{"id":1895,"date":"2025-07-26T16:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T16:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2025-07-26T16:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T16:34:04","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Told by an Ananda devotee)<\/em><\/p>\n

I had suffered a severe disappointment and was living under a cloud of sadness that I couldn\u2019t seem to shake.<\/strong> I found comfort in the words of St. Teresa of Avila: \u201cLet nothing disturb you, nothing affright you. All things will pass, but God changes not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teresa is a popular saint at Ananda, and several people had set the words to music, but the melodies expressed the sadness of life, not the underlying joy.<\/p>\n

I was talking with Swamiji about my disappointment and my love for Teresa\u2019s prayer. \u201cI want to chant it as well as say it,\u201d I said, \u201cbut the melodies we have are depressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you write down the words?\u201d he said. I was touched by his sensitive concern for my small desire.<\/p>\n

We were sitting in his living room, and his coffee table was covered with papers and correspondence awaiting his attention. I wrote down the words, but as I added my piece of paper to the heap I thought, \u201cIt will be a long time before he gets to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise and gratitude when Swamiji called at eight the next morning. It was my birthday. He said, \u201cI have something for you.\u201d Then, over the phone, he sang St. Teresa\u2019s prayer with the lilting, joyful, perfect<\/em> new melody that he had written.<\/p>\n

Singing that prayer, and feeling Swamiji\u2019s love behind it, helped turn the tide. The cloud of sadness soon melted away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Told by an Ananda devotee) I had suffered a severe disappointment and was living under a cloud of sadness that I couldn\u2019t seem to shake. I found comfort in the words of St. Teresa of Avila: \u201cLet nothing disturb you, nothing affright you. All things will pass, but God changes not.\u201d Teresa is a popular … 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-1895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.\" \/>\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-melody-for-a-prayer\/\" \/>\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: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-26T16:34:04+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=\"2 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-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"runbei\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\"},\"headline\":\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-26T16:34:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":260,\"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-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-26T16:34:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\\\/#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: Melody for a Prayer\"}]},{\"@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: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","description":"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.","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-melody-for-a-prayer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","og_description":"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/","og_site_name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","article_published_time":"2025-07-26T16:34:04+00:00","author":"runbei","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"runbei","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/"},"author":{"name":"runbei","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/person\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f"},"headline":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer","datePublished":"2025-07-26T16:34:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/"},"wordCount":260,"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-melody-for-a-prayer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/","name":"Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him: Melody for a Prayer - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-26T16:34:04+00:00","description":"A disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda recalls Swami Kriyananda's sensitive response in a time of personal troubles.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-melody-for-a-prayer\/#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: Melody for a Prayer"}]},{"@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\/1895","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=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}