A Fight for Religious Freedom: A Lawyer's Personal Account of Copyrights, Karma and Dharmic Litigation
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 Walking with William of Normandy and The Reincarnation of Abraham LincolnSeptember 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 Fitness Intuition: The Wisdom of the Heart in Exercise and Sports TrainingNovember 2012)