What makes this course different?

Throughout history people have sought the secret to drawing wealth and prosperity into their lives. Today there are many books and courses available that claim to help the reader achieve financial success. So, one may ask, "How is this course different from all of the others?"

This question was posed to Swami Kriyananda at the launch of the Material Success through Yoga Principles Course. His answer reveals the key to understanding exactly what this course is and why it represents something not previously available to the general public. "I am a disciple of a great Master," Swamiji replied.

The operative force in Swamiji's answer is not the pronoun I. It is the power and wisdom of his guru, Paramhansa Yogananda (author of Autobiography of a Yogi) acting through his disciple, and through the course the disciple has written.

Most courses on material success are written from the level of the material plane. And they can give you success on that level. But water cannot flow higher than its source. Swami Kriyananda teaches how to influence the material plane from the spiritual plane.

The Material Success through Yoga Principles Course is for those who seek both material prosperity and fulfillment on higher levels of life as well.

Many people think that these goals are mutually exclusive, but in truth, it is the same laws of life that activate success no matter what the goal. In centuries past, the culture of India was based on a balanced understanding of material and spiritual realities - the very principles taught in this course. And up until the British took control of India starting in the 1700's, India was the richest nation in the world.

It is India's destiny to realize that greatness once again, not by wholesale adoption of materialistic ideas from the West, but by an inspired application of the best of both worlds. "The day will come," Paramhansa Yogananda declared to thousands in India and America, "when these two countries will unite to lead the world spiritually and materially."

Swami Kriyananda is uniquely qualified to be the messenger of this fresh expression of timeless truths. He carries an American passport, but he was born and raised in Europe. When, at the age of 13, he came to live in his home country, he spoke four languages (later he learned four more), had visited 10 countries and attended school in four of them, and had crossed the Atlantic five times.

In 1948, at the age of 22, he met his guru in Los Angeles, California and lived with him there until Yogananda's passing in 1952. Later Swamiji lived in India, then spent decades in the United States and Europe. If Swami Kriyananda had worked for personal gain, instead of selflessly, for the upliftment of mankind, his would be one of the greatest "rags to riches" stories of our time.

In 1961, at the age of 36, Swamiji was renowned throughout India as the "American Swami." Thousands attended his lectures, and his weekly satsangs in New Delhi. With the personal permission of Prime Minister Nehru himself, he was set to build a Temple of All Religions in the heart of the capital city of India.

But on the eve of this triumph for his guru, Swami Kriyananda was betrayed and abandoned by erstwhile friends in the spiritual organization his guru founded. Suddenly, he was cast out of his adopted country, India. He returned to America, penniless and alone, dependent on his parents for even the bare necessities of food and shelter.

All he had was his commitment to dharma and discipleship to his guru. By the determined, systematic application of the principles taught in this course, Swami Kriyananda turned what looked like certain failure into triumph.
His was no otherworldly adventure. He faced and overcame more than his share of obstacles: natural cataclysms, bankruptcy, betrayal, persecution, lawsuits, ill health.

Swami Kriyananda is now the founder and respected leader of Ananda Sangha, a world-wide spiritual organization, dedicated to his guru. His books are available in 125 countries, in 27 different languages. His music has received international awards. Among many other achievements, he has created seven spiritual communities, two retreats, a publishing company, and four schools for children, all achieved by his own efforts, without benefit of a wealthy patron.

The Material Success through Yoga Principles Course is in a sense, an autobiography of perseverance and loyalty to principle until success is achieved. Yet, the proof of the validity of these principles is not limited to Swamiji's own life.
Swami Kriyananda has inspired thousands of fellow disciples to adopt these ideals and seen over a period of almost sixty years that they can work for anyone who applies them.

Now Swami Kriyananda has come back to India to finish what he started four decades ago. In November 2003, just a few months after his return, Swamiji was stricken by a near fatal case of pneumonia. A medical doctor treating him in the hospital asked Swamiji this question: "How can I make the money I need by honorable means? I want to follow dharma, but I fear if I do so, I will never succeed. What do you advise me to do?"
"Yato dharma, tato jaya," Swamiji replied. "Where there is dharma, there is victory."

But it is not enough merely to quote the aphorism. In the intensely competitive and materialistic atmosphere of the world today many people are desperate to know, "How can one achieve both dharma and prosperity?"

The Material Success through Yoga Principles Course is the answer. Perceiving that his doctor was representative of many people who very much want to live in harmony with dharma, Swamiji began writing the course from his hospital bed that very day.

If published as a book, the course would be more than 700 pages in length. But even a conscientious reader, faced with so much material, would be tempted then to hurry through and merely read the words. For success, more is required. One must attune to the power and practice the principles the words convey. For this reason, Swamiji created the course as an independent study program, one lesson every two weeks, to give sufficient time for both study and practice before moving on to the next lesson.

The Material Success through Yoga Principles Course is truly unique. It is an expression of the timeless teachings of "Sanatan Dharma" - the eternal religion - reawakened in modern times by the great master Paramhansa Yogananda and written by Swami Kriyananda, his direct disciple.

If you seek prosperity and are determined to achieve your life goals dharmicly, this course was written specifically for you.