{"id":2002,"date":"2026-01-24T17:32:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=2002"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:32:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:32:54","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-white-umbrella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-white-umbrella\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: White Umbrella"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>This Episode Introduces the Next Section of the Book:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Divine Friend &amp; Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI have had two desires in my life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The first is to find God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The second is to help others to find Him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Swami Kriyananda<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>White Umbrella<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We were returning from a visit to the ashram of another spiritual teacher.<\/strong> The size of the crowd and the reverential ceremony surrounding the teacher there far exceeded anything we had at Ananda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you would just let us follow you around with a white umbrella,\u201d I said to Swamiji with a smile, \u201cwe could really get this show on the road!\u201d In India, as a gesture of respect, the guru is sometimes accompanied by a devotee whose sole responsibility is to shelter him from the sun with an umbrella.<\/p>\n<p>Swamiji knew I was joking, but he answered seriously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always thought I could do more for people as a simple, unaffected friend than in any other role.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swamiji wasn\u2019t diminishing the importance of his role in our lives; he was explaining how he carries it out.\u00a0 \u201cMaster told me I would do more than teach. He said that I would be spiritually responsible for others. Most of you at Ananda have a link with me, and through me you are linked to Master.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when a devotee put too much emphasis on Swamiji\u2019s role, he said, \u201cI may be the one you come to for guidance, and perhaps for inspiration, but the power is God&#8217;s and Guru&#8217;s alone. Don\u2019t stop here [meaning himself]. Go all the way to God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swamiji does not allow his picture to be placed on the altar in any of the Ananda temples. \u201cMaster is an avatar. We all look to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once Swamiji paid a rare visit to a small Ananda center. The devotees there, not knowing any better, had respectfully placed his photo on the altar. When Swamiji saw it he walked over and took it down. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t belong here,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are plenty of teachers. What is needed now are examples of how to be a true <em>disciple.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Episode Introduces the Next Section of the Book: Divine Friend &amp; Teacher \u00a0\u201cI have had two desires in my life. The first is to find God. The second is to help others to find Him.\u201d Swami Kriyananda \u00a0 White Umbrella We were returning from a visit to the ashram of another spiritual teacher. The &#8230; <a title=\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: White Umbrella\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-white-umbrella\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: White Umbrella\">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-2002","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: White Umbrella - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda explains his position in the great guru&#039;s work.\" \/>\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-white-umbrella\/\" \/>\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: White Umbrella - 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