by Swami Kriyananda From now on, I embrace as the only purpose of my life the search for God. I will never take a partner, or, if I am married, I will look upon my partner as belonging only to Thee, Lord. In any case, I am complete in myself, and in myself will merge all the opposites of duality. … Read More
Excerpt of full Ananda Wedding Ceremony by Swami Kriyananda (After a brief period of prayer and meditation, the bride and bridegroom offer roses to each other and say:) Dear beloved, I offer you this rose As a symbol of my love for you; A love inspired by God, And offered to you as a channel of His love. SONG: Where … Read More
The Ananda Wedding ceremony and vows were written by Swami Kriyananda, direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. HOLY VOWS AT MARRIAGE (Expressed first by the couple to God:) Beloved Lord, We dedicate to Thee our lives, our service, and the love we share. May the communion we find with one another lead us to inner communion with … Read More
The Anniversary of Swami Kriyananda’s Birthday, May 19 For Divine Friends of Swami Kriyananda: Here is a video by Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi speaking to his life of service and devotion to his Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda. “Swami Kriyananda’s life is not just his own, but a completion of our line of gurus and the mission that they bring.” -Nayaswami Jyotish “As time goes by … Read More
Together we honor the second anniversary of Swami Kriyananda’s Moksha. In May we will have the dedication of the Moksha Mandir (May 15 to May 17), a place of pilgrimage and meditation for thousands of people, for decades, to come. Our celebration will have people from all over the world honoring the life of Swami Kriyananda. Together we will enter into a … Read More
eptember 12 marks the anniversary of the day when, in 1948, Swami Kriyananda met Paramhansa Yogananda and became his disciple. From then on, in spite of his amazing accomplishments, Swami Kriyananda’s self-definition was simply, “I want to be known as a good disciple.”
I want to talk about the spiritual significance of Kriyananda’s passing for all of us. The qualities that Kriyananda expressed – his beautiful expression of love, creativity, and dynamism – were never his qualities. They are God’s qualities; Kriyananda simply channeled them. It’s now time for us to take the high consciousness that Kriyananda expressed and to express those same qualities more … Read More
With the death of Swami Kriyananda, a remarkable light has passed from the world, and we will not see its like again during our lifetimes. The manner of his passing was, in a sense, his Guru’s gift to him. In the month and a half before his passing, he’d made four major trips, which had tired his body. Though he … Read More
This article first appeared in Clarity Magazine, Fall 2005 Q: Devi, why did you decide to write, Faith Is My Armor? D: Looking back, I realize that I’d been preparing to do it for a long time. For many years I’ve kept a file of things about Swamiji—clippings from articles in which he talked about his life, notes of conversations with him. … Read More
An Excerpt from Faith Is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda, by Devi Novak: When Swamiji was lecturing in 1959 in Patiala, India, a friend told him about a fascinating ancient manuscript known as the Bhrigu Samhita. Bhrigu was a noted rishi, or sage, who lived thousands of years ago in India. He wrote a text of prophecies about the … Read More
An Excerpt from Faith is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda by Devi Novak: Even with people who have consciously tried to thwart or hurt him, Swamiji responds with kindness, and has never attempted to strike back. Once a tough looking man who was an ex-member of a motorcycle gang came to Ananda. Swamiji, feeling that he was sincere spiritually, … Read More
An Excerpt from Faith is My Armor: The Life of Swami Kriyananda by Devi Novak: Considerate and tactful, Swamiji tries to correct and guide others in their spiritual growth without hurting or discouraging them. Once someone wrote a letter to my husband and me critical of our way of directing a certain aspect of Ananda. We were hurt by his words, … Read More
We just finished a beautiful groundbreaking ceremony for Swami Kriyananda’s Moksha Mandir. This lovely building, the final resting place for his mortal remains, will be a place of meditation and inspiration for thousands who will visit here. Many stories about Swamiji were recounted, but this is the one that touched me the most. About a year before his passing, Swamiji … Read More
April 21, 2014 marks the one-year anniversary of Swami Kriyananda leaving his body. Someone asked us recently what this period has been like, both for Ananda and for us personally. The question gave me pause to reflect on what we’ve experienced in these twelve months since his passing. The legacy Swamiji left behind has both outer and inner aspects. The … Read More
Swami Kriyananda’s guidance to others forms the bedrock of the spiritual life of countless souls throughout the world. One pivotal piece of advice he gave me in the early days of Ananda changed my understanding of how to approach the spiritual path. I had been a disciple for a few years and had been hit by a karmic test that … Read More
Few of us can emulate all the things that Swami Kriyananda did, but his legacy of attitudes and practices can guide each of us. Here are some that are guideposts in my life.
With the death of Swami Kriyananda, a remarkable light has passed from the world, and we will not see its like again during our lifetimes.
We have a responsibility to do our best to become more powerful channels for the ray of divine grace that Swami Kriyananda channeled, and there’s a wind of grace that will help us do that.
The highest octave of joy is bliss, which was Kriyananda’s state of consciousness in these last years. Many times he would say privately, “I feel so much bliss I can hardly stand it.”
Kriyananda came into this life with an unusually high level of spiritual realization and a very clear sense of his duty to God and Guru.