Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) was born on May 19, 1926, in Romania to American parents. He enjoyed international schooling.
In 1948 at the age of 22, he became a disciple of the famous Kriya Yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda. At Yogananda’s request, he devoted his life to lecturing, writing, and editing.
He taught on four continents in seven languages over the course of 65 years. His talks, music, and many books have touched the lives of millions.
For sincere seekers his goal was to help them experience Self-realization and God-realization.
But he also tried to reach society on every level. Creatively applying and adapting Yogananda’s teachings, he showed their practicality and usefulness for persons in every walk of life. His books therefore focus on spiritualizing various fields of human endeavor: business, marriage, leadership, child education, the arts, community living, happiness in daily life, yoga postures, astrology, and more.
Among his books The New Path (his autobiography) stands out, as well as extensive commentaries on the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, both based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Swami Kriyananda is best known known as the “father of the intentional communities movement.” Since his youth, in fact, he had been a fervent advocate of them. He was happily surprised, then, to discover that Yogananda spoke frequently about the need for “World Brotherhood Colonies” as places to foster spiritual attitudes and friendly cooperation.
It was at a garden party on July 31, 1949 that Yogananda gave a talk that changed the course of Swami Kriyananda’s life. “Moved to his core” by the tremendous energy with which Yogananda promoted the ideal of communities, he deeply vowed to do his utmost to make his words a reality.
The opportunity to do so finally came in 1969: with the help of friends he was able to purchase a small piece of land in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Nevada City, California. Thus was born his first spiritual community, now known as Ananda Village.
Nine other Ananda communities developed over time worldwide, including Ananda Palo Alto, Ananda Sacramento, Ananda Portland, Ananda Seattle, Ananda Los Angeles, Ananda Assisi in Italy, and Ananda India near Delhi and Pune.
During the final years of Swami Kriyananda’s life he often traveled between Italy, India, and America, giving lectures to increasing crowds, spreading his Master’s teachings.
The film THE ANSWER portrays his youthful quest for truth and his extraordinary meeting with Paramhansa Yogananda, while the film FINDING HAPPINESS narrates the story of a woman searching happiness and finding its secrets at the Ananda community.
Swami Kriyananda passed away on April 21, 2013 at his home in Assisi, Italy, aged 86.