{"id":2123,"date":"2026-10-03T16:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2026-10-03T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T16:28:34","slug":"swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-spunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-spunk\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Spunk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>At first, the meditation group leader worked cooperatively with me. I visited the group several times a year and was their main connection to the rest of Ananda<\/strong>. Then I found out that the leader had established the group as a separate corporation, using Ananda\u2019s name and most of our bylaws. The only difference was that he, not Swamiji, was Spiritual Director for life.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to explain to him that it was hardly fair to use Ananda\u2019s name and reputation to attract people, then offer them something quite different, that is, himself rather than Swamiji as the spiritual authority. My reasoning, however, did not persuade him.<\/p>\n<p>Ananda was just beginning to expand beyond the borders of the Village, and none of us quite knew how to handle the situation, and so Swamiji stepped in.<\/p>\n<p>He invited the man to come to the Village and have lunch with him. I was included in the meeting. Swamiji and the man discussed a wide range of topics, and only at the end did Swami touch on the reason why he had had asked him to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are doing good work,\u201d Swamiji told the man. \u201cBut since you have put yourself in charge instead of me, perhaps you should also come up with your own name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all Swamiji said, but it was enough. The man returned and changed the name of the corporation.<\/p>\n<p>After the man left, Swamiji remarked to me, \u201cNo one with spunk will wait to be told what to do. It wasn\u2019t right that he declare himself Spiritual Director, but at least he has energy and initiative. I prefer a man like that to one who won\u2019t lift a finger without first getting permission from the head office.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At first, the meditation group leader worked cooperatively with me. I visited the group several times a year and was their main connection to the rest of Ananda. Then I found out that the leader had established the group as a separate corporation, using Ananda\u2019s name and most of our bylaws. The only difference was &#8230; <a title=\"Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Spunk\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/swami-kriyananda-as-we-have-known-him-spunk\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Spunk\">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-2123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Swami Kriyananda \u2014 As We Have Known Him: Spunk - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda explains why he preferred people with &quot;spunk&quot; to those who passively wait for approval.\" \/>\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-spunk\/\" \/>\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: Spunk - 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