Swami Kriyananda, born J. Donald Walters, was a direct and formally initiated disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda. He met Yogananda in 1948, at about twenty-two years of age, and soon thereafter entered the monastic life under his guidance. Yogananda gave him the name “Swami Kriyananda,” initiated him into Kriya Yoga, and appointed him as a minister and teacher within the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). From that point onward, Kriyananda regarded Yogananda as his sole guru and spiritual master, shaping the whole course of his life around that discipleship.

Their relationship unfolded in close daily association at SRF headquarters and ashrams in California, where Kriyananda lived and served until Yogananda’s passing in 1952. During these years he assisted in various organizational and spiritual capacities, including work as a secretary and assistant, and he often spoke of receiving direct spiritual instruction and specific missions from his guru. This period established the pattern of deep devotion and service that Kriyananda maintained toward Yogananda’s teachings throughout his life.

After Yogananda’s death, Kriyananda continued as a minister within SRF, seeking to carry forward what he understood to be his guru’s message. In 1962 he was dismissed from SRF by its board of directors amid conflicts and allegations, yet he held that such institutional separation did not sever his inner discipleship. He later founded the Ananda communities, presenting them as an expression of Yogananda’s ideals and teachings, and devoted himself to lecturing and writing extensively about his guru. In this way, his relationship to Yogananda remained, in his own understanding, that of a lifelong disciple striving to serve and disseminate his master’s spiritual legacy.