Publisher Description

Paramhansa Yogananda once said to a group of disciples: "You must not let the symphony of your life go unfinished."
This phrase perfectly describes the last years of Swami Kriyananda's life, which were a crescendo of divine love and untiring service to humanity. Who was Swami Kriyananda? What was it like to know this close and direct disciple of the great Master, Paramhansa Yogananda?
In "Swamiji," Miriam Rodgers shares an intimate and up-close look at lessons she learned through her connection as Swami Kriyananda's nurse for the last eight years of his life.
In this profoundly moving biographical account filled with never before heard stories, you'll glimpse the interior castle of Swami Kriyananda's consciousness. Throughout history, the saints alone are the true custodians of religion. Saints like Swami Kriyananda draw their understanding from the direct experience of truth and of God, not from superficial reasoning or book learning.
You'll be spellbound and inspired by the story of "Swamiji."

Author Biography

In 1999, Miriam Rodgers moved from California to the Ananda spiritual community just outside Assisi, Italy. For the next fourteen years she was blessed to serve as Swami Kriyananda's nurse in Italy, India, and the U.S. With over thirty years of prior experience as a critical care nurse, Miriam was well prepared to help steer Kriyananda through the countless medical challenges he faced during those years. Miriam has been a member of Ananda Worldwide for over twenty years. After Kriyananda's passing she settled back in the U.S., where she has been teaching meditation and helping to establish Ananda communities. She is also a certified Ananda Yoga teacher. Miriam practices Kriya Yoga meditation as taught by her guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi.

Review

"In the historic transmission of India's spiritual wisdom to the rest of the world, the contribution of Westerners trained by gurus and yoga masters has been vital. None more so than Swami Kriyananda, whose time with the legendary Paramhansa Yogananda prepared him to be an influential teacher in his own right. The stories of such teachers deserve to be told. In that context, this book is an important addition to the literature of modern spirituality. Not just a biography or a tribute, it is an intimate human portrait, crafted well by someone with a unique point of view as nurse to her subject in the final fourteen years of his life, when legacy, further learning, and spiritual realization mix with the bodily concerns of aging, illness, and impending death. All spiritual seekers will find much to learn in these moving pages."- ]Philip Goldberg, author of The Life of Yogananda, American Veda, and Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times
"A trained cardiac nurse of over thirty years, Miriam was well prepared for the countless medical challenges that Swamiji's body went through. She had the privilege of taking care of Swami's health in the last fourteen years of his life in various places. I have seen the devoted manner with which Miriam took care of Swamiji in Delhi, Italy, and during his many travels to various cities. In this very moving and intimate description of various health crises Swami faced from time to time, she describes how miraculously his life was saved and his indomitable will and courage and faith. This book of Miriam's will be read with great interest by all the admirers of Swami Kriyananda, a remarkable spiritual leader and the most devoted disciple of the great Master Paramahansa Yogananda."- ]D.R. Kaarthikeyan, IPS (R), Former Director, Central Bureau of Investigation; Director General, National Human Rights Commission; and Special Director General, Central Reserve Police Force
"A brilliant and intimate account of the author's fourteen years with Swami Kriyananda as his cardiac nurse. Each chapter is so lively and vivid that you feel as if you are in the room as everything takes place. There are marvelous little-known stories that give fresh insight into the life of Swami Kriyananda. This is a gem of a book and highly enjoyable reading."- ]Anandi Gray, licensed clinical counselor, forty-year certified teacher of yoga and meditation, and retired adjunct instructor of philosophy and psychology at Southern Oregon University

Details