{"id":1963,"date":"2025-12-13T15:56:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T15:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2025-12-13T15:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T15:56:59","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A strange moral dilemma puzzled me for years,<\/strong> even though the problem was purely hypothetical, in that it could only arise if I were a prisoner in a concentration camp! Perhaps because I was born Jewish just after World War II, it seemed important to resolve. Finally I found the right moment to ask Swamiji.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I were in a concentration camp, and a guard started beating the person next to me, what should I do?\u201d I said. \u201cIs it right to do nothing? Or should I intervene, even if it costs me my life?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you are really asking,\u201d Swamiji said, \u201cis how to know God\u2019s will. Maybe you could get the guard to stop. But maybe if you intervene, the guard will retaliate against all the prisoners and many people will be hurt or killed. You can\u2019t figure it out logically. You need intuition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to know God\u2019s will in a moment of crisis, you have to practice when it is easier. You have to develop in all circumstances of your life the habit of listening for God\u2019s will. Then, even in extreme conditions, you will know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A strange moral dilemma puzzled me for years, even though the problem was purely hypothetical, in that it could only arise if I were a prisoner in a concentration camp! Perhaps because I was born Jewish just after World War II, it seemed important to resolve. Finally I found the right moment to ask Swamiji. &#8230; <a title=\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will\">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-1963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.\" \/>\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-gods-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-13T15:56:59+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-gods-will\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"runbei\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\"},\"headline\":\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-13T15:56:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":208,\"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-gods-will\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-13T15:56:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will\"}]},{\"@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 \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.","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-gods-will\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","og_description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/","og_site_name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","article_published_time":"2025-12-13T15:56:59+00:00","author":"runbei","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"runbei","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/"},"author":{"name":"runbei","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/person\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f"},"headline":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will","datePublished":"2025-12-13T15:56:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/"},"wordCount":208,"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-gods-will\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/","name":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-13T15:56:59+00:00","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers counsel for how we can decide what to do in trying circumstances.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-gods-will\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: God\u2019s Will"}]},{"@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\/1963","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=1963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}