Kriyananda

J. Donald Walters was born on May 19, 1926, in Teleajen, Romania to American parents, Ray P. and Gertrude G. Walters. His father was an oil geologist with the Esso Corporation (since renamed Exxon in the United States) who was then assigned to the Romanian oilfields. He received an international education in Romania, Switzerland, England, and the United States. He attended Haverford College and Brown University, leaving the latter with only a semester left before graduation to dedicate his life to searching for God.[3]

In September 1948, in New York, Walters read Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, a book he says transformed his life. By September 12, Walters had decided to leave his old life behind, and soon afterwards traveled cross-country by bus to southern California to become one of Yogananda's disciples. In Hollywood, California, Walters first met Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship temple there and was accepted as a disciple.

As recounted in his autobiography, The New Path,[3] Walters, twenty-two years old at this point, took up residence with other monks at SRF's mother center headquarters located on top of Mount Washington, Los Angeles. A year later, Yogananda had put Walters in charge of the monks there, asked him to write articles for the SRF magazine, had him lecture at various SRF centers,[3] ordained him a minister, and appointed him to initiate students into Kriya Yoga.[3] In their three and one half years (9/1948–3/1952) together, Walters took notes of his conversations with his master, publishing them in his 2003 The Essence of Self-Realization[10] and his 2004 Conversations with Yogananda.[11]

On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda was a speaker at a banquet for the visiting Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Binay Ranjan Sen, and his wife at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. While giving his speech, Yogananda suddenly dropped to the floor and died. Walters was present in the hall, and this was a pivotal moment for the young monk.

In 1953, the SRF published Walter's book, Stories of Mukunda,[12][13] and in 1960 an LP album with him singing Yogananda's Cosmic Chants, entitled Music for Meditation. In 1955, Walters was given his final vows of sannyas into the order of Shankaracharya swamis, by Daya Mata, SRF president from 1955 until her death in 2010, and took the monastic name of "Kriyananda".[4] Yogananda stated in his Autobiography of a Yogi regarding this order:

Every swami belongs to the ancient monastic order which was organized in its present form by Shankara. Because it is a formal order, with an unbroken line of saintly representatives serving as active leaders, no man can give himself the title of swami. He rightfully receives it only from another swami; all monks thus trace their spiritual lineage to one common guru, Lord Shankara. By vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the spiritual teacher, many Catholic Christian monastic orders resemble the Order of Swamis.[14]

He was made the director of the SRF Center Department, which guides SRF's meditation groups and centers, and was made a minister of Yogananda's Hollywood temple. He lectured for SRF in the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and India. In 1958, when Daya Mata, then President of SRF, traveled to India with Ananda Mata and another nun, he came along as well. In 1960, upon the death of Board member and Vice President of SRF, M.W. Lewis, the SRF Board of Directors, who were direct disciples appointed to the board by Yogananda, elected Kriyananda as a member and Vice President of the Board. He served in that capacity until dismissed in 1962.[4]

Kriyananda remained in India, serving the SRF until 1962, when the SRF's board of directors voted unanimously to request his resignation.[4] SRF said that the reasons for his dismissal had to do with specific actions of his – his basic pattern of behavior and being self-serving.[15] "Kriyananda constantly argued that his dismissal was unjust."[16]

Self-Realization Fellowship filed suit against James Donald Walters (a.k.a. Kriyananda) and Walters' (then-called) Church of Self-Realization regarding the changing of the name to the Church of Self-Realization and on issues regarding specific writings, photographs and recordings of Paramahansa Yogananda. The litigation lasted for around twelve years (1990–2002).[20] SRF asserted Yogananda wanted SRF to maintain the copyrights to his works and to publish them. SRF also asserted exclusive and sole rights (trademark and service mark) to the names "Self-Realization Fellowship", "Self-Realization Fellowship Church", and "Paramahansa Yogananda", as well as all images of Yogananda and the term "Self-Realization".[21]

SRF conceded some copyright and trademark claims during federal court in Sacramento, California, but prevailed on its assertion that Yogananda repeatedly stated his intentions for SRF to maintain copyrights to his works and to publish them.[20][22] Both SRF and Ananda had wins and losses. SRF won the service marks to "Self-Realization Fellowship" and "Self-Realization Fellowship Church". SRF lost its service marks to the names "Paramahansa Yogananda" and "Self-realization", its claim of Unfair Competition, and its claim to own copyrights on ten photos of Yogananda. Ananda submitted the following counterclaim and lost all four claims: (1) Violation of the Sherman Act, (2) Libel, (3) Slander, and (4) Unfair Business Practices. In 1992, the court dismissed the second and third counterclaims on 1st Amendment grounds, and Ananda subsequently withdrew the other two counterclaims.[21]

At the jury trial in 2002, SRF won the claim that Ananda violated SRF's copyrights to magazine articles written by Yogananda.[20][22] Another issue on which the jury found in SRF's favor was its claim that Ananda violated SRF copyrights to recordings of Yogananda's voice.[20][22] In mid-litigation, Ananda began publication of Yogananda's first, 1946 edition of Autobiography of a Yogi.[23]

In 2002, the long litigation was completed with a jury verdict. As reported in The Union, a newspaper located in Grass Valley, California, on October 30, 2002:

The case hinged on the writings and recordings of Paramahansa Yogananda, a native of India who founded Self-Realization Fellowship in the late 1920s. He died in 1952. Walters became a member in 1948 but was "thrown out" in 1962, said Stillman's legal partner, Michael Flynn.

Walters, known as Kriyananda, later started Ananda Village in Nevada County. It became home to hundreds of followers who also revered Yogananda and his words. The group republished his articles and sold his recordings, according to Stillman and Flynn.

Jurors ultimately agreed with Self-Realization Fellowship's argument that Yogananda had repeatedly made his intentions clear before dying - he wanted the Fellowship to maintain copyrights to his works.[20]

Yogananda incorporated the Self-Realization Fellowship as a nonprofit organization and reassigned all of his property including Mt Washington to the corporation, thereby protecting his assets.[24]

In 1997–98, Anne-Marie Bertolucci, a former resident of Ananda, filed suit against Ananda, Ananda minister Danny Levin, and J. Donald Walters (Kriyananda).

The jury found the church (Ananda) and Kriyananda liable for "constructive fraud", with a finding of "malice" and "fraudulent conduct". The church, Kriyananda and Levin were found liable for "intentional infliction of emotional distress" with a finding of "malice" and a finding of "despicable conduct" against the church. During the trial, six women testified under oath that Kriyananda had taken sexual advantage of them when they were impressionable twentysomethings in search of spiritual advancement. Walters blamed the women who accused him of sexual abuse, saying they 'thrust their company' on him and interrupted his meditations by taking advantage of his sexual 'weaknesses.' Court depositions came from many different women from different areas over a twenty year period whose only point of contact had been the Ananda church. The church was found liable for "negligent supervision" of Kriyananda, with a finding of "malice and fraud" on the part of the church.[9]

Kriyananda was judged to have misrepresented himself as a monk and to have caused emotional trauma, and was ordered to pay $685,000 in compensatory damages, and another $1 million in punitive damages. The jury also found that Levin had made "unwelcome sexual advances".[25] The punitive damages were reduced by $400,000 on appeal. The Ananda Church responded to the million-plus-dollar judgment by filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.[26] That allowed Ananda to settle the lawsuit by paying $1.8 million to Bertolucci and her attorneys. They presented, according to Kriyananda, "lies and complete distortions of the truth." Ananda hired a private investigator who was caught rummaging in the trash of opposing counsel.[27] The judge's sanctions of Ananda included disallowing the questioning of the many women alleging sexual misconduct against Kriyananda.[26]

In March 2004, Italian authorities raided the Ananda colony in Assisi, responding to allegations of a former resident who accused Ananda Assisi of fraud, usury and labor law violations. Nine residents were detained for questioning. They also had a warrant for Kriyananda's detention, but he was in India. A seven-year-long investigation followed.[28] In March 2009, the judge ruled that the case was "non luogo a procedere perché il fatto non sussiste" (not to be continued as the matter is without substance).