Swami Kriyananda As We Have Known Him

[Listen to Asha read this story]It was Swamiji’s idea to incorporate Ananda Village as a California city. As a municipality, we would have control over our own land use, planning, and zoning. This would get us out from under the county approval process, which had proved to be cumbersome, expensive, and gave our neighbors too much influence over internal community affairs. Many of our neighbors had come to the area to drop out of society. It was almost a principle with them to oppose all organized groups and strong leaders. Many objected, also on principle, to the population density and some of the land use inherent in having a community. We were not indifferent to their needs, but most of their opposition was not based on anything we had done, or planned to do, but on the fear of what we might do if they did not keep a close watch on us. In fact, the community is quite self-contained. Most of what happens within the borders of Ananda has no actual impact on those who live nearby. Filing for incorporation was

[Listen to Asha read this story](Told by an Ananda devotee)“Maybe this book will be the one that finally convinces SRF that we need to work together,” Swamiji said. He was referring to his work-in-progress in February 1990, The Essence of Self-Realization, a collection of sayings by Master.When Swamiji speaks of “SRF” in this way, I know he means the handful of direct disciples who lead the organization, the ones with whom he lived and worked closely when he was part of SRF, the very ones who later expelled him and have maintained toward him ever since an attitude of unrelieved hostility.Despite this separation, Swamiji maintains a positive attitude toward them. They are his gurubhais – his brothers and sisters in the Guru’s family. To respond with hostility, Swamiji feels, would be to betray not only his friendship for them, but also his relationship as a disciple to his Guru. “I have a peculiar ‘quirk’ to my nature,” Swamiji says. “The way I feel about others has never been influenced by the way they treat