Jump to content

Kriyananda: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Replaced mediocre and excessively detailed section with 2010 version; restored 9th circuit court case link;, etc.
AnomieBOT (talk | contribs)
Bots
6,412,900 edits
m Dating maintenance tags: {{Criticism section}}
Line 90: Line 90:


==Controversies==
==Controversies==
{{criticism section}}
{{criticism section|date=April 2013}}
{{wikisourcepar|Self_Realization_v._Ananda_Church|9th Circuit Court Copyright Decision: SRF vs. Ananda}}
{{wikisourcepar|Self_Realization_v._Ananda_Church|9th Circuit Court Copyright Decision: SRF vs. Ananda}}
Swami Kriyananda was forced out of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1962 and started Ananda in 1968. Being successful, he became a rival: Self-Realization Fellowship spent twelve years (1990–2002) and million of dollars suing Kriyananda and Ananda over various copyright and trademark issues. SRF, among other charges, claimed exclusive and sole right (trademark and service mark) to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda" and all images of Yogananda, and the term "Self-realization". Many Hindu, yoga, and meditation groups filed papers supporting Ananda.<ref name="faith">Novak, Devi, ''Faith is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda''. Crystal Clarity Publishers (2006). ISBN 978-1565892132.</ref>
Swami Kriyananda was forced out of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1962 and started Ananda in 1968. Being successful, he became a rival: Self-Realization Fellowship spent twelve years (1990–2002) and million of dollars suing Kriyananda and Ananda over various copyright and trademark issues. SRF, among other charges, claimed exclusive and sole right (trademark and service mark) to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda" and all images of Yogananda, and the term "Self-realization". Many Hindu, yoga, and meditation groups filed papers supporting Ananda.<ref name="faith">Novak, Devi, ''Faith is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda''. Crystal Clarity Publishers (2006). ISBN 978-1565892132.</ref>

Revision as of 21:49, 24 April 2013

Swami Kriyananda
Personal
Born
J. Donald Walters (James Donald Walters)

(1926-05-19)19 May 1926
Teleajen, Romania
Died(2013-04-21)21 April 2013
Assisi, Italy
Organization
PhilosophyKriya Yoga
Senior posting
GuruParamahansa Yogananda

Swami Kriyananda (May 19, 1926 to April 21, 2013), born James Donald Walters was a direct disciple of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda and founder of Ananda, a worldwide movement of spiritual intentional communities based on Yogananda's World Brotherhood Colonies ideal.[1] Paramahansa Yogananda made him a minister for Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), authorized him to teach Kriya Yoga, and appointed him the first SRF head monk. Kriyananda took his final vows of sannyas in 1955 before Daya Mata,served as Vice President of SRF from 1960–1962, and was a member of the Board of Directors.[2][3] In 1962 the SRF Board of Directors voted unanimously to request his resignation.[4]

Swami Kriyananda is the author of over one hundred books and the composer of over four hundred pieces of music which altogether have sold over three million copies.[citation needed] Some of the books have been published in other languages[5] and some sold in ninety countries.[citation needed] He has lectured in different countries throughout the world. In addition to English, he spoke Italian, Romanian, Greek, French, Spanish, German, Hindi, Bengali, and Indonesian.[6] He established a new Swami order in 2009, the Nayaswami Order.[7]

Biography

Early life

Kriyananda, then Donald Walters, was born on May 19, 1926 in Teleajen, Romania to American parents, Ray P. and Gertrude G. Walters. His father was an oil geologist with the Esso Corporation (since renamed Exxon in the United States), who was then assigned to the Romanian oilfields. He received an international education in Romania, Switzerland, England, and the United States. He attended Haverford College and Brown University, leaving the latter with only a semester left before graduation to dedicate his life to searching for God.[2]

Time with Yogananda

In September 1948, in New York, Walters read Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, a book he says transformed his life. By September 12, Walters had already decided to leave his old life behind and had traveled cross-country by bus to southern California to become Yogananda's disciple. In Hollywood, California, Walters first met Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship temple there and was accepted as a disciple.[citation needed]

Young Donald Walters, twenty-two years old at this point, took up residence with other SRF monks at Mt. Washington, SRF's mother center headquarters located on top of Mount Washington, Los Angeles. A year later, Yogananda put Kriyananda in charge of the monks of the Self-Realization monastic order, asked him to write articles for the SRF magazine, had him lecture at various SRF centers,[2] ordained him a minister, and appointed him to initiate students into Kriya Yoga.[2] Kriyananda recounted these experiences in his autobiography, The New Path.[2] In his nearly four years (1948–1952) with Yogananda, he took extensive notes of his many conversations with the Master, which he published in The Essence of Self-Realization[8] and Conversations with Yogananda.[9]

After Yogananda's passing

On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda was a speaker at a banquet given at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. While Yogananda was giving his speech, he suddenly dropped to the floor and died, via the transition called mahasamadhi.[citation needed]Walters was present in the hall and this was a pivotal moment for the young monk.

In 1953, SRF published Kriyananda's (then still called Donald Walters) book Stories Of Mukunda,[10] and in 1960 an LP album with him singing Yogananda's Cosmic Chants, called Music for Meditation.[citation needed] In 1955, Kriyananda was given his final vows of sannyas by Daya Mata and he took the monastic name Kriyananda.[3] He was made the Director of the Center Department, guiding meditation groups and SRF centers,[11] and was made minister of one of Yogananda's main churches, the Hollywood church. He lectured for SRF in the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and India.[citation needed] In 1958 he toured India with Daya Mata (the organization's president from 1955 until her death in 2010) and two others.[12] In 1960 he was appointed Vice President of SRF and elected to the Board of Directors.[13]

Dismissal from SRF

Kriyananda remained in India, serving SRF until 1962,[14] when he was expelled from the organization for reasons he could never accept as valid: desire for personal power, ulterior motives in his service, and setting himself up as the new guru.[14] SRF gave as a reason "specific actions of his –his basic pattern of behavior.".[4]

Outward accomplishments

Kriyananda established Ananda Village as a World Brotherhood Colony in 1968 on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land near Nevada City, California — his portion of a 160-acre (0.6 km2) parcel acquired with Richard Baker, Gary Snyder, and Allen Ginsberg.[15] The village was actually founded with the signing of the first purchase agreement of a larger parcel of land on 4 July 1969.[16] According to Kriyananda, these communities provide a supportive environment of “simple living and high thinking” where 1,000 full-time residents live, work, and worship together. The establishment of World Brotherhood Colonies was one of Yogananda's central "Aims and Ideals" (published in his "Autobiography of a Yogi" until 1958).

Kriyananda has established various retreat centers: The Expanding Light Yoga and Meditation Retreat and nearby Ananda Meditation Retreat,[17] both located near Nevada City, California, U.S.A.; Ananda Associazione near Assisi, Italy; and Ananda Gurgaon, India.

There are currently (spring 2009) 125 Ananda Meditation groups in 19 countries, all of which were inspired in one way or another by Kriyananda.

The Expanding Light retreat center in California, founded by Kriyananda

Kriyananda stated that at Yogananda's request he has devoted his life to teaching. Over the course of sixty years, he has lectured on four continents in five languages. He has given thousands of lectures and continued lecturing in Asia, Europe, and America until his death.

Swami Kriyananda met a number of well-known spiritual teachers: Anandamayi Ma; Sivananda Saraswati and his disciples Chidananda and Satchidananda; Muktananda; Satya Sai Baba; Neem Karoli Baba; the 14th Dalai Lama; A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada; Ravi Shankar; Vicka Ivankovic, visionary of Medjugorje; and a number of others.[18]

In the early 1960s, one of Kriyananda's inter-religious projects near New Delhi, India, received personal support from India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He also had personal contact with Indira Gandhi; with India’s Vice President Dr. Radhakrishnan; and, in 2006, with India’s President, Dr. Abdul Kalam.[19]

In following his guru's guidance that his task would be "writing, editing, and lecturing",[2] Kriyananda wrote about 150 books, each of which he stated was intended to help individuals expand their awareness. The books have been translated into many languages and are available in 90 countries.[citation needed] By the application of Yogananda's teachings, they expand on such varied topics as marriage, education, leadership and success, spiritual communities, yoga, self-healing, art, architecture, astrology, and philosophy, as well as Yogananda's teachings on the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and other scriptures.

One of Kriyananda's books is The Path (revised as The New Path in 2009), which contains details of the three and a half years he spent as Yogananda's direct disciple in Los Angeles. In 2010, The New Path received the Eric Hoffer Award in the Self-Help section, given with the statement, in part "... The author begins with a history of his own life, an outstanding, engrossing narrative rich in vivid detail. An American youth with an early, unrelenting desire to find truth in spiritual experience, he eventually discovers his attraction to Eastern yogic science. A growing fascination and ardor culminate in his becoming a dedicated, chosen disciple of Yogananda."[20]

Kriyananda started Crystal Clarity Publishers[21] and the East-West book shops in Sacramento and Mountain View, California, and Seattle, Washington.

Kriyananda's plays include The Peace Treaty, and The Jewel in the Lotus. He wrote his first play at age fifteen and worked and studied with the Dock Street Theater in Charleston, South Carolina, in his early 20s. Rome's famous Teatro Valle (its oldest still-active theater, built in 1726), hosted “The Peace Treaty” in June 2009.

Kriyananda won poetry and essay contest prizes at Haverford College and also studied under the poet W.H. Auden at Bryn Mawr College.[2]

In 1973, Kriyananda developed a system for educating children called Education for Life. Education for Life Schools state that they offer character development, strong academics, and development of moral strength. The school curriculum is ecumenical; students of all religious backgrounds may attend. There are schools in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Palo Alto and Nevada City, California (all U.S.A.); in Italy near Assisi; and one was recently (2009) started in Gurgaon, India. Other schools are adopting the curriculum and ideals of Education for Life. Kriyananda's educational ideas also inspired the Ananda College, a yoga university as envisioned by Paramahansa Yogānanda, located near Nevada City, California.

Kriyananda created Ananda yoga. Yogananda had asked him often to perform the āsanas for visiting guests, in his presence. Ananda Yoga arose from this practice with the Master. It is designed to uplift consciousness, and to prepare the student for meditation. Its distinguishing features are the affirmations associated with postures.[22]

Kriyananda took over 15,000 photographs, many of which he said captured the consciousness of human beings behind the image. His photos have been used on inspirational posters, on album covers, for slideshows, in film productions, and in books.[citation needed]

Kriyananda has created several paintings, which have been used on book covers and on posters.

He has also produced films, as follows:

  • Saint Francis of Assisi (narration, music, photography)
  • Mediterranean Magic (narration, music, photography)
  • The Land of Mystery (narration, music, photography)
  • The Autobiography of a Yogi (narration, music, photography)
  • Christ Lives! (narration, music, photography)
  • Different Worlds (narration, music, photography)

Volunteer work

  • 1948–present: When a renunciate, Kriyananda dedicated his life in service to others. Copyrights to his books and music have been placed in a trust. Royalties are directed toward the work of sharing Yogananda’s teachings with the public. For many years in his later life, he received no salary or stipend, and depended on donations for all his needs, including food, housing, and medical care.
  • 1997: After the massive earthquakes that damaged large areas around Assisi, Italy, including the Basilica of St. Francis, Kriyananda raised funds to help rebuild homes in the area, in a campaign called “Hope and Homes for Italy”. He encouraged the use of wood instead of stone building materials, to minimize future earthquake fatalities.

Controversies

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Swami Kriyananda was forced out of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1962 and started Ananda in 1968. Being successful, he became a rival: Self-Realization Fellowship spent twelve years (1990–2002) and million of dollars suing Kriyananda and Ananda over various copyright and trademark issues. SRF, among other charges, claimed exclusive and sole right (trademark and service mark) to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda" and all images of Yogananda, and the term "Self-realization". Many Hindu, yoga, and meditation groups filed papers supporting Ananda.[23]

SRF lost nearly every issue in court, including: their claim to own the trademark to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda"; their claim to sole publicity rights to "Paramahansa Yogananda"; their attempted trademark on the term "Self-realization", which the court ruled is a generic religious term used for hundreds of years; their claim that Ananda was trying to "pass itself off" as SRF; their claim that Yogananda's writings were "work for hire" done as an employee of SRF, and done as part of the SRF "corporate body", as opposed to Yogananda writing them himself; their claim to own copyrights on certain photos of Yogananda; their claim that Ananda violated SRF's copyrights to magazine articles written by Yogananda (the court ruled that Ananda's use of the articles was "fair use").[23]

The only issue on which the court ruled in SRF's favor was their claim that Ananda violated SRF copyrights to sound recordings of Yogananda's voice. As a result of the lawsuit, Ananda began publishing the first edition of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi.[24][25]

In 1997–98, Anne-Marie Bertolucci, a former resident of Ananda, filed suit against Ananda, an Ananda minister, and Swami Kriyananda. In the course of the trial, eight women testified under oath that Kriyananda had used his power as the leader of Ananda to obtain sexual gratification from them when they were in their 20s. Kriyananda admitted sexual contacts with most of the women[26] but denied it constituted sexual abuse. The jury found the church (Ananda), and Kriyananda liable for "constructive fraud", with a finding of "malice and fraudulent conduct". The church, Kriyananda and the Ananda minister were found liable for "intentional infliction of emotional distress" with a finding of "malice" and a finding of "despicable conduct" against the church. The church was found liable for "negligent supervision" of Kriyananda, with a finding of "malice and fraud" on the part of the church. Swami Kriyananda was judged to have misrepresented himself as a monk and to have caused emotional trauma, and was ordered to pay $285,000 in compensatory damages, and another $1 million in punitive damages (the punitive damages were reduced to $400,000 on appeal). The jury also found that the Ananda minister had made "unwelcome sexual advances". The Ananda Church responded to the million-plus-dollar judgment by filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.[27] That allowed Ananda to settle the lawsuit by paying $1.8 million dollars to Bertolucci and her attorneys.[28] Ananda views this second lawsuit a continuation of SRF’s first lawsuit, in an effort to stop Kriyananda and Ananda: its main lawyer was an SRF lawyer, and nearly all of the women making accusations against Kriyananda were associated with SRF, either as members or followers. They presented, according to Kriyananda, “lies and complete distortions of the truth.” Kriyananda’s attorneys, however, were not allowed to cross-examine any of his accusers on the sexual allegations.

In March, 2004, Italian authorities raided the Ananda colony in Assisi, responding to allegations of a disgruntled former resident who accused Ananda Assisi of fraud, usury and labor law violations. Nine Ananda residents were detained for questioning. They also had a warrant for Kriyananda's detention, but Kriyananda was in India. A five-year long investigation followed. [29] In March 2009 the judge ruled that the case was "non luogo a procedere perché il fatto non sussiste" (not to be continued as the matter is without substance).


Recent years

Kriyananda married in 1981, and publicly renounced his monastic vows on the occasion of his second marriage in 1985. He was later divorced. In 1995, on his own, he officially resumed his monastic vows and title.[30] According to Yogananda in his first edition of his Autobiography in reference to the ancient swami order, “because it is a formal order… no one can give himself the title of swami.”[7]

From 1996, Kriyananda lived and taught for seven years at the Ananda Italy center, near Assisi.[citation needed]

In 2003, he moved to India, where he began an Ananda center in Gurgaon, near Delhi. For five years (until May 1, 2009) he appeared daily on Aastha TV, a cable station that is broadcast throughout India, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. Since Kriyananda's 2003 move to India, Ananda teachers have been giving classes on meditation and Kriyā Yoga in many major Indian cities.[31] In 2009, at age 83, Kriyānanda moved to Pune, India, to start a new community.

In 2009 Kriyananda established a new Swami order, different from the ancient swami order of Shankara.[7] According to Kriyananda, in this new age (Dwapara Yuga) not all old patterns remain valid. Some reformation is necessary. Some of the features of the newly formed Swami order are: 1) Swamis can be single or married. 2) They can be freely creative, if the purpose is to serve others. 3) A new Swami is named not by one Swami (which has been the tradition), but by three. 4) A Swami of this new order is called "Nayaswami", with "naya" meaning "new".

On April 21, 2013 in his home in Assisi, Italy, Kriyananda passed away. [32]

References

  1. ^ "Kriyananda". Retrieved August 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Swami Kriyananda, The New Path - My Life with Paramhansa Yogananda. (Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2009). ISBN 978-1-56589-242-2.
  3. ^ a b Documented in SRF magazines 1949-1960
  4. ^ a b Self-Realization Fellowship November 1995 Open Letter. Self-Realization Fellowship.
  5. ^ "Crystal Clarity Publishers website". Retrieved October 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ Kalra, Ajay, In the Name of My Guru, Life Positive, April, 2006
  7. ^ a b c Yogananda, Paramhansa, Autobiography of a Yogi(Crystal Clarity Publishers, Nevada City, CA 1995) 1946 Reprint, ISBN 1565891082 Wikisource, Chapter 24
  8. ^ Kriyananda, The Essence of Self-Realization (Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2003) ISBN 0-916124-29-0.
  9. ^ Kriyananda, Conversations With Yogananda: Stories, Sayings, and Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda Crystal Clarity Publishers (2004) ISBN 1-56589-202-X
  10. ^ See Autobiography of a Yogi, 1955 6th edition, page 498,
  11. ^ Swami Kriyananda, "Rescuing Yogananda".[dead link] (Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2011). Chapter 1.
  12. ^ [See SRF Magazines 1958]
  13. ^ [See SRF Magazines 1960]
  14. ^ a b Walters, J. Donald, A Place Called Ananda
  15. ^ Suiter, John. Poets on the Peaks (2002) Counterpoint. ISBN 1-58243-148-5; ISBN 1-58243-294-5 (pbk) pg. 251
  16. ^ Helin, Sadhana Devi Many Hands Make a Miracle
  17. ^ "Ananda Meditation Retreat". Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  18. ^ Visit to Saints of India, Ananda Sangha Publications, ISBN 978-81-89430-24-5
  19. ^ "SwamiKriyananda.org News". April 19, 2006. Retrieved January 2, 2010.[dead link]
  20. ^ Eric Hoffer Award - Book Award Winners, in Self-Help category, Retrieved 6-11-2010
  21. ^ "Crystal Clarity Publishers". Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  22. ^ "Ananda Yoga [1]". {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.anandayoga.org/whatis/about_what_is.htm" ignored (help)
  23. ^ a b Novak, Devi, Faith is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda. Crystal Clarity Publishers (2006). ISBN 978-1565892132. Cite error: The named reference "faith" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  24. ^ "Self-Realization Fellowship vs. Ananda: Ananda Wins..." Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  25. ^ "Copyright Lawsuit". Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  26. ^ "Ananda Answers - FAQ Accusations". Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  27. ^ Goa, Helen, Sex and the Singular Swami, The San Francisco Weekly, March 10, 1999. Available online
  28. ^ Ananda, Website. "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Bertolucci Lawsuit". Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  29. ^ Bate, Jamie, Swami clear in Italy case: Ananda founder safe from arrest, supporters say, The Union, March 27, 2004
  30. ^ "Ananda Answers". Retrieved August 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)[dead link]
  31. ^ "Ananda India". Retrieved August 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  32. ^ Times of India :Swami Kriyananda passes away in Italy, on: April 21, 2013; Retrieved: April 22, 2013

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kriyananda&oldid=552025077"