World
Brotherhood Colonies
 "This
day marks the birth of a new era. My spoken words are registered
in the ether, in the Spirit of God, and they shall move the West....
Self-Realization has come to unite all religions.... We must go
on - - not only those who are here, but thousands of youths must
go North, South, East and West to cover the earth with little colonies,
demonstrating that simplicity of living plus high thinking lead
to the greatest happiness!"
-Paramhansa
Yogananda, from The Path. The photo above was taken on the occasion
of this talk.
The establishment
of World Brotherhood Colonies was a long time dream of Yogananda.
He spoke enthusiastically up until the very end of his life about
this dream. In his Autobiography of a Yogi he exclaimed, "An
urgent need on this war-torn earth is the founding, on a spiritual
basis, of numerous world-brotherhood colonies." (Note: these
words were edited out in the late 1950's.)
One of the Aims
and Ideals of his organization, while he was alive, was "To
spread a spirit of world brotherhood among all peoples and to aid
in the establishment, in many countries, of self-sustaining world-brotherhood
colonies for plain living and high thinking." He
spoke of this dream just a few months before his passing to a disciple,
Kamala Silva (see link to the passage from Kamala's book below).
Ananda is the
fulfillment of Yogananda's dream of establishing World Brotherhood
Colonies, where spiritual seekers could gather together and practice
'plain living and high thinking'. These colonies were envisioned
by Yogananda many years before the community movement began in America.
During his lifetime, Yogananda tried to fulfill his dream, but the
world at that time wasn't ready for such an unusual approach to
life.
Swami Kriyananda,
a direct disciple of Yogananda, was inspired by Yogananda's ideal,
and began the first Colony outside Nevada City, California in 1968.
He named it Ananda, which is the sanskrit word for Divine Joy.
Since then,
Ananda has grown into a worldwide network of spiritual communities
that includes thriving World Brotherhood Colonies in:
- Nevada City,
California
- Palo Alto,
California
- Sacramento,
California
- Seattle,
Washington
- Portland,
Oregon
- Assisi, Italy
- Gurgaon, India
For links to
Ananda Colonies and centers, see Ananda Teaching Centers and Meditation Groups. Each Ananda Colony has between 60 and 300
residents, including children. Residents practice Yogananda's techniques
of meditation and Kriya Yoga.
World Brotherhood
Colony Links and Resources
A
Place Called Ananda: The Trial by Fire that Forged One of the Most
Successful Cooperative Communities in the World Today
Read
the entire book online. The complete story of how Ananda was founded,
beginning with Kriyananda's training under Yogananda.
Hope
for a Better World: The Small Communities Solution
by J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)
Swami Kriyananda studies the fallacies of many modern 'isms', and
describes a common-sense way of life that can deepen human relationships,
and inspire people to fulfill their own higher potentials. Read
the Foreword, Table of Contents, Chapter One, and an interview with
the author.
Excerpt
on World Brotherhood Colonies from The Path: A Spiritual
Autobiography, by Swami Kriyananda.
Article
on World Brotherhood Colonies, by Paramhansa Yogananda
Autobiography
of a Yogi Chapter 48
In the first edition of Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda speaks
at length about World Brotherhood Colonies. Read Chapter 48, from
the online Autobiography of a Yogi, to see what he says.
Yogananda
on World Brotherhood Colonies, from The Flawless Mirror,
by Kamala Silva.
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