |
For nearly 60 years, Kriyananda has dedicated his life to spread his guru's teachings. Conversant in nine languages, lecturing in five, he has lived and traveled around the world, writing over 85 widely translated books and composing some four hundred musical pieces.
Swami Kriyananda is often called the "father of the modern spiritual communities movement" in the USA. He founded the first Ananda world brotherhood colony in 1968 in California, the model for later Ananda residential communities around the globe. He also established several schools for grades K–12 and inspired a college-level institute.
In his seventy-eighth year, Swami Kriyananda moved to India to found a work to disseminate Yogananda's teachings in his homeland.
Swamiji has written over eighty-five books. Among the
most popular are The Path: Autobiography of a Western
Yogi, Superconsciousness—A Guide to Meditation, and Conversations with Yogananda. Very popular too are several books of Yogananda's teachings, including The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita and The Essence of Self-Realization.
Ananda Sangha Publications in India also has published the
original unedited 1946 version of Yoganandaji's The Autobiography of
a Yogi.
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