{"id":1847,"date":"2025-05-03T16:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1847"},"modified":"2025-05-03T16:31:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:31:05","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

The event was a \u201cnew age\u201d ecumenical gathering called Meeting of the Ways. <\/em><\/strong>It was held in San Francisco and included leaders from the most prominent yoga and meditation groups in America. The day before the public program started, there was a reception for the spiritual leaders and a handful of their students so they could meet one another.<\/p>\n

A few of us came with Swamiji in his car, an old, well-used Chevrolet that he had bought for $75 through a government surplus auction. The paint was faded, but the car ran well. It was spacious inside, and had a large trunk\u2014important features, since Swamiji seldom traveled alone.<\/p>\n

The reception was held at a large home in one of San Francisco\u2019s more elegant neighborhoods. We were a little late, and most of the guests had already arrived. Both sides of the street were lined with parked cars. There were several Mercedes, a Rolls Royce or two, and even a chauffeured limousine. The majority were late model cars of no special distinction. Swamiji\u2019s car, compared to even the humblest of them, was a sorry sight.<\/p>\n

As we walked toward the house, Swamiji said, \u201cI have to get a new car. For myself, I don\u2019t care. In India they understand renunciation and would respect me for driving a car like mine. When I met the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram, whose position might be compared to that of the Pope, he was receiving people out of doors, seated on the ground under a palm tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, however, where money is easily come by, when people see me driving a car like that, they think, \u2018If he can’t afford a better car, there must be something wrong with his teachings.\u2019 I don\u2019t want anything fancy. That, too, would give the wrong impression. Just something nice enough so people don\u2019t form a negative impression of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, Swamiji received a large donation and used it to buy a new Chevrolet. About a decade later, when that car needed to be replaced, he went to a local auto mall. One car he rather liked was a certain American model; I think it was a Buick. The ride was smooth and quiet, the trunk was large, and the seats were very comfortable. Swamiji had trouble with his hips, and comfort was important for him. The only drawback was, it was marketed as a luxury<\/em> car, even though it wasn\u2019t that expensive. The advertising was meant to flatter the ego.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the brochure they gave me about the car,\u201d Swamiji said, \u201call the people looked so unpleasant. Puffed up with pride as if to say, \u2018Now I have arrived.\u2019<\/em> I don\u2019t want to be one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he bought a Nissan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t as comfortable as the other one,\u201d Swamiji said, \u201cbut I feel more comfortable driving it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The event was a \u201cnew age\u201d ecumenical gathering called Meeting of the Ways. It was held in San Francisco and included leaders from the most prominent yoga and meditation groups in America. The day before the public program started, there was a reception for the spiritual leaders and a handful of their students so they … 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-1847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on "keeping up appearances" in America.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on "keeping up appearances" in America.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"runbei\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"runbei\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"runbei\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\"},\"headline\":\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on \\\"keeping up appearances\\\" in America.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"description\":\"Completing a great work for his Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/2008ish-Swami-Asissi-pclearcropped-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/2008ish-Swami-Asissi-pclearcropped-1.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":360,\"caption\":\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\",\"name\":\"runbei\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"runbei\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/author\\\/runbei\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on \"keeping up appearances\" in America.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","og_description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on \"keeping up appearances\" in America.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/","og_site_name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","article_published_time":"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00","author":"runbei","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"runbei","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/"},"author":{"name":"runbei","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/person\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f"},"headline":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car","datePublished":"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/"},"wordCount":492,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/","name":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-03T16:31:05+00:00","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda on \"keeping up appearances\" in America.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-buying-a-car\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Buying a Car"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/","name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","description":"Completing a great work for his Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#organization","name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/2008ish-Swami-Asissi-pclearcropped-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/2008ish-Swami-Asissi-pclearcropped-1.jpg","width":960,"height":360,"caption":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/person\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f","name":"runbei","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dc92d5f44de57fae95f6be74ce6c15a8c81470ba79f0e3cc2f2a7aaf3f958efc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"runbei"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/yoganandafortheworld.com\/story"],"url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/author\/runbei\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1848,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions\/1848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}