{"id":1998,"date":"2026-01-17T18:14:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1998"},"modified":"2026-01-17T18:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:14:54","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>(Told by Miriam Brown)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Swamiji was extremely ill with double pneumonia and it wasn\u2019t safe to leave him alone.<\/strong> He had a high fever and his lungs were so compromised I didn\u2019t need a stethoscope to tell what was going on\u2014I could hear from across the room. In the intervals between the coughing fits, he gasped for air.<\/p>\n<p>A few of us had spent a long afternoon and half the night with him. He was so weak he could hardly get to the bathroom. Finally, at 2 a.m. Swamiji decided he wanted to try to sleep, although he was coughing so much, I didn\u2019t see how he&#8217;d be able to.\u00a0 Because I am a trained nurse, he suggested I remain nearby while others went home.<\/p>\n<p>If the patient had been anyone but Swamiji, I would have taken him to the hospital. When I suggested it, however, he wasn\u2019t interested and I didn\u2019t insist.<\/p>\n<p>His illnesses don\u2019t always follow a conventional medical model. Many times I have seen him ill and weak, or in such pain that he finds difficulty in walking on his own. Then, minutes later\u2014if duty calls\u2014he\u2019ll give a class or a ceremony or a counseling session, sometimes for hours, during which time he shows no hint of weakness. Then, when his duty is done, once again, he is debilitated.<\/p>\n<p>Swamiji has a simple explanation: \u201cMaster gives me energy when I need it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We settled Swamiji in his room. The others left, and I went down to the basement guestroom. There was an intercom; all Swamiji had to do was push a button and no matter how softly he spoke, I would hear him.\u00a0 His cough was so severe I could keep track of it from downstairs. I thought I wouldn\u2019t be able to sleep, but I guess I did for a few hours.<\/p>\n<p>About 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning something woke me. Immediately, I raced upstairs to see if Swamiji needed anything. I assumed he would be in his bedroom since he could scarcely get in or out of bed without help.<\/p>\n<p>I came into the living room, rushing as nurses do, when suddenly I was stopped by a wall of stillness. I felt unable to move. In the presence of that stillness, motion would have been not only an intrusion: it seemed to me impossible. Even the usual humming sound of the refrigerator and the ticking clock seemed drowned out by the silence.<\/p>\n<p>It was dark and at first I couldn\u2019t see much. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, however, I saw that Swamiji was sitting in the living room meditating. He wasn\u2019t coughing, he wasn\u2019t gasping, in fact, I don\u2019t think he was breathing. I had heard about the breathless state of meditation, but this was the first time I had seen it.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, he didn\u2019t need any help from me. I stood for a moment, taking in the wonder of the scene before me, then turned and went back downstairs.<\/p>\n<p>About an hour later, I knew his breathing had returned, for I heard him coughing. The whole pneumonia cycle soon started over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Told by Miriam Brown) Swamiji was extremely ill with double pneumonia and it wasn\u2019t safe to leave him alone. He had a high fever and his lungs were so compromised I didn\u2019t need a stethoscope to tell what was going on\u2014I could hear from across the room. In the intervals between the coughing fits, he &#8230; <a title=\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness\">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-1998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.\" \/>\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-stillness\/\" \/>\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: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T18:14:54+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-stillness\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"runbei\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f\"},\"headline\":\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-17T18:14:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":545,\"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-stillness\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-17T18:14:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\\\/story\\\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\\\/#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: Stillness\"}]},{\"@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: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.","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-stillness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","og_description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/","og_site_name":"Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","article_published_time":"2026-01-17T18:14:54+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-stillness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/"},"author":{"name":"runbei","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#\/schema\/person\/7297117c02b456f58126add9232d886f"},"headline":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness","datePublished":"2026-01-17T18:14:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/"},"wordCount":545,"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-stillness\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/","name":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Stillness - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-17T18:14:54+00:00","description":"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda was desperately ill; and then his nurse encountered a surprising sight.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-stillness\/#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: Stillness"}]},{"@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\/1998","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=1998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1999,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions\/1999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}