By Jayadev Jaerschky
••• Part 1 •••
Experiences With Swami Kriyananda
Nobody in this world has inspired me more, and taught me more, than Swami Kriyananda. In none can I find a better example of discipleship, of wisdom, of tolerance, of friendship. To none I am more grateful for the many blessings in my life. My hope is to be able to do even a 100th of what he has done during his devoted life.
I have not been part of his most intimate circle. Yet often he invited me and my wife Sahaja to sit at his table, during lunch at our center; numerous times he invited us to a restaurant, together with just a few others; several times he asked me to be his house-sitter while he was on tour; I accompanied him on various seminars. Fortunately, I also asked him countless questions, personally or by email (quite to his exasperation, I fear).
At any rate, here are some of my golden memories with Swamiji.
Love Is Stronger!
I have been a rebel, always: had troubles in school, fought with neighbours, protested against the government. Nobody will be my boss, I resolved! When in my early days at Ananda a new director arrived at our center, I immediately knew that hard times had come for me. It was a true intuition. We fought hard with each other, even raising our voices… it was tough for both.
Swami Kriyananda, back then, visited our center only for one month each year. When he heard of this tensed situation, I was called “on the carpet,” as so many other times in my life. So I climbed up the stairs to his apartment, ready for another fight. I was certain that I’d get a big scolding, a warning, a judgment. To my surprise, Swami was very kind and friendly to me. He made me sit down. At that moment I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life. A powerful wave of love struck me as if physically. It is hard to describe. Love is a power, and it is not even human, it is cosmic. I was totally disarmed, flattened out. I sat back on the sofa, all of a sudden completely relaxed, receptive. The bull-fighter in me was totally gone, and I was there, listening like a sheep.
Swami Kriyananda spoke gently. Here I learned two big lessons from him.
First of all: Love wins people. Pressure doesn’t.
Secondly, he told me: “We don’t want “yes-men!” I was amazed. He didn’t tell me: “Obey! Get in line! Behave, or else…” He was telling me, in fact, “think for yourself, yes, be yourself, it is totally ok!” He added: “But negativity has its own momentum. Be careful. If you don’t change it, it will take you out of Ananda.” He told me the story of one of his fellow disciples, who didn’t correct his tendency toward negativity, and who therefore finally left the path.
I sat there – it was a moment of Eternity. A love had never experienced, beyond everything I knew. Inside, I was in contact with something higher.
After some time he said, “It’s time to go now.” I stood up, but what I felt in my heart was so strong that I was unable to turn my back to Swami Kriyananda. Oddly walking backwards, step by step, always facing him, with my back towards the door, I slowly made my way out. Back on the steps outside, I resolved: “That was it. I won’t be stupid enough to let myself be taken out of Ananda.” So I changed my ways, and became sweeter and more loving…in time.
Sliceable Energy
In that same house, called Il Ritiro, downstairs, we used to have our temple. At one point Swami Kriyananda was giving Kriya initiation there. We were all standing or sitting outside, waiting for the ceremony to begin, while he was meditating inside. A wondrous and tangible atmosphere began to permeate the air. It got stronger and stronger, divine. Was I dreaming? No! My friend Shantidev later told me that he felt that “the energy was so dense, as if you could slice it.”
A similar experience happened at another moment, when as a community we meditated together with him. Suddenly there as like a “carpet” of energy permeating the room, and us all. It was tangible. After some time, suddenly I felt his energy withdrawing. I knew he would begin to talk right now. And so he did, at that very moment.
A Jewel
One day, in my early years at Ananda, some of us young members had the great opportunity to be invited by Swami to a restaurant. We were all extremely excited. This was the time, however, when negativity and aggression had gotten a hold of me. So we chatted with Swami Kriyananda, it was fun. At one point he looked at me and said: “Jayadev (in reality he used my old name), you are a jewel.” I was so deeply touched. Here there was someone who saw that better side in me, and who believed in me, even though I had been behaving in quite a bad way. From then on I felt that he was my guardian angel. As he is around, I knew I would be alright.
Swami Kriyananda believed in me. He asked me to lead the month-long program for newcomers (the “ashram program”), for those who wanted to enter our community. It was a big responsibility, and something that I didn’t really feel ready to do, since I myself was so young. But a good friend, Vairagi, told me that Swami had talked with silent esteem about me. I couldn’t believe it. Nobody had ever so much believed in me, the eternal trouble-maker, except my parents, who of course saw more my personality, whereas Swami saw my soul, the “jewel”. Today, therefore, I do my best to see the jewel in other people too, even in those who are negative, aggressive, or simply strange – just as Swami saw the jewel in me.
Opinions
As most young people who are new on the spiritual path, I was quite opinionated. Swami Kriyananda at the table once told me (and this is a little pearl of his many original observations): “MOST people have an opinion about MOST things, and MOST of the time they are wrong!” In time I learned to take my opinions a little less seriously.
A Cosmic House
Three times Swami Kriyananda asked me if I would stay in his house while he was gone touring. Would I? It was a blessing of blessings – never to be forgotten! One of these times I was able to spend a whole week there in seclusion. It was cosmic. Blissfully sitting on his sofa, I felt the whole house floating in the cosmos. It was simply amazing what the energy in his house did to me. I was listening to his new beautiful music, which he had just recorded, “Door of my heart…” At a certain point I couldn’t contain myself any longer: I had to rise on my feet and began dancing, my arms outstretched in the air, as if in divine ecstasy. “I will sing Thy name, I will drink Thy name, and get all drunk o with Thy name.” I was drunk in bliss!
After that week I joined him for some seminar. He had his room across from mine in the hotel. When he saw me, he smiled, and asked: “Did you like my house?” He said it in a way (it wasn’t really a question), and smiled in a way, that I knew he knew.
The Father Scolds…
I was not always very soft and tactful. Once, at a seminar in Switzerland where I accompanied Swamiji, I was sitting with him and maybe ten others at the breakfast table, laughingly telling a little experience: there was a man at the seminar who claimed to be channeling Yogananda, and practicing hypnotism. I had told him that I didn’t believe a word of this tale, that Yogananda said he would not come that way, that it all sounded like a big illusion, and that hypnotism is a harmful practice.
I was sitting right beside Swami Kriyananda. When he heard this he turned to me and forcefully (loudly, it seemed to me) exclaimed: “You should never hurt people!” Swami had a powerful energy. Something like this from him could quite blow you away. I was in fact totally taken aback, it struck me deeply. For the rest of breakfast I could not say a word.
Afterwards we all walked outside to his car. I was still digesting his thundering feedback. Then amazingly, before entering the car, Swami took his walking stick, and with a sweet smile gave it to me. What does this mean, I wondered? Nothing, I later understood, except that it was a gesture of his love. He was a father, who sometimes had to scold, but his love remained unchanged.
“Lord I am Thine!”
Swami Kriyananda was traveling through Germany, accompanied by MayaDevi and Helmut, two of our teachers. In Frankfurt, their car broke down, in the middle of their teaching tour. It was decided for me to drive up there, to bring them another vehicle. It was a beautiful drive, thinking of God. When I arrived, I joined everyone at the dinner table, just at Swami’s side. He chatted affably about all kinds of cultural things with MayaDevi’s parents, who were highly educated. Swami Kriyananda too was a extremely cultured person, and knew much about all kinds of things: history, arts, cultures, etc. For me these things were rather secondary. I thought to myself: “Why can’t we talk about spiritual things, gosh, we are with Swami Kriyananda!” At that point, in the middle of the discussion he turned to me, without anybody noticing it, and whispered to me his melody: “Lord, I am Thine, I am Thine…”
Inside, he was with God, and told me to be so too. That is who Swami Kriyananda was for me. A magnet who inspires me to love God.
Know For Yourself!
I was asking him if it was a good idea to be together with a girl I had fallen in love with, Beate. He replied: “You must feel that yourself!” Then looked at me intently. I knew there was something he felt, that he intuited the answer, but that he wanted me to develop my own inner understanding. The goal is inner wisdom, Self-realization! He never wanted us to depend on him.
100.000 Lire
When I split up with a woman, I strongly felt to become a monk. But unfortunately there was no structure at our center to allow such kind of life. So I decided to make it happen myself, and to get a building for monks to live in, where we could offer seclusion for others as well. Swami Kriyananda’s response was two-fold. On one side he gave me 100.000 Lire of his own money (about $50), which I still have, as a sign of his support and encouragement for my initiative. On the other hand he told me, “Monasteries and communities are not created by buildings, but by people.”
Swami always encouraged the spirit of initiative at Ananda, and tried to guide it wisely.
A Vast Consciousness
Many years ago, Swami Kriyananda was leading us in Yogananda’s Energization Exercises at the Il Ritiro. In the middle of them the thought occurred to me, “There is a vast consciousness working through Swami’s body.” At that moment Swami turned around to me (I was at the side), looking at me deeply and meaningfully. Then he resumed the exercises.
How Strange!
Swami Swami had much fatherly love for my wife, Sahaja. She had gone through years of painful inner struggle. When she had overcome this test, he wrote her these inspiring words of guidance: ”How strange it is: We are all in one and the same room, but some of us keep our eyes squeezed partly shut, and see everything in grey colors. It’s all so brilliant and beautiful!”
The Only True Friend
Before moving to Italy in 1996, Swami Kriyananda used to come only once a year to visit us for some time. Everyone was excited then. During one such time, at a certain moment he decided spontaneously to give a satsang for the community. Everyone was highly excited, so much so that they forgot to communicate the event to those of us who weren’t around, and I happened to be in seclusion that day. The next day I heard about it and was deeply hurt, angry, and made lots of noise about the incredible fact that I hadn’t been notified. I fought with our director about it too. Finally Swami Kriyananda heard the story and talked with me. I told him, desolate: “Nobody here is my real friend!” He answered: “Remember that the only friend you have, who will never forget you, is God.”
That was a tough lesson, I must admit.
Listening To a Child
Swami Kriyananda taught that we should always try to listen sincerely to everyone’s suggestion, even if it comes from a child. I was still quite a newcomer at Ananda, but suggested to Swami: “I don’t agree with the title of your book, The Rule (which describes attitudes of Ananda members). It doesn’t seem to reflect Ananda’s spirit. Shouldn’t we rather call it ‘Guidelines’?“ After some days he wrote me that he liked my idea, and that he would change the title. Amazing!
At other times, of course, my strong opinions or suggestions were not heeded at all: for example to abandon our formal minister’s robes for the Sunday ceremony.
Prasad
Frequently Swami Kriyananda didn’t eat all of his meal. He then shared it with friends sitting with him. When at times he offered some of it to me, I felt an inner blessing.
The true Prasad from him, however, was inward. Often in his presence I felt strong energy in my chakras, or felt energy rising in my spine – so strongly that sometimes I couldn’t even think clearly. Unfortunately this perception of Swami Kriyananda’s inner power made me always very shy, while he wanted us to be completely natural around him.
Love
At one point of my spiritual life, as sometimes happens on the path, an unknown emotion surfaced within me: violence. I didn’t know where it had come from.
One day I was with the “ashram-group” at Swami Kriyananda’s house, for a satsang with him. Suddenly, as if from the ether, Swami pulled a story, which he had never told before. It was about Jerry, a brother disciple, who had intensely violent impulses: he was standing at the cliff of Encinitas hermitage, where suddenly he felt to push some children down the cliff to their death. He won that inner struggle. Swami Kriyananda concluded with this counsel: what makes you win that kind of battle is love.” Never again, as far as I know, he has retold the story.
Often, even while talking to a group, Swami suddenly addressed your personal situation. Nobody knows, but you do.
Do You Always Have to Doubt Me?
Swami was working on editing Yogananda’s commentaries of the Rubaiyat. He shared chapter after chapter with the community, once he had written them. At one point I approached him with my opinions. He looked at me in a friendly way and asked, exasperatedly, “Do you always have to doubt me?” It is true, my mind had a strong tendency to doubt, and always has to reach its own conclusions. Poor Swami Kriyananda: Ananda is made of so many stubborn people!
Anyway, he actually accepted one of my suggestions, and included it in the book.
Lightbearer
When Swami Kriyananda made me a lightbearer (a person at Ananda who celebrates ceremonies), I was quite young, in my twenties. It was at the end of a Kriya initiation, together with Jutta, a dear friend. He just gave us a short blessing, with a few silent words.
Often he was even more informal when appointing new ministers, maybe just with a brief blessing, everyone being dressed in normal clothes, without any ceremony.
My spiritual director Anand recounts: “Swami made me a lightbearer in a pizzeria, and a kriya-minister in the car. I enjoyed it this way, and think he never wanted us to take these outer positions so importantly, lest it becomes an ego-role, and also to stop us from emphasizing hierarchy too much in our community.”
A Funny Mirror
Swami Kriyananda always sat and walked with an absolutely straight spine, shoulders back, centered and calm. One day, however, in our dining room, there was a young man talking with Swami, slumping down into his chair. It was hilarious: suddenly Swami Kriyananda too was slumping in the same “cool” manner on his chair, curved and bent, mirroring that young man. Did he get the point? I don’t know, but for all of us it was a great entertainment.
Marriage
It was difficult for me to decide to marry. When Swami Kriyananda gave me my spiritual name, Jayadev (angel of victory), he told me: “I give you this name to make you understand that being married is not less spiritual than being alone!”
Seeing His Soul
One time I was in seclusion for a week or two and was strictly avoiding people. But Swami Kriyananda gave a satsang at the temple. So when everyone was seated, I sat outside the temple, by myself at a door. In my uplifted state of awareness I saw light streaming out of him, filling the room. “If I only could always see that deeper vision of him,” I thought.
I understood why he said, “When giving talks, most of all I am giving the vibrations of my Master.”
Death of My Brother
We had just gotten notice that my brother had died in the mountains. I called Anand and Kirtani, who were at Swami Kriyananda’s house. I was to leave the next day to France to see my brother’s body for the last time. Swami Kriyananda wanted to talk to me too, and said, “We will pray for you.”
That night I sat in my bed to meditate, and suddenly a strong joyful energy uplifted me. I felt almost ashamed to feel so joyful at this dreadful moment! Was it Swami? I am certain, and wonder how many hidden blessings he has sent us all through the years, as his silent gift of love.
You Were With Me
For a long time Swami Kriyananda called me “Bruno”, I don’t know why. So I became famous as “Bruno,” and the coat – much too large for me, but I always wore it – which he had given me as a gift was fondly called the “Bruno coat.” (By the way, he has given us many of his clothes: I have from him socks, a kashmiri pullover, an orange “pile”) “Is that name Bruno of a former incarnation?”, someone asked Swami. “Maybe,” he replied with a smile.
Vairagi told me: “I once asked Swamiji: “Was I with Yogananda in the past?” Swamijii replied, “You were with me.” That’s the casse, I am certain, also with me. He was like my father.
Blessings
Years ago I was walking up on the gravel road from Villa Pace toward our main house, Il Rifugio. All of a sudden inwardly I grew immense, as if filling the sky. In that curious expanded state of consciousness I continued walking. When reaching the parking lot of Il Rifugio, Swami Kriyananda was there, greeting me. Was he the cause of that experience? It certainly felt like it, maybe also because I have had several similar experiences with him, all of which had a strong effect on my consciousness.
For example one time I walked into his house, he was there, and suddenly I felt like walking on clouds, as if in another dimension.
The last such experience happened on the day of his earthly departure, on 21 April 2013. He left the body at 8.00 AM. At 8:45 we heard about it at the Il Rifugio. At around 9.30 Arjuna (one of the leaders) asked me to help him take a table to Swami’ Kriyanandas house, to transport his body to the temple. When I saw him in his bed, I touched his feet, sat to meditate, and another curious experience happened: it was as if a layer of negative energy was lifted from my aura, like a dark ring around me that was being pulled upwards.
I think I know why I was granted that special blessing. Early that morning, when I woke up I had an urge to write a letter to a friend who at times had spoken negatively about Swami Kriyananda. She knew I didn’t agree, but I never made an issue of it. But this morning, just an hour before Swami left the body, I wrote her strongly: “If I ever hear that you speak negatively about Swami, I shall never meet you again. He is my spiritual father.”
Conclusion
Swami Kriyananda’s discipleship is endlessly inspiring to me. But the crucial question is this: will we who come after him follow his footsteps, and carry on that light, his service, his example? That will be our challenge.
••• Part 2 •••
Precious Conversations with Swami Kriyananda
Here are some conversations I recorded. They come from informal lunches, dinners, or breakfasts with him, and reflect his spirit well.
Angels
Swami Kriyananda was wishing “Happy Easter” to a new member of our community. Someone remarked: “Swami, we have a lot of angels coming now.” Swami responded spontaneously, “You are all angels!”
Once again we noticed that Swami sees us all with eyes beholding our soul.
Make-up
One of our members, MayaDevi, exclaimed: “Swami, you seem to look younger even than decades ago.” He nodded, and then answered jokingly: “You know, I stand in front of the mirror every morning, fixing myself up carefully.” He made the appropriate gestures (very funny), putting make-up into his face… it was roaring laughter from all sides.
Swami Kriyananda had a delightful sense of humor, and is a natural actor. People who take themselves too seriously, he remarked, usually lack a sense of humor.
Secrets of a Beautiful Voice
Swami Kriyananda is known for his warm singing voice. I asked him: “Swami, you are not young, but your voice is still so round, strong and beautiful. What is your secret?”
He answered with two points: “You have to learn to place your voice correctly. That’s not easy. When as a youth I sang in Mexico to a well-known singing teacher, he said, ‘Never change your voice teacher’!”
Secondly he explained, “It’s air! Most people increase their volume through tension, not with air. I feel my head vibrating when I sing or talk.” He pointed to his whole face.
Babaji’s Stone
“Swami, do you know about a certain stone of Babaji, at Yogananda’s Encinitas hermitage?” Swami Kriyananda: “Oh yes. Babaji had sent it there through someone. I myself had the opportunity to hold it. It was very special!”
Astral Entities
Recently Swami Kriyananda had gone through a precarious cancer operation: A small malignant tumor in his colon had been removed.
He later said: “When I came out of hospital, I definitively felt that something which had been with me for years had been taken away. These illnesses are evil astral entities. You know, Anandamoyee Ma had a cancer of the liver, and it came out of her (Swami pointed to the abdominal area) in the form of a black monkey which drowned itself in the Ganges.”
Everyone was surprised at this strange story.
MayaDevi remarked: “It’s true. Just after my cancer operation was my most blissful time ever!” Swami Kriyananda: “Yes, I too was in bliss when I came out. But (smiling) I was in bliss even when I went into the hospital!”
A Little Addition to the Last Conversation
When he went into hospital for that operation, everyone was quite worried. He asked Lakshman, his secretary, to send these words to all:
“Dear Everyone,
Today’s the big day. I feel no fear, only bliss. In my heart there is only love for everyone, without exception. No hurt, only deep gratitude. My will for everyone on earth is PEACE, LOVE, BLISS, and FREEDOM.”
It was deeply touching for us all to see this great soul in divine bliss and love, even while facing a dangerous tumor operation.
Magic
Swami Kriyananda greeted a devotee working in Tschad, Africa, which was going through a violent and bloody time. “What a karma Africa seems to have,” Helmut said.
Swami Kriyananda: “I have always felt that Africa is using a lot of magic. Mind-power can be turned to magic. Egypt, I feel, fell because of it. They turned to magic at the time when civilization was coming down from Treta to Dwapara Yuga, and the karma from that is still being felt.”
At another meal he remarked: “When I visited Egypt, I felt that I had lived there, thousands of years ago, in an ashram.” His Egyptian music, by the way, is exquisite.
Colors
Sahaja: “Swamiji, I have been editing Asha’s book, your biography, and it is truly marvelous.” He nodded and explained: “It’s not only about me. It contains a lot of teaching.”
Sahaja: “And it brings out a lot of things which were unknown before!” “Yes, for example that I don’t notice the color of people’s eyes. It’s true, even though I am intensely aware of colors.” He always saw and felt deeper things, the sate of consciousness, not eyes, hair, or clothes.
Nice clothes, however, he did recognize and complimented people for them, especially when their color was bright.
Another Saintly Soul
Swami Kriyananda had visited Fra xy some time ago, a mystical Christian. He was impressed by him and said at the table: “Please call him, and tell him that I miss him! And please send him my latest article.” Sweet friendship in God could be felt. Religious barriers tumble when high souls meet.
International Swami
Swami Kriyananda was a man of culture, and spoke several languages. At the table he suddenly began to sing a song by Schubert. Then he looked at me (a German): “How was that?”
Gulp… I answered, not knowing the song: “Swami, I am embarrassed, you know these things better than I do, as a German.” He smiled. “When I was a kid I spoke German as well as English.”
To German guests he talked joyfully a bit in German, adding “Fröhliche Ostern!” (Happy Easter!) As he wrote: “The whole world is my home, and the human race, my family!”
The Inner Sound of Names
He had just given a spiritual name to several devotees, who had asked him for it: Rosella = Lata; Alessandro = Drisana; Valentina = Vahini.
His explanation of how these names come to him was interesting: “I sometimes later forget the names I have given. But I always meditate on the people. Then a sound comes to me which turns into the name. I then use my Sanskrit book as a help.”
They are names born of AUM!
Brighu
Swami Kriyananda had written a chapter for Prof. Lazlo’s book on the Akasha records. In it he recounts his experience with the Book of Brighu, which states that after Swami Kriyananda’s life during the war of Kurukshetra, he lived for 700 years in the astral world.
Sahaja: “Swamiji, does a soul always remain there that long?” Swami Kriyananda: “Oh no. It was due to good actions.”
A little reflection: The Mahabharata states that the war of Kurukshetra occurred at the transition point between descending Dwapara and Kali Yuga. According to Sri Yukteswar that point was in 700 BC. 700 years after that takes us to 0AD….the moment when Christ was born. It was during that very moment when Swami reincarnated!
Eight Lives
“Swamiji, 700 years is a long time. It almost doesn’t sound right… as if you had hardly any incarnation after that.” Swami Kriyananda: “I had 8 lives after that.”
Interesting! We know two of them:
1– Henry 1 (1068-1135 AD), youngest son of William the Conqueror, an earlier incarnation of Yogananda. Swami Kriyananda had memories of himself in that incarnation. It was undeniable that he had something majestic, regal, and noble in his personality.
2– According to the Book of Brighu: “In his very last life he was a very religious man and was called “Pujar Das,” born in Karachi (formerly India, now capital of Pakistan), later going on pilgrimage to an ashram of the ancient sage Kapila in the desert, where he met his guru.”
Swami Kriyananda wrote that the desert was “probably in Rajasthan.” Intrigued, I did a little research, and found the KOLAYAT TEMPLE. Kolayat is 45 km from south-west of Bikaner in the desert of Rajasthan. Kolayat – originally Kapilayatan—is named after the sage Kapila. In the temple there is a Kapila statue. I sent my finding to Swami Kriyananda: “Could that be it?” He answered: “I would have to go there and see it.”
By the way: he stated that this recent incarnation in the desert was the reason why he fell in love with the desert of 29Palms, where he spent time with Yogananda. He said back then: “I feel more at home here than anywhere else.”
Next Life
“Did the Book of Brighu say something about your next life?” With a little movement of his hand Swami Kriyananda brushed the topic off. After a minute or so, he said softly: “It said I’d have no more life. But I didn’t write it, not wanting to seem boastful.”
Swami’s Reality: Astral
We were at the restaurant. Swami Kriyananda: “The astral world has always been more real to me than the physical one.” “Even right now, Swamiji?” “Yes.”
A Little Concert
What a delightful dinner it was at the restaurant, a memory to be cherished always: Swami Kriyananda sang a number of songs to us right at the table. A hilarious song, “You’re the cream in my coffee, you’re the salt in my stew…”; another funny American song, called “Alka Seltzer”; then various Shakespeare songs; an Italian opera song, interpreted in an exaggerated manner; he finished with “John Anderson” and “Paper, Anyone?”.
Music, by the way, seemed part of Swami’s very body cells. Many times he woke up in the morning with a new beautiful melody in mind, which we later got to enjoy.
Politics
Italy was about to vote its new president. Swami Kriyananda glanced at the TV in the restaurant, asking, “Is this Berlusconi?” “Yes, and he might actually win the election!”
Swami Kriyananda laughed: “The French have a saying: ‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!'” (The more it changes, the more it’s just the same.) True change in society will come only from a general upliftment in consciousness, he told us. Otherwise it will always remain “la même chose!”
Other Planets
Jayadev: “Recently I read an article by a priest of the Vatican. He said it is indeed conceivable that there is life on other planets. It’s noteworthy that even they say that now. I am just wondering: will they want to convert all the other planets to their religion?”
Swami Kriyananda: “Absurd”. Then humorously: “Jesus hopping from planet to planet. There you have it. It would be a proof of reincarnation. They have to admit it then!”
Swami loved true Christianity, but was not fond of “Churchianity.”
You Can Do It!
“In your new chapter for Dr. Lazlo’s book you make it sound as if accessing superconsciousness is quite easy, as if each and everyone can easily do it.” We were talking about writing inspired music. Swami Kriyananda: “Why not? I’ve always thought: If I can do it, anyone can do it.”
He always made us understand: “You too can do it!”
Sadhana: Most Important
Swami Kriyananda: “Sadhana is most important. Don’t allow your life of service to take it from you.” Just before he had given another advice: “I never do anything which takes away my inner peace. Do even only 50% of what you are doing now, if that is what is needed to keep your inner peace.”
Swami was full of fatherly love and concern. He indeed was like a spiritual father to many of us.
People Are More Important Than Things
To Sahaja who worked with his books, and who had worked day and night for publication, had finally crashed. He lovingly asked: “Are you better now?” “Yes, Swamiji!” “I never want you to feel as bad again. I’d prefer not having my books out in Italy!”
Love for people was always more important to him than even his most cherished projects.
Many Brothers and Sisters
Swami Kriyananda: “Once in Delhi at a public interview I suddenly felt that row after row all the people sitting there were my old friends, and that I knew them.” “Does that happen to you often, Swami?” “Yes. Yesterday there was a man sitting next to my table and I felt like just going over there, asking, how are you today?”
He once explained: “It’s like Buddha said: In one of your many, many lifetimes, every other person on earth has once been dear to you.”
Death
We were talking about his new book, Revelations of Christ, and that it could be highly offensive. Swami Kriyananda: “I could be assassinated.” “Are you serious?” “Yes. I don’t say it will happen, but it could. That was the classic response. And I wouldn’t care.”
He was in fact never afraid of “brother death” but was rather looking forward to it. He wrote: “Death is nothing, in itself. It is a matter of merely stepping out of one’s costume when the play is over, and returning to one’s other, more normal life.”
Mafioso and Saint
Swami Kriyananda to Sahaja and Jayadev: “You both look very good: very much changed, compared to when you came.” Jayadev: “I am glad nobody knew me before I came to Ananda.” He shook his head: “You were alright!” Jayadev: “My first yoga teacher after some years told me, ‘You are a completely different person now.'” Swami Kriyananda: “Isn’t that fun? Even a mafioso can become a saint.” Then he added: “You came as a saint. Now you are even more a saint.”
Swami was a maker of saints.
Trust
Jayadev: “I have been asked to write books for Ananda Edizioni. Is that a good thing for me to do? Swami Kriyananda: “Yes, I write seminally so that others can expand on it. So yes, it’s a good thing.” Later Narya asked him: “Do you want to read through Jayadev’s manuscript, to see what he is writing?” Swami Kriyananda: “No, I trust Jayadev.”
He had a very different attitude from the usual top-down control. Trust feels like love, and the trusted person tries not to disappoint. Trust and allowing errors were his way to make Ananda blossom.
No Experiences?
Swami Kriyananda: “I believe I have been in Cosmic Consciousness in other lifetimes. But in this one I have no particular meditative experiences: light, this and that.” Shivani replied: “But you hear OM all the time.” “Yes. Well, I can’t say I don’t have experiences. I feel bliss. And that’s the most important thing.”
He explained that it could be that Master withholds certain experiences, because if Cosmic Consciousness is experienced, one would hardly be interested in hard work in the outer world. The same happened to Sister Gyanamata and others.
Alcohol
“Swami, we need some rules in our community, right?” “For example what?” “Well, some people in the community have started to drink a little alcohol.” “Well, that’s a strict rule – no alcohol. But these kinds of things should be a matter of common sense. Like drugs too.”
Common Sense and Charity
“Swami, when you are gone I am afraid we as a community will stray either too far towards rules, or too far away from them.” “That’s inevitable. Just always be guided by common-sense and charity.”
Counseling
“Don’t counsel as worldly people do: ‘I always say…’ Always pray to God to know what that particular person needs to hear in this moment.”
Swami Kriyananda was a precious teacher for other teachers. Hopefully his spirit will live on. For example, on one side he talked about the necessity to watch our ego, but on the other side he talked about our capability to become true channels of God.
Swami’s Most Important Accomplishment
Swami Kriyananda: “You are looking well”. “Also thanks to you, Swami.” He relied: “My main work is you all. I have done some other little things, but you all are my most important work.”
••• Part 3 •••
His Many Brilliant Rays
Swami Kriyananda, that’s for certain, was by no means an ordinary man. His accomplishments are vast. Usually, a famous man might do one great thing, which can be compared to one ray of brilliant light, for which he will be remembered. But Swami Kriyananda must be explained more like a sun – his many rays bringing light to all aspects of human life.
- One such ray is his founding of spiritual communities, Ananda, which continues to grow. Communities were his Guru’s stated ideal. Yogananda knew they would happen, and told Kriyananda many times: “You have a great work to do!”
- Another ray are Swami Kriyananda’s 400 musical compositions, which offer beauty and variety. They range from instrumental, to choral, to vocal pieces, including tunes of many different cultures. All of them are meant to convey higher consciousness. “Music is a language,” he says. “It is a direct communication.” Kriyananda’s own singing voice was exceptionally full and rich.
- An important ray is the educational system “Education for Life,” which Swami Kriyananda created. He founded schools, the Living Wisdom Schools, in which children learn not only academics, but also nobility of character, happiness-producing attitudes, respect for people, nature, and God. Proper child education was dear also to Yogananda’s heart, who himself started schools, personally teaching there.
- Another ray is the creation of an enlightened branch of Hatha Yoga, called Ananda Yoga, which helps the practitioner to grow toward Self-realization. “It is my guru’s system,” Kriyananda said, and explained in what inspiring way he learned it from him.
- One of Swami Kriyananda’s strong rays are the more than 100 books he authored – written with skill and clarity, covering many important aspects of human life, and applying in creative ways the spiritual teachings of his guru. “Your work will be writing, editing lecturing,” Yogananda had told him.
- The rays go on: for example Swami Kriyananda was also a playwright, writing uplifting plays. Yogananda pointed out in his Lessons: “Beauty in all its myriad forms must have been originally included in the Divine Plan, for we see evidence everywhere: in the flowers and trees, the birds, the sky, the creative arts, in the face of a child, in a voice, in music. Why, then, if God has seen fit to recognize its worth and power, shall we make an effort to eradicate it from our lives in the name of spiritual attainment?”
- Swami Kriyananda – to mention another ray – was a talented teacher, who has lectured all over the world (in 5 languages), sharing Yogananda’s teachings with hundreds of thousands of seekers. Originally Swami resisted this type of service: “Master, I don’t want to be a minister!” “You better learn to like it,” the Master told him, “for this is what you will have to do!” Yogananda then reassured him: “You will never fall because of ego!”
- A further ray: Swami Kriyananda carried on the ancient tradition of Kriya Yoga. This too was part of his dharma: Yogananda authorized him to give the Kriya initiation already when he had been his disciple for only 8 months. “You have good karma!” the Master had told him. He had been, Yogananda specified, “a yogi for many lifetimes.”
- A hidden ray of Swami Kriyananda’s life: he was a passionate photographer, and took about 15,000 “photographs of beauty”: scenes from all over the globe. He wrote that “photography is an art form. It can suggest to the viewer an experience that he might not have had, had he been alone, facing the same subject.”
- Another ray shines for inspiration and recreation: Swami Kriyananda created various slideshows: about the life of Saint Francis; about the Mediterranean beauty, about an astral “Land of Mystery;” about Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi;” about Christ’s life, called Christ Lives!; about “Different Worlds,” which shows how each person creates his own world with his inner consciousness.
- A further ray was Swami Kriyananda’s creation of a modern monastic Nayaswami order, “not so much based on rules as rooted in true charity. Where rules proliferate, superficial discipline is exaggerated. It becomes oppressive.”
- A ray for the crowds: for a time in India he daily talked on TV about his Guru and about all kinds of spiritual topics. Daily in this way he reached about 20 million people. In his early years he had a weekly radio show in San Francisco, and later in Sacramento, for a total of 9 years. He talked and sang to the listeners, sharing yogic teachings.
- As a further little ray: Swami Kriyananda also painted – not many, but a few paintings. He explained: “A painting expresses in symbolic form the artist’s consciousness. Creation, similarly, expresses in countless symbolic forms the Creator’s consciousness, displaying innumerable symbols of His absolute bliss.”
- Swami Kriyananda made – expressing a further ray – architectural designs, following Yogananda’s direction: “Immortalize your ideals in architecture!” His personal favorite style were homes in dome shape. He wrote: “Architecture is, I think, in one respect the most important of all the arts. For a painting in someone’s living room, a sculpture in his secluded courtyard, can be enjoyed by only a few, but the building in which one lives can inspire and delight every passerby.”
- He wrote numerous poems, which shine like luminous rays to the reader. Poetry was, by the way, also a passion for Yogananda. Swami Kriyananda explains: “Poetry is capable of capturing people’s true state of mind in a way that actual speech almost never does.”
- Swami Kriyananda’s rays were always practical. He created flourishing and successful businesses. “Make your idealism practical,” Yogananda had told him. He offered a special training for business people: a practical and effective correspondence course Material Success through Yoga principles, teaching how to bring ethical principles into the tough business world, while increasing ones success.
- His most touching ray, for most people, was his deep commitment to friendship. He is still loved by thousands. Kriyananda was unwaveringly loyal, even to those who betrayed him. While being a friend he was also – and most of all – a living example of uncompromising discipleship, holding nothing back, but giving himself fully to serving his Master – even to the last drop of blood; even when he was in his eighties; even when his body was helpless or crying with pain. Yogananda told him that he would find God at the end of this life. What a glorious promise!