Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. & Mahatma Gandhi


Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. & Mahatma Gandhi

How to have courage, calmness & confidence

January 21, 2013 is the thirteenth year that Ananda in Seattle has presented a tribute to these two great men. We combine excerpts from their talks, writings, and biographies with the music of Ananda (written by Ananda’s founder, Swami Kriyananda).  This program is free and begins at 7 p.m. at the East West Bookshop in Seattle (www.eastwestbookshop.com). We are planning to stream it live at www.ustream.com (search on AnandaSeattle on or around 7 p.m., Monday night).

Most people are generally familiar with their lives. This tribute to King and Gandhi emphasizes not so much their biographical facts or accomplishments but the spiritual foundation for their courage and inspiration. This aspect is often ignored or only given passing acknowledgement in community programs, books and documentaries.

The public inauguration of President Obama takes place on the day set aside for commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. and the President has announced that he will take the oath placing his left hand upon two Bibles: one owned by Abraham Lincoln and the other owned by Martin Luther King, Jr.  This year our tribute includes a segment of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address, a short time before his assassination. I would like, therefore, to include Lincoln in my thoughts here.

There are many books on Abraham Lincoln but one of particular interest to me is Elton Trueblood’s, “Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership.”  This book seeks to reveal the spiritual life of a man otherwise an enigma even to his closest associates. But it is clear from this book, and so many others, that Lincoln wrapped his deep and personal relationship to God in a combination of humor and humility. The courageous acts he took were not born of pride or bluster but were weighed in the crucible of intense self-examination, painstaking attention to their impacts upon others, the highest interests of the nation as a whole, the framework of the U.S. Constitution, the duties of the presidency and the highest standards of ethics and idealism. All of these facets he looked to as indicators of God’s will. He offered up his deliberations for Divine guidance in the inner silence of his meditations. Lincoln trembled at the prospect of his own vulnerability to pride or ego and to the ease with which one could mistake guidance with desire, or subconscious prejudices.

Abraham Lincoln’s life of faith was rooted in humility and openness to a wisdom far greater than any man might hope to possess or confidently express. But this is precisely the entry fee for intuitive, divine guidance. The evolution of Lincoln’s decisions and policies during the Civil War reveal, in retrospect, the unfoldment of inspiration, calmness, and courage given to him as a divine grace and born of inner guidance. True prophets are keenly aware of their human shortcomings and their potential for self-delusion, more so in the glare of public acclaim or condemnation and more so on the cusp of decisions that can affect the lives of millions and change the course of history. Such examples, then, teach us that from caution and calmness spring the full measure of confidence and courage if born of true, spiritual insight and wisdom.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was thrown into his first civil rights campaign in Montgomery, Alabama by what could only be described as casual circumstances, aka divine destiny. In the mix of those who responded to the black community’s response to the arrest of Rosa Parks, people turned to King on the spot, with no prior background or planning. King showed that inner tentativeness and self-questioning which is like fertile soil from whence a seed sprouts and grows to a magnificent tree. This fertile soil knows that it must wait for the rain of divine guidance to prompt its emergence.

King, like Gandhi, held strictly to the call of divine love even while also fighting his self-styled enemies with cunning, with courage, and with intelligent strategic purpose. Both King and Gandhi were highly educated, extremely intelligent and deeply compassionate. They were unquestionably chosen by, and in time acknowledged, a higher Power to serve as an instrument of a higher Purpose. Each accepted their role but only as it unfolded. Often they would hesitate to act or speak if that inner guidance and inspiration failed to materialize.

The actions of prophets always confound supporters and enemies alike. King’s seemingly sudden interest in and opposition to the Vietnam War, for example, caused consternation among his peers and followers and earned the antipathy and opprobrium of the Johnson administration. Gandhi’s efforts to reassure the Moslem people of India of their place in the rising sun of a new Indian nation outraged Indian nationalists and ultimately was the cause of his assassination.

At  the same time there exists the paradox that the realization by the prophet of his God-given role and responsibility clashes with his frail humanity and causes feelings of burdensomeness and even periods of discouragement and depression. In each of these three men: this “melancholy” is evident in their lives. A more ego-affirming person (image a dictator) would revel in his power and only his subconscious would undermine his egotism in an effort to balance him out.

At the end of their lives, especially Gandhi and King, this discouragement and loss of clarity of direction is evident. For Gandhi the communal violence that attended India’s independence and partitioning was, to him, a sign of the failure of his efforts. For King, the impatience of young blacks and their increasing interest in choosing violence over nonviolence, together with fractious in-fighting among civil rights leaders, added to government distrust of King, and lack of progress in his selected campaigns, caused King to doubt himself deeply. Lincoln’s agonies, by contrast, peaked during the losses and setbacks of the civil war. But by the time he was assassinated, he had just won reelection and General Lee had just surrendered. For the first time he felt a quiet sense of contentment. But the work of reconstruction was, he knew, going to be as difficult and, indeed, more complex than the war itself. Moreover, Lincoln had a premonition of his impending death. Nor was it in his nature to revel in victory.

Another characteristic of these three great men was the universality of their religious faith. Of the three Lincoln kept his distance from orthodoxy even as he was notably a man of deep and earnest faith and prayer. King and Gandhi were more aligned with specific faiths but each had a view of religion that we, today, would call true spirituality, unfettered by sectarianism.

All three men viewed their efforts in two important and expansive ways: as benefiting their entire nation, not just the group of people for whose rights or upon whose side they struggled; and, each saw the benefit of their goals and victories as benefiting all peoples, far beyond their own nation’s borders. Each of them had the vision far into the future of the importance of their ideals and their methods.

Though each struggled against foes and self-styled enemies, each courageously expressed respect, friendship, love, and concern for them, whether as individuals or as a group. Lincoln was famous for bringing into his cabinet, administration, and military leadership his competitors.

Lincoln had an abiding faith and vision in the destiny of the United States to be an instrument of God’s will in championing a new way of life, liberty and pursuit of freedom and happiness. Mahatma Gandhi saw his work as an a new model for helping oppressed people find the means to effect freedom and justice without violence. King, similarly, saw that Lincoln’s work was not yet finished and that the well-being and destiny of the United States necessitated that the eradication of prejudice of race be overcome. He saw in the example of Christ, the unfailing power of love and the redemptive power of self-sacrifice. He, too, saw the importance for the United States to serve as an example to all nations and all peoples and understood that this required that the nation help black Americans be “free at last.”

The lives of these three great men are inextricably linked. King, as stated above, saw the civil rights movement as an extension of Lincoln’s emancipation of slavery and preservation of the Union. King was deeply inspired by the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi. King travelled to India in 1959 and received a hero’s welcome and a reception worthy of a head of state. People of color throughout the world followed King’s work eagerly. King quipped that he thought the Indian press gave more attention to his campaigns than did the white, American press.

King saw that Gandhi gave his beliefs the tools and means to elevate love for one’s enemies to a broader level than one to one. Lincoln held national days of prayer and fasting, asking the nation to acknowledge its errors and to make penance to atone for the evils of slavery and war. Although no writer than I know of viewed Lincoln as an advocate of non-violence in the Gandhian sense of this, it is clear from the testimony both of Lincoln and his biographers that he was deeply pained by the necessity to conduct an unwanted but necessary war.

There are connections, too, to the work of Ananda and to the life of our preceptor, Paramhansa Yogananda. In the practice of yoga, nonviolence is one of the core precepts that comprise the foundation for meditation and spiritual path and practice of yoga. In addition, Paramhansa Yogananda initiated Mahatma Gandhi into Kriya Yoga and thus created and established a deep and abiding spiritual connection between their two works. Yogananda, when a young man and before coming to the United States in 1920, was approached by Indian revolutionaries to lead them in their fight against the British. Yogananda declined, saying that this was not his work but predicting that India would find freedom through nonviolence during his lifetime. When coming to America in 1920 and becoming a resident (and later a citizen), Yogananda faced numerous instances of racial prejudice as a “colored” man. He spoke passionately about the colonial exploitations of the nations of Asia and Africa, people of color. He viewed World War II as a just war that would be the divine means of throwing off the yoke of colonialism.

The power by which these three changed the course of history has its roots in prayer and dedication to doing the will of God, as best as they could perceive it and doing so with faith and humility.

Courage, calmness and confidence derive not from ego-affirmation (for the ego is brittle and shallow, for self-involved and easily shattered by life’s many opposing egos) but from aligning one’s self with the Divine Will. Through prayer, meditation and right action, and by the habit of asking and praying deeply for divine guidance, we find the still, silent voice of God guiding us in all that we do. In this we feel divine strength, power and wisdom but at the same time we know that it isn’t ours and that we must “remain awake” at all times. Divine consciousness is eternally awake, omnipresent and omnipotent. Our consciousness, then, must approach the Infinite if we are to partake in the life and spirit of God.

This is a tall order but we begin right where we are. Lincoln studied the Bible from an early age and read it daily. King and Gandhi were intimately familiar with the words of their respective scriptures (Bible and Bhagavad Gita) as guidelines for daily life and right action. But it was the habit of meditation that brought each into the Divine Presence. This we, too, can do each and every day.

The testimony of the scriptures of east and west affirm that God is present and actively guiding the course of history through those who willing offer their lives to His guidance and will. Our world is changing at an increasingly rapid pace with dangers to life, liberty and health at every turn. God needs willing instruments. Gandhi termed the life he offered to such people Satyagrahis (expressing Satyagraha: dedication to Truth and Purity).

Those who are part of the worldwide work of Ananda see this living example in the life of Swami Kriyananda. He has been a spiritual warrior, standing calmly amidst calumny, physical suffering, opposition and seemingly impossible obstacles. His life of dedication to the work of Paramhansa Yogananda has earned for him a state of bliss — the grace bestowed upon those who live for God alone.

We don’t start by wanting to be heroes in the eyes of others. We begin, rather with humility and openness to God’s presence and guidance, taking life step-by-step, day-by-day. Meditation, selfless service, and fellowship with others of like mind are essential. Truth is not complex.

Let us then be Lightbearers in this world of change, danger, confusion, chaos, and ignorance.

See you Monday night at East West Bookshop!

Nayaswami Hriman

Friday, January 4, 2013

Who is Paramhansa Yogananda?

Who is Paramhansa Yogananda?
Happy birthday, Sri Yogananda: January 5, 1893!

Tomorrow, January 5, 2013, students, members, friends, and disciples will commemorate the life and teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda (1893-1952). Best known for his life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," Yogananda came to America in 1920 and except for a tour of Europe, the near East, and a visit back to his homeland of India, remained in America (and became a U.S. citizen) until his passing in 1952. He is also known for having introduced Kriya Yoga (a meditation technique) to the West.


Throughout the world, there will be meditations and public programs to celebrate this great yogi and world teacher. At Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell, we will conduct a meditation followed by a public program, and, the next day, Sunday, January 6, a family service (with skits taken from his life) and catered (Indian) banquet at the nearby Ananda Community in Lynnwood. For more information on these events, call the Temple at 425 806 3700 or check the website at www.AnandaWA.org.

While Yogananda's autobiography is a must-read, there's also Swami Kriyananda's recent book: Paramhansa Yogananda: a Biography. But my interest here today is not biographical. My thoughts are those of a disciple and student of Yogananda's life and teachings. Nor am I making any effort to compare his life with that of other teachers or gurus. Certain qualities of his personality and aspects of his teachings are what I wish to make note of today.

Paramhansa Yogananda came to America as a young man, age 27. His popularity as a speaker and celebrity rose steadily and a time came when his lectures in large and famous halls (like Carnegie Hall) were filled to overflowing. He was dynamic, spontaneous, accessible, youthful, exuberant, witty, child-like, and even a bit of a showman. He expressed both playfulness and deep devotion. He was everyone's friend, yet candid and bold at times.

Though he was to become a respected and renowned spiritual teacher, he was not pompous, aloof, overly-intellectual or grave. As a guru, he was one’s friend and intimate. He promoted all things Indian even as he lavishly praised all things American. ("All" is of course a slight, however appropriate, exaggeration!) He wore his wisdom as a comfortable old coat, easily removed, and lightly donned.

But no intimacy or lightness could disguise the depth of his message, and its radical and revolutionary nature. Declaring his line of gurus and India's rishis of old to be equal in spiritual stature to Jesus Christ should have got him lynched or deported during those times in American history. But his demeanor and vibration conveyed truth and spiritual power and he could hold and inspire a crowd as easily as a soul.

He effortlessly combined devotion with deep philosophy, and practical wisdom with creative action. In consequence, he inspired such responses from others. He reconciled centuries old theological debates in a few sentences. For example, instead of contrasting and condemning the material world in favor of God in His heaven, Paramhansa Yogananda described this world as a "dream" of the Creator, a dream made to seem real by the principle of power of illusion, the ceaseless motion between opposites (duality).

In the long running debate in Christianity as to whether Jesus was a man or God, Yogananda Jesus as a soul who, through many lives and achieved in a past life, the expansion of the limited ego consciousness (identified with the body) into divine consciousness (beyond all form). Jesus becomes not a divine creation but a soul, like you and I. His soul had awakened from the dream that this creation and the ego are real into the full realization of the underlying divine consciousness as the sole reality in and beyond creation. There is no difference, then, between Jesus Christ and us, only a difference of the degree of awakening.

Is God "wholly other" or is God immanent in His creation? In “becoming” the creation, God, being infinite, is both transcendent and immanent in creation. As the wave is but a part of the great ocean, so our soul is a wave upon the ocean of God's infinite consciousness. We, too, possess the divinely rooted impulse to create and to share. Looking outward into form and into matter, however, the soul begins to lose contact with its infinite Self and becomes identified with its limited self. The guru, or savior, having become fully awakened, comes to awaken the sleeping memory of our divine nature and to guide that awakening towards its goal in Self-realization.

In the debate between monotheism and polytheism, Yogananda explained that God is One because God IS the creation. There is no other reality than God: thus the ONE became MANY but the many is but an illusion.

Buddha refused to speak of God not because he was an atheist but because his mission was to help people understand what they, themselves, must do to achieve liberation from suffering.

Yogananda, as the rishis before him, used the human experience of sleep to describe the process of meditation and the state of superconsciousness. Sleep is something anyone can understand (and appreciate!). In sleep, the sense organs are turned off. In deepest sleep, the mind is quiescent but blissful. We always know how we slept upon waking. Sleep is necessary for life itself to go on. Meditation is the process of conscious sleep and superconsciousness is a state of feeling beyond thought but in a higher octave of intensity of awareness that is deeply rejuvenating. Meditation nourishes our creativity, sharpens our intuition, enriches our capacity for deep feeling, while it graces us with well-being and a sense of connection to others and to all life.

Paramhansa Yogananda taught the core precepts and techniques known to adepts and yogis in India since ancient times which he called “raja yoga.” The essence of the yoga techniques of breath awareness and life force control is distilled into the science of kriya yoga. Kriya is both a technique and a body of techniques and teachings designed to still the turbulence of the mind. This turbulence brought upon by the ceaseless play of the senses, thoughts and feelings creates a veil of delusion that prevents us from “seeing” God as our own, true Self. This science of breath and mind is one of God’s greatest gifts that Yogananda was commissioned to bring to the West and to the world. Kriya Yoga is for every true and sincere seeker, regardless of outward religious affiliation.

Yogananda wrote commentaries on the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and the Rubaiyat to show that all great spiritual teaching points to the promise of soul immortality through union with God, the sole reality, both transcendent and immanent.

All true religions can lead us to God because each reflects various aspects of human nature. We use our thought, feeling, will, and action as “organs” which express our intention and consciousness. Thus the different practices of religion reflect these aspects of human nature: devotion, ritual, prayer, self-improvement, and good works. But the goal of religion is union with God, or Self-realization of our divine nature.

This occurs most directly through consciousness itself. To know God we must lift our consciousness towards perfect stillness, towards His Infinite consciousness. The inner path of meditation works with and upon our consciousness, utilizing our God-given and nature-made subtle life force pathways to Oneness. Combining the inner path with the outer practices to purifies our consciousness and makes us fit to “receive Him.”

Yogananda predicted that "Self-realization" would become the religion of the future. By this statement he was not referring to any particular theology or practice but to the understanding among devotees worldwide, regardless of religious affiliation, that our personal connection with God and its practical expression in daily life are the essence of the religious impulse and purpose.

He saw in individual creativity, initiative and responsibility the solution to the challenges of globalism. He sowed into the “ether” the seeds for the establishment of independent, intentional, self-sustaining communities around the world by people of high ideals living simply, modestly and cooperatively. Imagine! This lifestyle alone can potentially solve all of the key issues that we face today: global warming, pollution of soil, air, and water, destruction of habitat and species, alarming rates of population growth ("simplicity" encourages family planning, quality over quantity), domestic violence (by sustainable, appropriate and committed relationships), ruthless competition (replaced by intelligent cooperation) and inequity of race, class, or cultures (with all types living in harmony). He did not envision that everyone would live in such communities. Rather, he saw that such would serve as examples of “how-to-live” for everyone.

Already in his time, he promoted vegetarianism (ovo-lacto) and encouraged others to reduce intake of red meat or pork, substituting fish, chicken, lamb, and emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables. This counsel is already accepted and promoted by health “gurus” and government officials.

He taught the principles of success in business, harmony in relationships, health of the body and mind, raising whole and happy children, and the importance of spiritual seeking as the centerpiece for finding true happiness.

The core of his teaching can be summed up in the words of Jesus: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God.....and all these things shall be added unto you." He identified that all beings seek happiness and that the path to happiness lies in seeking God through expansion of consciousness and sympathies through right understanding, meditation, and selfless action. Pleasure and human happiness based on outward conditions cannot bring to us lasting peace and joy. God is joy. Seeking God brings to us ever-increasing, ever-new joy, for God is infinite, omniscient, omnipresent Bliss. This is our nature and it is fulfilled in God alone!

Could this teaching be anything but “hope for a better world?” Could this teacher by anything less than a world teacher for this age?

Blessings to you, and "Happy Birthday, Master!"

Nayaswami Hriman






Monday, December 31, 2012

Cosmic Drama: the Final Chapter: My Redeemer Liveth!

The Cosmic Drama - Part Five (of Five)
"My Redeemer Liveth"

This is part one of a series of articles. It has its origins in a prior blog article entitled, "Who is Jesus Christ?" You may wish to read that first, though not absolutely necessary. This series attempts to describe the Trinity, or, how God can be omniscient, omnipresent, infinite, and immanent in creation at the same time. And, what significance this has for the reality we face as individuals. As the prior article on Jesus Christ noted, "Who Jesus is says a great deal about who we are." So, too, who God is addresses who we are.

Returning full circle now to the life of Jesus Christ, we see how “TAT” (the second of the Trinity: the “Son”) appears on earth in human form to awaken the “TAT” within those who are ready! Such awakened ones also sow seeds of awakening in many souls, perhaps for a future lifetime. Those many such “descents” (avatars) have a public mission of uplifting consciousness in a race, nation or civilization and a personal mission to individual disciples more spiritually advanced.

Because the “Son” (the memory of our divinity) has fallen asleep through many lives, it takes another Son to awaken that memory. A further “proof” of divinity in human form is the simple fact that without the possibility of becoming “One with the Father” in human form, there would be no evidence of our divinity (in human form). Giving a coin to a street person may be a nice thing to do but it doesn’t make you a saint and it doesn’t show the power of God over all creation, which, as his “sons,” is our potential! It is natural, therefore, that there have been demonstrations down through the ages of the power to even raise the dead. While this is not flaunted to the masses, it has been witnessed by individual disciples who were willing to give their lives for and to dedicate their lives to their testimony.

The fully-awakened “son of God” is not a God-made puppet, but a soul, like you and I, who has achieved that final Self-realization and returns in human form to enlighten his (her) fellows. While this is said to have taken place in a past life, the point remains that the incarnation of divinity in human form is the natural fulfillment (indeed the divine purpose) of the Christ Intelligence (TAT) in nature and in all creation taken to its penultimate manifestation. Indeed it is said that the drama of creation is that souls make the free choice to reunite with our Creator and become fully-realized “sons of God” as Jesus, and other world saviors in history, have done.

As Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita (India’s revered scripture), this descent of divinity into human form (the “avatara”) takes place in every age and nation as divinely ordained by the call of human hearts. “God so loved the world that He sent his only-begotten Son.” The redemptive power of Jesus’ life and spirit lies in both the message and uplifting spiritual power of Self-realization which has its source and its manifestation in attunement with the will of the Father. The New Testament reveals that Jesus knew of his impending crucifixion and even briefly prayed that it pass, but that he accepted the will of his father. Thus must we all do in placing the ego (and body) on the cross that our soul might be resurrected in the Christ Consciousness of our soul’s eternal and immortal reality.

This is the means by which we, too, can ascend. “No man hath ascended to heaven, but he that hath descended.” The meaning of this odd sentence is simply that we are all children of God and have come from God. To God we must return, like the prodigal son, that we might be free. Jesus was not boasting.
But the deeper understanding of this precept is that the indwelling and universal Christ consciousness (son of God) is that which leads us upward or home to God. But first the child must be born in the manger of our humble heart, in the darkness of material delusion. Jesus, and all other great saviors of humankind, come into each culture and age to wake us up and remind us of our immortality and identity as souls (not mere bodies and personalities). “We are of old!”

But what is awakened is within us. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is with you.” Thus Jesus was the personification (human incarnation) of the Christ which resides, latently at least, in every atom of creation. Christ-in-human-form comes to awaken the Christ within. Whether incarnate in human form or at the still heart of every atom, this, and this alone, is the “only begotten son of God” in creation.

We, too, are potential Christs. When we have “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” this reality, then it is the Holy Spirit (“I will send to you the Holy Spirit, who will bring to your remembrance all these things.”) that leads us back to perfection, back to our home in God-consciousness. God is not in some faraway place but is a state of consciousness, bereft of name and form, and “behind” every atom of creation. This is why meditation is so important and effective as a means of perceiving the God presence within and in all creation.

When the infant child of divine memory is awakened, it is the Mother that nurtures the child to adulthood. The living Christ, or guru, comes only for a short time and fulfills his role by re-lighting the spark of that divine memory in in our consciousness. The Holy Spirit, or Virgin Mother, is that pure vibration (or feeling) of God to which we then attune ourselves that we might grow in Self-realization.

This vibration is the conscious and divine motor or engine of creation. The Bible refers many times to the “sound of many waters,” “thundering’s,” and “lightning.” We chant “Amen” (or “Aum”) with our prayers as a deeper-than-conscious recognition that the “word” of God is neither in English, nor Sanskrit, nor Latin, nor Hebrew, but is an actual sound heard deep in the inner silence. It “knoweth all things” because all things have been created by it (see the first sentences of the gospel of John). We mimic this holy sound with prayers, hymns and chants and various incantations and rituals. The sacredness one might feel at Mass, at prayer, upon a holy mountain, in nature and gazing upon a field is the living, vibratory presence of God AS creation: the Holy “ghost” unseen but felt.
It could be said that the “first coming” of Christ (the TAT, or “son” of God) is when God gives birth to the cosmos. The “second coming” would be the appearance of TAT (the Christ consciousness) in human form (as the guru). The “third coming” would be its awakening in the individual soul. The “fourth” would be the individual soul’s final redemption, or Self-realization: Oneness with the Father.

When Paramhansa Yogananda titled his life’s work, “The Second Coming of Christ,” he was using the phrase from the New Testament. It is a play on words in the sense that he, too, is an avatar, but that what he brought, through meditation (especially kriya yoga), was the “keys to the kingdom” that allows awakened souls to commune with the Holy Spirit (as Aum). Patanjali, author of the famous Yoga Sutras, and other great rishis, have declared that communing with God as Vibration, as Aum, is man’s highest duty for the entire purpose of creation is, as the Baltimore Catholic catechism declares, to “know, love, and serve God.” And, by deeper understanding of this phrase, to “become One with Father.”

Let us celebrate the coming of Christ as the awakening of this realization (of God’s presence) in our own hearts. And let us then share that presence by sharing the gifts of creation, and the greatest gift of all – God’s love – with all whom we meet.

Blessings to you this Christ-mas, and may the New Year bring us ever closer to Self-realization!

Nayaswami Hriman

The above is based upon and inspired by the teachings of the modern Yogi-Christ, Paramhansa Yogananda and the writings of Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple and founder of the worldwide work of the Ananda communities. For additional reading, see “Revelations of Christ,” by Swami Kriyananda, available from Crystal Clarity Publishers, Nevada City, or the East West Bookshop nearest you.