A Fight For Religious Freedom

Description

The compelling story of a groundbreaking, 12-year legal battle launched against the smaller Ananda Church by the established and wealthy Self-Realization Fellowship—both followers of the spiritual master Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi. SRF’s intent was, as the judge observed, “to put Ananda out of business.” Includes rare vignettes that offer a timeline glimpse into the challenges of Yogananda’s own mission to the West.

Author Jon Parsons is the Palo Alto lawyer who spearheaded Ananda’s “David and Goliath” fight in court, which resulted in a precedent that protects U.S. religious groups from domination by their larger counterparts.

Editorial Reviews :-

Review
In 1990, Self-Realization Fellowship (an organization founded by the great yogi Paramhansa Yogananda) sued the Ananda Church (an organization that also shares Yogananda's teachings, founded by Yogananda's close and direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda). The results of this lawsuit set important legal precedents for religious freedom in the United States, and also liberated the publication of the first edition of Yogananda's classic Autobiography of a Yogi for all the enjoy. Author Jon R. Parsons was counsel for the defense in this case (and in a second lawsuit, connected with the first one). With a clear hand and a gift of metaphor, Parsons does an extraordinary job of translating sometimes-complex legalese into easy-to-understand language. One gets the gist of each situation, from the early setbacks for Ananda's defense, to its momentous turnaround and ultimate shining victory.

Although this is Parsons first work, he shows signs of an experienced author―including penning tongue-in-cheek asides that chuckle over not only SRF's oft-frustrated legal strategies, but also his own legal team's mistakes, and even his own personal miscues. One of the most fascinating aspects of this work―in addition to its main theme, a compelling story in and of itself―are numerous vignettes from the life and work of Yogananda that draw a striking parallel to the more recent struggles of his devoted disciple, Kriyananda. Here is an engrossing read, covering an important modern-day David and Goliath courtroom battle, that reveals hidden truths about one of the twentieth century's greatest spiritual teachers and his close disciples. Get your copy and enjoy. -- Richard Salva, Author of The Yoga of Abraham Lincoln, Blessed Lanfranc: The Past Life of Swami Sri Yukteswar, and Walking with William of Normandy: A Paramhansa Yogananda Pilgrimage Guide ― September 2012

This is an important book about an important legal case. As a bonus, it's written in an enjoyable, entertaining style.In 1990, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), a large, wealthy church with headquarters in Los Angeles, sued a much smaller church, Ananda Church of Self-Realization, in hopes of gaining a monopoly on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, whom both groups follow. To enforce its claims, SRF hired California's third-largest law firm. Ananda, with a much smaller bankroll, hired the author of this book, Jon Parsons, a sole practitioner with offices in Palo Alto.

Twelve years later, after an intense legal struggle, the tiny Ananda church had won 95 percent of the issues in the case, setting an important legal precedent for other small groups that face legal attacks by bigger, jealous religious organizations.Parsons is an excellent storyteller and that rarest of creatures, a lawyer with a transparent love of truth and a delightful sense of humor – qualities that make his tale enjoyable to absorb. Historically, by freeing Yogananda's legacy from institutional control, Ananda's successful defense of the SRF lawsuit affirmed the principle that the teachings of spiritual teachers belong to the world.

Many of SRF's existing copyrights were revealed to be invalid, including the publishing rights to Yogananda's world-famous book, Autobiography of a Yogi. Research by Ananda's legal team uncovered how drastically SRF had altered Yogananda's works – another important reason for preventing spiritual teachings from being monopolized.Parsons includes little-known anecdotes of Yogananda's struggles, during his early years in America, with racial and religious prejudice, as well as lawsuits filed by disgruntled former students, and scurrilous attacks by the “yellow press” of the day.Highly recommended. -- George Beinhorn, author of “The Joyful Athlete: The Wisdom of the Heart in Exercise & Sports Training” ― November 2012

About the Author

“Because a story about the heroic struggle for religious freedom is usually worth telling, let me share with you some of what I remember from those exciting days.”

Meet the Author – Attorney Jon R. Parsons

“Oh, to have been a fly on the wall . . .” I had that pleasure once. During the years of hammer-and-tongs litigation between the Self Realization Fellowship (“SRF”) and the Ananda Church of Self-Realization lasting from 1990 to 2002, I was the principal outside legal counsel for Ananda and Swami Kriyananda. From that vantage point, I witnessed the events unfold, played some role in the developing drama, came to understand a bit about Yogananda, Kriyananda, and their mission, and saw SRF in action. Because a story about a heroic struggle for religious freedom is usually worth a telling, let me share with you some of what I remember from those exciting days.

It was a battle for Ananda’s very survival. After years of effort and anxious uncertainty, and at great cost, we turned back SRF’s attempt to “put Ananda out of business,” as Judge Garcia once succinctly described it. That “business” was Ananda’s mission to spread worldwide the writings and teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda (1893-1952), and to found “World Brotherhood Colonies” as Yogananda had urged. We did much more than defeat SRF’s plans. In the process of preparing a defense we revealed SRF’s feet of legal clay, and obtained court rulings and appellate opinions that placed numerous publications and photographs in the public domain. We stripped away SRF’s registered trademarks of “Paramahansa Yogananda” and “Self-Realization,” and reclaimed the ability of all followers to use Yogananda’s name, voice, signature, photograph, and likeness in expressing his teachings.

The litigation morphed over the years into four lawsuits and two appeals, together with writ petitions to both the California Court of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. Its web embraced the two churches and Swami Kriyananda, as well as a former Ananda member, and the minister who spurned her. Ultimately, everyone who touched the case got named as a defendant in one lawsuit or another, and SRF found itself a defendant in its own sexual harassment suit. Our cosmic drama also spawned at least three other satellite lawsuits and two appeals involving star-crossed strangers, who inadvertently ventured too close to the litigation. When the dust settled, Ananda was a spiritually richer community internationally recognized as a legitimate successor to Yogananda’s legacy.

Kriyananda had deepened a lifetime commitment to his Master, and reinvented ways of expressing that discipleship. Along the way, we freed up a large body of Yogananda’s original writings and teachings for the world’s edification and enjoyment. Ananda had weathered another crisis and come out stronger, and through that struggle laid the foundation for the florescence that followed. In these pages we revisit those days of struggle, doubt, commitment, and victory. I tell the tale, but the story is not mine. This story belongs to Kriyananda, the Ananda community he founded, and its many residents and members.

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