{"id":1761,"date":"2025-02-08T16:52:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T16:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1761"},"modified":"2025-02-08T16:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T16:52:56","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-puzzled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-puzzled\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Puzzled"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the earthquake in Assisi, Italy in 1998,<\/strong> tourism dropped off for a while. Many small businesses went bankrupt. The Ananda community there is twenty miles outside of town on a rural road. A small restaurant, serving mostly coffee and sweets, opened on that road just after the earthquake happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen so many businesses are closing,\u201d Swamiji said, \u201cit took courage to go ahead and open anyway. I\u2019d like to help the owner make a success of his business.\u201d Whenever Swamiji drove to town he made a point of stopping at the restaurant for a coffee and something to eat, greeting the owner like an old friend.<\/p>\n

Swamiji had recorded many of his songs in Italian and brought one of those CDs for the owner to hear. \u201cPerhaps your customers would enjoy it if you played music like this,\u201d Swamiji said.<\/p>\n

Once when Swamiji went in, the owner had fresh strawberries and ice cream as the specialty of the day. Swamiji\u2019s enthusiasm for the dish seemed to boost the owner\u2019s spirits. Often Swamiji and his group were the only customers in the restaurant.<\/p>\n

The owner played Swamiji\u2019s CD whenever he came in, but it is doubtful that he played it at any other time. \u201cHis mind is too restless to listen to my music,\u201d Swamiji said later.<\/p>\n

A friend accompanied Swamiji to the restaurant once and afterward remarked, \u201cIt is obvious that the owner likes you, but I think he doesn\u2019t quite know what to make of you. He looks at you in such a puzzled way, as if he were trying to figure you out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swamiji laughed and said, \u201cYears ago, a young man at Ananda Village traveled with me on a lecture tour. He was a nice man, but complex, with many crosscurrents of ego. Every morning at breakfast he would stare at me in just the way you describe. Finally, after a week, he said in exasperation, \u2018I just can\u2019t figure you out!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him, \u2018To figure someone out means to understand his motives. You can\u2019t figure me out because the only motive I have is to serve God.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the earthquake in Assisi, Italy in 1998, tourism dropped off for a while. Many small businesses went bankrupt. The Ananda community there is twenty miles outside of town on a rural road. A small restaurant, serving mostly coffee and sweets, opened on that road just after the earthquake happened. \u201cWhen so many businesses are … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Puzzled - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A saint's consciousness can't be confined by our concepts of him. 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