Contact the Meditation Retreat at 530-478-7557 or email mailto: meditationretreat@ananda.org. Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect. I have never been, and am not, a devotee of Sai Baba. Well curated, understated, pastel color palette, just a different vibe from the typical flashy, fake fancy flower arrangements that you find at most flower shops. As one minor example among many, a massive, covert campaign of disinformation, was launched to elicit statements from Anandas members that could be used against Ananda in court. With Brother Bhaktanandas encouragement, I had taken up running for exercise. Yet another legacy of the late swami is the Yogaville Federal Credit Union. Download a free 101-page collection of Yoganandas out-of-print writings. Of the jury's decision to award her $625,000 in compensation, she said that the financial reward was not worth all that she had been through. I still hold them in the highest regard. Reflecting on the case, I can imagine that Paramhansa Yogananda intended it to be so. I recall a conversation with Brother Turiyananda, following a Sunday service at the SRF Lake Shrine. Mahalo for your in depth and neutral portrayal of Srf and ananda. Even though SRF spent over $30 million of its members money, hiring one of the worlds largest law firms in its effort to destroy Ananda, Ananda prevailed, winning (again in the judges words) at least 95 percent of the issues in the case. The Guru zealously helps his children, using whatever instruments are at hand. Week after week, I attended services at the SRF churches in a mood of ferocious longing for God, and my pressing questions would invariably be answered in the sermon. There is one other ray of light at the end of the tunnel for Bertolucci: she is hoping to get back together with the husband she left in 1992 to join Ananda. Attachment makes them slaves. Ananda Worldwide offers in-depth online courses, as well as interactive webinars, guided meditations, and discussions on the teachings of yoga. Readers can view the book online at: http://crystalclarity.com/kriyananda/.). View The Expanding Light Calendar, The Ananda School of Yoga and Meditation (based at The Expanding Light) offers teacher training in yoga, meditation, yoga therapy, and spiritual counseling. How could the Master possibly make such statements, but then reject Ananda and Swami Kriyananda, whose practices and beliefs are precisely his own? Many of his followers left in the 90s. Down under an Australian journalist seems to be plugging away for Scientology. The other sidethe Gnosticsbelieved that God could be known as a living presence in this life, through inner communion. But nothing, certainly, that convinced the courts. You can do the steps you want if Kriyananda returned to face the sexual civil case from Ananda's campus in Assisi, Italy, where he was living at the time and where he passed away on Sunday. The next journalist to offer up what amounts to cult apologies works in Ithaca, New York. Addendum: Letter from Swami Kriyananda to Mrinalini Mata. I had joined SRF in 1967. With its lawsuit against Ananda, SRF is fighting for much higher stakes than the destruction of a single rival organization; it is attempting to send a warning to all future devotees: Dont cross us, or try to receive the Masters teachings without our approval, or you will feel our wrath. In my view, Ananda is a vitally important test casefor the future of Masters work. Roberts writes, Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) devoted 45 years of his life to studying the teachings of Parmahansa Yogananda.. View courses and webinars. Their motto appears to be; Make nice, be happy and ignore reality. Bombay is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala.The film tells the story of an inter-religious family in Bombay before and during the Bombay riots, which took place between December 1992 and January 1993 after the demolition of the Babri Masjid led to religious tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities. "If it was just me, I probably would have just carried on working.". The project is scheduled for a hearing . http://www.ananda.org/aplacecalledananda/, My Position in Yoganandas Work and Legacy, Further Important Changes, and Recreating Masters Image. I knew with intuitive certainty that he was inspired by God. The organization, meanwhile, left me indifferent. In almost every public lecture, no matter what his announced subject, he would digress to urge people to act upon his proposal. Was I in good health? Here are some recent examples that seem to fit into the category of puff piece if not cult apology. Do you truly believe that an avatar would come on earth to found an organization?. In his talks, Rev. Monists and dualists, those of all faiths or of no established faith, were impartially received and instructed by the universal guru. More recently a controversy arose regarding an Integral Yoga International (IYI) student in New York City who attended a 30-day retreat at Yogaville, the groups retreat in Virginia. One of their most outspoken leaders was a man who had lived at Ananda for twelve years, during which he steadfastly refused to pay rent or participate in community activities, including performing any serviceful work. The prominent lawyer litigated and won the landmark appellate court decision, Molko v. Holy Spirit Association (1988) 46 Cal.3d 1092. And the more common category of largely domestic seekers is examined in The Faith Healers by James Randi. Does ISKCON and its Child Protection Office effectively protect Krishna kids? When SRF sued Ananda in 1990, we would discover that Anandas destruction had become a guiding obsession with SRFa virulent fixation that had been ingrained in the institution by some of its leading lights, most notably Tara Mata. Living at Ananda, I often reflected on SRFs animosity towards us. They had been arranged in their present format by a devoted disciple of Masters who, though a wonderful soul, had had no experience with the public or, for that matter, with teaching others. Guests from our Ananda communities worldwide: India, Europe, throughout the U.S. A variety of multimedia presentations from around the world. Call 503-626-3403 (Ananda Temple) with questions or to arrange a visit. Lacking regular contact with SRF friends and ministers, I had already begun to feel distanced from SRF, and the increasingly impersonal nature of my contacts with the organization left me cold. Twenty years after moving to Ananda, I was asked by the communitys manager, Vidura Smallen, in January 1996 if I would be willing to move to the branch community in Mountain View, on the San Francisco peninsula, to help with Anandas legal defense against the SRF lawsuit. Based at Ananda Villages Expanding Light Retreat, this program brings a balance between spiritual seeking and daily activities. Please explore our site and contact us with your inquiries or to say hello. What have I gained personally from Ananda? I am not for a moment suggesting that the SRF monks never roll up their sleevesonly that SRF seems fussily concerned with its image. (How long have you been meditating? About eight years. Well, thats nothing! I know), I said, Ive been thinking of moving to Ananda Village, and Id like to know your thoughts on the matter. Dharmananda fell silent. The community welcomes visitors and is open to the public. While he was still in SRF, Swami Kriyananda had rearranged the lessons, placing meditation instruction closer to the start, but the revised version had been rejected for reasons of organizational convenience. What is the matter with you people? The group Ananda Marga first initiated Steven Landau, Chairman of the YA Newsletter Committee. "I've had my character absolutely assassinated and that's been very difficult.". I guess that resolves everything, well at least the reporter seems to think so at the Kingston Jamaica Gleaner. Buy land in the country. Manifest contractive, cold-hearted attitudes based on ruthless organizational pettiness and jealousy? The 5 acre complex has outdoor space for events, a chapel for meditation, a community dining room for shared meals and a pool. Sarkar the founder and God-Man of Ananda Marga who died in 1990 did some time in an Indian prison. Amazingly, they were divided into factions that were so opposed in their beliefs that they were incapable of uniting in mutual aid against the terrible threat that confronted them from the Roman government. Like countlessothers in the 1960s, I had sought meaning through drugsand had been sadly disappointedthough the fire of my search for understanding burned as brightly as ever. At the time, I chalked it up to institutional jealousy. Include one or two funny stories; people are more receptive when they can enjoy a good laugh., (The Pathcontains over 300 stories of Paramhansa Yogananda. It has helped me as I have family in SRF who question why. But after Bertolucci filed her lawsuit in 1994, seven other women came forward to say that Walters sexually "used" them. The day will come, he predicted, when this idea will spread through the world like wildfire. Many of the fundamentalists declared their beliefs openly, in hopes of achieving liberation through martyrdom. When Brother Anandamoy violently criticized Swami Kriyananda to a group of Ananda members, for example, Swami Kriyananda wrote him a letter in which he said (I am paraphrasing): "I thank you for your criticisms, because they impel me to bless you even more than ever." And its important to understand just who you are becoming suggestible to and within what type of environment. You will learn about SRFs draconian lawsuit against Ananda in which it attempted to gain sole ownership of the Masters name, writings, and likeness, and how, in the judges own words, they attempted unsuccessfully to put that organization out of business by bankrupting it through protracted litigation. I treasure the blessings I received from Brothers Bhaktananda, Dharmananda, and Turiyananda, as well as from Daya Mata. Therefore, it stands to reason that we speak for the Master. But can anyone honestly believe that Paramhansa Yogananda would countenance the destruction of an entire community of deeply sincere devotees, or the forced subjection of thousands to SRFs doctrinal control? If I were to return in a hundred years I doubt if I would even recognize it.. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are harmful. And then there is the lucrative faith healing business, which supports apparent posers such as the popular Benny Hinn. Brother Dharmananda began the interview by asking me some questionsthat were clearly intended to test my spiritual mettle. But cults have a nasty way of getting headlines, through bad behavior and shattered lives. Lacking experience, her approach was based on another theory altogether. Serve with joy and apply your skills (or learn new ones) in farming, building, technology, administration and more. I had just moved to Ananda Village and had begun working at Pubble, the communitys publishing house. I recall, during my first days as a resident at Ananda, once telling Swami Kriyananda, I believe youre my spiritual teacher. He was pulling on his boots in the vestibule of the publications building. Should SRF be allowed to remain legally in a position sue them all? Winners will be announced July 22nd at the foundations 21st annual awards dinner in San Francisco. I was a member of the Lay Disciples group during the latter part of that period, and I served briefly as a part-time volunteer gardener and second service leader at the SRF church in Redondo Beach. Maybe thats because where there is so much smoke, a fire might be burning? Im 59 years old now. Nearly always, the pictures showed him in far-flung lands, usually India or Southeast Asia. On deciding to move to the Ananda community, I therefore wrote a letter to Daya Mata in which I promised always to work for harmony between the two organizations. During my initial visits, and later, during my years of residence at Ananda Village, it was natural for us to talk about SRF, if only because SRF behaved so intolerantly towards us. Amazingly, the community tolerated this behavior, primarily because of the gentle urging of Swami Kriyananda. There seem to be plenty of suckers ready to buy or believe almost anything in America. SRFs policies, if carried to their logical and ridiculous extreme, would dictate that disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda who were forced to live under similar circumstances could never be recognized as disciples, since they would be unable to receive his teachings from SRF. A towering figure among them was Reverend Richard Wurmbrand, a Rumanian Baptist preacher who achieved a high degree of Self-realization through his unrelenting dedication to Christ, even under imprisonment and torture. There was also urgency in his plea. After recounting his personal history Hoffman eventually answers a readers inquiry about the meaning of dreams. I was consumed with zeal to experience God, and in my search, SRF served me admirably. Isnt this a bit like the foxes guarding the hen house? Her reasoning, sound enough in itself, was that in this way the student would gain the most, spiritually, not from the lessons, only, but from the added benefits of pilgrimage to Masters colonies, advice by correspondence, and, above all, by inner attunement with the line of gurus. But when I began to realize the deeper implications of the fallibility of the saints, I was, as I say, deeply inspired. Defame? Thats exactly what it is!. A 1976 fire burned almost the entire fledgling Ananda community to a crisp. To put it in a nutshell, I looked to the SRF senior ministers quite literally as channels for divine help, and they never let me down. 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