Sri Goswami Kriyananda
Goswami Kriyananda (born Melvin Higgins April 1928, died April 2015) was a Kriya Yoga mystic, astrologer, author and lecturer whose selected books and teachings have been translated into French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. He taught the ancient spiritual science of Kriya Yoga, which he learned from his guru, the yogi and kabbalist Shelly Trimmer, who was a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda.
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1928-2015
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Early Life
Kriyananda was born Melvin Higgins in 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. His father passed away during his early childhood, leaving his mother with three young sons. His mother remarried a man who unbeknownst to her, was already the father of eight children. Kriyananda thus immediately became one of the middle children in a family of 13. He said that growing up in this large family with much “insanity” and little money, was a profound training not to be selfish emotionally. In later life, he considered his stepfather a very good man, and in a sense a highly evolved soul. Kriyananda was always deeply devoted to his mother.
Kriyananda was an excellent student, but as a youth, his family’s lack of social status placed obstacles and lessons in his way. When teaching in his seventies, he recalled applying to one of the famous New England colleges and passing all the admission tests. In the final interview, he was asked what his father did for a living. He replied that his father had died and his stepfather was a railroad switchman. This disqualified him for admission, because, he was frankly told, the college could accept only students with the appropriate social background to “rule the world.” He said that this rejection naturally made him hurt and angry, but that mystically, if we feel we must be in first place we will not learn on the astral planes, where humans are among the lowest forms of life because they consume other beings to live.
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