{"id":2074,"date":"2026-06-13T15:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2026-06-13T15:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:52:25","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-family-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-family-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Family Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am grateful to my parents for giving me a good home and treating me with kindness and respect,\u201d a devotee told Swamiji.<\/strong> \u201cBeyond that, however, I don\u2019t feel much of anything for them. Is there something wrong with me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes a devotee deliberately incarnates into a family where he doesn\u2019t have a deep connection,\u201d Swamiji said. \u201cMaybe just one or two qualities are all he has in common with his parents. That way, when he finds his spiritual family, it is not difficult to leave his birth family behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, unless your parents try to prevent you from following your spiritual path, you owe it to them to be kind. If they force you to choose, however, between your loyalty to them and your loyalty to God, God comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Swamiji first came onto the spiritual path, his father showed no respect for the choice Swamiji had made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to write him a very strong letter,\u201d Swamiji said. \u201cI told him, \u2018I love you as my father. God, however, has been my Father for all eternity. Please don\u2019t force me to choose.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he ever understood what I was doing, but after that, he never spoke against it, so we were able to maintain a cordial relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

On another occasion, Swamiji said, \u201cThe best way to serve your family is to go deep spiritually. Their egos<\/em> may object to your absence from the family nest or your refusal to fall in with their plans for your life, but their souls<\/em> will rejoice because your spiritual progress also blesses them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swamiji once suggested a course of action to a young man that would have set his life in an entirely new direction spiritually. The man demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I did that,\u201d he said, \u201cmy mother would be so disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo find God,\u201d Swamiji replied, \u201cwe must all be prepared, if necessary, to disappoint our mothers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am grateful to my parents for giving me a good home and treating me with kindness and respect,\u201d a devotee told Swamiji. \u201cBeyond that, however, I don\u2019t feel much of anything for them. Is there something wrong with me?\u201d \u201cSometimes a devotee deliberately incarnates into a family where he doesn\u2019t have a deep connection,\u201d … 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-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Family Duty - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda advises a friend who felt little connection with his birth family.\" \/>\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-family-duty\/\" \/>\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: Family Duty - 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