Swami Kriyananda, who recently moved to Pune will speak on ‘Paramahansa Yogananda’s Message for India Today

Even when he was a youngster, J Donald Walters interrogated life’s meaning and society’s intricate value system. When most youngsters of his age would scram after wealth, family and orgy, Walters underwent a patch of intense inner reflection, and discovered Paramhansa Yogananda’s autobiography. The read struck him greatly, and he travelled three thousand miles the next day, from New York to California, in order to get a glimpse of the master who had penned that profound story of his life. The spiritual mentor accepted him as his disciple instantly.  

Eventually, as he evolved spiritually, gauging deeper into the practice of Kriya Yoga, he began to be known as Swami Kriyananda. Kriyananda, who recently moved to Pune from Delhi, is the founder of Ananda Sangha, a worldwide organisation for the dissemination of Yogananda’s teachings, the practical, relevant expression of Sanatan Dharma that he brought to America in the 1920s. Kriyananda says, “They are particularly relevant in India today, for our country can develop and enrich with dharma and high ideals. Following this path of expansion will allow India to fulfil her role as the ‘Guru of the World’.” Spirituality and material successes are not separate and unrelated aspects of life, but rather are mutually dependent.”

#In 1968 Kriyananda founded the Ananda Village in Northern California, which has thrived over the past 40 years. “Currently, more than 1,000 people live in eight Ananda world brotherhood colonies across the globe. In 2003, Kriyananda moved to India, bringing his guru’s dream of small intentional communities back to Yogananda’s homeland. Ananda has now purchased land to establish its newest world brotherhood colony in Pune,” explains Bension Jacob, a volunteer at Ananda Sangha.

Out of the several missions that he has in India, creating spiritual communities based on the ideal of ‘simple living and high thinking’ is one of the closest to his heart: “Places where people with families can work for a living and live together with others who also seek to live for high ideals. As founder of Living Wisdom Schools & Universities in the West, Swami Kriyanandaji hopes to establish such schools and colleges here in India as well,” adds Jacob.

Jacob says that Kriyananda has graciously agreed to choose Pune as his abode for guiding people in the teachings of Kriya Yoga, as pronounced by Yogananda in his ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ and by the line of the gurus of Kriya Yoga.

(Join Swami Kriyananda and Ananda Sangha on today, at Symbiosis University, Senapati Bapat Road, 4.30pm onwards.)

Following this path of expansion will allow India to fulfil her role as the ‘Guru of the World’-

Swami Kriyananda

Neha Madaan/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication