" Swami Kriyananda is a man of wisdom and compassion in action, truly one of the leading lights in the spiritual world today." - Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen Center, author of Awakening the Buddha Within
A prolific author, accomplished composer, playwright, and artist, and a world-renowned spiritual teacher, Swami Kriyananda (1926-2013) referred to himself simply as "a humble disciple" of the great God-realized master, Paramhansa Yogananda. He met his guru at the young age of twenty-two, and served him during the last four years of the master's life. He dedicated the rest of his life to sharing Yogananda's teachings throughout the world.
Kriyananda was born in Romania of American parents, and educated in Europe, England, and the United States. Philosophically and artistically inclined from youth, he soon came to question life's meaning and society's values. During a period of intense inward reflection, he discovered Yogananda's
Autobiography of a Yogi, and immediately traveled three thousand miles from New York to California to meet the master, who accepted him as a monastic disciple. Yogananda appointed him as the head of the monastery, authorized him to teach in his name and to give initiation into Kriya Yoga, and entrusted him with the missions of writing and developing what he called "world-brotherhood colonies."
Recognized as the "father of the spiritual communities movement" in the United States, Swami Kriyananda founded the Ananda World Brotherhood Community in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of Northern California in 1968. It has served as a model for nine communities founded subsequently in the United States, Europe, and India.