The Serenity and Tumult of Swami Kriyananda – A Mid-Life Conversation with Yogananda’s Beloved Disciple

Wise Talkers

This 5th Legacy Edition features an interview I conducted in 1981 with Swami Kriyananda, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and founder of Ananda Village, headquartered in Nevada County, California.
Kriyananda was a controversial figure in the world of yoga gurus. He was beloved and even favored by Yogananda, but fell out of favor with the organization Yogananda founded, the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) ten years after Yogananda’s death. Several years after being harshly renounced and ex-communicated from SRF in 1962, which was devastating to Kriyananda, he set out on his own, by founding Ananda, to fulfill what he believed to be Yogananda’s vision.
My interview with Kriyananda in 1981 proved have been conducted at a pivotal point in his journey, as just two years later he let go of his monastic vows, including celibacy, and left Ananda. He married in 1985, divorced in 1994. He took up his vows again in 1995 and spent his years thereafter teaching mostly in Europe and India to devoted audiences until his death at 86 in Assisi, Italy.
In retrospect, this 43-year-old interview provides an intriguing snapshot near the midpoint of a fascinating life and career.

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Chapters

1. The Serenity and Tumult of Swami Kriyananda – A Mid-Life Conversation with Yogananda’s Beloved Disciple (00:00:00)

2. Featuring my 1981 interview with Swami Kriyananda (00:00:06)

3. The legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda (00:01:00)

4. Yogananda's spiritual classic, "Autobiography of a Yogi" (00:01:50)

5. Kriyananda's trouble history with the Self-Realization Fellowship (00:02:47)

6. 1981 interview begins with brief introduction of Kriyananda (00:05:59)

7. Seeking joy and meaning as a child (00:10:17)

8. Discovering "Autobiography of a Yogi'" at 22 (00:12:52)

9. Meeting Yogananda and becoming his disciple (00:15:37)

10. The devastating rift with the Self-Realization Fellowship (00:19:21)

11. After founding Ananda, now losing interest in more big projects (00:25:39)

12. Caller question: The role of women in spiritual life (00:28:41)

13. When divorce is the right decision (00:32:15)

14. Kriyananda's trip to Egypt and the pyramids (00:34:00)

15. Being a spiritual leader after Jonestown (00:37:53)

16. Is full enlightenment possible? (00:41:05)

17. Finding time to meditate (00:41:58)