A Place Called Ananda: The Trial by Fire That Forged One of the Most Successful Cooperative Communities in the World Today

by Kriyananda

Never before has J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda) written so personal a story. The his separation from Self-Realization Fellowship as the first step toward the founding of Ananda. In this re-telling, the story moves from the philosophical and the spiritual into a profoundly human dimension. With charity, but with unflinching candor, and more detail than he has ever shared with anyone, Kriyananda describes himself and those involved in events critical to the future of Paramhansa Yogananda's mission. You'll meet a Kriyananda you've never met the earnest young monk, vulnerable, plagued by self-doubt, yet determined to follow his guru's guidance. The tale is told with compelling immediacy. Yet Kriyananda, in his masterly way, also conveys how time and spiritual maturity have brought him not only detachment, but deep gratitude for all that happened, painful though it was at the time. He makes of this very personal story a universal teaching. For it is clear-- in retrospect-- that Paramhansa Yogananda knew Kriyananda's future, and carefully prepared him for his ultimate dramatic separation from SRF and, after that, the great work that Yogananda had commissioned him to carry out.

442 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 1996

About the author

See also: J. Donald Walters

Kriyananda (born James Donald Walters; May 19, 1926, Azuga – April 21, 2013, Assisi) was a direct disciple of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, and the founder of the Ananda, a worldwide movement of spiritual intentional communities based on Yogananda's World Brotherhood Colonies ideal. Yogananda made Walters a minister for his organization, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF).