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Pig Ma Registered User (6/13/02 8:38 pm) Reply	Meeting Swami Kriyananda I just spent a month up at Ananda doing the yogi in action program (I had planned to stay only 2 weeks and ended up staying a month). I had been invited to Aumkara’s wedding on this website, and I also wanted to meet Swami Kriyananda. I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about meeting the infamous Swami. I’m not shy, but I didn’t want to be intrusive, either. Shortly after my arrival I was working in the kitchen during his talk which was being piped in so we could hear it, and one of my buddies mentioned that I could go to the place where he removes his microphone. I was wearing a t-shirt that had a large cartoon pig on it with the words, “Pigs are my friends, not my food.” A bit grimy from being in the kitchen, I began to feel self conscious about my appearance. I decided to not let that deter me from my goal, not knowing if the opportunity would be open again. Devi saw me and said, “Swami, this is Jackie Saar”. I looked up at him, and said, “Thank you all of the emails, they met a lot to me.” I had the sense that he was trying to connect with who I was, and then I saw him reading my t-shirt. He gave a laugh and slapped me on the arm, saying, “It takes all types!” Later on while at Aumkara’s wedding reception, as I got in line for food I noticed Swami Kriyananda sitting on the side eating. He asked me to come over to sit and talk, but it confused me because someone was already sitting there. So I continued to stand in line, feeling gawky, when he graciously said, “Oh, but go ahead and get some food first.” I was just putting curry on my plate, when I looked up to see that Swami Kriyananda had dropped a big blob of food down the front of his pants. Devi was trying her best to clean it with a napkin. I was a few feet from him when he exclaimed, “What a pig!” I chuckled softly. Perhaps I was reading into it, but I had the sensation that he was making a private joke with me, telling me that he was my friend. I felt the gawkiness ease, and when my plate was full the place next to Swami Kriyananda was free so we sat and chatted. We spoke of the monks we both knew, and as we sat there was a distinct feeling of love swirling around us. Someone brought us punch, another person took our picture, and I felt included and part of all that was happening. What I especially found delightful were the interactions between Jyotish and Swami. There was a twinkling of true friendship between them that I felt joy in the watching. I knew that he didn’t remember everything from our previous correspondence, because he asked if I had read “A Place Called Ananda.” “Oh yes,” I responded, “I loved it! I especially liked how it was free to read on the web.” He gave me a pleased look, and mentioned that he was glad to offer it free, that money wasn’t what they were after. As I looked into his eyes, I felt like if it had been possible in this world, he would be offering everything for free. Edited by: Pig Ma at: 6/13/02 10:17:20 pm
Spirit88 Registered User (7/30/02 9:00 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda My story of meeting Kriyananda was I was invited to a party at the crystal hermatage. I was new to Ananda but was going with some long time members. I arived before my friends and took off my shoes and entered. Kriyananda was at the door meeting guests and shot me a very mean look. He said who are you in a scary voice and it was clear to me I was not going to be allowed to this event. Luckily, the door opened behind me and my friend came in. He intraduced me and Kriyananda's expression changed and I was admitted
wholetruth Registered User (8/30/02 2:24 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda If anyone needs to figure out Kriyananda and what makes him tick, I will refer you to his own words, which to me do not seem to reflect much spirituality. www.yoganandarediscovered...r4Nov.html
srflongago Registered User (8/30/02 3:20 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda We are told that Kriyananda thinks he was the intended successor of Yogananda, and nonetheless was eventually forced out as vice president of SRF by Yogananda's former secretary Faye Wright after she took command of the organization. (I doubt that either could have been an intended successor, because Yogananda said many times there could be no successor, but that is neither here nor there.) It appears from his writing that he has very ambivalent feelings about Faye and about SRF, trying occasionally to please the unpleaseable, criticizing Faye severely at other times. The SRF lack of commitment to Yogananda's goal of world communities must have hurt a lot. As a somewhat persecuted teacher with known personal faults, he may be expected to be somewhat uneven. But we might try to appreciate his positive accomplishments in founding Ananda in accord with Yogananda's proposals.
wholetruth Registered User (8/30/02 5:17 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda Fair enough, srflongago. But then can't we attribute any positive accomplishments to Faye? Surely she has been dedicated to her guru's work, as well, but also with personal faults and faulty vision. Edited by: wholetruth at: 8/30/02 5:19:59 pm
srflongago Registered User (8/30/02 6:29 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda Yes, there are many accomplishments. It has a larger endowment and more buildings than in 1955. Its membership and its administration are further apart than in 1955. It has succeeded grandly over 50 years in obscuring a lot of Yogananda's thought. It has succeeded in not reprinting a large part of his work, and not printing his unpublished manuscripts. It has succeeded in lowering the esteem of the whole organization in the eyes of a large spiritual community by the tactics it has authorized its law firm to use. Having started with the flagship Yoga organization in the West, these are indeed major accomplishments. So I guess you are right. I expect that the new leadership will accomplish many more in the next fifty years. More power to them!
wholetruth Registered User (8/31/02 5:45 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda Srflongago, Your points are all valid. I'm only trying to carry on a little discussion here. I hope you're not upset with me. I still maintain that we can find some good that she has done. I don't see her as someone evil. I'm sure she has believed in what she is doing, however incorrect her vision has been. Respectfully, w.
srflongago Registered User (9/1/02 3:37 am) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda You are perfectly right. She has kept a flame lit, according to her nature, and that effort has filled her whole long life.
Pigga Mata Registered User (9/1/02 1:42 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda wholetruth, It was interesting for you to choose that letter Swami wrote, for I, too, had questions about it's tone. In fact, I was "the friend" that he refers to at the end of the letters! At the time I had not yet met Swami Kriyananda, and I wondered how he would respond to an email that was less than glowing, unlike my other emails. I am not a "yes man", and I told him exactly what I thought. Afterwards I wondered, how would he respond to a person he doesn't know well- did I make a mistake sending it? I wish I could share the letter here with you and the response, but because it was private correspondence it doesn't seem right to do so. But I was very touched by his simple reply back that mostly said, "You are right. Thank you." I was coming from a place of love when I wrote to him, and his humble reply touched me. I felt that I need not be afraid to tell him my opinions, right or wrong, as long as I came from a place of love. That has been my experience.
wholetruth Registered User (9/1/02 3:27 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda Pig Ma, If he responded to you from a position of true humility, then I respect and admire that. Who wouldn't? I hope that's the case. I won't try to judge him anymore. Also, I won't try to judge you. I hope you know what you're doing, and I wish you the best, and every blessing. Whether or not your current situation turns out to be permanent, I'm sure you will learn much from it. Srflongago, You've been one of the best contributors to this board--without a doubt, the most enlightening--and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for serving us in this way. Edited by: wholetruth at: 9/1/02 3:35:50 pm
soulcircle Registered User (9/2/02 4:19 am) Reply	WholeTruth Whole Truth, I second that emotion~Smokey Robinson. I couldn't agree more with everything you say in this last post. soulcircle
srflongago Registered User (9/2/02 12:35 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda Thank you. We must give credit where credit is due, even though fifty years of faulty leadership has left the organization in disarray, with no transcendent spritual leadership. I think this should not be a surprise. There are three aspects of Yoga, often represented in different schools. Physical Yoga as expressed by Hatha and exercises. Mental Yoga as expressed by Raja Yoga in concentration and meditation and clearing the mind of all content. Then there is spiritual Yoga, that is, the path of devotion, knowledge, and work acting through the intellect, heart, and will, love and devotion leading to unity of Self with Universal Consciousness, including unity of self with the consciousness of the rest of mankind. Few have ascended through all three. There are masters of the physical exercises who delude themselves into thinking they have achieved transcendent states, rather than merely a satisfying preparation. There are masters of the mental exercises, who have knowledge and understanding, but little spirituality. There are the few who have reached beyond and also achieved sprituality, for which all else is mere preparation. Many confuse the physical and mental means with the end, and are very proud that they and their friends have the physical and/or mental attainments. But these are means only. Their very proudness prevents them from reaching the true ends. According to the Vedas these spritual ends are only reachable after giving up all desire for achieving results. That is, they come by inner (psychological) necessity at a certain stage of self-realization, they do not come from activity directed toward achieving a goal. It is very hard for an institution to find anyone with both these attainments and leadership qualities.To have both is rare indeed, almost, but not quite, contradictory. If you want a positive example on which there is little disagreement, think of Ramakrishna. Edited by: srflongago at: 9/2/02 4:11:54 pm
wholetruth Registered User (9/2/02 7:34 pm) Reply	Re: Meeting Swami Kriyananda I came across this newspaper article, depicting the sad state of the hatha yoga "industry" in America. It may be recalled that Bikram is the most successful of Bishnu Ghosh's pupils, Bishnu being Yogananda's brother. www.washingtonpost.com/wp...Aug26.html
MastersChela Registered User (11/10/02 10:59 pm) Reply	Re: Washington Post Article www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64895-2002Aug26.html The biggest issue in this article, that isn't even addressed, I might add, is the lasting impression that this aura of corporate greed and sex and corruption leaves on those sincere truth-seekers who are wandering out there, looking for God. I see so many people in Fitness Clubs, taking Yoga and not even being offered the concept that this "exercize" is rooted in spirituality, and that there is a whole lifestyle and mode of living and techniques of meditation behind it that can truly MAKE ONE'S LIFE BETTER, not just give you a great butt... When Birkram's out there telling people that he's living in cosmic consciousness, and meanwhile TRADEMARKING ASANAS!!!?????, how can we, who are sincere truth seekers and teachers, how can we break through these predudices to the term Guru and to the whole concept of Indian-influenced spirituality? (bringing this post back to the topic of the thread) This is one area where Swami Kriyananda has given teachers a tool. That tool is @nanda Yoga. This method takes each Asana and adds to it an affirmation, a way of thinking, a mental vibration, that carries the mind to a place of quiet and helps us remember that the true, original goal of Hatha Yoga was enlightenment.
prssmd Registered User (12/21/03 8:42 pm) Reply	Re: Wholetruth; "disrespect and discourtesy" Wholetruth asserts above that the words of Kriyananda in "Correspondence between Brahmananda and Ananda - November 2001," www.yoganandarediscovered...r4Nov.html, "do not seem to reflect much spirituality." I disagree. It looks to me as though Kriyananda is simply a man who knows how to defend himself. He is not some pacifist who is ready to lie down and let everyone stomp all over him, thank God. If Brahmananda treated Kriyananda with "disrespect and discourtesy" then that's something Kriyananda SHOULD point out. All too often, important issues are swept under the rug when people treat each other with "disrespect and discourtesy"--in fact, a good example of that occurred when I corresponded with Ananda itself and found some of their staff to be fond of behaving with "disrespect and discourtesy." Kriyananda complains about Mrinalini Mata, who treated him with condescension, as she seems to have done with "others whose ideas differed from her own." This brings us to the important lesson: when others disagree with us, we must still behave respectfully. My mother had no respect for anyone who disagreed with her about abortion. I never could understand why she felt so strongly, and I knew that some of the anti-abortionists my mother hated were terrific people. Unfortunately, my mother couldn't get beyond this one issue of abortion. Similarly, many militant feminists have no respect for anyone who disagrees with them. In this website, it would be best if people would focus on issues instead of personalities, and treat each other with respect. I myself have been compelled to do otherwise because of personal attacks made on me by those who, apparently like Mrinalini Mata, have no respect for anyone who disagrees with them. Edited by: prssmd at: 12/25/03 11:15 pm

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