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Statement of Former Minister

STATEMENT OF FORMER MINISTER

1. I, hereby declare that I have personal knowledge of the facts stated herein, and if called as a witness, I could and would testify competently to them. From June, 1978 to August 1995, I resided at Ananda Village, Nevada City, California, or in one of the Ananda City Centers either in San Francisco, Palo Alto, or Sacramento. My husband and I were Ministers/Light bearers in the Ananda Church.

2. I am writing this declaration out of a desire to stand for the truth, and because I feel that too many
people are silent about their knowledge of Kriyananda's deceitful and abusive behavior.

3. During the summer of 1993, D had asked J, her husband, , to pray for my family. D said that J and her family were very special and their prayers were extremely powerful. Those who knew J, loved her dearly and spoke very respectfully and lovingly about her. I was visiting D one day after she arrived home from the hospital, and heard her speak with J on the phone. She told J that she loved her. Kriyananda and the others close to her wanted her and her family to move to Ananda. Soon after this, I met J at The Expanding Light during a special weekend program. When I met her, I felt a very deep blessing and such love and compassion from her soul.

4. A while later, J and I began speaking on the phone and had many wonderful conversations. During our conversations, J told me many inspiring things about *** and the monastics that she knew from there. She spoke about them with deep respect and love, which is contrary to what has been stated by Kriyananda, D and J, and others at Ananda. Additionally, J never told me that I should get a divorce, as seemingly stated in J and D slander letter. Additionally, Kriyananda has both publicly and privately denounced ***and it's leaders during the duration of my 17 years at Ananda. Ananda leaders have also begun denouncing *** as well. (We were discouraged from attending Convocations, and were told we would be "out of tune" if we did. Thus people became fearful of attending these programs.)

5. Late May or early June, 1995, I learned that J had written a letter to Kriyananda, saying she would have to pull back from her involvement with him and others at Ananda.

I had a phone conversation with her and she told me that something was amiss but she did not want to tell me what it was, and suggested that I talk to B. B and her husband, J an Episcopalian Priest, were actively involved in trying to help Kriyananda to get some kind of help and to admit the truth about his behavior to his community.

6. I called B and we met briefly. She told me about the massages and sexual behavior that had been going on with Kriyananda for years with many women. I was totally devastated and in shock. She suggested that I go talk to * and *. When I spoke to them, they both confirmed that it was true about Kriyananda's sexual misconduct with "numerous" women.

7. * said he had counseled women that had come to him who had been abused by Kriyananda; women that have since left Ananda. He indicated also that he knew of more recent women that had been used in a sexual way. Also, upon information and belief, there are still women living in the Ananda community and in it's branch communities who have been used sexually in the name of God. * told me that he had gone to Kriyananda and confronted him about this sexual misconduct, and that Kriyananda was very upset and angry with him, but that Kriyananda had admitted these things to be true. * and his wife said they were ready to leave Ananda if Kriyananda did not face up to what he had done.

8. *** also admitted that it was true about Kriyananda's sexual misconduct and that he too had counseled many women over the years. He stated that Kriyananda had been very "discrete" in his behavior. I asked why he and others who knew about this did not do something to stop it, and to warn the women coming into the community. He had no answer. I asked how he and others could watch this go on without doing something about it, and he said that he had learned to live with it. He told me and my husband, that a group of leaders were working on an agreement on the moral ethics for ministers, including Kriyananda, but that it had been put on hold.

9. I then began talking to others who knew information about Kriyananda's behavior, in particular, *, *, *, and *. My discussions with these people confirmed that what I had heard about Kriyananda's sexual misconduct was true. There were meetings of women's groups where these things were discussed openly. Kriyananda later had the meetings stopped because he said they were negative and destructive. Upon information and belief, N had admitted that two women had come to her who had been sexually used by Kriyananda. Also, information was given to me about the sexual exploitation of Y.

10. The more I questioned about Kriyananda's sexual behavior, the more I was shunned by many people at Ananda, including Kriyananda, long time Ministers and close friends.

11. I also spoke with J. He denied it all, and told me that anyone having a problem with this issue had
sexual issues of their own to deal with. He asked me, "why do you want to know the truth?" I thought this was a strange question to ask someone who had given their life to serving Master through Ananda. I asked him why someone did not do something a long time ago to stop Kriyananda from hurting women. His reply was, "Well, what would you have done?"

12. A few days later, D and J called me into their office to question me. I was strong in my position, I
knew it was all true. They were not being honest with me. D told me that this was probably the biggest test I would have to face in this lifetime. J became more and more angry at me for using the words "cover up". I was realizing very clearly by now that there was indeed a massive cover up going on among the Ananda leaders.

13. I then talked to D. She said I had to believe Kriyananda or I could not live at Ananda. I told her that he had admitted it all to some people and her reply was, "Well, he never admitted it to me".

14. I worked in the Church Office at Ananda the last six years that I resided there from 1989 to 1995. In the spring of 1995, I was present for a conversation between other office employees. Ms. P came into the office and stated that the management office would be receiving a "shredder," which to the best of my memory was for the purpose of shredding documents related to the S** lawsuit and the harassment lawsuit. Prior to this time we did not have a "shredder" in any office, and I questioned the need for a "shredder" because Ananda Village had a comprehensive recycling program set up. I know that within the Church Office at Ananda Village, the following groups of files were kept: (1) correspondence files, most likely from the 1970's on, from Church members and others, and some correspondence files may also have been kept outside of the Church office. (Kriyananda, of course, had his own personal files in his possession. He commented during a public talk in June of 1995, that he had been receiving a lot of "hate" mail.); (2) fund raising files, including fund raising for Ananda Village, and fund raising for the harassment lawsuit as well as the other lawsuit; (3) advertising files; (4) J's private files; (5) D's private files; (6) outreach files; (7) church membership information files; (8) 14 Steps to Higher Awareness files; and (9) Kriya files.

15. Ananda Village residents were requested to make pledges to Ananda to fund the other lawsuit, and also to fund the harassment lawsuit. Ananda residents were told by leadership that if an Ananda Village resident made a pledge, the pledge would come out of their salary prior to taxes being taken out.

16. As time went on, I was shunned even more and I realized that my job in the Church office was
coming to an end. I spoke with V about my job, and he very diplomatically encouraged me to quit, so I did. V had stated that he understood that I could not support what I was seeing. He and D were becoming more open to people who were questioning Kriyananda. However, Kriyananda took them to Carmel one weekend, and they come back with a different outlook, and they became very controlling and closed minded. J and D were also becoming very controlling and they were instilling fear in anyone who was questioning Kriyananda.

17. I moved from Ananda 12 months ago because I could no longer support deception in the name of our Guru. Leaving there has proved to be a great blessing for me and my family.

18. After having left Ananda, as I look back over the years, I remember certain things that I should have questioned. For example, I remember when I was Kriyananda's personal cook, ** would come into the house and go straight downstairs to Kriyananda's apartment and be down there for many hours. She would never call him on the intercom, which was what everyone usually did before going downstairs.
Kriyananda was then still married to R, but she was away in Italy. This happened on many occasions in her absence.

19. I also remember a birthday party at A and D's home at Ananda, around late 1986, when Kriyananda came in with YB. She had just arrived at Ananda and few people had met her yet. He was very captivated with her. I thought it a little strange, but put it out of my mind. Upon information and belief, Kriyananda may have manipulated her under the guise of religion.

20. I remember seeing Kriyananda with ** quite often, and I wondered why he spent so much time with her. In talking with others who worked at Crystal Clarity Publisher, I was told that Kriyananda called numerous times while she was working there. He would ask her to come down to his house to see him and she would not return to work until hours later. This occurred on a repeated basis. Upon information and belief, Kriyananda may have manipulated her under the guise of religion.

21. I remember a comment made by Kriyananda years ago about two residents of the San Juan Ridge, I believe they were architects. He called them "sexual washouts." A strange comment coming from a spiritual leader.

22. I remember over the years how those who did not support Kriyananda were continuously slandered until people thought they were evil and they were trying to destroy Ananda. This activity continues to be happening within the Ananda community. This slander is attempt to damage the character of those who speak out in truth and those who have been used or anyone who does not support the acts of deception as the leaders of Ananda and the followers of Kriyananda are doing.

23. Kriyananda has sexually exploited many women over a period of many years, and has deceived the residents of Ananda. I could not continue to live in this deception and decided to leave. We had to borrow money in order to get out of Ananda. Many others who have chosen to leave have suffered great financial loss in doing so.

24. People who want to leave Ananda are made to feel that they are no longer living a spiritual life and that their lives will not be successful. The ministers and leadership brainwash people to think this way and thus people are afraid to stand up for what they feel is right. A common term used is "the light is gone from their eyes." This is used to control innocent people and to make them feel guilty for not agreeing with the leadership.

Signed under the penalties of perjury,

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