{"id":1922,"date":"2025-09-27T15:16:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T15:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2025-09-27T15:16:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T15:16:39","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-i-did-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-i-did-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda &mdash; As We Have Known Him: I Did This"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>One night, Swamiji was walking through an area of the Ananda community near his home.\u00a0<\/strong> It was a picturesque scene\u2014lights twinkling in the windows of several residences and faintly in the distance the sound of someone chanting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the only time in Ananda\u2019s history,\u201d Swamiji said later, \u201cthe thought crossed my mind, \u2018<em>I<\/em> did this. Formerly, there was only forest here. Now there is a community.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt so <em>limiting, <\/em>though, to bring everything we have done together to a personal focus in me.\u00a0 Instantly, I repudiated the thought and it has never occurred to me again. I prefer the truth and the inner freedom it brings: God is the doer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Someone once asked Swamiji, \u201cYou receive so much praise and appreciation, yet I see no trace of pride in you. How do you manage it? I would think the temptation to feel pleased with yourself <em>must<\/em> crop up now and then.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPride comes,\u201d Swamiji replied, \u201cwhen you place importance on what you <em>receive <\/em>from others. When your energy is focused wholly on giving, you forget yourself and simply <em>do. <\/em>\u00a0Then the question of pride never arises.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One night, Swamiji was walking through an area of the Ananda community near his home.\u00a0 It was a picturesque scene\u2014lights twinkling in the windows of several residences and faintly in the distance the sound of someone chanting. \u201cFor the only time in Ananda\u2019s history,\u201d Swamiji said later, \u201cthe thought crossed my mind, \u2018I did this. &#8230; <a title=\"Swami Kriyananda &mdash; As We Have Known Him: I Did This\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-i-did-this\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Swami Kriyananda &mdash; As We Have Known Him: I Did This\">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-1922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Swami Kriyananda &mdash; As We Have Known Him: I Did This - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda reveals the secret to self-forgetfulness.\" \/>\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-i-did-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda &mdash; As We Have Known Him: I Did This - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda reveals the secret to self-forgetfulness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-i-did-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-27T15:16:39+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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-i-did-this\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-i-did-this\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"runbei\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\"},\"headline\":\"Swami Kriyananda &mdash; 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