Introduction

The primary time I noticed Swami Kriyananda was in a tent arrange behind the Beta Chi fraternity home on the campus of Stanford College, in Palo Alto, California. It was late November 1969. He was in his early forties. I used to be twenty-two years outdated.

Normally, the tent served as an expanded venue for the events for which the fraternity was well-known. It was the ’60s, although, and all the things was altering. Somebody thought it will be attention-grabbing to ask a swami to talk.

I had attended Stanford College however had dropped out after just one 12 months. I had hoped to seek out academics there who weren’t solely educated but additionally clever. It quickly turned obvious to me that my professors, although good in their very own fields, have been groping at the hours of darkness for happiness whilst I used to be. So I left.

Quickly after, I found the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. At the same time as a baby, I had the sensation that one thing way more necessary was occurring in life than most individuals have been conscious of. At first, I assumed the adults round me have been all in on the key and have been simply holding it again from me as a type of elaborate sensible joke. “Quickly,” I assumed, “they’ll reveal it to me.” Solely slowly did I come to know that this was not the case. My dad and mom and academics have been good individuals, clever, honorable, and type. For probably the most half, although, they accepted life because it gave the impression to be and anticipated me to do the identical.

As soon as found Japanese faith, not less than had a reputation for what I used to be in search of Self-realization. Nonetheless, 1 had no concept find out how to flip these excessive beliefs into an precise lifestyle. 1 learn concerning the saints of many non secular traditions, hoping to seek out of their instance a approach to bridge the hole between principle and apply.

Their tales have been deeply inspiring and 1 have been devoured so totally different guide after from guide.my The circumstances of their lives, although, personal. Catholic monasteries, Indian ashrams, Himalayan caves, leper colonies in the midst of the jungle—their instance proved to be of little sensible worth. My life was changing into certainly one of quiet desperation. Then Swamiji walked into that tent and all the things modified. I used to be within the final row of the bleachers, manner up towards the highest of the tent. I had wished to be nearer to the stage, however my companions insisted on this faraway perch. The selection proved felicitous, I daresay, God-inspired, for I used to be immediately throughout from the doorway and excessive sufficient to have an unobstructed view of Swami Kriyananda when he walked in.

Swami means instructor. Ji is a suffix denoting each affection and respect. From the second I noticed him he was Swamiji to me. The picture of Swamiji coming via the doorway is as vivid in my coronary heart at this time because it was the second it occurred.

He was dressed within the conventional orange robes of an Indian Swami: an extended unfastened becoming shirt and a sarong-like garment referred to as a dhoti. He had a neatly trimmed beard and lengthy hair, brownish in colour, which hung straight and skinny down his again.

He was slender, rather less than six ft tall. He moved with a sure grace and looked like nice energy, though extra like a dancer than an athlete. Later I heard the phrase “lion-like Swami.” It described him completely.

The moment I noticed him, the thought flashed in my thoughts, “He has what I would like.” With a decided step and what I got here to acknowledge as his attribute posture—straight backbone, barely raised chest in order to satisfy life “heart-first”—he lined the brief distance from the doorway to the stage on the middle of the tent. By the point he reached the platform earlier than I even heard the sound of his voice, I had solid with Swamiji a lifelong bond.

He gave a lecture, however I don’t keep in mind a phrase of what he mentioned. All I keep in mind is that when he completed, I assumed, “That is probably the most clever man I’ve ever met.

In some way I picked up a number of info. Swamiji is an American, though he was born in Europe, and spent his childhood there. He’s a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda. He had been a part of the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), the group Yogananda based, however now he was on his personal. He lived in San Francisco and taught lessons everywhere in the Bay Space to earn cash for a neighborhood he was beginning within the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 4 hours away. He referred to as the neighborhood Ananda.

I owned a replica of Yogananda’s traditional Autobiography of a Yogi, however I had by no means learn quite a lot of pages. The devotional tone and the plethora of miracles had not appealed to me. On web page 9, the yogi Lahiri Mahasaya materializes in a wheat subject to ship a non secular message to Yogananda’s father. I don’t suppose I even bought to web page 10.

Now, with renewed curiosity, 1 tried once more. If Swamiji was dedicated to this guide and its writer, I needed to give it one other strive. This time, I used to be enthralled. 1 couldn’t perceive why Autobiography of a Yogi had not held my curiosity earlier than. Later I understood that my first assembly with Swamiji opened my coronary heart not solely to him, however to Paramhansa Yogananda as properly.

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than I threw my lot in with Swamiji and moved to Ananda.

The concept of scripting this guide got here very early in my time with Swamiji. I’ve all the time had a deep longing to assist others, however till I met him, I didn’t really feel I had something significant to offer. Now I used to be desperate to go on to others all that I used to be studying.

I started giving lessons for friends at our retreat, which I stuffed with tales about Swamiji. I longed, although, to make a extra lasting contribution. Although I hardly felt certified to put in writing a guide, I started to put in writing down my experiences with Swamiji. After I spoke to him about it, he was reassuring.

“You don’t need to do it now,” he mentioned, “you are able to do it later once you really feel prepared. I’ll enable you to.”

Within the a few years that handed between the primary time we spoke Of it and once I really started to put in writing this guide, Swamiji referred to it solely often. It was all the time in my thoughts, although, and, I consider additionally in his, for I see now all of the methods wherein he helped me, simply as he mentioned he would.

He included me in so many conditions the place I didn’t actually belong besides that to be there helped me perceive the breadth of his work and the depth of his consciousness. At any time when his attitudes or actions have been obscure to me, he would patiently clarify what he was doing and why. No matter I requested, he would reply. On this manner, many times, I used to be capable of take a look at my instinct towards his explanations, till steadily I gained the arrogance to put in writing this guide.

What follows is just not a biography within the typical sense. You’ll study lots of the important occasions and achievements of Swamiji’s life, however it isn’t a complete account. There isn’t a chronology or sequence to the tales that comply with. Typically occasions from totally different time durations and totally different places are included in the identical vignette. It’s a biography of consciousness—Swami Kriyananda as we’ve identified him.

Many individuals have shared their tales with me. Some names are included; others have most well-liked to look within the guide solely as “an Ananda devotee.” When there isn’t a different attribution, the primary individual accounts are my very own experiences. I’ve additionally described the experiences of others as I noticed them, or realized about them from Swamiji himself. Names that seem first with an asterisk (*) are pseudonyms.

Except it’s clear from the context that the people concerned are from India, devotees referred to by a single Sanskrit identify are Europeans or Individuals upon whom Swamiji has bestowed these names as a non secular blessing. Swamiji’s appointed non secular successor, for instance, is Jyotish, which implies inside gentle. Jyotish’s spouse and companion in main Ananda is Devi, which is a reputation for Divine Mom.

My identify, Asha, means hope.

The identify Grasp refers solely to Paramhansa Yogananda.

Out there from Crystal Readability Publishers