"The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost" (Ask Me About Truth #48 With Swami Kriyananda)

Swami Kriyananda discusses the distinctions between Christianity and Churchianity. Churchianity he states prioritizes institutional urgencies and control and tends to place convenience over Truth. Christianity stresses the significance of truth, the divine, and God’s omnipresence. You cannot confine truth to an edifice or church structure and institutionalization in itself should not be the central reality of a religious organization. Kriyananda shares the importance of forming small decentralized communities to avoid creating a formalized hierarchy so that a sense of freedom can be maintained where everyone has a say. Kriyananda says that his guru (Paramhansa Yogananda) spoke of the growing magnetism of people who gather to meditate together that cannot be created by the individual alone. ‘Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Kriyanada urges those who seek the spiritual life to come together to think of God and serve others. ABOUT SWAMI KRIYANANDA In 1948 at the age of twenty-two, Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) became a disciple of the Indian yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda. Yogananda is best known for his spiritual classic, *Autobiography of a Yogi*. At Yogananda’s request, Swami Kriyananda devoted his life to lecturing and writing, helping others to experience the living presence of God within. He taught on four continents in seven languages over the course of 65 years. His talks, his music, and his many books have touched the lives of millions. An advocate of simple living and high thinking, his more than 150 books emphasize the need to live wisely by one’s own experience of life, and not by abstract theories or dogmas. A composer since 1964, Walters has written over 400 musical works. His music is inspiring, soothing, and uplifting. He taught meditation to thousands and has initiated many into the life changing technique of Kriya Yoga. He is known as the “father of the intentional communities movement,” which began in the United States in the late 1960s, fulfilling Yogananda's dream. He founded the first of what are now 10 Ananda communities worldwide in 1967 near Nevada City, California. Other Ananda communities have developed over the years to include Ananda Palo Alto, Ananda Sacramento, Ananda Portland, Ananda Seattle, Ananda Los Angeles, Ananda Assisi in Italy, and Ananda India near Delhi and Pune. Each community has a spiritual focus (a teaching center and temple) and a community (homes where members live). More than 1,000 people live in these intentional spiritual communities. Swami Kriyananda’s example of inspired leadership was the reason for Ananda’s success. He uplifted and encouraged people through personal example, spiritual counseling, writing, lecturing, music, and prayer. He trained the current Ananda leaders in much the same way: free from egoic motivation, always placing the spiritual needs of others foremost in all decisions. He was a patient and sensitive teacher, allowing people to learn by experience, and never placing institutional needs ahead of the needs of an individual. “People are more important than things” is one of the foremost guiding principles of Ananda. And “Where there is adherence to dharma [right action], there is victory,” is another. Find out more at https://www.swamikriyananda.org/ Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nayaswamikriyananda Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kriyananda ABOUT PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA Paramhansa Yogananda, born in 1893, was the first yoga master of India to take up permanent residence in the West. Yogananda arrived in America in 1920, and proceeded to travel throughout the United States on what he called his “spiritual campaigns.” Hundreds of thousands filled the largest halls in major American cities to see the yoga master from India. Yogananda continued to lecture and write up to his passing in 1952. Paramhansa Yogananda’s initial impact on the western culture was truly impressive. But his lasting spiritual legacy has been even greater. His *Autobiography of a Yogi*, first published in 1946, helped launch a spiritual revolution in the West. Translated into more than a dozen languages, it remains a best-selling spiritual classic to this day. [Read free at https://ananda.org/autobiography/.] The path of Kriya Yoga, which combines the practice of advanced yogic techniques with spirituality in daily life, can be learned at https://ananda.org/kriya-yoga/. ABOUT ANANDA Ananda is a worldwide movement to help individuals realize the joy of their own higher Self. Ananda is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda and was founded by his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda in 1968. Learn more at: ananda.org/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ananda.org Download the FREE Ananda Meditation app at https://www.ananda.org/meditation/app/