{"id":2078,"date":"2026-06-27T15:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T15:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2026-06-27T15:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T15:47:19","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-past-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-past-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Past Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Nothing else but karma carried over from past lives could explain the intense antagonism I felt for a woman in the community and the equally intense antagonism she felt toward me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One night I had a vivid dream of a previous life in which she had inflicted great suffering on people I loved. When I told Swamiji about it he said, \u201cI am inclined to believe your dream is true.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t tell her myself, but somehow the woman heard about my dream and Swamiji\u2019s comment. To even the score, she consulted a psychic who obliged her by describing an incarnation in which I had treated her in an equally brutal manner.<\/p>\n

When Swamiji heard about this he asked us to meet with him together. He saw that instead of using our past life memories to overcome<\/em> karma, we were heading down the slippery slope of further karmic entanglement, using the events of the past to justify wrong attitudes in the present.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very old spiritual family,\u201d he said to us. \u201cWe\u2019ve been together for so many lifetimes, we have been all things to one another\u2014friends and enemies. It is not important what you did in past lives, what matters is who you are now. \u2018The past lives of all men,\u2019 Sri Yukteswar said, \u2018are dark with many shames.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you did, you have paid for it with suffering. Why dwell there? \u2018Everything in future will improve,\u2019 Sri Yukteswar also said, \u2018if you are making the right spiritual effort now.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-evidently you have learned from your mistakes. In this incarnation, and for many lives before now, neither of you would be capable of such terrible actions. You are both sincere devotees. Concentrate on that aspect of one another\u2019s character. Forget the past and relate to life as it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The anger and mistrust between us was deep-seated, and it took years of persistent effort to break the hypnosis of the past and \u201crelate to life as it is now.\u201d Eventually we succeeded.<\/p>\n

Without Swamiji\u2019s timely intervention, though, the negative karma might have continued not only in this life, but for incarnations to come. Because of his clear advice, we were never able to justify our wrong attitudes, but always saw them as delusions to be overcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Told by an Ananda devotee) Nothing else but karma carried over from past lives could explain the intense antagonism I felt for a woman in the community and the equally intense antagonism she felt toward me. One night I had a vivid dream of a previous life in which she had inflicted great suffering on … 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-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSwami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Past Lives - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda helps two women overcome a mutual dislike with deep karmic roots in the past.\" \/>\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-past-lives\/\" \/>\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: Past Lives - 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