{"id":1967,"date":"2025-12-20T18:01:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T18:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2025-12-20T18:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T18:01:17","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-singing-out-of-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-singing-out-of-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Singing Out of Tune"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the 1980s I got involved in a small singing group within Ananda.<\/strong> It was a time when Swamiji\u2019s music had just begun to take hold, and all the \u201cofficial\u201d groups concentrated exclusively on the music he had written.<\/p>\n

This group\u2019s stated purpose was to sing everything but <\/em>Swamiji\u2019s music. We were all classically trained and our evenings with Mozart, Haydn, Bach and others were musically blissful.<\/p>\n

After we\u2019d been meeting for several months, Swamiji invited me over to talk about the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be better if you dropped out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I was astonished. It seemed like a harmless hobby. I pressed Swamiji for an explanation, but he was reluctant to speak.<\/p>\n

Finally he said, \u201cIt is a matter of attunement.\u201d Then he made a few kind but frank remarks about the underlying attitudes of some of the key members. \u201cMusically you may enjoy it, but spiritually I don\u2019t think it will help you to be with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t fully understand, but I trusted Swamiji. I knew it was important or he wouldn\u2019t have taken the trouble to speak to me. The singing was fun, and was hard to give up. But that same week I dropped out.<\/p>\n

Within three years, everyone in the group had left Ananda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Told by an Ananda devotee) In the 1980s I got involved in a small singing group within Ananda. It was a time when Swamiji\u2019s music had just begun to take hold, and all the \u201cofficial\u201d groups concentrated exclusively on the music he had written. This group\u2019s stated purpose was to sing everything but Swamiji\u2019s music. … 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-1967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Singing Out of Tune - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda offers gentle counsel that proves true.\" \/>\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-singing-out-of-tune\/\" \/>\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: Singing Out of Tune - 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